I do get the fact that players need to settle in, and that over the top conclusions are unnecessary. It doesnt affect their confidence to speak on here though as if you are commenting at the games with your mates. Its the beauty of new signings, you watch them once or twice, wow he looks good or alternatively he looks crap. Then sometimes those who struggle initially might push on and like Szmodics get all the praise they deserve at that point. All part of being a football fan.

Neither are/were new signings which was what my point was relating to. For some reason when a new signing struggles in early games, rather than people countering with constructive points about what they think the player could offer, instead shutting conversation down suggesting that people shouldnt comment for a set period. That isnt the case with players who hit the ground running. Take Szmodics. People questioning his signing for the first 6 months werent wrong to do so based on what they had seen.

But it was Venkys that allowed money to fritter away by rejecting bids. Even since Broughton joined, we had bids for Brereton turned down above his head. Until they stop meddling, that risk is always there.

This repetitive "wait to judge" rhetoric seems unncessary to me, it only goes one way. No one says that we shouldnt judge Sigurdsson despite some really promising signs in his first 4 games because its early days. Its an internet messageboard, why cant we just have constructive debate as we go, especially when this rubbish is said when a player struggles early doors? He has gone on to prove an excellent signing, the work rate side should be a given, Bennett always gave 100% and was crap. Szmodics is far more than that. He is a real threat in the final third. But last season, questions were still valid. Cost a (relatively speaking) big sum when we didnt sign a striker. He had 2 spells prior in the Championship, once not even a guaranteed starter at Peterborough and he didnt make the grade at Bristol City, despite his goals in League 1. Peterborough fans seemed somewhat sad to see him leave but felt we overpaid. Then for half a season, he simply wasnt very good. He struggled to influence games, he even ended up with the kids. Questions about the signing were valid, not stupid. Thankfully hes kicked on and proved himself as an important player and a very good signing.

Why would anyone be annoyed at getting (Nice bid more reportedly but we will go with it) £6m for a player otherwise certain to leave for free the year after? Even if Sigurdsson does replace him well, and crucially stays beyond this season. That doesn't lessen the importance of such a sum to Rovers these days.

It is, but that is part of the problem. No consistency in always giving a % (not 100%) of any sales to continiously try and implement any sort of model. Thats when Broughton ever mentions a model, he is wasting his breath.

Szmodics as a false 9 neutralises our top scorer, and Wharton further forward stops him from being able to dictate games from deep. Ennis is fit and Leonard should be back, even failing that as much as I dont rate him there in general, Dolan did well there on Saturday.

He would have likely put a few of the chances away that we have created. Edit: assumed you meant Brereton based on previous conversation, if Buckley as per the thread then I take it back.

The stance on the price tag was mentioned by Broughton. Had we accepted the bids and he subsequently turned any clubs down, different story. I dont think he would have turned down the likes of Nice who were playing in Europe and Everton.

Wahlstedt Brittain Hill Hyam Pickering Tronstad Rankin Costello Dolan Szmodics Sigurdsson Ennis Would like to see Hill at CB with Carter who has been poor dropping out, and also a natural striker with Dolan (who deserves to stay in) taking that problem position on the right, Adam Wharton (if fit) is the one reluctant absentee. Him or Tronstad is the most difficult choice, happy with either but again opted personally to keep Tronstad in.

Did Rooney do a good job at Derby? It is such a difficult period to judge, Derby were in such a strange situation that it felt like any points won were considered above expectation. They did have terrible off the field issues even though they had some talented players, and he had Rosenior behind him who is a good Championship manager in his own right. His win record at both clubs he has managed is in the 20s in terms of %. He will get this job for no other reason than being Wayne Rooney.

Not great news for us, puts a key player who has played lots and could do with a rest in jeopardy of injury. Injury to him or Sigurdsson would be a huge, huge problem. Very surprised it has taken so long though considering the dearth of talent that Ireland have, well deserved.

