We repeatedly signed loans due to small transfer budgets, last season a perfect example despite the Armstrong sale.

I was surprised to see 0 goals and 8 assists in 76 games for predominantly a wing back noted for his attacking ability. Not that stats are the be all and end all. I also found the comments about his character last season to be concerning. Perhaps a fresh start will be key, but he seemed to get a lot of criticism for his role in the decline at Barnsley last season. How often exactly do you think you have seen him, do you have ties to Barnsley? Is he competent defensively even if he isn't like Nyambe. It would be a fairly modest fee so it would be very much only a small start if Tomasson is to be backed with a decent chunk of the inevitable Brereton money. We did sign Edun last season for presumably about half of any potential Brittain fee so I would expect more buys/money spent to be in any way satisfied. But as mentioned, he is a decent age (same as Nyambe) so it could if it happens and subsequently works out fill that role for a while. Ideally we could do with some competition there but I suspect that won't happen. I don't think those sorts of stats are particularly relevant to compare to be honest. Brittain was in a side that went down whereas Nyambe was at a team that finished 8th, the former will always make more clearances, interceptions and tackles per game. Both were in totally different teams so even % stats are not directly comparable, especially if they played different roles in different tactics, their duels etc would be in different places etc.

No one has ever suggested that we bring in bodies through the door for the sake of it. I find this assumption that it is quality OR timing (ie before the season) to be totally bizarre, and the idea that it is assumed that anyone who wants players in prior to the season just wants anybody in to be a strawman argument.

Why do you use this forum? You regularly comment that people on here don't know as much as people in football, so why do you bother with a place whereby people are here to give their opinions if they are so inconsequential? This sort of nonsense also implies that people who work in football are infallible and don't make errors of judgement, they do, they are only human even if they overall know more than your average fan. But surely a better approach is to avoid supporter opinion and assume that all decisions made by the professionals are the correct ones? You also regularly imply that people think that they think they genuinely know better, what makes you think this? People sharing their opinion doesn't meant that they think they know more or that they could do the job better.

Callum Brittain is a player regularly endorsed on here, is that solely based on his performance when Barnsley lost at Ewood last winter? Or have people seen Barnsley a number of times to come to a more accurate conclusion? I only remember seeing him a handful of times and even at Ewood I don't think he particularly stood out. I would be glad (long way to go) in terms of his age, signing a player on a potentially long contract and hopefully filling that position long term. I just hope we can get a right back in well in advance of QPR as the current options don't lead me to be optimistic. In terms of the player, I have been looking into him a tiny bit with mixed reviews. Barnsley fans see him week in week out and in general don't seem gutted to lose him, see below: https://barnsleyfc.org.uk/threads/brittain-to-blackburn.315364/ A big worry is the consistent assertion that he down tools last season when the chips were down, numerous questions and comments making out that he isn't a good man to be next to stood in the trenches. The common assumption is that he is a really good attacking full back and has often played at wing back, he has 8 assists in 76 Championship games which is nothing remarkable, and like Nyambe at least at Championship level he has never scored. I also would doubt that he will have Nyambe's one on one defending ability so I just hope that overall he is an improvement considering that he will cost a fee. That being said, putting character questions to one side, he did seemingly impress when Barnsley did well so maybe he needs a fresh start. Interesting that he seemingly is a name coming back from Mowbray's tenure. After a number of weeks for the new director of football since his appointment, isn't that a bit strange if true?

He got injured during his medical and was out for a fair bit I think.

Rich Sharpe was told that he is unwilling to until the window closes.

What would upping the ante entail? Venky's have shown in the past that they don't listen when supporters air their feelings even during the weekly protests when Kean was here so they have no urgency to stop people from supposedly riding on their gravy train. Sadly that leopard will never change its spots.

Malmo are playing tonight, the 2 wide men we have been 'linked' with both start.

100%, not for him to be commenting on footballing matters. Suspect it was a defensive mechanism to portray the player and/or his representative as having ideas beyond their stations. It works to an extent, the common impression that people have about Nyambe is that the fault lies at his agents door.

Why is this assumption now so common that he has chosen Wigan simply out of fear of "looking like a right clown?" If our offer was better than Wigan's is, assuming he goes there, then him signing would have been greeted positively and just seen as the end of prolonged contractual discussions.

Was Mowbray's recruitment so poor?

Certainly should be long gone. And yet he is still retained indefinitely! By the owners to whom many of the above failures relate to funding that comes from...

