And presumably defines what standard of a goalkeeper we bring in.

A specialist coach is unusual and the nearest comparison is in the NFL. There, usually annually, the coach is held accountable for the achievements and improvements of his charges. Benefit of the doubt is seldom given since that could produce another wasted year. In the last year at the Rovers Raya and Winterbottom have left for clubs where they think their game will improve. Albinson, Byrne and Dillon have been let go because they have not improved. Which means that either Leutwiler and Fisher must have improved dramatically of that the standards of quality control for Rovers' coaches does not exist. I'm not saying that this is evidence that Benson is a bad coach but on the other hand he's certainly not a successful coach.

Give me proof and I'll believe you but try as I might I can't recall public criticism. Can remember Dally Duncan refusing to utter a word against Dougan after the Cup Final. Also know Butcher drove Jim Smith wild but he never said a word that could be reported.

I never depicted him as a tyrant. Just commenting that in the 67 years I've watched the Rovers I can never remember a manager openly criticising a player.

I'm really struggling to recall any Rovers' manager, even the bad ones, singling out individuals for adverse comment. Certainly can't ever remember a young player getting this treatment.

Or he just didn't fancy being the scapegoat again for a shambles of a defence.

Suspect you are right on all counts and that Raya might be the main beneficiary. My interpretation is that some people with inside knowledge believe that the Rovers have not got the best out of Raya and that they blame them more than the keeper.

All I'm pointing out is that an eminently qualified expert has a contrary view.

There's a report from Brentford that both the manager and the goalkeeping coach wanted rid of Bentley because there was always a mistake in him. And if you don't value the opinion of that goalkeeping coach you need to check out his CV.

The scouting at the club is an indicator of how far it has slumped and the perils of policy change and indecision. It had evolved over the years but particularly under Hughes and Allardyce so that Venky's inherited a good, modern system under Martyn Glover. When Anderson took charge of recruitment Glover left. The consequence was that when Mrs Desai worked out Anderson's strategy there was a complete breakdown in recruitment which was filled by agents making direct representations, a belief that Shebby had a power he did not have and finally Kean stepping in to the gap to bring in his own men. Strangely the only one who appeared to find this odd was Shebby who brought in Ray Clarke on the recommendations from contacts at Tottenham. Clarke was a proper chief scout but lost out because when Appleton was appointed he brought in his own scout Luke Dowling. It left the club with two chief scouts but Shaw and Agnew were too busy fighting Shebby to worry. Clarke left, Appleton and Dowling were sacked and the club drifted without a scouting system until Bowyer took a hand and brought in a long standing friend, Tommy Johnson. Johnson is a proper chief scout with all the files and knowledge and it was because of him that Bowyer brought in his successful signings. However Bowyer decided on a policy of young and British so the overseas element was neglected. However Johnson still maintained a presence and after Lambert and Coyle had used the old system of bringing in people they know, Coyle turned again to Johnson and had a handful of foreign players scouted and waiting to sign. Unfortunately the club then hired Paul Senior, who claimed to have files of thousands of players at his disposal. The result was that Johnson's recommendations were ignored and he walked. Senior disappeared almost as fast and after a delay the scouting was handed to Stuart Harvey, whose experience was scouting young players for Ards, Burnley and the Rovers.

She scrubs up better than most of the family (with the exception of the wife).

The plus are substitute appearances. Wdn is when they are substituted. ns is nominated substitute. + mins and - mins are time on as sub and time lost from full 90 mins by being taken off

Try telling that to Amadou Ba's agent. I bet he also signed for Preston for less than he originally asked them for.

At last someone's brought up the real issue.

