It isnt them 2 that are funding us. Amazing how many people put the lack of funding on the two stooges. If you ordered a takeaway and substandard food was used, you wouldnt blame the driver. You again seem keen to want to paint others as going over the top whilst maintaining a position as the reasonable one. Ultimately we dont need a goalkeeper because of last night. A poor Derby side posed him little threat. But even then, he had a couple of very nervy moments including charging out of his net and being very fortunate that a poor Derby attack couldnt take advantage.

We definitely should sign a few players on longer term deals. No excuse not to. We also need to be thinking longer term in general. The likes of Dolan and Hyam should be given longer deals (even allowing for the fact that neither is perfect) to increase the number of players contracted beyond this season. But there is nothing wrong with a couple of loans on top of it. You are always dead against them but its a way of picking up quality you couldnt otherwise afford and even the top teams in the division use this market. Problem is, I dont trust that a reasonable amount of money will be spent. When a Championship club makes considerable money from sales, not all of the money should go back in. But a decent chunk should.

Obviously every keeper makes mistakes. The issue is the quantity of the mistakes Pears makes. He made so many goal costing mistakes last season. Tonight didnt require someone "with a notepad" supposedly being over critical of his performance. In a game where a very limited side struggled to create clear cut chances, there was minimal opportunity to make a howler. But he was fortunate when he did run stupidly out and fail to get to the ball that Mendez Laing's execution was lacking and the ball was eventually cleared.

We cant afford to let Buckley go, he is one of only 3 central midfielders we have. If we can get the couple of quick wide men that we need then Sigurdsson and Markanday potentially become surplus to requirements.

Very pleasing and comfortable win, impossible not to be happy after that. Travis was man of the match, brilliant performance with Tronstad a great foil. New signing wise, thought some of Gueye's general play was really promising, holding the ball up, decent turn of pace. Finishing on 2 occasions especially the second was very poor but his movement is also good, in line with what I have read that he is not a natural finisher and misses lots of chances but finds himself in goalscoring opportunites. Ohashi is a totally different player, was a bit loose a couple of times but much more composed in the final third. Weimann will potentially be a really shrewd pick up as a squad player. Lots of other players were 7 out of 10 and its such a shame that Szmodics will leave. Pears is still a liability, has to be replaced ASAP. Out wide we are lacking and our bench was very imbalanced so we need 5 or 6 players in. We also need to be much better at defending set pieces. Derby are terrible and easy to see why most predictions are for them to go down, less so as to why @philipl feared a rout. Full of league 1 standard players and absent of any quality. We wont have any easier games this season but youve still got to win them and we looked much better than them

Pears number 1, Hilton number 13. Problem position sorted.

Its the owners that dont want to spend.

There is a video on the official Rovers youtube.

Gestede has also said we want to bring 3 (then he said 2 or 3) players in during the rest of the window. If that is the case then we are going into the season ill prepared. Eustace has said we are short in net, at full back and in midfield. Plus he also called for a couple of pacy players down the sides. So 2 of those positions we are going to be left well short in. Theres an easy question for Elliott Jackson and co. You said you were short in these areas yet Gestede and Waggott have mentioned 3 additions. Does this concern you that you will not get the full squad you have asked for?

Where is this from? I think that would leave us needing another CB as we would only have 3 capable of playing in a back 4.

I will stop engaging in debates with chaddy if people prefer. We are 2 of the most common posters on the messageboard and when we do debate it tends to involve lots of other posters also adding their opinions and provoking further debates and conversations, its not just the 2 of us parallel to everyone else, but if that is what people would like.

I know we will see in the next 21 days. I specifically said that I dont have in the staff and in particular the owners releasing the required funds to give us what we need. You then picked me up on the fact that I dont have faith as if I was being unnecessarily negative. Yet you wont even say if you THINK (not hope, think) that we will get what we need and thus have faith in the owners etc to give us what we need. I dont see how my attitude towards the young players is negative. I never said that they are anything other than talented. I just dont think we should expect them to come through immediately in the absence of signings, that is putting far too much pressure on them when none of us can possibly know if they are ready. They should be allowed to come through as and when they are ready.

