We were also 2nd place for a period last year with Buckley having started almost every game, so... Buckley has plenty of time to sort it out. Let's just be thankful that Morton's turning into a fine replacement for the interim. It's a tricky thing to track, but curious that I can't seem to find any 'man games lost' tracker for the Premier League (let alone Championship). There's some attempts at tracking such a thing for the NFL, NHL, MLB, etc.

Well, I'll be there. Hoping to see some good signs from Buckley and some class from Dack, and a good runout for other younger players. As a random aside, this tie may actually be a decent revenue bonus. My understanding is away sides get 45% of gate receipts for cup games. West Ham seem to manage decent turnouts whatever the opponent in recent cup games at London Stadium (pandemic aside!): West Brom 59k, Man City 60k and 57k, Leeds 54k, Birmingham 54k, Macclesfield 25k, Tottenham 50k, Bolton 35k, Shrewsbury 40k, Accrington Stanley 40k, Chelsea 46k (??)... Assuming we'll be a slightly bigger draw than Macclesfield, let's conservatively (🙃) assume an attendance of 35k and an average ticket price of £18 (only the upper bowl corners are priced at £10). That works out to about 285k of revenue? So, our first big-ish cup draw since Newcastle in the 2018-19 FA Cup (Newcastle EFL Cup in 2020 being closed doors...). Break out the bubbly. (And to think winning the EFL Cup only gets you £100k!)

And so may end my mild fondness for Southampton...

Pike is injured according to Sharpe:

Oh, it was just a quick anecdote that Craig Short was demanding more from Rhodes one half-time and Leon Best apparently decided to stand up for Rhodes for some reason and he and Short almost came to blows. Spurr's comment was that it was clear there were some egos in the dressing room relative to playing with Doncaster.

Ha, Alex Marrow's name comes up again in the Spurr interview. Sounds like him and Marshall were a real terror. I bet Bowyer brought him in remembering him as a big, hard-working kid from his Rovers Academy days, or whatever, but he unwittingly brought in an absolute psycho haha Interesting to hear Leon Best of all people apparently standing up to Short to defend Rhodes in the dressing room haha... Those ~2012-14 squad must have been a basketcase to deal with. Have to give Bowyer some credit for righting that ship, albeit pretty much every player seems to agree that those teams should also have accomplished more...

He's bound to have some frustrating games as his kind of 'loopy' style can look odd, and frustrating when he loses the ball, but Hedges is gradually turning into one of my favourite players to watch. Love his creativity. Actually kind of remarkable that Travis has never been sent off for a second yellow in his career, and only got a straight red that time he first broke into the squad back in L1. I can't recall if he's ever missed a game for too many yellows, but he generally rides that line perfectly. Rest easy 🙂

I know it's not something that counts for much, but I also get the impression that Pears is quite popular in the dressing room. The players were ecstatic for him when he filled in well last year and seems quite social on the sidelines/after games. Not a bad quality for a backup keeper. Obviously can't defend that one Wigan performance and he doesn't have the talent to be a 1st choice keeper, but I think he's deputised fine when called upon. Hopefully Eastham and/or Hilton can get some decent loans, while let Pears sit on the bench/fill in for Cup games...

Random (overly wordy) thoughts: - Been funny to read fans try to either under- or overplay how much we've spent so far. Usually we'd hope for the former numbers, yet worries about how much Venky's is willing to spend (/we can spend) makes us hope for the latter too... Across the various reports, it seems clear to me that the respective ranges are £900k-£1.5m for Brittain, £1.5-2.5m for Szmodics, and £1.5-2.5m for Hyam, with the higher figures accounting for installments, add-ons, bonuses, etc. So, let's all agree that we've at least committed to spending £3.9m so far, and that figure is likely to rise to £6.5m 🙂 - Even after signing Hyam, Phillips' emergence, and Wharton/Carter returning from injury, I liked the idea of SvDB as cover for both CB (enabling a back 3) and RB. Without Brittain, we're stuck with either Buckley deputising (I think we'd all prefer that he figure his shit out at CM) or JRC, who sadly isn't up for it (he's still signed until 2024, so a year on loan could be a good idea to get his feet under him after so many injury layoffs). So, still hoping we bring in cover for RB/RWB, and if they're an okay emergency CB too, that could allow another L1 loan for Carter. Could be a case where a loan is sensible. - Hirst: shouldn't be too harsh on his failures as a sub for a shit Rotherham side (only had 662 min). However, could also argue he should've done better to force himself into that starting lineup. 13 goals (+ 2 Cup goals) in L1 for Portsmouth (where he was also often only sub: 27 starts + 13 sub), plus U21s pedigree, suggests there's something there. So, an interesting option, but it depends on if he's brought in as young depth up front (yay) or part of 'replacing' BBD (boo) - With JDT signaling that A. Wharton is (deservedly) sticking around, I suspect a loan move will be lined up for Garrett? I like what I've seen from Morton so far. Probably time to unload Butterworth in any way we can. Also, hopefully a good loan can be found for Hilton, who intrigues me given his size and apparently doing pretty well at Hamilton last year.

