An absolute Joy to watch. Morton and Adam Wharton and Phillips were brilliant, Dack and Dolan showed they can absolutely be trusted to make an impact and I thought Edun staked a claim to start at Lb. In fact the only player who will probably leave Ewood a bit gutted tonight is Vale…worked his socks off and made lots of good runs but didn’t really look like scoring. A positive night all round!

Might sign a new contract yet 👀🤞🏽

My feeling is JPvH on a perm plus 1 cb loaned. Then Bowler and we’re done. If we can get BBD to sign a new contract then great! If not then inevitably, he’ll be sold and I’d expect Birmancevic plus 1 (hopefully a number 9, to replace.

Get innnnnnnn

Dolan and Vale on!!… #Dackwatch 👀

For context…in the time Tugay was at Rovers there were many star players, Cole Yorke, Bellamy, Roque Santa Cruz - match winners! But the best footballer (in a purist sense) at the club was ALWAYS Tugay. That’s Buckley now at Rovers. His brain and technical ability is insane. That’s what the club have seen. It’s just taken time for his body to catch up. Sure, we may sign Szmodics who gets 10 goals before Christmas, or a Josh Bowler who gets us off our seat, or a JPvH who we marvel at his defensive abilities, or Travis bulldozing himself through midfield (PL eyes on him too btw) but the Rolls Royce in there is John Buckley. I (and it looks like most others) see that now. That was my point around him being the best footballer at the club no matter who we sign. Edit - I saw a post in here a few pages back saying we will be the envy of many Championship clubs this season with Travis and Buckley in CM and I 💯 agree. Savour them and be proud that we created them I say…imo both will be playing in the PL within the next season or two. I just hope it’s with us!

I refer back to that post now because it’d be easy for me to gloat but the opinion I expressed on Buckley wasn’t even mine… In context, I’d been told from a member of the coaching team that Buckley was the gem of the academy and someone they believed was destined for stardom. We played a night game and Buckley played. I was a guest at the game of a friend of mine and got speaking to a scout in the lounge at half time. It turned out he and a couple of other PL scouts had been alerted to the fact he was starting that night and had turned up to watch him…fwiw, I couldn’t see why!? But when I pushed a bit harder it turned out that the club knew he was (still is) being circled by PL clubs because he’s a special player and that’s when THEY said it would take “8 figures” to take him from Rovers at that time. They think Adam Wharton and Ash Phillips are very special too. Harry Leonard the other one to watch!

💯….he was our best footballer last season. Will now be our best player, full stop. It won’t matter who we sign. We won’t sign any player with a better (purist) football brain and / or ability than him.

Buckley has played his whole life as an 8 and will be FARRRR better than Rothwell there. Tony only played him as a 10 or false 9 because of Dacks injury and to protect him whilst he developed physically…. So, for me, Buckley is Rothwells replacement and Szmodics is Buckley’s replacement (as 10 or false 9). I still believe we’ll sign another forward (like Bowler) whether we sell BBD or not but the emergence of Vale could save us the job of replacing Khadra’s goals and assists last season. Morton is Brad Johnson’s replacement as first sub in that midfield two and Garrett and A Wharton will provide further cover. Fwiw - my next prediction is that A Wharton will the ‘next’ chosen one, after Buckley is sold for BIG money. Now, we need one permanent cb signing and I genuinely believe that will be JPvH. The sars are aligning. The second will be a loan. The sale of BBD will likely spark some more signings. We’d need two to cover off his goals and impact. Birmancevic +1 👍🏼

No, I think there’s plenty of Championship knowledge in the club with both playing and coaching staff. It’s very much a collaborative approach these days so there’s less chance of things being missed.

Hmmm, maybe he can be judged aka Firmino on his ability to link up play and assist the assisters though…I must say I didn’t see the same stuff Joe did on Saturday from Vale but I will 100% look for it this weekend…. And…in all fairness to Vale, his career so far tells us that if/when he gets a chance, he’ll probably bury it! He Is more of a natural finisher than Gally, that’s for sure!

Prove it. I really don’t wanna go down this line…let’s see if he’s any good hey? If he’s brilliant it won’t matter a jot if he was about to get loaned out or not OR what he cost….if he’s shit then for us to have paid 50p for him will be a waste!

£2.5m from Barry Fry!? It’s in his interest it’s in to inflate the fee. The point I’m making is, who knows what the fee is and quite frankly, as fans do we really care? So long as he does the business, right?

Whoever the source is, even if there is no source…it’s no less believable than those basking in us ‘having our pants pulled down’ at £2.5m for a player that no one has actually seen play.

Whattttt!!??? 🙈

Fwiw, I’m certainly not writing Dack off. I know for a fact that the club were concerned very early on about Ayala and Dack fitting in with the new regime. I posted this at the time (around 5 days after JDT had been unveiled). Since then, this issue has started to play out more publicly and the weekend along with the signing of Szmodics in Dacks position plus the explanation given by GB around Szmodics make for an interesting dynamic… That said I really hope that Dack forces his way in, runs around like a mad man and discovers his best form! He’s a brilliant player and was the best in the league pre-injury! I’m pretty sure of one thing though, JDT won’t be relaxing his game plan / style for any player. Even Bradley Dack.

This is what I’d want, plus a ‘special’ signing (aka BBD) - Striker please

A ‘couple’ of years ago!? Mate, do you drive a delorian? Hignett (top player btw) signed 22yrs ago! 🤣🤣👍🏼

JPvH and Styles by Thursday please 👍🏼

5 min warning!!!!

Just a couple on here saying that he’s close…

If there’s any truth in the Cantwell rumours tonight then BBD must be going!

There is likely to be a high turnover of players in the next 12-18 months because the former and current manager are like chalk and cheese… Anyone who thinks Dack isn’t in trouble after yesterdays match really isn’t reading the signs. Dack is our talisman and highest earner. He played 60 mins in his last game and was overlooked in the starting XI buy a young debutant, then again when that debutant was subbed and then made to watch on whilst his team mates ran themselves into the ground and a manager who didn’t trust him to make an impact or even keep the status quo…from JDT’s post match comments it was 17yr old Adam Wharton who he was considering bringing on, not Dack! Like I say, there’s always a way back. It’s usually through hard work and guts…let’s see how it unfolds.

🤞🏽

I don’t think anyone in here is a Dack detractor. I certainly am not…I love Dack and I badly want him to be a pivotal part of our team for years to come. I, like most others on here a simply saying what we see. One thing I am adamant on is that I’d never forgo my strategy for the sake of one player. So IF Dack needs to change, then I’d hope he will do.