JHRover

Something like this had been waiting to happen. I felt it was a 'typical' Rovers performance - started the game well, managed to get our noses in front, we had our customary purple patch period of 20-30 minutes we had by far the better of it and the opposition couldn't deal with us and should have capitalised on that to increase our lead, then we conspire to concede from minimal pressure (fair enough this time through an appalling free kick decision), then the game completely changes and we have no answer to it. As the game wore on we quickly ran out of ideas and ended up something of a shambles towards the end with Bristol almost walking the ball into our net in the last 10 minutes. Not much evidence of a Plan B in the offing from Rovers really. For all the singing and dancing going on about our brilliant summer window we're still throwing Joe Nuttall onto the pitch to try and salvage a result away from home in the Championship. I'm sorry but that situation simply isn't good enough and we've had plenty of time to address that particular issue. Goals we've conceded this season against Ipswich, Reading and today way too easy. A wake up call for one or two. A reasonable start to the season, but we've issues to address.

Nixon has been pushing the Dack one all day and it was he who came up with the £15 million story and suggesting Dack would be open to the move. Just about every transfer window (except whilst in league one) Nixon has been pushing 'interest' in our best players. His obsession with Rhodes to X,Y,Z was almost unhealthy.

Exceeded expectations would be my description. An excellent window would have seen us have an array of quality proven options in every position.

I'm actually quite interested to understand Nixon's mindset. His unrelenting obsession with linking Rovers players with deadline day moves away to rivals never ends. How much does he get paid for this sort of stuff? I think I could do his job. If we were seriously after Chapman we could have got it done this summer. I don't buy all this stuff about needing to wait for Middlesbrough to get people in first. Pulis clearly isn't a massive fan and he hasn't got a new contract there, if we'd have gone in strong early doors they'd have sold him to us. We've left it late and hoped to get it done at the 11th hour and it hasn't happened.

Shame Tottenham aren't in the 'EFL'. They get extra time because of fax machines being 'broken'.

Ultimately it comes down to how you deal with other clubs. Fulham were clearly very serious about keeping the likes of Sessegnon and Cairney and managed to do it despite apparent interest from various Premier League clubs. They probably wouldn't have got away with that indefinitely but they managed to persuade those players to hang about for a couple of seasons to see whether they could get promoted and reach their ambitions with Fulham. Ultimately when you start entertaining interest then it becomes a snowball effect as word gets round that we are there to negotiate and a deal can be done with some persistency. Then the player begins to wonder if he's really so important if we're prepared to discuss a transfer to a league rival. That's what happened in the dark days of 2015-16 - it began with Cairney and continued with Rhodes, Hanley, Duffy, Marshall - good players who were obviously happy at the club however when the club started selling key players off the remaining ones no longer wanted to be part of it. Word quickly spreads as to those clubs open for business and those who are determined to resist.

Decent signings. As are Hemed and Wells to QPR. Clubs starting to panic after poor starts to the season.

Yes, so we reject ANY bid from Championship clubs on the basis they are not Premier League, and we sit tight. IF a Premier League club comes sniffing in January that is up to them and we cross that bridge when we get to it. If the player wants to progress by transferring to a club in a higher league fair enough. Moving to WBA is not progression, or at least it shouldn't be. If they were still in the top flight fair enough, but they've lost that status now. Depends where we want to be as a club. Do we want to challenge in this league and be a big player in it or do we want to revert to being a club that is happy to exist and float about aimlessly whilst selling a few big players from time to time. We'll never make serious progress if we cash in on our best players to non-Premier League clubs every couple of years.

Rather than talking figures the best way to approach it is this: Simply not for sale to a non-Premier League club or Burnley. No amount of money or persistency will overcome that. If one of the other 19 Premier League clubs wants him then we speak to him, and if he's keen to explore it then we start at £15 million. Golden rule - you don't sell your best players to clubs in the same league you want to finish above. Keep hold of your best players with interest from rivals and you'll improve and become a big player. Roll over and take the money every time a decent player comes through and you become an also-ran who just exists to make up the numbers and coin it in every few years. We did it with Cairney to Fulham and look how that worked out.

