Admiral Nelsen

Hopefully more like that and less like when we actually signed Duncan Shearer!

Annoyingly, he tends to be pretty reliable and isn't just Twitter clickbait. £1million is neither use nor ornament to us for Rothwell if we're serious about going up. The fact that it's Bournemouth just underscores how dreadful it would be to accept that sort of deal (or any deal from them).

Same! Not quite the same point, but it made me think of the Bulgarian player we were once linked with (Domovchiyski?) under Hughes? I seem to remember someone on here made up that he could run the hundred meters in under 10 seconds, and later that day Sky Sports news were running that Rovers were linked with lightning-quick striker, much to the bemusement of anyone who had ever seen him play.

Yes, to be clear I'd be delighted if Nyambe signs on. The rumours seem to be a loan with the option to buy though, so if Nyambe is to leave, then at least it seems as though we're getting his replacement in beforehand which you have to say hasn't always been our strong point in recent years.

Apparently he was very closely linked with Fulham in the summer - didn't materialise in the end.

A quick bit of research on him - he is apparently absolutely rapid. If this is true then I expect this means that Nyambe is off. A real shame, but at least we seem to have done our homework into a replacement.

Unless I missed something, we sold out the initial 3,500 a day or two ago and the rest are onsale on the day. So I'd expect 4000+

Tricky one with Wigan. They obviously are in a similar position to us promotion wise, and with their COVID cancellations their schedule from here onwards is potentially ridiculous, so there's definitely a good case for them to rotate. At the same time they played a strong team in the mickey mouse cup midweek, and even though they spent a few quid in the summer they don't have a particularly big squad. That, coupled with the fact that they didn't play over Christmas makes it really hard to predict how they're going to approach this.

I agree if badly weakened means players who otherwise wouldn't get anywhere near the first team. I think playing the 5-6 fringe players that are near enough certain to be needed in the league at some point is sensible - gives them game-time and they should still have enough to see off a L1 team. I wouldn't be in favour of playing kids who aren't already knocking down the door. I think the circumstances of our season calls for us to be pragmatic, but I don't think that means we need to throw the game.

I was thinking along the same lines, but the cheap tickets will stop this making much of a difference I think. Say average tickets are around £12 considering concessions, a crowd of 10k will get us around £60k. Plus the prize money it's welcome, but I can't see it making any difference to the budget. A win on Saturday, then an away draw against a United/Spurs/Arsenal, then maybe that could make a difference.

Been very up and down even within games. Thought he was great in the first half against Coventry, but then faded badly in the second, giving the ball away in some really poor areas. He looks like he has the raw materials to be a decent player though. I suspect the change in system will help him too, with the three centre backs giving him more room to get forward.

Fair enough. Rovers twitter is saying 4-6, so fingers crossed it's closer to the lower end of that. Four weeks from last weekend wouldn't be the end of the world with bearing in mind one of the games he'll be missing is in the cup, but if it gets towards the end of February then he'll be missing a concerning number of games.

Thought TM said 4-6? Still a massive blow though. Need Edun to step up!

100%. We might now find ourselves in the incredible position of Ayala being our 4th choice centre back, but we'll almost certainly need him at some point before the season's done. Won't do us or him any good if he hasn't played in months.

I get that approach, even if there are one or two more changes than my liking. Even so, Edun starting at left back is a no-brainer. He needs to get more time on the pitch even if Pickering is out for a while. I also seriously doubt that we'll see JRC as being able to start, but then again it's a dilemma because nobody else can really slot in there apart from Nyambe, and he is arguably the player who needs protecting the most. I think the best compromises would either be: i) Play Nyambe from the start but take him off for JRC after an hour, irrespective of how the game's going, or ii) Play Magloire on the right, and play one of the senior centre backs. Van Hecke in particular hasn't really played that much recently once you factor in his ban, and we don't play for a week anyway, so I don't see that a being a massive issue for him.

That should make a difference. With >3000 already sold it should be a decent turn out.

I don't really take a view one way or another about how much of this is down to the coaching, but I agree that this is an important point with Nyambe. We often talk about how he isn't good enough going forward, when what we actually mean that his final ball isn't good enough. He travels with the ball very well, and is decent enough at keeping the ball in possession and providing an out=ball going forward. He wouldn't do at all for teams who are relying on their full backs to rack up a decent number of goals/assists, but he can still contribute plenty in an attacking sense for teams who don't see their full backs as one of their main sources for creating chances.

When he was fit? Really not that many. Most of the games that he hasn't started since the L1 season have been down to injury. When he's been fit, he has generally played. I know the spell when Bennett played there got a lot of people's back up, and I didn't agree with it either, but in the greater scheme of things it was barely more than a handful of games when he was still establishing himself at this level. The idea that Nyambe is leaving because he has the hump about not playing for a few games over a year ago just doesn't seem to stack up for me I'm afraid.

Not doubting the truthfulness of this exactly, but Nyambe doesn't seem to me to be a Bielsa style player at all.

Only 8 quid for juniors too. Thought that alone would turn this into a bumper crowd. There's still time for it to be decent I suppose, but it doesn't seem like pay-on-the-day will be available, which would probably make a big difference.

You're probably right. I hope Wharton get's rested though - all three of our centre halves have been excellent but I've been so impressed with how well he's come back from a serious injury. The fact that he's the only left footed centre-back would lead me to wrap him in cotton wool, but on balance I think you'll be right and he'll play.

Amazingly, it is. Couple of draws, but we haven't won there since Sparky was in charge. We've had away wins at United, Arsenal and Spurs more recently!

That is a nasty looking run. Watford have games against Norwich and Newcastle over the same period too, so easy to see them getting a few points there. The thing I'd be clinging onto in your position is that there have been three teams around you that, in the main, have been very poor in the first half of the season. If that stays the same for the next half, it's not that hard to see Burnley finishing 17th without a ridiculous change in form, especially with the experience you've got. Having said that, if Newcastle splash the cash and it translates into results (no guarantee of that), I struggle to see you chasing down anyone above Watford bar one of those teams absolutely nosediving.

Assuming that we're just throwing names around with Chris Wood, and there's no chance that it will actually happen, but personally I'd be against. He's obviously easily good enough for a top-end Championship team, and I'm not really bothered that he's a Burnley player, but the one thing that he lacks is pace and agility. I know we're a bit more direct now, but so much of what we're good at relies on our forwards having pace to burn and hit teams on the counter attack, and there's no way we would sign a player on prem wages like him to be plan B off the bench.

Looking at some of those comments we could be easily be talking about Josh King in his first few years here, but the thing that worries me the most is his age. Nothing wrong with being a very rough diamond in your early 20s, and raw pace and power would suit us down to a tee. 24 though, for a forward, is a little late to be needing to improve so much, and whilst I'm certain confidence is a factor, I think we're probably being too hopeful to think that a couple of goals and we'll suddenly have that £15 million player on our hands. Let's wait and see, but I hope if it goes ahead it's for the sort of financial outlay that doesn't really hurt us if it doesn't work out.