Eyal Berkovic did quite well for us. We could also run through a long list of players who have left the SPL who we'd be delighted to sign. I know the question is direct SPL to Championship, but there's lots of talent in Scotland.

Why? I mean, I get it because of how the club is run, but we need more central midfield options. Our season was derailed last season because of injuries to TWO central midfielders. Adding three this summer would be sensible.

And just so that everyone remembers, no one was excited about Batth signing last year.

Sensible signing. In isolation, it feels like a good swap for Batth. More experience and reliability at the back, but less likely to drop off a cliff due to age.

I probably worded it poorly, but by breaking into the first team, I don't mean the squad itself, but actually becoming a consistent figure in the first 11. Even in 22/23, he played in nearly every match, but he was a sub for 19 of those appearances. It was only in the last 2 seasons that he was really first choice for his position and considered an integral part of our plans and system.

We kind of do. He did go public about what he was on when he first joined Rovers and how his next contract wasn't an exponential increase. We do also have a report from the club in Turkey that, whilst unsubstantiated, may give an indication of what he now feels he is worth.

I would guess that our offer 2-2 1/2 years ago wasn't lower than he was worth at the time. He was only just breaking into the first team. It's a big hypothetical on the 15,000. As is the guess that we only offered 6,000 and that he was already making 2,000. But, sure, we can come up with numbers that somewhat justify the decision to actively earn less for over 2 years. But you would have to go hard to convince me that he wouldn't be better off on a higher sum here, with one year left on a deal, established in a decent Championship club, and positioning himself for either a move this summer (seemingly there wouldn't be demand) or moving on a free in 12 months after he had really built a reputation. This isn't even factoring in the possibility that he could have had a serious injury at any point in the last 2 seasons and significantly reduced his future earning potential. Players should almost always take the contract 2/3 years before their current deal runs out as they still maintain all of the power to demand a new one or manufacture a move. It's why our inability to get players to sign new deals 2/3 years out is such a strong indicator of how poorly run the club is.

To the final part, yes, but he is still only getting his low salary that he signed up for years ago. As for the part about not accepting the contract two years ago, it is difficult to justify. Let's use your figures and say that it was a 4,000 a week raise, that's a difference of over 100,000 pounds over the 2 1/2ish years since that offer was rumoured to be on the table. There's also a solid chance that he is currently on less than 2,000 a week and that his new offer was more than 6,000. Now, in the world of football, it's easy to turn your nose up at 'just' 100,000 more. But based on what Dolan is earning at the moment, that's a huge difference in income. We also assume that his current salary is irrelevant for any future contract negotiations, but there's a chance that he's now receiving offers where the interested club says, 'we know you are only on 2,000 a week now, so 10,000 a week is a huge raise and a fair offer'. He was dumb not to take a higher offer before, and he has put himself in a weaker position as a result.

I think it is difficult to look at how this has unfolded so far and not think that Dolan and his agent have misplayed this situation. Should he have received our most recent contract offers - if there even were any? Probably not. Should he have accepted better terms that were definitely offered to him under Broughton? Yes. He's missed out on 2+ years of higher earning and is now 2+ weeks into receiving no salary. He would absolutely have benefited from another season in a stable environemnt as a guaranteed starter. He's probably now finding out just how small his current reputation is and that he didn't have the types of offers he was hoping for. I'm sure he will end up at a decent Championship club, but it will be a lateral move that will delay any bigger steps by a year or two.

Nothing wrong with the signing, it just hasn't worked out. The problem with O'Riordan is the fact that he was signed during a period when other signings were failed to be completed and that he was signed in a position where we've also failed to strengthen.

Huh?

I think there is a formula to be followed in targeting either European or lower league players with great physical attributes and hoping that they can make the step up or thrive at a higher level. It's not dissimilar to what Wenger did at Arsenal for years. There are few known quanitities in the Championship who would excite me at 5 million or above.

I think we are still waiting on Ronaldinho to decide.

I think he was referring to all of the free agents that would be leaving Rovers...

I think Ismael showed enough at the back-end of the season to believe that he has a clear sense of style and structure and the players are relatively bought in. We've lost a couple of important players, but we have still kept the core part of most of our team and can expect some improvement from some of them (I think a season of Toth will be worth a 6-9 point improvement over a season with Pears). I do think we will add some more players and basically end up with a squad that is of a similar quality to last year. I don't think the Championship is particularly strong. Birmingham and Wrexham are better-than-usual promoted sides, but the three sides that are dropping down are weaker than normal. I don't think we will be in the playoffs, but I'd be less surprised by a playoff appearance than I would be by relegation.