Impressive following that for a Sunday lunchtime.

To be fair there wasn't a statement yesterday. There was a quickly produced story in the Telegraph saying that he wasn't for sale and we wouldn't entertain bids for him, which seems to have come from someone at Rovers, but there was nothing official released by Rovers/Mowbray/Waggott. As said if the message issued was that he isn't available at any price why are they wasting precious time still pursuing him? Either they aren't and Nixon is talking rubbish or the messages they're getting are different from those in the Telegraph yesterday and they think it is a possibility.

If true it seems the 'hands off' warning we issued yesterday wasn't strong enough or didn't get through to them clearly enough.

Leeds on tv, been waiting for a chance to watch them.

2-2 We'll fall behind quite early, respond well, equalise before half time, go ahead but then concede an equaliser late on.

They didn't win a game within 90 minutes and had 6 attempts at it against 3 clubs all participating in 'minor' leagues compared to the hysteria around the Premier League. 0 shots on target in Istanbul. 1 shot on target in Athens (a penalty).

I think there's a fine line the way they play They'll rarely get destroyed by the opposition as they will always be solid and hard to break down, but they will also be limited in terms of putting the ball away and creating chances. Last season it worked well for them because so many times they managed to pick points up from games they didn't offer much in, but all it takes is for those tight margins to shift slightly and rather than ending up on the right side of narrow scorelines they could easily end up on the wrong side. A few injuries or loss of form for a few important players and they could easily swing from winning a load by the odd goal to losing them, especially when they create so little.

I nearly ran out of petrol whilst driving through Burnley yesterday but refused to fill up as I don't want to give any money to anything in Burnley. Had to wait until I was safely over the border in Hyndburn and then fill up. So I can see the merits in wanting them to last in the competition to hamper their league form but it is an abomination that they are in European qualification (not Europe, they haven't qualified yet). Their time is ticking and they got lucky big style last season.

Are Premier League clubs going to bid that for someone with only a handful of games in the Championship? Think they'll wait and see myself. He's 24 and has played 3 games above League One. We can all see he's a class act but other clubs might not see it to go that high on figures. Cairney had excelled with Fulham and done well with us and I don't recall bids going that high for him. Interesting though that Fulham resisted and kept hold of him and then reaped the rewards of that as he captained them to promotion. So it isn't the foregone conclusion that some would suggest.

He's not good enough. Certainly not for the top end of the Championship which should be our aim. I'm not quite sure what he was signed for. Yes he's an impressive academy background but that means little in the Football League. By most accounts he'd hardly stood out at Port Vale prior to coming here. When he went to Rochdale last season he played 3 games. Based on what I've seen (admittedly quite limited) there's doubt he's even good enough for League One, never mind the Championship. I'll eat my hat if Rovers even consider giving him a new deal.

The fact he's going out to Rochdale until his contract expires tells us what we need to know. If he impresses there he won't be getting a new deal here but he might be able to put himself in the shop window rather than being forgotten at Rovers. Sure he's a nice lad but was always something of an odd signing and never likely to be good enough.

He was rumoured to be attracting interest from Brighton this summer. At the time he couldn't get a look in ahead of Hanley and Duffy at CB.

Well done to the club for reacting quickly and clearly. Wonder how many visits that Sun story on the website will have had. All about the clicks and advertising. Interesting the line now is hopeful of 'at least one' addition before tomorrow.

Yes but Brereton was a fringe player who was keen to get out and get games under his belt and Forest were prepared to cash in on someone Karanka doesn't rate too highly. Dack completely different as he is a central pillar to Rovers. Absolutely no reason to let him go now even if the bid was massive as it couldn't happen until January. Even if we were prepared to let him go surely we'd be better waiting until January when his value will likely be even higher and we can start a bidding war.

Sounds like Sam Hart going on loan to Rochdale.

Yet no matter what they can't pay money for anyone until January, only loan. It would make absolutely no sense for Rovers to loan any important players out at this stage. If we were to be tempted to sell that could still happen in January when we've more time to replace (preferably we won't sell at all).