Not overly concerned about missing out on Lowe, personally. I think he'd improve us, but not massively and it's very unlikely that we'd be able to recoup the £1.5 million further down the line. 

If our strategy now is going to be buy young players and improve them, you can't be spending most of the budget on a good-but-not-great 27 year old. 

4 minutes ago, briansol said:

Based on Mowbray's comments Gally will continue as Striker, which make Lowe right winger, which really is. 

Astonishingly orthodox if it turns out to be like that!

11 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Whenever I saw Cairney playing in central midfield he looked overawed by the responsibility and the game seemed to pass him by. Obviously better coaching at Fulham has improved that side of his game.

I always felt Cairney was at his best when he really wanted to hurt teams - looking to take more risks in creating chances or scoring himself and less concerned about giving possession away. It could be 2+2=5, but he was excellent whenever he played at Elland Road after being let go by Leeds as a youngster. 

14 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Devil's advocate mode on:

Cairney was pretty inconsistent when he was here due to Bowyer not having enough faith in him. I wouldn't have sold him personally but he only really showed his true ability after leaving here. Without a crystal ball at the time think Raya was the bigger error.

King I'm not having at all. He was bloody useless when he was here and stunk the place out with his attitude. He's one player I don't think you can blame the Club for with benefit of hindsight type arguments.

Completely see where you're coming from on Cairney (and you're right that it was more about not fitting him into the right system, rather a dig at the player). £3million was a total disgrace though, even at the time. If it was double that then you could talk about it being one that we got wrong in retrospect, rather than obviously having our pants pulled down.

I take a different view on Raya and King though. I was sorry to see Raya go, but if we ended up getting £5million plus a sell on for him, then that's in the range of being a half-decent deal in my view. He is worth more than that now of course, so that could be an argument that we got it wrong, but I'm not convinced that his stock would've risen as much had he stayed here (or went to another club).

On King, I think we dropped a massive clanger in not playing him at least somewhere, even if Bowyer didn't want to make the call in dropping Rhodes or Rudy. In fact, I think the only time in the last 10 years when we genuinely looked like promotion candidates was when Marshall was injured, and we had King and Conway on the wings. Remember some aways that season where King was absolutely unplayable - seem to remember being 4-0 up at St Andrews at half time and every goal was a result of King roasting their full back. Take that spell alongside his cup exploits, I think we have to look at that one and ask why we couldn't get more out of him. 

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I'm hearing it's us , Fulham , Bournemouth and West brom in for Obafemi. Which one is not like the others? All we can offer is more game time 

Or feasibly the only concrete offer - it could be the case that those other clubs are looking but don't have him on the top of their lists.

2 minutes ago, Eddie said:

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. 

Cairney too (I actually think the 5 million we ended up getting for Raya was broadly fine) but other than that I agree - I'd be truly shocked if there turns out to be anything in that. 

9 minutes ago, Tom said:

A few have said we would have lost that last season. 
 

Didn’t we win a very similar game there last season, we were well under the cosh the whole game, rode our luck (Big Bad Branthwaite with the most blatant red card) and then Rothwell got the winner

Hope it is a sign of a more robust team long term though 

I think the game where we were obviously second best was the match at Ewood, where we escaped with a 0-0. I remember the away game being a tight match which we arguably shaded (whilst getting a big slice of luck with Branthwaite, obviously!). 

As with the Millwall game, whilst we struggled for long periods we didn't give away too much in the way of chances. Makes the goal that we did give away all the more frustrating, but we definitely can't complain with the result. 

Good point under the circumstances, but we need to improve dramatically with the ball. Bit of a baptism of fire for young Clarkson, which hopefully he'll learn from. Nice to see Buckley do well when he came on.

19 minutes ago, RoverKyle said:

Seen that we've been linked with Patrick Roberts, who is due to be available on a free from City (reportedly with a sell on % included in any move). Would love to see him join although I doubt we could compete on wages with the other clubs linked. 

Would be a very interesting one that. Not one I'd be completely delighted with given the way that he hasn't kicked on, but undoubted potential. I'm not anti-loan on principle, but I'd much sooner bring in Roberts than another winger on loan. 

