The player in the center of the 3 will be Dolan,

We don't play 4-3-3

U21s won 4-0 on Tuesday v Blackpool. Wood scoring a couple despite being on loan in Scotland since the weekend, which is odd https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/august/14/report--rovers-under-21s-4-0-blackpool-under-21s/

Didn't he retire again last season because he felt he could no longer hack it in League 2

From the sounds that Eustace has been making, it does sound like Dolan is the choice, although whether he is the right or wrong choice is of course up for debate

Pretty sure Szmodics intended replacement (Dolan) is already through the door, and that part of the funds received will go towards him signing a new contract. expect the transfers/loans in to be a keeper, competition for Pickering, a CM, and a wide player with pace

As I said in the post that you quoted, "I would genuinely not be surprised"

Conspiracy theory time I would genuinely not be surprised that in years to come, we find out that the Premier League and Man City were in this together to push a soft test case through the courts which Man City will ultimately win creating legal precedent, with the end result being that FFP (or whatever it is called these days) is either abolished or drastically altered, resulting in - - No chance of the Prem being caught up in a corruption scandal a few years down the road as its all legal - Premier League teams continue to dominate in Europe with spending curbed to a lesser extent - Super league idea is kicked down the road for a few more years

To be honest, there is no risk in offering someone 20 odd grand a week when we know they will turn it down because they are being offered double that (and top flight football) elsewhere. Silver lining (or hope) is that the sale of Gally was immediately followed by a flurry of incoming signings. Which given the speed that they arrived would imply that deals had been agreed in advance, but could not be completed without the funds from the sale. That is what I hope Eustace means when he said earlier this week that no deals were close (I think he said similar just before Gueye, Ohashi etc arrived)

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/august/15/rovers-learn-premier-league-international-cup-opponents/ Rovers v Lyon Thursday September 12th Kick-off 7pm Rovers v Benfica Thursday October 17th Kick-off 7pm Rovers v Borussia Mӧnchengladbach Tuesday October 22nd Kick-off 7pm Rovers v Athletic Bilbao Wednesday November 13th Kick-off 7pm The home venue for each of Rovers’ fixtures will be confirmed in due course. (pretty sure most of these games were at Ewood last season)

Yep, he had been their director of football for a couple of years (saw a documentary about the reforming of the club), & took over as manager over the summer

Left footed version of Hill, not Hill himself Not sure that Hill would not be able to do the Brittain role, Duru can be his understudy, JRC also if needed. we need competition for Pickering, a left back who can slide across into a back 3 when Brittain goes forward * Not to say that Hill wasn't a great loan, but not sure he is the right fit in this years tactical setup

As long as we were to keep Szmodics, then Rushworth, Ayari, a left footed version of James Hill, and a wide player with pace and end product. (even if they were all on loan) & I would be ecstatic, Would give Rovers a genuine possibility of a place in the play offs lottery. If Szmodics is to leave, then I would want least 2 of those 4 to be permanent signings, and would not necessarily expect a direct replacement for Szmodics beyond those already at the club (signing Dolan to a new contract). Wouldn't then expect a shot at the play offs, but it would be building towards the next season with more of our own players and less loans.

Wait for the answer to be that we are not signing one 😉

Another loan out. Boggan to Macclesfield for a month https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/august/15/joe-joins-macclesfield-on-loan/ He is only 17 and scored a hat trick v Wolves U21s a few weeks ago, another one to keep an eye out for https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/july/29/report--rovers-under-21s-8-0-wolves-under-21s/

I hope so

Gueye seems to enjoy an inventive goal celebration. Hope we get to see a few

I think Rich Sharpe may have tipped Jackson off as to the existence of said clause. Sharpe was the first one to mention it in his article on here this weekend

Seeing as Rovers were not going to sign him after what happened in January, this is a great outcome for him, and Rovers. He would have been guaranteed to score home and away against us if he signed for a Championship club, for no other reason than Karma

Whilst I do agree that League 2 is a level lower than we should be loaning him to in an ideal world. Freshly promoted teams have done very well in League 2 recently, Stockport, Wrexham, Notts County in very recent years, and Chesterfield are third or forth favourites for automatic promotion. I suppose it is better if he is at a team at the top of League 2 who are attacking more than defending, rather than a team at the bottom of League 1 who never have the ball

only until the end of August apparently, to cover for pre season injuries But that being said, I would prefer Oli Burke, and Oli Burke is terrible. Similar sorts of player, fairly pacey but not much quality.

They don't provide those for at least a day or 3 😉 and even then it tends to be for either the U21s or U18s, rather than both. Last week we got the lineup for the U18s but not the U21s, and the result for the U21s but not the U18s.

They did. However, Hanley was taken off in that game, and last night, although it was a rotated team that Norwich played against Stevenage, both Duffy and Hanley were only on the bench.. So I do wonder if that slow and old backline will feature against Rovers. That being said, the young and not so slow backline conceded 3 goals against Stevenage.

Thought I would save you a wasted trip 🙂