DE.

McLoughlin was a backup at Hull wasn't he? On that basis he's done alright for us. He wasn't an upgrade on anything we had, but he's about what I expected. Miller has been hit and miss. His long throw isn't effective though which is disappointing. Alebiosu is the star pick of our summer business, and imo it isn't even a contest. Really good player. Gudjohnsen is a solid poacher but has very little else to his game. For the market we're in, though, he can be considered a success for sure. Personally I like Morishita and think he'll continue to improve as time goes on. TGH is... well, he's there. Doesn't really do anything wrong, but not a game changer either. Adequate utility man. The rest were a waste of money.

Can't say I'd be surprised if I found out the club had just left him to his own devices rather than ensuring he was getting the best care. Let's hope it's just a bullshit story though.

Lol, didn't realise there was such a split in the fan base when Kidd was sacked. The bloke clearly wasn't cut out to be a first team manager. Score one for Uncle Jack there.

We all know where this ends, too. If we aren't willing to pay decent Championship wages we will soon not be playing in the Championship anymore. Those in charge may be arrogant enough to believe they have the secret to success that bypasses the need to pay proper wages, but they will find they are wrong. We've already bombed from playoff contenders to relegation scrappers within half a season - it won't be long before they do enough damage to relegate us. Could still happen this season, although I think we may be saved by Oxford and Portsmouth (Sheff Weds are obv already goners).

I mean, all players have bad games. We can hope Brittain has a poor game again when they play us, but by all accounts for most of this season he's very much been as good as them as he was for us in his final season or so. I'm expecting he'll come into the game with a bit of extra motivation to perform.

Yeah Brittan has been pretty good for them. Weird for anyone to be casting shade on them signing him when we're 20th and they're 2nd.

Think we'd be fortunate for lightning to strike twice. Alebiosu has been a revelation but I expect another cheap punt will end up closer to the Tavares/De Neve/Henriksson category.

It was wrong, yes, and I'd admitted that I got mixed up with something else. My apologies.

Considering the edit is in the post you quoted, this is a baffling response.

He's just manic energy when he comes onto the pitch. If "uncultured midfielder" was a descriptor then that would be him 😆 he's not anywhere close to the biggest of our problems in fairness, I just wish we'd been a lot smarter last summer.

You're right, I was thinking of another post where I conflated Miller, Alebiosu & McLoughlin's fees, and indeed it is Euros rather than pounds. With that said, we still could have got a very good Championship CB for €3.5m - even if a chunk of that was add-ons and bonuses. I'd have taken that over three useless players.

I don't think even our best first eleven is a top six team, honestly. Comfortably mid-table, yes, but I wouldn't go any further than that. Too many inconsistent players - but when you pay minimal fee and wages, you can't expect any more than that. It's a lower quality league this season for sure. If we'd kept a couple of our experienced players, and spent the circa £4.3m wasted on Tavares, De Neve and Henriksson on one really solid Championship player, we would definitely have a team capable of the top six. Whether Ismael could deliver that as manager is doubtful, mind. Edit: As KentExile pointed out below, my £4.3m figure is inaccurate for the players specified - amend to around €3.5m (incl add ons, bonuses etc).

Oxford's form has been pretty terrible as of late, that random win against Ipswich aside, and there have not been any signs the situation is going to improve. If the club have ambitions to stay in the division, and believe they have a squad that can achieve this, I can understand them rolling the dice - if they've identified someone sensible and pragmatic to give the team a bit of a boost. Whilst I do think Rowett is a decent manager at this level, it's possible he'd just run out of steam at Oxford. Sometimes a change is best for both parties.

Thanks Chaddy. I put a fair few hours into each of these, so it's nice to hear that you find value in them👍 sometimes work/life commitments get in the way of making them as detailed as I'd like, especially during the midweek match periods, but I try to put some interesting stuff in there regardless. It's a fascinating league to cover, these really only scratch the surface.

I remember during some of Gueye's early matches he had some nice link up play with the other forwards. He's not a total disaster, but he's definitely regressed massively since Eustace left. The biggest issue, by far, is that he's a striker who can't shoot properly. It's not hard to see why his goalscoring record is so poor. He's not too bad at heading towards the goal, but his on pitch intelligence is not really suitable for this level and he's often just not in the right position even when a decent cross comes in. If he had just a bit more ability he could definitely have been a cult hero type player for us. Sadly I think he's a little below Championship standard in most respects. I think in a different league and with a different team he could be effective, not as a regular goalscorer but as a disruptor. It won't be here though.