Seems as though the clubs rumoured are us, Swansea, Stoke and Bournemouth. I suppose Bournemouth could blow us out of the water wages-wise (but would he play?). The others appear to be cutting their cloth not too dissimilarly to us this summer, so I wouldn't rule us out. 

4 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Because they are the only league club (newly promoted Hartlepool aside) between Newcastle/Sunderland and Leeds. Massive catchment area.

I think that explains why their academy has over time tended to be good too. Like Southampton they're pretty much the only gig in town for a really sizable chunk of the country. 

Just now, Wheelton Blue said:

Wharton will (or should) have to fight for the shirt and prove his fitness.

IMO he's now below Carter in the pecking order, at least until the above happens.

There's no guarantee that Wharton will return as the player he was.

That's a fair point, but as with Carter, Wharton is a player that one way or another, needs to be playing somewhere. 

Perhaps a better approach would be to wait until January, keep Carter as a part of the side then loan Wharton to a L1 team in January to get his form and fitness up to speed? 

Probably fanciful to think this way, but it'd be great to see Anderson overtake Warne in test wickets by the time he retires.

79 more to go to catch him, which is obviously still a lot, but he still looks so fit. Another couple of years and he could do it. 

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Really hope this doesn’t force Carter out on loan. He needs to be in and around the first team.

I think he needs to play. I wouldn't at all be against that being at Rovers, but the worst thing for him would be to find himself fourth choice in a couple of months and he barely gets on the pitch.

4 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

I’ve seen nothing from Gally in the time he’s been here that makes me think he will ever score a bag full tbh.

I think this is right, sadly. His biggest weaknesses for me are his first touch, which doesn't look like it's going to get much better, and a lack of aggression for such a physically imposing player. To be honest, for all the talk of 'Gally's not a winger', I think he could still contribute plenty more as a wide forward if these two aspects of his game were better. Plenty of teams do well with wide-attackers who rarely cross the ball.

Having said all that, whilst I can't ever see him bagging a hatful (or being that adept at bringing others into play like Graham was), I still think we'd see a real improvement with him in the middle. I'd be confident of him getting into double figures in the league, which I can't say at the moment.  

Just now, bluebruce said:

Even the LT comments thread is full of  criticism for giving Chapman a one year deal then considering loaning him out. Fucking bizarre decision.

I'm not one of those who thinks that Chapman is the best thing since sliced bread, but I really don't get what we're trying to achieve with him to be honest. 

I'm willing to accept that he hasn't played as much as he would've liked due to his attitude (or at least that we can't know that one way or the other) but if that's the case it seems mad to renew his deal for 12 months whilst simultaneously 1) not playing him and 2) not being able to get any cash for our asset due to his deal running out at the end of the season.

I only hope that the rumours are just that, and Chapman gets enough time on the pitch to justify a new, proper contract. 

4 minutes ago, neophox said:

Sheyi Ojo the player coming here?

A quick google seems as though Liverpool want to sell him for £5million, so probably not unless that's wrong.

I'd like to think that we would only look to get another winger in (irrespective of whether we keep Chapman or not) if it's because we're going to use Gally in the middle. 

Anderson with three in the first hour, including Kohli.

Shudder to think where England would be without him and Root at present. 

22 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Do people not remember 2016 and 2017? Our football under Mowbray just isn't the worst in 50 years, it's an over exaggeration.

The management deserve heaps of criticism for not being more adaptable last year, but the football since our return wasn't even the worst in the last 10 years, never mind 50. 

"Not-everyone's-cup-of-tea" etc, but I've always quite liked Neil Warnock. Would've suited us down to the ground in the summer that we went for Coyle.

Especially love the roasting he gave his Huddersfield team in one of those fly on the wall documentaries that used to be popular. "You're in f**king Latvia!". Lovely stuff.

Anyway, very pleased that we've got Ayala fit for our visit this season. Backing us for our first clean sheet in what seems like years. 0-2 Rovers.

30 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Lot of people getting very cocky about the start, proves Mowbray's a better manager than the likes of Hughton etc etc........

Whilst we're all grateful for the seven points It's a marathon not a sprint and logic would suggest that we're still in for a long old season given the squad we currently have thanks to Mowbray's misuse of Club resources over the last 3 years.