Players like Duru and Tyjon should be seen as bonuses should they emerge this season. Not as guaranteed to come through because they may not be ready, no senior football and both very young, especially Tyjon.

My point was that I don't have faith predominantly owners releasing the funds required, and also the idiots running the show, to deliver the required additional signings to give us the squad we need. In terms of what we need now and also in terms of adding players who can contribute beyond this season. You dismissed that point, and then went off on a tangent. Which is why I asked and will ask again, simply and clearly. Do you have faith in the owners providing the required funds to Suhail and Waggott to then oversee the signings of the quality and quantity we require to fulfill the objectives set out? I know you are looking forward to the season at Ewood Park. It has absolutely no relevant to the point I am making though and the question I have asked. I have outlined the question above, yes or no will do. Yes I agree that a narrative was spun that he saved the day when it wasnt really like that. An inability to win at home at all and a poor points per game tally meant that results werent great. As you say though, it is difficult to judge but the jury is certainly out.

Its a fair point on Eustace. Amidst the off the field shit show, the manager has been forgotten about. I dont think its possible to truly be sure either way, there are signs that he can organise us better and make us harder to beat. But he literally didnt win a home game and we didnt see signs that we can attack teams with any guile. And that was with Szmodics in the team.

Keeper, left back, right back, centre mid, 2 wingers. I know you have faith, you keep doing the superfan rhetoric. If you have faith in the owners who ultimately in charge of everything, including budgets, and clowns like Suhail and Waggott. Which is what you are saying, because we are talking about having faith in doing what we need over the summer. Then you are genuinely beyond words.

He probably is, in terms of the remit hes given. Sole focus on making the owners who clearly arent supporting the club to look as good as possible.

Based on what I think we need as a minimum. The squad is still very, very short. We will see tomorrow night a stretched squad despite no injures. Couple of wingers, full back on Most should be permanent signings. The money should be there. And such a big percentage of a small squad is only contracted short term. At least 3 or 4 buys. And no, I dont have any faith whatsoever in what we need happening. Why would I with Venkys as owners and Waggott and Suhail running the show beneath with a lovely mixture of incompetence and no money. I suspect if you do then youve been under a rock for 14 years.

"With pace and power." Power has been added because Waggott said it.

I might be wrong but with the phrase "2 or 3" I would like to think is just a figure of speech. That being said, I have no faith in us getting what we need. A big problem is lack of depth, I think we need at least 6 and I dont think we will get that many. Also obviously we have a big lack of quality in a number of areas. I dont have faith that it will be fixed working with such a small budget. You cant sell such important players and spend so little and expect to have enough quality. Another big problem is that we dont have a layer of longer term players. A number of our skeletal squad who will likely play lots between them are only contracted for a season. We need to buy at least a few more players contracted beyond next year. Players who could potentially appreciate in value. That seems like a luxury considering the budget cuts that I dont have faith in us solving.

The we need to replace x and y from last year is a flawed argument, it would only work if the squad was sufficient last year and it clearly wasnt. So yes, you might not think that we need to replace those players directly. But we need more than 4 to fill the various holes in our squad. One senior (poor) keeper, one senior right back, one senior left back, only 3 senior centre mids and we need a couple of wingers. So 6, minimum. Not a case of replacing sub par players on a like for like basis, although Moran for example did play a lot of games. But a case of looking how thin we are across the team really.

Thats nice of him.

Yes, a faceless behind the scenes snake in charge of commercial. I stand by my point. We would have got more had we not been in such a desperate need for money. Hes just arse licking as he always does to maintain his job. The money is not clearly forthcoming.

Jackson said around 1m for Gueye, the Belgian reporter who broke the story said £1.25m. Jackson said very small 6 figure fee for Ohashi, the Japanese journalist who broke it said £150k. (then free)

The decision to make Suhail as head of commercial is bizarre. Waggott is a slimeball but at least people know who he is, they know his face and he is contactable. Suhail hides in the shadows.