Here’s how I would line us up… Pears Hyam. McFadz. Wharton Dolan. Sondre Fleck Chrisene JRC Szmodics Gally Subs - Leo, O’riordan, Billy K, Buckley, Garrett, Ayari, Sig, Leonard, Telalovic Get the experienced lads into the team, extra man at the back and focus on the win at all costs. JRC anf Szmodics breaking from Midfield on the transition and the wing backs providing the width. Plenty of numbers and bodies between them and the goal. A game we must not lose… 1-0 to Rovers. Note - I’ve purposely left Moran out because I’ve genuinely not witnessed a worse player than him for Rovers in years. Might be a good un one day, but wouldn’t get a game on my watch.

Here’s my take… JDT had to go. He’s far too outspoken about his bosses to last, especially in a run of 1 win in 11. It’s a shame because I think he’s a top manager, who with the right budget and support would’ve taken us up. But you can’t throw your bosses under the bus weekly, and survive. Best of luck to him, a chance missed by Rovers! Eustace is a sound appointment on the face of it. The Birmingham fans seem to love him, a good young manager who didn’t deserve to be sacked. I’ve heard nothing to suggest we’ve got a dud. Though, oddly for me, at this stage I just don’t feel much, either way.. The plot thickens when you start to look at the board and I for one, see a huge power shift that’s happened. GB, for me is a dead man walking and if he’s not already gone, will have soon. *Reaches for tin hat… Swagg is at the wheel! If you look at the end of the transfer window it’s more evident than ever. The club sold AW to fund its operational costs, brought in McFadz and Fleck (ex Cov old boys), pulled the £5m signing set up by the DoF and replace JDT with Eustace, an aspiring young manager who, you guessed it, is an ex Cov lad. I deduce that GB is in fact a goner, hence why he’s posting on his personal LinkedIn and not our official website. Every action above has Waggott sticky paws on it. He’s going nowhere, he just brought in trusted lieutenants at every level and emancipated Gregg Broughton. We can only hope that by some stroke of luck, Mcfadz, Fleck and Eustace are as honest and hardworking as their reputation suggests because this is another huge moment in our history.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/february/09/club-statement---jon-dahl-tomasson/ that’s the outgoing….

https://www.bristolworld.com/sport/football/john-eustace-bristol-city-birmingham-city-nigel-pearson-4390690 Seems a well balanced article about Eustace.

https://www.bristolworld.com/sport/football/john-eustace-bristol-city-birmingham-city-nigel-pearson-4390690 For anyone wondering what type of guy, style, manager Eustace is…seems positive overall.

Pears Hyam. McFadz. Wharton JRC. Sondre. Ayari. Chrisene Dolan Gally. Szmodics subs - Wahlstedt, O’riorden, Billy K, Siggy, Fleck, Moran, Garrett, Leonard. Rovers - 3-1

I messaged my Sheff United mate this morning about Fleck and McFadz on the back drop of us needing to toughen up, manage games better and drag the young lads through. His reply “🤣🤣🤣…well you’ve nailed that brief then! Fleck and McFadzean are hard as fuckin nails. Not sure they’ve got the legs anymore but trust me, no one will mess with ya now!”

For the record, i am going to hang my hat on Ayari being a good un. Defo see something in him, not necessarily sure it will be with us but watch that space…in 2yrs time 👍🏼

It depends how you judge it. Short term, this team / squad is not going down, imo. We’ve added some steel and experience as well as what appears to be our number 1 striker target. Pears Hyam. McFadz. Wharton JRC. Sondre. Fleck. Pickering Szmodics Gally McGuire Subs - Wahlstedt, Brittain, Chrisene, O’riorden, Billy K, Carter, Dolan, Hedges, Buckley, Garrett, Ayari, Siggy, Leonard etc. It’s the bigger picture and long term plan that worries me. Because 8 of those 24 players are either out of contract or on loan and for as long as we don’t spend any hard cash, the managed decline continues.

In terms of short term, yes. I think the recruitment team have nailed the signings the manager has asked for on the budget they’ve been given. I also think this means we’ll stay up, potentially finish mid table and maybe flutter our eyelashes at the top 6….just my opinion. But I am DREADING the summer. We’ve just made the problem bigger, stuck a plaster on it and booted it down the road in my eyes. God knows what they’re planning but as @Ossydave mentioned…feels like a possible exit? Could get bumpy…

It just all feels off, even for these lot…it wouldn’t surprise me if there were more cuts in the summer. More downgrading. I hope I’m wrong.

