AspRover

He's done his job, get fresh legs on in attack before he tires

Surely time to give Henriksson and Morishita a free hit for Hedges and Kargbo...

This is where you need a Big Sam type manager, he'd 100% have a backup plan involving Gueye and Miller etc. ready to go for just this sort of situation

I think ideally we want to get to a point where Kargbo is coming off the bench when the opposition are tiring, he doesn't have the skill to back up the pace as a starter.

For squad registration rules, sure, but he wouldn't have had any work permit issues.

One of the things you can say about the recruitment this summer is that they are trying to avoid leaving a position hanging out to dry due to outgoings - When a player is sold we generally have a player lined up for the position, Britain wasn't sold until Alebiosu was sorted, Travis for Baradji, it now looks like Leonard was allowed to go once the deal for Gudjohnsen was sorted out. Pears is the backup to Toth, if Pears is sold I expect that a new keeper will be signed. It might well be that they are actively not selling Pears until they can find a keeper they like where they can turn an overall profit/wage reduction on both transfers. I am worried about the overall quality/whether all of these new players will prove good enough, but as I have said before for the first time in yonks there does seem to be some semblance of joined up thinking behind the transfer policy this year.

JRC widely reported as £1m, which would be €1.15m - if it were reversed and he'd gone for €1m then it would be £870k so I think you have them backwards, and I think you might have done it a couple of times in that list.

It very much remains to be seen whether the new players are good enough/up for it over the course of a season, but someone (or someones) behind the scenes seems to be actually trying, and other than the managers it's been a damn long time since we were able to see that. I expected us to add a couple of freebees and a bunch of loans to a very depleted squad and call it a day, this level of wheeling and dealing and seemingly attempting to scrape together a coherent squad with a tactical plan is unheard of in post-Venky rovers. I don't think that there is any way a random Saudi club came in for Buckley without someone here actively trying to find a way to move him on and actually make some money off the deal at the same time - in previous seasons we'd have just paid him off to get him off the wage bill. Someone is doing some leg work. It feels a lot more like the transfer strategy of back when we were a serious club. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that I think this all comes from a decision made at some point after we had re-signed Forshaw. I think that at that point freebees and loans was absolutely the order of the day. We've seen this extremely late and sudden decision making before in reverse - when Ennis went from being a speculative punt early in the window to our marquee signing as the taps were abruptly shut off (not that they have been particularly opened now, but you get my meaning). This of course does beg the question why now, why not for JDT or Eustace? Who or what has actually prompted this? When are they going to get fired? How are Venkys and Pasha going to screw it up this time? It's shaping up to be the first season in a very long time that I am, idk excited seems strong but lets say intrigued, actually quite interested in how we are going to look rather than just my default of 'oh god we're definitely going down this year....' Venkys out, Pasha out etc. etc.

I doubt the goodbye video is a contractual obligation, Travis may simply not want to do one. We shall see.

McLoughlin is one of those rare transfers where the squad has a round hole in it so you buy a round peg and everything just carries on as normal.

If Michalski has a good head on his shoulders he learns from this and doesn't crumble. I'm not sure why Montgomery is being played at right back when we have just signed two actual right backs, you have to feel that this won't do him any good. De Neve is going to be polarising, I think he'll score a few goals and run around a lot whilst also just not being that good in general. Green shoots from some of the others though.

lol, sure

I didn't say it was the line up I would pick...

I normally like to see the youngsters get a run out, but realistically we need to get the new signings up to speed and bedded in. Wouldn't be surprised to see something like Michalski Alebiosu Miller Wharton Pickering Tavares (idk, maybe Forshaw) Hedges Henriksson Kargbo Gueye And then plan to bring Tyjon, Montgomery etc. off the bench for some minutes

I've said it before but Cantwell's issue last season was that teams found it too easy to isolate him and push him off the ball - I used to think that the answer was to drop him deeper so he could be covered by the midfield a bit more, now I'm hopeful that the seeming drive to get the rest of the team looking bigger, fitter, stronger in general will help protect him. We also need another player on the pitch with that 'aura' that the opposition are a bit scared of, so that the markers get split up rather than just seeming to having three on Cantwell at all times. Maybe that can be Kargbo or Henriksson. Still think he'll work out fine.

Looking forward to reading far too much into the starting 11 and whatever the BBC guesses is our formation at half two.

Steven Nzonzi signing for stoke after being released by an Iranian team was not on my bingo card this morning.

who could possibly have predicted

Uwe's son, represented England at youth levels so you'd have to hope he doesn't need clearance...

Honestly if we tie up this last couple of deals and then it's premier league loans for the remaining spaces so be it - wouldn't be my first choice but it does at least look like we are going to meet the bare minimum standard of starting the season with a moderately balanced squad with players in every position and I really did not think we'd achieve that at the end of last season. Whether the players we have brought in are up to it remains to be seen.

Lorenzo my beloved... best cook book ever written by a Rovers player hands down.

This window has reminded me a bit of early Hughes - prioritising players who are physical, can get stuck in, bit of fire... The Savages, Mokoenas etc.

In terms of RB downgrade it's not quite he who shall not be named freezing out Michel Salgado for Bradley Orr, but I hope this new lad is at least solid (and we buy someone with the money). Onwards and downwards...

Sorry, that's what I meant - can we de-register his esc slot and not play him without actually selling him or is it fixed once he's been given it?

Is it possible to de-register Mafoumbi from the esc slot without selling him (assuming we can't or for some reason don't want to) - just have him on the books without being able to play him in a competitive fixture - or is there a legal impediment to that (i.e. employing someone without a work permit)? It seems mad that he's taking up one of the four spots and wont get near the team. edit - clarity