Sorry if I've missed it, but why on earth are Rovers fans not allowed to attend? Do NEC have thug fans that can't be trusted to behave if we are there?

Edit - Nevermind, I had only read the first page, now I see they do indeed have thuggish fans.

3 hours ago, KentExile said:

Three of our released U21s have now found new teams in the National League North (6th tier)

Lewis Bell moved to Marine after a loan spell there last season

Rhys Doherty is now at Kings Lynn Town

Paul Murphy-Worrell has moved to Southport, which seems an odd one as they already have Dan Pike at right back

 

Adam Caddick is now at Warrington Rylands in the 7th tier

 

I wish them the best of luck in their careers.

24 minutes ago, alexanders said:

 

would rather have a RW who could also play LW to be able to swap flanks if needed

If a new RW is playing on the LW, that means Hedges is starting at RW. A sobering thought.

52 minutes ago, Tugayisgod said:

Hibs fan ...

 

 

I'm worried about us losing Brittain's crosses, giving Gueye in particular no supply, but perhaps Miller's long throws will compensate.

16 minutes ago, alex l said:

They think Ohashi, Gueye, Tyjon and Leonard are sufficient for one position? Questions on their quality but sign a striker and it sends the message to Tyjon that a pathway to the first team isn't as close as they may have suggested to him

And we could bring Tyjon through only for him to fuck off for well under value at the end of the season. Until he signs that contract I have absolutely zero interest in potentially sacrificing our season to develop him.

4 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Although not cast in stone it is usually done when the visiting team are from a senior league. And that is usually reciprocated by the visitors. There are some pennants I believe on display at Ewood from friendlies past.

Fair enough, I was oblivious to this. Although I'm not sure the u21s could be expected to provide one. It's a bit hard to say it's a senior league when it's not even senior football.

I was really hoping today's thread would be a battle over whether or not someone got the exciting scoop on a preseason friendly the other week.

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

Curzon Ashton gave us a pennant at the toss up. 

We have them nowt.

Is this a thing? Exchanging pennants at kickoff in friendlies?

4 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I know these are song lyrics, but the ability to run seems to be #1 on Ismael's priority list. 

And I do like the idea of an athletic, quick team that can harass the opposition and break with pace. But I also worry about how many soft tissue injuries we will pick up. Given we already get quite a few with our not particularly fast team, I think this approach may necessitate more depth than we will accrue.

It feels a bit like we could be swapping having one excellent FB on each flank before Jan last season (Beck and Brittain) for having two dependable FBs on each flank (Ribeiro and Pickering, albeit the latter was already here, and Miller and Alebiosu). Of course, the fullness of time will bear out whether that's an accurate assessment, but I wonder how to feel about that if it is.

Ideally you'd have quality and depth like we did at LB all season really. At RB though we got a little lucky that Brittain stayed fitter than the season before, as none of the backup options was particularly palatable. And maybe one of the new lads will prove to be quality, but it's hard to see either being immediately as good as Brittain was. The video I found of a younger Miller suggests he moves a bit like Brittain, but I didn't see much evidence of the high quality delivery Callum has. But if he has learnt since then and can defend better than CB there might not be much in it.

7 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

From reading online, he seems to have done well in the last few months of the season playing as a right centre back and a few Hibs fans have commented saying that hes a good right centre back but not a right back.

That seems strange, as going off the video I posted (admittedly 3 years old) he is quick with good feet, and can even shift direction quickly for a big lad. Perhaps he has other attributes but it feels like playing him at RCB wastes some of his best attributes.

3 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

It's almost as if we have no money and needed a sale.

I've been wondering if the holdup on further activity was the Brittain sale and seeing if we could get Baradji for a sufficiently low guaranteed fee. But then I keep remembering that outgoing transfers have no impact on our budget according to Gestede (a stance I find hard to believe, as surely without all these sales we would be spending even less).

