Andy

I think he's not really been given a proper chance yet - a few minutes here and there. Hopefully he gets his chance this season, I think he has a lot of potential.

In fairness on Hirst - he looked awful for us, when he did get a chance. Soft, weak, terrible first touch and couldn't even score from the penalty spot. He's gone on to do a decent job for Ipswich, but he was horrible for us.

It's worrying to see our scouting department decimated again - it was practically non-existent when Mowbray arrived and, in fairness to him, he worked with his team to reestablish it. Feels like a cost-cutting exercise...

You'd imagine SS' heart is set on a Prem move, particularly at his age now. It'll be a case of whether a Prem club comes in for him over the summer. Though with the Euros taking up a good chunk of that period, any move will probably be late in the window. His agent and the club will almost certainly have agreed a fee and, as much as I rate him higher, I'd imagine it'd be between the £8m-£10m mark. We'll hope a bid doesn't come, but surely a lower-end club will take a punt, even the newly promoted clubs.

Mike Sheron is still temporarily in charge, but Benni Mc and Steve Cooper have been linked. I'm playing as England manager, so it jumps a week or two at a time!

I've loaded up FM for the first time in ages tonight. We're mid-October, Rovers are 2nd from bottom and Eustace has just been sacked. His summer transfer dealings were 2 x free transfers (who I've never heard of). I know FM is known for being extremely realistic, but let's hope it's wrong on this occasion, eh...?

I have a friend who was there (for younger age groups), but not had confirmation either way. Heard the club made a big fuss about Finneran's scholar group/intake during the evening, but not sure what the outcome was for Finneran.

Condolences to you and your family. As ever, real life if more important than anything football related.

Heard that an ex-Brighton guys was on the interview list for Technical Director, but not given a name. And no specifics on transfers - will pass on if I do hear anything (and given the OK to share) 👍

FWIW, I was told the same info on all 3 kits (but asked to not share it). Not read anything else they've put, will check it out - but sounds like they have some legitimate info on the kits (which will be proven or otherwise pretty shortly).

I don't know how true it is, but I've heard more than once that he was the most talented of the 3...

I'll always be grateful to TM for turning a club in a death spiral (following relegation) around. If memory serves me right, the club was a total mess back to front and he was central in reestablishing departments and structure to the club. And that's before some of his signings (BBD / Rothwell / Dack / etc) who should have gone on to earn us many millions. Many negatives, of course, but he's a good man and hopefully his health situation improves.

Contact who's fed me info has said GK is well below ST, LB, RW and I think another position (without going back to check the message). But JE is supposed to be happy enough with what he has. Alongside a goalscorer, GK is top of the pops for me.

What I discovered from listening to Big Sam's podcast recently is that an NDA is only valid until the other party (ie the club) makes any kind of negative comment about them. If someone can get any kind of recording of Waggott, Pasha or whoever speaking of Broughton in derogatory terms, it should be a free for all.

You're right, but I've been told that a GK is way down the priority list for this summer. Which, having witnessed both Pears and Walhstedt consistently prove their lack of readiness/ability/consistency at this level throughout last season, is incredibly worrying. We need a proper GK.

I always liked Gregg and felt he got some unfair criticism from some on here. Yes, you can point to some of his transfers being duds, but you have to consider the lack of backing and the sabotaged transfers (O'Brien, McGuire, Brierley, possibly Undav, etc). Between GB and JTD we clearly had some ambition and a strategy to make the club better. Sadly, the people higher up in the food chain didn't share those traits. Very interesting note he makes on Szmodics and Hyam. And if true - which we have no reason to believe otherwise - it means that Waggott has lied directly to the faces of fans.

To be fair, we smashed the Deutsch in the last major tourney, in the knockout stage - off the top of my head. If he takes the likes of Henderson over players like Wharton/Mainoo I think that tells us everything about Southgate's ambition. We won't win it unless we get a large slice of luck, but anywhere after the quarter finals is par for England and I'll be alright with it. Our big chance was being 1-0 up against Italy in the final of the last Euros, being on top and bottling it.

He'll be one of the DoF's staff, but he 100% won't be the new DoF 👍

Gestede is planned to be involved, but he is not in the running to be the new DoF.

In the same respect, he doesn't need to come out and say anything of substance on the matter. Sometimes it's better to say nothing than risk sounding like an idiot. He's got a bit of form in the short time he's been here.

I know, right? It's akin to those 'thank the heavenly lord and all of his ever-loving mercy for healing me from this ailment'. It was the surgeon and his theatre staff; thank him. He did the actual work. Anyway, hopefully Duru gives us another option at RB this coming season, God willing.

Sounds like a Manc and, whilst I know it doesn't really matter, I always prefer local(ish) lads coming through. Not sure on this 'work of God' stuff though. It's hard work and good coaching that's got you this far Leo, don't downplay the effort.

He wasn't physically ready when he was first with us - had some raw attributes, but just wasn't ready. However, he looks to have bulked up a bit and has scored a few goals for Ipswich this season. I mean, he'd score more than Gally.

Agreed on that last point in particular. Broughton did his part in getting the players to the doorstep. The admin function (or whoever) then failed to bring them through the door on numerous occasions. Missing out on O'Brien was the big one for me; that would have been a huge signing at the time.

If that is the case, we will 100% be relegated next season. Quite possibly with a record low points tally. We have to spend money this summer and properly strengthen the squad, it's not negotiable.