Dreams of 1995

Owen Beck take a bow Sky didn’t give him man of the match. That’s the 2nd biggest robbery today I can’t excuse Big Maks stupidity, but that centre half should have been booked for that drag back. If the ref had booked him, Mak stays on Ref gets a 1/10 for me Owen Beck is a legend at Rovers

Overall I think it is has been a good window I do understand what people mean when they say, considering the money brought in, the outlay looks poor. There’s a lot more to consider than just the transfer fee though. Our salary costs must have increased and that is owed to being able to put some of that transfer pot back into the player budget Not all of the £40m will be made available. Unfortunately, this is a fact we just have to accept Generally, we addressed the right areas. From what I believe we would have liked another winger but that budget was stretched. The choice was Cantwell or two loans and the club took the right option for me. It looks as though Hedges and Siggy would need to be managed carefully. Without them pair, our natural width is limited Cantwell could become a real top player here. Let’s not forget that we have a history for taking on players who have fallen out with previous clubs and giving them a new lease of life. Rovers is a very forgiving place and I don’t think our fans care what happens off the pitch, so long as your performances are good when you are on it In an ideal world we could have added another centre half. It is a tricky one - we have Hyam and Carter as first choice with McFadz and Barth second choice and Pickering can cover as the worst case. You may have been hard pressed to find a centre half to come into that set up that made financial sense given what we required up top I am happy with the window. I wish we had signed Cantwell earlier and managed to get him into the Burnley match squad. For me, a good performance by any of the new players in this game will cement their standing with the fans. I have to give credit to Gestede and Park for a well managed window and for some outside of the box thinking. It has to be said, Eustace stuck to his guns over players like Ryo Germain and if that is what allowed us to land Cantwell in the end then he played a blinder too We are going up

Balazs Toth better be called the Rocket or we are wasting our time here

Well that's annoying. We are planning on going Cov away and she liked the look of the pink shirt. If they have some in before Cov away then I will buy them. You can buy the mens direct from Macron.......for £77!!

Can’t get over the decision to make 5 subs at the same time The game before Burnley too. Momentum is a big thing. Why did we throw this away?

5 changes in one go doesn’t allow us to change the game. It’s something you do when the game is won See what has just happened for proof We are now stuck with what we have We could go out of the cup here

Thought that myself Find it a little disrespectful tbh. This isn’t a training game and they are still very much in the game Dont think that is Johns finest hour

Am I right in saying they have sold out of the pink Rovers shirt? The Mrs fancied one after seeing it but can’t see it online… I take it we have missed the boat based on previous years or will they restock?

This is a borefest Never once seen a performance from Vale that has impressed me Today is no different Time to say goodbye

There are two sides to every story Maybe Eustace blocking Ryo because he sees his centre forward role stocked better than his wide options We need some wide men. I don’t know if Ryo is that guy but I get the impression Eustaces side don’t think he’s the man for that role I know it shouldn’t come down to it but if Eustace knows there’s limited bodies coming in, he will want to make sure they’re in positions he wants better stocked We also need some back up full backs

He looks phenomenal in the air. Has won more headers in these first few games than Gally did in his years here I reckon he will have a bit of luck if he can peel on to Egan Riley. Has to be a thought for us

The way JE sets up, he will have much more luck against a coach like Parker than he would against Oxford Parker will want to play on the front foot and push high. It lends itself to the counter It’s hard to make predictions in a game like this. Going for a draw, with Gueye to score and celebrate like a mad man

I’ll take that. Not a great performance at all but we’ve managed to pull it out the bag Proactive substitutions and some good options on the bench made the difference today That said, they are a poor side and our performances need to improve massively. Eustace has form for struggling against sides that sit back and soak up the pressure. He wants teams to press and commit themselves. So it’s good to see the team find a way to grab 3 pts against a side that didn’t really show any interest in winning until the last 5 minutes We are going up

Dolan isn’t the answer in that 10 role. Buckley or JRC would be much better. Maybe even Ohashi in behind Gueye Far too many of our attacks break down with Dolan. How he didn’t slide Ohashi through early doors is beyond me Overall just been too lethargic. Feel as though we miss Gueye as our out ball

