There’s no suggestion we were fannyong about or offered less money. Mowbray obviously liked him but ultimately having spent is career in League one it would take one hell of a desperate championship club to offer him a starring role!? Mid asking him to fight for his position such a bad thing?

Come on mate, jokes aside...the guy has been playing in League 1. There’s no evidence that he can make the grade in the Championship? The manager was absolutely right to make him fight for his place imo. Looks like Hanley is likely now. There’s no comparison between these two signings.

Hahahah this is mad. So it turns out that the manager has been tracking a league 1 defender who he rates but is asking to fight and be at his very best to get into our team....and he’s criticised for it!? The fact that Preston gave (League 1 defender) Bauer the keys to the bloody city and that Bauer wasn’t prepared to back his own ability and needed his ego massaging to get the deal done says more about Preston and Bauer in my opinion!!

Completely agree. Downing, Hanley and Gally would make a massive difference. Added to the potential of Rothwell, Chapman, Armstrong, Travis and Davenport and the class of Dack and Graham I’d be quietly confident of being in and around the top 6.

I’m not trying to shut anything down. You’re just boring everyone with your constant whinging. It’s perfectly reasonable to expect fully grown men to be able to process basic information without bleating on and on.. When anyone actually does come on here with transfer information you and ‘the boys’ usually hound them out calling bullshit and demanding a ‘source’. Hang on, wait a minute..Is there an age limit on this site?

Lads this really isn’t difficult. The manager has said he wants to get in the top six this season. The players are saying the same (see Downings interview). Top 6 wasn’t our target last season. The season before they put their neck on the block saying they HAD to go up and they did.... Get off their backs and let them get this window over and the season started. If they are nowhere near the top 6 come Christmas then there won’t be a single Rovers fan happy because top 6 is the the absolute stated aim and we are all Rovers fans first and foremost.

Makes sense. Seeing as Mowbray alluded to losing interest in the supporters forum.

Kind of makes sense to me. Waggot avtually looks like a bit of a bell end. I’ll have that

Great point re Armstrong last season. I don’t think there’s any evidence that the budget has been lowered. In fact the CEO stated when he returned that the budget was the same / similar. Therefore, the natural assumption on this is that this not about money but more about how much both clubs showed they wanted him. This only becomes bad business if / when we fail to buy any better.

Just caught up....and basically, I don’t care what Rich Sharpe has been saying, Mowbray poured cold water on a deal for Bauer in his fans forum interview before the end of the season. It was obvious that he’d gone off him by that time. The key here is that we improve that area. The manager will be judged at the end of this window re his transfer dealings!

I’m not bothered either way on Bauer tbh. Obv rated in league 1 but didn’t massively impress me in any game I saw him play. The main thing for me is that we deal with the cb issue this window

He was finalising his budget. They scouted targets A to D or whatever and then sit down with the owners after the season to agree on their final budget and the level of expectation. It’s absolutely standard that it is done at this time, face to face and will have happened in clubs up and down the country. Especially when you’re asking for 8 figure cash injections!!!? The only difference here is that our owners live in India. But the constant whining of some on here about ‘missing the boat’ is a bit weird when you consider there’s been like four signings (total) in the championship so far this summer. Another baffling part of this discussion is when people on here forget that players, managers, agents, scouts, chief execs etc all have mobile phones and will have been chatting for weeks about transfers (during the season, afterwards, on holiday, before meeting owners, afterwards) ? Moreover, we don’t even fully know who the targets are yet so how do we know who / if anyone we’ve missed? ??

Nope. Need two defenders imo

Downing and Morrison and Bauer would be a solid start for me.

I said nothing of the sort. I said most managers meet with their bosses after the season has finished to finalise their budget...so the fact that TM has to do this is of little significance tbh.

Most managers meet with the owners to sign off the budget after the season has finished.

You do know they’re able to take their mobile phones on holiday right?

If we do buy two CB’s then I expect us to play three. This would allow us to play three midfielders in front of them and two strikers or Dack in a free role off the main striker. Lenihan Mulgrew Bauer/? Nyambe / ? Bell Travis ? Rothwell Dack Graham / ?

To me, you were implying that Downing was being pursued purely as a role model. My point was that managers don’t pay footballers to do that. Granted, the ability to be a role model is attractive but it’s always about what they can add on the pitch first, surely?

No manager pays a player ‘simply to act as a role model’. Downing is a player first and foremost. He’ll be signed to play and then to guide young players. Q - How do you know Chapman isn’t the one championing this signing because Downing has been an amazing role model to him?

This would be dreamy!

I reckon it’s Bauer and Ajayi he wants.

I don’t think many have gone up on ‘tight’ budgets Kamy. Most in the last decade have had top 10 budgets allied with parachute payments following relegation. But I do accept that promotion is as much about clear playing philosophy’. This is one area that is very much up in the air. Mowbray publicly stating that he wanted to change ours last year leaves a question mark on how this will develop this season. Rightly or wrongly, Mowbray likes a healthy budget. I suppose it increases the chance of promotion whichever way you cut it. But I think this stance by the club has increased the chances of Mowbray going in the next 12 months (his choice or the clubs) exponentially.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17705450.ambition-against-finance-the-balancing-act-for-rovers/ This is the biggest hint yet as to how the meetings in Pune went. It seems that TM went over believing he might get backed to buy some better, established players ready for a promotion push and was informed that he would need to continue buying young and developing them to increase their potential re-sale value. Utilising a mid table budget he is now hoping to emulate the likes of Sheff United and Norwich. But he knows they are the exception to the rule. I certainly read this article as a dampening down of expectation. It explains why he came back from there and didn’t do any media stuff until after his holiday. Based on his previous comments and ambition to manage in the Premier League, he won’t be happy with this stance. For those who want TM out, it wouldn’t surprise me if he jumps at the first chance of a club showing more immediate ambition. So you may just get your wish...

19.....he was 19!!! ????