Johnson - v good signing I reckon, esp on a free. Good top-end championship experience, will be great for Travis & Davenport to play alongside of across the season.

Raya - disappointed but coming round to the idea if replaced by Darlow, much more commanding & perfect age. If we get a good price for Raya with good sell on clause, I'll be ok with that. Please though, not Hart.

Gallagher - if he can reproduce what he did in that half season - minus Preston - across a full season, I'm all on board with that. £5m may be a tad too much, but it's a crazy market. We can't afford Prem league loanees, and whilst I'm all for trying out younger strikers from lower down we need more than that in the short - medium term. Graham is my current no 1 but this must be his last season as 1st choice, Gallagher is the perfect age to take his mantle, alongside BB who I still believe will round his doubters.

Hanley - a bit meh; wouldn't say no but would like us to be a bit more adventurous. (Could say same about Gallagher too.)  Not fussed on missing out on Bauer, don't think he would improve us much. This is where I think we should look to benefit most from the Euro scouts, though it seems this summer might be a bit soon for that.

I can't subscribe to the view this is a poor window so far. Clearly there's a long way to go with ins & outs and it could go either way, but I'd say we're doing ok & clearly are able to attract good Ch'ship stock, a la Johnson, unlike some had feared. We're getting a good blend of youth & experience, with some excellent prospects coming through the U23s. Looks rather promising IMO

22 hours ago, Mercer said:

Adams was a class act some 9/10 years ago.

Nah, he was at his best in the summer of 69.

23 hours ago, 47er said:

Atko's Engine (great name by the way)

Cheers; if ever there was a player who achieved unexpected success through sheer dedication & steely determination over skill and finesse, it was Super Atko. He had limited ability as a Premier League midfielder but boy did he make up for it in graft & commitment, fully deserving of his place in history.

If only we had a couple like him now in CM... he'd be right up TM's street that's for sure!

16 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

You didn’t say ‘manipulating the club for his own ends’ in that first post, you talked about people pointing out some of his poor transfer decisions, his own weaknesses like lack of ruthlessness/motivational skills etc as ‘sticks to beat him with’, I said it’s fair game to talk about them.

Of course the school stuff etc. is ridiculous tin foil hat nonsense, but that wasn’t the thrust of that first post.

Fair point, maybe I wasn't as clear as I could've been in that first post about what was riling me, and should've expanded more like I went on to later in response to you. I don't have much time to contribute on here so sometimes don't manage to get my full point across as I'd like.

I still believe TM gets too much of a hard time from many on here, which spills over into being disrespectful to him which he doesn't deserve. There's constructive criticism, then there's conspiracy theories...

On Bauer, I'm not too fussed we've missed out on him, albeit it doesn't look great to have courted him for so long only to then miss out on him to PNE.  I would've questioned the wisdom of signing him in order to be 1st choice as he has no real pedigree at this level to justify that billing and if he did not like the idea of fighting for his place amongst equals then I'm not sure he was what we need anyway. TM did say in the forum that defenders (plural) are coming; he would no doubt have said the same to Bauer which might've made him think it would be too much competition, whereas PNE might not be looking for anyone else in his position.

It's speculative I guess, who knows. 

On Hanley, I'd be happy with that as a loan or permanent, I think he was vastly underrated by many at Rovers and thought in that last season he was a class act for this level. If he and Leni could strike up a partnership I reckon that alone could save us 15-20 goals, which would be enough to push us into top 6 territory even if we don't improve up front (which I think we will, be it thru new blood or existing younger players improving (i.e. the U23s and BB, Rothwell, Davenport, Armstrong, Dack, Travis). 

Ever the optimist eh?! ?

16 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

So people aren’t allowed to criticise Mowbray’s approach to transfers, the comments he makes, the mistakes he makes, his lack of motivational skills, his lack of ruthlessness, the tactics he employs etc (Atko’s observations, by the way) as it is ‘a stick to beat him with’ ? 

He’s the manager of a club who finished 15th last season, so he’s going to get critiqued just like every manager of every club on every forum. He’s fair game.

I’m getting a bit sick of the posting decency police (and I’m someone who thinks he’s doing fine, as it goes) deciding Mowbray should be off limits, should he buggery!

There's nothing wrong with fair and constructive critique Matty, but when it creeps over into suggesting that he's manipulating the club / owners / fans for his own ends so he can get his kids through private school (for example) or that he's only interested in getting jobs for the boys (as another example), it goes too far and is disrespectful, which he doesn't deserve.

I'm sure he's thick skinned enough not to be too bothered, and is maybe less bothered than I am! But I think he ought to get more appreciation from many fans on here given the dire situation we were in when he arrived.

On 14/06/2019 at 15:18, rovers11 said:

I’m not convinced he’s the type to put in extra hours when he doesn’t have to.

You could say the same about many club legends for us, Garner & Tugay being the obvious ones.

Don't get me wrong, I hope he gets better for the greater benefit of the club (whether that's achieving success here or a bringing in a massive transfer fee) and himself, but if Garner/Tugay status is all he ends up achieving at the end of his career I'll take that as a Rovers fan, even if it could be legitimately argued by then that he didn't make the most of his natural talent from this point onwards.

Or, there could be a positive slant to this as in maybe the budget agreed in Pune is bigger than was expected and allows us to spend more on experienced Championship players than was previously anticipated? 

Just saying...

What was it they paid for Will Grigg? £4m?? Sheesh. 