Wow!!! I wasn’t expecting that!! So I think the window is tinged by a number of factors: The ins - Fwiw, I have a feeling that we have recruited well. O’Riorden is very highly thought of and in McFadz, Fleck (A technician who I’ve always liked) and McGuire we now have the necessary experience and our number 1 striker target onboard. Outs - I’ve no problems with Trav, he needed to go and in hindsight I’m now kinda glad it wasn’t permanent (we will need him as an option at least in the summer). Selling Ennis for £500k is genius but the sale of Adam is desperately sad. Here lies my biggest concern. I’ve had a strong feeling that there’s been an acceleration in the ‘managed decline’ since the summer. It was happening before, in truth the evidence shows it’s been happening since they turned up. But the last 6 months are giving me massive alarm bells. In short, I’m now happy that we’ll win enough games to stay up. With a fair wind we’ll finish mid table and potentially flirt with the top 6. But I’m dreading the summer when we potentially lose a third of the squad? The manager? With little or no money to spend. Theres a bigger picture at play here…ugh

Me too…he genuinely looks like he could cry!

What if, what if…we actually did just inform them that the Wharton cash hadn’t landed, so they (DM and entourage) holed up waiting for the call and now the money has landed, so it’s back on?

I’ve located the two culprits…don’t worry, they’ve got everything in hand! 😅🤣

The answer is, they must!!

I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as you suggest. The only ‘loss’ to the team there is Wharton. I’ll come back to him. Travis hasn’t been playing regularly for a while and hadn’t figured at all really this season. Hill started well but tailed off and I’m confident that O’riordan and McFadzean can cover off any potential drop off from him. I’d go as far to say most fans would’ve gladly sent him back in favour of us signing O’riordan, a highly rated player on a permanent deal. Chrisene and Ayari look like decent squad fillers and if we keep Gally then the signing of McGuire, on paper at least, strengthens us considerably! So, back to Wharton. The truth is, he’s that good that selling him in any window would weaken us. The ACID test for this lot is that we MUST sign a CM this window, for cash. There’s zero excuse because they’re not ‘blocking’ anyone’s progress and they very obviously have cash. 2-3m on a good, young CM with some valuable experience, like Max Bird or Sibley, or the lad from Oxford that PNE fancy will keep most fans content come Friday morning. To bumble past the window without getting a decent midfielder in is unthinkable. Imo.

I understand the McFadzean thing. Will have had endorsement from Hyam, short term deal to cover Carter and help bed O’riordan in. Awe don’t need another long term contracted cb. We need a short term, steady hand. I also don’t expect us to spend a fortune but after losing our best player for a record fee I do expect something like this.. Mcguire - 2.5m mcfadzean - Loan Yates - Loan CM - PURCHASE lets see…

So that’s McGuire and McFadzean supposedly In the bag…I’ve spotted a cunning plan from Greggo! We’re only signing players with Mc in their name! How we could do with McMahon, McCallister and McAteer now! ps - Mcsheffry anyone?

Tugay. Vibes. Yes, mate…that’s right!

You just won the internet for today pal. Nailed it.

I’d put good money right now that Adam Wharton will go further than David Dunn. AW is raw and inconsistent but there’s elements of his game that are breathtaking. Like, much better than even just ‘Premier League’ standard. There are moments in games where he gives me ‘peak’ Tugay vibes. No higher praise than that..imo Tugay would’ve been running City’s midfield if he were playing in this era.

Give it a rest. EVERY club bar the top 0.1% has to sell their star players. It’s what you do with the cash that separates the men from the boys. Lets hope we’re not the latter…

Great move for Adam, for Rovers and Palace. We get the cash, he gets a PL move to club where he will get games and WHEN he shines bright Palace will benefit, firstly on the pitch and then we’ll all benefit financially when he goes to a CL giant for £50-100m. I genuinely think he is good enough.. Now, PLEASE god, give the best manager we’ve had in god knows how long, the money to bring in 2-4 of the right level of players to bolster this team. 🙏🏽