I'm not a fan of JRC at right back. In fact, I don't rate him as highly as some do. He's alright as a squad player, but we need a proper right back to step in for Nyambe. I thought JRC said he doesn't want to play at right back and that he wants to play further forward? I'm sure somebody posted that on here. It looks like he will play there anyway.

I think it's a mixture of both. However, from my experience of talking to fans that I know, it's the product on the pitch that is the problem. I've heard a few say "I'm not paying to watch that crap" and "I wouldn't go even if they paid me to". I think that partly explains why any ticket deals haven't had much success. The diehards will be there no matter what, but there are others who are disillusioned with the football that has generally been served up under this regime and who don't see much to be excited or hopeful about. For example, even a cup game against United didn't sell out and I think that was due to how hopeless we were that season under Coyle. The regular dreary sound bites from the manager about how "we can't compete with..." and "it's going to be difficult" don't help either as that doesn't inspire anybody. Over the years we've had the Waggott tax, the insulting "We're committed, are you?" marketing and now the most ridiculous of walk on prices. It used to cost £28 in the Riverside to watch us against United in the Premier League. Now Waggott wants £36 for us against, what, Preston, Blackpool? Get real. He's completely out of touch. As it stands, I think this young side we have now is one that fans can get behind. There are a few exciting players there on paper. I'm looking forward to seeing the link up between Clarkson, Rothwell and Poveda, for one. Reduce the walk on prices to something reasonable and there will be an increase especially if we string a few wins together.

If we have got any money for a striker, Dembele from Peterborough is the one I'd want us to sign. With Mowbray saying "It's going to be difficult with the money we have" and talk of Poveda being played as a false nine, I'm not expecting much. Let's wait and see.

Ah yes, that's right. I forgot about Clarkson coming in. Longstaff is a good shout. He's going to drive himself and all of us crazy with the rotation this season. There are enough ways we can switch the front three up for example, especially if Khadra arrives. It's bizarre, but our strategy this summer reminds me of my recent Football Manager saves. Try and find as many quick wingers as you can, make sure they can play on both flanks and just get it out wide every game. If it doesn't work, stick the quickest guy down the middle. Need cover in defence? I'll look for the cheapest loans. It's not far off what they are doing here in real life.

The longer the wait goes on, the more I am thinking we won't be signing a striker on a permanent. I've got a bad feeling he's going to rotate Dolan and Poveda down the middle as false nines. Poveda and Khadra would give us options out wide too, meaning any of Gallagher, Butterworth, McBride or Brereton could be played centrally if Mowbray wants. I really hope he isn't looking at it like that and thinking we have enough options down the middle. I think it will be the Brighton CB, a LB, Khadra and another CM, all on loan to close the window.

I had to Google him to check he was an actual player. Thought it was some kind of play on words at first 😁.

You'll catch a few with that 😁.

I'm guessing it's Billy Koumetio. Young centre back. I would prefer it to be Rhys Williams as he is more established and has a few Premier League games under his belt. They've got 5 other centre backs there, so they could let him out.

I think (and hope) this is Mowbray's last season and our activity in the transfer market is hinting towards that being the case. Why bring in players on permanent deals if you are not going to be at the club beyond next summer? Get a few loans in to cover the short term, hope to stay up and leave with 'your head held high'. That seems to be the plan. Replacing the out of contract players and getting a permanent replacement for Armstrong is likely to be somebody else's problem in 12 months time.

He is left footed but has mainly been used on the right wing at Leeds. Should be the same with us, but then again, he's likely to get at least one game as a false nine. The deal hasn't been confirmed yet.

Cheers, Joe. That is a very interesting app. First time I've seen it and it looks impressive. There is so much to explore there and I like how it isn't just limited to English football. I can see how you would get a much more comprehensive view of a player in comparison to a standard YouTube compilation. I mean, anybody savvy enough could even make Hope Akpan look like a midfield enforcer on YouTube, for example. As someone who likes to 'find' players for Rovers (just for fun really, not working in football) I can see myself easily spending hours using this tool. There's a young winger at Bologna that I like called Vignato. His stats don't look all that on paper, but he looks good on the eye. If you get a chance, check him out. Wouldn't mind seeing him here but...you can just picture the look on Balaji's face as somebody utters the words "Emanuel Vignato from Bologna, boss" to him. In the hands of decent, imaginative scouts and at a club where the owners show some ambition, it could be very handy.

Poveda-Ocampo is a tricky little player. Would be very happy with that signing. A bit out of the blue this one, so it would be a pleasant surprise to see it happen.

Obafemi was a bit of a longshot, but there was always that bit of hope it could happen the closer it got to the deadline. Can't say I'm not disappointed though. Reading that Mowbray didn't even speak to him winds me up, but I think it falls down to the player this time. Let's see where he ends up.

