1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

"MG asked whether the club would be engaging with fans about ideas for the return to Ewood Park and about how season tickets would work for 21/22. SW said he wanted to get a group of fans together to discuss all these issues and asked LT to look at setting up a first meeting before the end of March"

Did this ever happen?

Did it fuck as like. That would be a sensible thing to do, and they are outlawed at boardroom level within this club.

Tony, Steve and Venus are here for the long haul. But if by some miracle the Venky’s pot them - I want Ainsworth.

No doubt he isn’t the best manager out there, but his interviews ahead of the game yesterday and back in Autumn tell me everything I need to hear.

He loves this club & town, probably more than any person in football today. His rock and roll, balls to the wall attitude would be the most fun we’ve had following the club in 10+ years. 
I would take GA & a relegation scrap over Mowbray & mid table every week, because I would be 100% sure that everything possible was being done to achieve success.

There is just something about the way he speaks about the club that totally enamours me with him.

Mowbray out.

He’s probably been mentioned, but David Artell is the route I would go down for a manager from the league below. Done wonders at Crewe.

I’d take a punt on Ainsworth too. I think the injection of enthusiasm would be re-invigorating for the fanbase & the players. He hasn’t done too badly this season with a significantly worse squad than we have at our disposal & must have something about him to get Wycombe players playing to a level that saw them end up in the Championship.

A left field shout from me would be Di Matteo.

EDIT.

I am aware it will be more of a Tony Pulis than any of these. 
I would prefer we kept Mowbray than Pulis.

Embarrassing.

Is this Tony saying: “Who the fuck has leaked this?” or is he saying “I no longer control the transfers”?

As far as I can see it’s been pretty black and white, we have placed a bid. Confirmed by their manager & both Sharpe & Crooke?

https://twitter.com/jaquobc/status/1349715503938461696?s=21

16 hours ago, Cherry Blue said:

Didn't see him starting, was thinking more of an impact tricky sub. Yesterday against a very poor side was the right thing to do but to start against thug defenders might not work. 

How much did we pay PNE?? (?). There's got to be a song. Ok he's not "...he came from Real Madrid, he didn't cost a quid...." but we've plenty of time to make one up. 

Two adaptations of the Chapman song:

There’s a star man, playing on the wing, he came from Preston North End and he didn’t cost a thing

There’s a star man, playing on the right, his name is Tyrhys Dolan and he thinks North End are shite.

7 hours ago, darrenrover said:

I'd take Joe Hart if the money was right and he was in the right frame of mind and sufficiently motivated. He's only 32, is an international and in a similar situation to when we took Friedel and Robinson. He'd be able to aid the development of Fisher, Hilton and the other academy goalkeepers.

 

On this basis I’d do what Derby have done with Rooney. Offer him a player coach role on a mint. Can’t be any worse than Benson...

Genuine curiousness...

If the worst should happen to the Venky family. Who would then take control of the club? A trust like the Walker Trust?

For me the biggest problem with Bennett is the captaincy. If I remember correctly, when Mulgrew was shipped down the M6, the other players voted on a new captain didn’t they?

I don’t speak for anyone else, but I know for a fact if I was to vote who I’d want as my team leader at work, I wouldn’t be voting for the person who makes my life most difficult & demands the most out of me.

It should never have been the players’ decision who was temporary captain, that was doomed from the very start. They picked their mate.

What’s more worrying is the fact that TM didn’t have the conviction to make the decision himself!

If (and no doubt when) both TM & EB are still around on match day one next season, we will be regressing further.

Surely it’s Jones? We’ve been linked with him and Rangers have confirmed he can leave on loan as they’re looking to free up wages for a player who can help sustain their push for the title

Not going to pretend to be his best mate, but I know of Mahoney’s brother through friends. Both are Rovers fans. Connor is probably less so than his brother, but a friend of mine who does know them both well, said he left for the opportunity. The money helps, but Christ, nobody sane would’ve turned that down at the time.

Could he have asked for a straight loan back (a la Jack Clarke to Leeds)? Maybe. But he is a Rovers fan, and didn’t just abandon the club.

Realise I could get hammered for this...

Bony is still without a club training at Newport, Le Havre were linked with him last I saw but were struggling to meet his wages.

Cant be that demanding in his position surely? Would be worth a punt IMO...

I cannot believe what I’m reading regarding comments on a young man’s mental health, so I won’t even get into that apart from to say some people need a reality check as to how fragile mental health can be and I hope for their own sake it doesn’t come from personal experience.

On the footballing aspect of things, I had no idea why we were buying him or why we were paying what was touted, however to me it seemed as though there must have been good reason. That’s clearly gone to shit.

The blame for me sits entirely with Mowbray. He picks (or doesn’t) him to play & where to play. Playing him out of position in a style of play that clearly doesn’t suit him (or 80% of our squad) has battered his confidence - that much is visible. There’s still been the odd spurt of potential even in these festive games where BB (and again, the 80%) has been frankly shite, so I don’t think he’s fully destroyed yet, however I don’t think he will want to stay any longer, which I don’t blame him for.

Best bet (Imo) is a loan elsewhere with the possibility of a sale, but the option for us to veto that if he does get his confidence back (or we get a manager who won’t mismanage everyone).

There’s no chance he walks, in my eyes.

There’s no way he’s sacked either. This is going to be a LONG season.

That line is the straw that broke the camel’s back, as if the awful form wasn’t enough.

His time is up with the majority of the fan base now, surely.

Mowbray out.

Just now, Stuart said:

“Deal sheet”?

You can apply for a 2 hour extension using said deal sheets, iirc.

Does seem he’s off if Myers is picking it up too. Usually sound for his stories...

I’m going to assume (and hope) this has been deleted because it was a pre-planned Tweet, and they’re going to announce it with Cunningham wearing it instead now.

**EDIT**

FWIW; smart as fuck that.

Just now, Mercer said:

PNE friend just phoned to say they are also in for Cunningham

And will get him likely

Just now, JacknOry said:

Probably be that QPR freebie that came in for talks yesterday (allegedly)

Probably true - but doesn’t make sense with the “conversations with managers” line. He’s a free agent!

Any news on a LB?

I haven’t seen any rumours about this except the first part, just a hunch I have.

Celtic are apparently fighting off bids from high up Italian clubs (Inter being one name) for Jozo Simunovic.

I can see them coming in for Lenihan (did I read they were allegedly in for him last Summer?) if JS says he wants out. Fits a lot of the requirements to play there, notably being a young(ish) Irish lad with potential to increase value significantly.

Worrying indeed if that does happen as we simply cannot say no to a bid of anything over £8m for him, and seemingly we are bereft of ideas when it comes to signing defensive players.

However, as mentioned above, the market for defenders has now rocketed, meaning there is actually some profit potential there - hopefully this will stop Venky’s (if it really is their attitude) vetoing any defender bids we want to make based on future profitability. That said, they did allow the signings of Downing & Johnson (who I rate) without a chance of turning a profit on either of them.

**EDIT**

I have just seen that Leicester might be in for Ajer also, so another CB that Celtic may lose. 

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

http://bit.ly/2LXwP0X

“It’s harsh to say it’s the back four, or his fault and his fault."

Didn't mind doing it to Raya though did you Tony. Can't be doing it to Bennett or Mulgrew though.

Beat me to it!

Laughable.

“It’s a bit simplistic to say ‘same back four, same results’”

He doesn’t see what everyone else does, is he unwell?