Morton played well in the parts of the Eng U21 v NI U21 match I saw yesterday but it was very one-sided with NI not having a single shot on target - and barely able to make three consecutive passes. Morton played the holding role, and stroked the ball about comfortably and took his strike through a crowded box well. However, it really was no test and he wasn't made to work defensively. Harvey Elliott looked very good, albeit, I think forcing things too often with long passes and dropping deep. It is remarkable to think, once again, that Elliott was not always selected by Mowbray and when he was, it was as a winger/forward. Moreover, we couldn't make the play-offs with Armstrong, Brereton-Diaz (was he Diaz at that time), Rothwell and Elliott. We had Harwood-Bellis in defence alongside Lenihan, as well.

Watching the England U21s play NI, I do wonder if a trough might be coming in terms of England talent in some areas. Tyler Morton and Hayden Hackney are in midfield, with Harvey Elliott, and the former two are tidy players (Morton's got a decent goal) and dominating this game but, I'm not sure if they're exceptional standard. Could go some way to explaining why Phillips and Henderson are England regulars. England's upcoming striker options don't seem too impressive at the moment, either, though, as with all these players, the likes ofJay Stansfield, who is playing today, have time on their side. Harvey Elliott looks the pick and will surely be an England player, albeit, in this game, he seems to be searching for the ball a lot, rather than space. Noni Madueke, the Chelsea winger, is also looking impressive.

Pelly Mpanzu has been with Luton since their conference days in 2014. I suspect in yesteryear, he'd be better known, when players were treated less like commodities and, frankly, when there were less games. I'm sure the feeling's mutual. I would guess, in the past, Prem fans would be able to recall more names of Championship players or lower league players than they would now. Just a guess.

That decision in itself is a political one which much of the football world claims to operate under. So it's quite false that football is being kept out of politics, it's just a matter of being silent about it. That is, until it is sanctioned by the state, officially or unofficially, to speak about it and everyone knows they're not going to be punished for it. E.g. It's quite acceptable to talk about the FA's ban on women's football and the movement for equality in this aspect of the modern game, even though, this is a political stance.

No Eastham, Haddow or Cirino? Stricter age rules or injuries? Saadi has gone out on loan to Marine and had hardly played this campaign. Was he sidelined because he had no future at the club or was he also injured? It seems the youngsters need all the help they can get. New recruits wouldn't go amiss. We're conceding a lot at this level with Atcheson and Gamble in defence and they are Rovers' back up first teamers, which is a concern.

You might have seen that clip from a press conference when Pochettino was asked about Malang Sarr and an English youth player at the club and he didn't recognise the names. Sarr is a French U21 player has been with the club for three years and played 8 games, according to Wikipedia, and been on loan three times.

Random talking point... but from the starting line-up that won us the Worthington Cup in 2001, I make it that the players not to go into management are Martin Taylor, Keith Gillespie and Andy Cole. Though, Cole has done some coaching. We also beat Barcelona in a friendly that year, with their team including the likes of Kluivert, Geovanni, Overmars, Xavi and Puyol. Those were the days.

The quality is great but the grotesque inequality and the people behind the clubs turning it into a close shop is something I find hard to forget. We are meant to forget that Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch and funder of Palestinian home dispossession in Israel (see BBC documentary on Elad) is the modern 'builder' of Chelsea FC. And, we are to forget the US financiers and Middle Eastern dictatorships. No politics in football, goes the mantra, but football is definitely in politics, and you can't see it because no-one talks about it. However, as long as players like Bernardo Silva are playing in the Premier League, I'll still follow it. The quality is definitely impressive, even if the style and tactics have become somewhat homogenous.

Didn't Leicester win the Prem mostly playing 4-4-2? Whatever the formation, I do feel that someone like Gallagher or Leonard, who might be rough at the edges, would really benefit from playing closer to another player, be it an attacking midfielder or a striker. Without being nostalgic and idealising the past, two forwards meant those two players had to work more closely in a partnership, I feel. So, I think, you would see more inventiveness and coordination. And, you might see two very different style of player working together and bringing the best out of each other. There's no reason why it shouldn't also happen in a three, albeit, they are spatially further apart, usually, but I haven't see it, I don't think.

