Was he the lad who played up front with Gally in the reserves? Looked the better of the too but was very small for a footballer (assuming I'm thinking of the right chap.)

Actually Jim quite the reverse. He said last season he had to work with what he had and could make limited changes and shouldn't be judged on it. However he also said that he'd been fantastically backed this season and it was his team, so there were no excuses. He was happy to be assessed on this team as it was the one he had built. It was all very refreshing.

I think boom and bust sums us up pretty well. We are either excellent or absymal which suggests we are a bit of a one trick pony. A clever trick mind as when it works, it works, but one a fair few teams seem to be able to outwit. I'll say this. On one hand boom and bust means that there's more busts and negatives than win draw loss which may make fans have a more negative opinion. (And admittedly more negative experiences!) But there are more booms and W L gives more points than W D L. And is it really worse than the positive and negative streaks we had under TM? Certainly strikes me as no more inconsistent albeit the hammerings on a regular basis may leave fans more jaded. For what it's worth my view is he got a pretty crap hand. 3 years plus of TMs transfer issues coming home to roost leaving a very depleted squad. Getting transfers in also seemed to take a fair while. Yes the signs are all far from positive but not having TM in the dugout is a plus. Add in that some of the errors are things he has to learn as he had a clean slate for everyone and we'll, because he was new! We knew JRC isn't a full back but he had to discover that for himself, for example. If the same mistakes keep being made a few months down the line then there is cause for concern but at this stage severe inconsistency isn't a worry. It's standard Rovers and given the situation he was dealt is probably as good as we could hope for. If we don't develop though, if he doesn't learn from his mistakes, if players don't bed in, there's more of a debate to be had. But as it is at this stage I'm not dissatisfied.

Well! I missed the Bradley Orr stuff at the time so only just seen this now. To be honest I can't get past the cricket ball story. Given the odious one was making up stories to slander fans, there's no way he'd have passed up on an opportunity to play the victim with this event. Add in the fact no camera saw it, no one else has ever reported it - fan, neutral, within the club or outside and you get the feeling it's a whopper. Goodness even the fact that security was heavy handed and searching in those days and the likelihood of getting a ball in there is pretty slim. No it's an utter lie. One to cover/excuse his K*an defence interview which even he in hindsight knows was a bad move. It's an unconvincing lie at that too, showing him once again to be the think unprincipled pond scum that he is. A few other things to note as others have said: the 4 year contract straight after shows he was up to his neck in the muck going on. And for an observant guy he didn't half miss K*an spouting a load of bull and being tactically clueless. Strange how he misses all of that yet spots a cricket ball no one else does... As for complaint about being forced out. Given that's what he was brought to do with a proper right back in Salgado I have little sympathy even if true.

He reminded me of Reid another ex Millwall winger we recruited whose attributes - ie physical with a fair whack of energy - looked far better suited to centre of the park. Of course whilst that worked fantastically for Reid under Hughes, it wasn't really tried with Taylor.

Sorry @chaddyroversi think Schofield was a terrible appointment. For starters how many times does a number 2 or caretaker guy do well at the club they were number 2 at? Almost never. Even us with Hartford have seen this. No idea why chairmen think this will work after it failing time after time. when number 2s do make it, which there is no guarantee of, it's often with another club and a fresh start. Then there was his inexperience. Not ideal at this level to have no managerial experience. It's a steep learning curve. then there's the continuity factor. Whilst they was a big reason for appointing him, given the manager and assistant manager left plus some key players, plus the abrupt nature of him leaving, I do question how much continuity there can be in these circumstances. Also does the plan of eventual successor mean he was ready now? To me I don't think I'd have been pushing continuity in these circumstances. Finally results. Whilst I appreciate in the short-term they can at times be a bit misleading (K*an in the championship, McCarthy's start at Cardiff) they still were pretty poor and not a great indicator that jr was going to come good. In fact they were in danger imo, along with Coventry, of being cut adrift. Wins are key in this division and he just wasn't getting them. So yeah for me it was a bad mistake, which they are looking to quickly rectify.

I totally get where you are coming from and see the reasoning. The problem with this is - beyond is the past forgivable - is you can't draw a line when one party is still screwing over the other. There has been so many muck ups over the last few years alone, and imo, they continue to run us in a shoddy manner. How do you draw a line under things when one party continues to do what caused the rift in the first place? How do you move on when the same issues remain (much less any statement of regret or apology, albeit these are wishful thinking)? How can you draw a line under it when one party clearly and demonstrably doesn't care? Tbh I think the majority or at least a decent number of fans would welcome them. However that doesn't seem to have increased their inclination to be involved or visit. In fact their lack of attendance again underlines why we can't move on. They just don't give a stuff.

