The fee is biting us just like plenty said it would at the time of the daft gamble.

Doesn't really stack up when you consider our home results v Leeds down the years. In fact v a lot of clubs who used to have 5 k or more in that end. Some crowds get at it from the off some don't. Interesting you mention Stoke that's a good example. Can be v loud and intimidating but when they are shut or just average it's dead ..unless the team gives them something to get behind

Are you sure about that ? I'm not ? Burnley are the benchmark for that kind of thing. Their new breed seem a lot quieter though these days. Premier League plastic, who'd have thought !

I hope we can rely on a fee.

Crazy how things change not long ago most of us would've bounced Evans out the door for free. Now we need him fully fit and firing to form part of our best midfield duo. Not sure whether it says Evans has improved or that's how far we've gone backwards this season ? I will say one thing though imo in fits and starts Evans has been better in patches than he ever was under Bowyer bar one little spell. However a lot of that was in league 1 when he was after a new contract so for me the right bid and its time to say goodbye. As always it's how you replace or temp fill the gap of these lads. We are covered in that area this season although nobody aside from Travis seems fit enough to command a regular place....not that they would anyway with this unreal tinkering.

Too many sitting on their wages here and a management only too happy to let them do so. Remember Mowbrays comments in summer about how a few wouldn't get much game time so they were free to look elsewhere. He wasn't going to force them out though so they were basically also free to just pick up their wages and hang around hoping. I said at the time it was a lax attitude to have by him, a shoulder shrug it's no skin off my nose cause i ain't paying them attitude. I thought it would bite us on the arse down the line and the dirty work should have been done then.

At this time of year it's not just about what's available it's also about where you want to be come May. Making an effort a few years ago would probably have seen us avoid relegation. Last season getting in a defender or two or maybe even not letting go the back up might just have helped avoid that awful run. This season there is no one really to let go unless a striker is loaned out although there's deadwood to be trimmed. Maybe Smallwood will get a gig somewhere then that will allow one young player in. The only ambition is to plod in mid table again it probably always was behind closed doors. The Dack injury gives an understandable excuse but there are players out there and players already here to help counter that. However when you can placate your bosses telling them you are getting games into their investments and youngsters and need to rotate to do so it's a ready made security blanket. Comfort zone is alive and well and will continue another 2 years at least.

4600 sold so far for their cup final so on course for a huge turnout again after all. It's amazing the pull a day out in the hills has for these big city dwellers. I suppose driving past the Leeds Liverpool canal is the closest most of the unwashed ever get to natural water.

Pretty sure he was referring to his playing days when he was on about that anyway.

I just couldn't see TM going near a player like him anyway, he might nick it past 2 players go in the box and lose it. No money to be made on him either so the investors wouldn't go near him they don't want to buy ready made quality, where's the fun in that.

Another Peter Whittingham pay off ? A player who might have been getting on but was still rated one of the best assisters in Championship yet another who looked awful here...in lge 1. Or this seasons Anthony Stokes, known rep for liking the ale, fitness weight issues as a result. Goes home miles away all the time because he can't cut the strings from his mates. Plays up, doesn't give a stuff and quickly decides he's just here for a pay off ? It might not seem very human to fully paid up members of footballs old boys club but it's about time players had certain critera laid out when they sign. Failure to adhere after the standard warnings should result in the sack with 6 weeks wages in lieu and a firm boot through the door.

Never told us anything we didn't already know, sorry assume ?

A lot by now probably. Think the last accounts showed nearly 6 mill paid which assumed to be towards BB and AA. Gallagher was quoted as 3 mill with rest in add on's. Next club accounts will make it a bit clearer.

Well he knows what a target man is at least. So he's light years ahead of Mowbray in that alone

Post the crazy revolving door period where managers were employed for days rather than seasons then they've all been very similar, clownpants aside. That period was a mess for many reasons and whilst some things will never change under this are in a period of stability. Even if Coyle was a good manager he'd still have had a tough time winning fans over here like GB, Lambert and Mowbray did for obvious reasons. Thing is apart from Bowyer already here Lambert. Coyle, Mowbray ALL arrived under the usual odd circumstances via the usual channels. All off the scrapheap with poor reps at that time, all quite experienced and all had a promotion to their names so it's fair to assume and new one would be virtually the same. Lambert & Mowbray are similar, average at best and not a disaster at worst, Coyle was always going to be a shocker but we'll assume he got the gig because he undercut everyone else and we were skint. So there's a 2 out of 3 chance that the next would be average and 1 in 3 it would be a nightmare again.

Sadly we were saying exactly the same this time last year and i think we'll be saying the same this time next, not just about Ben !

Why weren't injuries a concern for us ?????

A handy player was Marcus Bent a good back up striker to have in the squad. They should have Samuel watching old videos of Bent on how to make the best of your attributes and limitations. Seems he had a few problems with the marching powder and stuff so hopefully he's got himself together again now.

There's really no point trying to discuss anything at all with you is there. Carry on straw clutching but leave me out of it from now on.

He's decent enough i didn't know that he covered all North Ends back four and goal as well in order to be held responsible for their entire goals conceded column. Besides he's been injured which is irrelevant to what went on in summer.

Mowbray lined up Bauer for a long time then straight from his own mouth told people his agent was asking 40/50k per week. He then went after Downing on a 1 year deal, Downing who was on 30k plus at Boro. Bauer signed a 4 year deal at North End whose max pay is said to be 10-15k pwk, they gave him a large signing on fee. I suppose all that is someone else's call as well ? Or the player himself wasn't impressed with what the Blackburn manager and his assistants pitched to him ? Either way we missed out on a decent defender purchase something we desperately needed, one with potential resale as well. This is on Mowbrays watch and has his name to it. If he wanted a decent defender he could have got one.

Which means the only substancial money we've ever had to build a team under Venkys since Kean & co blew the parachute money has been wasted. More so wasted on 2 'investment' signings where the idea seemed to be for them to be potential even bigger resale value after the football genius has worked his magic on them. Now, back to Venkys and Mowbray constantly telling us the Premier league is the aim.........

Wolves are an example of what we should have been under the Venky masterplan with the amount of money involved. Fortunately for them they paired up with the right people whilst our lot were a set of spivs and chancers.

We continue to pay deadwood and a thousand midfielders so he can rotate weekly yet baulk at the wages of any real quality. A good manager would free up 30 grand a week overnight from this squad. No wonder it's unbalanced really.

He seems to have shrunk an inch under TMs management, must be the weight of the fee. Seriously though some other managers in this league must look at Rovers squad and see the 6'3" + Gallagher and the likes of Brereton and wonder what the hell we are or aren't doing with them. Big athletic quite mobile lads, they need moulding into a system with the right kind of service, they need crosses from either side, cut backs and square balls across the edge of the box. Coach them to attack the ball, gamble and attack space. Say what you want about them but imo what ability they do posses is being completely wasted and it's doing neither any good. Mowbray is right about one thing though if they had 7 or 8 between them this season the fees wouldn't get half the bad press they rightly do.