My contributions are nothing compared to the amount of work put into the website and the community by many others, but nonetheless I'm very proud to play some part of it. The tireless efforts to enhance and expand BRFCS, a lot of it unseen, are something special and I certainly don't take it for granted. If there's a better run traditional football forum and fan site on the internet I am yet to see it. Massive kudos to everyone involved. If those running things at Ewood had a tenth of the passion, commitment and love for Blackburn Rovers that the BRFCS community has, the club would be in a much better place. There may be differing opinions on here, but I have no doubt that all regular contributors here ultimately want nothing but the best for the club. Happy Christmas and New Year to all.

Toth absolutely must return to No1 spot when he's fit again. It only takes one mistake for Pears' confidence to drain and then you get repeated mistakes for multiple games. We would ideally see Toth back in the sticks before that occurs this time. Pears has proven himself a capable backup. Not sure if he's on backup wages, mind.

On his day Big Mak can cause problems. Unfortunately those days are few and far between, and I think when he's unmotivated they are essentially non-existent. I'd certainly play an academy player ahead of Gueye at this point.

Even if they don't quite get there this year, they've got a strong foundation to build on if they're smart over the next few years. Granted this season really does seem like the best chance to break the Old Firm monopoly, with both teams struggling far more than you'd expect.

The £5m fee was certainly a bit of an albatross around Gallagher's neck. If we'd bought him for £500k you'd say he did quite alright for us over the years. £5m though, especially back then, was a lot of money and at this level should mean somebody able to come in and have an instant and sustained impact. But yeah, playing him out of position likely held his development back quite a bit. He was never going to be an effective wide man. He didn't have the skillset for that. He should have been coached in how to use his frame to good effect up top. He was never going to be a lethal scorer, but he had the potential to be a nightmare for defenders to deal with. Instead he just drifted into mediocrity before injuries done him in towards the end. Diaz would have been worth the £7m to Venky's if we'd sold him for profit (and it's down to pure incompetence that we didn't). From the team/fans pov I'm not sure he was ever really worth that. He did have two very strong half-season purple patches, but when he lost confidence he was hopeless. A £7m player in the championship simply can't be a confidence player, they have to be effective regardless. When he was lacking confidence he barely registered a goal or assist for multiple games. You'd also expect a £7m player to be able to pull a team up by the bootstraps and he didn't do that either. If the team played badly, so did he. Again, if we'd paid less for him you'd say he did alright for us in the end. £7m for two half season purple patches, though... not so much. With that said, some fans made a lot of money from his 20 goal half season, so I'm sure they consider him a success!

Hearts apparently the first team to win four consecutive games against the Old Firm since the mid-80s. Fair play. One of the biggest obstacles for any underdog team to overcome is dealing with the pressure of facing a team with a big reputation. It's a psychological barrier rather than strictly talent or even form related. Definitely suggests they're the real deal this season.

I see Frank has been reduced to tantrums over referees and VAR already. I would humbly suggest your team just needs to be a bit more disciplined.

I think there was a player there in SG. His attributes could have been moulded into something useful. Not necessarily a traditional footballer but certainly a thorn in the side of the opposition. Allardyce could have made something out of Gallagher. He just needed someone to teach him how to use his build effectively and what positions to take up during specific passages of play. I don't think Mowbray or JDT were the right kind of managers for him. Eustace might have been, but by that point he was injury prone and his time here was coming to an end.

This is exactly it. Gudjohnsen just has that striker's instinct. He knows where to be and the movement needed to get there. Gallagher simply does not have this, and he'll never be a proper goalscorer as a result. Mowbray shunted him out on the right to try and make use of his work ethic, but even then his technical limitations made him fairly ineffective. It was rare that I felt Gallagher didn't put the effort in, but during his entire tenure here it never felt like there was a position he was truly comfortable in. I think his best bet would have been as part of a two up top, but we rarely played that way.

I would have rather kept Buckley than sign Tavares, especially if we actually paid money for the latter (for my own sanity I will assume the £2m reported fee is dependent on many clauses). Bucko didn't turn out to be anywhere near as good as was hyped up, but he's still a better Championship player than Tavares. One imagines signing a striker would be dependent on shifting Gueye, which may be difficult. Especially when there are videos being released of his own team mates mocking him.