philipl

Crikey League 2 has aged Bradley terribly. Anything is possible with Waggott etc but I am.not buying the cobblers being written on here about broken verbal agreements and Ipswich shifting their blame onto us about their parsimony in signing a PL bench warmer from us. Plenty of case law that holds a verbal/handshake agreement as a binding contract so if Szmodics' agent is anyone better than just a guy he met in the pub, he would have Rovers in a triple nelson foe breaking their word.

Ploughed through the Phillips to Ipswich and Ahmadhadzic to Ipswich and the Ipswich season previews. No mention of Szmodics anywhere.

Good luck Ipswich.. Am I on my own in viewing Kalvin Phillips as massively over-rated (except when an unused sub which is his usual position these days). PS Elliot Jackson suggested Szmodics came back from Ipswich to Stockport on Tuesday- if there is any truth in it I guess he was already down there on Monday. PPS Ipswich PL fixtures before the window closes are Liverpool h, City a so if anyone gets nervous it is more likely to be them..

A report says Sammy was at Ipswich before returning to Stockport. Don't know if it was a wind up. Markanday dropping to League 2 with an ambitious club could be the making of him- he should have far too much at that level. Letting him go out would suggest Rovers have their eye on an incoming right sided player.

Given the likely weaknesses in the Norwich centre backs, Gueye has to lead the line.

Well I certainly looked at the table when we won 2-0 at Coventry in 1992. Gobsmacked in the nicest way possible.

Results?

Haven't see the replays but for it to be an og, Bucko must have massively diverted the 16 year old's shot. That said, from the angle of the fixed camera it looked like he just stood there and watched it.

Surely not. Jason's ability to miss an open goal from 2 yards out is the stuff of legends. He did 5 times to my recollection with one credulity stretching miss at Stamford Bridge. On the other hand, Jason could find the net from the edge of the area.

Rovers started really well and Norwich been disorganised so far. We can be confident Eustace will set us up well (apart from the collective aberration at Ashton Gate has he ever failed in this respect for us?) so we can really go for the win. Obviously we need at least 3 goals with Pears in goal but we probably have the fire power to have a decent chance of scoring that many- not something anyone would have been expecting to be the case just six days ago. One side request- Gueye to smack one on target. Keeper saving it is almost less important than the big man showing he has an accurate powerful shot in his repertoire.

Very encouraged by what the Rovers fan sat behind the dug out said about Eustace being extremely direct and leaving nobody unclear about what standards he demands

17 days to the end of the window. With Waggott's record make that 15 to give doing the paperwork a chance.. I suspect we are going to be facing the dingles with Pears in goal but Bristol City will be coming to Ewood on 14 September when there will be at least 4 new faces available for selection with at least 2 loans. As for Szmodics last night, he missed a sitter for his hattrick and got pulled. I'd be really worried if he weren't pissed off.

Their keeper was man of the match- he pulled off some excellent saves, particularly the one from Gueye.

Pretty in pink. Announcer stumbling over Stockport names...

There is a cryptic Elliott line in the LT that Sammy has done well to be back for tonight's game from Ipswich.

After the first round of games, all we know is Plymouth, Norwich, Luton, Derby and PNE have all started terribly... Portsmouth and Oxford got really good results so we handled the Derby newly promoted club bounce very well.

Luton badly hit by injuries plus missed the guile and knowhow of Ross Barcley or however he spells his name. Put a player like that in their midfield and the dingles would still have won but Trafford would have been far more exposed.

Scott Wharton hopefully recovering

Easy to say this after a 4-2 win but Eustace is growing on me. Am a huge JDT fan but I think this guy can do an excellent job for us. Doomed now!

He also has a Premier League engine and whilst not the quickest, can still out run Premier League quality defenders in a straight foot race.

Watched the first half until Wednesday scored. Plymouth Abysmal. Hard to tell how good Wednesday are but they have decent players all over the park and of course the best coach in the Championship. Glad I tipped them to win the league.

Flogging the players we have already sold has sorted the club surviving for the next 18 months even if zero comes from Pune. So the situation is very different from the legging over we got from Palace. Rovers are no longer in a must sell, thank you for the penny from the rich man's table position. If I were Sammy, I'd be seriously wondering about Ipswich. They either believe he is a vital piece in keeping them in the PL in which case the 5m or whatever the difference is becomes core to them earning an extra 170m in 2025/26 or they don't. The Ipswich stance screams they think they are signing a bench warmer/impact sub. Sammy might get his assured millions but will also lose his sharpness and career. There are other PL clubs out there who are in the market for a Sammy type of player so both Rovers and Sammy should sit tight.

Great shame Gilsenan is out injured. There is a case for starting with the 11 who finished on Friday night except swapping out one from Hyam or Carter for Buckley or going 3 at the back and going for Duru in place of Brittain with Duru and Pickering pushed further forward. Would be good to see Tyjon on the bench.

I believe the Ipswich 500k gap on Sammy is not true. Apparently it is much bigger with Ipswich low balling and moving very slowly. The only number we have heard authoritatively is their 6m initial offer. Obviously age is a factor but Sammy scored more goals last season than any of Stewart, Gyokeres, Akpom, Mitrovic (46m for a 29 year old!), Assombalonga, Gayle, Bowen, Toney, Maupay, Watkins and Adam Armstrong did before their treansfers which between them averaged just over 20m in transfer fees. An asking price of 15m and accepting 12m would be very reasonable in that context.

My views about Waggott are well known. Last season's interview horrified me when he stated the ambition was to stay in the League and develop young players- just after we had missed out on the play-offs on goal difference. So for him to say this year's target is top half to be in position to challenge for the play-offs was as big a surprise. At least we didn't get the team bus bought (it was hired)... I am sure he is aware of the contents of the last 80 pages on this thread. Well time to walk the walk because talking the talk is easy. 20 days to transfer deadline day- we pay transfer fees in instalments as well as receiving them in instalments. Let's see if this was all BS and whether for the first time in four windows we can process paperwork properly. There enough Chiefs to make sure the right button is pressed. Of course I know we will be let down.