Apologies; I'm coming late to this thread. Yesterday evening was a very emotional time, what with Rovers not buying anybody and Brexit celebrations. Totally agree with stinny's opinion here. As I get older, the public transport journey from Heywood - Ewood gets more arduous and getting home at 7.15 after watching a Mowbray selection of misfits - no disrespect to the individuals; it's the manager's bizarre positioning of them - is getting wearying. On the assumption that we remain in the Championship, I could cope with next season if I thought we had a new, young progressive manager who put round pegs in round holes and didn't mislead the fans. For me, once a Mowbray aficionado, "Defenders are coming" will forever be his epitaph.

I never thought I'd type the following words, and I'll bet you never expected to read them, but "there was an interesting article in the Metro yesterday".? ? It was on the subject of FFP and made the point that we are not alone. We weren't mentioned specifically, but the article pointed out that even the teams at the top of the table - West Brom were cited- haven't looked that brilliant this season. At the time the article was published yesterday morning, the author said that Championship "teams have so far made a grand total of eight permanent signings between them in this transfer window, and there is one major reason for that - FFP." "... so many clubs are struggling to comply with Financial Fair Play Rules that significant signings are nigh-on impossible - and it is showing on the pitch. "A rule designed to improve competition and stop clubs going bust is instead a cap on ambition and also creates a huge gulf to the Premier League for those who do go up. "Do they splurge the cash like Aston Villa - with all the problems bedding in north of £100 million worth of players in one fell swoop brings - or not, like Norwich, and ensure relegation would not be a financial catastrophe? "The intentions of FFP may be honourable but, right now, fans of Championship clubs are being short-changed." I've quoted so much of the article, not to point any fingers at anyone in authority at Ewood, but to point out that we're in good[?] company in struggling with the shackles of FFP. Who knows: Brentford's approach - buy them cheap; sell them at a significant profit - may be the most effective way to get us back to the halcyon days of the 1990s. But that would surely require a good, reliable scouting network across Europe. And that seems as likely to appear at Ewood any time soon as those defenders we were apparently promised were "coming".

I was listening to the commentary on Brentford v. Leicester on BBC1 and mention's been made about the profits Brentford make by selling players they've bought cheaply. Anybody know if there's a 'sell-on clause' in the Raya transfer??

There's only Barnsley and Luton Town conceded more Championship goals than QPR this season; so hopefully, our lads, buoyed by the win at Sheffield Wednesday and relaxed by the warmer weather of the Algarve, will be able to pressurise them and win. Fingers crossed for a 3-1 Rovers' win.

Meanwhile, on another topic connected with last Saturday, am I the only one to wonder if the squad would be going for some warm-weather training if - as many on here expected before 3.00 last Saturday - we'd lost to the Owls??

Being naturally verbose, if I'm abroad and the topic of conversation turns to football and I'm not wearing anything - even a baseball cap - with the club badge on, my answer to the question of which team I support, the 4-word answer's always the same: "The Famous Blackburn Rovers." Sadly, it's been too long since I could quote the next line: "And we're off to Wemberlee!"

As you may have been able to tell, I've saved this evening for catching up on the euphoria of yesterday's win and there's just one thing which I'd like to add about Ryan Nyambe. Imo, one of the best things about his development is that he's now won his first couple of international caps for Namibia. He MUST surely be boosted by that and know, deep down, that he has the real potential to develop further. Let's hope that the club management pick up on this and encourage it for the benefit and, of course, This Great Club Of Ours.

One of my friends who would have to be anaesthatised and dragged to any football match tells me she thinks I'm very 'fluffy'. It's posts like this one, esp. the last paragraph, which make me so fluffy. To think that there'll be a Rovers' fan in the 2070s who'll remember yesterday's game with a fond memory tells me that whatever our owners, or their 'advisers' do with, or to, This Great Club Of Ours, it'll still be safe with fans like her! Right, FLUFF ALERT over!??

??? Just a thought to properly ingratiate him into the local 'culture', tha knows!!

Well, fwiw, I think we ought to be introducing him to Thwaites' Best Mild!! ?

Does that mean we'll beat Leeds 7-0 @ Ewood?!! ? ?

My guess is it's irony, T-i-G. Sorry if someone's already posted on those lines; I'm always late for parties!?

. . . like so many of TM's public statements about Rovers' players, imo.

And, going for the hat trick . . . , About 15 years ago, I was at St. James' Park with a friend who worked in the same line in Newcastle as me for a Newcastle/Rovers game. My pal had managed to get 3 tickets for the game so his wife came with us to watch her first game of Premier League football. I managed not to laugh out loud when she asked him with about 50 minutes on the clock why the teams weren't kicking the same way as they had been in the first half!

Sorry, I should have added that I, too, hope it isn't a career-ending injury for the sake of the lad who I, too, wish a full recovery.

And the Ref didn't think it was worthy of even a yellow, IIRC. I'm not suggesting VAR for fouls/cards but when you add 7 mins stoppage time . . . ,

I was just about to post that we'd all been frightened into silence by that prospect!

With respect, some players reach their level & can't progress beyond it. E.g.Smallwood who played a vital role in getting us back into Division 2-really, but couldn't get us any higher up the 'football pyramid'. And is Holtby really a "young lad" in football terms? I was glad to see us signing him; now I'm slightly less convinced.

Me & my walking stick'd be ahead of him!?

Yes, that was incomprehensible to me, too. I think all at Spotland realise what a gem they have in Mathewson; perhaps Brian Barry-Murphy was trying to protect him. But fair play to BBM, he quickly realised his mistake & rectified it. I doubt TM would have been so decisive in the first half of a game.

Hear hear. When we squandered our chance in the first half, there were several Birmingham players also involved in keeping the ball out of the net. A few other random thoughts: as I approached Spotland earlier today, I noticed one of the coaches which had brought the Newcastle fans south parked near the ground. It presumably belonged to a company called TM Travel (?!), because that was what was shown on its destination board. Wonder how much it'd cost to hire to park leaving that subliminal message outside Ewood before every home game? Sanchez, the Rochdale keeper, was today's equivalent of our "P.J. Man of the match". He's the other very tall keeper loaned by Brighton; did we get the wrong one? I don't know if Dale borrowed him before we borrowed Walton; but I can't help wondering if the fact that he's Spanish may have influenced our Manager?? As soon as the Birmingham defender was sent off, I texted one of my friends, saying that TM's explanation for our failure to win - even then, I expected only a draw at best - would be that "it's often harder to play against 10 men than 11"!

And does anybody know what the situation is with Magloire, who's just returned to Rochdale's line-ups? Could we recall him?

That's a tad harsh, imo. From my younger days standing in the enclosure under the old main stand, I could offer you Martin Britt. And from the post Premier League-winning era, how about Corrado Grabbi? There's two who, off the top of my head could give Brereton a run for his money for the title you've awarded him. Speaking from memory, we didn't do enough medical research into the fitness of Britt - or Allan Gilliver from the same era; the mid-1960s - before signing either. From what I've read about the width and depth of scouting research done on Brereton before we bought him, there seem to be echoes of that sort of skimpy work re-surfacing at Ewood.

I don't have Sky and chose not to listen to Radio 5; was that for us, or for Forest? Just asking!

He's obviously remembering Tinkerman Ranieri winning the Premier League with Leicester City. The pity for us is that he's more 'Stinkerman', tweaking the team for no real purpose, and to negative effect. The way he's fiddling around surely has its roots in the way he must have whispered the word "Loan" so softly that people only heard, "defenders are coming."