Tomphil2

Look at Khadra who was in every sense better than Markanday, same age and had a decent time here which caught the attention of Sheff U. There he began to struggle in a side with bigger demands and expectations so now hes gone to somewhere a bit less demanding. Markanday will never step up at best he can be a squad player with the odd good cameo maybe but knowing how light our squads end up he'll have to start games. Very best solution is hope a bid comes in and get some money back.

No issue with Hedges staying he's a good squad man and probably won't be on big money but i just hope Ismael sees him as more of an away day starter than home one Or preferably he isn't seen as a starter at all if we can get something fresher in attacking wise.

I often thought when watching those behind the scenes training clips that get released as to who these lads are in the sticks because they look useless. Half the time just stick a hand or foot out or nothing at all and i'm like why the #### aren't you trying to save these shots you are supposed to be training to improve right ? Seems maybe not, just pay some to put the gloves on everyday eh, nice work and i think i'd do better than some of them, genuinely.

Phil's annual summer grenade has been chucked 😉

It says to me that the recruitment and coaching at that level is perhaps focused elsewhere.

They aren't going to pay a younger less experienced person the same as an expert who has been doing it for 30 years it stands to reason. All depends who they recruit for that role but i'm saying they seem to run the backroom staff similar to how they run the team and if there is a chance of saving a few quid they will do.

Can't believe we never seem to have a capable looking keeper coming through the ranks the academy certainly isn't doing its job with this position. Can't live off Raya forever and even Pears cost about half million but modern young keepers are largely shite anyway at actual goal keeping. Can dribble around their box though and are 6'4" !

Pure guesswork i'd say she perhaps fancied a change or retirement and they have agreed whilst there is a bit of money coming in because they think they'll replace her with an up and coming - cheaper - new person. That's how it seems to work down there.

Before the restructure....

Yeah 3 part timers with 3 jobs each or maybe an AI app is now the player liason officer, cheaper is always better the Waghail motto.

I think he got a long contract and payrise after a cameo period in a sort of false 9 and thought he was the main man then the lip came out when he realised he wasn't. He should use Tronstad as his role model.

Wasn't Ismael supposed to have a 3 month clause ? Maybe the eastleigh guy thought it better to wait.

Without tenacity and hard graft his so called talent means nothing and hes never shown enough of any of it. Ability wise handy back up player but attitude wise he's an absolute liability constantly used as a sub. If he was truly any good as some think he is he'd have taken one of his numerous chances or been snapped up by someone else. If we'd paid money for this lad he'd have been branded a resounding flop before now but he gets away with it because he came through the ranks.

So the restructure is really just paying people off whilst they have a few quid left in the pot in order to save money in the longer term ? Or has she taken voluntary ?

Rovers paid at least £20k pwk years ago for Stewart Downing aged 36.

I suppose if they wanted to buy a similar player if he was under contract then they'd still have to pay a couple of million plus 30k a week.

There was something floating around a while back that Mrs D insisted Rovers have a women's team. Mind you she probably thought it wouldn't cost anything and would pull in 12k crowds at Ewood ! End of the day any one of them could stump up a few grand out of their own pockets for this if they deemed it important. A women's team at a club like Rovers was never ever making commercial sense let alone paying for itself so it would always need some funding to prosper.

I'm fully on board with the youth pathway etc but there has to be a balance to it other than keep growing a team every few years then selling it to pay bills whilst praying to stay in the Championship. What's the end game ? Is there one or is there just a set of people there now creating their own agenda with their agent pals ? When they brought JDT and GB in and the new DoF structure it seemed like a bit of a mini revolution to modernise things and actually try and build a top 6 side on a small budget. However that soon went tits up and it now looks like it was all being done as a desperate grow/polish/sell act because of the owners withdrawing regular necessary financial support. Time for some honesty from this club.

And they pass more and create more space, often less pressure to track back and do the dirty work because there are better players behind you. There's plenty lightweights in the Prem and no one knows how a player will cope until they get a chance but he'll likely end up on loan at another Champ club.

Yep look at those 2 now both started kicking on once they were a bit stronger physically and mentally. Coming here will have helped that, particularly the mental toughening side, even if it didn't help us much but it'll continue because it's another symptom of where we are.

ACD is probably more suited to Prem style football than the Championship, certainly at the moment. Looked quite decent at first but it all caught up with him physically and he lost confidence and was never really a Eustace style player anyway. Wouldn't be writing him off at but this kind of thing will keep happening because these are developing players and we are a beg steal borrow development club.

When you browse other clubs forums or see stuff on social media in regard to 'which player would you take' from another club Dolan is a regular name mentioned. 'Always looks good when i see them on telly/always has a good game against us/busy little player etc' There'll be a lot of interest in this lad so the wages and signing fee he desires will be out there.

Sending 10 million company money from a bank acc/borrowing facility serviced by huge monthly turnover is one thing. Providing 10 million in personal guarantees or bonds is another, further reinforces though that one of the primary reasons they hang onto the club is because it works well within the company accounting structure. Promotion means nothing to them.

I think if he goes North of the border that means less compo ? Which would be typical, not that it effects the budget anyway.

Ask that pillock Terry what the gates were when the women's team was started, allegedly at the request of Mrs D.