I do wonder about the football knowledge of anyone who has predicted Sunderland to finish first this season. Dingles in 9th also seems like the ravings of a mad man

Pretty sure that Barnes hasn't played any of pre-season for Barrow, and will apparently miss the first month or so of the season. Whitehall did sign a new contract, but not heard anything about him since.

We cant afford anything any less fragile 😉

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/july/29/duo-to-miss-start-of-the-season/ Gilsenan and Leonard out for 7-8 weeks

If we are including players back from loan, such as Travis, and we are including Fleck, Telalovic, Koumetio (one you missed and easily forgettable) on the "out list", then we probably have to include Gent and Vale on the "in list". Purely in terms of numbers

He is versatile, could fill in either wide position, as well as 9, or 10, But if we do have limited funds, I would prefer someone who is a genuine goal threat and someone with real pace (even on loan) rather than a 33 year old squad player. If somehow Rovers could afford all of these, then I agree, he is not a terrible signing due to his ability to cover multiple positions & he doesn't seem to miss many games with injuries. Edit - He did do his ACL 4 years ago, but seems his past 3 seasons have been pretty much injury free

John Eustace has not closed the door on John Fleck returning to Blackburn Rovers oh FFS, close the door!

He has a similar goal rate to Gally in recent years (3 last season, 7 the season before) and will be 33 years old within a week. He was a very good player at this level in the past, but those numbers coupled with his age do imply that he is on the decline https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/andreas-weimann/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/49693/plus/0?saison=2023&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=

1 in, 2 leaving. Not having that Fadz is a new signing. he was here last season

Depends on who is left when the fire sale is done with, lol

On Friday against Morecambe? Yep

Are you getting your Dembeles mixed up? There are a few of them so understandable. Siriki Dembele tends to play wide left. Do you mean Karamoko?

Hedges does that also, being left footed on the right side, he is arguably more suited to it than JRC. That being said, if we get an entire season (46 games) out of the two of them combined, we have done well

Hedges will play wide right (when fit). JRC will move inside, in a recent interview (some point last week), Eustace said he was just trying to get his best currently available players into the same 11

Even then, it makes less sense than literally every other position

You can only assume from the move for McGuire (the original move to buy him outright, rather than the muddled together loan to buy) last winter that they were told they could spend some of the Wharton money. Then evidentially changed the goalposts whilst McGuire was mid flight That turned out well

Not sure if this has already been posted

Dolan doesn't matter quite as much as the others. As Rovers have offered Dolan a contract, due to his age, Rovers would still get a fee as long as he moves to another English club

It was already one of the best, and the academy is not particularly run down, they just pay the minimum amount to keep it at category 1. Much like they pay the minimum amount possible to keep the lights on

I hate myself for typing this but that is the same as "could clear £12M" which Nixon wrote All ifs, buts and maybes, but saying the same thing, not contradictory at all. He doesn't give a timescale of when, or indeed if we could clear the £12M mark

Prem teams have 3/4 senior keepers, just in case. He will be behind, Pope, Dubravka & Vlachodimos

The striker in Belgium scored 11 in 33 in a team that was relegated from the top flight last season, 6ft 3, apparently good in the air Would welcome Hill back and Dembele is what we are missing (pace) That all sounds far too positive to be true lol

Completely agree. However, do we have the money to bid for him? Could Rovers pay him more than Brum and their owners who seem to care and actually invest? I could only see it happening if he isn't in Birmingham's first 11. Which really is depressing

Exactly the kind of experienced keeper we will end up with, was ok once but now isn't far away from needing a Zimmer frame to get off the bench 😉

How long before he says "ask Steve & Suhail"? I go for next Friday night