Lancaster Rover

Having all midweek games broadcast makes it even more annoying when you can't watch a Saturday afternoon game, I can't get to Ewood tomorrow and would happily pay the tenner to watch at home. Will have to try and find a river to sail on a sit were, although I seem to struggle finding decent rivers these days, I seem to pick the ones full or trolleys and bin bags.

Bugger, I was hoping Yaya Toure and Hatem Ben Arfa would be pitching up at Ewood

12 million quid would be criminal, we're getting into the Afobe, Assombalonga territory there, players who have long track records of banging goals in at this level. I doubt very much it will get anywhere near that but even so that's a terrifying prospect. If the lad struggled with the pressure of being Forests man up front last season then banging that price tag on in a newly promoted team who need to stay in the division could be crippling.

Thanks for that, really informative post and makes me think even more that he is potentially the right player at the wrong time. Sounds like someone that would be great to bring on around a stable of quality forwards, unfortunately we're not blessed in that department and whoever we bring will need to hit the ground running and be the leading man.

He was a pain in the arse at Celtic too

Cheers, I can't see either of them signing today. In fact I can't see Brereton signing at all.

You'd assume that maybe Rodwell has told him that or someone at Rovers who has set up the interview?

It's all gone very quiet on the Brereton front, I think we will end up with Sam Gallagher on the final day of the window. I think Chapman will be loaned to someone in League 1 too for what it's worth.

I genuinely think that TM has got them under orders to be defenders first and foremost, I think once we rack up some points the shackles will come off a little. It wasn't as apparent on Wednesday due to Dack and Palmer missing but if in games we have a front 4 of Graham, Dack. Armstrong and Palmer it leaves the midfielders a lot of covering to do, chuck in a couple of Full backs bombing forward and it would look like an Owen Coyle team. I really like Bell, he's intelligent and confident with the ball at his feet and is an excellent defender to boot. His pace is a real asset and I would think gives confidence to Mulgrew and Lenihan knowing the've got both Bell and Nyambe who have the speed to add cover when needed.

Bells pass for the first penalty on Wednesday was better than any attacking play I've seen from Williams in the time he has been here, the only thing Bell is missing at the moment is the confidence to drive forward at defenders. I think he's under orders to keep a tight ship and be ready to cover Mulgrew though to be honest whilst we settle in the league.

I'm guessing you didn't watch the game on Wednesday? No way should Williams who hasn't played this season should be in ahead of Bell, Smallwood isn't at the races, Armstrong is wearing a protective boot and Dack is struggling to be fit.

I still don't think they will risk Dack.

Absolutely, it just seems everything is polar opposites these days, there seems very little room for balance. Everything is either euphorically amazing or dreadful.

Football is mad isn't it. Signing an Premier League winning ex-England international for nowt - bad Signing a kid nobody had heard of until 2 weeks ago who can't get a kick at Forest for 8 million quid - good

I'd rather Travis started than Conway, and the formation was moved around a little, much more mobile against a team who move the ball very quickly from back to front.

We wont get the chance to sign many ex-England international 27 year olds for free, I'm quietly confident about this one. Doing some reading around his time at Sunderland it does seem like he has been victim of some of the same tactics Venky's used on Robinson, Salgado and Roberts, freezing him out purely due to what he was getting paid. Sunderland fans will rightly complain about his getting 77k and having no relegation clause, however that's not Rodwell's fault, nobody forces clubs to offer daft contracts. Also I've read that Rodwell should have ripped up his contract and walked, why? Why on earth would anybody make themselves unemployed? I've not read specifics on what his attitude problems are but a lot of it seem to stem from him getting paid a lot of money and being in a team that to a man were crap the final season in the prem, in fairness Sunderlands plight is as much down to mismanagement at boardroom level as it is to the team. We've seen how chaos at the top spreads like widlfire and Sunderland are definitely victims to that. I've got a really open mind on this one and looking at the facts of it he's 27, cheap, played 160 odd premier league games, won a premier league title and played for England 3 times. How many other championship players can boast that? On that basis alone I'm willing to give him a good go.

Imagine them playing together though, the Titanic turned faster

He's said something along the lines of he will run tomorrow and we will see but if there is any doubt is it worth risking him and the potential to further injure himself. That's how I read it anyway. It was in the 2nd match report Sharpe put out on Twitter.

I don't disagree, I'm merely giving an opinion on what I think Mowbray will do based on his comments.

Davenport will need a few games with the 23's I reckon to get him up to speed to feature in the first team, don't think we will be seeing him until the back end of September to be honest.

It's hard to say what he will do on Saturday with the injuries sustained last night having an effect. Brentford are flying at the moment and I can see us setting up more defensively with a midfield of Evans, Smallwood, Rothwell and Bennett in there. Reading Tony's comments from last night's game it sounds like we won't be risking Dack and I can see Palmer starting on the bench.

It was a joy to watch Rothwell last night, it's a long time since we've had a midfielder who looks to drive at the opposition, he put in some absolutely crunching tackles too, not a part of his game I was aware of. He looked like an old fashioned all action number 8 last night, really looking forward to seeing more of him. Smallwood looked cooked, barring a couple of tackles and a neat flick in the first 10 minutes he was miles off the pace, the performance of Evans and Rothwell as an engine room should mean that Smallwood's 50 consecutive starts comes to an abrupt end. Can never fault the lads effort but unfortunately for him I think he looks out of his depth at this level.

It's not a conspiracy theory, that's a truth, they do save local games, etc for weekends. I agree with what you're saying but a drop of 3-400 fans paying 20 quid a head plus in ground spend could have a massive impact on league 1 and 2 clubs, probably looking at creating a £35k hole for some clubs. I don't have all the figures so the EFL may have increased clubs solidarity payments to reflect this, the worrying thought is that as the weather gets worse and nights draw in it may not only be travelling fans who decide to save themselves the bother of going on.

I have a horrible feeling we will be bringing in a couple of premier league youngsters in on loan toward the end of the window. The other 'irons in the fire' must have either melted, burnt to a crisp or the fire gone out by now.

I think it will be really noticeable in League 2, how many Exeter fans are going to travel to Macclesfield on a Tuesday night when they can watch at home , save half a days leave and not spend hours on a coach in traffic. It could cost teams 10's of thousands of pounds in lost revenue, teams like Morecambe and Accrington rely heavily on big away followings swelling their coffers. I know Morecambe really felt the loss of having Bradford and Carlisle in their league. Is there anything to stop travelling teams offering the game live at their own ground/bar?