YES!!!!!!!!!!! Two top posts showing how Venkys are utterly the problem and not at all the solution. A few things to add: 1) Can we move on from what Venkys have done? I mean they've destroyed a premiership club, loaded debt onto the club and halved the fan base. Is that forgivable? 2) Maybe if there was some regret and things had moved on, perhaps there could be a debate on foegivwness. (It's still too much in my view.) However they clearly still don't care at all about us - evidenced by letting TM have the entirety of the last half of the season, player contracts all running down, state of Ewood, Waggot, to name.a few. It's not just a debate on past crimes - it's still ongoing. To me this negates any discussion of forgiveness. How can you even think of this when they still are harming you? 3) We're slowly sinking under Venkys. Established prem club, relegation candidates and relegated. One of the bigger Championship teams. Now a middling championship team - who haven't even made the playoffs in their reign. The trajectory is all one way and will continue that way. What's there to like?

Really? I'd say the cost of having to replace them may say otherwise! Even standing still (assuming they all do as well, which isn't a given) has cost us a pretty penny. Hopefully they all turn out better and it's hard with hypothetical, but I wonder if all 3 remaining - which would have been cheaper - and the money gone in to one or two additional signings might have been better for us long term. Hard to say as a hypothetical though.

Evening all! Just catching up with the last few days and a few thoughts. 1) Pleased with the loan to buys for us. Given our comparative lack of finance a try before you buy approach limits the risk for us, however if they are good it improves the team for more than one season as we can buy them. 2) Whether now or January - the now depending on of we have adequate replacement(s) lined up - we need to sell Bereton. Replacing him with zero money would be very hard to do. This way we get something for him to help replace him (directly or otherwise.) Yes, there's a danger of us maybe going down without him, however that danger is just as real next season when he definitely won't be here with no money in to replace him. I guess you could say the squad would be better but I doubt it would be vastly better than now both as a) in terms of turnover of players in that time it wouldn't be masses different and b) our budget next year having to prioritise a Bereton replacement.

@mackemlad@SAFCfaninpeace All this talk of a man of integrity is also a load of bull. He is not honest. His biggest/best (worst?) lie was saying Rovers fans still expected 95 and Shearer and Sutton. I mean aside from being absolute bollocks, no failing manager, not even when we were in the premiership ever alluded to such a blatant lie as an excuse. Then there was the lie that the team had to get used to the championship despite the vast majority of the team having some significant experience of the league and us being in league 1 for one whole season. Or explaining a bad start to the season on adjusting to not having Danny Graham that year despite rendering Graham a bit part player the year before. Blaming fans for a players injury. All the other stuff about death spirals and idiotic playing players out of.position is true as well. Yeah, you've got a dud.

I see the media saying how hard done to he was and how hard it was for him to compete without backing. Such selective memories given what he spent in January. Amnesia it seems is rife in football.

A vastly overrated manager. Look at how Fulham improved when he left. Struggled to get them promoted too despite spending a load last season. And clearly unable to do anything when he isn't heavy favourite to win.

Ah sorry it came across more of a statement of fact than an opinion. It's an opinion I share assuming Venkys don't screw him over.

Chaddy, whilst I too think - if properly backed - JDT will come good we can't say for certain that he will come good. It's not a statement we can definitively say! That's not a given or a certainty. Especially if he isn't backed - which is my fear, given how slow deals have been done - he may not come good. And i do worry he won't be supported.

I'd question if 6 is enough! Agree on a centre forward massively. Definitely needed. We need a few more goal threats. In defence - is Carter ready? Is Phillips for that matter? Add in Ayala is injury prone and I do wonder if more cover is needed there. Perhaps not solely a centre back as both full backs need cover too. So I reckon one or two are needed. The Coventry lad being one I presume. Midfield. A ball winner tough guy is essential. We need steel in there. I'd also say a lot of our back up is very young and there are times when they need taking out of the firing line. Unfortunately there's no one to enable them to do that as they are our sole back up. Again there's a question of whether loans for them would be better as well. Attack wise of the 4 positions the hole is covered (so to speak!) by Dack and Siz - the new lad. Left attack by Bereton. We agree on a new central striker, as we need more goal thrwata. As for the wide right attacker not sure who really should hold that place. Hedges seems better this season but unsure if he's the answer. Dolan is hot and cold. The former Spurs lad hasn't played much football. In short all strike me as reserves rather than first 11 options. So by my count that's at least 4 probably like 5 or 6 that we need in to be competitive.

