Crikey, a 36 year old coming in. If its just to provide cover and strengthen our options from the bench then fair enough. It leaves us with 4 CB's to choose from for now:

• Hyam
• Wharton
• O' Riordan
• McFadzean

Looks like Maguire is joining, unless the club manage to make a mess of it. Let's hope he can bang in a few goals and take some pressure of Szmodics.

CB, CM and LB please.

It does feel like letting Trav go out so early in the window is going to backfire massively unless the club bring someone in.

How far off is Buckley because he's now somehow found himself as next in line for central midfield should Tronstad or Garrett get injured or suspended. I suppose you could include JRC in the mix but he's needed more at right back at the moment.

Too many gaps to plug and not enough time, resources or competence to do it.

Shame that Wharton is leaving so soon. He hasn't even really had a full season of regular football yet having been injured last season and not really a regular starter until towards the end of the campaign. However, £22million is a good offer for a club in dire need of funds. I just hope that whatever money they get to spend on new players isn't wasted.

If Maguire is signing then hopefully he proves to be the missing link up front. Sounds like Gallagher is staying put as well so attacking options of Maguire, Gallagher, Leonard and Telalovic will probably be the case, with Ennis heading out on loan somewhere I imagine.

A centre half, left back, and a central midfielder would be nice, but I suspect we'll only manage 1 of those positions at the most.

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Hyam was our best centre back last night and is in general. He has shown signs after a horror run of form when initially back from injury of starting to settle down again. Better on the ball, less rash and less easily exposed on the turn compared to Wharton.

I thought Hyam and Wharton were pretty solid last night. With Carter being out long-term, lets hope this is a partnership that can steady us defensively. Failing that, hopefully O' Riordan is up to it.

Ended up being men against boys, which is exactly what it should've been given the gap between the two clubs. In truth it should've been 5 or 6.

Wrexham were always going to have a spell in the game, its unfortunate that they scored during it, but credit to Rovers for nipping it in the bud quickly and promptly.

Thought JRC was very good, a calm figure in defence. The fact that he is comfortable playing it out from the back helped us massively. Dolan was lively an Gallagher did well. Sigurdsson and Moran relatively poor, particularly the former.

Didn't really expect Adam to start this one so not too surprised to see him on the bench. More surprised that we signed a left back who isn't preferred as the left back now that Pickering is out injured.

Let's hope Garrett does a good job there tonight as it looks like he'll be filling that role based on that line-up.

Moran playing centrally alongside Tronstad as well by the looks of it. Wouldn't be surprised if its Gallagher out wide and Dolan through the middle as well.

Should be an entertaining game at the least, maybe quite a high scoring one as well.

Like a few others that have commented, I would also like to see Gilsenan get a chance in this game. He looked very comfortable against lower league opposition in the League Cup, and seems quite decent at set pieces as well.

Shame the new lad from Crewe can't play. Lets hope Hyam and Scott Wharton come through it unscathed! Paul Mullin will give them something to think about.

Would also like to see JRC get a start, and hopefully Dolan back in as a sub.

2 hours ago, alcd said:

This summer is too late to get the profit into the 23/24 accounts. The last big sale was Armstrong which went into the 21/22 accounts. Big losses in 22/23 and this season 23/24 so next summer 2025 would be too late unless sold before the end of the accounting period - a factor that buyers would use to their advantage. 

Ah, didn't realise. Thanks for the info :).

In that case if Palace can come up with a bigger offer as is being reported then the sale may happen this month anyway.

January is not the time to sell Adam IMO. Unless the club get relegated or he gets a serious long term injury, then Rovers can likely get a larger fee in the summer. Only way I'd sell this month is if he comes back on loan for the rest of the season. Particularly as I'm doubtful that we'd get any of the money to reinvest in the squad.

28 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Sympathy for Gallagher? You have to be joking. He's an overpaid waster who can't even be bothered  to attack the ball and get himself in positions from which he'd be more likely to score.

I don't think he's a waster at all. Might not be the prolific striker we needed him to be but to say he's a waster implies he doesn't put a shift in, which he does the vast majority of the time.

Mowbray saying he needs to get between the posts more often....oh well then that's alright then, as long as he said that. Nothing to do with playing him continuously out wide in a position he isn't a natural in, where he then has to fulfil the role of tracking back a lot more and supporting his full back.

16 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I actually thought Coyle got more of a tune out of Gallagher than anybody else has

He was a pretty basic manager in terms of tactics. Throw it down the wing, get the ball in and attack it. It still remains Gallagher's best goal return over a season

Since then he has been asked to play a different style. Whether it's out wide, or even as a more hold it up type player. Gally always looks most dangerous when he's bundling through players. That said, he seems to have lost that ability to attack the ball, as for a tall man he doesn't score a lot from crosses into the box

I hope we keep him. I have been critical of Gally in the past but he's our best striker now by a long shot. Selling him is a sign of retreat. We may as well give up this season and hope there's 3 teams worse than us

I do have some sympathy for Gallagher and how his career has panned out. After that season with us on loan he ended up at Birmingham, who were just as much of a train wreck at the time and he had a poor season. The season after that I think he stayed at Southampton, probably mostly playing in the reserves, before the season Mowbray signed him permanently for Rovers where he has spent most of his time playing out wide.

