You are bang on, Mercer! Cannot fault anyone for severe ambition(especially a footballer). No one covered the hard yards better than Dolan. The best back-tracking winger we have seen at Ewood since Ripley(IMHO). Not great going forward,but NEVER went missing which is easy for a wide player. His ambition far outweighs his quality,but that is to his credit he makes the most out of what he has got!

Shows we need two(as a bare minimum)extra central defenders as Carter & Wharton are always injured or unavailable. Lets hope McLoughlin takes one of the slots. What happens if Hyam gets injured or sent-off?(Sent-off somewhat unlikely I know!!) He is rather a unique players for Rovers in completing so many games!

The only positive I can take is that you don`t want a scenario like at Man Ure where they have 5 players(Garnacho,Malacia,Rashford,Antony & Sancho)collecting approx.£1 million a week in wages(according to the BBC) and the manager doesn`t want them. Don`t train with the first team squad. There are done for him. Also weakens the club`s bargaining position to sell at a high price. So the low cost ,low wages ,young player model is dependant on very good scouting and a lot of luck to work! Very high risk and interesting. It won`t look so good and interesting if we are bottom of the League. The idea: don`t get promoted(way too much financial outlay will then be required) but don`t get relegated either(not enough revenue coming in ). Due acknowledgement to Tomphil2 that looks like the strategy(if you can call it that)!

Like Booth,I`m not a Brittain fan. I have no problem with us selling him for what we can get. He is very good going forward,but always strikes me as soft defensively. My issue is that some of those funds won`t be used to offer decent contracts to Travis & Tronstad who are probably vastly superior to their replacements(if even replacements by obscure foreign League footballers are contemplated). Difficult times indeed, !

If you didn`t say "Pathetic" Chaddy how come you have edited your own comments?

Don`t you mean patience Chaddy? I agree the transfer dealings so far are "Pathetic"☺️

Must be difficult to drum up positivity in the players left when VI sees his decimated squad. No way under Earth`s starry firmanent they can replace Dolan(worth only £1 million apparently) at that level for the money saved including wages without extraordinary luck! Must be his re-sale value isn`t high so they don`t care! I know the lad has his limitations,but he`s far superior to Hedges or anyone else we have as a wide forward plus isn`t permanently injured and does get involved. The absolute reversal of Buckley or Corey Evans, Guthrie etc etc The only contract renewals aka Hedges, Forshaw are players who have no other takers. VI will seriously earn his corn if he stays(and keeps us up).

The most positive thing I can come up with for the forthcoming season is that we won`t have to play the Dingles. At least not in the League, and I sincerely hope not in either Cup competitions !!

Yes,right on. De Keersmaecker would be more than positive. Rather have Garrett, even(dare I say it) Buckley than Gore. Makes the Forshaw re-signing more positive by the day!

I guess it comes down to whether there are three teams worse than Rovers next season. Don`t think Birmingham or Wrexham are two of them. Its not just the lack of a proper budget,its the failure to tie decent Championship players down to any reasonable contracts post Broughton. This neurotic obsession with cutting the wage bill! Whatever VI certainly has his work cut out.

Very disappointing, if it really happens. Not too worried about Weimann Baath is an oldster, albeit a good one. Travis & Dolan will both be big misses and hard to replace! It looks a bit like Eustace is trying to take the mick. He has replaced the dingles for me who have never interfered in our squad. I have no issue with Wrexham here. I`d feel slightly happier if we showed some real interest in this De Keersmaecker guy. Would like to see him play at Ewood.. But real intent & purpose went out of the window some years ago.. .

If the budget is excessively threadbare perhaps we should prioritise certain signings over other ones? While ideally I`d sign them all up for another season why not put Baath as No.1, Dolan as No.2(because he does have resale value and every decent player we have can`t be 35+ years of age). If Weimann has to be let go, so be it. Adjust if the player wants to leave. Same with the best 3 players;I1d put Tronstadt as No.!, Travis as No.2 and get them signed up on longer deals quickly! If this means Brittain has to be let go, so be it. Maybe we have to target replacements in other positions as well? This zero planning won`t end well. We did extraordinarily well to finish 7th,after losing Adam Wharton & super Sammi Szmodics and are essentially in the same boat as Sheffield United in spite of their huge financial advantage over us.

A letter from your new head coach - blimey theres more spin there than a good man can shake a stick at!!

bluebruce I meant exactly what you said-misinterpreted my post. Perhaps I wrote it down badly!

Lets really hope Ohashi & Tronstad especially are near match-fitness. Can anyone tell me what Cantwell brings to the team apart from a high wage? Decent penalty taker I grant you(something super Sammi Szmodics struggled with I do concede)! Like the look of Kargbo and Gueye is improving. But the short-term nature of many players contracts leaves one with a grim sense of foreboding. There is no Adam Wharton to sell off again this summer. Wonder if Ismael is good developing academy players? Really hope we get a positive response against Norwich.

Re interview :comes across as quite tough and not a lot like Eustace. Whether his style works is anyones guess. Very interesting to see team selections(presumably guided a bit by Lowe) . If its all about effort and commitment rather than skill then could be better for Travis & Dolan than Buckley & Cantwell. We shall see.

The right call on Siggy. I really hope the Russell Martin link is for Swansea and not us otherwise I think we can kiss all those clean sheets goodbye! Passing out from the back ad nauseum.

No one covers the hard yards(certainly as a forward rather than midfielder)better than Dolan. Ridiculous if we let him go for almost zero pence. He could even improve and given the large number of old stalwarts in the squad(some of whom have been good aka Baath) we need at least the odd player with re-sale value. I like him and so do the youngsters who I know that attend(they probably like his hair-style)??

Hedges poorest player against the knobbers for me. Pears easily MOTM and has just a smidgeon of Rayas cat-like qualities. The rest of his game needs serious improvement-a new goalie coach perhaps? It still rankles with me how we virtually gave away one of the worlds great goalies - (albeit not fully developed then). Mowbrayfication at its finest!

Quite right Mash! If Pears is delivering the goods who cares what some of his previous performances have been like?

Bizarre as it sounds delighted with a point against 10 man knobbers. We still struggle against teams of cloggers. The JDT effect not completely out of the system? These refs cant cope with the rough stuff and we seem to be on the receiving end of a lot of it! Plaudits to Pears on the derby clean sheet. Like the look of a bigger back line with Brittain & Pickering out of the picture(though will be needed later on). Hopefully Dolan improves after his (perhaps expected) poor performance against Preston of all teams cos Cantwell looks miles off it in the cameo. Maybe Cantwell is one for 2025 ?

Yes Ty,that was the match where Adam took out two Burnley players with one tackle. He was already on a booking to boot but the ref.nicely just reminded him of that. Brownhill got sent off too!! Plus they had a goal disallowed somewhat questionably). Kind of a day when the Dingles didnt get the rub of the green. Hee! Hee!

Fantastic performance all round for effort and tenacity! Big shout outs to Owen Beck(what a debut in a baptism of fire!!). Goal of the season from Andreas Weimann at the Dingledome of all places. And Adam Wharton. Adam Wharton? Yes,his MOTM performance for Crystal Palace against Burnley 3-0 helped relegate the Dingles last season. Omitted a start by JDT last time around, he was setting the record straight.

Cant disagree with much said. As poor as Pears is, most Rovers supporters Ive spoken to think Hilton is,at best about at Leos standard. So a change of goalies is just not an option. Even at home against a League I side.

Eustace very much getting a gallon out of a pint pot(in quality terms/wages & budget so far)so whats not to like? The new-found resilience is a breath of fresh air!!