Sorry if discussed before, but am late to see the news that the top tiers of women's game will be, I think, handed on from The FA to a new entity called Newco. I know very little about this and just wondered what others thought or knew. I saw that an official from Rovers were positive about the news. A recent Guardian article by Suzanne Wrack sounds a note of warning that it could fuel increased financial inequality between leagues. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/sep/18/wsl-plan-womens-super-league-football

The gulf is incredible. Chelsea’s third string, loaned out players included, would beat our first, I would guess. I don’t know if everyone is aware of the chasm that is accelerating and how terrible it is for the game.

I guess if Sheff Wed fail to pay any loan fees then the contract is breached and Buckley returns by default. Though, not sure if there's any issue with him playing for Rovers straight away under EFL rules. One thing that has puzzled me about the Buckley move was that, from quotes I saw from Buckley and, I think, Barry Bannan, it was the latter who recommended Buckley to the Sheff Wed hierarchy. I read an interview with Buckley in which he talks about knowing Bannan prior to the move. It's not inconceivable that they have some connection as friends or family but it made me curious. According to Transfermarkt.co.uk, they're both on the books of the agents, SMI Sports, so, perhaps, part of the connection arises there. Overall, it seems a strange move from Sheff Wed, seeing as Buckley, for all his talent and frustrating potential, he's not someone you'd put forward for a relegation scrap and with Bannan there as the midfield creator, he was always going to be a deputy at best - though, they have tried him in wider positions. The loan bonus concept does surprise me... I wonder if it is a substitute for performance-related bonuses the player would likely have got?

Harwood-Bellis, Branthwaite, van Hecke, Tosin Adarabioyo - defenders seem to go on to better things once going through a loan at Rovers. Although Branthwaite wasn't good for us, the choices have been pretty good, which hasn't been quite the same with other positions in the team.

This might have been discussed elsewhere as it happened early this month, but Mark Hughes' sacking at Bradford City has got me thinking. I haven't followed his career much since his Rovers/Man City days but I do wonder how his career seems to have faded somewhat - though, he's had some huge jobs, prestigious clubs and will get new offers, no doubt, so he hasn't done badly at all. It does seem, not knowing the facts or context, that he took a risk by taking the Bradford job. With Championship roles coming up frequently, he could have, I guess, joined the Pulis/Warnock/McCarthy/Allardyce merry-go-round and come and gone with a few more jobs. Perhaps, he just wanted a new challenge. Would be interested to know from anyone who might have followed his career a bit more closely. I do wonder, also, whether managers can suffer the same confidence loss fate as players. Perhaps, the moment you start questioning yourself in such a role, things change. Also, I suppose, there's a big difference between managing a team with elite talent, compared to lower down the leagues.

Just chanced upon the details of Tyler Magloire's injury whilst playing for Northampton last season. He's our former academy and U23 defender and captain, if anyone's forgotten. Apparently, a relatively "innocuous collision" with another player left him with a rupture to the ACL and MCL, as well as a torn meniscus. I'm not familiar with these types of injuries but it sounds horrendous. He's expected back some time next year.

A beauty of football is it's simplicity. The more we move away from that at the elite level, the more remote it gets from fans, I feel. I do feel that the commercialisation and profit in football is partly driving this. There's a vicious cycle, huge stakes and pressure, less tolerance of human judgment and error, and increasing tinkering with the rules and technology. I have a suspicion that some of this increased tinkering is intended to prime fans for bigger structural changes intended to benefit the few. Fans have come to accept constant changes that when the expanded Champions' League or Super League come along, which clearly are damaging to the game, fans are meant to shrug. We do want better refereeing and decision-making, but there will always be human error, if we want humans involved. The ploy of defenders putting their hands behind their backs when defending, to me, shows that football's big business now have footballers trying to relieve the referee of making decisions.

One reason might be his injuries. In his last year at Peterborough he had at least three significant spells out. He also withdrew from his last Eire call up with injury. At Rovers he’s had niggles but seems to have maintained a spell of fitness recently. It’s a shame after all that that he leaves Ireland on personal grounds.

