Watched the last 25 minutes thanks to @briansol Rovers only had ten men but still competed well. Some poor play from some Derby youngsters but 16 year-old Sibley (sp?) looked their best player from what I saw, a real talent. They showed Mols goal at the end and it was a very nice finish, what a shame for him he was injured most of last season but good to see him back. Finished 2-2

I don't think they are on general sale until tomorrow, still just season ticket holders and 1875 club members.

Anyone going from Manchester/Salford/Eccles area? I fancy going but the train is £40 and I'd prefer to give someone petrol money.

I get the impression TM was hoping for a top half, possibly a playoff push going off who he wanted to sign, with the right loans it might still be possible.

Hard to say but I think a draw was probably a fair result. The Morrison shot that hit the inside of the post looked bound to go in from where we were stood. A poor first half but second was very different. I’d be disappointed to see Williams come back in for Bell as he did pretty well. Dack’s first half free kick was met by a great save, Rothwell had a great shot. I think people are being a touch harsh on Graham as he did well to get to the ball and hold off the defenders for his two chances, first one he realized just too late that he should have passed to Dack, Millwall keeper did well too, though obviously would have expected DG to put at least one of them away. It’s easy to overreact but Millwall did also play in the game and did so well in the first half. Palmer looked good but not much end product yet, he also started to get more and more out of position and stopped defending so that’s why TM took him off. Midfield needs someone who can pass, the manager knows this I think so hopefully the loanee we get is a good one, a real shame we didn’t go for McGinn earlier, sounds perfect. I wouldn’t worry too much at this stage, we were pretty good first game and showed in patches we can play today. We will get at least another couple of players, hopefully ones that will go straight into the team. Ind My think anyone was particularly bad today though.

I thought he looked quite good too but it seems we are aiming a bit higher than that.

Brereton sounds the more exciting prospect, not seen much of him but Islander and AllRoverAsia certainly seem to rate him, I wouldn't be unhappy with Gallagher but he needs to start pushing on now as he is 23 next month so I think it's time he started to realize his potential. I understand why we would want a more back to goal style striker but we haven't been linked to any whilst I do believe the reports about us being after the two mentioned above so it doesn't seem like we are going for one.

I wouldn't call Bennett a defensive winger myself. One of his great attributes is that he runs all over the place and can get up AND down. I would certainly not be unhappy if we started Bennett centrally and had Graham, Dack, Armstrong, and Palmer starting, it would be really exciting but also it'd be almost 4-2-4 and would leave us a bit exposed. It might work for the occasional match but other teams would catch on and exploit it.

I like that team but I would worry about having Palmer and Armstrong both leaving their fullbacks exposed even if Millwall aren't going to be the most adventurous. I wonder if Palmer and Armstrong are fit enough for TM's liking, you would think they should be fine but Tony seems to have quite high standards in that regard. Personally, I do hope we don't see Samuel on the wing, I really don't think it is fair to the player and possibly detrimental to his development and confidence as he's never looked comfortable there in my opinion (watch him play there and score now), plus I think he is a better replacement for Graham if needed for the last 15/20 minutes. Super excited to be in the Blackburn End today, bringing my girlfriend from Shanghai so hope it's a great atmosphere and thinking it might be 3-1 to us

I'm not Evans' biggest fan but he did well enough against Everton (preseason I know) and Ipswich, plus he played well towards the back of last season. Going off TM's comments from the end of last season and beginning of this one he will play, though given his injury record and the fact that I recall in the past he mentioned that his body needs to be managed I wouldn't offer him a new contract unless it was tied to appearances. I'd be more worried if I were Smallwood, as much as TM likes him I think his technical deficiencies are more noticeable at a higher level, Davenport's acquisition and the attempts to sign McGinn and Trapp, having said that I think he will start today.

Dropping Evans? Shocking decision. Don't you trust Tony Mowbray? He said Evans was 'amazing' against Ipswich so I'd be very surprised not to see him start.

Has Jack Doyle gone? Thought he might have been one to possibly step up but then we signed Hart and he was loaned to Northern Ireland. Was he just not that good?

BDS I don't want to have a go but there are so many of your posts that have some fans/a lot of fans/ same fans. If you want to add to the debate you might want to be less vague and direct it at specific people. There are lots of different people on here with lots of different views, there's a broad spectrum and why people would expect anything else I'm not quite sure, any large group of people will have diverse opinions.

