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That looks frightening on paper. Their big forward, Cook, will batter those two at CB. Chapman and Smallwood will be fired up, and Harratt is a good player too. Just give 'em a game lads.

If Brighton are happy with £2.25m for Clarke, I find it hard to believe they want £7m for Van Hecke. The latter figure has been suggested on here over the past couple of days. It doesn't make much sense, unless they have sensed desperation from Rovers' end. I would like him to come back, but it seems unlikely. The £10m figure mentioned above appears to be everything all in. That doesn't sound as promising as it first did to me. We aren't getting a Van Hecke or a standout signing unless a "special request" is made, I feel.

Expecting a comfortable Bradford win, with us likely to rotate. As we know, Hughes is the man when it comes to roughing up the opposition. Plus he is fond of this competition. He might not have the quality of player he once had, but I expect his physical players to make this another embarrassing night to add to the long collection of them under these owners. It's literally men v boys looking at the likely line ups. 2-0 Bradford.

Good post. Yes, absolutely. If the window ends like this. Spotlight. On a similar note, I was waiting for an opportunity to share the following for the puzzle players among us, and I know you like this game, Shirley. A nameless dot to dot character was spotted: a) At the Hartlepool v Rovers game in pre season. b) Tweeting about Lucas Joao being one of the Championship's best strikers, minutes after he had scored against Rovers last Wednesday. Thus suggesting he was keeping an eye on the Rovers game. c) At the Hartlepool v Bradford game on Saturday. Days before Rovers play Bradford in the cup. Hmm. Might just be a football lover and watching a local side or whatever, I guess. The Rovers link is what got the radar going. Stay alert, the game might not be over yet.

You haven't read what I said. I'm not saying I want a takeover (yes, I want Venky's out). I was giving you an example of what Vinjay used to say in relation to Rovers needing a takeover pre Venky's turning up. As for Murtough, that backs up my point! He's an Academy man, just like Broughton, and look at how shambolic United's transfer window has been. Just like ours!

Chaddy, do you remember when Vinjay kept going on and on about wanting a takeover? We need a takeover. We need a takeover. Look at the farce that has followed for 12 years as he got his wish. I have a feeling it's going to be similar case with your wish for a Director of Football model. This is currently the wrong club, under the wrong ownership model within which to try such a strategy. They bloody need to get the basics right before trying to be smart arses, IMO. It might work under ambitious, interested owners, with skilled operators behind the scenes, but not this shambolic operation, IMO. Are you not disappointed? Having wanted a Director of Football to come in for years, only for an underwhelming Academy waffler like Broughton to turn up? That would be seriously disappointing to me.

Based on that, he will have no qualms about walking. He didn't at Malmo and he tasted real success there. "The club has to provide that" I.e signings. If Broughton screws this up, as I expect he might, he's gone, IMO. JDT doesn't need to put up with this crap. Good questions from Andy Bayes there I thought. Direct and to the point, fair play to him for that. Maybe JDT didn't want to go into too much detail, but him saying "the club has to provide that" when he was specifically asked how it works between him and Gregg isn't encouraging to hear. In my opinion, we can't have somebody like Broughton, who has no experience in this role and no eye for a player, provide players for JDT to pick from. Szmodics alone should be enough of a signal for JDT to tell him to shove it. Another crap appointment (GB) from owners who seem to be a magnet for them.

Somebody jokingly said on here that JDT had been reading brfcs, after one of his recent interviews. Just a hunch, but it might not be a joke after all. He knows how the fans are feeling anyway, and it seems like he shares some of our frustrations too. It's strange how JDT understands why fans might be "going crazy", yet a supporter, who usually backs what the hierarchy says, is calling for calm and patience. It's clear what JDT is trying to say @chaddyrovers The way it's looking, I can see him walking soon. There is no way the Academy man delivers 6 quality players. No chance. He's out of his depth, IMO.

