From the years I've been watching Rovers, I reckon this team would be pretty hard:

Kelly

Salgado, Samba, Todd, Hendry, Givet

J.Jones, Flitcroft, Hughes

Shearer, Bellamy

Probably not the most creative, but you wouldn't need many chances with that front two. 

14 hours ago, Southside Rover said:

Imagine Keane and Zidane....

Midfield trio of Keane, Zidane and Super Atko.

15 hours ago, RoversTilliDie said:

Both Telovic and Ennis on the scoresheet in Rovers 7-1 win against Preston for the under 21s, yet both absent in the 1-2 defeat against Preston at Ewood. Doesn't make sense to me.

Presumably because there is a difference between playing against 16 and 17 year old scholars and grown men. PNE only had one professional playing. 

On 17/11/2023 at 21:00, Oldgregg86 said:

Always thought he was  as playing above the level he should be . Was never good enough to be a rover

Absolutely. The spell at Rovers and a few England U19 caps are definitely out of keeping with the rest of his career.

24 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If he’s not starting against Stoke some serious questions should be being asked.

Just been having a look at his record over the past 5 seasons.

Completed 90 minutes:

19/20 - 9

20/21 - 12

21/22 - 6

22/23 - 4

23/24 - 0

14 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

You could say the same of any of Speight, Neill, Nelsen, Gayle, Reid, Hendry, Berg, Givet,  Baptiste, Jones, Salgado or Mokoena. 

Regarding Salgado:

Steve McManaman attested to his aggressive style by describing him as "the hardest person in the world....a genuine psychopath, even in training."^[

28 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Savage were hard too.

Give over! Absolute wind up merchant - definitely not one I'd class as hard.

I like this story about the time Dean Windass was going to punch him and he claimed a random couple were his mum and dad....

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/savage-parents-dean-windass-punch-30362786

8 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Do we need to pay a fee? I can't remember the situation surrounding his contract/club. 

I thought GB was on record saying we already had a deal in place to sign him up for the long term?

His contract is up with his Russian club at the end of this season, so assume he will be free

Everton receive immediate 10 point deduction 😮

18 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Now I do have it but even I’m well out the loop, the World Cup proved that when the commentators would go ‘here’s player x of Aston Villa/Fulham/West Ham’ and I honestly wouldn’t have recognised them if they’d walked past me.

Same here. Show me a photo of a Premier League player from the mid-90s and I'd be able to name 99% of them.

I bet I'd struggle to name 30% now. 

Thought that might be the difference between me being 10 and almost 40.

Football 365 have ranked current keepers based on how many goals they've been expected to concede vs how many goals they've actually conceded this season. 

https://www.football365.com/news/feature-premier-league-keepers-ranked-2023-24-psxg

Jason Steele is ranked 21/22 - conceding 2.5 more goals than he would have been expected to based on shots faced.

James Trafford is ranked 19/22 - conceded 1.5 more than expected. Waste of money.

David Raya is ranked 11/22 - conceded 0.8 less than expected.

Thomas Kaminski is ranked 1/22 - conceding 4.1 less than expected. 

"Made five saves v Liverpool before letting that one in from Luis Diaz. And then somehow kept out Rasmus Hojlund. He has excelled himself this season even though he is yet to keep a clean sheet"

16 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

he`s had the sack more times than a father christmas  in january

3 times?

Burnley haven't beaten an English side at home in more than 7 months (10th April) 

I work in Burnley so subject myself to numerous supporters on a daily basis unfortunately.

One season ticket holder didn't even bother with their last home game - preferring to take his kid to the park.

Sad state of affairs that the gulf between the Championship and Premier League is getting wider and wider. 

Definitely half a chance this season that the top 3 in the Championship will be all of last seasons relegated clubs and the bottom 3 in the Premier League will be all 3 promoted clubs. Not sure if that's happened before or not.

Sigurdsson winner incoming 

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Not as embarrassing as when I congratulated “ Jeff Kenna “ on having a fine debut for Rovers only to be told I was actually speaking to Tony Gale !

When we were kids we once went to watch PNE v Burnley with my dads work in hospitality. After the game I managed to persuade my brother to ask Gerry Harrison for his autograph - on a poster of Mark Rankine. My brother didn't think to check the difference in skin colour before he made the request - he was mortified.

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I never pre-judge games to be honest. We won there a few times when I didn’t think it was possible. Of course some of those games we had Brad in goal ! Didn’t we win one  2-1 with 1 actual shot on goal ? Dunny and an OG being the scorers. Then there was the FA Cup game down there when we were really shit but still won !

I guarantee you're the first person in history to mistake Dwight Yorke for David Dunn 

53 minutes ago, Displaced Rover said:

Interesting stat, we have looked a lot more solid with him in the team, but doesn't that add up to more games than we've played? 15 league + 3 league cup = 18?

Four league cup games - Walsall, Harrogate, Cardiff, Chelsea.

16 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

 

And in the meantime we have to suffer his costly mistakes and errors. We lost out on the play-offs last year on goal difference and how many points were thrown away through goalkeeping mistakes?

The point is, I'm tired of watching a succession of Rovers "in progress" goalkeepers when there are experienced, perfectly good finished articles around at lower levels of the game who we could have signed and who don't make crass blunders week after week.

I was right behind the goal when Wahlstedt threw one in the net at Millwall a few weeks ago and (apart from perhaps Ray Clemence v Scotland and one of two others I recall) in 60 plus years of watching I've never seen anything like it in the pro game. 

Whilst I agree with what you're saying in principal - in relation to preferring an experienced keeper...

To say you've never seen anything like that in the pro game in 60 plus years is a stretch.

Check out some of the errors here. 

15 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Comparing Wahlstedt to Friedel, ho hum. It’s like marrying a plain girl and hoping she’ll turn into Sophia Loren. Friedel was for sure a late developer and so it appears is Steele at Brighton after being worse than useless at Rovers but I just don’t see it with this guy. Hope I’m wrong of course but it will be “fun” watching him fumble and flap and cost us numerous points over the next few years on his way to the goalkeeping summit. 

I'm not comparing Friedel to Wahlstedt at all - just pointing out most keepers don't peak until 30+. Pears is still very young at 25 as well.

David De Gea was a flapping liability when he first joined United. Looked awful on crosses. Went on to be their player of the year four times.

Has he been good so far? Not particularly. Does it mean he won't become a very good goalkeeper - absolutely not.

I keep seeing people worrying about Ched Evans. He's played less than 90 minutes of football in almost 8 months. 

Let them worry about us.

18 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Win/draw/loss all equal chance.

Why’s that 2/1 and not 3/1?

It would be 2/1 for all 3 outcomes if it was an equal chance.

£10 on a 2/1 returns £30. So if you put £10 on each outcome at 2/1 - you'd get your money back.

If each outcome was 3/1 you'd have some very poor bookies and rich punters.

14 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Would that be odds of 3/1 then?

No - 2/1