It's nothing to do with hindsight. Any properly run club does not turn down bids in favour of allowing players to enter the final year of their deal. Stubbornly not entertaining bids based on an unrealistic price tag is not doing all the club (or moreso the owners) can. The price was also based on Armstrong who was a totally different player in a different year, he had scored 28 goals so naturally he would generate more money and that deal actually turned out to be a stupid one by Southampton so we got lucky that they bid so high. £8m would have been such a big sum to modern day Rovers. Our current squad cost around £10m (maybe marginally more) spread across the course of about 5 years.

1. Who has ever said that we should sell him in the January? The bids came last summer. 2. Why would the club consider supporter reactions to any decision anyway? An eficiently run club wouldnt consider that.

Well obviously, but our leaky defence (might have changed after our clean sheet yesterday to being the second or third worst) is as much of a concern to me, a byproduct of how we set up. We equalised against Ipswich, Sunderland and Leicester so conceding first was not a terminal blow. Conceding 3 and 4 goals suggests a problem beyond merely not taking the chances. Our goals for tally should be higher but at 17 it is only bettered by 7 teams.

There has been rubbish in the past about £10m price tags but I think Buckley is at a big risk of slipping away. He has never repeated the purple patch he had as a false 9 during our great run under Mowbray which was 2 years ago and whilst he obviously has talent, there seems to be questions marks over his application and also as to where he plays best. I was against him leaving because it would leave us short, that was when we only really had Wharton and Travis truly in front of him. Tronstad had played an hour and then at times fallen out of the matchday 20 which didnt bode well but his recent 2 appearances have shown signs of promise and Rankin Costello had never played in a midfield 2 apart from when chasing a game but he has done well there in those 2 games, albeit the worry is we are a full back unavailability away from needing to move him back, although whilst I dont think it suits Hill, his versatility to cover right back maybe lessens that. Even Garrett who I still dont think is Championship standard has impressed in the cups. So I am nowhere near as against him being loaned out, albeit the issue is still the overall numbers in the squad, had it helped to create some flexibility to get another wide man in for example which it should then that would have made more sense.

Its not irrelevant, thats just a managerial cliche. Obviously it is very volatile because there havent been that many points available but a win now counts as much as a win in 4 months. Weve got 13 points from 11 games, an average of 1.18 a game. You need to average 1.52 points per game to hit 70 points (which often isnt enough) so we are well behind. The only bodies of significance out (aside from Wharton who missed one game) are Gallagher and Hedges, neither of whom are consistent enough and especially the latter but both are out for a bit.

The issue is the lack of autonomy to the people in footballing positions. Those who can best judge said peaks in value are ignored by brain dead stubborn idiots. The director of football and/or manager should be fully trusted on sales as they know whether the value lies in keeping them or from potentially reinvesting. The proclaimed model will never work under these owners.

That was my quote from after the Leicester game.

He should have been sold last summer. There was no mention of any bids 6 months prior so its a non starter anyway.

He won us something like 15 or 16 points if you base it on taking his goals out of his games.

VAR cant give second yellows, so out of its remit. The first one maybe was a red by itself but the second one was the clear one and it was in plain sight for the ref. Been a drab game.

But we wasnt offered that sort of fee so its a case of either accepting still a very high sum or allowing him to run down his deal. Many attackers score in bursts, you cant argue with his numbers in the last 2 seasons.

Think its premature to say "a frankly remarkable upgrade on Diaz." To achieve that, he would need to score significantly more than 37 goals in the next 2 seasons if indeed he even stays that long. Very promising start though, the most eye catching of the signings on paper within a very difficult window and very promising on the pitch now he has got himself fit. Brereton left a huge gap in being the one player capable to get into goalscoring positions and not even as a central striker. Sigurdsson has shown signs of having that same knack and whilst not sharing the same speed, he seems a more technical player too.

Cairney has always been an attacking midfielder whereas Wharton is more of a player who sits deep and dictates a game. Im sure he would have thrived against an awful QPR side. I think him and Tronstad could work well, indeed him and Rankin Costello showed promise and even with Travis it would just need Tomasson to reign in instructing him to play so high up and he could help to reduce the load on him off the ball.