DE.

Not sure how professional it is to tell strangers on LinkedIn that players wanted to leave, and got offered contracts but went for more money elsewhere.

It was ever thus. Some are genuinely just very optimistic people. Some just like to wind people up. Some swing between optimism and pessimism depending on which way the wind blows. Regardless of the reason, it only becomes a problem when the personal digs or attempts at thread moderation begin.

If Pears has any confidence in himself, and the hierarchy truly want him gone, then mutual termination might be best for him and the club. I suppose it depends on whether the club think they can eventually get a fee for him either in January or next summer that recoups the wages lost paying a player who they have no intention of putting on the pitch. The sensible option would be to reintegrate him as second choice, obviously, as he's not going anywhere until January at the earliest and the only other goalkeeper at the club with proper senior experience.

The idea that clearing out the decks was necessary after comfortably finishing 7th or 8th in 3 of the last 4 seasons is very odd to me. I don't understand the idea that we needed an "overhaul" when we finished 7th last season, barely missing out on the playoffs. You keep your core players and build around them. You identify areas in the first 11 that can be improved and sign players who should be able to push the team on. It's what we haven't done well enough over the past five or six years. We've mostly just signed players who have kept us at the same level, or more recently had managers able to squeeze as much as possible out of an increasingly limited squad. You don't sell all of your Championship experience and replace it with mostly cheap gambles from lesser leagues. That's a plan which has a miniscule chance of actually being successful. Selling a first team centre back with no replacement, even worse. I understand people want to have hope, but I can't see this transfer window as anything other than a catastrophe.

Tronstad recently turned 30, so there's two.

The issue I have with this is that if he's such a good player, why is he being loaned out with an option to buy after only signing for the club in February? I appreciate Brum have spent money and signed a lot of players, but as a young player and utility man you'd assume he'd be useful to keep around if he's decent.

Oh fuck off. (them, not you)

It really does feel like if somebody whose only experience was Football Manager was given full control of the transfer strategy. Unfortunately in real life you can't download a tactic that breaks the game engine.

There were rumours about Taylor Gardner-Hickman - not seen anything suggesting it's happened, though. Might be the club keeping it quiet. Didn't see anyone else linked. Looks like the club have pocketed the Hyam cash and are fine with letting even more Championship experience walk out the door. After our blistering start to the season I suppose they think we can cope with it.

I think, regardless of owners, the EFL will be fairly strict on the matter. Allowing one club to slip through the deadline, even on a technicality, sets a precedent and opens the floodgates in future. Probably more sensible to just take a hard line with everyone.

I suppose it's just a case of having a soft and a hard deadline. The former encompassing the initial paperwork between clubs, and the latter relating to ironing out the final details. You could call 9pm the 'real' deadline, with 7pm being more like a final call for any deals concluded between the clubs but with player terms still to be thrashed out.

Possible they may just be run professionally and actually get it done on time tbf.

Probably exactly what the EFL sent back to us when we appealed O'Brien and McGuire.

It wasn't that long ago we were turning down higher bids for the likes of BBD and Rothwell, supposedly at the owners' behest, preferring to retain their abilities rather than allow them to leave (rightly or wrongly). Now £2.7m for our main CB on deadline day, with no replacement, is something we 'can't turn down'. I don't see this as some masterful evolution of our strategy to stop players leaving on a free - it's the taps being turned off and us needing to claw in whatever transfer money we can, whilst making sure the wage bill continues to drop. It would be interesting to know what the actual terms of our permanent transfers are, in terms of how the fees are being paid, and how these signings contrast with a like-for-like comparison to the wage savings of those being replaced.

Come on now, I was trying to muster some optimism.

Ah, some classic forward thinking by the Rovers Brain Trust. No need to spend any money next season if we've already signed a team ready for League One.

Might be loaning some utility player Brum don't need.

JDT saw the writing on the wall too. Nobody with any serious ambition would stick around for this. The end result is obvious and you'd only be managing here if nothing better was available for you.

If it happened earlier in the window, fair enough. Last year of contract and we aren't willing to pay the going rate for a decent, experienced Championship player, so it is what it is. Now, though? Disgraceful and just proves it's all about cutting costs, pocketing cash and arrogantly assuming Ismael will emulate JDT and Eustace in performing miracles - despite a shit win percentage thus far, 4 defeats in 5 to start the season and a significantly less experienced squad than his predecessors. Either total idiocy or managed decline. Take your pick. Choose both if you're feeling especially fiesty.

No point loaning him out unless there's a better loanee lined up to come straight in as a replacement.

Can't say I have any strong feelings towards Ismael one way or the other. The problems at Rovers run so deep that focusing on the manager seems pointless. He's come in with the remit to turn chicken shit into chicken salad, if he can't do it then all ire should be on those who decided to downgrade a team that was previously comfortably finishing top half in all but one of the past four seasons. I just feel nothing about the guy at all. Absolutely nothing. He's just a name to me.

That's why my remark was a question and not a judgement. It's quite right to have those questions when we've lost four of our first five games, including to lower league opposition.

I don't think we have to worry about effort from the squad - the majority of them will put in a shift. The question mark is over their quality and their ability to gel as a team, particularly when you have so many different nationalities not just coming into the team as new players, but coming into English football in general as new players. It's a lot to ask in the short-term for them to all be on the same wavelength. When the core on-pitch leadership of the squad is pushed out, you lose that central point which new signings can anchor themselves to as they adapt to being part of a team.

Trav should have been sent off today, never mind booked. Blatantly kicked an Ipswich player in the face.