Our signing of Rhodes was one of the first 'mega' signings for a Championship club. Most clubs haven't reached that level yet but spend a few million here and there on players. We can plead poverty and come high and mighty about 'holding firm' in a difficult market. Reality is we've had 2 massive advantages over most clubs in the last 5-6 years. One being we had parachute cash but wasted most of it, the other being we had £30 million+ of players which we sold and banked the dosh. Most clubs haven't had both of those luxuries and yet have ended up in a stronger state than we are in. The benefits of sensible management!

Its not ridiculous if they get promoted off the back of it. Its a calculated gamble. If it pays off the rewards are vast, if they fail then they 'might' get into trouble with the authorities, or more likely they'll just have to sell a couple and carry on.

How many did we sell last year? Waggott thinks we will sell more on the basis of the announcements we are going to make and the targets Mowbray has got. Sadly if he thinks a couple of kids on loan from Premier League clubs are going to get folk queuing down Nuttall Street for season tickets he's mistaken. A real statement of intent by substantial investment in quality players may well result in a late upturn in sales but probably not many. Its about what I would have expected given the 17% price increase on last season. It would have been nice to hit 10,000 or more and I still maintain that 11,000-12,000 should be our target for the Championship in ideal circumstances.

There's no 'evidence' of us being in for Maddison. Nor is there any 'evidence' of us being interested in anyone else. A couple of journalists say we're interested in Kent, one says he's top of the list, another says he isn't. There was very little if any mention of us being interested in Rothwell or Davenport in the days before their arrivals. People are drawing logical conclusions from what the Posh chairman has said on twitter and the fact that he hasn't ruled Rovers out despite having ruled out numerous other Championship clubs. He's said it is someone who wasn't in the Championship last season, it's someone who apparently wanted to pay in installments and it isn't Wigan. IF what he says is true then we are one of a small group of clubs who it could be.

A good deal only becomes good in time. £2.5 million for Maddison might be a waste if he doesn't perform, but likewise if he does it might be an outstanding investment. Its a risk you have to take in football. If you don't want to take risks then you rarely get the rewards. If he comes in and excels in the Championship his value could quadruple over the next few years. Alternatively he might be the catalyst to us climbing the Championship and getting into promotion contention. Usually I would agree that no Championship experience could be a concern, but when you stand out massively in League One as Maddision, Marriott, Dack, Rhodes etc. did then you get your move up sooner or later. Everyone said Rhodes was poor value for money and a waste. Yet time proved he wasn't and we actually even made a profit on him which most said could never happen.

Given we've been looking at Bauer I would expect him to go out on loan to League One or Two this season.

Any reason why not? Differing quotes on Maddison ranging up to £2.5 million at the most. Can't see wages being a problem given he's at Peterborough at present. Armstrong got 2 years left at Newcastle, surplus to requirements, never had a crack at the first team. I don't see how or why Newcastle would demand big money for him given he's never been in their first team plans. Lets say it would cost £3 million for the pair of them. I've no idea what wages Armstrong is on but again he's a reserve player at Newcastle who has been shipped out on loan for the 3 years so is Mike Ashley going to be paying him mega money? There's a difference between what we think will happen and what could/should/ought to happen. Those sort of deals are there to be done and if we're not in that ball park then it is concerning, especially if this is the owners being excited or happy with promotion last season. I think we ought to be in the market for these sort of players and I think if we can't stretch to the £3 million needed to do it then we're struggling, especially when we look at what rivals are shelling out and factor in Mowbray reckons to be holding money back from January. I also think avoiding such a market and focusing on loans is not only concerning in terms of our future funding prospects but also likely to prevent long term growth and development as it is like building on quicksand.

It sounds as though a club activated his release clause quite some time ago, and he was granted permission to speak to a club last week which is why he wasn't on the plane to Portugal. It also sounded as though the club who had met the asking price were still sorting out what sort instalments there would be. It's been rumbling on for a while, which is a trait associated with Rovers, as is trying to agree cash buys spread over a number of years rather than in one go.

Peterborough chairman said this morning that Maddison is still in talks with a club.

Lets wait and see. So far they've only lost a couple of players, Steve Bruce is hanging around which usually suggests he's confident of promotion. I wish we'd have rejected pathetic offers of £5 million when flogging our best players. If the season kicked off on Saturday I'd be backing Villa for the top 6. Us on the other hand not so, despite 'coming through' what they're only going into. If they lose all their best players, enter a 2 year transfer embargo and get relegated to League One then I'll eat my hat.

From behind it looks ok. Its just the sponsor I dislike. It would make much more sense for the numbers to be the same colour as the socks and sponsor.

I reckon that us, Bolton, Rotherham, Burton and possibly Preston are the only clubs that haven't broken the £1 million mark in the Championship over the last 3-4 years. Ipswich were another although Gwion Edwards will have been knocking £1 million I reckon. Considering where Burton and Rotherham have come from and the financial Armageddon at Bolton over the last few years where they've flirted with administration we're in a small pool. Also the elephant in the room is that none of those clubs have coined in £20 million+ in sales at the same time. I'd take Villa's squad and 'dire straits' right now. They've just rejected a £5 million bid from Stoke for James Chester, have a strong squad and Bruce is still there.

