The highs and lows on this messageboard are more extreme than the crypto markets. Most expected a defeat here, most would have taken 9 points from our opening 5 matches. Our squad is too small, we're playing 3 matches in 6 days. What did everyone truly expect against one of the better sides in the division? I'm choosing to see this as a positive and hope that it reinforces the need for signings.

IF, and it's a big if, he stays, then have to agree with this. I simply cannot imagine Mowbray convincing someone to stay. The change in tone and optimism that is coming from people in leadership roles has to be felt throughout the team.

I don't want the transfer topic to turn into the contract renewal topic, but there's no way we could have offered Brereton big money before last season. I was always a Brereton optimist, but we could never have seen this sort of upturn in form coming. I think even the biggest believers were hoping that he would simply be able to establish himself as a viable option to start up front. This messageboard would have gone into meltdown had Brereton signed a 20k+ longterm deal in the summer of 2021. I'll also add, even as someone who was a Brereton optimist, I'm still not a complete believer that this current for is truly sustainable.

You (some people) think that his stock is very high right now. It's unclear as to whether or not there are top division clubs that agree with that. He's been linked with a few moves, but he's got a good PR team behind him now. I'd say his stock would be significantly higher as a free agent. I'm not sure many clubs will be willing to risk 20m(ish) on the basis of 6/7 months of good form.

Or, we can just assume the following. 1 - A player has signed for a new club and has to talk up how excited he is to join a bigger and better team/project. 2 - A manager has lost his job and has to try and explain why he had such a horrible second half of the campaign and why he was no longer wanted/wasn't the right person for the job. 3 - Who knows. Players join clubs for a variety of reasons.

Of course I do, certainly not my first rodeo when it comes to Rovers and that issue. But 3 weeks is a long time in a transfer window and the season isn't decided in 3 weeks anyway. I'll judge the window when it is completed.

Patience, as usual, is in short supply on this MB. Yes, we've lost some players. Yes, some clubs have made moves. But there are still plenty of deals that will be done and plenty of time for us to take part in them. No need to be too desperate now and judge things every 6 hours.

I feel part of the problem is that so many people add too much weight to what is said in the press - even in public statements from the club - and also try to fill in gaps in information that we will simply never have access to. Of course a new manager and DoF are going to take a bit of time to assess a squad before they start signing players. Would we want them to do it differently? Even if they did their research coming into the job and have an idea of what is needed, I'd still want them to take a closer look before signing new players. As for how many players we are signing. Do you want a new regime to come out and say that we need 10 players? 15 players? How do you expect the existing squad to take that?

In spite of their many flaws, I don't think Venkys have ever shown themselves to be overly concerned by the thought of losing money on transfers. If someone at the club tells them that he might make the difference and if he doesn't force a move, I think we could well see him stay until at least January. Given the current economic markets I don't think that there will be too many clubs in a rush to spend 15m+ on what still represents a massive gamble.

I think he may well stay. It's unlikely to be the type of summer where middling clubs are likely to feel all that cash rich and I'm sure that there will be plenty who are quite happy to reserve judgement and see if he can keep his form going into next season - with the possibility of a knock-down price in January or a free transfer next summer. Brereton himself may also be in no rush as he may feel being a free agent puts him in the most powerful position and in line for the biggest payday.

As someone who has spent all but 4 years of their adult life living outside of their home country I can tell you that you've being a little bit dramatic and you'll find plenty within expat communities, including those with families, who love living abroad. Factor in that JDT has lived in England before and spent his professional life living outside of his home country, it all seems like a total non-starter as a negative.

His body language, as always, is awful. But I have zero sympathy for him. I'm not going to be made to feel bad about a manager who's contract is running down when he's allowed multiple players to run down their contracts. I know that isn't entirely his own decision and he might be barely involved in that process, but he's been willing to tow the line in the media about how there's time to sort things out for others, so why should it be any different for him?

Not to piss on the Buckley parade, but Twitter trends are determined by your own interests and the number of mentions and the particular hashtag used will vary greatly depending on what you set your location and language to be. So, not that surprising to have Buckley trending if you're a Rovers supporter and follow a fair number of Rovers, Championship, and football accounts.

I'm actually less concerned about his body language and demeanour in interviews and more concerned by how he presents himself on the touchline. He is often just lifeless, head in hands, sitting with a thousand yard stare. He's supposed to a be a motivator and it's impossible to think that (at least some) players will see that and think it is an assessment of their chances or, possibly even more damagingly, the capabilities of their manager. I also think that his overall demeanour contributes to a lack of accountability and that probably permeates every area of the club. I can think to my own work and know how much it means when a senior person takes the lead, takes accountability, and sets a real example.

