Silas

Jeez, and you picked the eve of 'Blue Monday' to lay this on us. Way to keep everyone's spirits high Tom! 😂 Personally, out of everything, it's the transfers bit you mention that probably hits me the most. I can take the crap managers, the mind boggling tactics, the poor performances, even the relegation scraps etc. As long as there's something along the way to get excited about with Rovers. And for a football fan that's usually the anticipation that comes with new players joining the club, filling you with hope and expectation. And then I look back at 12 long years under Venky ownership and think about how many times a transfer has done that to me: Jordan Rhodes did. I'm shamed to admit David Goodwillie did (We'd beat Rangers to the 'new Wayne Rooney' 🙄) Ruben Rochina and Harvey Elliot got my blood pumping. Adam Armstrong and Tom Cairney had me pretty hyped for a while. Can't think of many others of the top of my head. So, that's tracking at a rate of once every 2 years a signing has really lifted my spirits. Slow going that. Obviously, there's been some very good signings along the way that have proved beneficial over time. Kaminski, Dack, and Diaz to name a few. But none of them were exciting signings at the time imo. I totally understand where we are in the football pyramid, the financial constraints, and am in no way expecting star transfers anymore. But you can still get very hyped for a 10 goal a season striker from League 1 or 2 coming to test themselves at Championship level. But we don't even seem to manage that anymore. Just a continuing cycle of Gallagher dolloping around the wings and occasionally up front. I was fairly looking forward to Dembele putting on a Rovers shirt from Peterborough, and look how that turned out. As usual, pipped to the post, for him to barely play anymore for his parent club. Infuriating. And then we come to things like Adam Wharton. Those couple of games early this season that had me thinking we'd lucked out with the new Championship Xavi/Iniesta. Just what we needed in the middle of the park, and with Diaz firing up front and a stronger looking new defence, things were really looking up. Fast forward 6 months later and he's nowhere to be seen, rumours of big fallouts, and to top it all off his brother starts going through a bad patch of form too. From dreams of a Toure brothers situation, to nothingness in the blink of an eye. 😪 Even now, in this window, after another catastrophic loss of form, the start of the inevitable slide down the table from a great position, the hammerings from 2 local rivals, and the biannual beating from Wigan and whichever team is rock bottom of the form table (who we always make look like Man City!), I would still be full of optimism and renewed dreams of glory if we could just get a couple new faces in at vital positions in the squad. A cheap lower league option and a good loan from a Prem club could work wonders for my Rover's mindset right now. Am I expecting any news by 31st Jan to cheer me up? Am I bollocks. More concerned about 'outs' rather than any interesting 'ins'. And I think it's probably that repetitive, vicious cycle that grinds me down the most. It can't be that hard to at least keep a squad constantly progressing rather than declining. We've all played Championship Manager. 🤣

Personally, I just think they have more money than sense. And it's coupled with a whole image/ego thing. Don't know if that's cultural or not. But I believe they simply hate the thought of forever being labelled a 'failure'. So whilst there's still the slimmest of chances of saving face and hitting the Prem jackpot again, they'll keep clinging on. How long till they realise money can outweigh the shame? Well, they're going to be hitting quarter of a billion before long. I'd quite happily be shamed for about 2.5k. 😂 It's crackers really.

Spurs fan will get a lifetime ban plus more for a weak kick. Idiot.

In case anyone missed it! For the record, baiting could include very over the top positive comments. We're not stupid enough not to realise what their purpose is.

Will JDT be smirking in the post match interview? If ever there was a time to show some contrition it's now.

I see what you did there. Perhaps some dummys scattered on the floor of the Wharton household. 🤔

Weird how often we say this though right? 🤔 Comes a time you've got to address the patterns and results rather than the actions. Cause and effect and all that.

No doubt. But I've become acclimatised to that BS now. It's like Stockholm Syndrome. But the basic losing of every simple battle and challenge for the ball is still boiling my blood.

That goal came simply from being outbattled in some 50/50 challenges again. Woeful.

Gallagher judging the flight of a ball:

One cruncher doesn't negate the dozen or so individual contests lost previously. They look strong in contact, we look weak....again.

Fucking hell Gallagher! My 8 year old girls team traps a ball better.

Manchester derby time then. 🤬🤬

😂😂

Penalty shoot out game v WH I think.

Down to 10 men with the new lad sent off. Gutting for Potter after getting back into the game. Kai Havertz is useless at picking out a player running into the final 3rd. Woeful for top level. Zero awareness. He did same at the weekend. But looks great for Germany.

2nd favourite with the bookies after Lampard Chaddy. Both of them need some positive results soon or can see both gone before the season's over. Never know Potter may turn this match round in the 2nd half. Unlikely though, Fulham look a good Prem outfit at the moment. And Chelsea are very disjointed. No flow to their play.

Chelsea go one down against Fulham. Surely Potter is toast. It's been an abysmal start for him. Shame, seems a nice bloke.

Great story. So glad it seems to be a happy ending. Player home safe and millions raised for kids in need. I'm definitely going to be rooting for the Bills to win the SuperBowl. Not just this, but also they're perennial losers tag with losing so many SB's, and they play aggressive attacking football.

Yeah, this I think @RevidgeBlue Same happened to me on Samsung Internet. Highlights everything in blue and goes crazy adding blank spaces. Infuriating. I've switched to Chrome and works perfect.

Is it though. Neutral Don Goodman said it was the best debut he'd EVER seen in all his years in football. And we've barely seen him since. Something doesn't add up.

Travis might as well be in yellow at this point. More frustrating than the glitchy feed, which takes some doing.

Well done Dack too. Many players would have blasted it from that position. Great awareness and composure.

Someone should send him for a chat with David Bentley. Explain how talent doesn't always take you to the top. Takes a hell of a lot extra than that.