Money from the Platt transfer? Barrow just came up from non-league in the midst of the covid crisis. If they paid 50k for him, they've done well. That money doesn't need to have 'gone' anywhere, it just isn't going to buy much of anything. Be lucky if it pays for an agent fee.

If Wharton is on 5k a week, the club is being even more criminally mismanaged than I thought. I'd be surprised and a little concerned if he is on half of that. I don't see us fetching 750k for him yet either, regardless of what his CH partner just went for.

Just glad we won't be wasting money on him and that people can shut up about it.

Dunno about that, I make about 2 good posts a year.

Because technically all of these can be fixed by then... ...not looking too bloody likely though.

Surprised I'm only the second to mention this I think, but the title win at Anfield. Not because of the game itself of course but the rollercoaster of emotions and the aftermath (I'm assuming here I get to stay a while after the match!). I was only 10 at the time and couldn't attend, which I was pissed at my parents for (they went, box tickets I think, or limited to two for some reason anyway). Would love to have experienced it. After that, the Worthy final, or the 5-0 Burnley drubbing, both of which I did get to see. Wouldn't mind going back in time to see the legendary Douglas though, see what all the fuss was about

Christ, I was just reading that article about what next for our sponsorship options and a series of thoughts occurred to me. The pre-season match schedule starts on Saturday and we have... No sponsor No shirt No season tickets No signings No senior goalkeeper No budget yet (it appears) It makes you want to add 'no hope' at the end, but it's early for that call. Has to be said though that even by the standards of the last few seasons, and even with the shadow of covid over us, this is particularly precarious. It's been a long time since we had this sort of shambles when the pre-season was getting underway, even under Venkys. Things need to start happening.

We probably will if we don't find a new sponsor. I prefer to hope for the club to find one and get the money it needs.

Correct, I don't report people by and large. As I'm a bit more laissez-faire about it all. My point is that if you're going to crack down on things, my personal opinion is that would be a much better thing to crack down on. You all read this thread. You wouldn't have just deleted a bunch of posts from it otherwise. I'm not sure what needed reporting therefore, as the problem is fairly glaring and frequently complained about on this thread. I've volunteered to be a moderator here before myself, twice I think, as I have experience being the main administrator of a larger board than this, where the demographic was hiphop fans who frequently lay into each other. I'm aware of what a thankless task it is.

User (not that kind) feedback for you. I'd rather the same old circular arguments largely between the same small cast of characters, which have caused this thread to balloon to nearly 200 repetitive pages already, were the posts being moderated out or discouraged. Not the occasional short string of one-line wisecracks, which take a second to read and are meant to alleviate the tedium. But it's not my board. I just come here every day.

Yeh, with worse shooting quality, it wouldn't be right for him to take more pops from distance than he does (except when he hits those hot streaks, which I hope he can do more often). So it's a good thing he isn't doing it more, for now. He may even be under instruction to limit it a bit. Rothwell's sample size is smaller though and therefore more likely to vary with more games.

Anyway not transfers (not that most of this thread is) but the friendlies have been announced. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18651676.everton-visit-ewood-rovers-announce-four-friendlies/ Fleetwood Away August 22nd Blackpool Away August 25th Bolton Away August 29th Everton Home September 1st.

Oh the irony.

This would be extremely frustrating, more than usual because of the climate. Now is the time when the modest spend we like would really give us an edge and allow us to fix all the problems for less than usual due to the weakness of selling clubs and the reduced bargaining position of players. Meanwhile, for those exact same reasons, it's a terrible time to try to sell assets as nobody will throw big money around. It's an incredibly inefficient time to become a selling club again instead of a buying one. If Venkys other businesses are under pressure though it's not that surprising.

Problem is this only shows shots on target, not shots taken. Without overall shots for context, this could just mean Armstrong is far better at taking shots.

Imagine, someone going off topic in this transfer thread.

I'm a very fast typer.

I'm also a little amazed at the general flow of the comments here. Although, almost BECAUSE I expect people to have short memories and usually go off the very most recent performances. After lockdown, he was mostly bobbins, but then in the last 2 or 3 games it all started to click like in his hot patch at the tail end of last season. THAT Rothwell could be an absolute menace for us. The one we get most of the time isn't worth any more than the odd cameo to shake things up with his ability to carry the ball. It could really transform us if he hit hot streaks more often. Another player who used to only have hot patches, though probably more of them or more sustained than JR, is Arma. Once he clicked consistently from January, he became easily our best weapon. That's why I'm happy to persevere with using him for another season, although he is a few years older than Arma. If we haven't seen a marked improvement to consistency by the end of the season it will likely be time to bid farewell, although on a cheap wage he might still be worth his cameos potentially. One worry I have with Rothwell's best patches is they both seem to have come in the 'dead rubber' phase of our seasons. This suggests one of two things. Either the opposition were slacking off a little bit and this gave him the edge and space he needed to shine. Or, and this is the one I suspect was mostly at play, pressure does something to him most of the time. It seems an odd thing to say with him, because he doesn't look like he lacks confidence. He is always willing to run at defences, always. But it could be hampering his decision-making as he feels the need to impress, or takes longer to think as he tries to figure the best option, doesn't strike the ball as cleanly as he isn't letting his muscle memory lead enough, etc. Those last games of the last two seasons, he has played like the shackles were off. And he's actually capable of some sublime touches and so on when that happens. He's a bit of an engima. One who has yet to strike the right balance consistently between under-thinking and over-thinking things, I reckon. Like bigdog said, he hasn't been helped by the manager at times in terms of playing him for a long streak when he clearly wasn't in form, and not playing him for a long streak when he clearly was in form. I'm not sure the tactics and comments from the manager suit him either, as others have said, but ultimately it's still on Joe to come out and deliver the goods.

I know it's just data but Jesus, it's becoming increasingly obvious that Phillips is a no-brainer at the 800k - 1 mill fee being mentioned. Even in this climate. Just. Fucking. Sign him. Didn't we just free up about probably 30-40k per week, so 1.5 mill to 2 mill in wages for this upcoming year? That's before Downing potentially doesn't re-sign, which would be about another million. And it isn't counting whatever we were paying Brighton and City for the loanees.

I'm not into centre halves, but if they're from the ladies team and they're ball-playing... I mean it's an oft-neglected area.

Hoping they were going to take a lot less because TM is still stuck in 00s values? Overall the last two links I've posted are not making things look good from a budgetary standpoint.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18645399.rovers-january-target-interesting-clubs-across-europe/ This article mentions that our January budget was only 1 million, even though the LT rarely (never?) put figures on our budget. I feel like every window since we came up, Mowbray has suggested there was money left over in the kitty but we just couldn't find players at what we wanted to pay. No wonder with that kind of budget, but I feel a bit misled by those claims now. Sure, the 1 mill may have been money left over from the summer but the comments definitely made me think we were talking more than that. 1 million barely seems worth mentioning in this day and age.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/blackburn-rovers-goalkeeper-iversen-transfers-18752422.amp This article mentions that talks for Phillips have fizzled out, with Charlton demanding a fee of 800k plus. 800k? Just fucking pay them and have done with it if that's true. The lad is 25 and just had the second best shot-stopping ratio in the league. If we think he is good enough, we are talking less than 100k a year for him for the rest of his career to have the position potentially sewn up. And quite possibly a profit of course. I think we'd all be happy to get him at that price, especially if we were still looking for further competition there.

Smallwood signed for Hull.

You sound bitter.