JHRover

I don't think that £12 million would have ever materialised for other buys or other positions. Someone in India has it in their head that these young British CFs are worthy of a large lump sum investment. I don't believe that this money was available for other areas or targets and if Mowbray hadn't signed those players I very much doubt the money would have been seen again. It is beyond belief that we've shelled out that level of cash on those two players and meanwhile the rest of our team consists predominantly of frees, loans and low cost signings, particularly the defence and GK positions which have been neglected for years. Then there's the signings like Davenport and Hart - even more odd.

I think there's a difference between spending and paying wages/signing on fees. I accept that the likes of Johnson and Downing won't be cheap, but they cost little/nothing to bring in. It has always been an issue under Venkys for us to cough up lump sum transfer fees. Never had an issue with sanctioning decent wages on loans and frees. If we've paid City £1 million to borrow Tosin for 12 months then i think that is ridiculous and out of order. We will have eaten up a large chunk of our budget to borrow someone else's player and let him develop for a year. If we have or had £1 million for a CB it should have gone on a cash buy on a 3-4 year deal to build upon moving forward. Derby were glad to let Johnson go. I doubt they'd have asked for much (if anything) for us to take him off their hands. Wages probably considerable but at the same time we've given him 2 years to Derby's 1 so probably undercut them that way.

We had a minimal budget in the summer. It was pretty much loans and frees - Tosin, Downing, Johnson, Walton, Cunningham - other than the exceptional funding allowance made for Project B Gallagher because someone fancied another punt on a buy on the basis it would reap big dividends after the Brereton one the previous summer. Now granted - some of those signings have been good uns - Tosin, Downing, Cunningham until he got injured - and wages will not have been insignificant - but lets not make out like we've spent big or built on these guys. Come the summer most of them won't be here and those that are will be in the twilight of their careers. It's about as far away from the Brentford model as you can get - despite Mowbray referring to them as a template. It is also worth bearing in mind that Cunningham was only done at the 11th hour presumably when the financial requirements were more favourable or when we finally found space in the budget by offloading Mulgrew for 6 months. Money is virtually non-existent for transfer fees - as it was in the summer. The Gallagher and Brereton ones are special cases where someone chucked the cash in on the basis they were projects likely to pay off with interest in years to come. I don't believe that money could or would ever have materialised for other positions, or for several smaller purchases. Mowbray and Waggott get their budget in May for the year and there it is. The only way we will see incomings in January is by shuffling around on the wage bill by offloading a couple for a few months or if we get lucky and manage to sell someone. This talk about European targets, Polish wingers for £3 million, Venkys ready to invest but constrained by evil FFP rules is just fantasy land stuff.

Always tomorrow, never today

If it takes 6 months to appoint a scout, whatever the reason behind it, we might as well give up.

Without wanting to be negative about this ( I think it is a positive step) it does raise further questions. Why have we left it to now to appoint this person? How long will it take for him to arrive and get to work on targets? Why didn't we appoint him this time last year? It appears to me that it is just more stalling and diversionary tactics. Keep the fans off our backs for a few more months because before long we'll have all these great European players coming in.

Groundhog day at Rovers with the same old excuses and soundbites coming from the club. Nearly 4 weeks into the window and only now realising that top targets might be too expensive. Have we done any homework? Pretending as though the Dack injury has thrown everything into chaos. 5 weeks nearly since that happened. It strikes me as amateur hour. Life on easy street with no funds and no pressure to deliver.

When he left we were mid table in the Championship with optimism after Lambert's appointment. It was that optimism that allowed the Rhodes sale to happen with minimal fuss from fans because many believed that there was a plan to reinvest and build under the new manager. The sale of Rhodes and others and failure to reinvest paved the way for relegation. We are now back where we started- mid table Championship- threatening but never quite doing what is needed to break into the promotion picture. Since Rhodes left in 2016 I think we've lost about another £70-80 million.

A bit like us then

If they had sold Dack to another Championship club mid season whilst in and around the play-offs then there would have been uproar and it would effectively have been waving the white flag on promotion. Nobody serious about getting up sells their star player to a rival, Ffp or no Ffp. It would be like Fulham selling Mitrovic or Cairney to Leeds now. The only way Waggott and co. could justify such a sale would either be in the summer or to a Premier League club, and I doubt there's many of those interested in him.

So if we had beat Wigan and Birmingham at Xmas and were in the top 6 when the window opened they would have sold Dack to WBA? If their grand plan when promotion is a realistic outcome is to sell our best player mid season then I'd say they don't really want promotion.

I think Blackpool fans are asking a lot to expect to be much better off than they are at the moment. First season under new ownership and management, finally rid of the Oystons. Most of them going to games now were boycotting last year, now moaning about Grayson and their league position. Were in League Two with Oyston only a couple of years ago. Nowhere near as big as Sunderland, Portsmouth, Ipswich etc. who are pushing for promotion. Not sure on what basis they think they should be higher than they are.