Three? Three?!? I mean given all the gaps we have, and all the outgoings, much less considering anything we heaven forfend might want to improve on, and three is the best that can do to sort this? We are still more than 3 players short. We're short on goals and that's before Bereton goes. We are so thin at CB and are relying on Ayala staying fit. There's little cover at full back, and that's before we even consider the quality there. We are short in midfield, notably steel and experience, and our wide players aren't very rapid or consistent. I get Rome wasn't built in a day but my word, we have way more issues than a further 3 players can address. We're relying on every player pulling their weight and being able to improve. Somehow I doubt that will happen.

Spot on Rev. Only thing I would add is that there's only so many hours in a day to be doing deals - and seemingly even less than that for our lot - so there's also a capacity cost as well as economic to us not signing those 3 up to new deals. It's time taken away from other deals that need doing. In fact given 2 of our 3 new signings seem to be replacements for those who have left, it shows how much of a loss it has been on so many different levels not signing them up. Even numerically another 2 signings without those 3 having left would leave us in a much stronger position.

To be honest the issues with the squad have been years in the making right back to our second full season in the Championship. We let a stunningly promising (now Premiership) keeper leave to replace him with a very limited forward, which given the forward line has sod all investment since then and we have a promote from within policy over the last 3 years, makes it an even bigger clanger. Factor in the defenders are coming only came in on loan and we were shoving as many problems as we could down the line. The end of the last but one season we had a mass clear out of an admittedly bloated squad albeit the numbers out compared with in made us worryingly vulnerable to issues and light on numbers. Factor in Elliott wasn't replaced, nor our 20+ goal striker Armstrong, and you could see the problems rapidly adding up. At the end of last season letting 3 first teamers leave for nothing, does nothing to help our cause either in terms of numbers or funding replacements. In fact that was a master stroke to decimate an already depleted squad, and with Bereton seemingly not signing a new contract or going either, it seems the depletion without investment will continue. The reliance and loss of strong loans continued to haunt us as well as last seasons player of the year also bogged off leaving even bigger holes in the defence. If just finding the loan gems was the majority of the summer tasks that wouldn't be too bad but instead it's yet another crucial piece of the jigsaw on top of so many others. Of course there have been a few additions albeit an injury prone old centre back was never going to help the cause, and whilst there may be potential in the lad from Spurs, we cannot afford another 3 year slow burner/late developer like Bereton as gaps appear far, far more quickly. (Debatable if we could have afforded that then but now is a certainty not to.) Add all of this up and my word, we are struggling. We've half a squad to still fill. It's been a problem years in the making, and leaves a huge amount of work for a competent ownership to do, much less our lot.

They are financially up the creak so to speak without a paddle. Hugely over FFP and heading for sanctions unless they arrest that this year. Added to issues of an aging squad - well key players aging and a few who have deals running down. All in all its suboptimal conditions to adjust for FFP, hence why they haven't brought anyone.

To be fair losing 3 first teamers with zero income to replacement, a player of the season on loan, plus the fact we didn't replace the 2 best players from the year before (Elliott & Armstrong) - add all of that together and it's no wonder there will be a struggle. Last time we lost 2 very good championship centre backs with no Dosh for replacements it ended very badly for us. The squad is just as thin but imo at least the first 11 is better this time round.

It's not about the results though 😂 Tell you what if last year was for the taking this year the early evidence is it's being given away. Norwich have only managed to beat a seemingly relegation favourite (a former condenser), Burnley have an entirely new team and a novice manager who don't seem to have gelled yet, Swansea are relentlessly favouring style over substance. Very early days so not to get carried away but there doesn't seem any team to be scared of in this division.

Tough win against 12 men. Makes up for COVID & sickness bug this week. JDT is a magician. Getting a tune out of Gally, has us winning games, what a guy! This shows our need for squad depth but then we all knew - and Lord JDT himself said - we need more players.

I think that's one of my favourite interviews of all times. So refreshing, so encouraging to hear! Great stuff! Shame about the typo in the TM reference (It's spelt self interested) but my word we seem to have a manager with a bit of nous, ambition and who knows what he is doing. Is it really Rovers?

That's because the squad was knackered and battered from progressing well in 3 cup competitions. We didn't really have the squad for it but it was a heroic effort from them to do so.