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.

Think that's right, although it would need to be a shocker of a window to put us in the relegation frame in my view.

I increasingly think that this is possible - a few months ago I thought he'd be either City's fourth/fifth choice defender or going to a lower Prem club, but now I'm much less confident. I can see him being a wanted man for other Championship clubs if he was available, and whilst you'd like to think that we'd be towards the front of the queue it wouldn't surprise me if Bournemouth see him as an affordable Ake replacement.

Quite a list when you think that they've spent a good chunk of that time in L1. For his flaws, the only player at Ewood in the same bracket over the same period is Raya.

Whilst I'm not at all convinced by the look of this fella's twitter account when it comes to reliability, this would be a very good signing I think. Good keeper, good age. Stood out in a struggling side last year.

Counter-theory: Downing is excellent at keeping the ball which is an integral part of a team doing well in the style we're (supposedly) moving towards, but becomes ineffective when he's there to be our main creative threat in midfield. So a fully fit team with Dack and others who can play a bit means that Downing plays an important role in making us tick. When he's playing a three in midfield with two ball-winners and there's no Dack in front of him, he isn't threatening enough to be our go-to creator and whilst he'll still likely find a Rovers shirt, it won't be in a way that threatens the opposition. I didn't see any obvious signs of Downing struggling massively from a physical point of view post lockdown, so I'd lean more towards the changes in the team not suiting him rather than a sign that he's not up to it anymore. I'd be wary of offering him big wages, but I'd still try to fit him within our budget if possible.

Good signing for someone - can't see it being us though

Brentford seem to be on Sky quite a bit, so I've noticed a couple. There was one at Hull which was an incredible error, worse than Walton ever conjured up (although appropriately I think he produced a worldie in the same game if I remember rightly, sublime to ridiculous indeed!) I still think three million was a bit too cheap given that he's young for that position and there is still time for him to progress into being a very good keeper. But that's obviously not guaranteed by any stretch, so if they go up and we get an extra couple of million we might yet have got the better end of that detail, jury is still out.

Certainly for the money - I liked Raya and £3 million wouldn't have been enough to tempt me to sell him. Having said that I think it's possible to over-egg how much he has progressed this season. I) He is playing in a better team who control games and have a defender in Jansson who'll head anything and help Raya out with crosses. II) He's still made a few howlers this year, even if they've come with plenty of clear sheets and the customary lightning reflex saves that he produced here. If the rumours are true that we get another couple of million if they go up, then that's not looking a million miles away from reasonable value in my opinion. It remains to be seen if he'll progress enough to be the prem-standard keeper who could expect to command much more than that.

Quite right, Tommie Hoban. His injury record at Rovers followed him elsewhere, released by Watford at the end of last year and currently without a club.

Douglas would be a quality option. I fear that there would be others ahead of us if he becomes available though.

I think so too. I think we're all prone to exaggeration in one way or another, but I think a few of our players are too harshly judged as 'not championship players', where 'not good enough for a team wanting to get promoted' would be fairer. Splitting hairs maybe, but Smallwood is definitely in that category for me.

And he's a player whose performance really dips if he isn't fully fit in my view. To be fair to him he's won me over to a certain extent - a couple of years ago I'd have let his contract run out - but I think getting the best out of him means not trying to get him starting 3 games a week.