I don't get how this was anything other than a normal, civilised debate, I am not sure of the purpose of the need either of people contacting you privately or indeed the patting yourself on the back afterwards. Absolutely bizarre. Regarding the Brown signing, I don't understand what could possibly come to light that could add context. Just a cheap signing that hasn't and probably won't work out.

Buckley was really good in the first half, but it was made irrelevant when he cost us the game by being petulant.

I think your posts are lacking in soundbites that you have heard from the club. Constantly echoes the "transitional season" rubbish, yet strongly approves of letting Brereton run his contract down.

A number of years? You mean this season when he has been an embarrassment (although you cling onto an hour in a drab home loss v Stoke in which he missed a couple of chances as if he was excellent) and also a highlight reel from last season?

Szmodics may not be on par with Hirst in terms of impact but he wouldn't make our best 11 and I think more often than not he is ineffectual. It told me a lot that Peterborough fans seemed unconcerned by his departure and with a track record of success at League 1 but not really beyond that, and him being not at an age where we are likely to make a profit on him, also factoring in a decent fee, I certainly wouldn't deem it as a successful signing. Maybe a 5 out of 10 if you are being generous. Morton plays unconditionally in what I think is our weakest area of the pitch and only rarely does he excel IMO, again 5 out of 10 at a push. Neither have unconditionally failed like the 2 dollopers (Hirst and Mola) but there is a middle ground between a success like Hyam who has slotted in very well indeed. The best right back of the Venkys tenure is not an award to be proud of, but he cannot be deemed a success until he stays fit. He has looked pretty steady when he has played (in his correct position) but until he does stay fit across a length period of time, it is a case of if my aunty had bollocks she would be my aunty. There are lots of other variables, emerging youngsters (absolute nonsense that Mowbray wouldn't have brought them through, he brought through plenty through) and injury recoverys included, but I was just judging just the transfer window which I think was bang average. What further insider information could make any difference in judging the deal? I don't see how you see a plan from Venkys. They have allowed the putting together (and subsequent tearing apart) of backroom teams throughout their time here, the transfer window was not a stand out one and they continue to allow assets (Brereton) to run their contracts down. We have seen new deals signed throughout the years, Kaminski, Travis, Dolan, Buckley again, Scott Wharton, Dack etc, but its on the most valuable assets where we literally have bids on the table that get fucked up.

I think its incredibly generous to imply that a couple of million on a League 1 standard player and an underwhelming loanee who wasnt what we needed in that position are good signings. Average at best. Brittain has been decent enough at right back but its little use when he is made of glass but even when he hasnt, he has often been used out of position and for a bit of context, a player we had all written off has put in the best 3 performances that we have seen from a Rovers right back this season. Hirst and Mola have been beyond poor too.

Also, Hirst "needs a run of games" yet is never in his teams.

I have seen enough of Hirst crucially at Championship (and in the Cup) level in a Rovers shirt not to be seduced by highlight reels. He is slow, weak, half arsed, cant hold it up, doesnt look like scoring and cant head a ball.

Time and patience are earnt, not given unconditionally. If we are just writing off this season as one to let him get his style across, lets close the messageboard and reserve all judgement and open it again in the summer. Most people will judge on a game by game basis, not just automatically start with total faith before anything has been done. Buckley is a dickhead for doing what he did, an act of total stupidity and petulance and I would be pissed off with him as a team mate as I am as a fan.

The approach in the World Cup was really good and I have no idea why it isn't an approach across the board.

I disagree with Pickering, but fair point on Gallagher, he has been woeful in the last 2 games. Had 2 big chances last night and again couldn't hold it up.

Kamiski Rankin Costello Ayala Hyam Pickering Travis A Wharton Hedges Dack Brereton Gallagher God knows what sort of bench we can cobble together with the likes of Hirst, Vale and Garrett not up to standard.

I can't fathom that at all, surely when we are near the top you then do not want us to keep winning because the potential reward would reduce you enjoyment of watching us? The standard of this league is crap, yes you might take one or two beatings along the way but our team playing v the best players would surely be what we want.

@chaddyrovers unsurprised that you think we were robbed, should Buckley leave a decision to be made? And Garrett kept miscontrolling the ball and giving it away, not up to it. Loan him out.

