StHelensRover

We could easily have been level with the chances we've been making but we have paid the price. That was a great bit of football from them.

We're much, much better than we were in the first half 👍

That middle-eastern bid rumoured for Gueye, I reckon they're trying to recall the email after that miss 😄

Kargbo on and instantly running into the box and trying to cross/pass it in 🤞

They're a midtable eredivisie side. Below the big 3 or 4 teams in the Netherlands that top division isn't much different in quality to the Championship I would argue, it should have been a decent match-up, but we look way off, there was a gulf in quality there imo. Hope Ismael gives them a rocket at HT

On the new season prediction thread half the posts have got us finishing in or just outside the top six. I cannot see it myself, I think this season is going to be pretty grim fare. I don't think we will go down but I think we will be spending most of the season looking over our shoulder. That prediction is before it's confirmed that Brittain has left and hopefully neither Travis or Tronstad leave or we will be in massive trouble.

Ismael booked for losing his rag in a friendly, we're in for a long season I reckon 😄

I don't think people are turning on him, he is being played out of position. He has been played there before, out of position and made poor mistakes. I feel sorry for him, not digging him out.

He a young player, still tons to learn, by no means written off if played in another position, but Montgomery at right back is a constant bomb scare

1. Winners of the Championship Southampton 2. Automatic promotion (runners-up) in the Championship Sheffield United 3. Four Play off semi-finalists in the Championship Leicester City, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough 4. Three relegated sides from the Championship Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth, Oxford 5. Where will Rovers finish in the Championship? 17th 6. First Championship club to change manager (after the season starts) *Edited* - I went with Watford originally but having thought about it, I agree with a few others on here, that Heckingbottom's days are numbered at Preston. 7. Winners of the Premier League Liverpool 8. A notable wild card prediction of something that will happen in the Rovers universe during the season Knocked out of both cup comps by lower league opposition due to extremely shallow squad depth 👎

We're always told if the Venkys went we'd be like Derby, Coventry, Birmingham, Bolton etc. All those teams now rid of shite owners, had to suffer for a couple of years, now fan base completely galvanised, sold out stadiums every week and three of those four in the same division as us and will definitely finish above us this season (Bolton will be back imminently as well). Sheffield Wednesday will be the next one to go through the mess, get rid of the owner and eventually bounce back stronger. Reading as well probably soon. We're the only ones who have not been able to get rid of the ownership shackles, it feels like we're the butt of the joke.

When you say compete do you mean towards the top or towards the bottom? I think if we don't get at least 3 players in who can hit the ground running that we're in a bit of trouble. Especially a striker and a winger.

I've read about 20 posts on here from the last 24hrs debating whether the squad is slightly weaker or slightly stronger than this time last year and it seems to be pretty much a dead heat, very little to choose between, people making arguments either way. How the squad is only marginally stronger (at best) when we have brought in tens of millions over the last couple of seasons is criminal. Where on earth has that money gone?

I think the ticket prices this time will mean fewer home fans will bother. Unless we beat Albion 4-0 away the week before or something. I won't hold my breath

So ~9k season ticket holders, 5k walk-ons, 5k Brummies. Let's knock 1k off coz it's summer holidays. You think there will be ~18k on? I think there's no chance of that myself

All very well fleecing travelling Birmingham fans who will obviously bring a large crowd having the promotion bounce. Problem is that Rovers will probably get charged a reciprocal price for the reverse fixture. I won't be paying £33+ to go to St Andrews, many others won't either. Meaning we'll be backed by about 400 die hards for a fixture only 2hrs away from home. Coz that's what football is all about, rinsing travelling fans 👌

Yes so we're heading into the season with one striker who has a track record of scoring goals. If he gets kicked after 10 mins and is out injured for weeks or months, we're absolutely stuffed.

That's my sneaking worry, I have a feeling we'll implode right at the end of the transfer window, with the likes of Travis and/or Tronstad picked off at last minute as it'll be last chance to get a fee for them and won't be time to get a replacement, then I agree we'll be in big trouble. Especially if we still don't have a striker.

I park my car by Millmoor when I go to Rotherham away. You can walk up and peak through the gaps in the fencing and it's like a weird time warp, it looks like it is falling to bits, but I think it is still used frequently for local sports.

I'm underwhelmed by the home kit, partly because they didn't put much thought into it being an anniversary top, but mainly coz it's not proper blue and white halves or 'quarters', I don't know why they suddenly reverted to that and why the club ok'd it (I do know why, no one at the club gives a toss). I like the green kit a lot, I bought it. I like the colours, design, collar, everything really. I'm not sure about the yellow kit. I think from a distance it might just look like it's got dirt and sweat on it, as others have pointed out. It's not an aberration, it's just nothing too special. I'm surprised how divided we are as a fan base on the shirts, but it's not the end of the world. At least shirt chat is a welcome distraction from everything else going on. At this point, I would take our away kit being claret and blue with a big 💩 emoji on the front for the season if it magically rid us of these owners.

I hope Dolan finds something soon and moves on with his career and does as well as he can. I'm not convinced his ceiling is much higher than our current level, but would be happy to be proved wrong. I don't hold any grudge against him, he never developed as much as I hoped he would at Ewood, but he always worked his arse off every time he played. He may not be worth as much in wages as he thinks he is, but that's probably true of most footballers, you have to back yourself and show ambition. I don't know how much we've offered him but I wouldn't be surprised if our offer was beyond the pale and insulting. I think there's a reason so many players are letting their contract run down here or desperately being linked elsewhere in the media via their agents. It's probably somewhere between us being complete cheapskates and an absolute circus with no ambition. Understandable

Sorry you're right about Wednesday, I don't know how I missed them out, their predicament is so bad that it somehow skipped my mind. The only club in this division more poorly run than us and it looks like it's about to really catch up with them. Hull I think will react to the fright that they got in the final few weeks of last season and I don't think they'll be as bad again. I feel bad coming on here after a break and instantly being negative about the season before a ball has been kicked, but as usual it's all driven by off-the-field and it just feels eternal. 15 years of it.

Had a break from reading and posting on here for a few weeks. Came back on today to try and gauge the mood/optimism for this season amongst others. As time has gone on, I'm starting to feel pretty worried about this season. It feels like this division is going to be very strong with no one nailed on for relegation. I expect Charlton, Pompey and Oxford to struggle (not controversial). At this very moment I think our squad is stronger than all of theirs, but I'm not sure whether it will be by the end on the window, and I'm not sure if there is anyone else we're stronger than (maybe Preston, Wrexham, dependent on who else they bring in?). No CEO, no court case resolution, COO still pulling the strings and another exodus of our better players is making me jittery as we're getting closer to kick-off 😬

I think we'll eventually get enough players to field a team, because there will be enough people who simply want to play football. But I can't see us attracting any players with any serious ambition, women's football a much smaller world than men's football and our name will be the sh*t on everyone's shoe in that sport right now, we'll be tainted for years by this We're probably going to be cannon fodder in whatever lowly league we're playing in.

I was really looking forward to seeing this kit and I'm really underwhelmed. Last season's shirt is miles better. I might be tempted if they somehow pull a rabbit out of the hat for a one-off shirt like they did in 2000, but I ain't buying this one. Port Vale are also celebrating 150 years. A small but proud club, this is their anniversary shirt. Much better than ours.