He is irreplacable here because not only is he a really good Championship midfielder, but hes also our captain and a leader. And of course, if/when he goes he wont be replaced adequately. Its telling that even now, he doesnt have an actual contract offer on the table. Its because he will want (and deserves) competitive Championship wages.

I suspect that Venkys pay more in wages than Jack Walker did if you totally discount inflation and assume that the value of money never changes.

Seems like an attempt to make it look like we are being proactive. It says we still havent even offered Travis a deal. Seemingly Tronstad too. These had to be sorted before the summer where we have already got enough work to do without the huge variable of not knowing if key players will be here beyond the summer. But even know, it doesnt seem to have to have gone beyond merely talks with representatives.

You genuinely dont think that the owners have been on a mission to cut costs for a number of years? Also, I dont think you understand the concept of the time value of money. My stance is that I dont know if they are aligned. They will say they are publically either way , I am not saying that they arent. Im saying that its early days and unless something drastically changes then Ismael will get pissed off in time too like the previous managers.

Another piece about contracts in the LT. Lots of speculation about being willing to stay but crucially on Travis and seemingly Tronstad, they havent still yet received an actual contract offer. Being in talks, willing to stay, representatives doing this and that, its easy to move away from the fact that theyve either signed a new deal or not.

I dont know if they are aligned or not. Point being we cant say for certain either way. We are at the start of the first transfer window, there hasnt been enough to be aligned about. But assuming history repeats itself, and with key players not even being offered new deals or at best being offered ones they havent/wont sign because they arent good enough offers. Presuming we end the window again not getting what we need in the market. Then it is only a matter of time. Its hard to be aligned with such terrible owners desperate to cut costs, their appointed club wrecker lingering in the shadows and a novice playing his own game of football manager. Its amazing how everytime you take for granted that mistakes wont be repeated and this time the regime will power on all in agreement to the betterment of the club.

You also said that Tomasson and Eustace were aligned.

It happens though. Sometimes a player comes in with little evidence that he will be a good and he will considerably exceed expectations. And sometimes a player comes in who is a big name or has done well in the past and be crap here. If people arent convinced by a player, they shouldnt be told not to judge until he has played for us. Judge away positively or negatively, as long as you are flexible to say when you get it wrong. You could easily say it shows how well Batth has done that hes massively exceeded expectations rather than it being a case of dont say anything negative. He could barely get a kick at another Championship club and was already well into his 30s, those concerns werent illogical or invalid just because thankfully he went on to do really well for us.

We dont know if they are aligned or not. I suspect if we have to lose key players having not offered new deals that Ismael wont be too happy.

To write someone off would be final. To say that you dont agree with a signing is not writing someone off if they then do well and you praise them. If people were saying now that Batth has been a shit signing despite his performances then that would prove that you did write them off and nothing could change your mind. I mean its not true that im negative about every signing. But even if I was, that isnt writing players off. Also, this only works one way. Take Cantwell, I was all for him signing, he had a poor season but no one ever goes back and says you shouldnt assume a singing will be good before theyve played.

But the fact that people perhaps didnt want Batth (although I dont recall him being that badly received) and now are desperate for him to stay proves that people DIDNT write him off before a ball was kicked. Otherwise he would have been unable to change those peoples mind. And proves that people have judged him on what he has done in a Rovers shirt.

People do judge based on how they play for Rovers. If they didnt then people wouldnt have adjusted their opinion based on how well he did. The opposite of writing him off before a ball is kicked. But when a player signs, people will likely have positive or negative opinions based on whatever they have. Whether they have seen the player lots or whether its more limited. People should freely share their opinions otherwise this thread is null and void.

He is definitely better with a more dominant partner but he won player of the season next to Carter in his first season here. Carter when he has played in the last 2 years has been shaky yet for some reason all of the criticism goes to Hyam. We cant afford to lose key experienced players and he is one.

You said that he wont be an immediate enigma.

Chaddy will be straight in to remind you of Ribeiro, a player who we only signed a couple of months prior. Its an absolute joke. The excuse they always use mid season is that they dont want to do it in case we change division, or to not distract the player. Mid season is the opportune time to do it when you arent focusing on bringing in new players. Now we are left in a position where we have to simultaneously bring in new players and try to sign our best players on new contracts. These players havent even been offered new deals which suggests that there is no appetite within because these are players who can justify competitive Championship players.

An immediate enigma? He may well be an immediate enigma but that wouldnt be good.

We seem to be looking further afield for players which is fine but you need a proven group of Championship ready players to guide them. You look at our core of best, proven Championship players. Brittain, Travis, Tronstad and Hyam all have a year left and are at risk of sale. Batth and Dolan are off.

We wont be loaning him out. But how do you know if Ismael rates him?

Kargbo only has 2 years left on his deal without even mentioning an option. That was very strange to give him such a short contract.

Not sure that Hedges and attack go in the same sentence.

Seems to have snowballed from a bit ofna windup, although I think Bendoni is a fairly well known journalist. We wouldnt pay the fee anyway, but hes crap.

The thing about that back 4 was that it was set in stone. There is so much uncertainty now. Left back is a real problem, Lewis Skelly has been fast tracked and isnt totally convincing and Hall again is a bit of an unknown. At right back, you are replacing one of the very best full backs in the world at the time. Trent is the obvious option there but Walker at his peak could neutralise any wide man, although his continued inclusion is unwelcome. Im not convinced that any of the back 4 can be fully confident of being a starter next summer and thats not a healthy position to be in. And its not because we have loads of quality.

Has anyone suggested that they wont support him or that they dont wish him the best?

The idea would make sense to get a manager proven to win trophies in order to get over the line. Southgate built a base on team spirit but came up short whenever he came up against a good team. Problem is, that platform isnt necessarily there, the squad of players has now regressed and is not at the level of previous tournaments. Much of the base and the foundations have aged and are over the hill now. You are left with a sub par set of defenders People mention the likes of Wharton, Branthwaite, Lewis Skelly, Livramento etc as players coming through but they are not top level players, yet anyway. Wharton is as close as any but unproven at the highest level. It feels like we are between generations/cycles of players with The mess at the end of yesterdays game saw maybe 4 players who all want to play in the same position all crammed in similar to what Carsley did. All of our best players do the same things in the same position. We are miles away from the levels of the likes of Spain.