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.

Very familiar with it thanks. Didn't come across. Seemed more like he was implying they were in the bargain basement because they're shite. But tbf I had just woken up.

Have you seen what they cost? Bargains are good value, they're quite the opposite...

Christ, only just seen this. 'As we go through a turbulent time'...fucking hell Steve, we've been going through a turbulent time for 10 years now!!

So, I was just looking at RB Leipzig's 'history'. They are only 11 years old, after Red Bull bought some village team near Leipzig called SSV Markranstädt and renamed them RB Leipzig. They started off in the 5th tier of German football, with a plan to invest 100 million Euros over the next 10 years (I don't know how much they actually ended up spending). 11 years later, they've just reached the quarter finals of the Champions League. By 2016, after 7 years, they were in the top tier of the Bundesliga. They have a stadium of more than 10k capacity above ours, which they've been pretty much filling since 2016. Yes, Leipzig is much bigger (600k pop, 1.1 mill in the 'urban area', no rival local club of note) but this club didn't exist until recently so it didn't have generations of loyal support to inherit. I say all of that to contrast with ourselves - 10 years of Venkys rule have taken us from a mid-table top-flight club with loads of history and generations of supporters, to quickly being a second tier mid-table side, briefly being a tier 3 outfit. With some 200 million pounds or so squandered, and attendances dropping to 14k. Can you get more opposite in your trajectories than that? Double the spend (if the Leipzig figure is right) and whereas they got 4 promotions and Champions league quarter finalists with great crowds, we dropped a league, briefly two, and nearly halved our attendances. Just goes to show what good, responsible ownership with a vision can achieve. Even if I don't like how corporate the whole 'Red Bull owning numerous football clubs' thing is.

Was just reading Smallwood's comments thanking the fans for singing his name and it occurs to me we don't have enough songs for individual players. Arma has been our best player for months and as far as I'm aware no song mentions his name? Think we could do with one. To modify one everyone already knows the tune to (easier to catch on): Adam Armstrong's magic, he wears a magic hat, And when he's 40 yards out, he says I'm having that! Any other ideas?

Hated City ever since. Before it was popular lol. Not for the result (which was one of the biggest miscarriages of a result I've ever experienced) but the pitch invasion of our hallowed turf over a poxy second tier title and the way they'd infiltrated the home stands in their thousands too. Plus they and their other Manc cousins have always been amongst the worst behaved visitors in general.

At Ewood? 4-1 I seem to recall. And we battered them all game but somehow got drubbed. Then they all invaded our pitch like they'd won the World Cup (I would say like they'd won the Prem, but we didn't invade the pitch when we won the Prem...but here they were wanking off about winning the second tier).

Dunno who it was, and I'm paraphrasing, but a commentator once said along the lines of, "For those of you watching in black and white, Spurs are the ones playing in yellow."

Lol maybe you misquoted him and he said 'not a great goalscorer but a scorer of great goals'? In which case I'd take your point, though it's still a fair observation on what the player is like, as long as he isn't saying that makes up for it. Not much use scoring great goals if you hardly ever notch (as a striker). I don't remember Michu and Benjani scoring lots, they were a bit shit (maybe Benjani had like one season where he scored quite a few I think? At Pompey?).

So you didn't find it more exciting when Arma smashed that 40 yarder than if he had just accidentally scored at the same time off the back of his head from a couple of yards? What Shearer said there is fair enough. Great goals are a bit more exciting and require more ability. He isnt saying they matter more though, just observing that certain players have a penchant for the spectacular. It's only if you say great goals actually count more that you're being an idiot. Context of a goal will always matter more than the style of it of course, but classy goals add a little extra oomph to the excitement (in the same context). They do for me anyway.

It's a dumb thing to say though. Of course it's what they're supposed to do. And some of them are good at it, some aren't really. In a relative sense. In a literal sense (ie compared to you or I) they're all good at it. Also, don't quote Keane. It will soil your soul

Can we please stop arguing over who is the most/real ITK? Got to be honest, it's a little sad.