Commondore

I think Buckley is easier to like for a particular sort of person (including me) in that he's not a typical modern footballer. He's unpredictable, highly talented and skilled in a way that you often have a hard time wrapping your head around, but also uneven and seemingly a bit lazy or dispassionate. Modern football is becoming more and more uniform by the year with players seeming more and more like robots, and Buckley stood against that.

I just got caught up on the rumors about Gestede bullying staff and demanding a woman employee "cover her arms". Unbelievable nerve from that deeply mediocre journeyman footballer to think he's cock of the walk just because he fell ass backwards into a corporate position with some small amount of power over others. If it's true he should be sacked immediately.

Of the players we've lost it's only Brittain and possibly Dolan that I feel are very tricky to find solid replacements for, but more or less having a fire sale from our starting 11 of last season to teams in the same division is seriously bad news. I feel like this season and the club as a whole can go south very quickly.

Seems a likely explanation.

Permanent purchase option must mean Rovers don’t believe in him much. Too bad, this would have been an interesting test of his ability otherwise.

2 goals in 3 games, all created after some calamity in the box from a long throw or corner. Nothing wrong with those, but we need to create goals from open play. Cantwell is one of very few in the squad who’s able to do that, Ismael getting a tune out of him is probably his main achievement as a manager for us so far.

Definitely seems like he’s under orders to not upset anyone at the club in order to retain access.

It was never in doubt how good he is at pressing and helping out his full back, it’s just that he’s near useless once we go behind.

Pears would have let in at least one more of their chances, possibly two. I don’t think it was a penalty, but a free kick just outside their penalty area and possibly a red card. I think we missed Cantwell, and dare I say it Buckley.

With all this endless back and forth over Baradji, it would be kind of funny if we did finally sign him and he turned out to be absolutely mediocre.

Championship winner: Soton Runner-up: Ipswich Semi-finalists: Sheffield United, Norwich, Leicester, WBA Relegated: Wednesday, Oxford, Hull Rovers finish: 16th First manager to go: Jakirovic, Hull PL winners: City Wild card: A former Rover comes out as a Trump supporter, dividing the fan base.

Seen a decent amount as I follow that league pretty closely. I wouldn’t say he stands out if you take the whole league into account, a good player who plays for a team that’s suited to his strengths would be a fairer description. Always hard to tell how well someone would make the transition to Championship football, his playing style certainly wouldn’t be out of place but playing 40+ games in a season will definitely be a challenge. I think he could operate in all midfield positions, even as a winger, but I see him as competition for Tronstad and Travis more than Cantwell even if I’m not sure the club agrees.

It’s certainly not needed, but I’m sure it’s a nice little revenue stream for the club, particularly these days with football tops being both fashionable and collected.

Henriksson is a good player, somewhat similar to Travis but more attack-minded. He’s energetic, a good presser, likes to get stuck in and can both run at a defence and arrive late in the box to finish, has a decent shot as well. He’s not silky smooth on the ball though, and I wouldn’t expect him to regularly thread inch-perfect passes to forwards.

The balls used today would be noticeably lighter and thinner than the leather balls Payton played with in the 80’s and 90’s.

A decent season in the Premier League and a few caps for Nigeria would probably be enough for that lot.

Still far from convinced, but he’s undeniably been able to get a lot more out of Dolan, Cantwell, and Ohashi than Eustace did.

For the Norwegian members: Is there any discussion up there about him not making the national squad? I know Norway has a strong crop of players currently, but surely he should at least be sniffing around?

Why? There’s nothing left to play for.

Gave away an equalizer yesterday with one of the worst howlers I've ever seen (1:55), then restored Malmö's lead with the game-winning goal (3:25).

In this January window, Cardiff bought Salech for £3 million, a 23 year old striker from a smaller league who has now scored 5 in 12 for a struggling team and is now likely worth 2-3 times as much. We brought in an unfit Emmanuel Dennis on loan with a hefty salary, who hasn't scored once. One of these strategies is how you run a football club in 2025, the other one is how you did it in 1997. Apart from all the other problems with this club, we'll never go anywhere if we keep bringing in proven mediocrity with no resale value.

Would like us to poach Mousinho from Pompey, he’s done good work there from both strong and weak starting positions and seems to be flexible in how he wants his team to play. Most importantly, he’s on his way up and has momentum in his career.

We all know Sigurdsson hasn't reached his full potential here, because of injuries or otherwise, but this situation is a shambles. Here we have a 25 year old attacker, entering what's usually the best years in his career, who a few seasons back scored against Roma and Real Madrid in the Champions League. Players like that need to be given time and chances, because he has the potential to both propel the team AND be sold for a substantial fee, which can (at least partly) be reinvested in the team. Now instead we're shunting him out to make place for three journeymen, out of match fitness loanees.

I know it’s spelt differently, but that’s still an unfortunate surname!

…which probably didn’t help him adapt. Still, Serie B to Premier League in the early 00’s must have been a massive leap both culturally and in quality, Souness was mad to approve that transfer (or enticed by a brown envelope or two).