J*B

Who replaced Friedel, who was significantly better than him.

Maybe, but I disagree. My understanding from reading / listening to him is he sees this as at least a couple of seasons before he can get promoted. It wouldn’t surprise me based on his career at Malmo if he got us promoted, secured us into the Premier League then walked away and that was the end of his “project”.

Then why is he always talking about the ‘project’? What he’s saying in interviews directly contradicts this, so I struggle to see how you can come to this assumption unless you think he’s bullshitting the press about the ‘project’.

I’m a critic of Rovers, I like the Trust’s definition of a “critical friend”. I think we’ve got a lot of decisions really, really wrong over the past 10 years and often have struggled to get even the basics right. But we have to give them a chance. The new approach is a huge change and it won’t happen over 1 window or even 1 season. If we’re not going to give them a chance to change/improve things then the entire thing is a waste of time and we should have just let Mowbray plod along for another 3 years.

If we talk about managerial eras then you’re right, so far they haven’t. But they might be doing now under JDT. Mowbray mentioned it, as did Waggott and they’re right, FFP means that we can’t just buy our way out the league and our income - which could and should be increased by the CEO, but that’s a different story - means that we cannot just buy our way out the league. We need some sort of a plan. You would have Gregg has the autonomy and the power to insist mistakes like all of the above don’t happen. If he doesn’t, you’re right, we will just continue making the same mistakes over and over. It encourages me that GB and JDT are the first people truly hired by Suhail. Now they’re his decisions, we might let them actually run it. They are and we need some loans. But they shouldn’t be at the detriment of our own young players (see Mowbray refusing to play Travis / Buckley / Carter / Wharton and bringing in short term loans instead) and shouldn’t be such key players that when we inevitably lose them we need a full overhaul of playing style (see Elliott).

What did we know about Brittain, or Smodics or Morton from the Rovers end before we signed them? Nothing. Brittain signed within 24 hours of the first news report. Smodics we only knew anything about because of the Peterborough chairman. Morton we only knew about because of the Liverpool fan accounts. We will be signing people and it wouldn’t surprise me if we where close. We just tend not to find out until the last minute or through other clubs when the deal has been agreed.

Well, quite. So just number one, get us into a position where we have more control on that front. Contract extensions or sales, I’ve said it for ages now. Contract extensions start when suitable, but the second you’ve got 19 months left on your deal you’re either sold or have a month to sign an extension. No exceptions. We can’t continue with the way Mowbray and Waggott have allowed the squad to be ripped up every year. No more contracts running out No more confusion as to whether someone will sign a new deal No more having a squad built on loans.

I’d like to this GB can change that. I’m sick of seeing the ‘roles available’ tweets from the Rovers account… and it’s the same ones. Recruitment, Fitness and Marketing all seem to be a reoccurring role.

We should be getting the taxi ready for him when he’s not been in the job for 3 months? Absolutely not for me. He’s only just had a head of recruitment join. He’s responsible for hiring the head coach and has changed the structure of the club. If we sack the DOF after a few months then we will: 1) Make every other DOF think it’s a poisoned chalice 2) Never actually see the results of what he could have done, he’s not even had one transfer window and there’s been huge upheaval in the approach / management. 3) Make JDT think WTF is going on I think we need some serious management of expectations here. I saw on an earlier thread a suggestion of blowing FFP off and going for it this season because the league is weak. We’ve played 4 games, we’ve no idea at this stage what quality the league has. As I responded at the time, for me JDT has 3 years to achieve a genuine promotion push. This would be my brief if I was DOF: Year 1: Establish ourselves without being close to relegation. Sell Brereton, or get him to sign a minimum 3 year deal, so that huge cloud is lifted one way or another. Let JDT assess the squad and take any opportunity to improve it at this stage, but most importantly work out what young players he thinks can break through. Year 2: Top half / signs of a team capable of a top six push. Ensure both transfer windows see improvement within the full squad. Sell/loan/release all players JDT doesn’t think will make it Year 3: Top six / promotion push. Ensure the summer window sees us signing players to improve the first 11, not the squad. Ensure we go into January with budget to fill in any gaps established in the first half of the season.

Again, not sure. I think the remit is promotion, but it’s the ‘slow build’ and developing the squad. JDT has spoken in interviews about how he needs to raise player values. I very much believe we’re in some weird combination of the Brentford (player trading) and QPR (academy development) approaches.

I’m not sure. I suspect our wage budget is low compared to a lot of clubs in this league, those with parachute payments and big crowds will have a lot more to play with. But I think our transfer budget is seemingly quite healthy. Brittain - 1M Sammie - 2M 3.5M bid for both Anel and Davies. It wouldn’t surprise me if we end this window having spent between 8M and 10M.

Because JDT wants them playing alongside the main team.

Interested to hear from our head coach tonight - can someone tag me into it when his quotes are out?

Yep, almost exactly as explained. No clear chances, no moments of magic.

Dacky streets ahead of Sammie Szmodics if you ask me. Just need to find a way to keep him fit. Phillips should have been given a penalty there.

I think we need Morton here, someone to keep hold in midfield. Problem is he can’t take off Brereton, Dack, Hedges or Gallagher, so I assume he would take Buckley off.

They’re still all over us.

Agreed. For all the talent he obviously has, getting a hold of games from central midfield will be vital to his success. You can’t just play when they let you play, he needs to find a way to control the game.

34 minutes in here and here’s my review so far… Kaminski, Brittain, Ayala and Phillips good. Phillips battling with Long and competing - impressive. Pickering a weak link at left back. Travis and Buckley trying but losing the midfield battle. Brereton struggling to make his usual impact. Sammie, Dolan and Vale all non existent. Not helping Brereton and their lack of threat is meaning Reading can push forward. and finally… this game stinks of a Bradley Dack double. If he’s not on the pitch after half time I’ll be damned.

The obsession with Lenihan and Boro is very odd. Rovers down 1-0 at Reading. Brereton lost his man defending the corner. Don't look at the races so far, Dolan and Vale non existent.

Smells like a last minute new offer to me! Maybe Spurs thinking they’re told / being told they’re close got a final offer out of Rovers. Especially after two good debuts in the cup and league. Wonder if the Liverpool defender being kept back has made us gamble on our own instead?

This is superb from the club if they’ve managed that. To fight of Spurs is phenomenal.

WOW! Lancs Live saying he is staying and signing. https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/blackburn-rovers-tottenham-contract-phillips-24781299

He’ll be on much more than 10K p/w at Spurs. And putting him on 10K here - which we wouldn’t do - would cause more problems than it’s worth with the rest of the squad. The reality is you can’t hold people back. Spurs are a bigger club, have more opportunities, more finance. We cannot compete on any level with them and in the long run, showing young kids that they can sign for Rovers and be allowed a move to Spurs is helpful.

Regardless I think this is what happens, we will get a few million now to avoid all the hassle.