Probably worth it's own thread, this. Horrible goals that were wildly celebrated. Di Santo an early front-runner.

The thing that I always find funny about the Rangers-Rovers connections from those years is that there never seemed to be anyone who did it for both clubs. Inexplicable how Lorenzo and Ferguson are both modern day greats for Rangers, but couldn't cut the mustard down here, and yet Tugay could barely get a game in Glasgow! Sure fitness and age played a part, but even so. The worst thing about the Murphy-Etuhu axis to begin with is that you couldn't tell for a while whether one of them was letting the other down it terms of their legs having gone/not putting the effort in. It was only after a couple of months it became obvious that they were both as bad as each other!

Hope he's wrong about the loan keepers too! Wouldn't be the first time. As far as I can tell though this other bloke has just started his twitter account a couple of weeks ago and starting spitting out rumours like there's no tomorrow. As much as I would like Phillips, I don't think this guy has a clue either way.

To be fair Chaddy he might have all the ability in the world, but there's no getting away from it being a massive unknown and therefore a risk when he has played so little football. If he was a striker raw ability and letting the player make a few mistakes along the way is fine. For a keeper, it would be a risk even if we were taking the next Peter Schmeichel.

I'm afraid that he has all the hallmarks of a total chancer. For all the stick he (justifiably) gets on here, information from Nixon is like Reuters compared to most transfer rumour accounts on twitter.

I've defended most of Mowbray's decisions over the last few years, but can't argue with this. I was broadly fine with selling Raya (couple of million quid too cheaply, but fine) and loaning a player with Walton's CV for 12 months wasn't ridiculous either. Surely now we must be looking at getting a player settled in that position, especially when there are good options from 2 of the teams relegated to L1. If Iversen comes in & is brilliant then I'll eat my words, but even if it comes off it's a high risk call for such an important decision.

You might well be right, it did seem to come out of nowhere but equally I was under the impression that it was basically established that it was there. Suppose we'll find out in the coming weeks, can't see him staying there come the start of the new season.

I thought this was already confirmed, no? Could be wrong, but didn't Sharpe or someone say that it was a thing back in January? Can't say I'm overly impressed by the idea that we're looking at a loan for our number 1 again, although I'll see what they're capable of before throwing my toys out of the pram. Iversen at least has the advantage of a successful season of first team football under his belt. Don't really know what is meant by expensive loan, but surely if it's classed as expensive there can't be much of a difference between what it would cost to get Marshall on board?

I think that's a good point, and his performance against Hull early doors (not just his penalty save) would've created a good first impression post-Raya too. Equally, the less obvious mistakes can start working the other way where after a few mistakes, fans start second guessing goals which other keepers would get a free pass for. I remember watching the replay of Vaulks' goal at Cardiff 4 or 5 times thinking the only way he could've scored was Walton making a mistake with his positioning. Anyway, I completely agree that he wasn't of the right standard overall & miles away from a number 1 shirt in the Prem. All I'd say is that there were certain aspects of his play which helped us get a more solid defence, at least for a while before his poor form after the restart. If say, Barnsley, signed on him a 3 year contract for a small fee, I'd see that as about his level and would be a decent signing for both parties.

Was only a youngster at the time, but even I remember Nicola Kalinic levels of misfortune in front of goal. Christian Dailly's own goal would look highly suspicious these days if it was scored in such a big game!

Will be City's promotion game. I wonder if they'll show all four times that we hit the post!

If the alternative is loaning youngsters from Prem teams, we should be all over this.

Peaked too soon with that tackle in training

Bit of both. The number of clean sheets we had as a team prior to lockdown was better than decent, for which he has to take some credit. To be fair to him, he has made some good saves this season and his willingness to come for crosses (bar Preston away) has helped. He just makes too many errors and tends to go in spells of either decent or below par form. Doesn't make him a dreadful keeper but it means that we have to look for better if we want to get in the top 6 next year. I might get shouted down for this, but I actually think he could be a great long-term signing for a Championship team a bit lower down. Trouble for teams with more ambition is that you need loans to be of the right standard straight away.

