Admiral Nelsen

1 - 0 Rovers, Brereton header!

To be fair to him, I don't think that was a Venkys reference - I think he's done that plenty of times before.

Purely speculatively, if we were getting several hundred thousand for him then I think that we could probably put that to better use - not least because he picks up injuries a bit too often for me. Otherwise, perfectly decent back up option.

Swansea are supposedly after Ayala. Supposedly they aren't awash with money & even with the lad from Wolves, they need to replace some of their attacking loans from last year. If they're after Williams they've either got a few more quid than they're letting on, or they've abandoned getting Ayala in my view.

This is exactly where I'm at with him. If we could go back, there's no way I'd have spent that sort of fee on him, even if the money couldn't have been spent elsewhere. Even so, if a 21 year old Brereton came out of the academy and gave the performances that he did post lockdown, we would all be saying that he looks a clumsy player, but one with plenty to offer. Graham & Samuel clocked up about 40-50 appearances between them last year and have been let go without a replacement, so whether he merits it or not, BB is going to be getting a decent run of games if he stays fit. Quite simply, he has to take this year to step up, we can't wait forever.

Whilst I think we'll miss Downing more than some are saying, you're undoubtedly right. Fortunately it looks as though this is how Mowbray sees it too.

Fair enough, wouldn't disagree that he has made his fair share of mistakes at both left back & centre half. In retrospect, it's easy to see why his best form came in a back three at Bristol City. Ultimately though, he'll need replacing and that won't be all that straightforward at present. You could still argue that he is our best left back (admittedly not saying very much) and even allowing for a new centre back, Williams is second choice. He's one of a group of players that we have who you definitely wouldn't want to see making 20-30 appearances a season, but is a good player to have to fill in when necessary. I still think that if we've got a semi-decent offer for him, or if he actively wants to go, there's no point in keeping him, but I wouldn't be rushing him out the door either.

Seem to remember that there were some rumblings about Williams going to the MLS a while back, maybe they've resurfaced? Agree with those who're saying he's perfectly serviceable backup, but if he wants to go then there's nothing gained in standing in his way.

Not quite! Him & Gally are stretching it slightly with being in their mid-30s, but how many teams can say that they have produced a full starting XI of players who were/are good level Championship players at the very least over a 10-12 year period? Suppose Mahoney might be an exception to that, but I forgot Pilkington so we could just play him there instead.

Using academy graduates who are still playing, we could put together a team looking like: Raya Nyambe Jones Hanley O'Connell Hoilett Travis Gallagher Mahoney Judge Derbyshire Had to go a little further back for a couple of them, but they're all still playing and there are players like Lenihan who can't get in the team. Not including any of the current crop breaking through either. The academy is doing fine.

This lad, I believe https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/callum-wright/profil/spieler/502830

That would be amazing, although assuming there would be no outgoings that would be £3-4 million, maybe even more just in transfer fees. I know we're only speculating on budgets etc. at the moment, but that sounds probably a bit beyond what we can expect.

That he does. Funnily enough that was something which a few Forest fans brought up as a negative when we signed him. I'm a bit more open minded about that sort of behaviour when he gets as many dodgy looking penalties as he does goals!

If that's right then fair enough. Wouldn't want to suggest that he was particularly good and the penalty was obviously poor. I was just a bit surprised that he was being picked out as hopeless when for me there were others who were noticeably worse.

That's pretty much where I am, as much as we don't have anyone with Graham's know how and ability to bring other players into play, fact is we our goal tally was pretty good last year which was in the main with Graham not getting on the pitch. If there's room for a sensible loan then fine, but I'd be happy spending all of whatever money we have on goalkeepers and defenders.

Picked up a slight knock in training apparently, doesn't sound serious.

I think it's just the difficulty in reconciling his apparent fee of 1.5 million quid with the noises we're getting about how much we have to spend. I don't think there's any 'he won't come to little Blackburn Rovers' about it.

I remember him being offside twice, and the second time Wharton took a long while to get the ball in the channel, the run could've been well timed. He'll always be an inelegant player, but hopeless is way too harsh on today's showing.

Don't for a second think that he'll end up here, but seems a bit strange that West Ham haven't just gone out and signed him if they were genuinely interested. The supposed £1.5 million might be pricing us out of the chase (let's see) but surely that must be small beer for an established top flight team, Covid or no.

Maybe, but there was a missed pen in there and we got into a couple of other good positions that we could've made more from. Only a friendly etc. but I'm reasonably encouraged with that.

They've no U23s, I think. So they either go straight into the first team, or let them go. Think I've read that they were offering him a new deal but covid got in the way.

4-1 Brennan

Dolan looks sharp, nice feet but getting a bit excited when he gets into decent positions. Can definitely see why we've taken a punt on him.

Decent shout! Not sure that Dolan would have expected his first two touches in Rovers colours to go as well.

Chapman looks the best player on the park by a mile, really encouraging. Other than the poor penalty, I think BB has put in a decent showing. Ungainly, but much more of a handful than we ever saw pre-lockdown. Davenport showed some nice touches too.