Yep, whoever is Mr January is always the one they think is most likely to be off in January. It was Rothwell last year.

Why is Sol Bamba getting involved? What connection am I missing here? Is it just because he played for Hibs over a decade ago??

I would guess the LFA do if they keep the gate receipts. So probably not entirely in our hands, though it wouldn't surprise me if it was a Swag move.

A sell on clause has been confirmed before, LT have mentioned it in articles. I think it was somewhere in the region of 20%. I dunno if that's on the profit or outright.

They're not though. It certainly gives them a strong competitive advantage, but numerous teams have come down with parachute money and are still here. We did it, and if you look through the league it's full of sides who have been in the Prem since then. Huddersfield, Stoke, Sheff United, Boro, West Brom, QPR, Swansea, Cardiff, Hull.... Looking at last season's promoted sides, Forest went up but they had been back down for a while, Bournemouth took two seasons to return. Fulham were the only side promoted who had just been relegated. West Brom who had just been relegated finished 2 places below us, lowly Luton beat them to the playoffs, and the only reason we didn't beat them to the playoffs too was because of our pathetic second half of the season capitulation where even midtable form would have seen us finish top 6. It helps, a lot, but the lack of TV money isn't an absolute limit on promotion by any stretch.

Highly feasible, but do the club decide the pricing for it though or do the Lancashire FA?

Hah, I didn't realise the marriage analogy had been touched on already until I started reading this post (I assume we were both writing ours at about the same time too).

Hmm...I probably have mostly lost that loving feeling, but I haven't lost the love itself. Rovers have kinda become like a wife I've been married for as long as I can remember (I'm single, it's just an analogy). I still love her, nobody means more to me, but for the most part I've lost the excitement I used to have when she walked in the room. She doesn't put out much anymore, and when she does it's nice but I know we'll soon be returning to unfulfilling domestic boredom (with the occasional blazing row), so it doesn't feel as great as it once did. The dishes are rarely done and the place has become a mess. She's let herself go and we're both depressed. We never have any money either. We have plenty of kids, but they abandon us for the wider world when we can't pay the going rate for chores and never send money back home. We even paid a lot of money to adopt from Chile, but 5 years on they're flying the nest too. I'm sad about what we and the house have become, but I feel powerless to do anything about it and the truth is I've become distracted by my own life outside of it all. I'd never leave her, I can't imagine myself being with anyone else even if she died (well, I have the occasional dalliance with a woman called England, but she's always known about that and never minded..maybe because England disappoints me nearly as much). I'll always love her, and never love another unless England steps up her game (even then it wouldn't mean as much as '95 did), but that gut-churning, pulse-pounding spark is gone. Maybe not forever, maybe we need intervention, counselling or something, but for a while now it hasn't been what it used to be.

I get what you're saying from a fan perspective, but they will have running costs for putting the match on, I imagine?

When clubs lose a player for free who they have offered a decent contract to, they should at least get a sell-on from any future deals. Wouldn't affect the player's freedom of movement, which is the purpose of the rules. As it stands, I think we got him young enough to be entitled to a solidarity payment for any future transfers, but it would be minor (like 1% or something).

It's probably only fair to point out that you're looking at transfer fees only. When wages, agent fees and signing on fees are added in, especially over contract length, an £8 million influx wouldn't pay for those 3 seasons worth of budgets. Brereton was reported to be on not all that much (the famous flex), so his lost wages won't cover too much more.

So, if I have this right...he was recalled from a League Two team on 37 points so he could be sent out to a League Two team on 37 points. He's 24 so I think this one can be filed under 'deals that turned out to be just as pointless as they looked when we made them'.

Wait, you're not old? I bet you don't even drink Bailey's from a shoe, do you? My illusions are shattered.

Good, I hope they sign him so that we don't.

Wrong, I'm afraid we won't even be receiving any peanuts for Ben.

There's nothing wrong with being versatile, no. But there's a lot wrong with recruiting a player specifically for a position when he has barely played it. If Porteous comes in, the main aim in mind should be to play him at CB. If he can fill in at a pinch for another role and do a good job at it, sure, that's a plus, but nobody should ever be recruited with the primary intent of playing them in their secondary position.

Why is he available?

Honestly, after Rotherham I have finally given up on top 6. We might as well sell Brereton if we get a fairly reasonable offer (I'd say 8-10 mill) and start preparing for the future. Whether we like it or not, it's project time, so we might as well do it properly this time. That means selling assets, especially such rapidly depreciating ones, and reinvesting smartly.

Only if he is eager to move now. If he doesn't mind waiting til the end of the season, he would still be in his rights to reject us and sign his pre contract with Udinese for example, regardless of if we bid money now.

Prep for Ayala leaving is sensible (although if Wharton, Carter and Phillips kick on might not really be necessary), but if we are signing a CB from 'abroad' with 6 months on their deal, I'd rather pay no fee at all and sign him for the summer. Ayala is still here now and another CB would leave us crowded there. Unless we have an interested party in bidding for Ayala though. Even then, just sign him to a pre-contract and then once it's sealed you can still offer to expedite the deal to now, at which point they'd likely take an even smaller offer.

"You dirty bastard, you followed through Remy? I wish our strikers could! In that way."

Funnily enough, I think we could do with a bit more hoof.

In the interests of fairness and balance, it should be pointed out that he has branded the performance 'embarassing': https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23251111.embarrassing---tomassons-verdict-blackburn-rovers-defeat/ Also I think I should say, there was another time they showed him in the dugout, when it was at least 2-0, where he didn't look happy at all. We have no idea what he was laughing at, but the media love to show little selected snippets to make controversy. Again though, I do agree it's a bad look and he should be more conscious of it when the cameras are on. If you'd put the camera on me today I had a face of thunder throughout the second half just watching at home, but there have been times at games where we are losing, and I'm angry, but somebody says something amusing and I chuckle for a moment.

Maybe the assistant (I can't spell his name yet) is funny as fuck with gallows humour? 😛 I agree though, it's not a good look.

Just the Bristol City game I believe.