Or the market doesn't settle down. The Championship is not the division it was 5 years ago, the fees and wages now being paid by some clubs wouldn't have been out of place in the PL not that long ago.

Remember they won WC 1998 with the much maligned Stephane Guivarc'h up front on his own...

"You have them in size 9?"

Injuries or not, the Original Ronaldo still had a fantastic career. In his pomp he was even better than Shearer, can't say more than that!

Kane's 25 in September, he's never played a league game for Chelsea and they've loaned him out to 7 clubs. That's their 'model' all over. Hoover up loads of talent, put them on long term contracts and loan them out for half their career.

I suppose it's about the aims of the organisation and 'what success looks like'. Rovers, just like Bolton will want to avoid League 1 again at all costs. The Championship is leaving it further behind each passing year. So I can certainly understand why they would offer bonuses. Doesn't strike of big ambition, but there you go.

In a decade they've gone from European campaigns to bonuses for staying out of the third division. We've trod a similar path...

Bloody hell, it's dryhorse's brother!

Bolton local rag reporting that their players are on strike over continual late wages, so their friendly tomorrow is off.

End of July.

Think it’s been a new one every year since about 2002.

Old kit for the first two friendlies... https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/july/club-statement-kit-release/ As an aside, remember the days when kits were kept for 2 seasons as standard?

The pubs were rammed from the morning onwards - it was hot too, so by 5pm...

In place for the 2026 World Cup. They know that it will be a well attended World Cup in North America and they'll be able to charge top dollar. So just imagine the brass they will rake in with twice the teams!

Qualifiers used to have a bit of peril in them, certainly not a given we'd get to the tournament. Think of Terry Butcher covered in blood, the draw in Rome that got us to France '98, Beckham versus Greece at Old Trafford etc. Now we are always top seeds and due to many more European countries post USSR and Yugoslavia, plus all the micro nations, we almost always get a group with a Slovakia/Slovenia, a Lithuania/Estonia, a San Marino/Andorra, so we functionally qualify with no excitement whatsoever.

Nailed it. And I'm happy with my choice!

As do some fans of Liverpool from the actual city ’Scouse not English’ ?

Listening to some of the Man Yoo/Liverpool 'fans' in the office, going absolutely potty about England - much more than I've ever heard them when it comes to 'their' club, just shows how unattached to these megaclubs they really are. Made me feel quite smug that I really support a proper/local football club with its accompanying highs and lows, that feeling of being really part of something, they only get a taste of our lives for a few weeks every other summer...

Aye, file with ‘calf/thigh/groin strain’.

Well of course, but then in reality it is a loan with benefits...

Spotted 47ers link in the Transfer Links Only Thread: http://sportslens.com/incredible-great-signing-fans-astonished-as-blackburn-sign-manchester-city-midfielder-davenport/237426/ Excuse my ignorance, but even though we have him under contract, they are still allowed to take him back, presumably at a knock down price? Is this a popular type of deal?

In many ways he is. Great for his club, average for England.

No and it is one of the daftest rules in football. Doesn't stop folk from drinking, they just stay in the concourse. Nip to the toilet on say, the hour mark, and it is heaving down there...

It was only brought in last season. The only reason I can think it was introduced was to help flog 1875 memberships, as members are exempt.

I noticed that a load of football journos re-tweeted it. Obviously the Clyde Fud-Blocker is a bit of a running joke in the industry...