Just wait until April. They'll be flogging them for £20 a piece which those in the 1875 club should be able to use Club Cash for and get it for £5.

Watford was a different model. Their loaning system was done from the direction of the owners who used their ownership of multiple clubs across Europe to effectively move players around between them without paying fees. It was so controversial that the League changed the loan rules to try and stop it happening again. Wolves did a less extreme version of it but again it was all set up from the owners and their partners to exploit loopholes and take advantage of the system to achieve promotion as quickly as possible by signing a calibre of player they could never sign permanently nor attract to the Championship. Nothing like what we do which is to take a punt on 2-3 loans in order to avoid making permanent signings.

Lets be honest there isn't very much that can be changed on a Rovers home shirt to keep interest up. If they kept the same shade of blue every year they'd be stuck messing about with the trim as their only option to try and boost sales. At least by varying the shade of blue they are trying to keep interest up and offer something different. I've no problem with it, the pale blue Perspex kit is one of my all time favourites and one of the most pale blue shirts we've had. Main thing is it is blue and white halves and I've no problem if every 4-5 years we throw a pale or sky blue one in there as a change. Nothing to get upset about unlike Cardiff wearing red at home or Sheffield Wednesday/West Brom doing away with their stripes recently. The sponsor is quite ugly and surely would have been better in blue rather than black, especially with the squad numbers in blue.

Which if used in all those games, along with Bolton, Preston and Wigan who all have lots of blue/white on their kits, means it wouldn't really be a 3rd kit. We'd have a home shirt and then 2 away shirts. We could wear our home shirt at Norwich, Forest, Villa, Middlesbrough, Bristol, meaning a navy away shirt would only really be any use at places like Sheffield United, Brentford, Derby and Stoke. Not worth it. Also hope we don't start with wearing black/navy shorts with the home shirt at away games. Just looks silly yet seems to have become more and more common over the last few years where we turn up with dark blue shorts and paler blue shirts at away games.

Mowbray has publicly said numerous times that he prefers to make permanent signings rather than loans and that he wants to assemble a squad of players that will be assets to the football club, develop at the club over a number of years, improve us over time and retain value that the club can realise should the need arise to sell them. He wants to build a squad over time that will gradually improve. To be fair to him the signing of Davenport appears to fit that criteria. So how does signing this guy on loan fit into that? It strikes me that we've a similar budget to last year e.g. 1 million or so at the most to spread around the squad. In League One that sort of dosh goes a long way if you can land a Dack with it whilst keeping your Championship players, but in the Championship it won't get you very far whatsoever. So we're now onto Plan B which is to rely on the loan market where players can be picked up quickly on favourable financial terms from clubs happy to let them out for a year's development. Low risk and cheap but not a long term solution. I'd love nothing more than these concerns to be unfounded and be me overreacting or getting ahead of myself but I'm not confident.

I heard the away kit was to be yellow which I think fits with the colour of the training gear that we've had. Although it wouldn't surprise me if we ended up with a dark blue one especially now we've a pale blue and white home strip. I'll never understand the logic behind Rovers having a dark blue away shirt with white on it, yet we've had it numerous times over the years including in our last Championship season. Seems pointless and ensures a 3rd kit is needed when playing away at the numerous clubs that wear dark blue or white at home. Having seen the full kit it is almost identical to the Zebra home strip. I don't mind the pale blue as I think it makes a nice change from time to time. Don't like the socks at all, would be better in pale blue or white.

Quite like that

IF we could get hold of Gallagher, Maddison and Armstrong i think we'd be well on our way and looking well set. Not sure we will though,

Absolutely. Our routine over summer months has often been to sign a few early doors, let things drift and then squeeze some more business in at the back end in the last couple of weeks. Coyle was similar when Mulgrew, Gallagher, Williams and Emnes all turned up late on. Trouble is that they were after two big sales. Seems to be a hallmark of Venky summers.

Give him chances he'll score. Doubt Norwich would be paying that much out if they weren't confident he could still do it.

Poor selection to go at there. Not really that bothered but would prefer something to get people going a bit and liven the place up. Suppose you need the music to be audible in the stands to make it work though. Goal music is an absolute no-go. Pre match I'd suggest either Strings for Yasmin by Tin Tin Out or preferably this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1u9fMrl7wA from 2 minutes onwards as the players are in the tunnel. Think Fulham had it not long ago.

They've a good blend of British experience combined with continental players. Bearing in mind that Rhodes and Hanley were two of our most reliable and consistent performers in our 2 near misses with the play-offs i think they're a decent shout for the top 6. They've a stronger squad than we had under Bowyer and won't be playing Lowe and Williamson in CM every week.

I keep scratching my head on the Chapman one. Last season when he was fully fit in League One Mowbray was reluctant to use him apart from letting him run at the opposition in the last 20 minutes. He made numerous comments about Chapman saying he still had a lot to learn about the game and suggesting that he didn't fully trust him to start matches. Since then we've gone up a division, to a league that Chapman hasn't played in, and he's fresh off the back of 2 serious injuries which have kept him out of action since before Xmas. I'd just be surprised if he was a top target given his injuries and lack of starts he had last time here. I wouldn't be against him coming back if fit but get the impression Mowbray might have other ideas.