Ah I thought the purpose of last month's case was purely to be allowed to send over £4.85m. With a by product of the hearing being that the "bond" was reduced to 50% on the basis that there'd previously been argument that 100% was too onerous etc.

Whoosh. Sorry my feeble attempt at humour. Not a reference for the teenagers. (The Enigma machine)

Agreed. Aren't the further hearings that are scheduled if they ever get heard) to discuss whether the need for a guarantee can be removed altogether?

Batth will be a colossal miss. Hyam is useless without someone extremely steady alongside him. Not too bothered about Weimann but of course if we lose him and Dolan then that's 14 goals missing from a forward line that was never exactly prolific in the first place. Grim times.

Perhaps he means he's a machine.

I think I remember reading at the time the player himself wanted the shorter contract. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of us but I'm far from being convinced by him either.

His job is purportedly to report on all things Rovers and he "missed" it. ROFL. If we went bust, I wonder how long it would be before he noticed that........

Ah diddums. I think doubling or tripling his salary should compensate for any hurt feelings.

Although if said journalist had been singing his praises, I'm sure you'd have been all over it.

Tuchel gave a lengthy interview on Talksport today and on the whole came across really well I thought. One thing I strongly disagree with him on though is that he doubled down about having Henderson in the squad - he said having seen Henderson in the dressing room it made the other players better versions of themselves and he was even more sure it was the right decision to have him in the squad. I really disagree with having cheerleaders taking up a place in the squad. It's the job of the manager and his coaches to get the players playing to their best and if they were told for example they could only have a 23 man squad instead of a 24 man one they'd go apoplectic. But apparently it's OK to carry a passenger.

2018 World Cup Semi Final 2022 World Cup Quarter Final Same (losing) result in both Euro finals. Not that hard to understand surely.

There's nothing whatsoever to suggest that's the case, things had started to get very stale under Southgate and results and performances were going backwards not improving. We were incredibly fortunate we didn't go out of last year's Euros at the last 16 stage against Slovakia. Southgate peaked at half time of the 2020 Euro Final. After that match he should have been replaced.

If he has, then that's more a reflection on the players than the manager. There's nothing wrong with Tuchel's managerial credentials. He needs to stop picking Gallagher and Henderson though. Former is useless, latter is past it.

Why's that then? Southgate only ever reached the semi final and most recently the quarter final of the World Cup.

Gueye has also been a good pick up for the cost.

Don't agree with Jimmy Armfield's old "Ewood Park isn't a crowd, it's a jury" quip. I'd say the Ewood crowd is as mild and forgiving as they come. Always has been imo.

But like Ohashi works incredibly hard. Gone a bit quiet on that front. Wonder if the interest in him isn't quite as keen as he was expecting? Anything to save us from Hedges on that side.

Wouldn't say Ohashi is quick?

I'm not sure how you continually manage to conclude that I'm trying to protect and deflect blame away from the owners when I'm saying they need to be gone ASAP. Until they go however, business still has to be done, and if transfers are concluded in more timely fashion it "might" be a small victory. Ultimately means little if the players coming in are shite though.

True to form RF99 charges in on his trusty white steed to defend Waggott's honour.

I'm inclined to agree with you on the first part but if he comes you have to give him a chance etc. Don't recall how long it took to land Gueye and Ohashi, but if so fair enough. Hasn't been typical of our activity over the years, especially during Mowbray's tenure.

Yep. Good job the price went up in the BBE.

(Tin hat on) Is this a sign the £4.85m has been sent over? Also in devil's advocate mode, I pass no comment on this lad's ability but IF it's confirmed at least we've been linked with him and then the deal will have gone through fairly quickly. None of the pissing about under Waggott, lowballing a team for a player only to be then kept waiting all summer before being eventually gazumped by a Club willing to pay the going rate. If this goes smoothly, I hope that side of it continues.

Agreed. We've done it for years though. Quality players in the positions we usually need ( the forward areas) cost decent money so we usually ignore that and just pad things out with a few relatively cheap squad fillers to make it look like we're doing something.

We couldn't if support from Venky's was officially cut off. At least not without miraculously unearthing a new batch of Adam Whartons.