I thought the Forshaw transfer might catch us out. Sanderson as a 4th / 5th choice cb seemed a calculated risk. But to bring in Forshaw as ‘first sub’ to Trav/Tron was not great planning. On a positive note, Buckley played well yesterday, and if the defence and Keeper continue doing their job, then it’s back to the forwards to start doing theirs! Fingers cross we get the right signings, sooner than later.

Not true. But those great players who do get snapped up early in the window are bought by teams with lots of money. We wouldn’t have signed Todd Cantwell at the start of last summer. At that point he would’ve bet assessing his options. In truth, most of the signings (Good or bad) in any window happen in the last few days. That’s not a Rovers thing, it’s a football thing.

Yup.

FFS - I’m saying that if you don’t have shit loads of money, then you’re trying to sign the best possible players for the lowest possible price. Which is why lots of business gets done at the end of the window. If Cannon was sold tomorrow, it would be to a club with considerable funds, so it’s not the same thing. I don’t know know why you’re struggling so much to see this. I’m not defending Rovers. It may be that we are thoroughly fuckin useless this window. I’m just offering a reason as to why we haven’t signed the forwards we want.

I’m not the Venkys. But arguing that you’d prefer to lesser players in early rather than the right players a bit later Is insane. Whether they actually get them or not, that’s what they’re trying to do.

Yeah, that’s just not true.

I know 100% that I would rather have the right ones in the last day of the window than the wrong ones by tomorrow morning.

I know I don’t really need to explain this to you because I’m 100% sure you get it…. Disclaimer - I’m not absolving the recruitment team, who may or may not be useless. But, the primary reason that most business for the January window hasn’t been done is purely financial. Everyone wants the highest quality possible for the lowest price (unless you’re Man City). So, effectively when you don’t have the big bucks, you have to play the game. You can even put a £2m bid in for a player like BTA and Cov can wait to accept it for a few days whilst they call every club possible to get £2.1m. Most of the business this window will be done at the back end. We might have multiple bids in for multiple players (or not), but the fact that none have dropped in so far is unlikely because the Recruitment department are sat on their arses and more because we don’t have the 30% uplift it takes to tip the deals over. JE seems happy with the efforts which leads to believe that the work is ongoing. fwiw - I only care about quality. When we sign them is less important.

Oxford 0 - 1 Rovers (Gueye) Pears Brittain. Hyam. Batth. Beck Forshaw. Sonny ACD. Cantwell. Dolan Gueye Subs - Toth, Sanderson, Litherland, Buckley, JRC, Weimann, Hedges, Leonard Back 5 and Sonny pick themselves. I would start Forshaw over Buckley away from home. I think he will give us some more steel in there. In the forward positions, Cantwell is a shoe in. ACD and Gueye turned the game on Wednesday night and deserve a start. It was a toss up on Dolan and Weimann,

Absolutely. Opinions are opinions… But, Robins wanting to re-sign BTA is a far stronger indication that he’s worth a punt than Steve from British Gas, who’s watched the EFL highlights show twice and spent 10 minutes on TransferMarkt, saying his “Fukkin Shite” If you catch my drift?

Shame - seems odd that a player who is absolutely terrible, who the Cov fans are seemingly willing to “drive him there…” is now being chased by the manager who paid £3m for him last summer? So, Mark Robins sees something in BTA….who wouldve thought it!? 👀🙈

Mate, you won’t get any argument from me. I said within 10 minutes of seeing him make his debut vs Stockport that there’s a player in him and he’s FARRRR better than Sam Gallagher. It’s taken time, but with his physical attributes, ability to hold the ball and win flick ons etc, he’s always going to be a handful. I also feel there’s a goal streak in him, that you get with strikers who aren’t great finishers but often get on a roll where they score 5 in 5 games. One thing is for sure, if we can get the Makhtar Gueye, who turned up last night playing consistently, like that that for 70 mins a game, we will fuckin terrorise defences. 💪🏽

For 60 mins that was the worst we’ve played this season. Buckler, Cantwell, zHedges anf Dolan stunk the place out. Then Big Mak came on and turned the game on its head. ACD’s dummy for the second was FILTHY, as Cantwell finally clicked into gear. Standouts - The back four were excellent again. Brittain the pick and a worthy MOM. i fuckin love our manager. I haven’t said that for a long time!

How DARE you be so reasonable!? I’m going to report you to the lead moderator l, and….oh 🤣

I have to say, I’ve always liked Thomas Asante. Whenever I’ve watched him, he looks dangerous. He’s quick and mobile. Scares defenders. Scored 11 in 39 last season, but seems to have fallen out of the team there. Limited to sub appearances and the team not doing well. Is better than anything we’ve got and could be a shrewd signing. Interesting.

