Admiral Nelsen

Would be sorry to see Downing go, proved to be an excellently astute signing at the time and played a big role in kicking starting us last year after the dodgy start. Can't begrudge him regular football though, wish him all the best if he goes.

Good move. Looks like he's caught the eye in the U23s so good to see if he can do it at a decent level like the SPL. He's 21 too, so probably of the age where we can't afford to hang about with exposing him to men's football.

I think the truth's somewhere in the middle. Agree that his work rate was fine, think saying otherwise is a bit of a lazy accusation. That said, I don't think he could really have been trusted to play in the way that the team needed in terms of looking after the ball in the right areas. A good player who if we signed on a four year contract would be a good investment, but given where we are, would rather give more game time to one of those who will definitely be here next season.

Not overly upset about Palmer, assuming the reports are true. Talented boy though, seems like a decent lad too. Seem to remember Tony mentioning about taking the pressure off Dack when we first brought him in. Probably envisaged him playing number 10 a lot more than he has done, which would've suited him more. Now that we're as good as safe, I'd rather give playing time to one of our own players. Makes sense for all parties.

Basically agree due to their potential (especially Rothwell) but both will need to develop significantly to be long term fixtures in my view, if our aspirations are to be mixing it around the top of the table. Bell at the moment is simply too loose a defender to deserve a place in the team (especially against the better footballing teams who put us under pressure) in front of Williams, who generally I think is underrated. That said, he is physically very impressive and is comfortable on the ball (even if his crossing needs work), but that's not enough if he allows his winger to get the ball into the box as frequently as he does. As you say, as a league 1 signing for a few hundred grand, he's not been a bad bit of business, but he certainly has things in his games to fix before we can really say it's paid dividends either in terms of increased value or his being worth his place in the side. Probably say the same with Rothwell, although he's probably entitled to a few more appearences before passing judgement.

Reed on a permanent deal would be a fabulous bit of business. We've seen how difficult it is to get a player in this division who can be comfortable on the ball as well as well as properly compete in the middle of the park. Come to think of it I don't think we've had a single one, other than perhaps David Jones on loan. If young Travis develops into the sort of player that he looks like he might be, then all of a sudden our perennial problem position (even though Evans and Smallwood are a big improvement on what we've had in years) could suddenly be a real strength.

To be fair, I think the worst possible option would be to keep Travis at Rovers but not in the first XI. Delighted with the way that he's played in the last few games, and deserves to keep his place, but it's common for the form of youngsters to tail off once the adrenaline of stepping up to a new level wears off. He obviously looks every inch the Championship player already, but so long as there's no repeat of him stewing in the reserves, at least he'll get a chance to develop and show what he can do consistently.

Some tricky decisions for TM here. We're looking nailed on for mid-table, so I'd like us to really go full strength for a cup run, but at the same time a lot of our big hitters have played a lot of a football and some players out of the team probably warrant more minutes. I'd go: Raya Bennett Lenihan Williams Bell Travis Evans Rothwell Palmer Armstrong Brereton But wouldn't especially mind if Downing or Conway got starts either. Is there a chance that we could see Davenport on the bench for this one?

Once you get an opinion on a player, it's hard for them to change your mind, so my biggest complement to Evans is that after thinking that he's not been contributing nearly enough for most of the last four years, he's improved enough that I'm actually chuffed with this. Hopefully this is more to do with fitness and having a proper manager than anything else, but his form over the last 12 months suggests he is a better player than just a Championship journeyman, if at the same time not of the highest quality.

Let's see, but I can see that being surprisingly well attended after a disappointing following at Leeds. Combination of cheaper (if not exactly cheap) tickets, new ground for many, still most people off, better trains running etc.

We've had a few in recent years. Just so long as it's better than a 4 hour trip to Newport, then to be called off at half 2 due to a waterlogged pitch, then I'll be happy!

