Mercer

Hope we get a 'gentle start' to give us a chance to get some points on board. A tough start with few if any points may well be difficult to recover from. With our player trading so far and no contract renewals on our key players, difficult to have any confidence.

The lad's 20 now and not improving. Don't think the spell at Stanley did anything for him. At one stage, thought he was a good prospect. Time to move him on.

Style and opinions! Well Byron, Keats, Shelley and Wordsworth were all poets who were thought to have a similar writing style! As for opinions, 90%+ of a political party share the same opinions, don't they? I am not unique and don't pretend to be and I am pretty sure there are many out there with both similar opinions and similar ways of expressing themselves. I'll leave it there.

As I have said before, I AM NOT ONE OF THE TWATTERATI. Do you have difficulty reading and understanding? I don't give a feck what this bloke on Twitter posts. By all means have a go at me (though you do seem to have an unhealthy obsession with me) but don't attribute comments from someone else on another social media platform to me.

Would think we've probably given Moreirense their money back and promised more if he comes good and we win the PL and Champions' League!!! Perhaps this guy is their Leopold Wahlstedt!!! Chaddy you just don't get it do you? They have more than likely been spun a huge dose of bullsh1t and 'favours' have been called in! Why not trust sporting journalists - are you kidding everyone on here!?!?!? From what I have read about this lad and seen in the odd clip he is NOT THE BOX TO BOX Ismael wants and will be a piss poor replacement for either Travis or Tronstadt if and when they leave. De Neve and Sid, IMO, are not ready or good enough for the Championship. Carry on with signing players like this whilst losing the likes of Brittain, Batth, Travis and Tronstad and we will be done for by Christmas.

Forshaw???? Feck me. No, no, no .......... Pasha, Gestede, Raos - get the feck out of our club.

Not a snowball in hell's chance. PL, Pears is your number 2 and your number 1 gets a serious injury with Pears having to cover for up to 4 months - that's season over for that club. For ANY Championship club he makes too many mistakes and I can't see any club paying even £1million (or anywhere near) let alone £2million for a goalie not good enough to be number 1 in a poor Rovers side. Loose change only for Pears - anything beyond that is for the fairies. TBH don't think Barrett or Goddard up to it - Barrett is 23 and hasn't made an appearance for ANY senior club whilst 21 year old Goddard has circa 50 games with non league clubs of the ilk of Bamber Bridge and Marine!!! I wouldn't hold my breath about those two. Michalski is only 18 and only seen him play once - think he has a chance but would be a huge risk to have him as our number 2 with such limited experience. Think we need an experienced back up to Toth.

Think there are a few of us who remember Butcher! When Paul Bradshaw left for Wolves I remember Butcher's girl friend telling me at the time 'John will be better than Paul and go on to play for England'! Think my response was simply 'let's wait and see'!

Strikes me as having neither nous nor gravitas. IMO, Gestede should simply not be in that role, novice or otherwise - he is fathoms out of his depth. and there you have it - IMO, 3 footballing nobodies and the dumbing down process to all things Rovers is further entrenched. There is absolutely no doubting the club's ambition. The one factor that might just hold them back is their manager Phil Parkinson. A decent track level BELOW Championship level but he's failed to cut it as Championship level with other clubs. Would not surprise me if Parkinson is not an early managerial casualty as the ownership want success and quickly - they aint interested in 'consolidation' or 'projects'.

Posted this over a fortnight ago. Seen nothing to suggest this will not happen. Think Batth would even take a 1 year deal with Derby over Rovers - we didn't cover ourselves in glory with him a couple of seasons ago. Anyone who thinks the mood music around the Rovers is anything but poor and depressing really does need to give their head a wobble.

Waggott left a box of pork scratchings in his office.

It's simple, IT'S CALLED AMBITION and emanates from the ownership. I think it's clear, Wrexham as a club are everything Rovers are currently not. Feckin Wrexham!!! Stop bellyaching and start accepting reality. Jack will be spinning in his grave.

Think any out of work manager with a chequered history would grab a 3.5 year contract that might well give him financial security for life. So presumably you are saying Gestede is out of his depth, totally inefficient and useless? We will be lucky if we retain 1 of Brittain, Hyam, Travis and Tronstad - smell the coffee beans!!! Like we did under Jack! 'Rovers have held talks' - wow, could be as little as 'hi there, how's your summer going'!!! Just why the feck do players NOT WANT TO BE HERE!?!? - aint feckin rocket science Like we did under Jack! You never give us trying to defend the indefensible - can you not see this?

Think it was utter lunacy to hand him that contract - his form and abilities never warranted it. Posted almost a fortnight ago that I'd heard Rovers keen on Ryan Cooney (right back and God help us) and Ricky Jade Jones (striker). Think we all know what happens when a player has an alternative move.

I wouldn't try to defend Waggott at any price. Neither liked nor trusted the guy. Think the Eustace 'issue' actually goes back to last summer which seemingly led to Eustace putting himself on the market (how many jobs did he supposedly apply for - at least 3 spring to mind) some months before his almost inevitable departure. I heard the O'Neil link from who I would regard as a strong source. Was never keen on Waggott from day one but his card was properly marked with his cack-handed efforts to sell Brockhall (or part of) some 4/5 years ago for housing.

