Did they get some 'Nearly Winners' medals? ?

Some people seem to be writing him off already - based on a very limited number of minutes, being not match fit and playing out wide. £6/7m may be a lot to Rovers these days - but in the grand scheme of things it's not a big fee in the modern era.

Think it's obvious from what we've seen so far that he's not a winger - although hard to judge until he's got a few matches under his belt in all fairness. The stats also show we play quite a lot of long balls and rely quite a bit on Danny Graham with his hold up play and knock downs - and if he's fit, Graham starts. So I wondered if a 4-3-1-2 would ever be an option. Raya Nyambe - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Bell Bennett - Evans - Reed Dack Brereton - Graham The full backs would have to provide the width - but there is plenty of protection from that midfield three if they get caught out of position. Dack is pretty much a free-role, and then Brereton can play upfront with Graham. There are also several players in that side who can play in different positions if you need to alter the formation during a game.

I went for Graham. Thought he was excellent personally with his hold up play, flick ons and knock downs. Saw a few people on the match thread suggest he was poor. Think they need to have a quiet word with themselves.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/very-mixed-team-news-aston-15149625 The Birmingham Mail reporting 'Very Mixed Team News' for Rovers. Very mixed news. That's like being offered the opportunity to spend the night with any two women of your choice, but having the excitement dampened by the fact you've run out of Vimto.

What slightly concerns me - is the jump in offer. I'm hoping they've not been encouraged that either the club would accept a significantly higher offer, or the players agent has suggested he is keen on the move.

How do you know we'll only start to pay in four months? There could be a chunk upfront as a loan fee. I'd ignore the wording as 'option to buy'. It's probably got to be worded in a certain way to get through the loophole of us technically signing him after the transfer window has shut. It's probably just been advised that 'option to buy' is the best way of wording the deal within the rules.

I think Sam Johnstone has wanted to leave Manchester United for years - but they've only allowed him out on loan purely for the fact he counted towards their homegrown quota. It's only this summer he finally got to leave permanently.

You shouldn't be forgetting Jeff Kenna. Or Berg. I remember in 95/96 and you were only allowed about 4 foreign players in your Champions League match day squad - and Colin Hendry and Kevin Gallacher were classed as foreigners in those days.

A fair point. However, I do also think that the fact we have a number of players pushing for places in the first team that have come through the youth ranks also builds the bond between supporters and the players as a group. The likes of Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis etc.

Yeah I think Williams father was an American in the army stationed in Germany and his mother was Irish.

And interestingly enough Williams was born in Germany and the Canadian was born in Switzerland.

But you hear of it far more at football clubs with a large contingent of players from one country or who speak one language. There seems to be a real team spirit at the moment, and I think it helps having a mainly British group.

I think it is relevant. As I mentioned on another thread, Garry Flitcroft claimed that the best team spirit he ever played in was the 2000/01 squad - which was due to having a strong core of British players. You don't get your little groups of French/Portuguese/Spanish speaking players just forming little clicks. Nothing wrong with having foreign players - but I'd suggest a heavily British core of players helps the team spirit and reduces the chances of clicks forming.

You've got to give massive credit to Mowbray for the transformation of the squad over the last 15 months. Suddenly we have got competition for places. It's a very 'British' looking squad as well - with a massive number of British born players. I remember Garry Flitcroft suggesting the best team spirit he ever played in was when we got promoted - and the squad were predominantly British and all got on well. While this squad might not have the quality of the 2000/01 promotion squad - it certainly seems to have the spirit. You look at the number of youngsters with potential to develop further/be sold for more money in the squad - and that's far more promising than 15 months ago. Raya 22, Bell 24, Lenihan 24, Nyambe 20, Dack 24, Davenport 19, Travis 20, Armstrong 21, Brereton 19. OK, a number of those were here 15 months ago, but I bet they've all improved under Mowbray. Really impressed with how the squad is taking shape - and I'd struggle to pick a first eleven at the moment - which is a good thing.

Nothing wrong with his statement. I'd be more concerned if he said he was happy to sit on the bench and pick up a wage. Competition for places is good.

I am actually quite excited by this signing. He's exactly the sort of player that seems to thrive at Rovers - the sort that has talent but has lost their way. The lad just wants to play football. He's wanted out of Sunderland for obvious reasons - but they've been insisting on a £5 million fee - which no-one has been prepared to pay. He's had offers from Turkey (he went over and didn't fancy it) and Russia (but was concerned about the racism). It wasn't his fault that Sunderland gave him a massive contract which didn't have the normal 50% salary reduction on relegation clause. The figures I've heard were that he was on roughly £80k in the Premier League - around £70k in the Championship - and around £35k/£40k in League One. Sunderland have obviously been forced to not demand the £5m fee they were looking for. He was made to train with BOTH the first team and youth teams at Sunderland in an effort to force him out. He was also unpopular with the players purely because of the amount of the wage budget he was taking up. But again, that wasn't his fault. He's wanted to comeback to the North West for a bit - specifically Southport. Realistically that was going to mean Rovers, PNE, Bolton or Wigan. I'd have been gutted had he gone to one of the other three. As long as we have got him at reasonable wages - and I've no reason to think we won't have done - he can start enjoying his football again and show what a good player he can be.

I don't think people will risk £20m on Dack until he's shown he can do it at least at Championship Level. If he has a good season in the Championship though, I would expect the Premier League clubs to be sniffing around before long. £20m is nothing in today's market either sadly.

Great collection. The Shearer boot is tempting.

When we were linked with Valeri Domovchiyski years ago, I edited his wikipedia page before the media reported the story, to suggest he had run the 100m in under 10 seconds. This was then reported by numerous news outlets as being true. Was that a fact as it was more than 3 news sources reporting it?

This 1000 domestic goals is somewhat controversial. More than 500 of those were in friendlies or unofficial matches. He's basically counted goals he scored in his back garden.

David Thompson was twice called up for England by Sven Goran Eriksen - but he never actually made an appearance - so he was on the verge of the England squad. Absolute top player when he was fit and on form.