Mike E

Personally believe Hyam would be an upgrade on Lenihan. Aso believe Szmodics AT LEAST replaces '1 game in 6' Rothwell.

Might've even prevented them. Could be that Caulker on a free (instead of SVDB, for example) allows money to be spent elsewhere?

The greatest footballer I've seen in our shirt. I'm not sure I'll ever see better. People only ever talk about the goals and the passes, but my favourite moment (the longest substitutions in history aside) was the Liverpool game at Ewood where he put Gerrard on his arse stood still. I've never seen it again but it's clear as day in my mind's eye.

Work permit plus appeals process, surely means we've been trying to land Lode for 3 weeks or so? As long as we've not ONLY been working on Lode, it does show we're busy and VERY good at keeping it under wraps.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON It's great to be back in Westeros!

If the 'Special Venkys Request' is real, it must be for JPVH imo. The rest of our budget would allow for other urgent incomings.

Ayala Wharton New Guy (or higher, depending on ability) Phillips Carter (only because I haven't yet seen him).

Personally think for 2 centre backs in a system that relies on intensity, you need 5 ready to play, so that two are ready on the bench for replacement or any switch to a 3. Also in the event of injury/suspension pile-up, there should always be 2 ready to start.

If JDT wants Berget for 200k then go and fucking get him! We've just received that for the Zimbabwean boy!

People should watch the JDT interview. It's great to have such a warm manager with a sense of humour.

With Forest buying basically anyone, surely there's scope for one of McKenna or Worrall to move on, possibly to us? Another former Forest player getting no time at Newcastle (might be due to injuries), but impressed me in this league is Lascelles.

I think it's fair, personally. I'm a reasonably fit guy and I was exhausted just watching in that heat even with 2L water bottle next to me.

Before your time perhaps. Think it was around when Glenn and SteB ran the place.

Whatever happened to the Ale thread?

This will sound utterly stupid but MIGHT just be right... Sunderland can offer him cheap ferries to Amsterdam 🫣🫣🫣

Possibly. Maybe I've got my Football Manager hat on.

Well by his own admission, he is! And he was an idiot for it.

I think it makes better sense, personally. Otherwise any player in the first team squad made available for non-first-team games would miss just over a month of training days per year. By matching matchdays (I do agree that matches could be staggered times, mind) it means that all players are available for every scheduled training session.

Venkys provided transfer money to solidify a promotion push, given our position. They're not stupid, and I believe it's Mowbray's refusal to spend anything and subsequently tumble out of the playoff places that led to the silent treatment from them.

It means all players eligible for the first team can train together on the same schedule, rather than any match day meaning that different players have to miss training.

I'm not kidding when I say I'm still confident we end the window with VDB on loan, and Styles and JPVH on permanent deals. I believe there IS a decent budget to play with, but GB is playing the waiting game to get value once the PL transfers have happened.

My favourite thing, as younger fan at the time of his death, was always that he had a name that was ours. As Blackburn as you could get: Jack Walker

I would argue that in any scenario where we have more of the ball, we need both Hedges and Dack playing in order to feed Breo and Gally. They would be my 'attacking 4'. My midfield 2 would be Travis and Buckley, as Hedges and Dack will find those spaces into which Buckley can pass from deep. Where we have less of the ball is where we would need more roaming and running, and I'd perhaps sub in Dolan and Szmodics for Gally and Dack/Hedges. My midfield 2 would be Travis and Morton, in order to keep a firmer lid on the game and keep it ticking over.

'Never in 50 years'. Bollocks. Bad day, piss-poor, rank bad. Yes. 'Never in 50 years' pretends 0-7 to Fulham at Ewood didn't happen. Or the many times we just backed off under Kean. Or Ince. Or Kidd.

It's assault (or battery? I don't quite know), so contact the nearest steward, contact 999, get a pic of the culprit if possible.