Lewis Miller...24 year old (25 before end of August) 6 ft 2 inches right back with 14 caps for Australia, as well as 2 international goals. They're not what they used to be the Socceroos, but we don't have a lot of internationals. Spent 3 seasons at Hibs, out of contract next season. Played in the A-League in Australia before that. Wiki has him down as 144 career club appearances and 6 goals (5 of them at Hibs in his 85 games for them, all in the last 2 seasons and 3 of them in the league).

Struggling to find much in the way of highlights reels, none from his time at Hibs, this one being the most ecent...

And that's SMI, not to be confused with SEM of SEM and Kentaro infamy, in case anybody else made the same mistake as I did for a moment.

2 minutes ago, alcd said:

Definitely not "exciting" but certainly an "exiting" summer. Venkys out!! 

That would be the best exit of all.

17 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Triantis?

So so weird...I have YouTube on as I'm scrolling down here, and an ad was playing as I got to this...a Fosters ad!

7 hours ago, philipl said:

Good that Harry's back but will have to take his word for it from that animated postage stamp.

If you watch it on fullscreen on a laptop (and maybe zoom in), you can see him scoring a belter from just past the halfway line. Keeper wasn't even that far off his line, and probably should have done better tbf, but there are some top players who've failed to hit the target from that distance their whole careers. Kane has tried it a lot and I think only scored one or two.

What amused me was the complete lack of reaction from the coaches on the sideline. I think it's the opposition's coaches, but still, you'd think nothing had happened at all.

1 minute ago, KentExile said:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25355831.blackburn-rovers-blow-middlesbrough-return-brittain/

 

Middlesbrough are advancing in talks to sign Blackburn Rovers star Callum Brittain with a growing expectation that a deal will be struck, The Lancashire Telegraph understands.

The Teessiders, along with Derby County, saw a bid knocked back three weeks ago, which led to Brittain refusing to play against Accrington Stanley.

However, Brittain has reintegrated into the squad since and featured in the last three pre-season friendlies against Everton, Qatar SC and Elche. He was in with the group as expected on Wednesday for training and an internal media day, whilst Thursday is a routine day off for the players before they travel to Holland.

Rovers have been insistent that Brittain will not leave unless their valuation is met. Whilst Boro's interest had cooled, they have now stepped up talks this week with an agreement growing closer, as reported first by journalist Pete O'Rourke.

Brittain's departure would be a major blow to Rovers, just more than a week out from the season opener at West Brom. Though they have immediate cover in the form of Ryan Alebiosu and Kristi Montgomery, fans would expect to see a more experienced and proven right-back at the level to replace Brittain.

The Lancashire Telegraph understands that Rovers have compiled a list of potential replacements for those players who could leave this summer. That is standard at any club and it's important that Blackburn have contingency plans throughout the squad.

Cody Drameh was a player that Rovers enquired about earlier in the transfer window but he is not thought to be an active target. The club did not progress with talks after that first contact and aren't expected to.

In terms of arrivals, The LT understands Rovers haven't made an offer to sign Saudi Arabian winger Marwan Al-Sahafi. The 21-year-old's name has been constantly mentioned in reports linking him with a move to Ewood Park. Al-Sahafi was a player Blackburn Rovers discussed in May, but nothing advanced, as reported at the time.

The forward was then spotted in Manchester last month, further fuelling the expectation he could be a Rovers player. However, that had nothing to do with a potential move to Blackburn and it's unknown why he was in the UK.

Rovers have not held any discussions or progressed with a deal for Al-Sahafi since initial enquiries were made in May.

Similarly, the club are not pursuing a deal for young Manchester City centre-back, Max Alleyne. Rovers' had reportedly made an enquiry this week but he is not thought to be someone on their radar. Watford are reportedly the frontrunners for his signature.

