I think this is stage 2. 18 months ago we were offering contracts. They were to players we knew would leave or deals that were representative of their true market value, but we were at least holding talks and putting a contract on the table. I believe Broughton on that front. Now we are openly avoiding negotiations. In Travis and Tronstad we have two players who have publicly stated that they would like to stay and that they've yet to hear anything. That's insane. Does their willingness to stay guarantee a deal? No. But it does mean that talks should have been held.

Wharton, although injuries are a slight concern, and that could easily change within 12 months. But, they're being sold for similar prices at a similar point in their careers. We're also talking about two players who were sold/being sold at 19 years old, so there are many unknowns and many possibilities for either one to surpass their current potential or never fulfill it. We could run through lists as long as our arms of players at 19/20 who were expected to be world class and never got close. We could also come up with long lists of players at 19/20 who were never expected to be particularly special and who went on to amazing careers. I'd be very happy with either one.

Yes, and Bellingham signed for Sunderland for a reported 2 million 6 months before Wharton left us. So...what's your point? He's just been promoted to the Premier League, he's the brother of one of the world's most famous current footballers, and he's played twice as many matches for Sunderland (his second club) as Wharton played for us. I don't think his transfer proves the point that you think it does.

His ultimate issue is his lack of pace. His style of play would require him to be significantly quicker if he were to be an impactful player at a higher level. He looks like he should be quick, but he just isn't. Stronger, faster, smarter defenders will have him in their back pocket. He could definitely join a more ambitious club in the Championship and find his way in the Premier League through promotion, or get a taste of European football by going to Rangers or Celtic, but if a Premier League team signs him, they will be making a mistake.

I'm not sure if a comparison to Casemiro this season is all that flattering.

Very strong chance that it will be worse than Danny Batth last year. Decent chance that he will be on par with whatever Danny Batth produces next year.

'Time takes everybody out, time is undefeated.'

I won't be overly critical of the club for hesitating to extend the contract of a player who will be 35 in September. That will go wrong more often than it goes right. Of all of the contract resignings we have messed up, the likes of Batth, Weimann, and a few others are at least understandable.

80% of the posters on here know who we signed, how much we spent on them, who we sold, and how much we sold them for. We don't need a transfer ombudsman to provide 'facts' on a regular basis. As for your other two points, great. Then stop undermining them by defending the club (whether you intend to or not) over how much has been spent and who has been signed. They have totally failed us when it has come to transfer dealings. Not only in terms of quality of signings, but, more improtantly, in terms of amount invested. Now please, for the love of God, stop defending that in this thread. No one wants it. No one needs to know it. It doesn't need to be mentioned again. The club must IMPROVE.

Stop this. Please. You get some unnecessary flak on this messageboard, but defending the transfer spending is just idiotic. It undoes any valid points you might make on other topics as it makes you seem like a complete and utter stooge. We have spent a tiny fraction of transfer incomings on new signings. Well below what anyone would consider to be the normal fiscally responsible limit and well under what would be part of a normal club that was aiming for realistic sustainability. So, please, stop it. No one is denying that there were new signings, but they were signed using a small percentage of fees that were brought in. We have consistently had an incredibly low net spend. Defending it is particularly stupid as we are missing a wonderful opportunity to invest in the playing squad without going over FFP limits. Just stop it.

He's definitely on his way out of Montpellier and has been heavily linked with moves to Italy and the Championship (Leeds, Sunderland). Valued at around €3 million (he only signed for Montpellier 18 months ago for a fee in that region), that seems like an awfully big chunk of money to spend on a central defender if our budget is similar to years past. He's quite decent on the ball for a central defender. A big physical presence. We've been missing that type of player at the back for a while and he also offers a useful goalscoring threat from set pieces. He'd be a good signing, but not sure it's an absolute priority when our budget doesn't stretch very far.

Cherki has been threatening to play for Algeria, so he rather forced France's hand into playing him in a competitive match to lock him in (even though it was likely an empty threat).

How do you know? Plenty of players have turned down somewhat meaningless senior team inclusion in order to represent under-21s at international tournaments.

