Hasta

The logic behind the Brereton transfer is incredibly sound. Young English striker. Develop him, get him to perform a bit in the Championship and then sell him on for a tidy profit. The problem is that we were the club that he got moved on to whilst Forest got the profit !

Enforced. He split his sides laughing at Walton.

? Walton

Yeah but we lost Dack..... blah...blah....blah.

It's clear now from the discussion regarding the accounts that Graham, despite clearly being the best striker we have, has no resale value so doesn't get game time.

We were poor with Graham on the pitch but abysmal when he went off. Up to £14mill spunked on strikers and he is still the best we have. Travis and Buckley couldn't trap the ball first time and nor could they find a blue and white shirt. Buckley actually got on the ball in or just outside the box on 3 occasions in the second half and wasted it each time. When Gallagher did win a flick on, he just flicked it to nowhere every time. Some time when you are challenging defenders that cant be helped, but sometimes he cleanly won the header and has to be more aware of where support is.

To be fair he had his big chance in the first few minutes and fluffed it.

Hot off the press ratings. Walton 4 Bennett 2 Lenihan 5 Tosin 5 Downing 4 Bell 5 Buckley 2 Travis 2 Johnson 3 Rothwell 2 Graham 6 Gallagher 4 Chapman 2 Armstrong 3

How come their guy shoots from 30 yards into the top corner, and yet the ineffective Buckley has a clear shot on the edge of the box and tries a daft little through ball. I didn't think any Rovers player could make this performance stink any more than it does, but this Chapman cameo is doing just that.

We are in the bottom half of the table now.

Birmingham players told me on Boxing Day that Holtby was off to West Brom for £7 million instead of Dack. ?

Tony got his starting lineup wrong?

I know he's nothing alone but Buckley is having a bit of a shocker. However at least he got in the box there.

That'll sort it out.

Interesting. Certainly plenty of options on the bench.

So what we are saying that no Prem club is probably going to pay to bring Dack in. Therefore his best chance of getting a move to the Prem is to let his contract run down. Great.

We signed him because the performances unsurprisingly nose dived after Shearer got injured. We didn't "find a way to keep winning" as you said. We won just 2 league games in Between January and Gallagher arriving at the end of March, and crashed out of both cups. We should easily have got past Sheffield united in the fa cup QF but drew a blank at Ewood and ended up having to throw Steve livingstone into the mix for the replay. The signings of Gallagher and Le Saux revitalised us for the last couple of months and nearly dragged us back into Europe. Losing Shearer was a disaster for what might have been that season.

No, we just went out and replaced him by buying Kevin Gallagher.

Don't understand? So who has put him on the bench for the last 7 games on the run since he was fit again?

Samuel and Chapman are consigned to scoring and assisting for the under 23's, when Brereton has done nothing for the under 23's but gets on the bench and in the first team. Anyone got any other reason other than he cost money so Mowbray has to pick him?

Don't get how people expect Rothwell and Holtby to replace Dack. They might replace work outside of the box but inside the box statistically he is twice as good as a goal poacher. I think the only way we cope without him is if Tosin and Lenihan continue to look rock solid at the back and enable us to nick games with the odd goal or two. Get him back fired up and raring to go by March if Kamy's diagnosis is to be believed.

Gallagher looked ok at Bristol city. Brereton was still carried. Dack is a huge loss. Not just for his play on the ball but for those goals where he just happens to be in the right place at the right time.

Been out all day. Just got home and now having to grab something to eat quickly and get to a Ewood. I've got a season ticket and I'm tempted to stop rushing around and watch it on Sky. Been at a family function today and met only one person going tonight. About 5 or 6 others were going on Boxing Day. Cheap tickets for midweek Sky games are not a big draw. Do it for plum 3pm kick off games!!! I said early season that Birmingham should have been £10. We would have 20000+ easily had that been a tenner.

Think you've been watching too many YouTube videos of Big Ben, and not what he's been doing on the pitch.

Brentford apart, he hasn't been great. However he adds pace and more attacking danger to the team. All alternatives are far slower and don't offer the same threat. I just think he gives the opposition more to be worried about. Unless we have a downturn in form then I would persevere. I do worry a bit about Monday because under Bowyer we blew every chance we had to get in the top 6.