Mowbray's words to Rich Sharpe. No to a fan. However it does not matter because even if Mowbray did say this I don't believe it. Someone on here has already explained the situation. Bauer is probably on about seven grand a week. His agent probably was looking for double. If his agent was asking for 40 to 50 then it means only one thing. The player has no interest in coming to the club. People believe what they want to believe. As far as I know Bauer has had the same German agent throughout his career and there is nothing to suggest that any move he has made was based on anything other than improving his career. Obviously his agent will be factoring in the saving in transfer fee but if the player is rated at £750,000 and the contract was for three years that would only come to £5,000 a week. But like I say people believe what they want to.

By what accounts is he a greedy bastard. I know people who know him from Madeira and they paint a picture in which money was never a factor with him. He played two seasons on little more than board and lodgings to get a chance to move up to the Maritimo first team. Maritimo do not pay big wages but he never sought a move and made no attempt to leave until Charlton came in for him. Perhaps you could elucidate on how and when he became a well known greedy bastard.

You will not find this reported. My memory served me wrong he was actually a deserter for three and a half years (I have a copy of his confession). During this time he played for the Rovers. His case did not come up until 1922 when he was not charged Under Section 73 but discharged. The story is both hilarious but also tragic and in fairness is complex and needs explaining fully which would take more space than this forum affords. The reason I raised it was that footballers appear to think that they are out of sight even in full view.

Your sympathy might be a bit misplaced. Possibly why he represented himself was that he refused to pay the legal costs of his rape case and got away with it when the law firm declined to bankrupt him. As for not knowing what the amount was for he employed an accountancy firm who reduced the assessment by showing his legitimate deductions. From what I can see the bill should have been for £16,000 but is up to £41,000 because of the time he has spent evading it. Dickson Etuhu lost a similar (but slightly different) case recently. There is a belief among footballers that because they move around so much the bill will not follow them. Etuhu went out of the country but HMRC has an international division. The players cannot even claim naivety. I know of two ex Rovers who have always employed PAs to deal with this and always advised young players to do the same or even use their PA, even offering them the chance to do it free. It baffles me why players think they are untraceable. Mind you a World War One deserter played openly for the club after the war and was only apprehended about nine months later.

Because he would have the right to set off any eligible expenses against it, which would include anything he had agreed to pay his agent. Different rules from PAYE.

Doubt whether anything underhand took place. Looks like a signing on fee which would be reported to the Inland Revenue. Because the player would be on PAYE the revenue would raise a separate assessment for the fee. He won't be the first footballer who thought he had got the money tax free. The revenue are sometimes lax in chasing up these amounts because they are one off transactions. Dodgy dealings take place in cash payments which never get put through the books.

Explaining Venky's motives is always difficult but the best I can come up with is this. Mrs D paid 23 million to keep her brothers away from the main business. She thought that it would cost only 4 million a year to keep going, which would be compensated for savings in their advertising budget. It may be that although the connection is no good for the fried chicken market in the main business, poultry, poultry vaccines owning an English club still has some prestige and hence still reduces the advertising budget. For the rest. I've been a chartered accountant for well over fifty years and you get a feel for a business run by an accountant and the Rovers have had all the signs of this for some time. Which leads me to believe its Mr Desai is calling the shots. Now almost certainly he would like to extricate them but he's not going to do an Eddie Davis. I think Brockhall has been preventing them moving on. The covenants are basically not enforceable but it would be a brave planner who stood up in an enquiry and stated why he had ignored them when he gave planning permission. So its an obstacle, just don't know how big. I would forget a real attempt to get back to the Premiership. Too big an investment required and too uncertain, not really how accountants' think. I think they are just waiting for a day when they have several cashable assets which they will then use to pay back some of the loan account and see if anyone is willing to pay for the club. Just my views. They have no claim to be worth any more than anyone else's.

And if you need specific confirmation. "There is no concept of tax grouping rules in Indian Tax Law and therefore there is no relief for losses of overseas subsidiaries."

If I could not be more wrong then explain "The concept of group taxation (in India) does not exist in either direct or indirect tax laws." I can quote the source if you want.

Scary thing will be of she still does.

Absolutely no way can these losses be tax deductible.