Presumably this game was hastily arranged because tonight's under 21 match has been called off. It's strange that we used Man City's Academy but presumably they have under soil heating whereas Brockhall doesn't. I wonder how much that cost though 😂.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/17/lead-the-lads-out-against-wrexham-/ Rovers are asking for mascots for the Wrexham match for £150. The caveat is that they have to provide their own kit and can use any one of the three we have. On a related note I have been told that the players have been told not to swap or give away shirts because the club has run out. Perhaps D-Day Read should be looking into embarrassments like this rather than dreaming up schemes to alienate supporters. Is this really what we have become?

A stark warning from Rick Parry about the current state of the majority of EFL clubs primarily relating of the distribution of money from the Premier League but also the general health of many clubs. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/efl-rick-parry-warning-reading-31896728

Sky didn't have a reporter at the game, something which Jeff Stelling criticised them for. They used the footage from Reading to put their story together. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jeff-stelling-soccer-saturday-reading-31876956

I can give you a few recent examples of a club that didn't. 😆

Ennis was one of the penny wise, pound foolish signings. If he stays here for the duration of his contract and the extra year he will be 29 with absolutely no sell on value. Going of the first six months I can't see him ever being a player who can score goals and therefore won't justify a regular starting place in my opinion. Money down the drain. Compare that to no bringing Baath in who wanted a two year deal and would surely have become a fixture in the first team and given us the benefit of his vast experience. Clearly he wouldn't have any sell on value but would have offered massively more than Ennis can and I'd guess over the two years wouldn't have cost much more than Ennis's four or five years. The policy of Broughton and the owners is biting them on the backside.

Loaning him isn't a great risk. I sincerely wish we had him on loan then we could send him back. As it is we are stuck with him for four years.

I have just been told they only have two admin staff hence the online only. I said to the person who told me that was one of the reasons behind the aborted Digital Day when, if successful they could operate with less staff.

We have also got Ayari on loan. Ironically he limped off just after half time in Sunday's under 21 match.

Tomorrow's Premier League Continental Cup match against Sparta Prague due to be played at the LFA Headquarters in Leyland has been postponed.

As Johnny Nash sang 'There are more questions than answers'.

The HMRC letter is dated late April and was eventually paid but does anybody know if they had to apply to the courts for permission to transfer the money at that time to settle it? To my untrained eye something doesn't seem to be right with the dates as it seems the slashing of the budgets was sprung on the club in July and soon after we found out they would have to get permission to transfer and funds from the Indian courts. If they didn't have to get permission to pay the tax bill in April but paid only when threatened that sets even more alarm bells ringing for me.

Or given Bhaji's alleged penchant for violence he could just have been beaten up.

I have to say I'm a bit perturbed reading some posts as it seems to me that we should all be on the same page here but my interpretation is that we aren't. Personality clashes, egos of whatever else should be put to one side and all the various supporter groups should come together for the greater good. Right now every Rovers fan near or far should be worried about our future existence and now is the time to put on a united front.

Thanks Mike. I agree with most of your post but I honestly think the highlighted bit is going to be a divisive thing to say. The people to blame for the whole mess Rovers are in are them and I will certainly not give them any credit for what appears to be something that, as owners is obligatory. I have faith in what you are trying to achieve and wish you well in your end goal but I ask you to please keep comments like that private and then no one can feel aggrieved.

An enjoyable watch at the Academy today but poor defending seems to be an epidemic running right through the club right now. We lead three times, the third of which came in stoppage time and gave us a great chance of winning the game but we left ourselves wide open and conceded right at the end of the six minutes of stoppage time. Duru looked good today and Batty carried on from Wednesday in his quest to return to form. Gilsenan as a half time substitute played well as did Finneran when he came on. Pears made some good saves and generally commanded his area but was beaten three times. I didn't think there was much he could have done about and of them but it doesn't look good to be conceding so many. Ennis scored, missed a penalty and a couple of sitters and was generally poor. He was substituted eventually and was last seen trudging towards the changing room. Markanday improved in the second half after a dreadful first half. Telalovic looked by far our most capable striker in front of the watching Tomasson.

He's thrown Millwall into the mix this morning simply because Cresswell was on loan there last season. Nixon is the epitome of a lazy, two-bit hack. And the worst thing is people buy (literally in some instances) his guff.

We have conceded many goals in the last six weeks from set pieces, yesterday one was conceded from a corner, one a long throw and another from a recycled corner. Apart from the goals they scored I can remember every set piece they had causing us problems defensively. Surely setting up a team to defend set pieces isn't too difficult or if at least shouldn't be. Seeing the first goal again our three main defenders were close to the ball from the throw and none of them put in a worthy challenge. The keeper has to do better for sure but if we deal with the first ball they don't get the chance. Tomasson said in his RL interview that they work on defensive set plays the day before the game. It clearly isn't working right now and perhaps more time, effort and detail should go into it because you can bet your bottom dollar that opposition managers will be taking note and doing their utmost to exploit it.

It would clearly need to be an out of work manager as these people won't pay and compensation. And that really narrows the search down. Eustace is probably the best option in that category. I too think Huddersfield is a huge game and my worry is our poor defending. It's strange though as our kamikaze defensive play wasn't really an issue until December since when we have conceded 24 league goals and from memory a big chunk of them have come directly from pretty much unenforced errors.

Assuming you get your wish and Tomasson goes who would you get in?

If you were writing a thesis on awful defending you could use that to support the words. Absolutely shocking and all four goals look worse than they did in real time. Every one of the starting back four is culpable in some way on them lowlights, some more than others. I have said that Hyam isn't the same player since he came back from his ankle injury. His movement seems impaired and he is far too easily turned. He had some involvement in all the goals we conceded yesterday.

Tronstad came and apologised to the fans after the game. That was a bit of brightness for me on a dark, dark day.

I was responding to a post that used the Travis social media support to suggest it's the reason there is unrest in the team.

Whilst them imbeciles own the club I at the very least expect every Rovers player to have pride and be fully committed. Today that seemed to be in short supply.

He does but if players were upset about Travis going and took it into today's game then Szmodics would be exempt because he wasn't playing. I have no problem with players being supportive of a ex teammate but if they are sulking because of it then that speaks volumes for their lack of character. After Hyams display today I would take the captaincy off him and give it to Szmodics. Hyam just isn't a natural leader.