Great post. The only way that gets done is with a signing on fee and a two year contract. Which isn’t going to happen. Absolute clusterfuck is the Mulgrew contract situation. I Cannot defend Mowbray putting that to the board and anyone signing it off at the age Mulgrew was.

Yup, all about opinions...though im Not sure there’s many Rovers fans who’d accept that Nyambe and Raya are / were as important to our club as Lenihan, Travis, Dack and Arma in terms of their impact on the pitch and / or value as an asset.

Ok, I’m sure a couple felt aggrieved but he wasn’t a key player. We haven’t lost any of those on a free since Hoilett in 2008.

He’d have to come flying out of the blocks to get a move at Christmas mate. Been out 9 months too....a very risky investment. Im sure we’ll push to sell him in the summer if he hasn’t signed a long extension or we haven’t gone up.

Argh, come on....you’re grasping there!! He hadn’t even done as much as Dolan. A tad disappointed at worst.

There’s no way you can throw Nyambe in with those guys Rev. He just isn’t THAT good. He’s too inconsistent. For the purpose of a sale, we’re safe with Dack. He’ll be back before Christmas and assuming he’s back to his best by new year and banging the goals in, we’ll invoke the 12 month extension and sell him for healthy fee in the summer. If he doesn’t hit those heights he might panic and decide to sign an extension. I’m not concerned about Dack or the other 4 key players I mentioned. After that group then let’s get our promising players tied up now...Dolan, Nyambe and JRC would be my first three.

It’s not that simple mate... Dack is looking at his pals like Reed and Tosin earning £60k a week thinking he would treble his wages. At what 27 he’s not signing another contract with us unless we’re in the PL and can offer him that type of money. The BEST chance of him re-signing is either if we go up or if he comes back to poor form and decides that move isn’t going to materialise. I personally think he’ll go next summer. Nyambe just hasn’t been consistent enough. He’s never nailed his place in the team down and that’s why it’s drifted. I don’t think anyone’s blown away with him and I reckon there’s a really good chance both he and JRC will sign. Theres currently the more players out of contract than any other time since the Bosman ruling. A lot of players shitting themselves. Nyambe and JRC can’t afford to run their contracts down.

Eh!!? Come on Rev....Dack is the only ‘key’ player in there and he’s got two years effectively because we have the option to extend. (Please don’t start talking about slavery again mate). 12 month extensions in the clubs favours are VERY common. We recently exercised one of them with Bell. It’s 100% the clubs prerogative to do so. No questions. Nyambe, whilst promising has never nailed down spot in our team and JRC only broke through a few months ago and has played a handful of games. Would we like to resign them? Absolutely. Could they be key men in the future? Absolutely. Are they key players now? NO. Our key players are Lenihan, Trav, Dack and Arma. All of these have at least 2yrs on their contracts.

Interesting thought about our perceived desirability now too. Hopefully there are a few top clubs and top young players looking at the start we’ve made, the signings and performances and thinking we’d be a good option for a loan?

We have a good relationship with them. Nearly signed their young keeper On loan early in the summer.

The Mulgrew one gets me. Absolutely no way he was seeing that length of contract out. Smallwood and Bennett I can live with. I don’t think they believed for one minute that Trav was gonna kick on so quickly. Prob thought they’d have got to the following Christmas before Smallwood was surplus. Bennett has been worth it, I’ve no axe to grind there. The Sam Hart and Smallwood mini extensions were absolutely scandalous,

Nope!!

Well bearing in mind the last time we lost someone meaningful via the running down of their contract was Hoilett 12 years ago....I’d say THE CLUB have been pretty good at it tbf?

Fuchs?

He ain’t coming for money mate. Sure he’ll get a rise but the lads love Mowbray. If anything he’s too good to them...why’s Mulgrew not literally rotting right now after that outburst?

??? like the gift that keeps on giving.. Read the article mate...”It’s an opportunity we couldn’t miss....we had the money to spend so why not...” How many times does the word ‘opportunity’ figure? Another question, where in their does our painfully honest leader mention our detailed scouting of him? Bearing in mind he’s our joint Record signing... Brereton was an “opportunity” brought to them at the end of the window whilst they were making £4m Luke Freeman bids with cash on their hip. They took the bait and still think there’s a top player in there but that deal was the catalyst for the overhaul in scouting process, lead by Mowbray.

They probably just asked mate...like rubbing a genies lamp so I’ve heard!! ?

Haha - If only you knew!! I can tell you that Brereton was barely scouted and brought to them via an external scouting network in collaboration with an agency who sold us the dream. I used him because BB is the epitome of not being a Mowbray signing. That signing is part of the reason Mowbray tore up the old system and created the new one. Because either way, any signing made under the watch of a manager who has the final decision, good or bad belongs to that manager. This same rule stands in every industry. Which is why leaders are sacked when organisations fail.

Mate, they’re one in the same thing...good and bad...surely you can see that?

Kenny, c’mon pal, that’s just a manager being honest! Dya think Fergie went out, scouted and recruited all those top players? Course he didn’t, he had scouts reporting into him and making recommendations that he either accepted or rejected. The recruitment team (that the manager built) came to the manager and brought a player to the table. They had a discussion and the manager trusted his team....now whether it’s Dolan or Brereton the player is a Tony Mowbray signing. The end. We can’t have it one way and not the other.

Apologies Rev. I didn’t mean that at all. I’m sorry it made you feel that way I was just thinking out loud in terms of a link between mindset and general happiness / fulfilment of potential etc...us guys chat a lot on here (prob more than we do to our wives) ?...I often wonder about the person behind the persona...if that makes sense. For the record I 100% respect everyone’s opinions, whilst the negativity grates on me, I didn’t mean to offend mate.

Great thread and info Chris....maybe the focus could be around potential targets that the likes of you, Joe and a few others seem to find, watch and analyse? Be a cracking space to develop and refer back to as we continue to bring players in from Europe....the Norwegian national team left back could / would be our 4th European capture in 12 months. ??

Thanks Stuart, whilst I think the criteria that you segregate with is slightly off, I respect your choice and your opinion. What would be interesting would be to map the personal and vocational successes of those who apparently “bury their head in the sand” vs those who you report are “very concerned” (essentially happy clappers vs mood hoovers).....though that’s a completely different debate! Anyways, how’s our Norwegian left back progressing guys?

Shock!!! ?? Hows about these two camps whilst you’re magically making stuff up...Hypothetically speaking of course.. Camp one - Choose to be happy with the current situation and want to see the upward trend continue to improve. Camp two - miserable bastards who have to find something to moan about every single day. There you go, Two perspectives. Who’s to say which one is correct?

I think you are enjoying it. Im just flabbergasted that people are coming onto the transfer to bang on about how shit the manager is and comparing him at a time like this... The Dolan point is completely moot too. The manager set up the recruitment team and pathways. He installed the staff in there too. The signings, good and bad on his watch belong to him. Managers do not go out and scout potential players they put trusted teams in to report back to them and they trust those opinions. They’ll likely watch a first team target but will be happy not to watch an 18yr old.