Well that was short lived! 11 minutes from rumour to him signing somewhere else, is that a record?

Offer them 250k more than they're asking for?

There's a cautionary tale here for Rothwell, if he's willing to heed it. Turned out Bournemouth weren't keen enough to get the deal done, they just wanted him because they thought he'd be cheap and unsettle a rival. The grass isn't always greener, Joe. Now pull your socks up, get us promoted and boost your career prospects beyond some tinpot club.

The feeling I get is that they were just fucking with us. They didn't have to spend a penny and they've unsettled one of our key players and probably the squad harmony.

That was yesterday though, Den said this morning.

I consider the exorbitant wages to be a bigger issue than the exorbitant fees. If fees stop happening players will just want even more, in wages and sign ons. Make no mistake, the agents will still get the same huge slice no matter how they make it happen. And whether it goes that way or not, clubs will remain in huge debt as they and supporters both armchair and stadium-bound are milked dry to fund these extravagant lives whilst we worry if our beloved clubs will go bust. The game off the pitch makes me feel a bit sick sometimes. One day the bubble has to burst and a reset happen.

LT article about fringe players going on loan eckons we are in talks with Burton about it. Which surprises me. Sounds like they're trying to get him cheaper than last time. I can see this going the way of when we loaned Fisher to MK Dons. They never played him once, his contract ran out as we didn't know if he was any good as he hadn't played, they signed him for bugger all (dunno if they paid a nominal fee, at the time I thought it was free but a sell on has been mentioned). Then they immediately played him from day one and he became their top keeper, selling up a league for a significant profit. I know Chapman has played a bit and I'm not saying Burton are doing it on purpose (I did think Dons were), I'm just saying he will turn out to be a very good free for that league if they get his head straight.

I fail to see how it would. Don't we tend to recoup a lot more in fees than we spend?

No, you've weakened my team by refusing to play. We will loan someone in and see how they do, or just tell the owners we'd like to gamble. The club will survive. Not sure your career prospects are gonna be good after 6 months of refusing to play and being unfit though. If we go up, we don't want you anymore. If Bournemouth go up, they probably won't want you either. Every club in England knows you're a selfish troublemaker. Probably should've just knuckled down til summer, given your all, earned bonuses, not lost friendships you made in the last 3 years, had a promotion on your CV, got a big promotion bonus, and moved somewhere for a huge signing on fee and even bigger wages, eh?

Who said you're going to play? The players hate you now, and you won't be attending any briefings other than your daily tactical one. Your contact with the team will be highly minimal, and you might want to start wearing a gum shield for when you do have any.

You will have to prove you're injured. Besides, if you're injured now you will fail your medical at Bournemouth so not sure what you're complaining about. Ok, in the room once a day, all day, you pop, with full salary but no bonuses, no phone or other entertainment, but I'm not strengthening a promotion rival. Tell the lads what you want, they know how much you've let them down and how letting you go could have jeopardised all of their careers. If Travis nuts you, I didn't see it. Speaking with Scott Parker daily won't be allowed, you're under contract here and we will file charges against Bournemouth for tapping up players.

Alright, we will get a scan done on those tomorrow and see if you have a tear. Otherwise you're coming in for training. And if it's a tear, you're coming in for training, we will do tactical work with you. By which I mean you'll sit in a room waiting for the coaches to be done with training in order for one to give you a 5 minute debrief at the end of the day. What you want to do after your contract is of no relevance to us whilst you're under contract btw.

Mowbray (or me, anyway): Ok then no problem, we will fine you every week you refuse to turn up to training. Hope you've got some savings. We'll see who wants you after 6 months of refusing to honour your contract and not playing or even training.

Excuse my probable naivety about NI, but how come when I'm paying it, it gets taken off my wage, but when wealthy footballers are contributing it, it's apparently on top of their wage?

Ok, that wasn't what I thought you were saying. You said something about the offers to the out-of-contracters not being on the table anymore, which sounded like we withdrew them.

Does that mean Sharpe won't be free to do his own usual deadline day updates on the LT, or is he multitasking?

I'm sure a significant portion of their thinking is that they will weaken a promotion rival though. They also seem to be trying to buy more than just Rothwell.

You have missed something. Mowbray has already said Hedges is not Rothwell's replacement.

I'm not interested in how good a stripper he is.

In fairness, players of Rothwell's style are rare beasts. I'd settle for someone of overall similar ability (or better/more consistent) and with an attacking mindset. Ideally with a bit of money left over to fill other trouble spots.

Fee agreed apparently but he hasn't officially moved yet. 2 days ago Birmingham were said to be making their third bid for him, 1.5 mill. Article same day said Birmingham's bid was higher than Bournemouth's, but the player wasn't interested. So although theyve presumably made a higher bid since, it sounds like they're not paying much given how highly he seems to be rather. Also may be a case of Bournemouth making lower bids than other clubs were willing to make, to get star players from teams who have a lot on the line.

Eh? Waggott said publicly the contract offers were no longer available? Not so sure about that, I'm sure we would have heard. It would also be stupid.

I disagree it has been well handled because of two things. Rothwell should have been forced to hand an official request in, to lose his bonus, and we should have told Bournemouth the price for them is a lot higher than the price for a team we aren't competing with.

If I were in charge at Rovers, the only thing that would do is get the deal cancelled if I couldn't get a replacement through. Course if I were in charge there's no way we would be selling a key player for 3 mill to a rival for promotion at this stage of the game. No way whatsoever.

Great post. Too many people soullessly seek money. That's understandable when you barely have any but a bit sad when you have plenty.