More likely is he'll find somewhere else in the team for Travis, especially if he goes on to become a fans favourite. RB or RM are potential destinations for him. He won't want to drop Evans or Smallwood, especially after handing new contracts out to them both since the summer.

Another few knocked off the away numbers. Unlikely to be a 6000+ following as in previous seasons. I'd expect 3000-4000. Bad news for Waggott and his bumper away followings.

Yeah, I didn't think Newcastle would be selling out, just a lazy comment from Rovers website to try and big up the occasion. A bit like when Bristol City had a 'full house' even though there were about 7000 empty seats.

This is the problem. For me our budget and plans shouldn't really hinge on how far off the play-offs we are in early January. The club and owners should have a plan over the medium to long term and a list of players they want to bring in to work towards that, be it this season or next. Whether we are 7th or 17th. They should have faith in the medium to long term job. By all means if we're on course for promotion chuck some more in to try and get us over the line but business needs to be done either way and we'll never get anywhere if they base their budget on what position we're in. E.g. if our last 4 games had been Rotherham, Ipswich, Brentford and Reading and we'd picked up 10 points we'd be on the cusp of the play-offs but might have Leeds, Sheff Utd, WBA and Middlesbrough to come in January. Would they seriously increase the transfer pot after a good Xmas because we had a kind fixture list rather than the tough one we actually had which only saw 3 points from 12 collected? There's too much ifs, buts and maybes. If we're in contention they'll think about making more cash available. Anyone can see we lack depth and quality in numerous areas so the club should be looking to plug those gaps with the right players. What's the alternative? Don't make money available because we're not in promotion contention? Its a vicious cycle. If the plan is to focus on loans we aren't going to get anywhere. It's just a patch up job until it has to be revisited in July. Need permanent quality players who are going to improve the team not for 6 months before trotting back to their parent clubs but for 2-3 years as we build upwards.

I was sure that there was a tweet this afternoon saying there were no sales on the day, but it seems to have been deleted now.

He's joining Charlton. Don't think he's good enough for what we need.

To be honest we have form for those sort of issues here - letting contracts of better players run down, large scale changes every summer, constantly building team after team, keep getting loans rather than permanents. Lambert is spot on - you can't build a successful side on those foundations. Hopefully with Mowbray we've seen the end of those days but the period of 2014-17 was full of it.

They've announced this afternoon that tickets will not be available on the day. Seems strange when they had previously said they would be. Presume they're getting close to their 3,000 allocation and Rovers aren't going to request more so they're keen to avoid people turning up and not getting in.

Don't think there's much, If any, prospect of us getting Reed on a permanent in January. I fail to see what incentive Southampton would have to agree to that at this stage with their Premier League status in doubt. Surely at best they will be happy to leave Reed here until the summer and then consider the position then when everyone knows where they are going to be. IF Southampton survive and we stay in the Championship then I think a permanent deal would be possible but would cost money, like any decent player will do these days. If, however, Southampton get relegated I'm sure Reed would feature in their plans as a ready made quality Championship player. The only way this is likely to change is if Southampton want him back in January to have a look at him with a view to him playing for them in their relegation run-in. My focus would be ensuring he stays here until the end of the season and spend the next few months saving up and whispering in his ear about a permanent deal in the summer.

Only one way we'll ultimately keep our better players and that is by convincing them this is a club going places and is determined to try and get promoted to the Premier League. I'm confident that if Dack can see that we are determined to progress and continue upwards then he will be happy to go on the journey. Thankfully Mowbray SAYS all the right things on that front - acceptance that we need to progress and build and get into the promotion picture - but the problem is in actually doing it. Recruitment will either have to be extremely savvy (far more so than it has been so far) or a major outlay (far more than it has been so far). The basics are there - a decent starting XI, great team spirit - but the depth, resilience is falling short. I can't help but feel at times that some of Mowbray's comments are aimed as much at the owners and their advisors as they are at the fans and players. Talk about needing to get into the promotion picture to keep Dack is the sort of language I would expect him to use when trying to convince the owners to bankroll more signings and keep the club progressing. Budgets are seemingly decided on an annual basis and I expect Mowbray is facing an annual battle to convince them to spend rather than sit back and think it is job done because we're back in mid-table Championship.

People will be able to find ways to watch it via foreign tv and save themselves some cash in the process. Despite good pricing on tickets it is a tough time of the year for a lot of people and if they can watch the game online or at the pub rather than spend £50 going up there then many will do. I still think 2,500 is a reasonable effort given the time of year, though I had hoped we would reach our initial allocation of 3000. Odd though because Rovers reported 2100+ sold last Friday before the Sheffield United game and only 2,200 sold as of this morning, so very slow sales over the last 5 days considering we've had a home game in there where people would often get a ticket. Someone said tonight that it is now 8 defeats in 11 home games for Newcastle this season.

If we really want him prising him away from Charlton shouldn't be an issue. Like us with Premier League clubs if a player attracts attention from a richer club in a higher division he will be interested. Charlton are still in takeover limbo so imagine their board will cash in on a player out of contract if an offer comes along.

Seriously? That's a strange thing to do. Sounds like they're betting the ranch on promotion under Bruce to sort themselves out.