Which is fair enough. That may even have been their preference. I'd rather have a shot at winning a tournament (even at u21 level) than be part of a squad for Andorra and a friendly against Cameroon.

Am I alone in being slightly worried by this? Does this further cement Pasha's power? Waggott wasn't a good egg, but there's clearly an internal power struggle going on and he may simply be the scapegoat that allows the rest to continue business as usual.

He's 34 this summer. Dealt with a fair number of injuries and isn't really the best fit for the current system. I'm sure he's nice to have around the squad and he's a useful impact sub, but I wouldn't be that sad to see him walk. I'd rather be out one year too early than one year too late when it comes to players approaching their mid-30s.

Explains why he held out.

100%. Don't care what anyone does, but I'd still poke at my friends if they'd 'diehard' supporters of one club but throw on a shirt from another in the same country. My nephew lives in London, 'supports' City, but also has a soft spot for United, Liverpool, and Arsenal...🙄 Taking him to watch Portsmouth v Rovers this season didn't do a lot to convert him.

Do I want Wharton to do well? Sure. If I turn on and see Crystal Palace playing, I hope he plays well (although I couldn't care less about how they do). If anything I sort of want them to do badly. They got a potential bargain from us and many of their supporters speak as if they 'discovered' him. That's annoying. I'm sure there are other fanbases who have felt the same way about players that we have taken as our own or treated like we plucked out of nowhere, but I have no interest in fueling that particular mindset by supporting them as if they did us some favour by signing him.

Hedges is a useful squad player. Triggering the extension is a good move. He'd likely be more costly to replace and I'm not sure I would actually extend his deal, but his versatility makes him useful and he wasn't bad in some of the matches towards the end of the season. He may be a good fit for our new system, but I don't want to see him starting.

It's still a pretty long list of players from the last 15 years that have represented the club in the Premier League, played Premier League football elsewhere, played international football (in the case of Jones and Dunn), and played for significantly bigger clubs (in the case of Jones). It's not like we are Stocksbridge and we now have a soft spot for Leicester because of Jamie Vardy. As I said in my previous post, the level thing is too early to judge. He looks set to have a fantastic career that will see him move beyond Crystal Palace and represent England for years to come. But it could also not happen. I'll put it this way. If I were a Birmingham City supporter, I wouldn't give two f*cks about Real Madrid (or Dortmund before them). Nice to see Bellingham doing well and it's a credit to their academy and a nice story that maybe helps the club recruit local players, but he chose to leave and best of luck to him.

I don't have no connection to the area. Don't let my accent fool you just because my family moved to the US when I was 1 or the fact that my career has me based in Paris. But, either way, that isn't particularly relevant. We're all from somewhere and there's nothing unique to Blackburn that means a non-local couldn't imagine a similar relationship with an athlete/musician/actor/politican/etc from their local area. We will have to wait and see just how good of a career he goes on to have, but Phil Jones left here with a bigger reputation and higher expectations. He didn't any of the same tracking or fascination that Wharton gets. Why? Because we were a Premier League side and had better things to focus on. He was also probably hurt by the fact that he joined United, but this messageboard was certainly not filled with members talking about local-boy-done-good. There's no two ways about it. This is a reflection of the downfall of this club. That isn't me - or any other poster on here - telling people to not follow his career or to not have a soft spot for him. But it doesn't change the fact that it makes us look small-time.

It was a penalty and Henderson should have been sent off earlier in the match. Not sure anyone can use that final as an example of VAR helping out the 'big clubs'.

You can disagree with me, but the reasoning that you use is poor. 15 years ago we would have been laughing at Burnley had they been turning up to FA Cup finals with flags to support an ex-player. There are few examples that are more indicative of just how far this club has fallen. We could run through a list as long as my arm of academy players or 'Blackburn lads' who didn't get this type of attention when they left.

Honestly, our club is bigger than this. If I were supporting some National League club, then I would love to follow the rise of an academy player. But what a f*cking tiny club mindset.