Roverthechimp

First i would prefer to keep him but what do if: Player wants to go and we are outside playoff spots plus Fee 10m cash + 6m addons (1.5/yr) + 10% sell on

Special mention for Raya. Still young and kicking is mixed but 2 great saves again

Well done Mr Mowbray and the players

5 minutes ffs

Fair enough - Conway more positive than i remember so i take it back.

Do i not like this substitution Conway for Palmer

Is it possible to have the audio without commentators?

Be interesting to follow this one. Suspect he is Smallwoods replacement IF TM can get him interested whilst also covering CB if injuries pile up. Could be a total waste of a shirt but could be an inspired signing. Casual fans know his name from the premier league, with TM and a psychologist he could improve our first 11 or at worst our bench. Fingers crossed

For me i would be happy to be a championship club come August 2019 provided there is a sensible plan for recruitment with the vision being playoff contenders in 2-3 years with a reconnected fanbase and a hungry team that are on sensible (for football) wages. Any sales should be planned in advance by raising the overall standard of the squad/u23 Personally prefer the above to paying desperate money to mercenaries and bring back the Murphy, Best, Etuhu and the wanker rightback whose name i have forgotten just now....

Must disagree here. 4/5 starters - who is for the chop? My post refers only to staying up and the team (not squad). I agree entirely that options are thin and the squad needs more quality but first 11 should be good enough for survival.

Trust Mowbray enough to say that IF the story is true then the reason maybe the conditionality of the money. 1 signing for 8 mill and/or on silly wages would undo a lot of hard work (and not just by Mowbray). The team is good enough to stay Up though options and backup are questionable. Next step is to build a solid championship squad and then add the "luxury" buys to push us into top 6 without being liquidated...

Seriously? Coyle and sensible in the same sentence ?

Just a minor counterpoint. TM has Mulgrew, Graham, Bennett, Evans, Conway, Whittingham, Lenihan and probaby Williams all on decent wages as well as signing Dack and Samuel. Transfer fees are only part of the equation with crowds of 12-15k and no parachute... So far he has not had anyone sold from under him either...

Perhaps TM wants him to toughen up a bit as well as gametime?

The other point is the payment structure. 3m cash can become 500k per year with any residual to be payed upon a transfer or contract extension. Looks good for selling club "we got our Price" and suits the buyer. Suspect that is how many deals later in the window happen (apart from top 4 in prem)

Only seen it on TV but thought it looked pretty good. Hope we don't do the black shorts routine though... Logo - bit "meh" but we've had worse though it looks weird with number 10 in all players ?

Cynical head on: host nation in extra time Naive head on: both sides fouling by holding and shirtgrabbing. After a few replays i've come to the conclusion it was a likely a dollop of both ?

Exactly why i wondered - a few that i started to wonder if i needed new glasses ?

Agree on that but thought the referees in general have been pretty damn good. Curious as to offside rulings. If the "cough" linesman doesn't flag does Var monitor every instance or merely if it directly leads to a goal?

This idea of an easier route to the final - might want to look at just which teams Sweden have dispensed with... (If we get past Colombia)

Agree with you. Part of the game for me is bitching about the ref when the decision favours the opposition whilst have a wry chuckle when it goes our way. Tragic that perfection is demanded from refs but players make 10s of mistakes in a game.

Regarding VAR: who decides if the referee has missed something? In the England game he was staring at the Kane incidents - do the VAR mob have the right to say "oj - look at this!"?

Gumboots - spot on. Another angle: could this be a friendly reminder to Venkys not to faff around all summer? As for wage rises: of course it affects transfer funds. Knowing about it doesn't make the money magically appear. Imagine also that certain players (Dack, Smallwood, Raya) may be offered new contracts on better terms to prevent last minute bids from rivals.

Think it shows that the players weren't following their instruktions/plan and knew it themseleves. Suggests tactical clarity and mutual respect between players and manager. José Mourinho aside, how many managers make subs at half time unless 4-0 down?? As for tubthumping - isn't that the point if behind at halftime (passion i seem to remember being high up on the/your list of requirements for a Rovers manager...)

Selling Steele was evil genious level - pretty much swapping Steele for Dack (financially) must be the best bit of transfer business EVER ??