We’ll have a job on to stop Mbappe - feels a bit like this tournament is set to be the moment the torch was taken by him, unreal coming of age.

9 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Ludicrous. It's an open invitation for the players to knock off for the season early if they were to reach relative safety by say the end of January.

Plus, not being relegated should go without saying and there's no massive financial benefit to the the Club in scraping survival.

It's a bit like Having a normal job and being told "Don't make a massive cock up which will bankrupt us and you'll get a huge bonus". (Which might).

That last sentence whilst extreme isn’t far from normal business practice.

A lot professionals in any industry have bonuses, they are even referred to as OTB - on target bonus. You meet your targets and get your standard bonus, do better and get more do slightly worse than expectations and often still get a bonus amount.

If survival was the aim for Bolton last season you would expect there would be bonuses as such, bigger bonuses would have kicked in if stretch targets were met.

It seems daft in the mega money world of football granted but it’s not unusual.

A few tweets went around yesterday including from people based around Bristol, some people asked Nixon directly and he eventually came back with ‘there’s something in that’

So no he didn’t break it but did seem to go and check and hear similar 

He looks to be a logical sort of squad player, young, pacey and potential for goals. Wouldn’t be adverse to it myself if he wasn’t the main man.

Edit - sorry I thought he was younger 

Which ex Rovers feels more of an idiot right now, Big Sam for his greed / ego combination or Niko Kalinic for his refusal to come off the bench whilst his teammates go on to the semi final! 

5 minutes ago, philipl said:

I read that as a no Chapman reply.

I read it as a Chapman signs this week reply 

That Russian who dinked it will feel that one for the rest of his life, you just can’t do that and miss at this stage.

Russian player just dinked it the same way as the keeper went, what an idiot 

Imagine one of these teams getting to a World Cup semi final!

Modric is a class player but two average at best teams on display here. 

Not sure which is the most desirable but it may be prudent to avoid any Russian drama 

Just now, Stuart said:

Pinching myself.

That was the perfect game.

Let’s be honest Sweden were gash but we got past them with no drama and no suspensions 

3 minutes ago, AdamRochina said:

France and Belgium would tear this England side to bits tom calm down ?. Enjoy the ride though as we have gone past expectations

Disagree, think we’d beat both 

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

They've been incredibly lucky with the draw, they've got to the Semi's without playing a an elite team side. Despite the media hype this side is not a patch of the sides from 2002 & 2006. 

It doesn’t need to be though.

We can get to the final without playing any of the favoured teams and then over 90 minutes it’s anybodies game.

This is insane, concvinced we are winning this World Cup, it Brazil were still there I’d be nervous but I think this is ours 

We’ll take that! 

Cagey start by both teams, we need to take control 

Amazing we can win this while never having to play Brazil, Germany, Spain or Argentina. 

I thought Brazil were the best team left and they are gone! 

Neymar just put one on a plate for Coutinho but a shocking finish.

Whoever you face out of these two their flaws have been exposed here.

Blatant penalty; shocking decision that one.

Bolton have confirmed the game is off in a two sentence statement 

Nobody to fear in this tournament!

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

I dont see us in for Maddison at 2.5 million pounds if we are in for Armstrong. Plus the need for another winger either Kent or Chapman. 

Have I missed something linking us with Armstrong? Mowbray seemed quite dismissive of him before 

I’m never overly invested through the qualifying stages admittedly then get fully on board at tournament time. Although I have to admit that it’s so much easier now we don’t have the likes of Rooney, Terry and Gerrard in there.

It doesn’t help that qualifiers disrupt the flow of the normal football season.

Absolutely loving all the ‘it’s coming home’ memes 

39 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

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...

I can’t imagine supporting a club where unmitigated success is just the expectation, how can you truly appreciate it then?

I still think we will at least get to the final, may be the usual getting carried on a wave feeling but this time it’s different there isn’t a Brazil or Germany to get past in a quarter final!

We’ve had our chunk of good fortune with the way it’s panned out now it’s down to us to make the most of it, feels a once in a lifetime chance.

18 hours ago, Angry_Pirate said:

I just can't find myself getting too excited about young PL loans for a season.

Just racking my brain and how many players have we ever signed on loan (and NOT signed permanently) that have gone on to promising careers?

(Cariney, King, Rudy obvs don't count as they were made permanent, and players like Marcus Babbel etc were already established - even Santa Cruz and Bentley were garbage when they came back!)

I came up with Michael Keane... Any others?

My mate Bryan Dabo seemed to push on after playing a few games with our reserves.

Not setting the world on fire but currently at Fiorentina