If anyone has said that Mowbray is a better manager than Hughton, they are very much mistaken. Almost every manager at this level has spells where it doesn't work out, Hughton is having one now, but his record speaks for itself.

On Mowbray, I could be wrong, but I don't see too many damascene conversions from our fans after three good results. I suspect that there's a large group who were once very much behind Mowbray but were very disappointed in the last 12-18 months and would have been happy to see him go at some point last year. Seeing as that hasn't happened, he's not going into this season with any credit in the bank with these fans, but at the same time they are not immediately clamouring for his sacking & are willing to judge this season on its own merits. Too forgiving? Maybe, but I don't think there are many who are expecting a particularly good season, even after a good start. 

1 hour ago, TruRover said:

While I understand the sentiment I have to disagree with this. There are gems in league 1 who if can be found can be a real asset to any club in this division. Importantly they don’t require sizeable transfer fees or wages.

For example, Pickering - I don’t think anyone can disagree that he is an upgrade on Douglas and Bell. Not only that he is 22, and only has had a handful of games at this level, He’s only going to get better. Not only that he has delivered 2 assists already. I know he has his doubters in this forum, but I believe by the end of the season there will be no doubt of his quality. There are many other examples.

However if you are buying and relying on players who are just league one quality players, rather than players who are playing in league one that are a class above, with no sizeable room for growth of development then of course you are going to struggle. 
 

In terms of Dale, I haven’t heard much of him. However he is 22, scored 11 goals from wide positions last season and offers our squad pace, something we desperately lack. 500k are the rumoured fees involved, with Crewe fans adamant on Twitter that he is worth at least double that. From what it sounds like, he is probably worth the gamble, but it is by no means a guarantee and I would still expect us to bring a more establish forward player in. 
 

Agree with all of that.

I'd add too that quite a lot is made on here about the envious glances that we're casting towards Brentford and the way in which they have based their growth & success on buying low and selling high, often from the lower leagues. We will obviously have to wait and see how well Dale and Pickering cut the mustard, but this strategy of targeting the best young players from L1 appeals to me a lot more than putting all of our small budget on loans. 

Just now, Theaxe15 said:

Wouldn't go anywhere near Curtis. Especially at that price. Friend of mine is a Portsmouth fan and he's desperate to get rid. Only performs half the time and has a terrible attitude apparently. Zero pace too.

I'm open minded about him purely on the basis that I've never seen him play, but I remember we were talking about him January just gone (or was it the one before?) and the idea that we'd pay £3million seemed absolutely insane. Sounded a bit like a L1 MGP in terms of style of play according to one poster who lives down there. Not really exceptional in any aspect of wing play other than having an eye for goal and good final ball. 

We need more goals from midfield & out wide, so it could work, but if we have that sort of money it should either go on i) a striker or ii) contracts for players already here. 

5 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Did it earn us a point?

It did, 2-2 at their place alongside a Benni McCarthy goal if memory serves. Not sure if it was a volley though, thought it was just a shot from outside the area. 

Almost certain to be a step above anything we've faced so far. I'm just glad we're going into the game with 7 points from 9, rather 1 or 2 and already with the pressure cranked up.

It's not often I'd take a draw before the start of any Championship game at Ewood, but I would for this one.

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I thought here that Bell was perhaps even poorer going forward than he was defending.

He did get 3 goals in that first full season back in the Championship, all of which were in defeats which summed him and our defence up at that time. But I can't recall a single assist from a cross from him in his time here, so I always found the potential of playing him as a wing back to be a curious one.

Their standards at left back must be low and I am sure that over time, they will become as furstrated with him as we did.

I think Bell eventually got to the stage where he travelled with the ball well. The trouble was his delivery, which as others have said, was pretty much as bad as it gets. 

I think once most people make their mind up on a player, it takes something pretty drastic to change their opinion. Bell did improve a decent amount over the last couple of years in my view - just not enough to make him good enough to be first choice and definitely not enough to shift the poor perceptions of him amongst Rovers fans. His good start will probably mean that Luton fans will never see him as the liability most Rovers fans did, although I agree they will come to see his limitations.