Chill folks. Numerous times I have set my aspirations knowing they depend on several other parties and missed self set deadlines. The keys are: - tenacity and patience - knowing when you have a lucky break and being able to take advantage of it - being able to reassess situations as they happen dispassionately and not making yourself hostage to past positions Easier said than done. No doubt Nixon has made Rovers job at least 50% harder than it should have been. Mowbray would not have said what he did about a leak if it weren't seriously harming us. Whether we land four targets or zero targets, I am confident we will have had a team at Ewood pulling together and doing an honest job in the best interests of Rovers and I haven't felt that way since November 2010... We are going to stay up if we sign nobody. We should scare most of this division if we land all Mowbray's targets in the next few days AND we will still have a united motivated squad and the financial fundamentals will still look better relatively speaking than they did two years ago.

Let's not forget Reading list all three very narrowly and in two cases rather unluckily. There is a sense they are going to click soon unlike Hull who are a rather poor side. This is a game I will just be hugely relieved if we get three points from. Don't get me wrong, I am beginning to be very optimistic about Rovers this season but this is a division where, with only one or two exceptions, any club can beat any other club on a decent day. We are not going to go through this season like the knife through butter after the Wimbledon game last year. We are going to have unexpected reverses even if we have a great first year back and I have a bad feeling about tonight.

Well hello from China. Ploughed my way through the last six pages and you lot are as wet and miserable as the weather in Jinan today. It rained so heavily all the manhole covers were lifted by the force of water in the city centre.. Back to the loans window, if we don't get Brereton, I can always read Stuart's posts by way of consolation. On a serious point, Rovers kept the Armstrong, Davenport and Rothwell deals pretty quiet until close to signings. So I am concerned when Mowbray mutters about sabotage and see Nixon (pal of Jerome) listing our targets and blabbing mega chicken. All has a nasty taste and I am not talking Venky burger. Hope Freeman doesn't have too sore a neck watching those seven fly in behind him at the Hawthorns. Baggies might have done us a favour.

Reading's awful start will make them dangerous opponents so wouldn't be completely surprised by us having to fight back from going a goal down if we make a slow start. Most people see Reading as potential strugglers so a good early benchmark fixture for how comfortable or otherwise survival will be. Obviously hoping for a win and a good looking table on Wednesday night but have a horrible feeling this will be 1-1 or even worse.

So are we getting Brereton for £8m? Brilliant news if we are and a massive statement of intent. Chuffed to bits if someone can save me reading the last 15 pages and confirm this. Please?

Just checked in to see the results. Brilliant to see we collected all three points and did so without being clinical in front of goal. Got the first league victory so let's kick on from here. Greetings from a rain sodden Jinan in China.

Looking at our next five fixtures in the context of how clubs have started this season, I would venture to suggest that if we are not in a play off slot after our first seven games, we might be in a spot of bother after 46...

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/nottingham-forest-starlet-ben-brereton-14131866 https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/578605/Nottingham-Forest-Ben-Brereton-Liverpool-news even when he was only 17: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3067108/liverpool-plot-10m-bid-for-nottingham-forest-whizkid-ben-brereton-after-scouts-rave-about-the-striker/

The more I hear of him the more I like what I hear. Very solid football man and has all the right values. A gem.

I think it would be a mistake to assume Forest are a rational actor in the way us Rovers fans are thinking. They have spent a fortune this summer, wages are presumably enormous so this is a promotion or bust approach. Is there a place for a promising 19 year old in such a scenario? Apparently not. Why wouldn't he even get into a completely reserve XI League Cup squad last night? Remember the report they appointed an agent to get rid of Brereton a day before the deadline? The evidence is pointing to there being something in this Brereton move.

Extremely happy if we are chasing Brereton and Chapman and perfectly OK if they are loan only. Football economics have gone bonkers so let's just enjoy good footballers playing for Rovers.

Interesting thing about last night (and highlighted by Mowbray in his interview) was the way it forced us to play balls forward along the ground. With the calibre of Dack and Palmer and sharpness of Armstrong that actually worked to our strengths. It could be that Davenport (from what I have read about him) will add in this respect.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44981103 Fascinating analysis of Premier League v Championship. Looks at the two year Championship gamble of breaking FFP hoping to get up before the sanctions cut in.

I don't know what I have done but it happened automatically for me this season!

Really appreciate reading this type of analysis. Thank you for doing it.

Can't say fairer than that. The only hint was the comment about needing to strengthen in all areas of the pitch and being too open at the back so at least one of the 3 is a defensive midfielder/ defender.

Chapman subbed off after 42 minutes- injury

I did say MUST WIN and I am sticking to it. I explained why in the loan thread. Win this one and we sit pretty in the table while we battle the rest of the Championship fight it out for the game and season changing crumbs dropping for the Premier League before the loans window closes.

The Gallagher speculation was fan driven- not been in the press since July and there have been no indications at all that the £24k per week wage or loan fee have been addressed. Makes Gallagher a very long shot based on what is known. On the basis, QPR killed any move for Freeman and Charlton for Bauer, the list is narrowed down to one of those two and a move which was kept very quiet. I have no reason to think that when four or five potential incomings were mentioned a week ago, we were being lied to. Nor frankly as far as I can tell has anybody on here any grounds to claim Waggott/Mowbray personally were lying. So that means there are certainly one or two moves made by Rovers last week which remain outside the public domain.

That LT piece signals a deal is already done somewhere subject to the usuals. Which means it must have been in the works last week so I'd look at last week's links if you want to speculate meaningfully.

@richsharpe89 43 minutes ago Just leaving Brockhall after speaking to Tony Mowbray and Joe Rothwell ahead of the Carlisle cup tie. #Rovers team news: Kasey Palmer a confirmed starter. Dominic Samuel fit to travel, but Derrick Williams won’t be. Jacob Davenport still a couple of weeks away.

Rich Sharpe‏ @richsharpe89 18 minutes ago On loan signings, Mowbray admits a new addition is likely at #Rovers before the weekend.

And was Villa man of the match by some distance by many accounts. In years gone by we would have nabbed him ahead of Villa because of our reputation for being incredibly well run by very decent people... Mowbray is doing a great job rebuilding that sense of decency and competence but a combination of just being promoted and the past seven years' nonsenses probably gave us no chance against a big city club and last season's play-off beaten finalists.

The Sun linked us to Gallagher in early July saying he would go out of Southampton if Ings came in but his £24k per week wages are a stumbling block. Chapman must be fit if he is on Boro's bench each week. We know he is not a Pulis sort of player and we know he is incredibly exciting when he's on the pitch. A defender's nightmare whether you are facing him from minute 1 or minute 71. If we are taking a fitness risk, I'd take Chapman over Wickham. If we are taking an unproven striker risk, I'd take Brereton over Wickham.

One we can rule out then. ? Who knows? Obviously McGinn not coming, Freeland got he full not over my dead body from McLaren. I have seen a lot about Gallagher on here but I cannot find any serious press linking us with him currently. Brereton seems to be a live link as does Chapman. I'd be delighted to see either and elated to see both. Then a back up defender who will keep Mulgrew and Lenihan under pressure. And that ladies and gentlemen would be a fabulous summer's business.