Haha, excuse my mixing of North American and UK slang! (I have Scottish ancestry myself!)

Nonsense. Plenty good coaches/managers who didn't play at a high level. Most athletes are just dumb jocks. I've brought this up a few times, so forgive me for repeating myself, but for what it's worth, Dean Henderson has also randomly touted Benson's qualities as a coach. There just might be something to him (and it's ultimately pretty hard for any of us to say...)

Not that he'd count as a 'senior' CB, but to add, it's a real shame that Sam Barnes went down with a serious injury too... especially after apparently catching JDT's eye in preseason.

This one too haha:

Gametime guarantees for loans is a fair concern. It'll depend on the player/club, but I don't see any recent evidence of us getting burned being forced to play a loan (it's of course possible there have been unreported financial penalties). Looking back: 18-19: Palmer was in-and-out of the lineup before being returned in January. Reed a deserving regular starter. 19-20: Adarabioyo a deserving regular starter. Walton less-so, but it wasn't as if Leutwiler was going to usurp him. Cunningham injured. 20-21: Elliott a deserving regular (although he was dropped to the bench a number of times when his form trailed off). Trybull was in-and-out of the lineup. Doubt there was any such clause for Douglas. Clearly weren't restricted in benching Branthewaite when he wasn't good enough. I recall a couple odd subs for THB, but he was also probably the best CB we could manage after Ayala and Wharton broke down. 21-22: JPvH a deserving starter. Poveda was left on the bench plenty before he got injured (even if we did get burned on the wage commitment there). Khadra also dealt with injuries, but was only a semi-regular starter and was left on the bench a few times. Clarkson sent back in January after barely playing. Zeefuik injured/a view to buy. Giles was dropped. 22-23: Early days for Morton, but he was only a late sub in his first game. Probably similar deal to Clarkson. So, the 'automatic starter' loans we've had in the past have been Reed, Adarabaiyo, Walton, Elliott (to an extent), THB, and JPvH. I don't see much to complain about from that group. Sepp van den Berg may be a different case, particularly if we're competing for his loan, but he's a proven Championship player and there will likely be plenty of opportunities at CB here, so I wouldn't get hung up on it.

Obviously only a high-level view, but thought I'd look at Elliott, Clarkson, and Morton's relative game experience (including how often they made the bench, which is a pedigree indicator, to some extent...) at the time of their Rovers loans: Elliott Age: 17/18. PL: 2 subs, 24 mins, 15 subs benches. Cups: 7 starts, 1 sub, 576 mins. Cups (u21s): 1 start, 1 sub, 110 mins. CL: nil. Clarkson Age: 19/20. PL: 3 subs benches. Cups: 1 start, 1 sub, 3 subs benches, 103 mins. Cups (u21s): 3 starts, 270 mins. CL: 1 start, 4 subs benches, 90 mins. Morton Age: 19/20. PL: 1 start, 1 sub, 7 subs benches, 66 mins. Cups: 3 starts, 2 subs, 3 subs benches, 299 mins. Cups (u21s): 2 starts, 180 mins. CL: 2 starts, 1 subs bench, 180 mins. So, by this (very broad!) view, Morton is a bit further along than Clarkson was (while Elliott was clearly a step above simply because of his age!)