I think a manager like Warnock would've got way more out of him as a striker.

Imagine we'll switch back to a back 4 for this one. Low on confidence and in free fall down the league....this has a cup upset written all over it unfortunately. That being said, we have more than enough quality to put Wrexham to the sword.

My predicted team:

                          Pears

JRC         Hyam       S. Wharton     Chrisene

            Tronstad       A. Wharton

Gallagher        Szmodics        Sigurdsson

                       Telalovic

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/vicky-kiankaulua/profil/spieler/796893

Plays for the team currently 2nd in the Belgian third tier. Good grief.

3 goals in 18 games.

18 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I would go back to playing 4-2-3-1 personally myself as I think it suits our best players and we created more chances

I don't think we have much other choice. Attempting 3 at the back with Pickering and Carter now both injured would lead to more square pegs in round holes.

My worry is that playing 4-2-3-1 has led to us shipping so many goals, it needs a tweak for sure.

 

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Its about bringing players just not for this season but beyond. 

If we £5m from that Raya deal. That's gives you £5m to spend which would give you the chance to bring few signings 

For example 

Rajovic for £3m from Watford

O'Riordan for 500k from Crewe

Blackett-Taylor for 500k from Charlton

Cresswell on loan to buy in the summer from Leeds 

Julian Niehues on a pre contract for next season

 

 

 

Does this include agent fees, wages, signing on fees, bonuses, etc? Genuine question.

2 minutes ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Seems a bit pointless, given a) our league position is no man's land b) value in Jan is poor

Well you can guarantee Rovers will do exactly that then 😂😭

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

Surely that is on JDT for given Ben Benson the job when he could do it himself or appoint someone like Damien Johnson or Mike Sheron to do it

They probably have their hands full with other aspects of day-to-day coaching. Benson is probably the most experienced at coaching in that field, which is quite frankly terrifying.

Full of Covid at the moment so unfortunately didn't see the game yesterday....or perhaps that should be fortunately.

Had a feeling we wouldn't win. Huddersfield come across a much more physical side than Rovers and this season we have certainly struggled against other sides that possess a lot more physicality.

Sounds like as usual we started relatively well but faded badly once Huddersfield got their goal, and with Pickering and Carter going off injured we now need at least two more defensive recruits on top of the two that JDT seemed to want beforehand.

It's all just so grim at the moment, and has a feeling of when Lambert seeing out his time at the club. The club needs open heart surgery and it will do for as long as Venkys own it.

Refreshing that our goalkeeper didn't have a calamity at any point, and sounds like he actually played reasonably well. Correct decision to put Pears back into the team.

Rovers have such a brutal run in of fixtures that if they fail to pick up a couple of wins in the next 3 against relegation rivals then I can't see anything other than relegation. It feels like the club is sleepwalking into oblivion here, apathy ruling supreme across the board. I fear we won't come back to easily from League One next time, especially if the Venkys financial situation continues. I just want these rats gone.

QPR vs Huddersfield next Sunday while we are playing in the FA Cup. Fancy QPR in that one, so the gap could be down to 6 points after that 😬.

 

Ennis to Bolton on loan is a good move for all parties right now. Gives him a chance to play regularly at the top end of League One, and hopefully he can come back in the summer and kick on at Rovers.

1 hour ago, neophox said:

Ayari is just a waste of space....poor signing.... was average at Coventry,...

Good that we've decided to judge a player before they've even started a game for the first team.

I know we're screwed right now, but this kind of take over a player that has only just arrived can get in the sea. Give the lad a chance.

If it is true that JDT has lost the players then I see nothing but a loss in this. Huddersfield, despite smashing us 3 nil on Boxing Day are rumoured to be losing patience with Darren Moore.

Can't see anything better than a draw. 2-2 maybe? We can score goals....but we concede for fun and I worry that Huddersfield will bully our defence. Really hard to call this one.

My predicted team:

                        Pears

JRC    S. Wharton    Hyam     Pickering

             Tronstad        Garrett

                      A. Wharton

Gallagher       Szmodics      Sigurdsson

Play Wharton higher up the pitch, relieve him of some defensive duties. Play Szmodics as the striker because he's the only one that we can consistently rely on to score, and he's often the furthest up the pitch anyway. Gallagher is hopefully fit enough to start, not a fan of playing him wide left but Moran needs taking out and Markanday always flatters to deceive. JRC hopefully also fit enough to start over Brittain. Carter and Wahlstedt need removing from the team as well, the former needs a breather whereas Wahlstedt needs to learn how to catch a ball before he comes back into the side.