It's a shocking comment to make. When I saw the headline I thought it was one of those twisted articles that sounds juicy to draw you in but it really was as bold as the headline.

It actually made me laugh and my first thought was, how things change? Last few years have been largely depressing listening to TM to the point I couldn't read another word or hear another word. When he's not ruining your club it suddenly flips it to being comical and you just can't take it seriously.

I don't think Stuart Harvey would need much convincing to leave a flat entrapped with Venus and Mowbray, more of an escape room. 3 stooges pmsl

If Hyam is the centre back as it appears, I suspect Caulker is the standby in case Phillips doesn't sign.

I think Styles has to still be a target especially as he could play left back like we need but also cover Midfield as backup to Travis.

If the 3rd is Gyorkeres from Coventry I think its a decent end to the window.

The only doubt after that is if BBD does go, no idea who would be lined up. Adam Armstrong loan?

Time to move on, no time for nostalgia. Most were giving Ayala pelters and then talk of signing Jones. Would be a huge risk and nothing suggests he's over his troubles. He's not the player that left Ewood, nor is he the player he was at United earlier in his career.

Hands off, he's mine. I saw him first 😍🥰

Is this the topic where Chaddys meeting notes will be posted?

46 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

No signs of anybody incoming.

Playing 2 x 60min games to give everyone a go indicates they will be primarily looking at kids making the step up.

Nothing wrong with that except this is going to be another lost season before it has even started.

 

Or triallists?

22 hours ago, bluebruce said:

So what you're saying is, he will take some of our best players when he leaves, and he will jump ship if we get relegated, got it 😉

So do all when they move on. How many of the best stay at relegated clubs. 

Not sure if you are familiar with the Diamonds story but it wasn't just a relegation, it was the collapse of a club. The best players were released on free transfers just to get them off the wage bill so not many could criticise how those that moved on did so to protect their livelihood and careers.

Have to be honest,  when the links started last week I felt underwhelmed as I knew very little about him after his playing career.

I watched the interview posted on here with Hunter and I was instantly intrigued and impressed by what I heard. 

When I got word over the weekend that he was chosen and got the job to be unveiled Monday or Tuesday I felt a level of excitement I've not associated with the club for a long time. Today's interviews just add to the optimism. 

I've got a really good vibe about this but of course he needs some backing in the market now to bring the numbers up with the undoubted need for some quality.

Also, for those doubting Broughton, he worked at Diamonds which was my local team for years. He did a phenomenal job there and was part of the success of a non league club that did well in the football league.

He left when the chairman gave the club to the fans, the money ran out and the club slid back to non league. Broughton by then had moved to Luton and took a couple of the better players with him. Incidentally around that time, Luton then started their own slow  revival.

JDT will be confirmed as Manager tomorrow, Tuesday latest

Rooney will be free next week now his other commitments are concluded....

5 hours ago, goozburger said:

11 years out of management tells me Keane is not "desperate to prove himself".

The bloke is a nutter. The dressing room would implode. Because we want the players to get a kick up the fecking arse? Not for me. Avoid at all costs.

If not that, then I don't know what his managerial record (bearing in mind he is 50) warrants him to be in with a shout.

Michael Carrick has never been a manager but makes the list?

I see Keane as having failed in his last gig at Ipswich and since went away as an assistant to develop but also because the opportunities weren't coming at the level he would want to be at. But not many have succeeded at Ipswich for a long time due to their own issues over a period of time, not just down to the Manager.

My point about proving himself was more based on once in a gig, he wouldn't just go through the motions, he's a character that would give it his all to be a success.

He's a nutter because he says it how it is and calls people out?

As I noted, he was 5th on my list and I think worthy of the poll. He talks a lot of sense in his punditry, will still be a pull for the right type of player willing to run through walls because you know what you are getting. Snowflakes need not apply....

Missing Keane for me on the list but only because I think he and Duff could work well as a good cop bad cop setup.

I love Keanes brutal honesty and whilst I accept its not always motivational a lot depends on the personalities in the dressing room. TM has tried the other approach with the exception of one or two hung out to dry but the death spirals continued.

Keane also played for two of the best Managers in this countries history as well.so should have picked up a trick or two. His management career is nothing to shout about but he'd be desperate to prove himself based on his own standards and would demand the best from his teams.

1. Farke

2. Rooney

3. Ainsworth

4. Carvalhal

5. Keane

I think as was discussed in January, there is some real talent at Derby and most wouldn't want to be in League 1 I would think.

Poaching Rooney and some of the select who would want to follow could fill a lot of out gaps on relatively modest money considering the circumstances I would think

I long for the day its official. Can't read another word of his, makes my eyes bleed. Even if he got us promoted, it doesn't make his interviews any better.

For me this is just showing what an over achievement the season had been until we were found out and confidence has dropped week after week.

That said, with the rest of the division except Fulham being so poor there really was an unexpected opportunity.

