Andy

His basic positioning is terrible, which isn't as obvious as some of the more prominent errors, but is equally contributory. He benefitted greatly from having a more organised defence for periods of last season, but I don't think there's any doubt that Pears has proven his incompetence regularly, across a prolonged period. And hopefully he's played his last game for us.

Thing is with any GK though, is that they need a run of games to get their match sharpness, work out how the CBs play, etc. That Pears was still awful 8 times out of 10, despite being made first choice for a couple of years, speaks volumes about his (lack of basic) competence. Toth looks decent, he'll do well for us this season hopefully.

There was the Yasir guy, the new Marketing Sales Manager (Zach) and a few people involved in the design of the new kits. What was (mildly) interesting was learning that the current kit designs were commenced back in January 2024 - that's how long the process is. VI pointed to his Barnsley team, where they might have had the smallest budget in the league, but they were hard working, organised and worked as a team. Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them. Made a point of saying 'also set pieces' as a key part of the strategy, which would make a nice difference to recent seasons, I guess. There was more that's slipping my mind right now - and yes, a lot of it was generic manager speak - but I felt that he was being pretty open and honest. I quite like him. And the final several games of last season has bought him enough credit for a fresh start this season, imo.

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be. I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can. Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

I thought it looked alright in the flesh, to be fair. The green is infinitely better and I’m not a massive fan of the dark shades on the sleeves, but otherwise it’s alright. VI was present this morning and came across really well, to be fair. Seems open and honest, which is completely different to the last guy and his generic soundbites.

I’ll let you know if the away kit is the one leaked pretty shortly.

Toth has extended leave, following international duty. Calamity will have at least one foot out of the door. Certainly better to give a young prospect (Michalski) some minutes; he should be the number 2 this season.

To be fair, there are still people who believe that we spent £7m on BBD and £5m on Gallagher. Both were inclusive of add-ons and clauses, was closer to half on both. People use the fees to suit whatever point they want to make.

Go to Google. Type '12ft Ladder'. Click on the 12ft Ladder site and enter the URL of the Telegraph story. Paywall bypassed.

Just done the most basic of research on him and the random Scottish club's manager said that they were literally the only team willing to take him (on an emergency 3 month loan) last season, nobody else was interested. Sounds exciting!

I'm not convinced on this - from watching him live and looking at his stats, he works harder off the ball that most in the team. This improved moreso when VI came in. It's been his decisions on the ball that have been inconsistent so far, though the quality of players around him have played a part in this.

I don't mind Toth at all, I think with more gametime, he'll develop into a decent GK at this level. Calamity...I think it's clear how I feel about him. TK is streets ahead of both and was probably Luton's best player in their solitary season in the Prem.

Certainly Cantwell, around 12 months ago - he had a few options available to him, but JE sold him the club / role / etc.

I think that this fact tends to get lost on a lot of people. We lose that amount of money because of the model/running of the club. A semi-competent ownership and/or UK SLT and it's a different story altogether.

Anyone who thinks Calamity Pears will move for a seven-figure fee is - quite frankly - on drugs.

I don't particularly disagree with your point, but it looks to have been a good seller, I see it more regularly than the home or away shirts. Popped over Accy Tesco last night and I saw 2 different people wearing it, for example. See it all over the place.

This. The record books never show method, only result. It's why I never understand the arguement about football being entertaining. Yes, it's nice to be entertained, but football is a competitve sport first and foremost; nothing matters as much as winning.

If it works like it does in FM (I know...), once a player is within the final 6 months of his contract, he's free to discuss terms on a pre-agreement. The owning club doesn't have a say in this, at that stage. Once a deal is agreed, the transfer takes place upon expiry of the contract. The onus for the owning club is to tie a contract up before you get to the final 6 months.

Additionally, how many times have we fallen foul of the 'weaker' sides? Like Iceland, under Woy. In any case, we beat Germany in a knockout phase in the last couple of tournaments - and, without checking, I'm sure we've beaten some Croatia-level sides also. You don't get to choose who you play; the trick is beating them and progressing.

To be fair and to use the full sentence on that, he described it as moving from a 'massive club' to 'another massive' club, which he felt extremely lucky to have represented both. He worked hard in the games he did play for us, so no complaints from me.

Have a feeling, based on absolutely nothing factual, that Batth will stay and it's already been agreed - but the club are planting the seeds of doubt in the local media. So when the new contract is announced, they can spin it as a huge achievement.

A proper captain and a proper man. To think we picked him up on a free. Sparky's scouting setup knew their stuff.

Me too, I loved this kit as a kid.

It's a 4-2-3-1. But I find the inclusion of Jordan Henderson the most baffling aspect.