Good first half undermined by a terrible start to the second and an act of utter stupidity by Buckley, is it a red card? Arguable but petulance and idiocy of the highest order to give the ref a decision to make. Decent first half, Buckley as good as anyone and great finish by Hedges. All unravelled and why on earth would you go down to 9 by bringing on Garrett who is nowhere near, and why leave Markanday on the bench?

Rothwell, received a bid for £4m, turned down to allow his deal to run out. Brereton, bid of over £8m, same situation. Not how to run a club with mid table resources.

We dont have £30m to throw about although we did have over £12m to throw down the drain.

I may be wrong as I was too young to experience the Premier League win. But if the title win (and the challenge the year before) was ahead of schedule, was that regularly communicated as such by the club?

People pay good money and spend lots of time to go to each game, it is crazy for you to just assume that things WILL work out, a more sensible approach is surely to judge week by week, game by game, window by window, season by season. I will be more/less patient dependant on what I see as time goes on. I do not know whether the Tomasson tenure will be a success or a failure. You seem sure it WILL be a success. As touched on, Hirst doesn't deserve a run of games based on how shocking he has been in his cameos, including some starts. He offers nothing and whenever you are asked about his strengths, you go all cryptic. I think you can see that he is a dud but won't admit it. Brereton was a very unusual case and is not a precedent that many will replicate. If Hirst does start suddenly banging in the goals, there will be no need for the word "sadly" because every Rovers fan on here will be delighted.

I don't see that marked improvement at all, even in the last few years players either who have yet to break through, are carrying injuries or are yet to excel consistently enough to attract bigger teams have still in the main signed new deals. Travis, S Wharton, Dolan, Buckley and Dack had amongst others all signed new deals in the last few years, even Kaminski did. This summer, it was important to sign up Phillips, A Wharton and Buckley but they all fall into the same categories. The big call was Brereton this summer like with Rothwell last summer, our problems have been with players in the last year or 2 of the deal that don't want to sign due to interest from elsewhere, and we again chose to reject taking a very hefty amount relative to our budget in favour of pissing value down the drain.

Why share your own opinions if you can just repeatedly echo those repeated soundbites from inside the club?! New structure, ahead of where we thought, time and patience, changing style, transition season, long term plan, get promoted and stay there. Only missing the word project.

He turned down young strikers on loan, that is on him. That has manifested in some peoples minds that he turned down decent money to pay fees for some reason. He wanted to sell Rothwell to reinvest and wasn't allowed.

Because of the lack of consistency in how Venkys run the club, assuming we don't go up this season, our best player leaves on a free and we go massively backwards in the "project."

No chance does Stewart come here. He technically due to an option his contract has 18 months on his deal, and Sunderland will want big money.

The way that we can compete with these clubs is by effective player trading, continuously and consistently earning profits on players and then reinvesting a percentage of that immediately, making any idea of a "project" with a start and end date a nonsense as it is always happening, in which case you don't need to write off seasons. Brentford are a great example, as soon as they sell a big name, they invest a decent chunk of that money on a new player. They were competitive with the likes of Hogan, Gray and Watkins leading the line and ended up going up with Toney having made massive profits even before that season. Had they not gone up with Toney, they would likely have sold him for a massive fee and spent another big chunk on someone else. That will never happen under Venkys. We have signed players that have appreciated in value in recent years and they have made it up as they go along. Mowbray signed Armstrong and sold him at a huge profit, then they refused to reinvest any of it. With Brereton and Rothwell, they were developed to sell at a profit, Venkys intervened and refused to sell, so instead a big chunk of over £12m to reinvest has instead disappeared. We also have repeatedly assembled and destroyed backroom staff teams throughout their tenure which is why I am not remotely excited by the supposed new team we have, it will likely be skeletal within 2 or 3 years. We are clearly at a disadvantage to some teams with parachute payments, although we have an Academy as good as any and we aren't saddled with Premier League wages, so we do have advantages. Because there isn't anything like a consistent attempt at efficient trading, it is little wonder that we tend to fall away. Our squad is particularly weak and thin at the moment with 5 of the 6 summer signings ranging from woeful (Hirst and Mola) to underwhelming (Morton and Szmodics) and made of glass (Brittain) leading to an over reliance on the academy leaving players like Vale and Garrett who clearly aren't ready to play at Championship level getting regular involvements. When Mowbray implied that Rovers fans were living in the past, he was quite fairly lambasted. The idea that our fans think that we should be in the Premier League is simply not true.