Agreed. The parameters for what is offside clearly need to change. Having it as any part of the body which the player can score a goal with is ridiculous. A player can be clearly onside but if the stride of the attacker and defender are opposites then the attacker can be adjudged offside when in reality if the shot was 0.1 seconds earlier or later they'd be onside. Same with players angling their bodies when pushing off for a sprint. Daylight would be a good option. Or make the line about 3x fatter to give a fairer degree of flex. Another option would be for players to wear some kind of tracker around their hips. This being their central point where power comes from which is more representative of where the player is positioned, instead of a toe being marginally offside. I'm sure this could be automated too, stopping all this faff of drawing lines on the pitch. That should only exist for fan communication to stop us all being in the dark around decisions.

How on earth is this still rumbling on? The EFL will have had a week to review our appeal. A week! The initial mess reflected badly on us. This process is reflecting badly on them. What on earth are they trying to do... negotiate with us? It should either be approved or not. Nothing inbetween. Clearly there is some accountability on their part, as they'd have rejected it by now if it were that simple. It strikes me as they want nothing more than to reject it but are struggling to do so. I wish they'd just be transparent and accept or reject it. There is a strong human element to deadline day. People cock up. If they've cocked up just fess up, approve it, review their process and we all move on.

I actually think JRC's biggest asset is his ability when going forward. In an attacking sense he interprets space superbly. I'm not comparing the ability of the players but Thomas Muller has become a Bayern and Germany great, all without the ability to beat a man, having amazing technique or being particularly strong. He christened himself the space interpreter or something along those lines. I constantly see JRC making intelligent runs and popping up in places you don't expect him too. I do agree with you though, that his improved defensive work and concentration has seen him become an important team player as previously he was a liability when we didn't have the ball.

That's what I'm thinking. It could give the EFL the option of ratifying the deal whilst saving face. An option which suits all parties. If that is the outcome it would be peculiar, given the EFL's constant fear of litigation from other clubs.

If by some miracle he is approved I think our lawyers should be onto the EFL around compensation. Three games without a top player simply isn't fair on us should they admit their mistake.

Nixon goes through phases. And it's often pretty clear which phase he is in by the language he uses. He goes from very vague and hedging his bets to be very sure that something has happened. When he's in that mode he often has an inside line with a club or agent. It goes with the territory of being an old school hack. He still has his uses in modern day football when a club or individual purposefully want to leak something. When they don't has to portray an illusion that he's still got his finger on the button.

Hypothetically, had the EFL met the predicted timeline for their decision and the deal been approved we could have had O'brien in the squad today. If it is rubber stamped that's two games he'll have missed due to their ineptitude.

I'm not totally disagreeing with you. We don't make enough chances. However Xg is calculated on shots taken. At times we do get the ball into dangerous areas but our striker's have no instincts and don't anticipate. A decent striker would mean our Xg would be far higher as they'd anticipate chances and thus take more shots.

Nixon is obviously getting his line from inside the club. I'm certain we purposefully leaked a couple of details to him. The club are still waiting therefore he'll know nothing. Even if it's been rejected I'm sure with the appeal being over the club would handle the press release themselves. I said this yesterday, but I'm astounded this is still ongoing, but with completely the opposite feeling to deadline day when the more time elapsed the more certain I was that it wasn't going to go through, now the more time that elapses the more hopeful I am that it will.

Could this be our get out of jail free card. If he goes for the kind of money Brentford are looking for then it could net us up to about £8million. Even if just some of that was made available to reinvest it could cushion the blow of losing Diaz for free. One thing is for certain. I can't see Brentford being as illogical as we are and refusing to sell an asset when their contract is running down.

Fast forward 10 years and Bournemouth could be worth more than say AC Milan. The disparity is getting bigger and bigger.

JDT has often dropped out of form players or made players work extremely hard to win the shirt back. Unless your name is Tyler Morton or BBD that is. He's created a culture in the squad whereby if you put in the graft you can force yourself into the first team picture. Dropping JRC would damage this. He simply deserves to be in the team. If Brittain comes back in it should be at left back for Pondering Pickering.

Well it's 5:30 so I assume the EFl are going to allow this to drag on even longer. Maybe they're giving us a lesson in meeting deadlines. Genuinely though this is ridiculous. Initially I thought the appeal had no chance. Now I think it may be possible. But we're all trying to join the dots between a chaotic Rovers and an incompetent, nonsensical EFL. Its pointless really trying to guess what is going on. One thing is certain, it's farcical it happened in the first place and farcical that it's still ongoing.

