That’s very nice but it needs to be aimed at clubs. It’s they who price people out of football and they who agree to have their games televised in order to collect the tv revenue. The anomaly of course is Leeds. Always on tv, rarely 3pm Saturday ko, highest ticket prices, yet 30k+ every at Elland Road every week. Yes, they have a higher catchment but they could all still watch on tv or in the pub. That has to be down to demographics and peer groups. Rovers following the tv grab strategy will not hold up to that dynamic.

When they back us to win the PL. And I really really mean it.

Maybe so but that has nothing to do with the point I was making. However, he played well against Kendall? I would hope he did! Unless he is a wonder kid, he is going to have a baptism of fire in this season’s U23s. It would have been a step up for last season’s squad. Taking out our best youngsters just made it that bit harder.

True enough. Wouldn’t stop me getting a season ticket. Although it would almost certainly reduce walk-one at current prices. However, if the club were shrewd enough they could get paid for red button viewing AND make ticket prices stupidly low to maximise walk-ons. (Of course this would create problems for some ST holders who are very much against cheap walk on tickets). Taking it to extremes, if every single game was televised and clubs got a decent revenue from it then they could offer £100 season tickets and £5 walk ons and make it about the experience. Thats without applying any maths to it to work out what TV revenues would be to make that work.

Yep, it was definitely lose-lose for them and Rovers. They’d never admit it though. You have to say Idiot Rao family too though. All the money they threw away that has now become our debt could have been profit plus they’d have had kudos to go with it, as well as the exposure to their Venkys brand. The Walker family idiocy so them walk away with a pot of cash. Yes, they could have got a bigger pot by staying but the Rao family didn’t result in any pot of cash at all.

In principle I would far rather be there than watch on tv. However, due to cost, family and grassroots commitments away games are a no-no for me. In reality, away games are not a great experience. Unless you get there early you don’t get your own seat (if it’s sold out) and standing is mandatory. Then you add in the scrotes who seem to think using the F word twice in every sentence is a sign of intellect and bonus points for the C word who sign vile songs then you aren’t even with people you particularly want to spend time with - let alone subject your kids to. And if you don’t like it then it’s your fault not theirs. I expect the further you go then the fewer idiots follow though but that just increases the cost and time issues.

@Biz good post until you chucked that daft picture in at the end. Largely agree, plus some thoughts: GK - we are lucky to have Raya being ever present because Leutweiler is not adequate cover. He was signed for one reason and one reason only. A gamble that paid off last season. CB - we remain short here imv. Jack Rodwell is huge gamble. The noises Mowbray made when he signed were not about him being a wayward sheep to be brought back into the fold but about it being a cheap, low risk deal. Not very positive. It’s one that might work but kind of ‘no great shakes if it doesn’t’. I actually hope you are right because that would be a superb result. It would also be a testament to Mowbray’s patience and man-management skills. Rodwell will need to learn some humility though and recognise the chance he has been given at a club he would almost certainly have laughed about joining a few years ago. His prioritising of money ahead of being part of a team does’t paint him in a good light. He was the only player in Sunderland’s squad without a relegation clause. If we do rebuild his career then it will be a very happy accident. Humble he ain’t. The other thing you reminded me of is that Lewis Travis didn’t go out on loan. That is also a great sign. He really wants to continue to break into the first team despite the competition. He has the tools and would be Bennett’s natural replacement. Both of whom could be looked at as our closest versions of Robbie Savage.

Both matey. I was referring only to Damian Johnson’s loss, not the club.

An extension for some unknown Irish kid but not for a player who played for us season and isn’t wanted by his club?

We’d have been better off the U23s staying in Div 2 and the ladies getting promotion. Our promotion has coincided with the loss of our better development players - and injuries haven’t helped. It’s a good job it doesn’t really matter!

You too! ?? Chin chin.

Hope we have some kind of option included. Otherwise he could star in our development squad and then Walsall sell him to Arsenal. (Where of course he would rot in their reserves and never be heard of again).

I suspect that the issue is who holds the players league registration. These rules are unnecessarily bureaucratic and simply inflate prices to get deals “over the line”. Despite Bosman, players are still slaves to football clubs whilst they are under contract. It’s no wonder activation clauses are inserted to avoid clubs doing what Pulis did today. If clubs have no intention of playing a player then it isn’t all that different to the rule that Bosman fought and won (and yet ended up penniless - but that’s a different story).

Perhaps read the rest of my post that you edited out again then.

Out of a balanced and largely positive post, you only carve out a bit to have a pop at. However, to come back on your point. League One was absolutely rock bottom for Rovers. Never in our history have we been lower. League Two would have been unthinkable.

Hegsactly

Probably need a new thread. We’ve had two windows recently. Add then together and you have to view it as a success. The only disappointment really is that we [Mowbray] talked things up more than we needed to and that raised expectations. We have had a very good 12 months it’s fair to say. But it’s only because we bounced when we hit rock bottom. It does feel as though there is a plan for the future. If we continue to be successful then our better players will keep being linked with moves. That’s a good thing not a bad thing. I just hope that Mowbray isn’t head-hunted because he is clearly building something here and I wouldn’t trust us to replace him wisely.

We’ve not actually spent that much this window.

It will also have helped that Mowbray got us promoted first time so he’s good on his promises. Probably earned their trust.

Probably so they can get new clubs. IIRC you can only sign free transfers between windows who were unattached at the end of the last window.

...any more.

The disappointment at the end of the window is like you felt as a kid after you’d opened your last Christmas present. “But look at all these other toys...”

You would think the jobsworths at the EFL would see the bigger picture that these stupid artificial transfer windows create these last minute issues. This is a person’s career at stake!

Not for me. He couldn’t cut it in L1 so the Championship will be a stretch too far.

So that #@%£head Pulis gets his player and we don’t! ? Already couldn’t stand that bloke.