arbitro

Mowbray should be in there with a cheeky bid for Ayala or Flint. Both meet the criteria of having played for one of his old clubs ☺️

In the modern game that will always be called as a red. At speed, out of control and endangering an opponents (and teammates) safety. I called it in real time and Rovers accepted the three game ban.

It seems your drunken haze affected your memory ?. It was a clear red card and crass stupidity by Smallwood. To remind you they had not long before gone down to ten and I really thought we were on for at least a point. Smallwoods indiscretion handed them the initiative and three quick goals (all from Sharpe) killed us.

Mowbray, like any manager has a budget to work to. Providing he stays within the parameters of that I don't think the owners or CEO would particularly bother. Mowbray will invariably decide who gets sold, signed or gets a new deal. Mowbray has said he is constantly fending off calls from agents at this time of year. He would be their first point of contact and that dialogue would most likely include wages. That's how he knew Bauer's agent thought he was worth £40-50k.

In the Boxing Day match at Leeds Travis wasn't even on the bench.

Mowbray decides who gets new deals. Waggott will negotiate with agents and representatives.

I'm not sure how problems with Rochdale's pitch could have been foreseen although I take your unambitious point.

Mowbray admitted that most of the new contracts were given as rewards for promotion. I just don't see how we were protecting our interests by giving the likes of Smallwood, Evans, Williams and Mulgrews new deals.

We had a really good start to the season hitting the ground running. Form dipped after that but it's far better playing some team better than us rather than some inferior team.

To be honest that was my mind set but Mowbray has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons by saying the door may be open for him.

I heard on Sunday from a Rangers supporting friend that Morelos could be going for £20m and Daniel Sturridge coming in as his replacement on a three year deal. Have you heard anything?

No blame attached to Rovers but already pre season is in disarray. With Bury in such a chaotic state I wonder if that might be in doubt. Good shout Tyrone by the way.

But surely that has to be balanced against the risk of losing top targets for what is tantamount to penny pinching in the bigger picture. This is an area where I fundamentally disagree with Mowbray who believes prices will come down as we get closer to the end of the window. I think the opposite is likely to happen as selling clubs know there is a touch of desperation as evidenced by the late signing of Brereton for silly money.

Interesting that Jansson's agent is none other than Martin Dahlin and that Leeds sold him due to FFP worries. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/pontus-jansson-explains-leeds-sold-17696147

There will be some numbskulls travelling from Blackburn Andy. You know the ones, they once had a pint of Guinness and they become Irish and want to tell the world how they are proud Paddies. Hopefully the police will come down hard on any of the sectarian bullshit.

He had no choice with Travis. Early in the season he barely got into the squad. He played against Sheffield United on December 28th because Evans was rested having played at Leeds two days earlier. Smallwood got sent off at Sheffield and Travis put in arguably the performance of the season against West Brom on New Years Day. In the next few games Travis was outstanding and contributed a lot to a winning run. I don't for one minute believe that Travis would have got much game time if Smallwood had been available. In fact I think Travis would have been sent out on loan in January but for Smallwoods stupidity.

Mowbray baffles me at times. He hasn't shut the door on Rodwell who is still on holiday in Australia. I would imagine his fitness levels are well down so he effectively would need 4-6 weeks to get up to speed and then some under 23 games for match fitness. If he signed it could be two months before we saw him in the first team squad. This genial, favourite Uncle Tony nonsense has gone on too long. He needs to get tougher with people who mess us about or aren't good enough.

You are being unfair Lenny. Andy Kennedy was distinctly average for us.

Mowbray also reckoned he had money left from the August and January windows. If his budget is similar to last season this money has either been included in this year's (in which case his budget is less) or he has more than last season. Unless the Indians withdrew it..................

I listed several reasons why it seems to be all over the place. For one example only a few months ago defenders were the priority so said Mowbray. From his words it's safe to assume that his main focus for scouting and recruiting would have been in that area. In the interim he has decided that defenders now aren't the priority as he wants to play a more passing game. That is perhaps why he has signed Downing and Johnson but I don't think they would have been on his radar when he made his comments about signing defenders. All through his tenure here I have never been comfortable that he has a defined way of playing as he constantly changed systems and played players out of position. His transfer policy seems to me to reflect his indecision in his playing style.

I know they are only links but it does appear to be a scattergun approach by Mowbray and Rovers. I don't think I've read an interview recently which has given me too much hope. He has oscillated between signing defenders and sticking with what he has, waiting until late in the window, talked about signing young players and polishing them up, loaning players from PL clubs and other things. There just doesn't seem to be a firm plan in place but the buck has to stop with Mowbray.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/liverpool-legend-graeme-souness-blasts-17484032 Some straight talking from Souness with a reference to Yorke. I agree with a lot of what he says about the modern game and many people in it.

The comments about Adam have been taken right out of context. In this, the pre season thread, there has been praise of his performance because he was the best player on the pitch. I haven't seen a word on here about giving him a contract but simply praise for his display from some people who were there. And those thoughts are pretty much echoed by Mowbray in his post match interview.

This thread is about pre season games and it's a comment about how somebody played. As we aren't playing anybody of note how do you propose we judge players? FFS.

Agreed. Adam was classy, always had time on the ball and his long diagonals over and inside the full backs were excellent. Clearly it's too early to make a decision on him but he is something we haven't had for a long time.