Try reading the post I was replying to. It specifically mentioned Harrison Reed as a player we had supposedly failed.

I said Van Hecke was a better loan signing for us than Elliott, not a better player than Elliott.

“Any loan signings should benefit Rovers more than, or as much as they benefit the player. Van Hecke is proving to be a much better loan signing than Reed or Elliott, we look to finally have cracked it.” Elliott’s spell with us did wonders for his Liverpool career, but not a great deal for us as a club.

One played an integral part of a 15th place finish, the other is playing an integral part of a real promotion push.

Couldn’t give a toss about nurturing Harrison Reed. Not our player, no point. Any loan signings should benefit Rovers more than, or as much as they benefit the player. Van Hecke is proving to be a much better loan signing than Reed or Elliott, we look to finally have cracked it. I’d have agreed with you on Nyambe up until 12 months ago, might agree with you again if he is dropped tomorrow. Spot on with Raya, but I don’t think Rothwell can have too many complaints. I think the fact it’s took him til this season to consistently perform is largely on him.

Anyone else heard a whisper about Everton?

Facebook reports a few weeks back had Nyambe “saying his goodbyes” at Brockhall. Fingers crossed there’s as much truth in this latest story as there was in that.

Obviously I’d prefer that we didn’t. But if Rothwell doesn’t make it, it’s a tight pitch, and promises to be a physical game, I’d prefer Zeefuik to start over Johnson.

Wouldn’t mind that!

The improvements in both Lenihan and Rothwell this season have been enormous. I thought they’d probably both plateaued in terms of their development, but at 27 they have both really pushed on. Any contracts they were offered 18 months ago definitely need revisiting and upping. I’d disagree with your assessment of the Nyambe situation. It’s well documented there is a real issue in terms of contract offers for academy graduates. Nyambe is now a well established first teamer and an international who will be nearing 200 first team appearances by the end of the season. He shouldn’t be bracketed in with players like Butterworth, Rankin-Costello and, as good as he has been, Wharton. He’s been paid less than Davenport and up until last summer Chapman, and all the whispers I am hearing suggest his offer (again put on the table 18 months ago) was a poor one, certainly not in keeping with his position in the squad. We may well see a similar situation with Travis next year. Anyway, it makes little sense for the club or players to arty too much about contracts right now. Revisit it when next season is a bit clearer.

I’ve been saying for a while that Butterworth just needed a goal and that would calm him down, take the pressure off, help him make better decisions, and he’d be away. That exact same incident on Monday stood out to me too though, it looked like he couldn’t be bothered. He bottled a 50/50 too, and it really wasn’t the game for shirkers. Still think he has the potential to come good, but needs a marked improvement in attitude and application from what we saw against Boro.

If they haven’t they never will! I hope that Waggott has stressed to them that this is their best chance of turning Rovers from a liability to an asset overnight.

I’m pretty sure the powers that be would’ve bitten their hands off if we were sat 12th in the table. Looks like the promotion push is being taken seriously.

In the space of three months we’ve gone from a team that always looks susceptible to one that seemingly loves defending! Proper team performance that. Class. Mowbray got it spot on too.

We should be defensively solid, but might not create much. Clearly Mowbray doesn’t fancy Davenport at all. Johnson needs a better performance tonight. I’m going for us to nick a 1-0 with Butterworth coming off the bench to hit a screamer.

I cut off my nose to spite my face for far too long. I now recognise that my boycotting served no purpose other than denying me the chance of doing something I enjoyed. I’m glad I came to this realisation because I’m really enjoying this current team, more so than I have since Hughes was here.

Absolutely. Wouldn’t disagree with much of that, except I think it’s a bit of both re optimism/disregard. I don’t mean anything to be a sweeping statement against our younger fans at all, but I would say youth is an understandable reason for some to hold their less angry views. Again, my issue comes from being told by anyone how I should feel when they aren’t coming from a similar perspective. I think modern technology also makes it far more appealing for younger fans to live in the now rather than the past. I grew up having to satisfy my thirst for all things Rovers with old books and programmes.

Not in the last couple of hours on this particular thread Joe, but I hear it frequently… “get over it, move on.” It’s often from younger people, and I’d suggest that is a result of them not having witnessed or experienced the events so fully. I’d be just as annoyed if it was a Chilean who has only taken an interest in BRFC in the last 12 months saying these things, regardless of age, which has happened. Theres people in their 30s or beyond who use the argument too. I can’t understand where they are coming from.

Plenty of people, frequently. I think it’s actually pretty relevant to discuss Venky’s ownership when we are talking about potentially falling foul of FFP rules. Their actions have directly resulted in our revenue plummeting. It was hardly a case of it being dredged up out of nowhere. If you are rewriting history and telling people they should stop being upset at what Venky’s have done, I’d say you were old enough to know better.

I don’t think anyone is having a dig, or isn’t glad they support Rovers, but I don’t like being told to “get over it” by people who didn’t experience it.

I’d hope that it is a focus behind the scenes at Rovers. If there isn’t a private acknowledgement that Venky’s have made catastrophic mistakes that cannot be repeated, it’s a worry. Purely from my perspective, I think current focus is on the green shoots we are seeing on and off the pitch, and I’m daring to be cautiously optimistic for the first time in a long time. When I read comments like “they pump x number of millions in a year”, I know it’s true, but it is always framed in such a way that they are acting in a benevolent manner, rather than paying for their own mistakes and fulfilling their most basic of obligations. I don’t agree with any suggestion “we should be grateful” or that “we are lucky to have them”, and I find any comments about how “We’d be screwed without them” and comparisons to Bury (but I suppose it will be Derby now) disrespectful and ignorant. I tend to just roll my eyes rather than get into arguments about it nowadays, I think there is a lot of wilful ignorance and revisionism about. There’s also a lot of younger fans who don’t really understand the damage that Venky’s have done, with it even become an accepted narrative amongst some that we were hurtling towards bankruptcy until Venky’s came along. As a slight aside, some of the younger fans who tell people to stop living in the past are happy to take any opportunity to gloat about a title win they weren’t even alive for. I’m all for celebrating our illustrious history, but we can’t ignore the mistakes Venky’s have made, even if it’s just seen as a cautionary tale. You are right, we can’t change the past, but plenty of our fans try to reframe it, that sticks in the craw. I’m still not personally convinced that they have learnt much from their previous mistakes, we will see. Hopefully one day soon we can start talking about what Venky’s have done FOR us rather than TO us, promotion would be a start.

I think not yet selling (I won’t use the term cashing in on) Rothwell, Lenihan and Nyambe, plus the loan signing of Zeefuik is Venky’s idea of going for it. It’s about as much concession as they will make. Markanday is the type of signing we’d have budgeted for anyway. If we weren’t challenging for promotion I’m pretty certain we’d be seeing out the campaign with JRC at right back, Clarkson in midfield and Ayala playing regularly with Johnson as the centre half back up. It wouldn’t be too much to ask for a couple more loan/cheap signings though. No need to break the bank, but we do need strengthening to give us the best chance of promotion. Dare I say Andy Carroll would seem a shrewd bit of business right now.

Yeah, no doubt there would be plenty of that nonsense. Hopefully it’d be largely drowned out by anyone with an ounce of pride left in their club.

Nothing about Thais would make any sense at all. It would rightly be met with absolute uproar.

Dack on the bench. If we are chasing it there is not a player in our squad I’d rather bring on for the last 10 minutes.