especially if he gets half a season doing well in our first team before the world cup

only through grandparents. he was born here

that's one view, sure. or you could look at it as he's getting a completely fresh, unmarked squad of talented youngsters that he can spend a season moulding and consolidating into the type of team and types of players he wants. add in some experienced players this summer (hopefully..) and in january to build them up a bit, then go again next summer with a full season of said moulding under their belts. pretty sure this is the plan, and is part of why there's more of an appetite to get the right deals in, whether that comes before the season starts or in the weeks after. i know it's bloody frustrating for us as fans, but it makes total sense outside of our biased, tribal gaze wanting us to win win win and kick off on the front foot, always immediately chasing promotion.

couple of celtic questions.. do you just get the seat the rovers ticketing system auto-assigns you or am i just completely missing the option to choose your own? does anyone have a clue as to where we'll be sitting? can't find anything for the seat # and row it's spitting out at me. the only info it gives is the option saying "restricted view" up front.

it's interesting to me that i've seen no one mention, or there's been no discussion, about the possibility the private jet from malmo link could be spot on, but perhaps it was carrying a different malmo player..? it'd link up with "signings early this week" and we have been linked with a good few of their players now. perhaps the serbian winger, or berget, or both considering we've potentially splashed out for a private jet? or a lad we haven't heard of considering how under wraps everything has been so far! just a thought!

did have a glance at some images, but didn't spot the broken nose!

scanning the faces at the end of that new promo video.. there's one that looks remarkably like tom lawrence.. but it could also be bucko.. the cropping makes it difficult to see for me. any thoughts?

i think rankin-costello especially will benefit massively from a change of manager. his development stalled a while ago, and imo it was entirely to do with being moulded into a right back/wingback. once we get some cover in, i hope jdt will experiment with him back in some midfield positions. hope the lad can still get there after his injuries

as in they're on the opposite side to usual, or that it's a quartered design?

20 total for armstrong, wasn't it? but the 5 mill top up of the initial 15 is / was drip fed through clauses and such. unless there's a bidding war as the window progresses, i would imagine any deal for bbd would be structured much the same

he had the dual (triple?) role of assistant manager and director of football / technical director, but was only officially known as the assistant manager. i think.. cue someone a bit more in the know to clear that up a bit!

does he really? that's interesting! he's a local lad round here, has (had?) a cheese shop/café in the neighbouring town and was a mate of mine's p.e. teacher. when i saw he'd gone into representation i really wasn't expecting him to ever be so high up the food chain, let alone be up there already! out of pure interest, who else at rovers does he represent?

tbh, with the shopping spree eg group have been going on, you could have a pick of pretty sizable businesses on the kits if that relationship was there and well-maintained. could even have a different one for each kit! e.g. leon on the third, asda on the home, boots on the away! take your pick!

https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/35399-which-utterly-brilliant-manager-will-we-be-delighted-to-welcome-next/?do=findComment&comment=2331918 not sure how to insert posts from closed threads, but i predicted as much had happened. it's nice to be proven right!! i think the nonsensical "manager first, dof second" approach was simply so waggott could have his name and face attached to the new man, in the hopes it was someone like farke, to try and claw himself some credibility back amongst the fanbase and solidify his position in the process. broughton's utterly embarrassed him and his acumen in about two days, if i'm honest.

same here. was gutted about the recoverite debacle. didn't have the pennies for one first half of last season and by the time i did they were forced to have that monstrosity slapped across them, and i don't just mean the big blue cover-up box. a shame, the home and third kit were the first of our kits i've truly liked since the league one season. i did quite like that lighter blue number we had first season back up actually, far more than most seemed to, but that awful betting logo ruined it. it baffles me the club can't sell some sponsorless shirts when we're linked with such businesses. obviously no thought even given to the various religious communities that don't agree with gambling etc? essentially cutting out a huge chunk of their market right off the bat? mind-boggling.

👀👀

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/20215692.blackburn-rovers-director-football-outlines-transfer-plans/

broughton seems to be suggesting we have a bit of money to play with 👀👀 and that's without selling bbd.. very interesting indeed..!!

all for more accessibility

i would imagine that if it is jdt after all of this time, then broughton has come in and got the job bloody done within days. for me, it's an interesting appointment and one that intrigues me. i have no real positive or negative view on it and have an open mind towards hopefully being impressed. it would certainly be points in broughton's corner though if he's come in and got our guy within days after the farce we've seen over the past month. honestly, the lack of communication from the club has created a vacuum and the negative fan opinion that's filled it is entirely of their own making. if they actually gave us some updates along the way, kept us somewhat in the loop and had some, ANY respect for us, that view might have been somewhat tempered. it will be very telling to see who introduces the new man, whoever he may be, when the time comes. i imagine it'll speak volumes on the whole process

if there's a fee on the table for ayala, i say take it and reinvest both the cash and the huge wage we'd save. if not, and it's a cut the contract and run thing, keep him for his last year and use his nouse to guide the younger lads.

god, we just can't catch a break

exactly, it seems like far too much caveating just to make someone work. especially at this level when coaching teams and budgets are smaller. i could see the reasoning, and it does happen in a director of football model – have a motivating figurehead to lead the backroom staff, with various roles delegated to other coaches. just not sure he's the guy you'd want to do it with

not particularly enamoured by the idea of ferguson, but who knows, he might work as a coach with a decent director of football doing the serious stuff and someone who knows the tactical side alongside him. he's at least a somewhat more interesting name than some of the dross that's been dregged up by the betting odds. either way, i'd prefer someone else, an interesting name no one's mentioned.

thought i'd had a bang to the head when i read this