Luton were linked to Travis when Edwards was manager there, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's on a list somewhere.

You could argue that not backing Eustace ended ours. Boro were 7th when they sold Latte Lath, they finished 8th. Impossible to say whether they would have broken the top 6 if they'd kept him. Point is, Gibson is a very good owner who invests in his club. They'll make good signings, they'll make bad signings, they'll good managerial appointments, they'll make bad ones, but you always have a feeling Boro are motivated to succeed. Since we got relegated in 2012 they've; Been automatically promoted, Had a season in the Prem, Had 3 top 6 finishes 5 top 10 finishes We've been relegated to L1 and never made the Champ play-offs yet.

They may not have signed an absolute like for like for Latte Lath (they loaned Iheanacho IIRC), but they brought in Whittaker for over £7m and also spent £5m on Conway in summer 2024. In fact, looking at TransferMarkt will show you the following; Money In 24/25: £27.15m Money Spent 24/25: £25.19m Money In 23/24: £25.70m Money Out 23/24: £16.16m Money In: 22/23: £27.37m Money Out: £10.23m Money In 21/22: £1.80m Money Out 21/22: £12.56m That's about 78% reinvestment on incomings over the last 4 seasons. Rovers since 20/21 In: £57.99m Out: £12.40m 21% reinvestment - Net: +45.59m

Interesting to look back; "We need a left-sided centre-back, that's been obvious. Scott Wharton has been missing all season, we don't want to put pressure on him when he's back and expect him to play every week. It will not work. We need someone to cover this position.," McLoughlin, but at this time we have to presume they didn't know Batth would be leaving... "On the right, we need cover for Callum Brittain. We have Leo Duru but we need some business in this area. Alebiosu - but presumably he was the 'cover'... so when Brittain goes, assume we'll sign another, or we're further back than square one. "Right-wing, we have Amario, who is going back. Tyrhys is the only other player in this position. Well, we lost both of those players, so do we need one or two? "We want a number eight, a box-to-box type of midfielder and we don't have that at the minute. That's something we need to cover. I don't think Tavares is box-to-box is he? Presume their target for this is Baradji (complicated and in doubt) "We want some power up front to challenge the two strikers we have" Nothing yet. So, I'd say we are absolutely miles off what Gestede said we needed back in April, never mind the fact that since then Dolan, Weimann and Batth have all left, with Brittain likely.

Aside from losing regulars of Weimann, Batth, Dolan and Beck (and probably so far only replacing one of them), one crucial 'position' where I think we COULD be weaker is in the dugout, personally. Under VI we finished the season strongly, but I do think the last 5, 6, 7 games of the season can be really strange in terms of results. Eustace did a brilliant job of getting results from the outset last season, particularly up until Christmas, when the schedule (and injuries) started to bite. He made us defensively strong, and developed a great sense of unity in the group. Pre-season has been really promising, but we'll have to wait and see if VI can get consistently good results out of what I believe is a really average (and increasingly inexperienced) championship squad. There are also quite a lot of unknowns in our current squad (see Chaddy's list above). Brittain will most likely leave, Wharton hasn't played a competitive match for 18 months, Carter is struggling badly with injuries, Tyjon is 17 and barely played men's football, Kargbo is back from injury and promising but has very few champ minutes, De Neve, Tavares and Alebiosu are unknown quantities with pretty uninspiring careers to date. McLoughlin on paper looks a steady replacement for Batth. With Weimann, Dolan, JRC and Batth we've lost a huge amount of Chamionship experience, not to mention 15 or so goals from last season. It's easy to say 'he's replaced him, he's replaced him', but the experience, know-how and reliability of the squad is undoubtedly a question mark, and in my opinion, a bit of a worry.

I’m 35, and had a season ticket from the 97-98 season, so I mostly missed the real glory days, although I did go to the odd game with my dad or cousin before then. A player that I haven’t seen mentioned yet who I thought was one of the best of the last 20/25 years would be Bentley. Incredible talent who should have gone on to have a far better career than he did. A bit like Beckham, played wide right but didn’t have pace, just had the ability to find half a yard and put in fantastic crosses. Also weighed in with some brilliant goals. Him and Emerton made a great partnership down the right side. Bellamy also goes down as one of the best in my time. Only stayed one season and I seem to think he did have injury issues, but he frightened the life out of defenders with his pace, worked incredibly hard for the team and scored some worldies (Boro (H), Pompey (A). Liverpool got him for an absolute steal at the time, I was devastated!

