Not sure about this. He's widely considered a prodigious talent - a potentially generational talent and future England centre half. He could end up being worth the rest of the squad put together. They'll also be aware how good this guy is and the type of clubs mooted to be interested. I think they'd understand, if any of them actually need to know how much he's getting paid. Still stands to reason, we could go for broke and offer 18k, United would just go to 25k if they valued him so highly.

Was your meeting with Waggott this morning or this afternoon? Looking forward to reading your thoughts and feedback.

If Lenihan and Nyambe had been attracting attention from United I would understand why we couldn't compete. What sticks in the craw in the case of those two is that they're going to rival clubs, who seemingly are at a similar level to us. Certainly the case with Lenihan - we'll see with Nyambe. This with Philips is different, and a fine example of how modern day football is the absolute pits.

For once, I'm actually not immediately going to blame the club or Waggott here. If big clubs have been whispering sweet nothings in the ear of Philips and his agent, then what exactly can Rovers do? We can try and compete and pay him 5k, 10k, 15k... the big clubs could blow us out of the water without thinking. It's nothing to them if they think they're getting the next England centre half. I'm aghast that this can be allowed to happen, quite frankly.

How difficult would it be to impose a rule that the club who offered and honoured the scholarship has first refusal on a 3-year pro contract for the player. If not, all these academies across the country may as well have the crest of the top 6 or 8 clubs over their door. We're essentially rearing young footballers for them to swoop in and nick whichever they want.

So my assumption is right.. the club can be simply held over a barrel by Philips and his agent, and the wealthy elite can mosey on in and take him from under our nose. The system is completely and utterly broken.

Can someone tell me whether we could have signed him to a pro contract earlier than this? If he was doing a two-year scholarship and we COULDN'T possibly offer him a pro-contract until 1st July, then what exactly could Rovers do differently - apart from of course pay him more. But even if we did push the boat and offer let's say £5k a week for a 17 year old, any team in the Prem could come sailing in and blow us out of the water. Would we be due any compensation? I suppose it would be bloody peanuts. If he does walk away for next to nothing, and if my assumption that the club couldn't have offered pro-contract earlier is correct, then it's just another indication of how broken the system is. Top 6 clubs can just come along and peck at the corpse of small-town clubs struggling to make ends meet by taking their top, young talent for nothing. The sooner football implodes the better.

I may be wrong, but wasn't it Abada that gave Pickering a chasing, not Jota? Jota looked like he was playing on the left vs Carter. Pickering looks mighty fishy to me. He's so slow and I think because of it he tends to narrow up too much when defending. He allows so, so many crosses in to the box.

Nonsense. If the wall is guarding one side, the keeper covers the other. Basics. Well placed strike, shouldn’t beat a half decent keeper.

More of an even keel the second half after Celtic put their second string on. Good to see Vale play 85mins. Not easy when you don’t see a lot of the ball but he showed some nice glimpses, particularly back to goal under pressure. Lovely assist too. great for Ayala to get an hour or more as well. Desperate for him to stay fit, as unlikely as it seems. Think JDT will be pleased, particularly getting minutes in the first team legs against a superior side. Glad Celtic took it easy on us in the end. They could have put us to the sword if they kept Kyogo and Abada on. still need 5 or 6 first team players.

Won’t score an easier free kick in his life 🤣 what was their keeper doing?

Let’s hope Wham haven’t sent their scouts to this one. We’ll have to burn all footage of it if we want a decent fee for Diaz. Nothing stuck there. If you’d never heard of him you certainly wouldn’t be picking him out as better than anyone else on the pitch today.

What’s worrying for me is that knowing how limited our full backs are, the formation chosen by the new manager has completely exposed them. Pickering shouldn’t come back out, he’s done today. His confidence must be shot to pieces. We’re playing 4 attacking players who have hardly had a kick and left Buckley and Travis exposed and overrun… why when we’re playing a superior team? interested to see how JDT responds to this. Could end up 4 or 5 if we aren’t careful. oh hang on, Celtic taking their big guns off now. .

Managers lie all the time... or let's say 'massage the truth'. He's really just come out with platitudes when confronted directly with a question about the elephant in the room.... "The club are working really hard".... “I think they will come. It’s about patience and getting the right choices."... “It’s a new situation, a new chapter." I could have stood in front of the reporter and answered with that degree of clarity, and my sources are this message board and Alan 'Aye' Nixon. Frankly, it's the same stuff Mowbray would come out with last season. Christ, the point I'm coming to time and time again is, talk's cheap. I'm certain JDT wants players in, why wouldn't he? But he's not even remotely in control of the important bit... the deal itself! So until we see genuine action, fans are rightly going to be very nervous.

