He has certainly stamped his mark on our club. He still wears the fools cap to me though.

For me it's important to get off to a good start and having a strong squad from the off would give us a far better chance of this. Before the window closes there are 21 points to play for which could well have a big bearing on the season. Our usual last day scramble is what I'm fearing when we are looking in the bargain bucket. If we have money to spend on identified targets then we should be pushing ahead to get them in quickly.

A big lump of a centre half nutmegs our star striker in an extraordinary way 😂😂😂 Tomasson's reaction along with several players is funny.

To me it was a back four with Carter at right back and Pickering on the left with two centre halves in Wharton and Phillips. In the second half Carter went to centre half to accommodate Brittain.

Aside from Accrington when availability dictated the formation we have played a back four which I think Tomasson prefers particularly now as he has a decent right back. Progressively over the pre season games I have noticed we have looked quicker and look to play an early pass rather than take too many touches. The interchanging of the front players has also been a feature. I have sat behind Tomasson on three of the games and he has barked at forward players several times for not dropping deeper and tracking back when out of possession. Along with that we look a lot fitter than we have for a few pre seasons now. For the first time in a while I believe we are creating an identity, a way to play which really enthuses me for the future. The players seem to be buying in to this also.

I had a similar problem creating an account for my granddaughter to buy her season ticket. Because I used my email address to create her account it wouldn't let me set it up as I simply wanted to link my account to her new one. The system they have apparently doesn't allow two accounts with the same email. I actually ended up driving down and doing the transaction over the counter. By the way she is ten and her mum, quite rightly doesn't want her to have an email address.

I think your first sentence is good but you've killed it with a silly sentence at the end.

I find with these young kids loaned from PL clubs that they are two extremes, either very good (Elliot) or very poor (Clarkson) so I'll reservations judgement until I've seen him play a few competitive League matches. My real worry though is that bringing them in stifles the progress of our own youngsters in this case Garrett and Wharton.

I doff my cap to you Glen for your line and method of questioning. In all honesty your words have allayed one or two of my fears but I still harbour a mistrust of the owners and executives. Great stuff mate.

Brittain is a decent signing on the face of it in an area of the pitch were we are weak. He will have to but the ground running and hopefully gets a start at Lincoln. We still desperately need a few more yet though but it's a start.

Ticketing details have been announced for our first away match at Swansea on August 6th. Adult prices are £32.50 and travelling on the Rovers official coaches will cost another £39.50. So that's £72 before anything to eat or drink is factored in. I assume this will be available on iPlayer for £10 and who can blame anybody for taking this option. Interestingly Rovers have announced four qualifying phases for ticket sales for a game which we won't come anywhere near to selling out.

NFT's? No Fucking Transfers?

Here's a thought for today. During Waggott's tenure to date he has probably earned more than lots of Rovers do in a lifetime of work.

That's what I don't understand. When anybody meets with Swag there should be no censorship of what is said as nothing confidential should be discussed. If anything of that nature is said then Swag should be hauled over the coals. Otherwise what's the point of meeting and then keeping it to yourself?

On the night when we were promoted at Bury in 1980 we were in red. Down the years red has featured in lots of our change strips.

Correct. The dearth of affordable overseas players because of Brexit has pushed the price and possibly wages up of equivalent standard domestic players.

We have to make assumptions John because we don't know the full facts apart from Rothwell on which I agree with you entirely. Sheer madness but not surprising at all. What we do know is that it will cost money to replace them either in wages, fees or both, money we don't appear to have or if we do could have gone towards strengthening other areas. By all accounts Lenihan and Nyambe wanted to stay according to reports on here which they said came from the mouth of Swag himself. In negotiations when one of the parties wants something it gives a slight advantage to the other party. When I read that they were keen to stay I thought it was job done but for whatever reason that didn't happen. The notion of expecting kids to step up is fanciful in my view. We could perhaps carry one with some astute nurturing but to put more than one in is folly for me.

And how much has Swag paid for his season ticket? We will have supporters who don't earn much paying a lot for theirs but our man Swag gets free admission. He was picking up his complimentary ticket at Celtic on Saturday. And he's only on £300k.

My understanding from the time was £15m with a percentage to Newcastle. But my wider point was that we got a fee for him. The Waggott Three walked away for nothing.

And that's the reality for me. The wave of optimism around his appointment has dissipated a little as frustration kicks in and his comment about asking Broughton about transfers indicates to me that he is feeling that way too. This isn't 'happy to be here' Mowbray who put up with this nonsense. It's a young manager who has given us cause to be optimistic about the immediate future, an oasis in the Rao Desert. Once again I'll say it - the fucking elephant is still in the room.

But we got £15m for Armstrong John, none of which was reinvested in players. We let three players with an estimated value of £8-10m walk for nothing and we are likely to spend money replacing them. Factor in their wages and it makes no sense whatsoever.

Throw in Hart, Smallwood, Gladwin, Pears and Hedges. The last two with strong Mowbray connections.

It sounds to me that he's happy here so why haven't the club capitalised on this?

We were led to believe that Phillips would sign the professional deal he was offered as we were led to believe that Lenihan and Nyambe would also sign new deals (as told by Swag to posters on here in the lounges pre match). And still the Waggettes offer some defence of him blaming the players, agents etc. Waggotts words mean nothing to me and his word has been broken too often for him to retain any credibility.

But to chase somebody we can't afford is unrealistic and a waste of time surely. We all want the best but with, for example Davies on a reputed £32k weekly at Liverpool then he is out of our reach. I would imagine we will be looking towards players from a league or two below us a PL kids on loan who their parent clubs just want them to gain experience at our expense. The standard has been lowered organically with this wage structure that they now hide behind.