I also find it strange @chaddyrovers that you feel that it is "not your place" to share season ticket sale numbers. Did Waggott ask you to keep it confidential or is that of your choosing? He has taken up a supporters request for a meeting and told you the number, if his intention was to keep it private then he has messed up by telling a fan in the first place! I think even though he seemingly just gives people lip service that it is good that he is willing to meet with fans, although I do wonder if it is because he knows he can charm people with words to cover up shoddy actions. I might be remembering incorrectly but didn't you say @1864roverite that he was essentially slagging off Lenihan to fans saying how he is never a Premier League defender and he told him as such after the 7 nil loss? In my view, that sort of conversation is totally unprofessional and quite frankly unacceptable.

This fits my theory regarding how Nyambe totally polarises opinion. He "wasn't very good for us" seems incredibly harsh, and the fact that you wouldn't take him on a free at his age having been a regular solid right back at this level even with how poor he is going forward is crazy. There was a reason that we tried to get him to sign and it is surely worrying that seemingly Wigan had the financial muscle to beat us to the deal. Even if we have what is for us a reasonable budget for fees which I doubt, we have a number of holes in the team therefore signing even a steady mid table standard right back for a small amount will be very hard, especially under a strict wage ceiling.

I was there and thought he was beaten too easily on a number of occasions.

Nyambe is such a strange player in that he totally polarises opinion more than basically anyone else I can remember. People now are even creating narratives of his agent totally hanging him out dry as a result of the strong link to Wigan. Defensively, he is not far off the very best at this level one on one. Many will tell you that being a full back first and foremost is about defending (I would side towards that more) and as a result think Nyambe is absolutely brilliant. Conversely, those who don't rate him (a few of which are the usual suspects in terms of defending every move the club makes therefore this fits their narrative) will understandably point out that as an attacking full back or indeed especially as a wing back he is atrocious and probably as poor as you will find at this level, with a nod to competition for that over on Luton's left side. In reality I would argue that the truth lies somewhere in the middle, full backs especially at Championship level will likely be either suspect defensively or very conservative but not usually to the extent that Nyambe is which means that he is very useful but equally has a limit to how far up he can play. @Miller11 I wouldn't argue that we are stronger with Nyambe than without but I would qualify those findings somewhat by pointing out how poor our alternatives are in that position.

As expected. Praise Waggott on a few things, won over by his charm and not the place to ask "difficult" questions.

It was a friendly where both teams started with basically totally different teams compared to how they finished. Are loads of people calling him shite? The problem is and it is something that you touch on, that he is a total unknown and we don't know he will cope. As it stands, he may be expected to start the season as our first choice right back. I thought he was really poor and out of his depth against Birmingham to be honest. I don't understand how you can possibly see us as not ill prepared. Maybe Waggott put something in your cup of tea! I am sure we will sign players, my guess at this stage would be predominantly loans towards the end of the window. But the season starts in 12 days and we are massively weaker.

I dont see why else he would go there, your scenario would be cutting off his nose to spite his face.

Broughton actually said that the wage budget is "within the same wage budget we had last year" which to me reads as if it is no more than least season but it is up to last seasons budget ie it could be the same and it could be less. Is the wages thing beyond gossip at the rugby? May well be but not seen as such.

How do you know that his agent was saying that? We have the highest % of empty seats in the league. The music is really irritating although if he is getting thousands a week more I think he will get over it. If.

I dont get such a common narrative coming from such certainty that Nyambe's agent must be screwing him over. Im unsure if its as he is popular and as a result slightly overrated or if it stems subconsciously from his agent being mentioned as an issue when in fact its an easy scapegoat. But if Wigan have offered more money which is the million dollar question then hes just joined a side in the same division in a fairly close location for more money. The only losers really are Rovers unfortunately.

Nyambe is a solid Championship right back, nothing outstanding, not one of the very best in the league and with his own limitations but a solid option in a back 4 of whom re-signing would leave 1 less headache to solve. A very competent one on one defender with good attributes and at a good age. That horrendous list of shite shows why you and many others are very justified in having no faith that we can replace him adequately however, thats just modern day Rovers with minimal budgets and with incompetence stemming from the very top.

But we didnt get those deals done, so I dont see how being supposedly interested in 2 players who we subsuquently failed to sign shows anything positive about the budget. All about the replacement but we wanted Nyambe to sign hence offering him a deal and lost out to Wigan so it is easy for that to cause concern on the back of an inability to sign anyone yet. Does it? Maybe Wigan offered him a better deal, in which case how does it reflect poorly on him to do something that most people would do and get a pay rise? What if it was only Wigan and Rovers who offered contracts. His agent has got lots of blame and has been mentioned by Waggott of course but how can we be so sure that he is a "fuktard" rather than having just successfully earnt his client more money. Maybe but if he has got a payrise then it is still an understandable move. This seems like a very specific theory based on nothing in particular in my opinion but still. If it is Rovers v Wigan and the latter offered more money which I suppose we will never know for sure. Then his decision makes sense.