Very tight division League One. Sunderland and Ipswich are in decent positions for promotion despite both having horrendous November and December periods. I still reckon Sunderland will get automatic. Coventry very well placed but for me should be refused promotion unless they resolve their stadium issues.

I suspect one of the excuses that will be thrown out after the window is closed will be 'nobody is doing much business, it's a tough time'. It may be correct that numbers wise clubs havent done much business and nobody is going out making wholesale changes or splurging millions out. But I think a lot of clubs can or will be able to argue that they have signed at least one player that improves them in some form or another, even if it is just extra cover in a weak position. I don't think we will be able to do that because I don't think we will sign anyone, not unless we get shut of someone first. So once again we are sat waiting to react to things happening rather than taking things by the scruff of the neck. It's a shame we have so many happy to operate in that way and accept the excuses that come with it. For me, the minute Dack got injured long term the club would have been going into January to replace him. His absence could not only derail this season but also next. Instead we are just trying to make do with what we already have. We are 6 points off the play offs with a game in hand and 54 to play for. Whilst I dont think we will get into the top 6 if you aren't going to go for it from this position or the one we were in this time last year then you have to wonder how much they really want it. It isnt over and yet what happens with incomings this week across the division could go a long way towards it being over.

Perhaps that was partly to blame but I feel Williams was more concerned with keeping costs down, hoping to repeat the trick he pulled with Hughes in unearthing a young up and coming manager rather than what we needed which was a ready made experienced gaffer who could build on Hughes' work. The obvious one was Allardyce but many fans were bizarrely against him yet in favour of a 4th division manager in Ince. Beyond Allardyce there were a host of big name European managers who were interested. Advocaat and Laudrup two of those who were public in their interest. Ince was an easier option and Williams was quite restrained in his ambitions, probably because a Laudrup would have expected backing that we weren't prepared to offer. Sadly the modus operandi at this club has for a long time been to go down the 'up and coming' route of gambling everything in the hope it works out rather than pushing the boat out a bit more and bringing in a big name manager. Kidd, Hughes, Ince, Kean, Berg, Appleton all into this category with only Hughes working out. Even today we have folk strongly against the prospect of a Hughton or McCarthy, proven top managers at this level, yet keen on Johnson who has never managed yet is 'up and coming' and 'one of ours'.

Nowt happening then. Onto Monday at the earliest before anything is done and then it will be prepare for Tuesday night.

Doubt it will be anywhere near £100k for this trip. I've just looked on the hotel website and 4 nights next week is £395 for a twin room. Flights with Easyjet to Faro out of school holiday season on a block booking- probably £100-150 each return. Maybe 35 or so on the trip including backroom staff lets say 40. Block booking at the hotel probably cheaper than single rooms too. Be surprised if it cost much more than £15-20k.

I don't understand how Waggott can say it was 'imposed' by the Premier League then immediately afterwards says changes can be made to the rules but require 75% of clubs in the League to agree to it. So surely if 75% of clubs agreed to abolish the rules, they could. Premier League clubs don't have voting rights at the EFL AGM. I suspect he means they have tried to force it on the League by putting more money on the table in exchange, like how they managed to get B teams into the League Trophy, in the process ruining that competition, in exchange for greater prize money for the small clubs.

Birmingham were mid table all last season and sanctions weren't imposed until they were firmly secure and the deduction had minimal impact. I'd like to see what happens if they try to knock points off a side in the top 6 or just outside the bottom 3. Hasn't happened yet I suspect because they know the club will challenge it all the way.

Very convenient. Last time I checked Ffp restrictions only applied to transfer fees and wages, so even if true there's nothing stopping them from investing and improving our facilities. Not the most pressing issue I admit, but surely owners keen to invest, improve and take pride in the club would want the place tidying up. Instead the place is filthy and bare minimum investment goes in.

Hart was never good enough. It still surprises me that so many Rovers fans thought he might be a viable option for us in the Championship. Not a chance. Unsurprisingly he's gone to a mid table League One club. Bizarre signing to begin with and not one that I think Mowbray was responsible for.

If by management you are referring to people who work at Ewood Park or Brockhall then it doesn't really matter whether they are impressed or not. Mowbray sits above the lot of them and has more sway with the owners than the rest put together. The only people Mowbray need worry about are the nutters in India and I doubt they've even heard of Gallagher and Brereton.

Ryan Woods joining Millwall on loan. Decent addition.

Almost but not quite the same. Travis was a standout performer in the u23s for a long time before he got into the first team and was attracting serious interest from Leagues One and Two before he got his opportunity with us, since when he has rarely disappointed. He also had a part, albeit small, to play in our League One promotion. I watch quite a bit of the u23s and in my view Davenport rarely stands out as anything exceptional and really is only being mentioned now because of our injury woes rather than consistently stellar performances in the u23s.

Ffp rules Tough time to do business Targets too expensive Have to move some others out first Injuries have changed things Mulgrew returning unexpectedly complicates things January isn't ideal Might have to wait and hope prices drop later on in the window All set for nothing happening and pick your excuses out. Meanwhile just about everyone else will take action to try and strengthen.