RevidgeBlue

I don't either but as a stand in centre back he is a much better than option than Hedges. I wouldnt have any objection to selling him in Jan but in the meantime we're cutting off our nose to spite our face by not playing him there.

No way he walks out. He's "aligned" with the rest of them.

That doesn't fill me with any confidence - exactly the opposite in fact.

Would have to go some to compensate for the loss of the Championship TV deal, plus substantial ticket money, plus loss of sponsorship etc.

What's the point in having so many keepers and having to send one or more out on loan and have others sitting around?

We'll have to wait and see. You might be right in that they're all Lee Carsley style early favourites to relieve mug punters of some money.

I've never heard of him tbh. Their list of potential replacements at the top of the betting looks rather higher quality than ours was. Carrick, O Neill, Rodgers and Gerrard. They're welcome to Ismael and we'll take the 2.5 years compo.

Very informative, cheers. Be a disaster for us if Wharton is out for ten weeks. Faced with a choice of paying a substantial fee for a replacement or getting a loan or a free agent in as cover we might see Ismael's longstanding aversion to the latter magically disappear.

Do we know what the likely recovery time is if that's the case?

They showed him in the stand at the Derby game and he didnt appear to be in any obvious discomfort. Would he have been up and about if he'd torn his achilles? Posing the question because I dont know either way. Edit: Arbitro beat me to it!

What a shambles, the Club is completely on its arse from top to bottom at all levels.

Nah, we clearly lost because the referee was shit.

Yep. While Pickering would be no great loss, Cantwell would be. Im quite surprised he survived the summer cull.

Devil's advocate mode: He's better filling in in that position than Hedges for sure but can you afford to keep him hanging around just for that IF he's not featuring at all otherwise?

If there's any hint of a death spiral from Christmas onwards this season we're sunk. We havent got the points in the bank to get away with it. Have to hope we can keep chugging away at an average of just over a point a game and claw our way to safety that way.

Which weren't as bad under other managers apart from Mowbray.

Back to the game if we're going to get a result, we'll also need to see a lot more from Gudjohnssen at Deepdale, he was pathetic against Derby. Even if he's not scoring he needs to show up and be available.

There may be some mileage in this, the narrative around a sale recently has changed substantially from "We will NEVER sell the Club" a few years ago to the 3 stooges hinting that a sale might not be out of the question in the car crash interviews and Pasha saying every Club is for sale at the right price at the Fans Forum. Edit: We need a lot more pressure on their lackeys Gestede, Pasha and Ismael from the Coalition and with a bit of luck they might all decide at some point it's just not worth it.

I wouldnt actually be that bothered if Pickering left, I don't rate him at all defensively. Do we need him AND Ribeiro? That said I would never underestimate Gestede's ability to bring in someone even worse

We generally havent been very good with Tronstad in the side either this season. Getting Carter back in some sort of reasonable condition will be key to any chances of getting a result I feel. Worrying comments from Ismael about Cantwell. A "kick on the knee" should have been a minor issue and a short recovery time. Instead it's dragging on interminably. If he's OK one day and not the next it sounds to me as though either a) They havent diagnosed the injury correctly or b) Cantwell is swinging the lead until he can get a move in January. Either way I'd be slightly surprised if we see him in a Rovers shirt again. It'd be rather embarrassing if we lose two captains inside 6 months. Bit like head coaches.

That's likely to be it then. Hardly worth blasting the money away on legal fees trying to get them removed.

You'd have thought hot and cold running water would be a condition of the Licence granted by the Local Authority.

Ruben Rochina would have been worth the admission fee on his own imo. I know not everyone agrees.

Thinking back - there was probably a much better line up for Tony Parkes' testimonial. Didn't King Kenny, Shearer and Garner play?

Yep. I was scratching my head trying to remember who Matt Kilgallon was I must admit.