That money can't have ran out already.

An extension option is very rarely up to the player. They're usually purely for the club to decide whether to activate, and have been here in every single case I'm aware of.

Damien Duff wasn't a Rovers fan. He just enjoyed his time here. And had played, and shone, in a World Cup. He won Ireland's player of the tournament award, and for me was one of the very best left wingers in the world at that time.

It wasn't cleverly worded, it was just a lie. An impediment isn't something that categorically prevents something, it is a hindrance, an obstacle, an encumberance. To say there are no impediments was always a lie. To have to allocate twice as much money is definitely an obstacle. It can be crossed, but absolutely it impairs the ease with which money can be sent.

That's not a vindication of a player. Jason Lowe was picked by several consecutive managers, and he was dogshit. Then when he left he fairly promptly sank down to League Two. Not before getting his third relegation by age 27. Sometimes managers are wrong.

Scotland or League Two. Probably the former.

Hard to say. It could also mean they plan to get another player in that area. I don't expect much this summer though, we are obviously brassic. That said the directors have made a rod for their own back by saying the budget is similar to last summer, and by also saying incoming transfer funds don't affect the budget, made it clear what we spent last summer wasn't boosted by the Raya, Gally money etc. So in theory we should be able to spend about 3 million in fees I think it was? Which aye is still shit, but enough to recruit a few positions at a better standard than Markanday.

Ffs... hope he finds himself another club promptly.

About 200-300k, or less than that with a sell on for if he comes good. Still worth triggering though. Not that it matters as nothing adds to the budget anyway, but I'm surprised we didn't activate it. I also don't think he's anywhere near as bad as some suggest. No worse than Hedges.

Interesting to see that we are still collecting keepers like they're pokemon cards but have released shit tons of players elsewhere. I'm confused by this 'strategy'. However it certainly makes sense to say bye to Vale, Eastham, Whitehall (sadly, too many injury concerns), Gilsenan (same as Whitehall), Forshaw (thank fuck), and most of the ones released. Surprised to see Markanday released though, didn't we have a 1 year option? Surely we could have got a small fee for him, or at least a sell on. We paid money for him, a fair bit, you'd think we want some return for that. I can only think his wages are too high for the level of club we think would be interested.

In fact, Khan has had a 1 year option activated and Goddard has been offered a new deal.

You say 'lighten up' as if we're absolutely furious. It's just an opinion. In fact it's an opinion I was more vociferous about when I was the age in question. I called my mates out on it plenty of times when they came back from hols sporting a Barca shirt or something.

I'd rather keep Goddard or even Kahn. Young enough to be useable as u21 regulars or emergency bench cover that doesn't use a squad space.

We've got about 5 of them. We don't need him. He's 22 and pretty low down the backup keeper rankings. It's an odd contract to give.

Aye but even with that mantra it doesn't make sense. We have more young keepers than we need, by some distance.

I saw yesterday that Jake Barrett has signed a new two year deal with a one year extension option, and my immediate thought was: why? 22 year old keeper (we have a lot of youth keepers) who seemingly hasn't pulled up any trees. Has he even sat our bench? Because younger keepers have. I don't get it. Whatever his wage is, just add it onto an offer for a senior player instead.

I can easily accept him idolising Wharton too. But he has a Rovers shirt with him on, and an England shirt with him on. I don't get what he wants a Palace one for. I can sort of see why people might collect signed memorabilia in glass displays too, maybe I was slightly harsh on that count. But I can't imagine why you'd go to another club's website and give them money to plonk a player's name on it, and then, presumably, wear it. It's always been bizarre to me to see Rovers fans in another team's shirt. And yes idolising players is part of football, but not idolising the teams they play for too, which is what the vast majority of a shirt is about. The main thing about being a football fan, if you're not a neutral, is loyalty to your club. The main reason for buying what are now obscenely overpriced shirts is that loyalty.

Sorry I'm gonna have to diverge a bit here and say I do think him having a Palace shirt is a bit cringe. I've never understood why any Rovers fan would own another club's shirt. Rovers shirts, England shirts, maybe a Darwen shirt if you're a local and like to check out a bit of lower league football. Anything else, absolutely not. You could give me a signed Zidane Real Madrid shirt, or a signed match worn Wharton Palace shirt and the only thing I'd be interested in doing with it would be selling it. I wish him well but another club's paraphernalia is a hard pass from me.

Thanks for answering the query. That sounds like 90% the fault of the ref and our own team, and no need for us to wish Palace every misfortune over 30 years later, as I suspected. Especially since we had the last laugh by getting promoted a few years later and winning the league. Thanks again.

Actually some more...the O'Brien debacle. The Maguire debacle. The Brierley debacle. The every January transfer window debacle, even when poised for promotion. I can't imagine them not being well ahead in anybody's list no matter how they feel about this.

That's the strangest thing that's been said in here yet. There are absolutely loads. The dwindling fanbase. The fact we can protest extensively but know that nothing will likely be done. The fact managers don't get sacked here due to fan pressure like they would everywhere else. The embarrassingly long stay in this league. The total lack of ambition from the club. The lack of communication from our own owners. The fans at each others throats, with one half infected with some kind of weird Stockholm syndrome about our blatantly poisonous owners. The inability to get anybody to renew their contract for more than a snickers as a pay rise. The decaying state of Ewood. The charlatans we've let have a big say in running us. The fact Waggott is still here. Just off the top of my head. The fact some fans are still following the exploits of a local lad and fan who we built is really neither here nor there.

You're allowed to view them, obviously. I'm just pointing out it's weird and pointless to do so if you're not interested, just to come and bitch about people who are.

I meant we can know that Unleaded was only speculating. Given that's what we were talking about, I thought you were responding that we can't know he was speculating, which we can. If you meant we can't know which rumour is correct, if either, then I agree.

Why do you keep checking into it then? I think it's cringe how many people are commenting on a topic they claim to not care about, telling others they shouldn't care either. Seems to happen a lot on here though, the data thread was clogged with similarly strange input. If you don't care about it, don't come here and read about it, it's not hard.

We can know this, with an extremely high degree of certainty, because we all understand the English language, and the difference between saying something is 'maybe' the case, versus stating that it is the case.