I mentioned the other day that I'd like us to go for Bolasie as he is a free agent. However, I've just read that he was on 75k a week at Everton. Staggering! Boro are struggling to sign him as he would clearly have to take a massive pay cut. That's one to forget about (not that we were in for him).

Bring it on 😁. He is that good, Chaddy, imo. His pace will transform our attack. I know Dolan is quick but this guy is an actual forward with good movement. I don't mind waiting a bit for us to get it over the line.

Sounds like it's going to be a busy end to the window for us. After weeks and weeks of nothing in the transfer market, there should finally be a bit of excitement. Let's see who we bring in. Kean Bryan, Tommy Doyle, Obafemi? I wonder who else is a possibility.

Get in!! A hard fought three points. Love how we pressed and swarmed them at times tonight. We won the ball back well I thought. Buckley made a few great interceptions. Ayala, Lenihan and Carter were excellent tonight. The loan move looks to have helped Carter. Chapman looked a threat on the right. Chapman down the right, Gally down the middle, Dolan as an impact sub. No need to over complicate things. Can't wait for Saturday now.

We look so much better at the back with Ayala in there. Let's get a second to finish this off now.

We should be all over that list, but I doubt we will be. There are a few decent players there who look attainable. It can't come down to wages all the time, surely? We need options out wide. If Brereton is out for any reason we are left with little choice on that side. Chapman isn't reliable. I feel the same about the right flank too. Just imagine Bolasie on one side and Mendez-Laing or Kadeem Harris on the other, big upgrades on our current options, imo. I doubt there's much chance of that happening though as the manager doesn't like actual wingers. There's a left back on that list, Haitam Aleesami. Were we not linked with him a year or so ago? That could be one to keep an eye on.

Finally, an incoming. Seen a few highlights of Liverpool in pre season and he looks a tidy passer. Looking forward to seeing him in a Rovers shirt.

Agreed. I remember a game at Ewood where somebody in the Riverside bellowed at the top of his voice "YORKIE, you're not on the beach now...MOVE!!". He definitely heard it as he looked sheepishly towards the floor. Yorke had a few good games for us here and there in his first season. Villa away in the cup, Spurs away, but overall he was a disappointing buy and him being at the club didn't help Cole.

A brilliant interview. Listening to that brings back so many good memories. It takes me back to a sunny last day of the season against Fulham in 2002 where Duff and Cole had a field day as we cruised to a 3-0 win. Good weather, good crowd, good football, happy days. Some of the football we played between 2000-03 was a joy to watch. Duff, Dunn, Tugay, Jansen, Cole. Then add in the battlers like Short, Berg, Neill, Flitcroft. We had a superb mix. That was evident with how we could both play and get stuck in. I love how Souness says "Oh, so you want to play that game, do you?", in relation to those wanting to rough us up, so he went and made sure we had an aggressive side to our game to stand up to that. That's a proper manager, proactive, brave and possessing a will to win. The man in the dugout today is so far on the other end of the scale to Souness it's unreal. We always had belief going into games back then and that was largely due to how Souness was. We had good players, yeah, but he instilled the right attitude. You knew he would be tearing strips off them when things weren't going well. There were no bullshit excuses, no "we can't compete with...". Heck, we squared up to probably the best Arsenal side around (a season before the invincibles) and did the double over them! The thought of that today would bloody terrify Mowbray and Waggott (Even with a hypothetical £300m budget). Try asking Souness if there are any positives to take out of a cup defeat to Morecambe and he'd probably want to rip your head off. The biggest take away from that interview is: we had a manager, a board and owners all pulling in the same direction and all wanting the best for the club. We have none of that today, and won't have that again until the whole lot of these gutless cowards are gone and new owners are in place. (Apologies for the long post, I can't help it when talking about those times)

Disappointed about Obafemi apparently turning us down. This was one that I was excited about. It's no surprise though. It's hard enough getting good players to come here as it is, without taking into account who is doing the negotiating for us. He's going to throw money at a panic buy on the last day of the window again, isn't he?

Has he no shame? We've just been embarrassed by a side that it would be unthinkable to lose against not so long ago, yet he wants to 'take the positives' out of it. Any manager worth his salt would be ashamed by that result, fuming and trying to keep a low profile. No way does a proper manager try and sugarcoat it in that way. It's an insult to read that headline. I couldn't care less how many formations we can switch to during a game. That means nothing if we don't win. As it is, his experiment with this 3 at the back started at the Southend game in 2017 and failed miserably back then. Four years later he's still experimenting with it! Take your experiment somewhere else. "We always deal with the result" he says. Yeah, shrugging your shoulders and saying "we move on to next week" is dealing with it. I've got to stop reading his interviews.

We are going to have problems against teams that are physical and play a more direct game. I'd say most Championship teams play that way, or they at least have the option to switch to that approach. We don't have that, nor do we have the physicality to stand up to that approach, particularly in midfield. Millwall is a big test already to see how we fare. Not looking forward to it, but I'm hoping there's some sort of response to last night's embarrassment.