Sorry, should have been a bit clearer. I said since 2022 because that was when we signed Szmod, Brittain and Hyam, all players with Championship experience. Your post said “quality championship players”. The vast majority of your other examples were overseas gambles or young loans. Chrisene for example had only played limited games in Scotland. I would say since it was made clear that the ‘project had changed’ under JDT we have signed the following; McFadz (Free) Weimann (Free) Batth (Free) Fleck (Free, Disaster) Ribeiro (Free) Cantwell Forshaw (Free) McLoughlin Some disastrous loans as well in Dennis and Woodrow. God knows the average age of that list, but the vast majority are well over 30 and free. This window alone Charlton have brought in Kaminski, JRC and Bell who all know the championship well and I would say are Champ quality. They’ve also signed players who won’t have played much or any Champ football, but until they have done we can’t possibly say whether they are Championship quality, so your original question/point is totally moot.

How many have we signed since 2022?

This is the same player you wanted to offer £15K P/W to, and saw him as an integral player in our team. What's changed?

What about Ash Phillips? Yesterday you said it was all Broughton's fault he couldn't convince him to stay at Rovers instead of moving to Spurs.... Do you reckon they offered the same wages as Rovers could afford?

The bit in bold is a load of bollocks, frankly. How would you go about convincing Phillips and his agent that he should stay at Rovers, instead of joining a club like Spurs? It was an absolute no brainer for him. Since he moved he's played 50 games at Championship level, been paid considerably more than Rovers would have been able to afford for an 18 year old, and will have loads of offers if and when Spurs decide he hasn't made the grade. At worst he'll join another Championship club when he's 22/23. What could Broughton have possibly said to sway him to stay at Rovers? It was either get a release clause of £2m OR go down the tribunal route, which is always absolute bobbins. Can anyone tell me what we've been paid from Newcastle for Finneran yet?

This is a crazy take, so funny Chaddy. He cost them £2m and only turned 20 last month 😂 Do you really think Spurs bought him to break in to their first team within 2 seasons? Since they bought him he's played over 50 Championship games. It's the perfect grounding for him. If the Rovers hierarchy are to be believed, we paid £1.75m for bloody Tavares! This was an absolute no brainer for Spurs; miniscule investment, captain of England U20s, and if they don't fancy him in a year or so they'll probably sell him for treble what they paid. Taylor Harwood Bellis had never played a prem game befoe Saints spent £22m on him. There's potential value in players who spend a number of years in the championship and are owned by the big clubs. As for breaking in to our team, what value could he have got from staying? He'd not have played as many Championship games as he has for Stoke and Plymouth, and he's probably been earning 5 x more money over the last two years. He's lost nothing in his career from going to Spurs.

Ohhhh yeh, I remember.

This is uncharacteristically churlish of me, but I wouldn't sell to Derby. If it comes down to a few hundred thousand I'd rather take a bit less money and sell him to Boro, frankly. They've nicked our manager, nicked two of our out of contract lads, have been sniffing around Travis, linked to Dolan and now want Brittain. If I was Rovers I think I'd try to make it known that he's available for £3m, unless Derby phone, then he's available for £4m.

Wharton is a fantastic example... a generational talent who's already played for England and is recognised as one of the best young players in the PL. But why didn't you use the examples of Jake Garrett, Adam Henley, Jake Kean, Jack Vale, Dan Butterworth, Tyler Magloire, Willem Tomlinson etc? There's no doubt the academy has served us well, and the players that are good enough will break through (lots of examples of this). What we cannot afford is an over-reliance on players that have in no way proven their capability in senior football. The success stories in recent years have invariably spent time out on loan or have been eased in to senior football. Lenihan, Carter, Wharton, Travis, Buckley, Nyambe. None of these were thrown in at the deep end. They were nurtured either by going out on loan to lower leagues or were given sporadic opportunities until they were seen to be ready. There is a balance to be had, and if you tip the balance too far in favour of youngsters, you're going to get your fingers burnt.