arbitro

Before the cup game at Norwich I would have agreed but I saw a couple of occasions there where he moved forward into midfield with the ball, something he hadn't done before. Pretty much everything he does is safe, understandable given his age and position he plays.

That would make sense as Sky have an SPL game at that time but they don't seem to bother about EFL and SPL games clashing.

And the real irony if that did happen would be that both us and Wigan wouldn't be playing on Saturday 4th.

Good point. The same applies with Wigan who have a home tie with Grimsby should they beat Luton in their third round replay.

It's not just about the football. Planning for a game with potentially a couple of thousand Brummies doesn't happen overnight. Police, stewards, catering etc has to be planned in advance. If it's Forest Green with a few hundred that will make a difference to the planning. Either teams supporters intending to travel won't be able to buy tickets until a few days before the game.

The potential cup replay would take priority over a league game.

I noticed that the Forest Green v Birmingham game isn't being played until Tuesday 17th January with a potential replay not being until 24th or 25th which means that potentially we won't know who we playing until a few days before. And looking further ahead the fifth round is scheduled for a midweek.

Another good effort by the fans. In fairness Rotherham are sensible with their pricing which encourages more to travel.

Waggott has essentially confirmed what many have been saying about season ticket sales and his reluctance to offer cheaper deals. He said he has to meet the budgets set by the owners and stated that although Preston sold more season tickets than us he wasn't sure if they brought in as much money as us. In other words he is screwing and abusing the loyalty of our hard core of support and can't be arsed trying to sell more using different initiatives. He also pretty much said the Dingles would get a full allocation for the game in March. The sooner this bloke leaves our club the better.

No complaints on the night as the under 21's were well beaten by a superior Valencia team. The Spaniards could have been three up early on as a combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping kept the score to one. Rovers rallied a bit towards half time and created a couple of chances as we counter attacked quickly. The second half saw Valencia comfortably defend their lead and double it towards the end. In fairness it was an extremely young Rovers team with only James Brown having any first team (one game) experience.

The eagerly awaited third series of Happy Valley started on New Years Day and so far it hasn't disappointed. The acting and writing is as good as it gets but sadly the excellent Sarah Lancashire has already said this is her last series. Without her it wouldn't be the same.

I keep seeing FFP mentioned as a reason we can't sign players. Does it mean Fuckwits From Pune?

If that's true then hopefully they play him on Saturday. Job done 😂😂

The re emergence of Rankin-Costello surely negates the need for a new right back. Edun is adequate cover at left back so as far as the full back positions are concerned I think we we are covered. Ditto centre halves. We need a midfield enforcer as I believe Travis is spent and a striker or two.

It's that type of player Andy. They know their limitations and realise where their strengths are. They just get on with their jobs quietly and hugely effectively. I thought his game yesterday was the best individual performance of the season, perhaps even a couple of season.

We were chatting yesterday and there was a suggestion that Burnley and Nobbers were Tomasson's 'road to Damascus' games. Although we have lost two of them the games since then haven't had anywhere near as many of the risky passes which cost us a number of goals. We have seen a lot more long diagonal and cross field passes which have made us a better team. And he has generally been selecting players who have these attributes in their locker. The risk versus reward football seems to have been shelved for now.

Dominic Hyam reminds me so much of Ryan Nelsen. He is a no frills defender who seems to thrive on a physical game. He has leadership qualities, is calm under pressure and is really brave.

Another successful trip to East Anglia and another win. The long journeys are always worth it when you travel back with the warm satisfaction of a win. And the bonus of listening to the Cup draw live and getting a home tie was the icing on the cake. After we scored I was never unduly worried about Norwich equalising despite what seemed like incessant pressure in the second half. We we defensively sound despite the early change at centre half. Hyam was imperious, in my view the best individual display of the season and Phillips had his best senior game too I thought. Pears was very good and despite earlier aberrations in his Rovers career has shown he can step up when needed. The were many good performances too as we showed some steel and aggression all over the pitch. And well done to Tomasson who got his tactics right against Norwich for the second time in a few weeks. Hopefully he is learning more and more about the players strengths and weaknesses and incorporating that into his game plan.

Easily the best game of football I have seen for some time. It had everything.

Mola has been spotted at Farsley Celtic today. 😂😂 In seriousness though I'm glad because it's an admission from Tomasson and Broughton that they got it wrong. Hopefully his replacement can at least contribute something.

Rovers have chartered a flight for today to Norwich. If he was in the squad he wouldn't be allowed to travel independently and certainly not allowed to make his own way to Ipswich and back.

And again..... https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/anthony-stokes-celtic-charged-drugs-28897260 This time it looks like he will be locked up. To think he once wore our famous shirt.

But the money we get would go a long way to replacing him which we will have to do for nothing in July. Letting him walk for nothing in six months just doesn't make any sense when he has some value now.

Around 200 tickets have been sold thus far. A ridiculously long journey on the back of Christmas isn't ideal but the 2 pm Sunday kick off is what is preventing a few of the regulars I know from going.

On his day he was up there with the best and he was a nice man too. I had some dealings with him when he the Chelsea manager and he was always prepared to listen and accept (not always agree) the match officials decisions. RIP.