No or he would have cost around the same as Watkins when he was deemed the finished article, that's the point I'm making.

Possibly not but Brereton came from Nottingham Forest and had been around the England youth setup where he shone. Watkins came from Exeter with experience playing for Weston-super-Mare, its a bit different but fair play to them on that one. I suspect the general concensus at Brockhall is that they're trying to develop him rather than 'carry' him. I concede thats taken longer than anyone would have liked, be that through poor coaching, lack of ability or purely lack of confidence i don't really know. If he plays like he did yesterday for 20+ games this season he becomes a 20m+ player and the 'carrying' pays dividends - it would be far too premature to say that's going to happen yet obviously but fingers crossed!

Yes, at which stage he wasn't the finished article

Watford are an excellent team, even if we'd scored a third, they would have got a fourth and so on. They will win many many games by a 1 goal margin this season. Again look at the stats vs Bournemouth yesterday, completely dominated but unfortunately for them the cherries found a way through in the 96th minute.

So just draw 30m out and sign Ollie Watkins instead next time yeah?

I can. Fans. Bearing in mind this is a young fella who's played most of his better days at u19/20 level where he stood out as brilliant. Of course he needs to get over that stage fright if he wants to really progress, but as it stands, its doing him wonders for him without the added pressure.

JRC offers more for me. And the Brereton #1 fan status on here continues to flourish for my good self. What a marvellous day.

As much as I'm a Travis fan, he wouldn't have done much to change this game I feel. The left side was obviously weak, this hopefully gets addressed on Saturday when Douglas starts. A daft OG, I know the biased rovers commentary said it was unfortunate, but for me it was plain stupid. A shite penalty more than a good save, these things cost us tonight big time, our midfield 3 massively outplayed their midfield 3.

Lots of positives but obvious negatives too. Elliotts passing looks an absolute class above. Holtby looks a different player completely, his fitness levels look to have gone up 2 or 3 gears. Hopefully Ben kicks on from a quality goal, his driving run second half when he got brought down was classy and something he needs to continue to do more of. I guess this is why Watford will be up there come the end of the season, although more clinical finishing will cause them issues. We really do need a win at weekend though now or could end up stuck in a rut. Its a shame this exact squad wasn't in place from the start of the season, I have no doubt it will get better and better when they all gel.

Jesus its so depressing on here. People cream themselves over Elliott signing but sulk when he plays over Dolan. Bell will be playing because, well look how much football Douglas has played in the past year, he will be starting before Bell before long.

Yeah I'm feeling a bit similar to this. Never seen optimism like this (certainly not a complaint mind!) for a long time. I imagine the Forest camp is also pretty optimistic too with the new gaffer on board. Just hope if things don't quite go to plan today we don't see a massive knee jerk reaction. The difference right now is pretty much every player on that pitch for us today knows if he doesn't shape up, there's someone in the squad to take their place.

Right switch all the phones off at Ewood now, not having anyone coming in with last minute bids for our prized assets. It's slightly premature to say so as they haven't even all played for us yet, but on paper at least, this has to be the best transfer window in a very, very long time. Still walking a bit of a tightrope keeping Armstrong fit all season, although that worry eases slightly with Dack back playing (and hopefully scoring).

According to who? Ronaldo has been confirmed covid positive today and he's not the first?

Not sure but imagine a 5 team relegation one season? The play off thing is more forward thinking I believe.

The only good thing I can see in the proposal is the relegation play off, 3rd from bottom plays 3rd from top in the championship, works in other European countries. Imagine panning the dingles to swap places...

The top 2 in that are a direct result of us panning them....

The next name in Nixons tombola I imagine. Fair play on managing to not get blocked by the big baby though ?

This game will let us know Mowbrays plans regarding Gallagher, as you'd assume he will be 100% fit by then. I think most of us will be extremely pissed off if he starts. I can see a very open game with a decent number of goals, 3-1 Rovers* *Based on Gallagher not being in the starting 11

Didn't we withdraw the offer to him or have I imagined that? Not sure I'm that keen to be honest. He did a good job for us but I don't see where he fits in now and he's too expensive to be a bench man.

I thought the same, unless I've missed it in another thread. Its funny because despite him apparently not being able to last 90 minutes according to some, he's turned a corner fitness wise and long may it continue.

BAE in Burnley? Since when?

From my perspective, its not that we COULDN'T bring a decent manager to replace Mowbray, we'd still appeal to many. Its the fact the the recruitment team of, presumably swag, WOULDN'T attract a decent manager, in fact I dread to think what the selection policy would be - presumably just the cheapest option possible. Also on Hughton, he's already turned down some biggish championship teams, Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke spring to mind. As I've already said he was clearly holding out for a prem job which hasn't materialised so he's lowered expectations. That said its hardly a crappy job at Forest and its a good chance for him to prove his worth.

Be interesting to see how Hughton gets on, whilst I would have had no real objections to him as our manager he does seem to rate himself rather highly, he's been holding out for a Premier league job i reckon but nobody has come a calling. Quite a few forest fans seem a bit miffed they picked him over Howe...

Missed the point much......... So they weren't fortunate at all? They were nowhere near the likes of Leeds in terms of performances, hence them being rock bottom already with a -8 goal difference! Even we scored more goals than them last season, but our goals came from various positions, luckily for them they had Mitro who bagged 26 goals in - when you have the leagues top scorer doing that you're in the top 6 9 times out of 10 so yeah lets hope Armstrong can emulate that success eh? I didn't see anyone saying they wouldn't swap positions with them? Of course its the position we're all thriving to be in so keep your therapy on hold.

Is he bollocks. Fulham were lucky to go up last year, they just had one of the best strikers in the league to bang 20 odd goals in. Its almost certain they'll be back in the championship next season, that's pretty much the level of team that would have taken a punt on Tosin though.