Am I right in saying that JDT has gone but no official statement from the club has been issued confirming it. Am I also right in saying that John Eustace is coming in but no official statement from the club has been issued confirming it.

Loads of snow. A pitch looking like the surface of Mars. David Mail's attempted headed clearance (start at 0.20). Brilliant.

I was going to post then saw yours. Surely the EFL have pdf pro or docusign capabilities. Edit: I saw KentExile's link. It is digital.

I could well be proven wrong. It's Kansas City v. San Francisco in the Superbowl. Both teams benefitted from opposition errors to win their games, rather than their own good play. The Superbowl is always a good day out, I'm looking forward to it as usual.

I too am happy to have them back. Jon Champion and Stuart Robson were commentating for ESPN. They were both raving about Gallagher. Dolan looked bright - but he could spend the next game running down blind alleys such is his inconsistency. It turned into a very easy win. You can only beat what's in front of you and Rovers did exactly that. I'd have taken Szmodics off as soon as the 4th went in.

That was the biggest highlight of his career. He wasn't expensive, only £1.5m, but still an odd signing. His Wikipedia shows an unremarkable career; Graham Fenton - Wikipedia I had forgotten that David Batty scored for them that day.

PED's? I've not heard that one. Any sources?

Graham Fenton was another who came in and didn't do anything.

Sickening? I think that you need to lighten up a bit. One of the world's biggest football club's manager decides to leave without any notice. It's a big story. If JDT leaves we'll get nary a shrug in the national media, but it's not bias, it's reality. Rovers aren't international news. I think Klopp is great. The Premier League will miss him. There are lots of unhappy Scousers around today, and lots of Man U fans hoping for a Moyes style descent into mediocrity. I'll echo others that Alonso ticks the replacement boxes; ex player (helps apparently), seemingly very impressive. Would he go to Liverpool then Real?

You can go further with that one; Kenny Dogleash. Paul Sheepstone. Peter Thorne-bird Lark Hughes Ally-gator Dawson Simon Barker Owl Brotherston Mark Batkins or Catkins Jon Steed Hake Garrett I'll stop now.

Guardiola is a superb manager. is he good because he's only had the best jobs, or did he get the best jobs because he's that good? Mancini and Pelligrini won titles at City but didn't have the sustained success. I used to say it about Mourinho; if he was that good he should take the Stanely job and get them into the Prem. Could Guardiola do it? I think Mourinho's style would have been better suited to it. Anyway, it's hypothetical and Mourinho has certainly fallen off his early 2000's perch. He started at Barcelona after an internal promotion and hit the jackpot. His home grown players dwarfed the "class of 92". Valdes, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pedro, I'll include Pique and Messi too. This allowed him to play his way from the off as they all knew what to do. It also allowed him to buy good players to complement them. As mentioned he also benefitted from some under the table antics from the club. His stint at Bayern was successful but the playing field was at least level. He's been great for City but they are knee deep in shiftiness. UEFA let them off the hook when they were caught bang to rights. I think their owner told UEFA something along the lines of - do it, and we'll sue because we have enough money to pay for the best lawyers forever. Will the FA buckle too?

48 hours later and I am still smarting over watching the worst half of football I've seen in a long time. It was awful. I said it in September and I'll say it again now; this Rovers team is too small, has no pace, and no old heads to teach the young lads the ropes. It's a recipe for disaster. It's sad to say but the 10 or so points needed to stay up need to come quickly.

They won't win it this year. The temperature for their game tomorrow is going to be absolutely freezing. -15oC at kickoff.

ESPN+ streams all FA Cup games so I'll be watching no matter what time it's on.

The NFL playoffs start this weekend. I always enjoy watching them. Top seeds this year are Baltimore (AFC), and San Fransisco (NFC). It's hard to look past either of them making it to the Superbowl. Both get a first round bye, and both get to play their game(s) at home. This weekend's games are; Kansas City v. Miami Buffalo v. Pittsburgh Houston v. Cleveland Dallas v. Green Bay Detroit v. LA Rams Tampa Bay v. Philadelphia

I think it was When Saturday Comes (is it still going?) that had promo one issue; "free inside, A Mickey Thomas tenner". I had a mate who was pals with a few Wrexham YTS lads during the time it all happened. He said that the dressing room was awash with the dodgy cash. As for the game, Rovers should win this one. Despite all the glitz Wrexham are still league 2 newcomers. Rovers, even with all their woes, have much better footballers. There will be plenty of US interest in this game.