Good appointment by them. Must be expecting to have sorted their FFP troubles out as I doubt Bruce would go there under an embargo.

Lambert prioritises himself, his reputation and his position. Given his recent history of only lasting a matter of months at Rovers, Wolves and Stoke he's probably going to have to do things differently this time at Ipswich. If he packs in during or just after relegation his reputation will be tarnished as someone who cannot last at clubs. The flip side is if they go down he'll have to get to work in the world of the 3rd division where I doubt Ipswich will be as well equipped as Sunderland, Rovers and Wigan were down there. It will certainly dent his ego to be turning up at Stanley etc. in the 3rd tier. Having said that Ipswich fans seem to like him and many blame their position on Hurst and their owner, so Lambert might fancy sticking around at a relatively normal club and seeing if he can get another promotion under his belt. I still have a sneaky feeling they'll manage to get out of it. They've got Rotherham next which is a must win, if they do they'll be 7 points behind. With Bolton and Reading in the mire and Rotherham a hard working but very limited side they'll have a slim chance.

With WBA fans being placed downstairs it is clear the club was ancitipating them selling significantly more than they did. Birmingham came to town the other week, sold 2000 or so and were still upstairs in the DE, because the suits didn't expect Birmingham to travel in large numbers, this time they expected promotion chasing Albion to bring 3000+ so immediately shoved them in the lower tier, however unfortunately the plan backfired as only 2000ish came. The club can feel hard done to with the fixtures this Xmas - with two games vs promotion chasing sides in Norwich and WBA only seeing about 3500 away fans (less than usual as they were poor times of the year for away games) and both games over the Xmas week away from home, the club has missed out on a bumper attendance. Then again if you stick to Category A pricing on New Years Day you aren't exactly encouraging hung over tired folk going back to work this week to chuck £30 at buying a ticket after they've spent heavily over Xmas. Basic common sense. £15 ticket offers like Birmingham have done twice recently v Stoke and Reading would likely have seen at least a couple of thousand more on and a better atmosphere if nothing else.

But it isn't just these last 3 or 4 games against good sides that people are concerned about. We had Wigan, PNE, Rotherham and Birmingham just before and picked up a poor points return and performed even worse against those sides than we did at Leeds and Sheffield. When you only win 1 in 10 or 11 you can't hide behind a few tough fixtures. You have to either grind out results or make hay when playing the poorer teams, like 1 win in 13 Wigan.

Another from the favoured catalogue of young players who were at big club academies but seem to have lost their way in recent years. Sam Hart, Jacob Davenport etc. Roll the dice and if one comes off happy days. Suppose at his age if he gets playing in the U23s it might be ok. Is it too much to ask to sign 2-3 quality players who will IMPROVE the first XI?

Mowbray is getting patience. We are on an awful run, shipping goals, lacking creativity, sliding down the league. Yet despite that other than one or two people 99% of comments I have seen whilst critical of Mowbray aren't suggesting he should be sacked at this point. I've been very critical of some performances and games this season but I've stopped short of calling for Mowbray to go and don't expect to be at that stage unless something horrific unfolds through January. Mowbray is a big boy and experienced in this industry. He should be able to handle criticism and pressure and shouldnt be given carte Blanche to do as he pleases just because he got us up last season. He oversaw awful runs at Boro and Cov prior to leaving them and will know if we continue as we are there is only one way it will develop.

No doubt Rovers will be keen to jettison Gladwin as soon as possible. He'll be out in the summer if not before then so imagine Rovers will be working trying to find someone to take him off our hands.

Not a big club. A good side going for promotion yes. I notice that for all of Mowbray's complaints about the referee at Sheffield United and for his suggestions that Smallwood was unfairly done to in being sent off we didn't even bother to submit an appeal.

Those 'improvements' at Burnley consist of them filling in two corners to enable them to provide sufficient disabled seating in line with Premier League regulations. They've no choice in the matter and it seems are doing it as quickly and cheaply as possible by building on the corners rather than a new stand. I expect if we were to reach the Premier League again we would be under pressure to increase our disabled offerings which at present consist of putting people at pitch level often exposed to the elements. I would think we would also need some media improvements as the demands of live broadcasts through Sky and BT are much greater and need more space than they did 10 years ago.

Pretty much bang on there. Trouble is it has been that way most of the season, although earlier on results were papering over cracks. We don't actually do much of the important stuff very well. Plenty of possession and at times nice passing football but minimal penetration and defensively suspect. Other clubs fans can see it so surely Mowbray can.

Sheffield Utd's ground holds 32,000, they rarely fill it, yet their owner has released plans for expansion up to 38,000. Brentford don't fill Griffin Park but because it is run down and not up to standard they are building a new stadium. Preston built their new stand when they only get 10,000 on games. If you are serious about getting to the Prem you don't wait until getting there before work begins on the stadium, you do it in advance. If by some miracle we got to the Premier League and then decided to start work we would likely have a 3 sided ground and reduced capacity stadium for at least 12 months, better doing it whilst crowds are lower and the work can be done as easily as possible. Can't imagine much happening on this front mind.