As a few have said, Ornstein seems to have his finger on the pulse with a lot of the business the London PL teams do. My thoughts on the Wharton situation are that: 1) Palace have bid a decent amount of money a week before the deadline shuts. That suggests they’re keen and will probably come back in the coming days 2) The people saying they’d have accepted £15m for him shows why it’s a good job they are not making these decisions, considering Palace have already gone above that 3) It amazes me how many people (see it on Twitter/X a lot as well) want to sell our best players at the first opportunity of cash. Unfortunately, it’s not like we are a competent club where we could buy 5/6 very good championship players for that cash as the likelihood is that a minuscule amount of that will be re-invested 4) I get that a lot of people (especially those who remember the play-off games) don’t think Palace is a good move for the lad but I completely disagree. They are one of the best clubs for buying exciting talent from the Championship and playing them. Olise and Eze the prime examples. If Hodgson goes soon and they bring in the right person, it would be a good place for Adam to learn his trade in the PL (providing they stump up the right cash)

I’m honestly at that stage now where I’m falling out of love with the club, rapidly. When you consider we’ve got some excellent young players (A Wharton), players who graft (Szmodics) and a manager who’s young and hungry, it’s a shame and quite frankly disgraceful that I’m not the only one in the same situation. It’s not even about the on-the-field issues we’ve had over the last month (although the cost-cutting like slashing the wage bill and replacing with players on a fraction of the wage doesn’t help). It’s not just the pricing out of the fans by having our season tickets totally disproportionate to the wages of living in one of the most deprived areas of the UK. It’s not just selling off the academy ground (the one thing that has kept this club in the Championship in the last 5 years). It’s not just the “Digital Day” shambles that’s going to stop a certain section of fans from being able to attend (even if it stops 1 fan, that’s 1 too many). It’s not just the shambles of hosting a “Liverpool Legends Night” in one of our suites, which is horrifically embarrassing for the fans and, despite not like the word, is tinpot. It’s not just having a CEO who doesn’t give a flying f**k about the club or the fans. It’s not just having owners who are the same. It’s all of the above happening and still hearing the “if it wasn’t for the owners, we wouldn’t have a club to support” or “no matter how bad the owners are, it’s the managers fault”. I’m not expecting the days of competing for the PL title as that’ll never happen in my lifetime. But when you’ve got clubs like Bournemouth and Luton being in an even worse position than us, getting owners who care and being a million miles ahead of us, it shows what can happen. Even further down the pyramid, you’ve had Coventry City ripped apart and now look healthy and have their club back. 10/15 miles down the road and Bolton fans are back in love with their club again. That’s all I want but will not happen again til the cowboys and Indians leave.

Somebody I didn’t ever have the pleasure of meeting in person but had interactions with him on Twitter and he was a true gent. Horrible news and as others have said, it’s really knocked me back this afternoon. Sleep easy, Matt 💙🤍

A ground I’ve never seen us win at but seen us humiliated at a couple of times (last season and the one where Semi Ajayi scored a couple). Same XI as last week (unless A. Wharton is ready for 90 minutes but I doubt it with it coming so soon after the Walsall game). Dolan has his doubters but his pressing game is important to how we set up. If somebody else comes in, they need to make sure they harass the opposition as much as he does. Heart says 2-0 Rovers, the ‘normal’ part of my brain says 2-0 Rovers, the negative part says 2-1 Rotherham.

I’d be picking Dolan over Hedges for this. Don’t get me wrong, I imagine the goal last night means Hedges’ confidence is flowing and he probably sees the right as a more natural side than Tyrhys. I just feel that Dolan does better in games we aren’t favourites in, exploits the space left better and presses a lot better than Hedges. Against these lot, we need to press from the front (which we’ve done excellently recently) and Dolan, Gallagher and Szmodics are crucial to that.

