Admiral Nelsen

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.

Don't really need to add anything to this, other than in the summer before he signed it was quite difficult to even like most of our players. Smallwood was one of the main figures in changing that in the L1 season. The ceiling of his ability is towards the lower half of this division, so right for all parties that he goes, but's right to recognise his role in letting us enjoy going to the football again.

Whilst Samuel isn't good enough and it's the right call to let him go, he can still count himself as very unlucky that injury took away his chance to prove that he could do it in this league, the way that the rest of the L1 team did. There were glimpses in his performances this season which showed that he has something to offer, travels with the ball well and will get the odd goal. Would be a good free signing for a L1 team.

Devils advocate on the German lad, it might just be a style of play thing, without necessarily meaning he's weak defensively. You could look at a player like Leighton Baines and arguably describe him in a pretty similar way, but you wouldn't say that he was overly suspect defensively either. Equally, he might just be no good.

We were linked with Graham for some time before we actually got him. I suspected he was going to be a big downgrade on Rhodes who would wouldn't nearly be worth the wages we were supposedly shelling out for him. Couldn't have been more wrong, made a massive contribution in his time here, unlucky not to have been given the opportunity to contribute even more. Comfortably Lambert's best decision in his time here. For the right team, he could still be a shrewd signing for this level.

Funnily enough, I think Bowyer's time is a perfect microcosm of the benefits and drawbacks of playing with out and out wingers. Our best spell by far was when we had King and Conway on both wings, with Rhodes and Gestede up front. We looked so dangerous that way and both strikers scored a bag-full of goals, but I'm not sure we ever really controlled a game, even with the likes of Cairney in the middle. I think with hindsight you can make a good argument that Bowyer sticking to his system of something which looked like two wingers (apart from when Cairney was cutting in) as a part of 442 was one of the main reasons why we didn't get the most out of that squad, even if it meant the front two were prolific.

Plenty of players there, so I'm not going to argue that all of the young lads who are getting time are necessarily going to cut the mustard. Balance of probability at least a couple wont. Even so, players develop at different rates and I wouldn't be overly concerned about players not having bags of appearances at 20/21. Paul Scholes was only in and out of the team at 20/21, and only became a key player a number of years later. Others obviously make their mark earlier, but loads of good players only begin to mature in their early 20s. I think it would be a problem, for example if Travis would not be in the team when he turns 23, but instead he's arguably our best player at 22. Lenihan too, even if he isn't going to improve much more is clearly amongst our best and most valuable players. Maybe that in itself is a problem! But should we make those available for other clubs there wouldn't be a shortage of suitors at the top end of the division, in the case of Travis possibly even the bottom end of the Prem.

Fair, but I think it's looking pretty likely that a long list of players at the start of their career are going to be asked to play significant roles for us next year, not all of them in Downing's position. There'll be times when they'll need the experienced heads with them, especially when we're losing others from the squad, and some of the others aren't going to be worth their place in the team.

Probably, but I really hope not. Even if we're reducing the budget next season, Downing's wages might be well spent for his effect on the youngsters. I can't decide if that sounds like the sort of thing which TM would do or not. Anyway, I hope you're right!