Recruitment again poor, a team poorly managed but a pretty average Championship team to start with.

Most at the start of the season feared relegation and hoped for mid table. Sad but true.

I don't like the performance, don't like to see such an opportunity slip away but it was inevitable because we all knew recruitment would be poor and we all knew a death spiral would play its part at some stage. Only the continued poor form of others has kept us in the mix but what do we gain from going up anyway. This team would get murdered in the Premier league and do we trust the owners to invest then? Do we trust the owners to find an alternative to Tony? 

It's bad enough in the Championship but seeing us ripped to pieces in the Premier League on these foundations is a nightmare I couldn't live through.

I could go on but this is the reality of the club and so it will remain this way for years to come.

Warnock was about 12hrs premature me thinks

I predict a piss poor March to follow the year so far. We will then put a good run together for the rest of the season and miss out by a point or on goal difference. We will all remember nights like tonight because there have been so many and it will be clear where it was lost.

I've long hoped and even believed Gallagher would deliver when his moment came up top but he is actually getting worse with age rather than better. Giles on the right again is just madness and we are back to the same old baffling decisions that have seen us fail before.

Still don't understand the Hedges signing, would rather have seen that money spent on contracts for those that deserve it which may have given them a lift to drive on.

We've gone from an attacking threat with no defence to a solid unit with no goals in the space of a year. We struggled last year when Armstrong was out, sheer luck that Diaz reincarnated himself over the summer to give us goals and what have we learnt...zero as now we are left with no goals at all and look like it will never happen

Spartak Moscow forward Shamar Nicholson could be interesting?

Was there not a bid from America we rejected too?

6 hours ago, bluebruce said:

I think Buckley, on the other hand, has been a fairly important part of our counter attacking. Dropping him for a defensive minded replacement reduces our ability to counter attack, meaning we risk just sitting back, with little ability to retaliate, potentially until our walls crack. If Dolan is fit enough for 90, he could be the most sensible replacement. Tbh I expect Buckley will start though.

Don't disagree but to be clear it wasn't my choice of lineup, just what I expected to see. Hopefully Gallagher has been practicing how to finish Giles crosses...

10 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I think Buckley should probably sit out this game, but putting Johnson in his place doesn't set us up for counter attacking whatsoever.

He's far slower, can't nick the ball like Bucko can in the final third to start counters that are already next to the goal, and doesn't have as high quality range of passing to start counters. Not saying that makes him the wrong choice (he wouldn't be mine though), but he really isn't of benefit over Buckley specifically in the sense of counter attacking.

I wasn't saying Johnson was the answer to counter attacking. I said he would be Mowbrays safe bet in terms of holding. The attacking threat is what I meant was set for counter attacking in that its pace rather than a gangly Gallagher for example.

Anyone that watches Blackburns games will know Johnson is not the key to a counter attacking system but he is liked by Mowbray when needing to firm up the middle of the park, especially away from home.

I can't see Mowbray changing formation especially now players are returning. Ayala will come in for Lenihan but if anything happens to the 3 that start, it will force a change of formation at that point imo.

So I think Kaminski, Nyambe, Ayala, Van Hecke, Wharton, Giles, Travis, Johnson, Rothwell, Brereton, Khadra

I think Dolan, Pickering and Gallagher will be used from the bench having come back from injury.

Buckley needs to sit one out for me and away at West Brom I think Mowbray will play safer with someone like Johnson as we've seen before.

Well set for counter attacking in my opinion.

Someone mentioned Carroll bullying,  I'd like to see Van Hecke shape up against him for this.

14 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Pretty sure you're wrong and it works just like a pre-contract normally would. Ie, signed and a legal obligation for both parties unless they both consented to change or end it. Don't think Elliott signed one at Fulham. Which makes sense, as he was playing for the first team as young as 15 so will have had many eyes on him and have been aware of the interest well before.

Agreed not signed. He can't sign till he turns 17 so anything can happen. Let's see how it pans out, in an ideal world he won't move and we'll never know. If he does move I'm sure you'll be straight back here to acknowledge 

He's not under contract so yes he could walk for a nominal fee at tribunal the same as Elliott did when leaving Fulham for Liverpool.

Yes he has agreed to sign a professional contract when he turns 17, in April I think but that's as good as us verbally accepting a job offer in our everyday lives.

We have to hope he sees his opportunity here to grow and develop and build for that move in the future rather than rotting with another 50 young centre back's trying to break through. If he does I'm sure he'll honour his word and sign but if his head is turned, we stand to be disappointed.

5 hours ago, RoverKyle said:

My bad. Long day. I'd have quoted your post as the latest one in the line of comments about Hedges. Wasn't picking yours out as being especially harsh. 

We need to get to the Premier League before we start using that benchmark to be fair.

Absolutely but 2nd in the league at the end of Jan should prompt some forward planning and initially this was a pre contract agreement for the summer.

The stage is now set for a heros substitute appearance to turn tonight on its head....