Quite a lot online being made of being a left-sided centre back. Wonder if that means he can cover left back too? A player who could cover all the same positions as Williams, but just do it better, would be a great addition given where the squad is at the moment, and that we're obviously looking to play with three at the back more.

Hopefully the boy who went to Leicester can act as an example not to follow, in that respect. Would have surely got decent game time for Rovers by now had he stayed with us.

Won't pretend to know too much about him - but CV looks decent enough. Warnock knows a centre half when he sees one too, so would be pretty optimistic with this one. Him and the City lad on low wages, with Wharton to come in before Christmas looks pretty good to me.

Great to hear. Know anything about his background Joe? I.e. has he been at Rovers for a while, or was he another let go from United/Liverpool?

He does. I have to admit I wasn't immediately gushing about him after Swansea, but then you get back from the game, realise that he won something like 14 out of 15 headers and realise that that's exactly what we've been missing for years. No issue with wrapping him in cotton wool either. The only thing I worry about that comparison is that both McGrath and King were (before the injuries) pretty agile and athletic for centre backs. There were times last year where Ayala looked very clumsy and an accident waiting to happen against opposition forwards with a bit of pace about them. I wonder if Ayala needs to be properly fit to cope with those sorts of players? Guess we'll find out anyway. Certainly much happier with him on the pitch than on the treatment table.

Genuine question, which shit left back? We've had about 7 in the last 5 years or so.

I'm a few years older, but like you am not old enough to remember us being top dogs, much less appreciate it. Like others have said, fair play to him for still being a Rover after what we have subjected him to over the last ten years. I bet his best XI from since he started watching us is laughably poor. Give it a few weeks he might even be in it himself!

Just seen this on twitter - Clarkson with Sparky from a few years ago. Anyone else feeling old?

Definitely. For now though I'm going to enjoy doing to other teams what seemed to happen to us all the time last year - have 20 shots and still throw points away via a set piece! Staying fit for two games doesn't absolve us from the poor decision to sign him last year, but his performances so far underline why they found it so tempting to take the gamble on signing him in the first place. Been a long time that we've seen a centre back dominate in the air and look so assured doing the basics of defending. Even the one-on-one chance that Swansea had in the first half which looked to be his fault was fairly clearly offside, so I'll give him the benefit on looking flat-footed on that one. Swallows, summers etc. If he plays 30 games this year though he will make a massive difference.

(Tenuously) Fitting that our first signing was made on the same page as Tony's newly preferred formation.

They'll be well up for this after losing the first two, but still might be a decent time to play them with their injuries at the back. Going for an optimistic 1-2 Rovers, Brereton Diaz putting us top at his former stomping ground.

I think that's a good argument to not go mad with filling the squad with loans, which if certain reports are to be believed, we might end up doing sadly. Buckley in particular needs be starting more games, and it doesn't make sense to send Carter down to L1 if whoever is playing at Ewood is as raw as Branthwaite was last year. That being said, we can't lose the number of players that we have (even if we weren't sorry to see lots of them go) without bringing at least a few extra bodies in. Like you I'm encouraged that we already have the ability to stay clear of trouble, but the depth that we've had on the bench is a real cause for concern. That's why this one makes perfect sense to me - we start three midfielders every game, and of the five options we currently have, only one (Buckley) hasn't had significant fitness issues recently. I think it just comes down to being selective. 2 or 3 players with the ability of Harwood-Bellis/Elliott is ideal. 5 or 6, with a couple of Jack Brynes, Martin Samuelsens or Stephen Hendries thrown in, then serious questions need to be asked.

Purely guesswork, but the interest of two obviously more monied, southern based clubs smacks me a little of an agent trying to squeeze a better contract out of Rovers. Especially considering there were rumours that he had already rejected us which seem now to be premature. Obviously if there are genuine offers from either Fulham or Bournemouth, then I'd expect that he'd be off there in a shot.

If he was coming through now, they'd never think about keeping him as a centre forward. Not surprising that he ended up playing his best football in his later years as he moved deeper and deeper.

So he is! Not sure where I got that from. In any case, I think we were a body short so I'm happy with this one. Interesting that we're still after Doyle from City, apparently. All of a sudden we might look slightly overloaded with midfielders if everyone stays fit, although if last season is anything to go by we'll usually have at least one or two in the treatment room.

To be fair, Garrett's only going to be 17 by the time Clarkson has gone back to Liverpool. I don't think this is going to have a particularly meaningful impact on his development. If this goes through, we'll have 6 first teamers (Travis, Rothwell, Clarkson, Johnson, Buckley and Davenport) going after three positions in our midfield. You could argue maybe 7 depending on how we play Dack when he comes back, but we're going to be using all of these players if they can stay fit.

I guess with his injury record no team would pay more than a tiny fraction of those wages. I'd be a bit surprised and disappointed if we're risking as much as 30% given our financial position, even if he is a really talented player. From City's perspective, their best option with him now is to not worry about wage contributions, and just get him playing regularly at the best level possible for a season and hope he can stay fit. If he does well, then they can offer him a new deal then maybe sell him for a few quid like they did with Tosin.

And with fit striker Jon Macken still sat on the bench! Quite an easily forgotten episode considering just how bizarre it was.

I'm pretty sympathetic to this, the only worry I have is that even if we don't sign anyone, we could end up in the position in a month or two where he's behind Lenihan, Ayala & Wharton and suddenly he's on the bench every week and not playing for weeks on end. Flip side of that is obviously that all three of those mentioned have poor fitness records, so he probably would play his fair share if he stayed at Rovers, especially if we continue switching with three at the back. I can see the logic in bringing in a cheapish prem loan and sending Carter away for another season just to make sure that he gets on the pitch.

I'm expecting improvement from Pickering, but I'm satisfied enough with what I've seen. Certainly an upgrade defensively, and let's not forget that last year was his first in L1. Very good point today, even if the performance wasn't good. After last year I'll take a few more days like today.

I know there were meant to be pretty massive engineering works taking place at Euston today - might be unrelated, but I'd bet it's had a non-trivial impact on our following. We were planning on going to the first away whoever it was, but decided against when we couldn't get train tickets a few weeks ago.

Delay due to train issues, apparently.

Believe that Graham was a Lambert/Coyle signing. Got a feeling that we're forgetting another though.

To be honest, as bad as last season was and as much as I think Mowbray should have gone, I don't think there is a debate to be had. That might change if it turns out there was something underhand in his role in the potential training ground sell-off, but without knowing much more on that front and judging them for what we can see on & off the pitch, Kean is lightyears worse than anything else we have had, including Coyle.

Pretty decent one from us around Christmas/New Year when K**n first got the job. Around 3k in bad weather if memory serves for a promising 3-1 win with 10 men. Talk about a false dawn!