Chaddy, our need is immediate. We need quality in the centre of midfield now. It's not about three or four years down the line. Can Adam Wharton and Garrett be counted on to play a key role this season? Are they of the standard required right now? I think we know the answer to both. Lessons should be learnt from the hype around previous youngsters that didn't lead to any benefit for the first team. "We've got Pike, Butterworth, McBride, Vale" are all things that you said at various stages. None of them made it at Rovers and the latter looks way off it at this level. Ash Phillips is being talked up as a potential worldie, yet he is finding it difficult too as the step up is massive. Wharton and Garrett might turn out to be decent in the future, or they could go the same way as those mentioned. However, to not bring in quality right now in central midfield because of the potential impact on their development is a cop out and an excuse. Any DoF in the Championship, who opts for a kid on loan in midfield because he doesn't want to block the pathways for two other kids cannot be taken seriously, in my view. These aren't exceptional players we are talking about here. In a league where we need to fight, in an area of the pitch where we need to fight, he seems to be happy with kids being in there as options. Does that sound like somebody who is focusing on quality or promotion to you? That, IMO, looks like an Academy man who is focusing on player development as a priority, and that's why I want him out. Remember what he said when he first arrived: “There are going to be three things that allow us to overachieve on the pitch and for Blackburn Rovers to be back in the Premier League we have to overachieve". I think that says enough about the level of ambition and belief.

I've noticed JDT emphasise our "off the ball" work quite a bit recently. I can't help but feel this has been to the detriment of our actual "on the ball" work though. Our passing in recent games has been shockingly bad. We've barely been able to string three passes together (ignoring the pointless stuff at the back) and it's a concern considering this is a manager who likes a possession based style of play. If we have been working intensively on shape, closing down space etc then the last two performances are not a good look for the manager at all.

This is what he said upon signing Morton: More telling was Broughton stating: “Strategically we knew we needed to add another central midfielder to the squad for this season and a loan suited us ideally to ensure we didn’t block the medium-term pathways of some of our own young midfielders who have done so well for us over the last eight weeks.” Those are not the words of a winner or a person who can help take Rovers forward, in my opinion. Get him gone.

I think most of us have been guilty of over stating how good our players are at some point over the years, but the past few games have shown that Buckley and Travis are nowhere near what people were making them out to be. They aren't crap, they've done well for us at times, Buckley has shown flashes of promise and an eye for a pass. However, as a pairing they will get mullered by most midfields in this league, imo. They do not have the ability to impose themselves on a game and get us on top. We saw it at Reading and again today, and it didn't come as a surprise to me to see that they were out played. They have been overhyped, in my view. It seems like many were hoping that Buckley would drop deep and that it would just work. He's not the next Scholes and we don't have the 'Class of '22' either. We are so short of quality in the centre of the park, the centre of defence and upfront, it's frightening. I don't know how we fix this, as the rebuilding job is huge. We need so many incomings, quality ones at that too.

This is much worse than what Mowbray served up. Sign L1 players and rely on kids and this is what happens. Billionaire owners, apparently? They need to take a long, hard look at themselves. Things just get worse and worse under them no matter which personnel they bring in. We look like a L1 team today and we're relying on the clueless Broughton to sort this out. We're in big trouble.

We'll do well to avoid the bottom three this season. Forget promotion. Too much work to do transfer wise in the next two weeks.

This was meant to be a possession based, high intensity style of football under JDT. Fair enough, we are short on quality, but I haven't seen much signs of the above so far this season. We're struggling to string three passes together here. It has to be a concern for the manager, surely. Sheff Utd really aren't all that. Their fans were getting frustrated at 0-0, it's just that we have been so weak and haven't laid a glove on them.

Hoping JDT has a plan up his sleeve as he did at Swansea, but the way we were bullied at Reading doesn't bode well going into this one. I expect Sheff Utd to be too physical for us to handle. 2-0 home win. I also think we could see Pickering at CB and Edun at LB. Far from ideal, but there aren't many other options. One of those games where a draw will feel like a win today.

The use of the words "quickly", "quick" and "quicker", say a lot for me. I think JDT is starting to get pissed off like the rest of us are. It was weeks ago when he said something along the lines of the club knowing what he wants and needing to deliver, when asked about players coming in. Since then he's had more questions put to him with the answer always being "ask Gregg". I feel for the guy, he's no mug and will know a number of our squad aren't up to it. He is being let down by those above him.

