KentExile

They are one of the smaller sides in the Austrian top division, probably a bottom 4 team this season (12 team top division), finished 10th last season and only a point off bottom place. But a very impressive couple of performances by the sounds of things, and they can only beat what is in front of them

Hedges started last season in good form and probably kept him out of the side on merit in the early weeks of the season, that did dip after he was shunted to wing back (a formation which also didn't suit Markanday) and then left out of the Wales World cup squad, but I would hope with the extra spots on the bench this season, we will see more of Markanday

New 5 year contract needed for Gally asap!

Really think that suits JRC, makes him so difficult to pick up, which may not be the case if he was starting from a more attacking position

If you get one, please send it to me too

Going from purely text commentary, it sounded like JRC was still playing as a right back with a free role, but that Gamble tucked in to make it a 3 man defence when JRC was forwards (most of the time) Would imagine Pickering would have done the Gamble role if fit and would explain why we want a CB who can also play LB to rotate/back up Pickering Can anyone who watched it confirm that or put me right?

ah ok thanks for letting me know

Do you have a stream link that you can DM me please?

Can you send me a link too please?

That settles the Kaminski/Pears debate then, get in posted where it belongs in the transfer window thread asap! 😉

Definitely agree with the bold point, but basing my opinion of if he will be a success on the basis of Welsh fans over the past couple of years, they seem to think his form (and attitude/work rate) has dropped off a cliff as of late

yep, embargo is due to not paying the fee for that player who died in a plane crash When Rovers were under an embargo, we were not allowed to sign anyone for decent wages either (Sasha Petchi & Fode Koita anyone), has that rule changed?

I don't want to speak ill of those who are no longer with us, but it has the feel of a Peter Whittingham type signing, fantastic player in his day, but those days are gone and wages will be higher than his worth to the team Edit - wish I could think of a different players name to use as an example instead of Whittingham, but my brain has gone blank

Hasn't played more than about 25 games for 4 years and will be 33 at Christmas Looks like a player on his way down, and will eat up much of their wage budget for the sake of nothing more than nostalgia. Even the Wales fans now think he has lost what he once had. I think its a wonderful signing 😉

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/july/11/praise-for-jrc-s-remarkable-resilience/ In case anyone hasn't seen this

Yes, some of them were good, and if Forest had "only" signed 10 or so of those players (although even those numbers sound ridiculous), even for huge money, then I would agree with you that their strategy was 'sensible'. But look how many signings there were, and how bad and/or unnecessary many of them were It was the very definition of a scattergun approach Bowler Richards, Hwang, Aguilera & Bade didn't feature in one game between them Biancone, Shelvey, Hennessey, Scarpa, and Wood all played less than 10 Lingard, Ayew, O'Brien, Toffolo and Dennis were generally seen as failures That's 15 players at a quick glance who could be described as unnecessary signings at best Yes there were plenty of good players/signings too, but when you sign over 30 players, the law of averages dictates you will hit the target with some of them

Yes, but it wouldn't have worked out 99 times out of 100. They did the equivalent of you or I spending every penny we had and buying every ticket for the lottery that we could afford, and they got very lucky. There is every chance that had they been relegated, they would have gone to the wall and tumbled down the divisions. It worked for for Forest last season, but it is not be the model that people should look to for inspiration going forwards. I*m not even against any club spending 100s of millions (especially after promotion), it was just so slapdash how they went about it. Like there was no plan beyond throw enough money at it and hope it pays off

From what I know/can tell, Mahoma, in the starting 11 was a trialist, as were Sellars-Flemming, Ross-Laing, Harper, Ibrahim, & Liard who were all on the bench. On a sad note, apparently Baker who was making his first start in about 2 years went off in a leg brace within 10 minutes of the game starting

Maybe would be better in the U21s? but it is pre season

Seeing that Pears was given a long term contract about a month ago, its highly unlikely

As long as the agreed schedule includes a new 5 year contract, then I can get behind it

Along with Phillips wearing 15 in the first game, those number changes may be quite telling for the coming season (assuming that the numbers used will be the same as the squad numbers when announced. Any chance of Adam Wharton getting 4 and Sigurdsson 7?

That might just be because the young midfielders in game 2 are closer to breaking into the first team than our young right backs (Duru/Haddow) so for todays friendlies JRC at RB makes more sense Would imagine JDT will try JRC as a box to box midfielder at some point during pre season, but with 2 games today (and therefore needing 2 right backs) and pre season having only just started, it might be that they have not had long enough to work on that so far