Davenport only needed to go for either corner and instead went down the middle (probably unintentionally). Think it was a bit of a bottle job, having been out for so long, waiting for his chance, then having the opportunity to beat possibly the best side in the league with one touch... Gally actually played well, one of his best showings. He and Rothwell looked motivated and tidy, stark contrast to how they've been lately.

That was actually a good setup from Gally too. Jesus, how we haven't taken an undeserved lead. Rothwell playing like the player we have always wanted him to be today. His footwork was exceptional to set Holtby up there and he created the attack with a barnstorming run. Where has this version of Rothwell been?

Rothwell looking sharp, and like he gets it. Think he really needed that goal.

None of the front three are playing well. Odd when they all notched Tuesday. If Gallagher or Brereton missed those two chances DG had (albeit one offside) we would pillory them. Not that I'm implying they're any good.

Some Premier League players.

My stream went wobbly for whatever happened between him missing the moment to send a diagonal ball over and free Arma for a clear run, and his weak effort, but my thought at the time was he should have sent Arma through. I even said, play Arma in or nothing happens here.

?? Hopefully a career in football management does not beckon for Dacky.

I'd say we should have a goal too, between that DG miss and the cross slid invitingly across early on. So, 3-1, still worse than we are doing. That's some attacking lineup WBA have though, Grosicki, Perreira (sp?), Charlie Austin...

How did Graham miss that? Thank god they keep kicking it straight at Walton.

I was gonna ask if anyone else saw that. The actor is a Rovers fan if you didn't know btw Where was the marking?

Yeh had lots of the screen freezing briefly. Refreshed the screen and been ok so far since.

No changes? Am I still asleep, is this a dream?

And Samba. And Hanley, Duffy. I think even O'Connell was rumoured to be about 500k and he had only played one League Cup game. Very odd that we never really put anything back in when we've recouped so much from defenders and also shown they can be profitable.

Would take too much of our likely budget. We need an entire defence first.

But how nice is he?

Uh oh...

Do you really think he won't start Bennett?

And certainly no strong personalities as gaffer, like Souness or Hughes.

Can you imagine selling our best player for the same as we paid for Brereton? The profit on him being even less than that fee? And then giving a chunk of it to Newcastle as I'm sure they have a sell on? No fucking thanks. Would be spitting feathers.

However, they all had Premier League experience. Hanley and Duffy only signed for Championship sides, who got promoted. Nyambe's CV makes him more of a risk for them, especially whilst his final product still lacks.

Middlesbrough-born too...TM will like.

I don't think the fact he still doesn't know his budget bodes well for that budget being half-decent. I know Venkys always do this lethargic budget reveal crap every year, but don't we usually know it by roughly this point? Surely it has been impressed upon them how much work we have to do in a very short space of time this year, and it hasn't helped. Just a feeling that, combined with corona hitting their core businesses, they'll not give us much of a pot this summer. I'm not saying I think we're going to have to sell to survive, but sell to recruit in all the areas we need, and throw out pointless extensions to dross like TM will insist. A 1-year FFP delay would mean it will be two more full seasons before the penalties kick in, but it's not a 'free' year as such. It will still be welcome if it comes, and if Venkys are feeling generous enough they'd probably match last season's budget then, yeh. I'm not saying it's justifiable, I'll actually be furious if we sell any of Armstrong, Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis or Dack for anything below what I think they're worth to us, corona or no, and without an adequate replacement. I just think it's likely to happen that one of the crown jewels goes this season, and I was asking Chaddy which one he'd pick, especially given he seems to feel certain it'll happen. I don't personally feel the sale of any of them is likely, in the real world, to benefit us on the pitch overall. Yeh we always hear the Venkys want to invest thing but apart from three marquee signings (Rhodes, Gallagher and Brereton) it seldom materialises. Have we ever paid more than 1.5 million (Arma, though that could rise to near 3) for anyone else since we came down? I can't remember. I've always seen Venkys as in a face-saving exercise with the vague hope we might get up to the PL and hit the jackpot for them, keeping the club afloat as they know how they've wronged us, and with only vague actual interest. I've never seen them as 'desperate and determined to invest in the club and get it promoted' no matter what their sycophants tell us.

Speculation at this stage until we hear something official from the EFL. Most of the speculation I have heard seems to suggest it will be a postponement of FFP, not a 'write off your losses this year everyone, it's fine'. Ie, the losses we make will still be counted, but probably a season later. As I say though, we'll have to see, all speculation. Either way, it seems pretty likely the club is going to decide it needs to sell players, whether it's FFP, or Venkys reluctance to fund us with meh results and their own business being increasingly uncertain. And yes, I know that's also speculation, but I'm sure we all have the sense that there won't be any money unless we sell.

I agree he won't attract a Prem club yet, I wasn't suggesting otherwise, I was just saying if it did happen (you never know in football). As soon as he starts being able to put in crosses even reasonably though, you're probably talking eight figures because Prem clubs probably would be interested then. Personally I think he'd be fine in our team if we went up though...assuming we got a real winger so we stopped relying on our fullback to put crosses in, and maybe got strikers who actually know how to get on the end of crosses anyway. I'd expect us to sign competition there obviously, and that may or may not be someone better in the end, but I don't think he'd be getting embarassed defensively by relegation-battle Prem standards. Not that we are going up of course either.

Well no, I offer him a new contract obviously. Partly with money I didn't spunk on giving pointless extensions to players who never feature, and the pointless signings of Gallagher and Brereton. In fact I'd have had him on the 4-year contract (3 years, extra year in our favour) I'd have signed him on last season so that no wage bump was needed now. But in absence of all this, yes I'd try to get his contract extended first and take it from there if we couldn't. Tbh the club are big on 'and another year in the club's favour' so I won't be surprised if we have that clause in Nyambe's contract already. Nobody knew Bell had one until well after it was activated. What sort of club do you think is paying 5 million for him in this climate, in this league? He's a full-back who doesn't score and doesn't consistently assist, and everybody is feeling the covid pinch. Elliott Bennett has sat in front of him for stretches of the last two seasons. We got 3 million for our talented keeper who played every game for 2 seasons. So again, who in the Championship is going to want to pay 5 million for him right now, even though I personally think he'll go on to be worth a lot more? If you can name me a club with the money, the need at RB, and who would consider him the right option for them, I'll be surprised. Prem teams being relegated will likely be happy with what they've got there, or just go and buy the 3 top-rated RBs in the league. Yeh I hope we get a King windfall, that would be a big help right now.