Think a few of us heard that one. With that and the women's team debacle (Waggott had seemingly secured third party investment / sponsorship but knocked back by Raos), it would seem the sands had been shifting from under Waggott for some time.

Think you live in a world of fantasy and make belief. If pre season unfolds as most on here expect, there won't be cracks appearing between Gestede and Ismail but one feckin great chasm. If Ismail is 'delighted' with the quality of De Neve then God help us. IMO, a weak, desperate signing who in comparison makes Matty Holmes an early version of Yamal!!! I think the general consensus is we are fecked as a credible and progressive football club. When this eventually dawns on you I think you will be left hugely disappointed with one almighty headache.

I don't know for sure what's been offered to Batth but based on what we've seen operationally over the years, I would think it's a relatively poor deal. When Broughton was here and discussions were ongoing with Dolan about a new contract, I was told, by someone who would know, what the opening offer was. Notwithstanding the fact that is was an opening offer and negotiations move the goal posts for both parties, I was taken aback by, IMO, the relative paucity of the offer. There have been postings on here about Waggott allegedly adversely moving the goal posts on offers once made. A leopard doesn't change its spots and I have neither trust in nor respect for our regime. Rovers' recent history suggests to me neither Batth nor Weimann were made decent competitive offers irrespective of any 2nd year issues. If you can't tie down players already in the building then I think as a club we have huge problems.

Just what am I guessing? iMO, Rovers p1ss about with negotiations and show little nous or imagination. With Batth, he's had an outstanding season, been a huge influence on the team and played almost 40 games. He's still only 34 (Kevin Moran played in the PL with us till he was 38 and Tony Gale won a PL medal with us at the age of 35/36 - both centre backs). For me, starting point should have been a substantial increase in basic given he joined on relatively low wages, a heavily linked appearance based bonus and a 2nd year option. Think there's a very good chance he would have snapped that up if put on the table early doors. Not as precious about Weimann but a similar type of deal to Batth's without the 2nd year option . IMO, there is neither nous nor gravitas at Ewood Park, just a clueless, amateurish shamble Do you do anything other than parrotting the club line!?

Don't disagree, however, it's about how you structure their offer. Clearly, they came on relatively low wages so they can be significantly increased and then supplement that with a sliding scale of appearance money. For example if we get a similar number of games out of Baath this season he is deservedly rewarded. It's not feckin rocket science. However, think it's pretty clear Baath and Weimann are gone as I think Brittain and Travis will be and also probably Tronstad. What an awful feckin mess we are in. Think Sagnan and Nade links is all bullshit. Firstly, if other clubs are in for them it's game over and secondly, we simply will not pay the transfer fees and wages that would be needed. Hello League 1 in 202627.

Never is OTT. However, many areas of football (managers, coaches, medical department and recruitment team etc) are so time demanding and not ideal for family life - Tony Mowbray banged on about it enough! A son of a friend gave up his job as an Academy Coach with a London PL club simply because it was ruining his family life. Fortunately he had more strings to his bow and was able to do so and is now working as an economist in the city earning much more money and enjoying a much better quality of life. Having said that, football was his real passion but sometimes hard decisions have to be made.

Football is played 7 days a week with staggered kick off times on Saturday and Sunday. It isn't that difficult to fit in 5 live games with his club's meticulous planning. For example 4 games over the weekend in Spain/Portugal or France/Germany are not unusual. Video matches are 2 days a week ar the club's training centre. It's all highly professional and the player reviews are succinct and brutally to the point (have seen some of the 'older' reviews which no longer relevant). It's a different world.

I've seen sufficient of Dolan in both live games and televised games to form my judgement. By the way, think you'll find a huge amount of Rovers' scouting is done from the video room as I posted earlier today in the Transfer Window so there are many so called professionals in football making judgements on players without first, if at all, seeing them in the flesh! This is common across many clubs and I have a younger relative who fulfils a similar role for one of the bigger PL clubs but he will also take in a minimum of 5 live matches a week. Dolan finished the season strongly leaving nothing on the pitch and, IMO, this hasn't always been the case with the lad. I would argue he was doing his level best to put himself in the shop window. 100% every game working your backside off is not an ability but a minimum requirement. I've said before Dolan lacks 2 key attributes for a forward to be successful in the PL, football intelligence and pace. Take Adam Armstrong - blessed with pace but, IMO, very little football intelligence. On the other hand, Jordan Rhodes has some football intelligence but was, IMO, a relative cart horse. Both Armstrong and Rhodes failed at PL level. Dolan is a decent Championship player and it would be no surprise to see him at one of those clubs seriously changing the top 6.

Understand part of our recruitment team includes 2 analysts we got from Southampton whose working day includes watching 6 matches a day (videos). Opening for Chaddy!?!?

Think this signing perfectly sums up where we are as a club. To me, it's feckin obvious we need to sign players and lots of them too given the anticipated exodus, so there's no real positive in this signing. He's supposed to be quick but looking at the guy he's going to be on his backside outside the Riverside on many occasions - looks physically weak and unsuitable for the intensity and physicality of the Championship. Good luck lad, think you'll feckin need it.