What an utterly depressing first team squad we have left.

He was last season and on the back of also losing Holtby, Downing, Evans and Trybull, we look so depleted there.

He has but it makes no sense to sign a replacement who has filled in there on occasion. We also need a winger so if Rothwell goes, it just means that we need 3 central midfielders rather than 2.

Reach wouldnt be a direct replacement in that Rothwell has been played centrally whereas Reach is a left winger.

Where is this from?

I would hope not, he was hopeless last season!

I wonder if the weather will put the game in jeopardy?

I meant the bigger clubs will find him more appealing in the likelihood that he doesnt suffer a serious injury. I get why the club is holding out for as much as it can but we are in such a weak position that is self inflicted that the 2 options may be to accept less than we would have ideally liked or to let him go for a free, and the latter cannot be an option.

At the moment, obviously the power is very much in his court, and if we choose not to sell him now, he is best advised to run his contract down. Bigger teams will find a player of his ability even more appealing on a free. The serious injury is unlikely but if it happened, that would of course weaken his power and possibly put off other clubs, but if the options were to release a seriously injured Armstrong or offer him a long term deal, we would be cutting off our nose to spite our face if we didnt choose the latter, and it would probably be his best option too. So even in the worst case scenario, he would be able to get a contract I suspect.

That would be a concern as he has not shown signs that he is capable of being anything like a key player for a Championship side. What makes you say that?

Even if he did get a serious injury, like Dack he would still be then offered a contract here which he could still take as a secure fall back option. He would still only be 25 at the end of his contract so from our point of view, it would be worth offering him say a 3 year deal and writing off the first. The power is very much with Armstrong regardless and he would be ill advised to renew.

If teams refused to go above 15m, would you keep him?

If we do sign Reach, he should be played as a left winger, thats where he is best.

The Rothwell one is very much the result of a random guessing game, but even if he did leave, surely Reach is more of a replacement for the void filled by Elliott.

He has played for England C, which I think is non-league only, certainly not a full England player. Currently at the Gold Cup with Jamaica although I think they may have been knocked out.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19471899.blackburn-rovers-running-make-adam-reach-first-signing/ Contract offer in for Adam Reach. Would be mixed on this one, good age with experience at this level, has the technical ability to score goals and create goals, but not well thought of at his previous club amid suggestions of cowardice and bottling tackles in a relegation fight! Certainly a downgrade on Elliott but at least he would be a permanent signing. Could be a bit of an acid test, if this one slips away as well then it really would not look good.

Yeah it definitely wouldn't be a good deal in general, it would be an unfortunately reduced deal due to a self inflicted weak negotiating position. That being said, one thing that can not be allowed to happen under any circumstances is that he leaves for free.

I totally agree that our tactics make no sense, our team is not technically anywhere near the best in this league so it makes no sense Bentley was a really well regarded talent at Arsenal so whilst I appreciate that you wasnt trying to directly compare, it is all about the individuals. Rothwell in the first year had the excuse that he didnt play enough, and in the second year that he wasnt playing centrally. Last season he played regularly and centrally but was no more productive. Could he have been coached better? Perhaps but maybe the player is not as good as we think, one of many with some excellent attributes but lacks perhaps the footballing brain/intelligence to ever put it together regularly and consistently. Mind you, with a squad so short, he is a sure fire starter for the opening day should he stay.

Has Travis ever been a box to box player in the mould of Bryan Robson? He has always been a rather industrious and energetic player with technical limitations, he was off the pace last season having struggled to get match fit after a serious injury, but I have always found this notion that he was once box to box and is now like a crab afraid of being blamed for being too expressive a little strange. That is one hell of an if regarding Rothwell too. Last season, he played almost every game that he was available for, from the start and in a central position that he desired. He still produced very little even with many of the excuses that he hid behind prior to be removed. I am not defending our coaching in that it may well not be the best by any stretch of the imagination, but neither of these examples could I put with any certainty down to poor coaching. Maybe both could go on to do better at other clubs with better coaching and a better calibre of team mates but I don't think that either is an obvious case of mismanagement.

Mowbray is clearly going nowhere, so no.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/july/Gallery-Leading-up-to-Leeds/ Pictures ahead of the Leeds game. Armstrong training, as is Travis which is good from a fitness perspective, and as are Gallagher, Brereton and Dolan. Limited pictures, no Nyambe, Rothwell or Chapman though.

Is he the player that you expect to be absent tomorrow night?

100%, absolutely not what we need at the moment in a team/squad packed full of untested and unproven kids and sorely lacking in experience. Clarkson may well be a talent although that is a total unknown in regards to first team capabilities until he plays senior football. If he is better and improves our first team, by all means get him in too, but we badly need some knowhow and proven quality. Totally agree that we simply cannot allow him to go for free, and turn our noses up at for example 15m simply because it isn't slightly more. We are in a self inflicted weak negotiating position therefore we likely will need to accept a price a couple of million off what would we like had the situation been managed better. I don't get the logic of "We aren't going up with him here" though, we are so far away from challenging for promotion that such an argument is totally irrelevant. It would be like Southampton and Watford deciding against signing him because he wont get them into the Champions League.

Who is paying 3m for Rothwell with a year on his deal?

Not a fan of the cryptic nature of the rumour, why cant the outgoing be named? An Armstrong sale is inevitable and to be honest the prospect of losing him on a free is pretty criminal, losing him now rather than on the last day of the window may be a blessing, mind you with Mowbray in charge and presumably most of the proceeds swallowed up, maybe not. The other 10 on the pitch on Saturday are probably not worth 10m between them. Davenport, Buckley, Chapman or Butterworth not being on the team sheet would barely be noticed and all 4 would only get lower league interest. Ayala is obviously not going to get any interest with a cushy 2 year deal to go, and Pickering has just signed. Lenihan and Nyambe would be missed, neither would attract a big fee especially with a year left. Kaminski would be the biggest loss from that remaining 10 for sure. Rothwell is a weird one. He is a gifted player but not one that can produce anything other than fleeting and occasional contributions. He wouldnt be a huge loss as an individual in normal circumstances but any fee would probably be minimal, we are already so low on senior bodies, his internal replacement would be Buckley who is even less effective and he would probably be replaced by an inferior player still, most likely a kid on loan. So I would not be for selling him at this point at all.