That's quite right. We were all annoyed that Berkovic had gone for someone we'd barely heard of! Then there was his age! I remember thinking "he can't be much good, we only paid a million for him!" That was the best £1 million we ever spent---possibly the best £1 million any club ever spent! And he bonded with us as if he'd known us all his life! Sheer Turkish delight from start to finish!

I can't understand the level of complacency here. 8 left, we knew they would. We had months to prepare and we will be scrambling about in the final hours of the window hoping something falls our way. You could not conclude the Club is gunning for promotion could you? That's one conclusive statement we can make! If things do change very quickly, it still takes time for new players to bed in and we've already played 5 games. We are as amateurish in recruitment as we have always been since Venkys rocked up---another conclusive statement.

Read like he would take a centre-back on loan but not Van Hecke!

Thinking back about the best players to wear a Rovers shirt in my lifetime, I got it down to four---Douglas, England, Shearer and Tugay. You could probably add Clayton to that list. I tried to put them in order but an impossible task. A privilege to see any of them, let alone all 4 at this unfashionable old club of ours.

A genius was Tugay. We were so lucky to see such players in our shirt. Makes you furious at the same time--destroyed by morons.

What's the diff?

Did we ever get to Round 3 under Mowbray? Genuine question--can't remember.

We're good at everything but actually getting the players to sign!

Mentioned him a few weeks back. Good buy at that price. Would have been good for us. Shouldn't have stopped us going for Van Hecke either because we need 2. Once again we wait...

Don't know that anyone is obsessed about it! I have good memories of it last season when we were on our good run, that's all really. If we can win without it---good. But we've conceded 6 in 2 games!

We all would and quick! I'm not judging JDT at all by the way. He has to do his best with a squad that was manifestly inadequate. As for Broughton I don't see how "there's a lot of promise so far". I'd have thought there wasn't! But, like you, I'll wait ---because I have no choice!

So we're on another journey?

I would toss away the "we prefer " bit and sign Van Hecke right now, any how we can. Work out the future as the season goes on. Could make an enormous difference to our prospects for this season. We need a lift.

Is 4 enough? The model is clearly broken. Our wages ceiling is too low to attract top players ie promotion standard, and too low to keep the ones we develop. Yet curiously our ticket prices are at the higher end and, in particular, higher than our local rivals. Crazy. Seriously we look like becoming a yo-yo club---but between the Championship and the 1st Div.

Madness would be letting him go for next to nothing. Or more accurately, it would be yet another example of madness.

Won't get any fee for Dack till he can prove his fitness.

Looking at or defence I think I'd be going for 3 at the back.

And its not as if this is an unexpected crisis--we have known for months that key players were off. Every window is the same---too little, too late. Then the rest of the season to regret it. We think problems will be resolved in January and they never are. Just bloody sick of it.

"The dismay is totally proportionate" is how I would put it!

Can we now officially panic?

You do realise we think this every year don't you?!!

I feel very foolish. I assumed with the new set-up things would be different this time. But they're not, its the same every year, we'll be scrambling in the final days or even hours of the window. Nothing's changed except the calibre of the coach who sadly has to work with what he has got.

System stinks.

We shop in Barnsley, Crewe and Peterborough these days but hope for promotion! Does not compute. We ask why do we have such difficulty signing players every window? Why do they end up somewhere else? The answer just has to be money--both in terms of wages and fees. I don't see anything changing with Venkys in charge. The caching and planning can be top class but you have to have the quality to start with.

And I'll bet that Sunderland can't either. Its taken them longer than that to get out of Div 1!