ageoftherover

Also if, as some have suggested, the Derby approach is due to feelers being put out by Eustace and his camp, then it could have been done for a lot of reasons. He could be as interested in securing better conditions at Rovers as he is securing a new role. Maybe better money, more say in transfers or a direct line into someone important at Venkys, but using a job offer from a rival in negotiations with your current employer is a tale as old as time. To me, that makes as much or more sense than leaping off to Derby who are playing very poorly and hardly flush with cash themselves. Whether he gets what he wants here is another question. But if he doesn't I'd guess he'll still hang around for a better offer whenever it becomes available.

Why would Eustace leaving move the needle in any direction re ownership? That suggests Venkys are paying attention and/or care about anything that happens here. If they had any interest at all we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. If they're not interested enough to fund a team in 5th then the manager who got us there leaving and the odd grumble at the ground is hardly going to change that.

The problem with signing a CM in a window like this is that it's probably our strongest area of the field at full strength. Our two best players are there, one of whom is our captain. Yes Tronstad is out for a while more and both are high risk in terms of injury and suspensions, but if you're a guy like O'Brien, who should really be one of the first picked at this level, you're going to favor a club where there's a bit more of an opening. We needed cover there and got Forshaw, who certainly doesn't look like he belongs at this level anymore. Not making excuses as it's a poor bit of business no matter how you slice it, but I think expecting a guy of O'Briens caliber to join in a window like this isn't realistic. I think the recruitment team has done ok (but no better than that), given our awful, apathetic owners.

I'm a Panthers supporter in the NRL and the contrast is mind blowing.

Leonard has plenty about him from what I've seen. Biggest issue is his body is breaking down with injuries in concerning areas early in his career, and he hasn't had enough regular first team football to build up his composure when finishing. His movement and instinctual positioning are very good which is one of the best attributes a striker can have and is something you can't train. He needs a loan at a level in which he'd be picked week in week out, and some luck with his body. But if he gets both those things you could have a very valuable player coming out of that shell.

It'd be cool if he was simply backing himself to fire a team close to the play-offs into the PL.

Big Mak!

Yeah. It's 3 divisions, separated by region. That's the reason it's such a bizzare mix of clubs in all shapes and sizes. It's tier 3 to 5.

Unfortunately, thats what your body tends to do at a certain point. I pulled my neck yawning this morning.

The "owners are well meaning incompetents who sqandered away our PL/financial status and don't have the ability to get it back" narrative, would potential hold water if they weren't currently, apparently once again, squandering the unique opportunity that comes with selling a once in a generation talent and a 29 y/o who caught fire to PL clubs for close to 40m in the past year. Not to mention having a manager who, despite such talent leaving the club, has the squad within touching distance of the pay-offs. Like, they couldn't possibly hope for a better opportunity to make things right if that's what they wanted.

Get in!

Haaland (the one in his 20s) would be a quality signing and probably be enough to get us into play-offs. So technically, technically, it's a correct statement.

You could have set your watch to that dude scoring today.

Proper celebration too. None of this modern callsign, showboating, shirtless nonsense.

Thats disappointing. I had such high hopes at 0-1.

Night and day from last season. Just shows what a good coach can do for a player.

Me too, but that's hardly a feat these days.

He can do it from the Championship next year. A man can dream, right?

How do we know that wasn't the plan? The Pickering sub was forced. Had a bad feeling about this one when Eustace said there was some illness around the squad. It's one of those factors that throws a huge wrench in a coaches plans that we can not really see from the outside. Hopefully there's not too much in these injuries. This isn't the moment you want to see our solid run with injuries keel over.

I know he's had some moments in the past, but credit where it's due, that double save from Pears was world class.

Ahhh yes. So he has, cheers.

Where's Toth? Did I miss something?

Never doubted him!

What a result!

Yeah, I know. I just feel that a lot of these players at the top of the championship would be better off waiting, dominating for another season or two, and wait for a club that's not odds on to drop right back down. I get that there's risks with that approach too, and maybe Kaminski was too far the other side of 30 to consider it, but i dunno you see players like BBD fade away into memes and its hard not to wonder if there might have been a better way.