Nice one! I've edited!

Oh right! We won't need a left-back then? Good news about the pitch but I didn't realise it was going to be rooted out as an excuse everytime we need something else. If we can only tackle Rovers' problems one at a time, we're going nowhere are we?

Re Harry Pickering, as I read it they want £600000 for him and we have offered £400000 and quite likely he'll go somewhere else. I've never seen him so I don't know how good he is or not but if Rovers think he's a good'un and he's only 21 and he plays in a position where we need somebody, why are we baulking at £200000? Its small change these days. Can't the owners see that they will make money from him one way or another---either the preferred way where he helps us get promotion or resale later on? Dumb.

You relented and reordered the Guardian then Gav?!

Its always 6 except at the start of the season. Its possible that we will finish top half this season, instead of our usual 11th-12th with a few more points than last season. At which point, some will laud the progress we are making and argue that TM deserves another year( or 3).

Why's he written his homework on his arm?!

Surely its been deteriorating for years?

I thought Nyambe was really good and Douglas was much better than he has been. Given that Brathwaite played well and Lenihan did and Kaminsky was on top form it wasn't really surprising that we kept a clean sheet. If they all play like that for the rest of the season there'll be many more. Interesting that they didn't need any time to settle in as a centre-back partnership.

Just need one up front now!

My take on the incident is that Braithwaite didn't see the Boro player coming in from the side and was concentrating on the ball,. So no malice or intent. But careless it was. But I have no sympathy for Warnock, surely the most cynical and ruthless manager in football. That's part of the reason he get's results. If that incident had been the other way round he wouldn't have given a stuff about a Rovers player's eye. Nice goal from us by the way.

We'll just have to get another loan in in that case!

think or hope?

By then the defenders will be good enough for the league we'll be in!

If we got £30M that= £21M to the Club. If Venkys gave the manager £15Mof it to buy a defence we'd go up---provide TM wasn't the manager spending it that is.

30% to Newcastle.

It would be a very boring MB if every post went unchallenged because everybody's opinion should be respected! There would be no debate for a start. Everybody has the right to their opinion but everybody else has a right to challenge it and put forward their opinion too.

Hughes would be shocked at the differences between now and when he was here. I don't think he'd come back personally but I'd love to see it. He'd sort out that defence for a start.

Exactly right. 3 terrific pacemen, hard wickets, plenty of bounce----all seem to demoralise our batsmen no matter how well they have done in the lead-up to an Ashes series. Also bowlers like Broad and Anderson, who are outstanding in England lack penetration over there. You have to be very quick or not bother. As I write Sharma out for 7----Cummins!

Is that all? We don't do anything about it?

Would be slaughtered by the Aussies.

This fear we have that, if the failing manager is replaced , we would end up with someone worse, is quite illogical. By example I give you Tony Mowbray!! If we always appointed someone worse, then Mowbray would be the worst of the lot wouldn't he? But he isn't is he? By quite a large margin I'd suggest. He's just not good enough and he's had enough time and money to make us a force again and he's failed and his time is up!

We were declinlng rapidly under Souness. Hell of a job by Hughes to keep us up. All of us have happy memories of Souness but the majority were delighted to see Newcastle take him off our hands. Hughes pound for pound the best Rovers manager in my lifetime. If only the Trust had backed him and he'd stayed. They would have benefitted financially too but too dim to see it.

Your usual standard.

Whether we are positive or not on this MB bears no relationship to how we perform on the pitch though. We could be as positive as humanly possible but the team would still be what it is. Just a reminder about perspective!

I guess the worry about this Everton lad is that he's 18. You don't normally expect an 18 year old who hasn't played regular 1st team football at any level to come in for half a season and exercise influence on a creaky defence, to save your bacon really. He could, he might, but its not reassuring that that's where we are after 4 years of Mowbray. We're basically hoping that he's another Phil Jones and they don't come along too often.