Commondore

I can see clubs being wary of signing Dack. He's unproven at Championship level, has a season-derailing off the pitch scandal on his resumé, and plays a fairly specialized role that only exists in certain formations. If he keeps performing for us in the Championship next year it will of course be a different story.

Said in an interview a few weeks ago that his contract wouldn't be eligible if the team were relegated. Still, I suppose it wouldn't be the first time a player and his club had different views on that sort of thing.

My shout for a new centre forward: Sebastian Andersson. Available on a free after having having scored 11 in 28 for relegated Kaiserslautern (German second division) last season. 26, strong, tall, hardworking, but still with a bit of pace and not a Heskey-like lump. https://www.transfermarkt.com/sebastian-andersson/profil/spieler/147573

Way too risky to start a season in a new division with a completely new central midfield, Smallwood will at the very least begin the season in there. Main focus should for me be new wingers (Conway is past it and Armstrong has a dodgy record on Championship level) and a new main striker. We might very well need a new centre back as well if Mulgrew's injury record rears it's ugly head again.

A bit of a shot in the dark, but does anyone have any experience with Green Hill boxing gloves? Looking for a new pair and the Tiger model seems to fit most of my criteria, but I'd have to order them online and won't have an opportunity to get a proper feel for them before buying.

...and we sent them both home, taking on all comers! Qualifying fair and square can never be a travesty, I've never understood that line of thinking. Why even bother with a qualification stage then?

"Swedish international" is incorrect, as I don't believe that he's even been capped by the national B-side. Looked like a good player when I saw him in the Swedish league though, a pacey and loyal runner with some decent finishing skills. If he's up to the physical play of League 1 he'll be quite a scoring threat.

I honestly believe this is the formation we should focus on going forward, wouldn't mind us defending our way to promotion one bit.

Ol' Souey was implicated (but never convicted or officially accused of anything) in the Andy Cole transfer as well, had close ties to the agency that no doubt collected a substantial amount of the £8 million we paid for him.

Surprised that this came off in the end, though it had the smell of a planted story to drum up interest from other suitors. Very happy with it though, seems like a solid replacement (possibly even an improvement?) for Guthrie if his legs are up to playing 30+ games in a very rough league.

I doubt that this is about wages, seems more like Mahoney simply thinks he can and should do better than playing League 1 football.

Mowbray in his time here actually managed to establish a functioning first 11, something Coyle was never near achieving. Looking at Mowbray's record for Rovers in isolation it's clear that he did a decent job, especially considering the state of the club, but at the same time it's hard not to think about not properly finishing off the games against Preston, Norwich and Burton...

The way I see it, Bristol was the toughest game of our run-in and we got out of it with a point. Wolves, Villa and Brentford are all halfway to the beach by now, 7 points from those games shouldn't be a Herculean task. Not that we've been pulling off any kinds of tasks during the season leading up to this, but still...

Another manager straight from the Last Chance Saloon, he'll be grateful for the opportunity and won't cause a fuss when the strange decrees start rolling in from above.

Parson and other regular U21 spectators, how would you rate Johnson and Dunn as tacticians and match coaches? They're the only ones that have even a theoretical chance at replacing Coyle, now or later...

I honestly believe Allardyce fits that bunch as well, notorious for having agents dictate his transfers.

It will be interesting to see what Graham can do with a proper partner in attack, last season he played most of his games with a disinterested Gomez as his main support.

That signing + reading between the lines of his interviews really tell a sad story. Sounds a lot like he's taken the job knowing that funds will be very limited, and that keeping afloat is the main aim. BTW, how come no one has asked Coyle about what kind of football he wants to play? I'm not expecting a deep tactical masterclass, but something besides platitudes about "arte et labore" would be nice.

Roque Santa Cruz, at 34, came on a sub for the last 15 minutes Malaga in the Spanish first division today. Apparently he's made 3 starts and 12 appearances from the bench this season, scoring 2 goals. One of my favorite strikers to have played for Rovers, glad to see he's still plying his trade at the top level despite being plagued by injuries throughout his career.

I watched the second half, dynamite stuff. With a bit more composure Villareal could even have nicked the three points.

Anyone who can should watch Dortmund - Bayern Münich right now, nothing in the Premier League I've seen this year even comes close in terms of quality.

If Forrester is ever going to get a chance to prove himself in the first team, the time really is now. We won't go down, won't go up, our strikers aren't scoring and Forrester's contract expires after this season.

Benitez is having a real nightmare there, some interesting conspiracy theories on how he got that job doing the rounds. Still, congrats on a massive win!

Our old friend Dickson Etuhu is under investigation for assault after allegedly having come to blows with security guards at a night club in Stockholm last week.

6 points from two tricky away ties (Ireland and Kazakhstan) in the last few days, but I still don't trust Hamrén as far as I can throw him. He's gambling like a madman on who should play in central defense and central midfield while also condoning a style of play that gives the back four very little protection. To be fair he doesn't have the same calibre of players at his disposal that Sweden had only a few years ago (it's fairly telling that our best backup choice as a striker is currently a 31 year old domestic player), but I'd still take Lagerbäck back in a heartbeat.