Brittain had a few mishandled (misfootled?) balls along the touchline, but overall a solid game. Don't recall him being challenged too much defensively, but he did make at least one key clearance. I suspect his defensive game may be the biggest question going forward, especially in a back 4. What I found most exciting was it's clear his dribble stats aren't a mirage as he managed to skin QPR defenders a few times, and consistently showed a willingness to do so. I can't remember the exact timing, but my favourite was in the 2nd half where he was standing still in QPR's corner against 2 QPR defenders, maybe supported by Bucko. Seemed like a dead situation, but he then made one sudden move and managed to squirm his way past both defenders. It actually came to nothing as the ball ended up wriggling over the goal line, so didn't get much attention, but I remember thinking 'where the hell did he pull that from?' edit: Understand the mixed reviews of Hedges as he definitely lost the ball a few too many times and struggled to be the link with the midfield. However, I really like that he clearly has some talent in his locker and looks to have a real creative flair, making lots of clever flicks. Also curious to see him let loose on that left foot... not sold yet, but I'm more optimistic after his last few games last season and yesterday (and he was ultimately a pretty cheap transfer if he doesn't work out).

I suspect this is what Broughton had in mind when he specifically praised Barnsley's professionalism after the Brittain deal...

It's a minor typo, but Sweden did recently switch to a curry-based currency system. (Feel free to add an equally stupid curry-currency wordplay joke. I also understand if I am banned.)

Teeheehee...

Interesting. Have there ever been any proposals to rotate Ewood?

While I understand the thought that a GK coach with top-level professional playing experience is preferrable, it does strike me as narrow-minded. Plenty of star athletes are ultimately dumb jocks... I can't speak for football goalie coaches, but, for example, the 'gurus' of (ice) hockey goalie coaching have tended to be random French Canadians who never played pro or 2nd-rate pros, rather than former stars. Maybe some have valid reasons to doubt Benson: inside info, not impressed by his warm-ups or you can debate how our keepers have developed/performed under him, etc. (I suspect some don't rate him simply because he looks like a bit of a dweeb haha) I have no idea myself! Forming strong judgments about backroom/support coaching staff has always struck me as a bit odd... I'll admit I've been hesitant to go along with the Benson criticism after randomly reading here that he's apparently a close confidante of Dean Henderson, going back to their Carlisle days. That's just one data point of course, but he may be a better respected GK coach than some give him credit for...

He was only a late Jan loan, so he did play 93% of Bordeaux's minutes after joining. I was unaware that previously playing in England could mean the GBE points calculation doesn't apply to him? But he well-qualified in any case given a combo of Ligue 1 minutes and continental minutes (plus winning the Swedish league with Malmo helps a bit). Certainly an intriguing option. Let's see... While I'm at it, Berget also qualifies, largely due to Champions League minutes. So, something to look out for in terms of the eligibility of potential Scandi links is whether their team played in the Champions League (or Europa...)*, which would also likely mean league positioning points, even if the Allsvenskan, etc. don't get a lot of points weighting. *Edit: as I look at it a bit more, that's for if they made it to the group stage in one of those tournaments. Hence, poaching players from Malmo FF after they made it to the CL group stage shouldn't be an issue. Only a couple points available if you play a lot of Europa Conference minutes...

Looks like the title change was poorly timed 🙂: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/20220494.blackburn-rovers-model-will-see-academy-side-unaffected-rule-change/ As the article says, doesn't really affect us with our current age make-up, and the number of allowed overagers expands from 3 to 5. So, sounds like a cosmetic change, unless this was sparked by specific complains about eligibility for the EFL Trophy of which I'm unaware...

Not speaking in favour of Warne or Ainsworth - I have no clue and I'm generally trying to avoid following our manager search too closely for my own sanity 🙂 - but I thought it'd be of interest to share just how relatively small their budgets have been while in the Championship. Figures are from the 2020-21 season. I'm sure everyone's aware they've had limited budgets, but they are striking visuals! Ignoring Derby and removing the £12m promotion bonuses for Brentford, Norwich, and Watford, that's an average wage of £29m, while Rotherham and Wycombe (presumably, they don't report wages in their small company accounts...) had wages around £8m. Rotherham had an overall loss of £867k while Wycombe apparently made a profit of ~£2m... With some justification, Rovers (and others) regularly cite the wage gap with the parachute clubs in the Championship, but there's another substantial gap for most promoted L1 clubs...

Since the start of 2016, Pardew's collective managerial record at Crystal Palace, West Brom, ADO Den Haag, and CSKA Sofia is 11-17-42. A 15.7% win record and 0.71 points/game, which translates to 33 points in a 46 game Championship season... .