I personally think Lampard is one of the entitled 'golden generation' of England players (who didn't deliver btw) who thinks football owes them a living. He is out of his depth and can't set teams up to get results. He'll get sacked for sure by Everton, go away for a couple of months and then reemerge somewhere new with a lucrative deal, fail and then repeat the process.

After the debacles of the last two months I was certainly happy with our commitment. We tackled, put a foot in and fouled when we had to do that (albeit elementary) pleased me. We defended well throughout as a team although some individual mistakes were made particularly Kaminski who does have these basic mistakes in him but he can also be a match winner. I would say we allowed the Bristol player far too much room to move into before getting his shot away. I thought Ayala was naive for such an experienced player by trying to get in front of the Bristol player who cleverly 'rolled' him. Overall I thought we were worth a point in a generally scrappy game and some of the positives were a couple of recently out of form players looked like some confidence had returned. And the nonsensical passing around wasn't as much in evidence today and that is fundamental to results in my view. Wellll done to our away support again today.

I really thought this season would be the one when we regain our position as Burnley's superiors but I was massively wrong. Kompany has done a terrific job, bought well and used the loan market excellently. But the thing I give them most grudging admiration for is their spirit. How many times have they come back from behind to win? I'm guessing ten but maybe Longsiders or Sympatheticclaret can confirm. That ethos cannot be understated and drawing the obvious comparison with us they are streets ahead in nearly every aspect of the game. That might rankles with a few and it makes me sad but it's the truth. Kompany for Tomasson? In a heartbeat.

Tomasson trotting out the young team excuse (again) and said the average are of the team that finished at Rotherham was 23.3 years old. He didn't say that Rotherham were coasting then due to a combination of tactics, selection and lack of moral fibre. Bayes did point out the ages of at least half of the starting team but Tomassons cheesy grin appeared and he skated around it.

I think today was the last as to claim your seat before going on open sale. I normally find for cup games a lot of the regulars where we sit don't bother and their seats are taken by non season ticket holders. To be fair nobody can use the price as a reason for not going.

I was buying Birmingham tickets this morning and was told that we are close to selling our allocation (about 1000 iirc) for tomorrow. It really is a source of wonderment to me sometimes how good our away support is despite horror days like Rotherham and Burnley.

Losing Hyam is a huge blow and I think it will adversely affect us for the period he is out. I honestly can't see anything for us on Saturday. Too many chocolate soldiers.

Suits you Sir.

Unless they want to send him out on loan to put him in the shop window (and subsequent sale) it makes little sense to me. I can only see Pears dropping down a league or two which begs the question of how much we still have to contribute to his wages as well as paying his replacement.

It smacks of Mowbrayness to me. One of Broughton's old clubs? I just don't get the need for a new keeper whilst Pears is contracted until 2024 and has proved himself an adequate number two. This Haikin has less than 100 senior matches which isn't good for a 27 year old.

So we are strengthening a position which is arguably the strongest in the squad by signing a 27 year old incidentally from Broughton's old club. That scouting network must have worked overtime for this one. And what about ROI? Didn't Broughton specifically example a 27 year old midfielder with no ROI as a non starter?

I know that Rovers pay a set fee to play there (as do Burnley) and that the LFA keep the gate receipts but I don't know who sets the admission charge.

Under 21 league matches are normally free for season ticket holders which is usually stated when the game is advertised but we had to pay for the International Premier Cup. Perhaps Swag has seen a loophole to differentiate between league and cup games and it trying to capitalise on it.

Today's match has been called off.

FAO Swag. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/football-fans-stadiums-pouring-beers-28983631

My hope for this game is that we, at the very least compete and put a few tackles in. Get a few yellow cards too but not for technical offences, for actually smashing into a few Bristol players. In other words I want to see some commitment. Too often since the World Cup we have rolled over and allowed ourselves to be bullied and out fought, a terrible indictment on any professional sportsman. Show some pride in that famous shirt you are privileged to wear, have a go, show us you at the very least care. And if you can't just fuck off.

That was some deal for Hirst. He was our number one target, we paid tens of thousands for him to contribute nothing (apart from missing a penalty), generally warm the bench, didn't score and we send him back six months early because he is crap. Well done Greg.

Honestly Leonard I don't think that will ever happen. Some still see them as knights in shining armour who are keeping us going. The best analogy is that it's like being run over by one of their Bentley's, being critically injured and on a life support machine and they are paying the electricity bill to keep the machine switched on.

Just remind me where we were when these owners rocked up? Harry Redknapp called us the best run club and an example to every other PL club. How many season ticket holders did we have? A really good commercial department, excellent senior management, great players and huge tv payments from Sky and many other aspects of the club to be proud of. And then it came to a shuddering halt. How lucky we are indeed.

I much prefer to call it realism rather than negativity based on twelve years. From our perspective there isn't a solution that we can influence. The paradox is that they created this whole mess and we are now beholden to them to keep throwing away good money after bad to simply tread water. I just don't see anything positive about their ownership past, present or future.

It's a question that the sensible Rovers fans have asked thousands of times and despite the speculation nobody has a definitive answer. I can't for the life in me understand why they are still here throwing money down a black hole for absolutely no return. They haven't been to a game since 2014. I believe the only way they will come to getting any money back is by us getting to the Premier League and the riches that go with it and then selling us whilst our stock is relatively high. But we as as far away from the Premier League as we have been so I've resigned myself to them being here for the foreseeable despite my intense dislike of them and the irreparable damage caused by them.

Our club has been systematically plundered and neglected by these owners for twelve years now and people have faith in them over the next few years to deliver a plan or project. It won't happen and despite the rhetoric from Broughton and Tomasson these errant owners are the big stumbling block and the main reason it won't. They are the worst thing that has ever happened to our club and still, unbelievably some think they will come good.

Interestingly Edun was stripped to play and on the team sheet but didn't play. I saw him going to a car about forty minutes before the game and didn't see him after that. I'm speculating here but I wondered if he is going out on loan and it was decided not to risk him.

An entertaining match at the Academy today in which Everton played their part. It was a pleasure to watch a Rovers team playing progressive football through the lines and going long when required, a total contrast to the tripe we saw yesterday. Some decent performances from Rovers who played with some intensity and put in lots of aggressive challenges, again a total contrast to the players yesterday. Tomasson was there and significantly Markanday and Phillips were withdrawn in the second half presumably to protect them for Bristol next Saturday. I would like to think the way we played might have some influence over him but the realist in me says no chance he will.

I mentioned that at the end yesterday. He was hurting - the rest of them looked like they wanted to get back to their designer wash have and coming over to the fans was an inconvenience.