As reported, right-wing and attacking midfield are priorities. The club have not ruled out additions in the loan market but would prefer to sign players permanently in a bid to develop assets. There is no further development on a deal to sign Moussa Baradji from Yverdon Sport FC

Rovers are looking at potential centre-back options after Hayden Carter's injury. Scott Wharton also has to be managed and so Valerien Ismael has admitted that another defender could arrive.

I was about to post this. To summarise, Brittain on the way out, Drameh not likely to be in our budget, and basically nobody we have been linked with lately looks like coming. Another CB only seen as a 'maybe', whereas personally I consider it a must, as we were already looking for one before we did the Batth out McCloughlin in move, and before Carter's fresh injury. Doesn't make for joyous reading.

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Impairment is a method companies can use to reduce the value of an asset where they deem (through ‘circumstances’) the figure in the accounts to now be inaccurate.

An example in football would be a player experiencing a serious injury from which they  didn’t/or weren’t expected to return to their former level of performance.

 

 

What does that achieve? Does it not make the balance sheet look weaker to banks for loans, with less assets relative to debts? Or is it designed to create a 'loss' and reduce tax bills?

5 minutes ago, KentExile said:

Even if le was bought and then loaned out  to League 2 for 6/12 months, to bridge the jump in divisions it would make sense

Exactly what I had been thinking, or loan out Leonard meanwhile and perhaps swap the loanee roles in Jan if Tabor didn't work out and Leonard's loan did. At the low investment it would have been worth a punt methinks. Surprised with our budget we weren't sniffing. Ah well. Be interesting to see if his career kicks on from here.

Just noticed that Swindon have signed non-league goalscoring phenomenon Jake Tabor, and feel a bit like an opportunity may have been missed (by a lot of teams tbf). Yes he's been playing in the 9th tier I believe, but if he manages even half as many goals (127 goals in his last 91 games) he's probably costing upwards of a million by the end of the season, as he's just turning 22. Swindon have probably paid buttons. He apparently also broke the record on Holloway's fitness test he's been using all his managerial career, whilst on trial, having been using non league facilities til now. Could be the next Jamie Vardy type. In fact from what I can tell it's considerably more goals than Vardy was scoring at the same age just one or two tiers higher.

With a nominal fee, surely would have been a better bet than targeting no striker at all. Even if it didn't work out by January a decent loan wouldn't have been too hard to secure.

9 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Sutton was an important factor. He was the missing piece. He and Shearer scored 50 goals between them in 94-95. Prior to him any of Shearer's strike partners together barely mustered double figures in league goals. 

In 93-94 if Shearer had a more prolific strike partner Rovers would have won the league then too.

 

If Manure weren't bribing the refs we would have won the league in 93-94 too.

52 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

 

Bullshit I assume - but how can Boro / Sunderland consistently get tens of millions for their talent and we can't?

B

I do assume it's bullshit, as it doesn't add up with previous reports. Allegedly Arsenal had already had a 1 mill bid turned down, quite widely reported. Why would they then turn their attention to a kid costing 200k, presumably not outbid Liverpool's 200k for him despite having been willing to spend a mill on a youngster with that sort of profile, and then turn their attention back to the kid who will cost upwards of 1 mill?

5 hours ago, Lucimo said:

Also Max Alleyne from Man City linked. 20yr old Centre back on loan

This comment seems to have gone unnoticed. Where is the link from?

27 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

Good luck to the lad but the Dolan scenario was a once in a generation type thing so any chance of a repeat is slim to non.

I don't think the Dolan (who was 18 not 17) scenario is the intention with signing such young players. The intent is to see if they can develop (and sometimes just to fill spaces at youth level or let someone else go on loan).

16 hours ago, M_B said:

He played 16 games for Plymouth, same as Rovers , how many minutes that equates to I've no idea.

He definitely seemed to get better as the season went on, I put that down partly to fitness , I've no evidence, just how it appeared.

If you've evidence to the contrary, let's hear it. 

Jesus christ, Forshaw played in 16 games for us last season? No wonder we didn't get over the line.