Personally, I believe Chaddy, but only recently he told Tom to stop lying so yeah some go too far but so does he. I do, why? Waggott's comments about hoping to sell another 1500 tickets off the back of exciting signings (paraphrasing but that's basically how I read it)

A lot of who we need to sign depends on how high we are actually aiming this season. Evans and Smallwood are ok if we just want to survive and are happy to finish bottom half of the league but if as it seems we are aiming a little higher than that then I think those two as a pair are not technically good enough. Personally, I think at least one centre midfielder should be more of a playmaker, with a good range of passing and a good touch, I don't think Smallwood or Evans could argue that they are this, I thought maybe Davenport would come into the side to play this role but not sure if TM thinks he is ready. In his iFollow post-match interview, TM described Evans' performance as 'amazing' so I think Smallwood might be under real pressure if these McGinn rumours are true, even if we don't get him. TM also said Bennett is the 'heartbeat' of the side so I doubt he will be dropped any time soon. I doubt we would be starting too often with Palmer, Armstrong, Dack and Graham as I would expect, in the championship, TM would think that would leave us too open so I think that Bennett is likely to usually take one of the wide positions. Perhaps we will go all out and start 4 players that don't defend much trying to score more than the opposition, it would make for some exciting games for sure but I'd be surprised.

Great play by Graham again and excellent cross from Williams, doing well

His goals? 11 in 43 is not exactly great. I think Gallagher did okay when he was here. Played well in some games poorly in some, average in the rest. He obviously had some potential but personally, I had expected a bit more especially if he wanted to be a good premier league striker. He's had another season in the championship but looking at the stats, 6 goals in 33, it doesn't look like he had a great one, and if he didn't score many as he was played a lot on the wing then I'd have to ask why not in the centre? It really depends on how high we are aiming and what the alternatives are, and more importantly how much he has improved. I wouldn't be unhappy if he signed but neither would I be jumping for joy.

True enough but he does seem to be more highly rated, Pep loves Bielsa so if he does go to Leeds you'd imagine Pep recommended him, I've never seen him play but if he can hold the ball up and score goals he'll be a coup.

The £30 one is for juniors, it is £60 quid for adults, I go back to Shanghai end of August so I'm not getting a season ticket, but paying £28 for Millwall does seem a lot to me. Re: season tickets I think @Mattyblue hit the nail on the head so let's hope for that play-off push this season.

Trust Mowbray? I keep seeing this but what does it mean? I trust TM to be as honest as he can, to do his best, I trust that he is a good bloke and I expect he's great to have a chat with if you can get a word in. Does that mean he won't make mistakes? No. I know for a fact his judgment isn't perfect. Trusting him doesn't mean we won't get shafted by the selling club, it doesn't mean we won't get gazumped by another bidder or that any number of other things that could mean we miss out on who we want. To keep saying trust Mowbray is a bit daft. I believe there is money to spend and TM and Waggott want to spend it but it doesn't mean they are or aren't going to get the right players.

That's just stupid, just going by the stats, Bamford scored 14 in 23 in L1 with MK Dons and followed by another 8 in 21 in the Championship for Derby = 22 league goals that season. He followed that with 18 in 38 in the Championship for Boro. If Dack can do that this season (difficult but not impossible) that'd be amazing, no? Not sure how you can say doing anything at a lower level is better. 7m is a lot of money, especially as he hasn't been amazing since then but if you've seen him play he's got real talent, someone I have enjoyed watching in the past as I like skillful players, a journeyman he most certainly is not.

It is a little disappointing that after doing ok in a couple of Championship games TWO YEARS ago that Wharton isn't being considered for the first team squad but I suppose TM has seen a lot more of him. I thought Downing did well enough last year but there was a big improvement when Lenihan returned last year, I don't think he's up to Championship level and if Lenihan gets injured and he plays a lot we could be in trouble. I don't rate Williams highly either but as Speedie says we have to hope TM is right.

@Biz I don’t disagree with what you say generally but it is generally still true the lower the fee the greater the risk. Yes bargains can be found out there but we have signed two potential ones already, I’m excited by Davenport too. On the other hand the club have certainly given the impression that there’s a bit of money to spend and it’s not unreasonable for people to want us to use a chunk of it to buy someone with more of a track record and therefore less risk. I’m thinking someone like Maddison myself, or others might prefer the potential for improvement that Armstrong represents. Of course higher fees aren’t a guarantee of better players just like a high wage bill doesn’t mean a club will do well but usually players cost more because they are better and teams that spend more usually do better.

I think that you can’t take too much from friendlies that goes for the Everton game but also the Stanley one, can’t have it both ways. I’m still optimistic that we are trying to spend money and are aiming to make a quality permanent signing up front or on the wing. Mowbray has indicated there’s a bigger budget, Rich Sharpe has too but it was Waggott’s comments that JH mentioned that shows that he really thinks we are going to get someone genuinely exciting to the average fan.

True enough but so is saying fees are irrelevant