Wasn't the previous test with Forest pretty cut and dry in that the fault was on the club. And they were appealing for common sense to prevail in that what does 15 seconds or something like that really matter. In that case they can simply point to the rule book. In this case it seems as though we are pointing to shortcomings or moot points from the EFL which caused the delay. So very different scenarios. I imagine the amount of time this is dragging on for is because its being taken seriously and they have legal experts analysing the case rather than it being just 3 people from within the EFL casting their eyes over it. Any decision which is made has to hold up to scrutiny.

I think the fact there is still no decision shows that it is touch and go. I imagine the EFL are weighing up being sued by Rovers or other clubs should they contest the ruling. Damage limitation. In terms of relegation clauses when relating to contracts. I may be wrong in saying this but I'm pretty sure there is no obligation for a club to include a wage reduction clause in the event of relegation. It's foolish but not a requirement, though the rules on this may have changed. 1. If the sticking point regards the obligation to buy if we are relegated that's a moot point and a mistake on the EFLs part. 2. If its a wage reduction in the event we are promoted and then relegated back to the championship after a single season, is this within the rulebook that clubs have to include this. 3. The only other option I can see is the wage reduction relegation clause had wording which stated it would kick in if Rovers were relegated from the Premier league. Which has led to the question, what if you were relegated again to league 1. Again is a wage reduction upon relegation a legal requirement. The longer this drags on the more I see a glimmer of hope.

Grabben would be a very smart move from Rovers. However he turned down a contract extension in the summer with a now Premier League Forest, in favour for what one can assume was a very lucrative offer in Saudi. The fact he's only stayed 6 months suggests it's not worked out there for him. I'm not sure the reasons for him leaving. There's a good chance his salary demands could be sky high. If he's available, I'd say bring him in. 6 months or 18 months and he could solve this short term crisis. Providing his head is still in the game and he's not just looking for any final paydays.

It would be nice wouldn't it. I wouldn't put it past the EFL delaying their decision as long as possible out of pure spite. Keep us hanging that little bit longer.

Greed all around. Greed from the initial clubs in on the proposition and renewed Greed by the three clubs trying to relaunch it. It's not surprising though. As there already is a European Super League and those clubs aren't in it. The super league is the Premier League. Its not justifying the relaunch but its understandable as these so called 'super clubs' are struggling to compete. The Chelsea spending spree was exceptional but they ended up spending more than Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 combined. Premier League clubs will speak out in faux outrage and act as though they've learnt their lessons, that they support the wishes of the everyday fan but its all bullshit. They are already where the money is and its a closed shop.

Because the process had been shown to work. It's completing paperwork, not the running of an entire club

The only way we'll get out of this league is through a 'project'. We're all scarred from Mowbray trotting the line out constantly, whilst season upon season, completely changing tactics, never having a balanced squad, swinging from players on high wages with experience to youth. Basically when Mowbray said project it was bullshit and he was just winging it. I accept that getting us promoted is a project, whether we like it or not. What I want to see is consistency, smart decisions and clear progression. We've not seen this so far. Diaz being the main issue and a wasted transfer window. Broughton for me has time to implement, but a project means nothing if the actions aren't followed through on.

I'm still willing to give Broughton time. Like another poster has said, I feel we're in an infinitely better position structure wise than we were 3 years ago. The debacle around the paperwork not getting done, on a human level I can understand how this was an oversight on his part. He had no reason to belive our 10 year process would fail to deliver. There are three glaring issues he faces now. Rovers fans have been through it all so we treat board members with scepticism. This has blown any good faith he had with the fans. Secondly clubs will undoubtedly think twice when dealing with us, especially on deadline day, which given our finances is a date we always seem to still be trying to wrap deals up on. Thirdly, and almost most importantly. JDT saying he's lost attackers and O'brien is a midfielder shows a misalignment between him and Broughton which is unacceptable if this model has any chance of working.

Watching Wrexhams replay against Sheffield United. Paul Mullen is so much better than any of our strikers and he's playing in the National League

Considering how lacking we are up front we should have been all over Chris Martin as a free agent, but Qpr have snapped him up already. He may not be mobile but he'd still offer a hell of a lot more than Vale or Gallagher.

Just read that was Wigans first clean sheet in 15 games. Their last clean sheet... against us.

I think we'd be a significantly better side with him in the middle. And would give us an outside shot at top 6, but JDT clearly said last night, we needed a striker. I'm a bit torn on O'brien now. If the appeal is successful, he'll be expensive but I think we'll still fall short. On the flip side if he doesn't come in the relationship between JDT and the rest of the club could become toxic. That would seep into the players which is no foundation for the club to build from.