That's exactly it and guess whose philosophy and views on football club strategy matches what you have wrote in your first paragraph? People might think I have an agenda, but I don't. I have simply heard, read and seen enough to form the opinion that Broughton isn't the answer if we want promotion and quality players to turn up here. If you just want to increase player value and develop the kids, fine. The owners have to decide what they want as it's one or the other for me. Promotion or development of youth? I gave examples on here a few weeks back of how he was proud about the number of Academy players that made it into the Bodo first eleven, how he helped to increase player/squad value at Luton, how Rovers gave x amount of minutes to Academy graduates last season and how he feels this needs to continue this season. He's already talked about not wanting to 'block pathways' when he went for Morton on loan. I might be seeing it wrong, but so far, it looks to me like it's player development over quality and that's worrying. He's got two weeks to bring in what we need, as many believe that we are waiting until late on to benefit from reduced asking prices/wages and that the quality will come. We'll see, but I have huge reservations about the guy making the signings.

They've shown no signs of wanting Premier League football in 10 years, in my opinion. However, this sounds like the good old 'face' angle might finally be coming into play. If the prospect of an Indian consortium or owner turning up in the Premier League is pushing them to get their act together, then I'm all for it. Whatever it takes. They need to do something about that wage budget though.

I think this is Van Hecke to Sunderland, from the sounds of it. That would be a real blow, especially when our need for defenders is so urgent.

I did read somewhere that Alex Neil was watching Styles recently and that Sunderland are in for him. Rev has suggested that isn't what he was referring to, so it could potentially be double disappointment for us.

Agreed. I would love to see Van Hecke return, but there is a possibility that could happen based on current circumstances. I think it was £3m for the Bosnian defender. I'm sceptical about that myself, but that's another matter. Apparently, it was the wages that we couldn't match. It would be interesting to know how much Sheff Utd are paying him. It was rumoured that we were prepared to pay £26k a week to Ben Davies and that we made Lenihan a late offer of £22k a week. If true, how much more was Ahmedhodzic after? If he's on £30k plus over there, then I can understand it. I've seen a site claim he is on £25k, I don't know how reliable that is though. The Sheff Utd fans seem to love him anyway and it sounds like we have missed out on a good 'un. I haven't seen him play, but I guess we'll get to see how good he is tomorrow.

We should be getting the taxi started for Gregg, with the message being that he's got two weeks to show us something. The goal isn't promotion here, in my view. For JDT it is, I doubt it is the case elsewhere though.

I said it a couple of weeks back and I stand by it, as I have seen nothing to change my mind. Broughton is a dud. I think those pinning their hopes on him bringing in 'quality' to the club in the next two weeks are going to be left disappointed. He wouldn't know a quality player if one was under his nose, IMO. Szmodics? Fry and Peterborough are probably still laughing their backsides off at what a good deal they managed to pull off. A poor, lightweight signing, who is nowhere near Dack's class. If this is the guy that is tasked with bringing players in, it doesn't look promising, in my view. An Academy man who is spinning plates and learning on the job as DoF. A DoF on whom the pressure is growing as our need for signings increases by the day and the deadline draws nearer. Him choosing not to speak to the press until after the window closes is a sign of the pressure getting to him, in my view. IMO, he has neither the nous nor what is required to bring quality players to this football club. Why are signings taking an age? Why are we dithering over SVB when we urgently need defenders? Move on, our need is urgent. Or is a loan the best that can be done? This isn't down to Venky's or the middleman this time, IMO, this is down to operators who aren't up to the task. Just like those at United, who can't see deals through. He would be gone tomorrow morning, if it was up to me, for our squad being in this state with the season underway, and with us needing 6 signings in such a short timeframe. Two lads from L1, one who was already a club target under the previous setup, and a cheap loan from Liverpool. There is nothing there so far to suggest that he can carry out this overhaul or that he has bought something new to the table. JDT has to continually bat away questions about signings and you can see him getting fed up with it. Some are seeing it now for what it is, others probably will in a couple of weeks time when we're still short of players and the hard luck stories are being put out in the press. Fully behind JDT, a winner, a serious manager and a breath of fresh air. If only he had savvy operators above him.

An encouraging result and display. Something that I did not see coming based on the first 25 minutes or so where we didn't see much of the ball, but that is a superb win, which I am delighted about. Our off the ball work, which JDT has mentioned a lot, shone through. Fair play to the manager. We did a job on them, were organised and he was proactive, not reactive. Early days, but those are encouraging signs. COYB.