Again, I appreciate your adoration for JDT, but you have as much evidence that he has told the truth as I have that he has lied... none. We just have to hope wheels are turning.

Appreciate your faith in the new regime, but what exactly would you expect him to say? "It's a bit of a shit-show really, there's a real sense of panic creeping in".

Unpopular opinion, but I can see why outsiders would come to this conclusion. It certainly draws parallels with McCarthy at Ipswich. After 6 years large swathes of the fan base had become restless and disillusioned, probably with the quite dour and pragmatic football - following strong seasons of 6th, 7th and 9th, they'd started to finish mid-table, 16th and then 12th. 29 March 2018 - In the end, they got their wish - McCarthy resigned and the new dawn could begin - welcome Paul Hurst from Shrewsbury... a relatively unproven manager, certainly at Championship level. 13th April 2019 - Ipswich Town boss Paul Lambert said the club's relegation is "gut-wrenching for everybody" after their drop to League One was confirmed. I would image to those who aren't as engrossed in the club and hang on to every result, article or interview, this would be seen as an unnecessary risk. We've rolled the dice... taken a risk.... the fans got what they wanted - that's how many outsiders will view it. Ultimately, JDT talks a good game but no-one knows how this season will play out - it could be a total disaster. And if it is, just like the Allardyce sacking, and just like the Bowyer sacking, those who were ready for a change could find themselves scrabbling for excuses as to why they were correct. FWIW, I wanted a change, but I was and still am VERY aware that any decision like this comes with enormous caveats and potential pitfalls. Time will tell.

If I understand TransferMarkts stats correctly, those 30-odd appearances for Rotherham accumulated to 675 minutes on the pitch. Averages out at 20mins a game for a team that weren't free scoring anyway. For Pompey he scored 1 goal every 186 mins on the pitch, averaging 60mins per game across his 40 appearances. Pompey are also desperate to get him back: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/football/portsmouth-fc/update-latest-on-chances-of-return-for-george-hirst-and-what-leicester-citys-ex-sheffield-wednesday-and-rotherham-united-man-told-portsmouth-boss-3737014

That's precisely what the talk was about when you asked Mercer to name them. Then you tried to somehow argue that because they were loan players they shouldn't be considered as first team regulars 🤨 Regarding your comment, "They would not be available for us this season, so they have no effect on this seasons starting eleven"... I'm struggling to see how the 3 out of contract players have any effect on our starting 11 this season too. Improving on them is a different argument altogether, and there will probably come a time for that. For now, let's all stick to facts. We're 5 first team players down since we last played a competitive match. If we want to be pedantic we could argue Markanday is practically a new addition.

It appears you're tending not to worry about things that HAVE happened as well... like 5 of our regular starters from last season leaving the club. Loans not being relevant as you tried to suggest before is a nonsense, as is telling us Rothwell and Nyambe would have been bit-part... that's just a baseless comment. I appreciate people are trying to remain positive and patient, but I think it's important we stick to the facts as well.

Correct. Talk's cheap. I think all fans have been impressed by JDTs public displays, but that's literally all they are - saying what he wants us to hear. I have heard little rumours that the players were very impressed with the Portugal trip, which is encouraging. Ultimately won't mean anything if we've played 5, lost 5 and had a shocking window by the end of August.

His wages are the stumbling block, never mind the fee. According to some sources, Liverpool gave him a six year deal worth 60K p/w 😂 https://www.spotrac.com/epl/liverpool-fc/ben-davies-71614/ If that's the case he's over our max wage outlay by about 300%.

Spot on: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/liverpool-confirm-37-man-squad-thailand-and-singapore

This in my mind was the kind of figures I'd be expecting. So, hey, might be a load of tosh. As I say, I was flabbergasted.

I mean, to me it didn't sound right. It sounds ridiculously not-right. Person who told me said, guess what he wanted to increase to... I guessed 18k, thinking that was perhaps a bit low. 15K 😐😐 I don't suppose we'll ever truly know unless someone asks Waggott, Mowbray or Lenihan directly. And even then, I wouldn't expect SW to divulge, especially if it was indeed such a modest request!