It wouldnt happen for a number of reasons, mainly that we dont have any money. But obviously we would welcome an attacker who scored 37 goals across his last 2 seasons to a side that is lacking quality and quantity across the front line.

That explains the interest in O'Riordan that you dont believe?

I dont think Carter has been impressive all season by any means, and certainly not warranting Premier League interest. I do like him and he is a good defender but I think as a team we havent been great defensively and he hasnt necessarily kicked or improved from last season. Even across the last week, he gave away a penalty clumsily v Southampton and made a huge error v Leeds. He hasnt had a poor season but he did have a poor patch earlier in the season and I think his performances last season were better. Perhaps he was more suited to a less expansive style as he can be quite clumsy, we could do with Hyam back as he is our calmest defender.

That was costly naivety similar to Hedges last year, albeit the latter wasnt a youngster at the time. But in a season that Gallagher won us a few points with goals and with Venkys deciding to couple a horrendous (and cheap) appointment of Owen Coyle with the decision to get rid of any player with value in that squad and replace with cheap crap, to blame Gallagher for that relegation is very misplaced.

I would go with the strongest team off the back of a full week and then take it game by game. Sadly, there is little scope for any rotation due to basically all of our subs being a huge downgrade. Wahlstedt Hill Carter Hyam Pickering Tronstad Wharton Moran Szmodics Sigurdsson Ennis Then for the Huddersfield game, you are struggling to rotate really. Travis is the obvious one, but in our strongest position where playing him without a change of shape means dropping one of our best 2 players. Leonard for Ennis who can barely do 2 games in a year, never mind in 4 days. Scott Wharton and Brittain having stewed on his own idiocy for a few days, but youd want to keep the same shape, hopefully the Brittain as a winger experiment has been ditched, and defence isnt the main position youd want to rotate. Slim pickings.

Bizarre appointment, they would have been better off with Mowbray. All appointments are made with the same quotes, playing identity, progressive football etc.

Or more likely, we will have the additional cost of his wage for half a season extra.

Nixon's rubbish isn't evidence of anything to be fair, but for a reasonable fee it makes it a non starter. Needless to say a young CB couldn't be much less of a priority for us. With Gallagher, a functional club may well decide to get rid and utilise the resources saved. Here, it will just leave to more budget slashing. Gallagher is an average striker at this level when fit, has his uses, good for 8 or 9 a season, powerful runner. Compared to the alternatives, ie a raw kid not ready for regular game time at this level, a League 1 sicknote and a 4th division German player, he is still our best striker, so if those resources are just considered a saving, the owners save money, Rovers are worse off. Was ever thus.

Tells you quite a lot when a goalkeeper is at fault for the first and spills a shot leading to the 4th and yet still gets man of the match.

"Huge club." They would have been better off keeping Mowbray who had done a good job there and had a look at their data driven recruitment team plucking sub par random youngsters from random places whilst getting rid of experienced heads.

No one is going to sign Dolan who has never fully kicked on and who will be injured until at least February. If there is genuine desire on both sides to get him signed up long term then surely his current absence is the best time to do it.

They did need to strengthen, like Forest the season before they had half a team of key loanees with Harwood-Bellis, Tella, Maatsen and Beyer all potentially going back. They obviously spent some money on Beyer this summer. The gap is so big between the leagues that if you can, you have to spend as much as you can anyway. Thankfully, their recruitment this summer has been terrible. Loads of random wingers who havent stepped up, and some of their key players last season that you would expect to continue to be key havent stepped up for various reasons.

We have been somewhat unfortunate with injuries of course, perhaps somewhat par for the course having to flog the same players repeatedly, not just hard luck. Injury wise for the near future, we dont actually have that many out if no more fall foul of injury. Rankin Costello is a big loss, Hedges, Gallagher and Dolan are all average Championship players who fall short when it comes to being relied upon to push us into the players. So thats only 4 yet you look at the squad we had yesterday, its miles short. This is the third season in which a manager has done well working with a squad that is clearly not big or strong enough. At best when a summer comes around, we replace outgoings 1 for 1 and retain the same squad. Kids are expected to play regularly or at least be part of the squad even if they arent ready. Vale last season, Leonard is expected to play regularly this, we didnt sign another left back as to not "block Battys pathway" even though hes clearly not seen as ready, the list goes on. Tomasson shouldnt be given a free pass and he does at times make strange decisions. But he is obviously doing a good job with both hands tied behind his back

Obviously teams with parachute money will always be favourites, but such are the budget cuts, its depressing to see us uncompetitive against them to the point where we almost write the games off.

I wonder if Sheff Weds have the choice to end the loan from their side? If they do, it could be that they send him back, increasing slightly our wage bill and further hindering any microscopic hopes of strengthening.

Buckley has picked up a long term injury at Sheffield Wednesday.

Gallagher seems a weird obsessive focus of yours. We actually could do with him back ASAP. We miss him, as much as he is average.

We likely wont have a club by the time Venkys have had enough.

Depressing watch, we wasnt competitive with 11 men but a moment of unacceptable idiocy by Brittain (who had been having another shocker out wide) led to us being hammered. One thing I do not agree with is why Szmodics was kept on. Hes clearly knackered, as soon as they score a second, get him off and rested up. We were uncompetitive even with 11, couldnt keep the ball and the starting line up was massively imbalanced and we offered absolutely no threat. I dont think anyone comes out of the game with any credit. Wahlstedt made some good saves but is a typical modern day keeper, decent with his feet and agile but he was at fault for the first because he simply cant handle crosses.

Not a pleasant watch. Weve been totally dominated and have offered absolutely nothing. We keep giving the ball away. Weak goalkeeping for the goal. Brittain is not a winger, Hill has been all over the shop out of position at full back and we dont have a striker on the pitch. With our record when conceding first and nothing on the bench, it doesnt bode well.

Im guessing spending half a million on a young player in one of our "least weak" positions is at best unlikely.

Anything other than the odd person in the remaining core will not give up their main passion just to try and stop Waggott from potentially missing out on his target. Its never going to happen. Price rises coupled with the increase in moving kick offs and accessibility not just with the ridiculous number of Sky games but the fact that people can access coverage of any live game if they look hard enough, different story.

If the deal doesnt go through, it wont be down to any of them. It will be financial, thus down to Venkys.

His Rovers career so far has been strange. Had missed games through injury and he is quite clumsy at times, his general performance level has not been very high. But he offers us a goal threat, and that is a valuable thing to bring to the table. On a free, it seems a no brainer.

I saw a tweet yesterday mocking the narrative last night about Newcastle being awakened as a "sleeping giant" in this seasons Champions League. They have won nothing since the 60s, and have they really proven much with 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses in the group? They seem to be viewed as plucky underdogs but is that a fair stance? PSG were obvious group favourites but beyond that, Newcastle finished 4th in the best league in the world and have spent loads of oil money. Bruno, Joelinton, Isak, Barnes, Gordon, Botman, Tonali, Trippier, the obligation to sign Hall, its an expensively assembled side. Milan are nothing special and Dortmund are victims of poachers on a yearly basis.