Interesting post from @joey_big_nose about playing Cantwell deeper. For weeks now I’ve been watching Cantwell and I don’t think he’s a #10. He looks better in deeper areas and impacts the game more. He is the guy who ‘assists the assist’. I don’t think he has the killer instinct in terms of a pass or a shot to play so high. A midfield three of JRC, Sonny and Cantwell could work.

Honestly, I’ve never heard a single negative about his attitude. In fact if / when anyone talks about him it’s all positive. In my opinion, Bucko literally is a poor man’s Adam Wharton. He’s good on the ball, and plays on the half turn. He sees the pass, but he’s not quick enough to make it, then wants too much time and often loses it. When he does pass it isn’t as good as Wharton either, but then neither are most of the Premier league. Bucko just hasn’t developed. He pissed the younger years in our academy by all accounts. He’s just not kicked on. It’s a shame.

Good point - I can’t see Eustace making the lad his vice captain if his attitude is in question. In fact, it would stand to reason, based on the fact that he’s playing little or no minutes and still got picked as vice captain over Hyam, Weimann, Batth, McFadz etc, that it’s very likely he’s seen as a model professional?

As in, not in question amongst the coaches etc.

Pre Wharton, Buckley was internally revered as the ‘next big thing’. In truth, he has all the ingredients and in spite of what is said on here, his attitude is not in question. It’s been re-written in here (more times than I’d care to say), but 6 months after he broke in, the season he was ‘Young player of the year’ there were literally scores of Premier League clubs coming to watch him. He was being touted as the next big thing. I posted in here that I was in the players lounge at half time and I spoke to the Everton scout who said there were “a dozen or so PL clubs looking at Buckley” and that Rovers had intimated it would be £10m to even start a conversation. To qualify this, I also stated at the time that I didn’t actually rate Buckley ‘that’ highly… (A bit which is often left out by the dullards who bring this up, year after year 🤣). Ultimately, Buckley had all the promise of Adam Wharton and never kicked on. It’s sad and he’s literally sat in last chance saloon. Weirdly, if he just showed some fuckin urgency and desire, I think he’s a FARRR better player than Baker and he’d have a career in the Championship, no problems.

The ‘No Impediment’ bit is fact. Them not sending any cash since March 2024 is choice.

To be clear, not my opinion. The opinion of the coach / coaches who watch them train and play everyday. 🤷🏽‍♂️ fwiw - by generational, I think the context was ‘generational’ for the academy in terms of there being very few players ever expected to play in the Prem and for England. These three were expected to make that cut. We needn’t say anymore about Wharton, and Phillips could potentially go back to Spurs and kick on, but injuries have probably held Leonard back so far. I hope he stays injury free and gets lots of games and goals before the end of the season. Edit - To those saying he can’t finish, I haven’t checked but didn’t HL break quite a few Goalscoring records in the academy and get a raft in the 23’s prior to his injury? I’m sure I remember reading something.

True - but if you were the manager and you knew the club didn’t have the money to provide a Duff or Dunn, you would probably lean harder on the Shorts and Flitcroft types to get you over the line. I’m not saying we don’t need that quality up top mate. I’m providing a reason as to why the manger is harping on and on about leadership and character.

I like this mornings article. That’s the first time he’s intimated his confidence in the expected signings. There is a line in there also where he says he’d accept experience and pedigree from elsewhere which makes me think there’s potential targets abroad. For me, the discussion around Bamford and Wallace were just him answering a question and using the personal information he has. Fwiw - Eustace obviously highlighted our lack of leaders as being one of the key problems when he came in. He’s addressed it in some ways by bringing Travis back, Weimann, Batth and Mcfadz in. But he’s probably looking at the levels of quality we have vs the other promotion contenders, looking at his budget vs theirs and thinking “the only way we go up is by going to war” which makes having his generals more and more important. Last thing - I am friends with a couple of the lads who got Rovers promoted out of the championship with Souness. It’s well known that the manager barely ever had to even get involved because the dressing room, standards, behaviour and games were managed by the leaders - Flitcroft, Short etc. I think JE is leaning into this methodology too.

Leonard has a real chance. The last time I spoke to any of the senior / Academy coaching staff in depth was a week after JDT was brought in. At the end of our meeting (about other stuff) I asked specifically who were the jewels In the crown coming through…he was glowing in general but clear that Rovers had three, potentially generational talents who they expected to play in the PL and for England. Ash Phillips, Adam Wharton and Harry Leonard. I did come on here and pass on the info at the time. I hadn’t seen any of them play and he described Leonard as the most natural finisher they’d seen. “He always gets himself in the right place and he’s deadly”. Let’s hope it clicks for Harry. I certainly hope so.