Massive 3 points. At this stage of the season, it’s all about the points on the board. The 37th game last season was the 1-0 home defeat to Bristol City, where we missed a penalty late on then they scored a stoppage time winner. Make no mistake, the mentality of these boys this season is stronger and more determined than last. I was in the camp of not wanting Mowbray out (as I thought we were more likely to see a Coyle-style appointment) but my word, JDT is a breath of fresh air. Not afraid to put players in the U21’s for a couple of weeks and nearly every time that’s happened, the players have come back faster, stronger, fitter and better. Back to the game yesterday, it was a good performance and we should have scored more. But looking at the data (and I’m not a fan of the xG stuff), it’s one of the only times this season that I can think of where we have missed a number of chances this season. That said, what Gallagher lacked in finishing last night he made up for in being better in the air, being a nuisance in the middle and playing that delightful backheel for the winning goal. All in all, this is a game where you can see the change in the belief of players compared to just a year ago. Now it’s about getting me in that away end on Sunday, with 5,900 of my fellow fans and cheering the boys on because they deserve it. JDT’s Blue and White Army 💙🤍

I was thinking this yesterday so had a look. As a Rovers fan, you can pretty much guarantee that any ex-Rovers players (or those fortunate enough to have been born in this town) tend to have a good game against us. Just this season we’ve seen that with Khadra bagging in the cup and Oli Rathbone scoring in the game at Rotherham. When looking at Brereton’s stats against all clubs, the two teams he’s played the most against without scoring a goal or assisting are Nottingham Forest & Stoke City (7 and 6 matches respectively). Not sure if that’s just a weird quirk which he will be looking to break on Friday but thought it interesting enough to share with the folk on here.

5988 according to this: https://www.thstofficial.com/thst-news/information-for-spurs-fans-travelling-to-sheffield-united

I can’t speak for Garnerfags but Spurs got that allocation. I think the rule is 15% but with segregation, they’d have to pay for policing and stewards to let a couple of hundred home fans in the stand and that just doesn’t make sense. Even if they wanted to do that, with the way the stand is set up, they just couldn’t do it with concourses etc. so I think it’s safe to assume that’s our allocation. One of the big points not mentioned since the draw is regarding Sheff Utd’s team selection. It was discussed during their game with Spurs but it will be interesting (and the next couple of league fixtures could influence this) to see if they persist with playing their squad players…

If someone was awry from a different end away from Ewood Park, the club would have been wise to include that in their statement for a couple of reasons: 1) Throws the blame onto somebody else 2) Ramps up pressure on the EFL with their appeal. The fact they haven’t done so (when I can’t see a legal reason why that would be prevented) to me shows that the club knows it’s on them. Shambolic.

Might be a stupid question (apologies if so) but is the Rovers Trust similar to the Blackburn Rovers Action Group (BRAG) that @glen9mullan was apart of around a decade ago? Whilst I didn’t always agree with their protests (some of them I did and attended myself), they were very much persistent and brought national coverage to the issues at the club. The last few years has shown that the shambles from inside the club hasn’t changed that much from when Jerome A and his cronies were here. Waggott (with his ST prices, poor recruitment and general incompetence) needs to be told that it appears a lot of people have reached the end of their tether with this regime. Will protests be planned for Waggott and Venkys in the near future as I feel even the most forgiving of supporters have finally had enough?

As is the other posters’ comments implying that threatening Brereton with dropping to the “ressies” would lead to clubs offering us the fee we would want and Brereton would be happy to leave.

Aye, that would’ve gone down well - I can just picture it now. Broughton tells JDT he’s not able to select Brereton as he has said he doesn’t want to sign a new deal. Clubs interested in Brereton hold off, knowing we are desperate to sell. We lose our first 3 games of the season, morale at a low point. Mercer comes onto BRFCS to moan that Broughton’s selfishness is ruining the club and moans that he is out of his depth. We then sell Brereton to Everton for £2m on deadline day as we’ve gone all in with 2/7 offsuit and been called. Sounds much better than the situation we are currently in.

I was just about to send a long winded rant in the heat of the moment saying how much we need a new midfield and a players all over but then I seen your message… I’m not sure many players are going to hand in transfer requests, especially players who’ve just been involved in a thrashing at Rotherham. And suggesting getting rid of Hedges… laughable.

I think some of the criticism of Szmodics is a bit harsh. The problem for Sammie is that we had Bradley Dack in his position for a good couple of years (before his injuries) and people expected to see the numbers that Dack has churned out. Dack, when fit, was definitely on his way to a £15m+ move to the PL so it’s harsh to compare Szmodics to him. The thing that Szmodics gives (work rate, pressing of the opposition etc.) is excellent when holding onto a lead. His performance coming off the bench at Middlesbrough earlier this season is one of the best substitute appearances I’ve seen for a long time. He was a big part of getting us over the line and having been accustomed to Rovers dropping a lot of points from winning positions in previous seasons, it’s good to have that sort of player to call upon. At present, I wouldn’t start him over Dack now that he’s showing glimpses of back to his pre-injury form but he’s a very good player to come on to protect a lead. I also agree with an earlier comment about him potentially becoming a box-to-box midfielder. He seems to enjoy the dirty work so could definitely see that happening. I’d much rather have players like him at the club than Rothwell.