Rooney did a decent job under extraneous circumstances at Derby. His stint at DC United was unremarkable so other than the fact that he is Wayne Rooney - a once wonderful player - why did Birmingham hire him? If Lampard and Zola are in the frame it seems like Tom Brady and his mates are falling for the celebrity line again. Both are failures in management. I'm all for them getting the job though as it will benefit Rovers. Was it Brian Clough who had a blank chapter in his book titled "what the average chairman knows about football."

It would but I'm in the loss camp again. Leeds are too strong. Leicester won easily at Ewood, Leeds are the other team in the division who look a class above and are likely to do the same. Roves don't have the greatest record against Leeds either. Rovers won - 32 Leeds won - 47 Draw - 23

They were. City couldn't get out of their own half. It does seem different this year. I don't think Arsenal's squad is anything special (Saliba, Odegaard, Rice, Saka, aside) but they are ploughing on. Liverpool's only loss was controversial yet they look shaky at the back. Spurs but are entertaining. Maddison's injury is a shame for them. Emery has Villa playing well. I saw them against Liverpool early on and they were poor. City will bounce back, De Bruyne will return, and if needed they'll splash the cash in January. They seem to suffer without Rodri. Kovacic, Nunes, and disappearing act Kalvin Phillips can't replicate what he does. Stones played in midfield last night. As good as Rodri is he is slow and is good for a booking, especially for one of Guardiola's "tactical" fouls when someone gets the wrong side of him. He was banned for last night's game after accumulating 5 yellows. He's also been sent off this season. Even further down teams aren't rolling over. Wolves, Palace, Bournemouth get the odd result. Burnley and Sheff Utd are the worst 2 teams in the division. Luton have no quality at all but are making a fist of it, especially at home. Man U and Chelsea played last night. Ordinarily this game would have been hyped up to no end yet it was an afterthought. Between them they won 9 of the 11 titles on offer from 2004-05 to 2014-15. Both teams are so far away from getting back there. They have spent so much money on who knows what. Fernandez, Mudryk, and Caicedo, cost Chelsea over £300m. Man U paid £80m for Antony, £70m+ for Hojlund. Imagine if they didn't sign those 5 and instead donated that money to football league teams. Neither team would be worse off and all 72 league clubs would have £6m to work with.

I heard a story years ago that Rovers wanted Gary McAllister from Leeds. Howard Wilkinson said no, so Rovers came back with "how about Batty then?" They said yes and I'm glad that they did. He was superb for Rovers. He won player of the season ahead of Shearer. He spent most of the title season injured. Then left for Newcastle not too long after.

ESPN has a couple of articles up at the moment criticising him too. He scored 30 goals last season, but only 5 the season prior. I rate Rashford. I have said time and again that he needs to leave Man U in order to improve. He's too comfortable. Him being a hometown boy has allowed him to get away with what he has. Fans will give him more leeway, and it looks like managers do too.

One aspect of watching Premier League over here is that I rarely, if ever, listen to pundits after games. I am stuck with them at half time but there is no match of the day to watch at night so no chance for enlightened chat. City-Spurs was an interesting game. I thought that Spurs were awful. They should have been 4 or 5 down by half time. Far too much stupid play at the back followed by bad decision making when attacking. Emerson Royal was an accident waiting to happen. He looked about as steady as someone on a unicycle holding plates of jelly. Liverpool played every game available in 2021-22 and suffered for it last season. City are doing much better but something is missing. They are conceding far too many goals, and De Bruyne isn't going to fix that when he's back,. Speaking of Liverpool, they are also conceding goals far too regularly. They were miles better than Fulham but couldn't keep them out, and it took a late flurry to win it. As for Man U. Another woeful performance. I don't think that Ten Hag is the magical coach many want him to be.

I'm not doubting that there are dodgy UEFA officials. What I am saying is that referees are not on the take. Both the on pitch and in room VAR officials are making colossal errors due to one second guessing the other leading to indecision. There isn't a Mr. Big at UEFA HQ telling them what decisions to make to influence games. Nor are the Emiratis, Saudi, Qataris, and other big pocketed owners showering referees with jewels. In years past it has happened. Marseille. The dodgy Belgian (I think) ref from years back who admitted taking bribes. Franco's influence on Real Madrid teams, and who knows what the former iron curtain teams were up to in the 70's and 80's. The amount of money in European football, and the blanket prevalence of gambling makes it too much of a risk to upset it.

Go on then, fill me in on the details.

I'm with you, this has got a Rovers loss written all over it. Chance for 5 away wins in a row. Playing bottom of the league. Potential bad weather. Current division top scorer riding high. Up to 7th.