8 million is still massive when compared to next seasons limit. Hard to see how Wigan can keep almost any of their senior players even if their takeover goes well. If your whole wage bill stretches to about 50 grand a week, you can't be having a player on 8-10 unless they're so good that they almost get you promotion by themselves.

Not claiming to be an expert on L1 & L2 finance, but the 2.5 million salary cap seems pretty restrictive on some of the bigger clubs like Sunderland, Ipswich and Pompey. No doubt most of their players won't be worth looking at, but would Portsmouth be able to demand 2.5 million for Ronan Curtis like they were trying to do in January? Some shrewd moves to be made over the coming weeks, I think.

You could argue a few fall in the half-decent category. Olsson, Formica and Rochina weren't top-flight quality players, but not awful. Was he in charge when we signed Jermaine Jones?

Rigters is a great shout. Remember him being playing in the 4-1 loss to Coventry in the FA cup. Poor team performance, and Keith Treacy wasn't much better than Rigters, but even putting this aside it's up there with one of the most inept performances I've ever seen in a Rovers shirt. It's how I imagine Ali Dia was in his single appearance for Southampton. Like watching 10 footballers and a bloke from the crowd. I think Sparky's talent for picking up bargains hurt him too. We'd gotten used to buying top strikers for a couple of million quid & I remember a lot of us having really high hopes not based on much more than Hughes' midas touch.

Kevin Davies for me. Taking player inflation into account, that would be like paying at least 20-30 million, maybe even more for him at least in today's money. Throw in that we gave them a young James Beattie, Rovers fan and future England international as a sweetener. Awful deal. As well as that, whilst we got him on a free transfer, the lack of impact from Javi De Pedro was the biggest under-performance vs expectations for me, even more than Murphy and that's saying something. Was only about 12/13 at the time, genuinely thought he was going to tear up the league. My first insight into the dangers of judging a player from Championship Manager!

I'm not sure that's quite true. I see a fair amount of disagreement about how close we are to being a playoff team, some thinking we're close and progressing, others that we're some way away/stagnating. But I don't think the idea that we're at our level and we should be satisfied with being where we are is a common view at all.

Seeming nailed on that the Bristol C. assistant manager is getting a promotion. He won't necessarily be a bad appointment, but I'd be disappointed if I were in their shoes. Remains to be seen what sort of shape Rovers will be in next year, but as things stand the league looks wide open for next year, especially if at least one of the promoted sides drops like a stone as has tended to be the case recently.

If the rumours of us having a semi-decent budget are true, then perhaps it could be a possibility. Reading between the lines it seems as though Swansea are going through some belt-tightening this summer, and given they have to replace their outgoing loan stars maybe he's going because they can't afford him. That would beg the question if we are in any better a situation, but if we are his lack of transfer fee would make him an interesting option.

This is a really interesting way of approaching it. My guess is that had we spent that amount on him, most fans would either be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for next year, or more likely criticise TM for not using him properly (which may or may not be valid anyway, irrespective of his price tag). You're definitely right that the other three would represent better value for money though. As a general point, I do think that some critics of the manager can be a little blase about the Dack and Armstrong captures, who I think are Hughes-level bargains, whilst not holding back when pointing out how profligate we've been when it comes to Brereton and Gallagher. Seems to me that if we were evaluating the transfer dealings of the Souness era, you'd have to offset the brilliant signings with the Grabbis, Fergusons and Unsals. Only fair that we do the same with Mowbray too.

Looks like he's universally loved by Swansea fans, just had a quick look on twitter and can't find anything remotely negative about him, which is a rarity for that absolute cesspit! Sounds like he's rated as a player and a bloke, but reading between the lines it sounds as though he's hoping for better than the Championship. Having said that, I thought the same about Daniel Ayala, and all seems to have gone quiet on that score.

Made me chucke, that. On a serious note though, whilst clearly the days of Nixon having the inside track on what goes on at Rovers are behind him, it's not like him to commit himself to anything which could make him look silly in the near future, much prefers to keep it vague or not answer questions when he really doesn't know. I suppose 'decent, but not mad' could mean anything, but at least it might rule out some of the doomsday scenarios that might've seemed possible towards the end of last season.