The business this window has gone quite well - hopefully that’s still the case in 10 or so hours. I’m loving the fact that we are getting business done on the quiet. How often over the last few years have we been linked to somebody then another team comes in and gazumps us? I do wonder if those kicking off at GB for not doing any media bits over the last few weeks are starting to realise that he doesn’t seem so bad?

On the flip side, if he’s a free agent he’s likely to have more interest and could make up the remaining money from his new contract.

I can see him agreeing to a half pay out if he knows he’s going to be frozen out for a year if he stays. He’s at the age now where he needs to be playing senior football and a year out would potentially set his whole career back.

That, I do not know. But I’d be offering him 30k with a £20m release clause if we don’t go up(which most PL teams will pay if he has another good season). Thats not to say he would sign but I’d like to think that’s what we would be thinking. 30k for a year is around £1.5m. Take away what he’s on now and it’s **only** £1m more - roughly the same as what Poveda cost us last year.

Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if we release Butterworth before the deadline so he can get a club after today. Clearly not in the plans, can’t see any teams paying for him and it would be the best thing for all parties. Whilst Bowler was marked out of the game yesterday, he would be a good addition to the side (not that I can see it happening). Blackpool don’t have the quality throughout the squad to take advantage of us doubling/tripling up on him whereas Dack and Diaz (if he stays) would be able to utilise that space. Wharton’s (and Morton, who I also thought was brilliant) performance yesterday shows we probably don’t need another midfielder - I’d rather get a RB and keep Trav in midfield than. I know before yesterday that we’d lost 3 on the spin but the side is looking a lot stronger than at the start of pre-season. The absolute dream would be Diaz stays and signs a new deal (even with a reasonable release clause) but can’t see that happening. If I was in charge and he’s here tomorrow, offer him one of the contracts reserved for special types with a £20m/£25m release clause and see what happens. The fact that he’s got a young family on the way, playing footy with his best mate (Dack) and clearly enjoys playing for us - I’d hope that the club have/will do that.

It’s odd, it was at 20 points yesterday and is now showing at 11 for Kluivert:

How accurate is this calculator? I seen reports today that Fulham couldn’t get a work permit for Justin Kluivert even though he gets 20 (I think) on that calculator. Seems odd that somebody who played 27 times in Ligue 1 on loan last year can’t get a work permit.

The last set of accounts I can see is for the 2020/21 season, with 186% wages to turnover (see photo). This does include being hampered by Covid however. Where are you getting this 78% from?

Steven Caulker wouldn’t be a bad signing. Wages will be relatively low, no fee and has turned his career around since he was open about his depression and gambling addiction. He’s been a top performer in Turkey over the last few years (so much so he got a move to Fenerbahce which didn’t work out for whatever reason). Experienced, played at a higher level than this previously and has something to prove when over here. I’d prefer someone like JPvH on a permanent but that’s obviously unlikely so can see the merits in this.

They’ve sold at least 10k more season tickets than us - not to mention the fact they were over £600 so nearly £200 more than ours. That’s only £2m but a big difference is that’s guaranteed income rather than our “potential” income (we can’t gamble on potential ticket sales for games as they can fluctuate depending on a number of variables). With getting more fans to games, that’s more revenue they’ll be able to bring in through things like shirt sales, other matchday income etc. Also, playing in front of more fans means they can bring in more sponsorship than us. They’re sponsored by a betting company who will pay more than Totally Wicked do (although I actually like our stance on not accepting betting companies as a sponsor any more). What Boro do have with paying the wages they do is a wages to turnover percentage of between 160-186% (lower end before behind closed doors, 186% with no fans). At the end of the day, their financial losses are at the top end of the league and similar to what ours were 6/7 years ago. We are now losing a lot less per year (mid table for losses in the Championship). Gibson is always remarked as one of the best owners in the country but they can only carry on paying high wages and transfer fees for so long before something drastic happens (presuming they don’t go up).