I find it very difficult to place all of my thoughts on Mowbray's reign into a concise summation. He does deserve a tremendous amount of credit for stabilising the ship after relegation to League 1. Yes, some managers might have been able to avoid the drop in the first place and relegated sides are always promotion favourites, but many sides have struggled to go back up and it was essential that we do it at the first time of asking. Since promotion, he has managed to reestablish this club as a solid Championship team, but after that the positives stop. His inconsistent tactics and inability to get the best out of most of his players has been tremendously frustrating. His signings have been mostly questionable and he seems to be a poor judge of talent. Yes, he gets some credit for our form in the first half of the season, but he was unable to regain momentum once the luck ran out and things started to slip. He feels very much like a manager who struggles in the face of adversity and who is unable to adapt. Each season has been plagued by major drops in form (particularly towards the backend of Championship seasons) and the fault has to be placed firmly at the doorstep of management in that regard. But my biggest criticism of him has to be in his demeanour. I cannot imagine having a boss who carried himself as he does. Who'd body language and messages were so negative. It's impossible to think that this has had no impact on the team. He won't go down as our worst manager, but it is his time to go (and has been for some time) and we can hope for someone to come in with more energy and more creativity.

A lot of people on here are talking about mismanagement when it comes to the contract situations that we find themselves in. Many have even alluded to the fact that they don't believe that we would have found ourselves in such a situation under the stewardship of Williams et al. What people are failing to take into account is how the modern game has changed. Players run down their contracts. They look to put themselves in the greatest position of power by becoming free agents. Heck, just look at the Mbappé situation at PSG. We've made a lot of mistakes over the last decade and our ownership and management can take a lot of the blame, but they can't be held responsible for the fact that there has been a shift when it comes to how players approach contracts. They want short contracts and they want to reach the end of them. What's more, given the current financial climate in football, you will have every agent telling a player to run their contract down so that they aren't denied a dream move by a transfer fee. It's the world we're in now. We've benefited from it and will continue to take advantage of it, but we will also lose good players for smaller fees as a result. That being said, I'm not going to overestimate Rothwell's ability and consistency based on the fact that he's been good here for about 1/4 of his appearances. If it truly is 6m then we should take it and move on.

I don't disagree with the prevailing opinion that we shouldn't sell Rothwell to a promotion rival and that we should be very reluctant to disrupt a team that is clearly working well and where all of the players seem to be really pulling in the same direction - HOWEVER, it's impressive to see how people's estimation of Rothwell have increased over the past 6 months. I have little doubt that many would have happily accepted a similar bid 12 months ago. I don't want any changes to the squad right now, but we also don't want to risk evaluating our players purely based on their best form (and not a pretty large sample size or mediocre performances and inconsistency).

I'll happily offer you 20/1. Minimum stake 50.

I'm not really bothered about that. I'm never interested in what is being said publicly about our transfer dealings, nor do I know how close we may have come to one or two signings or the reasons why those may have fallen through. I think another manager could do better. I think that the club is poorly run. But I think that this squad should expect to be midtable in this division and has every chance of challenging for a playoff spot if things go our way (which happens to one or two mediocre clubs every season).

I think that some of those goals will naturally be replaced by someone else filling the void (penalties, for starters). I feel comfortable with the strength in depth at the back, it's the most depth we've had defensively in years. And, I just think the overall balance of the squad is better now. I expect us to be a bit better. Only time will tell.

I mean, it doesn't. We've already shown enough this season to be confident that we can stay up. The board is being a little bit dramatic at the moment (not surprising). I'm disappointed that we haven't done better, but don't think that signing a striker/forward was an absolute necessity. I hope that this means that Gallagher and Brereton will be used in more central roles and that the wingers that we have and have brought in will give us more creativity and pace in wide positions. I actually think our squad has decent balance and will look fairly strong when we get our injured players back. I think there's every chance that we are in the top half when January comes around and that might put us in a position to splash out a bit on a player that we really need.

Not just us. I think the market just moves more quickly and efficiently on the final day when clubs and players realise that they don't have as many options as they would have hoped/liked.

Where have you heard that?

Oh good one. You've got him there. Very clever.

Regarding the Nyambe rumours - although using the term rumours might be generous - our owners are incompetent, but they've consistently shown that they will hold out for a good price for players. Raya is probably the only one we've got majorly wrong, but even that was more down to the fact that Mowbray had decided to move on. I can't see them letting a useful player go for a million or less. At that price they will hold onto him.