One-time promising midfielder, Isaac Whitehall, is in what I think is his second or third year injured. Credit to the club for backing him but has anyone heard of a young player with such a long lay off? And do Rovers have a more than usual problem with long-term injuries at the moment? Alex Baker and Lenni Cirino have been nowhere to be seen for a year, out, presumably, with injuries.

It's a calculated risk from them. If it doesn't go well but he does eventually score a few goals, which he's surely capable of, there or on loan, he'll retain some value and some desperate newly promoted Prem club might buy him. I think he might still come good if he sticks in there. Look at Joselu! Something of a failure/disappointment at Stoke and Newcastle and now Real Madrid's starting centre forward. Not sure where BBD is playing but a shift to the six yard box might be what he needs.

In Rothwell, the club has previous in a policy of gambling in sacrificing a transfer fee for league positions/promotion hopes. It can also be seen as a team unity move, to present the club as ambitious to its own players, especially, and not simply a selling club. However, we will go only one way if we repeatedly let best players leave on frees. Now and again, a calculated sale needs to be made. Lenihan, for example, was a replaceable defender who should have been, I feel, sold a year before he left. Perhaps, Nyambe, if a bidder could be found. Brereton-Diaz is a trickier one given his importance to the team but, in retrospect, if a fair bid came in, it would have been wise to cash in. We might have got lucky with Sigurdsson but a club like ours needs to raise income through sales if it wants to sustain its position. There is a reason that Bloxham and Atcheson are sometimes on our first team bench have barely played an U23 game or two. I don't know what the Venky's are doing but I wouldn't at all be surprised that owners (in general) sometimes are happy to let the club's self-generating finances deteriorate (eg. retail and player sales), if it means that the dependency on them increases, especially, if they see the club as not a direct profit earner but as a leverage for other business ventures.

We might miss that transfer fee we may have got for Brereton-Diaz! That is, assuming the funds would have been put to use. I've checked some reports on Buckley and it seems he's done ok as a sub but nothing more than that. Fans seem to view him as a back-up to Barry Bannan and not a starter or as the wide attacker role he's filled in at. To be fair to him, it must be challenging to go into a club at the bottom of the league and in what seems like disarray and try and make an immediate impact. His future looks very uncertain, despite his talents. I would ask, however, whether Rovers have a single reliable central midfielder? We are waiting on Tronstad and Garrett has shown glimpses but not had a run but there's no-one consistent in there. JRC is the latest experiment and we'll have to see.

Hakan Şükür Legendary Turkish forward signed for us for half a season, 2002/03, sustaining a broken leg at the start and then leaving after some sort of dispute or disagreement with the club. He scored two classy goals for us. This was the time Souness signed Hakan Unsal as well, at left back, who also left after a short spell. He was past his best but if he had stayed, it could've been fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWDc2JNv_NQ (low quality video)

I guess Dack, Ayala, Brereton and Kaminski were important and experienced voices in and around the club. I wonder who the organisers and leaders are now. Travis, I guess, and there’ll be others but not sure. A sign of our issues is the developmental wall our young players seem to reach. Dolan, the Whartons, Buckley etc. had a steep rise and still have moments but they seem to stop improving or go backwards. Is this because they were overrated in the first place and had a purple patch? Is it because there is over reliance on them at an early stage in the absence of support and guidance from experienced pros and the pressure and demands are too much? The more hopeful thought, is that if these youngsters could get back to improving, they could be really good players and lift the team.

I think this is fair. It’s very early but it must be concerning that Wharton might, like Buckley, not fulfil the potential he has as a highly technically gifted player. Not sure how to get it out of him but having good defensive support might help. Lacking pace at the back, there’s extra demands on the CMs. I recall the days of Short and Berg at the back with Stig and Lucas Neill, I think, full backs, who did well as a slow back line. But they played very deep and the full backs often sat back. It might be the case of a need to be more conservative given the general lack of pace and physicality in the team.

I do think the official messageboard forum is a miss. Supposedly, superseded by Twitter coverage, it was said, but, obviously, not at all the same service.