alex l

In itself the lack of goals isn't a problem as long as you contribute in other ways and have players to link up with who do score. Olivier Giroud is a prime example of this - Chelsea and France look much more effective with him in the side, yet he'll get 15 a season at most.

As much as a I believe the kits should be out, in order to generate revenue, some of this seems OTT. The training range was launched about 2 weeks ago, so clearly people are there to deal with new stock and postal orders. Huge clubs such as Liverpool and Real Madrid only launched kits in the last week; its not as if we're the 92nd team in england/wales to launch a new shirt. And whilst i dont want to comment on season tickets too much in this thread - the club, like all the others, cant even tell you what you'd be buying. For all the comments I've seen about refunds later, or changing what comes in the ticket - what's the point, other than it causes more work at some point down the line? My guess would be single IFollow sales until its confirmed crowds can return.

Opinions aside on who is better, it is too obvious to suggest Wharton is used as a make weight either on loan or permanent as part of this deal? Given they seem to want him back, we must be on pole position if other clubs are interested.

....and convincing the PL team to loan to us whilst still paying a significant percentage of the players wages. Many of these 'kids' at the top clubs, like Brewster, will likely be on the same if not more than our top earners.

For all the stick TM gets for his loyalty to Bennett, I'm sure there was a long period when Nyambe was RB and Bennett was benched.

Given his contract situation, if we could get 1.5m-2m for nyambe, jrc could go to RB? he would provide more of an attacking threat

Denis Irwin, Javier Zanetti and Paulo Maldini all played a considerable number of games as right footed left backs, regarded as at least world class and with the latter 2 I'd say genuine legends of the game. Not a problem having a left back be right footed as long as a)they know how to effectively play the position and b) have a moderate left foot

Do people expect the local paper just to have a one liner once a sale has completed? You want them to not report this as it may encourage a sale yet doubt their integrity if the club isn't criticised. More importantly in this would be finding out if Newcastle have a sell on clause or if we'd get the full fee.

As long as he isn't Scottish along with this. Otherwise we may as well find a Brazilian Denis Irwin and the heir to batistuta.

The Platt transfer will be that £10m bid people mentioned. Happy days, we've balanced the books for a season.

The last time we tried anything like this we some Portuguese lads who got nowhere near capable, Petrovic who was described as box to box, but we wasn't capable with the ball. More recently didn't we have a forward from ligue 2 who lasted half a season? Not as easy as Brentford have made it look otherwise every club would be doing it.

Not that I've seen any link to him, but I'd happily have Vorm if his wage is affordable. 36, free, solid performer generally and obviously an experienced keeper.

I'm surprised nothing was teased last week or over the weekend, most people are paid from around 25th onwards, so a release this week would cash in on wages being paid.

Whilst in most years this is the case, it's clearly not most years. Many teams have yet to launch new kits officially - Real Madrid, Juventus are two of the biggest clubs in the world and haven't. Clearly the idea is to make some money off training wear, then off the kits, presumably with away shirt before the home. If they launched it all together, most people will buy one or another.

He also said similar about Arma and Chapman, and both signed within 6 months. If you declare interest in a target and make it known they're your first choice, you've two likely impacts: 1 - the player pushes for a move to you. 2 - the selling club puts the price up as you've just admitted you're desperate to land their player. Irrespective of your opinion of him, he's been a manager for a hell of lot longer in the football league than any of us. Take his comments with a pinch of salt. You may think Im giving him too much credit, but some of his public comments are likely with the aim of achieving something - a reaction from a player, progress in a negotiation.

By that arguement we could also have spent net £5m+ if we've yet to receive anything from sales. Regardless, it doesn't seem accurate to claim no net spend. The point is even clubs in the best position, for whatever reason, sometimes wait til deadline day. We're clearly not in that situation and to boot don't have loads of cash, so how was it realistic to expect all business to be done early? Yet the club management get lambasted for it.

How is it a zero net spend? Based on reported fees, we've brought in 3.75 and spent 5. This is ignoring loan fee for Tosin and Walton, plus likely signing on fees and agent fees on all incoming transfers. From a wage bill perspective I'd fully expect us to be paying more this year than last. On an unrelated point, those who were bemoaning us not signing players early on only need look at spurs. Even well funded champions League finalists look to be doing major business on the final day.

Which managers can we realistically get who are proven or can reasonably be argued to be better than TM? This isn't me saying he is the Messiah, but I do sometimes get the impression that some fans still believe we are a well established Prem club with a good infrastructure and operating model i.e. a really attractive proposition. In respect of his man-management, he is criticised for this and yet criticised for improving contracts. Crucially the players seem happy, I don't recall anyone demanding transfers and he seems respectful of his players. Look at how Downing was handled - possibly to our detriment as a team - let him go on loan as wasn't playing much in order to try and earn a contract. Appears to be looking after Gladwin as well when many here would happily cast him away. You might not agree with the decisions but it can't he isn't looking after the players - a huge part of man management

I have to question whether those criticising TM on that quote have read the full article. He's pretty much dismissed attack and midfield additions, says defence will be looked at along with keeper. The overall message is he still intends to get transfers in, yet the line being focused on is that is content with defensive options. Given that was our frailty, 48 hours before game 1 he's hardly going to instill confidence if he said we're desperate for defenders cos we're poor at the back. It would also drive up prices for us

For all those saying new signings should go straight in, I seem to recall Pedersen being held back with comments along the lines of he needed to bulk up and adapt. Of course we'll never know how he would have performed if thrown straight in, but it may have been the better route for him. Perhaps Kalinic would have benefited being eased in.

For those debating if new signings should start straight away or if we should sign from abroad, a topical article based on academic research. In summary though, some take longer to adapt than others. Go figure. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49099670

Did he break Maher? Regardless, if he gets told off record we've bid for Player A, publishes it and then another team gets Player A cos they've become aware of availability, what good is that for Rovers or the LET? For the sake of traffic and reads for one article, they lose access to Rovers. Not worth it.

A journo who relies heavily on club cooperation for what is probably one of the most popular parts of the paper. Lose or reduce your access by giving away what the club doesn't want you to, harm your work and your paper

In case it hasn't been mentioned, the Forum minutes from earlier in the month have the following: "David Raya’s sale had come about after him losing his place in the first team and his agent actively looking for another club. SW confirmed that there had been some interest in acquiring Karl Darlow from Newcastle but his current high wages were a significant stumbling block." Be it the criticism or not having the mindset to battle for his place, seems Raya instigated the move

So you would rather your personal opinion and view receives validation above a better result for the team and therefore the likelihood of most Rovers fans being happy with a win. You'd make a great modern day politician.