By ignoring all the hearsay and conjecture that is going about, it is possible to see this as something that was kept under wraps until it was finalised at the last minute. Sadly I don’t see it like that, I think Wigan got a good deal and we had to accept it to free up some cash and a squad place. It’s pretty worrying that we are so threadbare in defence going into the new season but I don’t put the blame at Mowbray’s door, I think he is being forced to work with his hands tied. I don’t see how a different coach would change things, the structure and foundations of our club are still rotten so very little good can come our way.

So you’re glad that Mowbray shifted Mulgrew out but you don’t want any credit to go to Mowbray for the decision....

I think I’ll wait to see how the new guys perform before I vote. I’m probably in the minority but I was sad to see Mulgrew go at the last minute. He’s given me some of my favourite memories in a couple of bad seasons, I’ll not forget all his goals in a hurry, but I appreciate that he wasn’t a great centreback. Other than that we’ve kept hold of the players I’d like to keep hold of, but for me time will tell whether the incomings are worth it. I’m hopeful that Cunningham and adarabioyo can really improve our defence. If they do it’s a brilliant window but if they can’t I’ll be disappointed and tbf I’m a bit mystified at spending a good chunk of money on Gallagher but if he gets a lot of goals it’s a bargain. Tl:dr the jury is out!

Me too! Or even hoping that we do another loan to buy deal for two top defenders. It’s the hope that kills you....

He’s never had a decent season though. I agree he plays the same position as Dack, meaning that he never would have gotten much time unless he was incredible. Since he left us though he’s been average at best - 2 goals and 2 assists for Bristol city. Our transfer policy does baffle me sometimes but it’s unfair to lay the failure of Kasey Palmer on our coach.

Palmer is just not a very good player. Mowbray tried his best by giving him plenty of chances to impress. Sadly, he never did, and has shown nothing since to suggest that he has untapped potential. I wish people would stop this narrative that Mowbray can’t get the best out of players like Palmer. Dack is playing his best ever football under Mowbray, Armstrong and rothwell also.

It’s hit or miss. I use tunnel bear and tbh I wouldn’t recommend them. From memory the last time I tried it was blocked so I’ve had to resort to “different” methods. It’s a shame because I’d rather do it legitimately and see that the club maybe gets some of the money. Like I said, it’s barmy that I can’t watch it when I live on a different island.

Can I take that bet up as well?

I thought that domestic fans could now use ifollow? I’ve used a VPN to access the service in the past but even that became tricky after a while. I’d definitely pay for the season pass if it meant a reliable, quality match day experience. i live in Northern Ireland so my use of ifollow won’t affect attendances in any way.

I’m northern Irish as well but I can’t argue with the above. Time for Evans to move on, we’ve got good cover in cm and he’s just taking up a space that could be given to one of our young prospects. He’s had long enough to show that he’s not up to the task of being s championship centre mid.

Looked a lot better in this half. Rothwell has made a big difference with his energy, travis also. Great to see brereton involved in a goal, I really hope he can kick on this season. If he can bag some goals and Gallagher replicate some of the form he had with us before, we’d have a very promising, young English strike force. Rangers looked a class above in the first half but we’ve at least matched them in the second. Looks fairly promising to me but we definitely need to improve in centre mid and at the back.

?‍♂️

You’re correct about our defence needing a lot of work if we are to be competitive next season. However I have to agree with Paul that there are lots of contributors to this board who are pushing a line that Mowbray does not want to get rovers promoted and in fact sees the club as some sort of retirement fund. I agree that that it’s a ridiculous suggestion and I can’t be bothered looking up the posts in question, but maybe those who believe that could remind us of their point of view?

I worry that our signings thus far may mean a possible exit for Dack. Didn’t Mowbray talk about trying a system without Dack near the end of last season? We’ve just signed another tall forward, another central midfielder and linked with more central midfielders than anything else. I’d hate to see him go but maybe it’s on the cards. Would people here accept that if it meant more funds to restructure defence? Personally I don’t think we can replace Dack and we’d probably struggle without him as the vast majority of our goals involved him in one way or another. On the other hand I might begrudgingly accept him leaving as I’m sure he’d like to test himself in the premier league and the money (say about £15m) could really help buy top quality at GK, FB and CB. Of course it’d be a disaster if either we sold him to a division rival or the Venkys took the cash and didn’t reinvest

Has anybody got an idea of how to watch this online? I’m not looking for illegal links of course ? but does anybody know if it’s going to be on ifollow or any betting sites?

Kalinic did pretty well after leaving us as well.

BUT.... if..... and...... maybe...... A lot of variables there. We should be happy with TM’s management as the facts show that we’ve ended the season in a decent position for a promoted team, and could finish above Preston after they splashed the cash. Next season we can expect more from a seasoned championship side and hopefully some quality additions

Would you be happy for us to pay £4m for him?

I’d like us to sign a good LB, Bauer plus another good CB, a good strong midfielder that can put a tackle in, and a striker to take the load off DG and in case BB doesn’t push on this season. I hope Travis, Rothwell, Nyambe, and Magloire can continue to develop and get first team minutes but we need the above if we want to consolidate in this league, never mind make a run at the playoffs. As its Venkys, who knows what we’ll end up with, but I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll have a productive season and move on from where we’re ending this season?

At the time Palmer left us, opinion here was that it was a mistake to not play him more and we’d regret not getting the best out of him. Maybe Mowbray is a better judge of talent than many give him credit for as Palmer has hardly set the league on fire since he left us

I think most people on this board know why your views have changed now. it was a rhetorical question sunshine.

So you don’t care about winning now but at the end of last season you had a meltdown because we didn’t go up as league one champions. Winning league one was as big an irrelevance as this game and we’re doing much better than the actual league one champions so I wonder what your angle actually is ?

Theres 24 teams in the championship so the top 6 represents the top 25% of the teams. You’re saying that with 60% performances it’s possible to get there. That’s the illogical part of your post. I’m not being a troll for pointing that out. I remember when we got relegated to the championship, on this site there was a lot of opinion along the lines of “I can’t wait to get out of this tinpot league”. The sad truth is we were there on merit and were relegated again soon after. No club in this league can say that they’re punching below their weight, certainly we can’t as our performances over the last two seasons have seen us at the bottom end of this league. We don’t have any right to outperform teams at this level based on us once being in the premiership. I think some fans forget that and it causes a lot of resentment and leads to some fans wanting our most successful manager in the Venkys reign to be sacked.

Yeah the Brereton signing has been a massive failure tbf. I hope he comes good eventually and justifies the financial outlay. It’s all conjecture but I wouldn’t be sure that Brereton was a Mowbray choice. Anyway, apart from that signing I think TM has done brilliantly. No other manager has had the same impact working under Venkys. The players seem to admire him, he has integrity, and he had some success in getting us back into the championship. Not so long ago it seemed like we were a toxic club in free fall. To turn this club around was an achievement that 6 coaches before him couldn’t manage. So yeah he’s overachieved with the hand he was given, especially since most of his tenure has been in league one where clubs bigger than us have struggled to get back out of.

I think we overachieved at the start of the season but I’m guessing you think a solid start means we should have been in and around the playoff spots? He may have said he’d like us to bounce through the leagues and yes, some teams do have great success after being promoted but that’s very much the exception rather than the rule. The slump is concerning but I think TM has earned the chance to build on this squad and try again next season.