Assuming we'd still have the 'behind both goals' allocation like last year, Bury would be class. Let's see what the next few years hold, but if we carry on progressing under Mowbray then I think that fixture will be remembered fondly for years and years as a turning point.

Half agree, he's had enough chances to expect to have a couple if he was being ruthless, but then again he's hit the bar & seen efforts blocked which would usually go in. His finishing has looked one of his stronger points in the past, so hopefully he'll just need one and he can get on a roll.

Got a good feeling about Armstrong in this one. Really unlucky not to bag in the last couple of matches, but looking brighter in general play & I think Saturday will be his day.

They're clearly back in something like some form now, albeit with a team that doesn't really frighten me. Don't think there the sort of team that are going to outplay us all that much, but will probably be very difficult to play against all the same. Can see a 2-1 for either side.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/november/charlie-commits-future-to-the-club/ 2 more years for Charlie!

Maybe 15 seats in the corners. Looks pretty full apart from that!

Smallwood's been an amazingly popular figure pretty much since day one. After years of disconnect between players & fans, you probably couldn't have picked a better character & player to come in and he was hugely important in our promotion. This season has probably seen a reasonable number Rovers fans be a bit more apprehensive about how well he can make the step up, but personally I think he's winning over plenty of however many doubters there were. As you say, not the most gifted with the ball at his feet, but has played a big part in beating teams that you'd have to say have probably got better technical players than us, and lays a great platform for the likes of Dack to exploit. Everyone's willing him to do well though. Fairly certain most Rovers fans enjoyed this winner more than we did promotion!

Really disappointed that they're so close together, and that Wigan is on a Wednesday night. I can see us selling out at PNE after such a brisk start, but we'd do reasonably well to shift half that amount so soon after.

Won't pretend to know a great deal about your side but your results show that you clearly know how to dig in, think getting the first goal here could be crucial for Rovers. See that Vaulks is suspended, big loss do you feel?

In the summer I was really hoping we'd still sign him. Risky with a bad injury behind him, but still a good risk/reward trade-off in a position that we seemed to be well short in. With the further fitness issues, & the fact that we regularly have players of the quality of Palmer & Rothwell on the bench, afraid taking him now would just be sentiment, although I really hope for his sake that he has a good career somewhere.

Buying an English midfielder for megabucks and then not play him is textbook Spurs behaviour in fairness. Doubt it enormously, but fair play to him for even getting a semi-credible link to a CL team when he was in the third tear only a few months ago.

This is basically my team too, only with Bennett in for (probably) Rothwell and I'd opt for Graham too. Not seen much of Rotherham, but the impression I've got is that despite not having the quality, they're making teams work hard for taking points off them. Think we might need Bennett's energy and graft in this one, hopefully having the quality elsewhere.

Only on open sale tomorrow too. Not sure if a complete sell out is realistic, but a nice win at the weekend a week before pay day should hopefully take us close!

It's been spoken about a few times over the last 18 months, but this is a really important point which in a way has been playing out on most of the threads on this board. Maybe this is the same at all clubs to a certain extent, but I think the chaos at Rovers over recent years, as well as some of the managerial appointments has made it really easy for fans to get grouped in the 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' categories (see happy clappers or doom-mongers, if things get pejorative). Consequence of this is that fans get into the habit very easily of looking at any, often almost unrelated issue as a slight against their position, and therefore have a tendency to get very defensive to the point that we have two large groups who are constantly talking past each other. This was happening even under Bowyer. Refusal to recognise poor signings/soft underbelly because of the great work that he did, or indeed vice versa. Might be a bit of a tangent, but it makes points like your last one all the more important. I personally think the sun shines out of TM's backside, but I think amongst his best achievements is that because of what he has done & how much of a step up he is (as a manager and a bloke) than Coyle, it means that we now should be able to talk about things like players costing too much money or if we have a late goals issue without it descending into 'which of the two camps do you belong to' squabbles that we've been having for the last 5 years or more.