3 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I hear that they won the premier league some time ago 😆 

What has Tony been saying 

I'd be surprised if he's even involved in some of these to be honest.

Healy same agent as the left back just signing plus the Greek keeper, Travis and another or two.

Probably someone trying hard to get him in here.

5 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

That is exceptionally uninspiring. Never scored more than 11 in England and at 26 not likely to be getting any better.

What's the standard in French Ligue 2 like?

Cheap.

1 minute ago, JoeH said:

I feel like this one relates to us. Rumours Obafemi began travelling up and was turned around.

Good.

32 minutes ago, blue_n_white99 said:

If for the sake of argument we had a scouting system in South America and said scouts found a few kids that looked decent and would be U18s etc. What criteria would be needed for them to be registered?

 

A Venky friendly agent or Balaji wanting to promote their brand over there.

22 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He doesn’t know what he’s looking for because he still doesn’t know what system he wants to play. So he doesn’t know wether he wants a conventional full back or a wing back. 

I think he does he's just never had the right personnel to play it or nous to get them. Certainly not at Championship level. Imo it's obvious he's always wanted a core style of 3 at the back with attacking wing backs.

Tried it wherever hes been and tried it here after relegation. I think if he could get away with it that's how he'd always go it's another never ending experiment of his. Now if he'd recruited for it from the very beginning we might have a system that works well by now.

Instead it's just the same old swap/change/shoehorn stuff and grab what you can who can play in several positions. One thing he isn't nor never has been here is a specialist recruiter. 

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Well after signing Bell, Hart, Cunningham, Douglas, Pickering, the new lad ?  - I’m starting to wonder just what he’s looking for in a left back.

If he'd looked for one who could defend first and foremost we'd probably have had one in years ago.

Not the Mowbray way though that.

Sounds to me like theres been a few token offers of half valuation flying around.

'We tried but...'      How serious are they actually ?

2 more loans in who can play wing/false 9/mid probably.

Surprise signing ..... Downing back on a 5 year deal !!!!!

A decade out would be a concern for any possible recruit but the other bit ?

That's the pond we fish in.

1 hour ago, Ossydave said:

No.

Why do people think if someone plays off centre that they're being played as a winger? Unless we start playing 442 we won't be playing anyone as a winger.

A front 3 of Lowe Brereton Gallagher is capable of a decent return IMO and I'm up for it.

It's hard to tell at times though, yes they get deployed as wide strikers but it depends on what the other side is doing. Often they end up like defensive wingers stopping the other teams full backs coming forwards. Other times they are indeed peeling wide looking to put a ball in. They both tend to spend a lot of time chasing around in circles in wide mid positions though after terrible first touches of just getting pushed to the deck!

It's a real mish mash at times which is why we lack so much balance and offer nothing going forwards. However we are getting away with it so far this season so it can be argued it's working. Just not in the way wide 'strikers' should do.

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

What kind of scouting network do you need to be aware of Deeney? A Sky subscription?

He'd be exactly the kind of signing that ballses up wage bills and FFP. 

Doesn't matter if he slips into the right team and helps fire them up mind but for the likes of us it's Leon Best territory.  He must have agreed peanuts at Brum.

3 minutes ago, JBiz said:

Maybe they don’t say exactly what they’re doing in interviews? Or give off “skint” vibes for agents / other clubs?

I don't know there's been a few things to contradict that as well down the years. I think ToMo just waffles the first thing that comes to mind.

Obviously you don't want to reveal your hand and i doubt it's very much anyway. Allegedly though it's not unusual for Rovers to offer some rather odd staged payment deals. Every now and then one might drop if they tip up a good enough deposit.

I think he was saying similar stuff before they tipped up 5 million for Gallagher.

You just never know at this club, it seems that if someone pops up he or someone involved really wants they suddenly find money.

2 minutes ago, Gav said:

That goal at Doncaster to gain promotion, the look on his face, the jubilation in the stands, club legend for me.

That's not the debate though is it he was fercking useless the season we went down. Good in league 1 as you'd probably expect then bang average at best back in the Championship.

Why did he lose his place then get bombed out ?

Decent guy who played a massive part in bouncing back no doubt but club legend ?  Aye to the under 20's maybe.

The young cheap punts out of the Scottish leagues tend to have done alright at Rovers.

The ones with bigger reps having more paid for them and/or big contracts chucked in front of them have tended to flop.

Ferguson, Amoruso, Goodwille, Stokes and the like. Even Mulgrew whilst being great in lge 1 wasn't up to much in the Championship. His wand of a left foot was quality but defensively he wasn't all that. Must've cost a fortune in wages as well.

This is all stacking up again to 'we tried but...'

Meanwhile a raft of options to rotate about up front already on the books.

I'd have had Keane in a season or two ago when there was a bit of a budget and some experience to work with. It all needed a kick up the arse, a genuine target and less old pals acts bothering more about the players feelings.

He was the man.

Now though going with this youth policy and grow to sell they seem to have given up on everything else. Doubt he'd be the right man for that caper Mr Midtable and co are tailoring it just to suit themselves. They might have found something they are actually good at, time will tell.

As for actual ambition, it left town a long while ago i'm afraid.

6 hours ago, Tom said:

The sponsors are just as bad, they did a Twitter competition for corporate hospitality for 10 people for the Swansea game and as far as I can see didn’t actually pick a winner so just got the exposure of lots of retweets 

I doubt they'd get away with that kind of thing even here.

The rotating and tinkering is set to go off the scale this season !

Could just be a security issue down there though. I've worked at the OT stadium and being owned by Yanks worries them a bit.

Our wage bill has always been a bit suspicious. 

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Yet derby have signed a hit list of washed up players,rather than relying on youth. 

Let's be honest, it's night and day with men's football. At least 2/3 of the loans we have signed have senior experience at a high level and one has featured for one of the biggest clubs in the world. 

Derby definitely resemble us under the Coyle summer in terms of desperate signings and trying to hang their hat on experience.

If they get through this season unscathed i'll be amazed and if you want badly run look no further. The worst thing they are doing is hanging on to that clueless big name in their dugout. 

Some of these people awash with money who own and run our football clubs couldn't run a bath. 

1 hour ago, Ulrich said:

He is still talking about playing that way. I'm willing to bet he tries it again once he gets his loan signings in and we don't perform as we have to date.

It'll return it's as sure as the rain in autumn.

Odd games fair enough, mixing up what you do at times is needed these days if you have the bods to do it. Using it as the core style and trying to force it on a squad that isn't best suited to it is complete cobblers.

Yet he wasted 2 seasons on doing just that and he is a stubborn goat. Plus it gives him license to swap and change even more. 

Got to be the Blackburn End or at least the rear half of it.

Would probably have to be riverside though for easiest cheapest conversion.  So basically that rules Ewood out seeing as there isn't even money for a new pitch.

9 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Had this discussion with someone else in another thread. I said there and will say again - a lot of the loan deals on an individual basis you could make a case for. This lad is no different. 

The issue is that the whole strategy is built around them leading to an overall lack of experience, no continuity and bugger all assets. It's shunting all our problems further down the line to cause even more problems. Quite simply it's no way to run a club and is overall going to hurt us, even if some of the deals make sense. 

It wouldn't be so bad if they'd struck some potential loan to buy deals.

Next season it could be same again or Vs grant a bigger wage budget after FFP has been soothed a bit. Then Mowbray ( lets face it he's here forever ) will be hoovering up freebies to rebuild.

I actually they stick to the youth policy now, just not based on helping the big boys.