I find today's comments about 'having' to train on Ewood mystifying. I'm not an expert and it may not be this simple but... 1) Haven't we had time to source some other pitch temporarily from some other local club? 2) What you said 3) Apparently the frost sheets don't work at 'these kinds of temperatures'. I don't know the exact temps Blackburn has been at lately, no longer living there, but I'm guessing it's not really got any worse than -3, -4? Water doesn't freeze until 0 so...exactly what temperature DO these frost sheets work in? Did they buy them from poundland? It's been cold but it's hardly Siberia. During the day today Blackburn was above 0 according to the weather service.

For the duration of his contract, of course we can hold him here against his will. It's just a matter of being committed to that and willing to take the potential loss of money. Will and willpower. But we don't have those and we need money. But it can happen, look what nearly happened with King.

A sell on that high almost makes selling him at any point pointless (unless under duress or if in dire need of funds to avoid FFP of course). It means you can't possibly get what the player is worth to you, but only ever a little over half. If the sell on really is that high we should have offered more of the money up front to bring it down, or bigger performance/promotion bonuses. A sell on that high can even end up bad for the initial selling club, as the new club will be reluctant to sell at all and the player might spend his career there or run his contract down. 20 percent of something is better than 40 percent of nothing.

Agree, except that we are going to be in a position where we also have to focus on the playing staff with any investment too. Too many contracts expiring and loans ending for it to be any other way. Funds will be limited though, with the covid economic effect and FFP on the horizon. It's hard to see how we make it all happen, so either we keep the manager or sell Armstrong. And sadly, it could be both.

I don't know that I'd say he signed it 'without a murmur'. It was an ongoing saga for a year! I mean he didn't willy wave about joining another club in public but I wouldn't have expected him to anyway, but especially since he was injured. Agree there's always the prospect of him never being back to his best though, for any player with that injury.

20 million is different gravy to 8 million. As I said though I'd still be trying to get that up through other incentives, and explain that a Prem club that really values and wants to use him and not just bench him will pay upwards of that. A small portion of the sale fee may also persuade him that the club earning more for him is to his benefit. But yes if we really had to take 20 million on the contract then sure. Better than losing him on a free a year later or having our arm twisted at 10 or so this summer due to our position. My point is just that there are very likely ways to get that figure up and I would explore them.

I understand that. I'm just saying personally it would be a sticking point unless I thought it was above what we could ever potentially get for him. There isn't any possibility I'd allow an 8 mill one for Arma though. The point of a new contract is to give us security and that gives us none. Personally, not that it's up to me, but I'd rather give someone a higher wage, higher bonuses, a big payment upon promotion, even a small slice of a future fee if necessary to push that release clause up if that's what it took for an asset like Arma.

Very sorry, I was in a hurry and misread. I thought you said sell on clause. No, no mention of a release clause from anywhere official and like I said earlier I doubt there is one.

That's how it works in Spain, but not here. I expect most of our players don't have one. It seems to be generally only players that have a lot of bargaining power when they sign a contract, as well as potential interest from above, that get them. I imagine Dack has one, and probably nobody else in our current squad.

Edit - misread the post.

I think its abundantly clear we don't have a release clause of 8 million quid for Arma. Waggot wouldn't have been going on about 30 million otherwise. I suspect there is no release clause at all, and I'd be beyond reluctant to put one in any future contract either unless it was silly figures.

Won't be able to afford him. As for Arma, if we got a bid for 8 million, I would literally tell them to fuck off.

I'd suggest finding something more serious to get serious about. Might I recommend from the menu, today's latest failure to trouble the top 6? Perhaps sir might like it with a glass of malbec.

So in your opinion, the top 6 now in Feb will be the exact same top 6 at the end of the season? Because that almost never happens. The only team closer to top 6 than us is Boro. They're a whole 1 point ahead of us and have played a game more. In 3 games time, it's perfectly possible to find ourselves in the top 6. It won't happen of course. But the points gap isn't what's insurmountable - it's the mental and tactical gap we can't overcome. Only one man bears overall responsibility for that.

It's become a habit for me recently. Even in our run of good results we have been turgid. It's hard to stay focused on it at times when you're watching from home and they play like that. Too many better things to do sadly.

As I said, not when I was watching, which wasn't constantly. Except for the first 20 when all our players were doing that. Must have missed the other occasions you're talking about. I'm not a fan of his btw.

Harsh. With how long he has been out, he is pretty much at pre-season levels.

Interesting. I've not been watching constantly (it's been hard to) but when I have he hasn't done anything wrong really.

I've suggested this was going to be where he got a look in and nobody seemed to be having it. TM just isn't as big a fan of Nyambe as the rest of us, can't fathom why.

He rarely gets credit for it when it happens due to the general perception of him, but Gallagher has actually had a fairly decent game.

The usual bullshit kickoff. Pass it back to a CB who lumps it nowhere and the opposition take possession. Why do we do that every time? Thoroughly confusing for a 'possession' side.

Seems to be working now, I'm in. Think you might have to wait ages for it to load instead of refreshing, the payment screen itself was fine. I was seconds away from looking for a dodgy stream, it was pissing me off.

At every level what the officials decide is the 'end of the story'. But we all know officials can frequently get it wrong in the moment. Obviously the goal counts regardless.

I saw that player. Definitely didn't look like he was playing him on to me. As I say, could be the angle, but looks well off.

Concerned? You sound jealous there.