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Get a grip everyone, you'd think it was Cristiano Ronaldo that was leaving. Was decent but not outstanding at his best but that was quite some time ago and he'sbeen very poor for 2 or three seasons at the least. We need better than he ever was if we're to entertain dreams of getting back into the Premier League at any point.

Next.

Wow. Harsh. He's obviously not been a world beater & I hope his place in the squad is taken by a better option, but if any player (or employee in any walk of life) gives good, loyal, professional service across a quarter of their whole career as he has done, the very least he'd deserve would be some proper appreciation and best wishes for the future, rather than a dismissive "Next". 

Can't rule it out, but he's probably not top of Gibson's list. I think that would be more a "heart over head" decision from their perspective.  If they did approach him though I don't think he'd leave unless it was good money & he was given a decent budget as I think he recognises he's onto quite a good thing here to build his own project. Boro is now arguably a less attractive job to TM than Rovers. They'll have to scale back on their costs a lot & sell their better players due to FFP. TM would effectively have to start all over again, with perhaps added greater expectation from the fans of promotion than there are here.

Boaz Myhill been released by W Brom today... could do worse as competition for Raya?

Well done all. I'm quite new on here & am still finding my way around what's available on here outside of the forums (fora? forae?), but it's clearly well produced & well thought of by so many for all its content; so cheers those involved & in the know for taking the time to give the rest of us a platform to show our varied shades of love, support, frustration, annoyance & downright peed-offness with our beloved BRFC. 

W Brom 1 up at half time at Aston Villa after a defensive mistake by Villa, Dwight Gayle notching his 24th goal of the season. Villa huffing & puffing but no real threat so far apparently.  Looking good for the Baggies so far (and JacknOry)

Oh, and welcome back!! ?

32 minutes ago, sabino said:

Probably wrong place, I normally do that. But it is season ticket related.

My son and I have decided to buy season tickets for the first time since 2002. 

Does anyone know if there is a record of exactly where those bloody pillars are in the Riverside? Trying to choose seats.

Many thanks in advance.

 

I sit row 12 seat 125, near the top of the "E" on the blue seats. The pillars are on my row, the nearest one being around seat 118. The pillars are about 20 seats apart. Hope this helps.

Ipswich's third goal against Leeds yesterday was a thing of comedy beauty ?

I thought he did well after a slow, unexpected introduction at a time when the tide changed in the game. Once we got our shape back, he was really good.

Showed for the ball, showed a good range of passing, showed good ball retention & close ball control in tight spots, and great technique for that half volley. Very promising debut, really pleased for the lad as I bet he's been really frustrated since he signed.

Really hope he can kick on now and be a big part of what we aim for next season. Far too early to say if he'll be a good signing but I can certainly understand what qualities TM saw in him.

Joe Hart is a no from from me. As is Leutweiler, but good luck to him.

I rate Raya, or at least the pre-West Brom version. Yes he's made basic errors (which experience & better coaching should iron out) and his distribution is erratic, but he's also won us points with some worldie saves that any top flight keeper would be proud of. Our defensive problems & lack of a reliable back 4 will not have helped him  and he is well worth persevering with at least for another couple of seasons. I hope he comes back after summer fully refreshed & with his confidence renewed.

He needs proper coaching & good competition. I like the Darlow shout but feel it's a long shot. Bialkowski might be more realistic, being proven at this level over a few seasons.

I'm very much in the "very satisfied" camp, if there is one on here! Yes there have been dark times; 2 runs where it seemed hard to see where the next win was coming from; too much loyalty to below-par players; some very inept defending & lack of intensity offensively; a failure to kick on after January. 

But I'm extremely heartened by the young, creative, pacey forward options we have, and TM's acknowledgement that we need new 1st 11 defenders. We've a number of forward-thinking players who will cause defences huge problems next season, and our style of play is definitely showing signs of evolving into something less direct. What the manager now needs to do is find a proper team identity that is founded on hard work & team spirit but is more than that, which finds the right balance between being solid & competitive whilst also being dynamic & pleasing on the eye.

It's not an easy task but were it not for several poor late goals earlier in the season & some eyewatering individual errors scattered across the season, we could quite easily have finished on 70 points. If we can cut half of those out, I don't think it would take as much change / overhaul of what we have as others have suggested to enable us to hit 75 points plus next season.  75 points qualified for the playoffs in all but 2 of the last 10 seasons.

Just now, Stuart said:

This debate could get very silly if we carry on.

And this messageboard is no place for silly debates is it...?! ?

He's nailed his colours to the mast there; good luck to him, it bodes for an interesting summer!

10 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Give your phone and BRFCS password to a chimp. We'd get more sense out of them

I tried, but it seems like they had better things to do with their day than try to reason with you... ?

https://ibb.co/BC2PKjh

The one transfer of BB distorts everything and becomes (perhaps understandably) a focus for criticism and polarised opinion. I'm quietly confident he'll become far more influential next season and wasn't bought with the intention of firing us up this season.

If you're taking that view, Norwich got lucky because as Sky were at pains to point out, Pukki was 3rd on their list of striker targets, so they clearly weren't expecting 30 goals from him. I think also 2 others of their team were youngsters who'd not seen first team football prior to earlier this season either. So it hardly seems like they spent the 17/18 season prepping an assault on the title in 18/19 which is how as it has panned out. Hence the league is unpredictable.

I'm not saying we can't learn some things from them, we clearly can. But it's not as black and white as "we spent more money than them so should do better" or "our manager's rubbish, theirs is great".

Sorry, got a zoo trip to get ready for now, might be back on later!!