Travis is going nowhere

Blimey..... Me and you post on a messageboard that is dedicated to all things Rovers. There are some Rovers fans out there who don't really know how the Venkys and Waggots have treated previous managers Gullible is believing in the idea that everybody knows what we do. They don't But what is happening is not what was promised. Plenty of managers have fell for it. Unfortunately, it is a cause of having owners with little understanding of ethics

He didn't When promises are made, you have to take people for their word. If somebody is told they have the final say on transfers but then don't you can understand their unhappiness But I'm not willing to get deep into the conversation. People have their own opinions on it

It probably isn't a smokescreen. Well, it isn't. I posted there was discontent days ago. There really is. Eustace is not happy. I honestly think he could walk this year. Waggott says one thing and does another. Can't remember the poster but when someone said Waggott needs to pick a side it is true - do Park and Gestede have the final say or do Eustace? This barrier is getting ever higher by the day I can see why it always come across as convenient but these problems will always happen when the stress is at its most. Typically, that is during transfer windows or busy periods. The lack of senior leadership creates this vacuum. Nobody has clear responsibilities defined because the person at the "top" isn't even sure himself. Every single year a new 'power broker' appears with new ideas only for them to be cast aside if it doesn't show immediate results The reason we have such periods of calamity is down purely to that absence in strong, determined and thoughtful leadership. We have no clear commercial or operational directives. What we do is exist. Year by year we continue to operate but with no 3, 5 or 10 year plan. This 'winding path' method of leadership means we twist and turn, therefore getting nowhere fast. Steve Waggott strikes me as a director who keeps the lights on but nothing more. There's no real aspiration because he doesn't think it possible with the tools he has or he simply cannot be bothered. Yet ultimately the blame has to lie with the real owners of the company. They could employ people to run the club properly. They choose not to.

Some frustration in the camp about incoming transfers. Where have we heard that before? I despise the Venkys, but throughout history they have occasionally found money for a striker. If they do find it then I hope Stansfield is good enough to hit the ground running. Gallagher got a lot of goals in his first season for us - look how that ended up I don’t think we can afford another Brereton period. It needs to be an instant impact

I hope this link will work - not a lot of you will have instagram so I do apologise But take a look at this bar in LA last night and its coverage of the Utd game https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-w08QqoKiG/?igsh=MXU4MGJxMXVycjRzNA== https://www.facebook.com/share/r/Cz47cAcTSmFasgNp/?mibextid=WC7FNe If you haven’t got social media I am sorry but I couldn’t find it online it’s like you are actually there! Incredible footage

😂😂 It can’t be none ending when it ended And it can’t be circular, because we ended with an agreement Behave yourself before I set Eddie on you

Yeah, in hindsight we haven’t made good business decisions on player trading. Which is remarkable for a club that has brought in around £40m in recent years I could understand the Brereton case somewhat. We were sat in a good position in that Jan market - league wise - and out of the around £8m supposedly on offer we’d have had very little to reinvest. The gamble may have worked The rest, just poor ownership imo

😁😁😁 Really isn’t like you to want the last word Matty We agree that Carsley is English. That’s good enough for me. Let’s just hope your mate doesn’t get the job because then we’d have to have an argument about something you don’t care about again

I haven’t shifted anything lol Your friend qualifies for English nationality whether he wants it or not is another thing. His country of birth is England and given he has spent his life here, could take up the nationality of English if he wanted to I take riggers point that it isn’t ALWAYS true and his example was a good one. Some people are born at sea, they aren’t stateless, and so my wording there was poor But in Carsleys case - he was born in England, grew up in England, educated in England, worked in England and is bloody English His country of birth is England. His nationality is English - but he clearly has a way to also claim Irish nationality It has ended in an argument because although you keep saying you don’t care about England and are a Rovers fan decided to challenge Chads on whether Carsley is truly English or not

Ok I take that point But if he was born in Germany, went to school in Germany, grew up in Germany, worked in Germany - he’s German