DE.

Think he's on about £60k a week, so even if they have him away for free he'd have to accept a brutal pay cut to return here. Granted he might have had a wage reduction after relegation, but even so, well out of our price range!

Can't argue with a draw away at 2nd place. Another team in a lofty position who struggle against us. Such a shame we did what we did in the summer - nothing to fear in this division at all.

Sheff weds 2-1 Hull 🤣 this league...

Portsmouth and Oxford now 1-1. Norwich 1-0 ahead.

Odds on a Henriksson yellow card in the first 20 minutes?

I think our disagreement is probably more on context. I'd agree that relative to the budget given most of the signings have at least been adequate. However, as far as my ambitions for the club are concerned, not so much. I want us to be better than relegation battlers and history suggests we absolutely should be. In that sense, Alebiosu is probably the only signing I'd put in the good category. Maybe Gudjohnsen at a push but he's still a downgrade on the likes of Armstrong or Szmodics.

Our league position isn't an opinion. Unless you're saying Ismael is the problem? In which case fair enough.

If 6/10 of our signings are C or above (mostly A or then that is the majority. Granted maybe C is more adequate than good, but still.

I think our league position tells you everything you need to know about the summer window. The idea that the majority of our signings have been good and only a couple didn't work out doesn't really align with our swift downward trajectory from playoff hopefuls to survival hopefuls.

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.