Thanks! Yes I am in the system, so should be ok.

I'm travelling over from Norway with my mate to the away vs Coventry and have some questions on how to get tickets to the game. Does away tickets normally gets available to to non ST holders? If so, when do they usually get available? As far as I can see, only Watford is currently available and only available to ST holders.

Leonard missed a pen in pre-season, think Buckley took one and scored in the same game. Somehow I think JRC would be a good penalty taker. Strange how we suck on pens when we scored 10 straight against West Ham in the shoot-out

Jdt gave update in his Rovers tv interview. Gally injured, expected back after Walsall game. Hedges fit enough, but not risked

Yeah, was captain of the U18 in the good FA Youth run and made a an impact at U21. A bit similar to a young Rodwell in midfield, powerful and strong runner. Was probably ready to be involved in the first team pre-season when injury hit, so feel really bad for him. 2 years out and 4 operations on the foot sounds really bad. Not heard what the injury was, but you might suspect ankle. Good of the club to give him a chance and some hope.

I'm not Pears biggest fan, but in fairness he did enough to keep the shirt. The major howler I expected never came. The second goal of Millwall, the replay clearly showed him screaming for the ball, but Pickering elected his weak header anyway. He remind me of Jason Steele in some ways, just lacking the build and size to command the area. That's probably not Kaminski's biggest strength either, but he gives you a bit more confidence so I hope he reclaims the shirt in the summer.

Going to another club, yes, but can't see him quitting. When he was hired he knew it was a project that would rely on the Academy and not much for transfers. Don't think January fuck-up is enough for him to walk. I very much hope he stays and continues what he started.

Overall a good and commited performance, they should be proud of the effort. If the team can keep the same level of effort, there should be enough points in the bag to see us reach the play-offs. The tactical change made sense at the time, where as the game was stretched and our press was no longer in packs. Might have backfired, but if he hadn't done anything and they scored, he'd take flak for that. Upwards and onwards, feels a very different ending to a season compared to the last ones we've had. I've had my reservations about Travis, but he has really been immense the last couple of months. His energy levels are so much better after coming back into the team, and his distribution/decisions making has also improved a lot.

Probably not fair to compare this year's U21 to previous. Most of the talents that normally would be the core has been moved up (Batty, Garrett, Wharton, Phillips) combined with a few injuries as well. Some of the lineups has been very young and pretty weak. The current U18 is not close to last year, but in fairness that was considered a golden generation.

Yeah agreed, it's that strange that you might think there has been some hint that it might be considered. For the club it's obvious that a long-term contract would be the preferred option. He and his partner might have discovered how stressful it is to have a fresh baby and might consider staying around familiar surrounding for another year. It's quite a different scenario for a partner to stay at home with a crying baby in a foreign country.

The only logic I can think of is that he just just became a father for the first time, and staying in a stable enviroment with family for one more year before uprooting his family to another country might appeal. Could be his partner preference.

Yeah, I get you. Probably not a silver lining, but one of the many small lies I convince myself to get through the day 🙂

The other aspect is that anything he said could been seen as an attempt to affect the appeal, which would viewed negatively by the appeal commite.

I liked that he looked nervous and edgy, good to see that the situation has affected him and the rest. There was also a little bit of anger shining through, as it seems obvious there has been a fuckup from the admin/legal team that he has to take responsibility for. The only good thing coming from this is a man scorned like that will take action to avoid it happen again. You should never waste a good disaster as JDT would have said.

Huddersfield just announced a loan signing from Forest only an hour ago, which suggest we are not the only ones that we've for a while for clearance.

Because most of them has higher turnover (often based on higher attendance) and therefore can afford a higher salary level. Even if we are lower table on wages, we have one of the worst wage to turnover ratios in the division. Very much reliant on Venky's covering the losses every year. That said most of the Championship are running at a loss, and I doubt we've seen the last club going bust.

I agree. He's is quite similar to David Raya as keeper. Smaller stature, but agile and very good with his feet. The question marks would be the same as a young version of Raya. How commanding in the box will he be? Will he fluff the crosses/corners against big senior pros? A loan might be the best option similar to what Raya did.

Probably not a lot of takers. They offered a 3.5y deal. He's turning 31 this year and haven't really performed the last couple of seasons either.

Yeah, you think there would be some sympathy for the circumstances in the summer. Broughton arrived in an empty building, no manager in place Mowbray left with his crew, one was his assistant manager who had handled all the transfer under Mowbray. The recruitment team was decimated, and one of the analyst he hired died of a heart attack only 2 weeks later (A fit guy in his 30's on a hike), which Broughton had to deal with as well. The actual transfer's done was Broughton, one of the recruitment guys and some help from Waggot. Not an ideal setup, which seems far improved now. The Brereton situation was tried solved with contract talks, but I very much believed the owners had a drawn a line on the transfer amount that was never met.

Sounds great, exactly what we need. Sign him up as Ayala replacement.

Matt Derbyshire and Joe Garner

Funny you mention Brentford. They spent 6 seasons in the Championship, improving year by year before getting promoted. The way they did it was with a strategy and "project". They put in place great scouting which was highly data-driven and bought young talent they could improve and sell-on. Which they did with a number of players being sold for 9m+ over the years like Mephan, Konsa, Gray, Hogan, Benharama and Watkins. They had a lot of turnover as they don't have an academy, and also bought quite of lot duds, but they were offset with the gems they uncovered. Another success was that any manager they hired had to adapt to their structure and setup and not to another reboot of style and players. The Brentford model should sound a bit familiar to what we are trying to achieve here. With a sporting director, great academy and using player trading to up the level of the squad. It might take time, but probably the only long-term solution for the club.

Is there really hype around Morton other than Liverpool has given him a new contract? I think your assesment is correct, he's an allright Championship midfielder, not more. His game time is more down to that he's the one midfielder that has been fairly consistent, while the same can't be said about the rest (Buckley, Travis, Wharton). I think both Buckley and especially Wharton has more potential. I'm a big fan of Buckley and expected him to really establish himself as one of the better midfielder in this division, fair to say it hasn't happened so far, but he looked good after the WC break only for the red card to put a stop. Adam Wharton might potentially be the best passer at the club since Tugay, but still needs a lot of improvement on defensive part of his game. It was clear watching him last season for the U18/U23 that the he needed a bit more hunger for the defensive part of being a midfielder. He's improved a lot, but I can see why he is not starting every game.

The appeal for me with Gelhardt is that he has the quality and potential to be a "Rhian Brewster to Swansea" kind of loan. When you look at his goal scoring record, only 8 of those 50 games has been from start and the majority has been in Premier League. I've seen him on a few occasions, from singlehandely destroying our U23, to help turn a match around for Leeds, and I like what I see. Though not the biggest, he's powerful, direct, can go players, has awarenes and a wicked left foot. We'll all like a proven goalscorer at this level, but how realistic is that? The premium money that would cost looks far beyond our budget.

Delap is far better than Hirst, but your point is valid. Getting a proven Championship Striker is close to impossible. There are so few, and we don't have enough money to pay transfer or wages for that kind of quality. Any striker we can get will probably be some kind of gamble. A foreign gamble might be more exciting though.