And in true Rovers style we conducted that exact severance negotiation. But we didn’t do it in the summer when we had time to spare. We did it in early February after we had plunged ourselves into crisis and carnage.

Rarely in football does a manager purely resign from a club with no form of severance package or agreement in place. Just look a few miles west of Rovers. I doubt Lowe walked away with nothing. In fact, Ridsdale said he had to discuss it for several hours with him. If he wanted to just f*ck off it could have taken 5 minutes. That’s now how it works for any manager.

By the way what is the state of fitness of the new signings? I presume Toth it fit. Baker too. Duberry on the bench against the Dingles but not utilised. Has Cantwell had a minute of football in pre - season?

Last seasons disaster is completely on the club. To blame it solely on JDT ‘downing tools’ is total bunkum. JDT was consistently undermined and worked against by those above him despite almost masterminding a play off finish miracle the season before. He even offered to leave for free in Summer 2023 when the budget was abruptly changed as he saw that the club might need a more pragmatic manager to get results. 3 deadline day deals not completed and banned by Maggott from speaking to the media the day before a vital game. He told those in power some uncomfortable home truths and they’ll never forgive him for it.

It’s not a worn out cliche that every game in this league is tricky. It’s just a fact. It was actually part of our undoing last season - that our points haul at home against those teams in and around us was simply not up to scratch.

Early predictions: Dyche the first manager to be sacked - replaced by Moyes. Ten Hag does not last the season. Ipswich most likely to stay up out of the promoted clubs. City to win it by Easter again.

It strikes me as almost unbelievable that some people on here think Pears played well yesterday. Not dropping a complete clanger resulting in a goal being conceded is not good - it’s the bare minimum requirement. If I was being harsh I could even say that in the first half he came out for one ball and was all at sea. Similarly an instance in the second half when he should have come out to sweep up the danger and he retreats into his shell. Dreadful. It’s a matter of when not if a calamity is going to happen with him between the sticks.

I didn’t intend for my post to reopen old wounds. If you thought that was the intention I apologise. I agree that overall their ownership has been a dismal failure, it couldn’t be judged as anything else. I think they’d attend a game like that because they love basking in the glory of the huge occasions, when we’re playing one of the big six, cup final etc. I think you would accept that the several different positions amongst the fan base cannot be reconciled. I just think this current truce is relatively painless compared to the toxicity of several years ago.

That Birmingham home game under Bowyer still gives me nightmares. 3 nil down in what felt like 20 mins. Could’ve equalised in injury time too, Scott Dann fresh aired a shot in the box.

Half the support base want to throw a snowball on sight if they see them, the other portion want more visibility and communication. That gap can’t be bridged, so they’re better off staying away. I still think that if we hypothetically got to a playoff final it would be a shame if they didn’t feel able or willing to come over to Wembley and watch the game.

Worse than Jake Kean, Simon Eastwood? I think we’ve airbrushed some of the players from the past 10 years from memory (for good reason).

Sacha Petshi and Fode Koita

Every player in the current squad who is aged 26 or lower, so loads of them.

Sad to say that I fancy Burnley to make at least the top 6, maybe even the top 2. Lots of players through the door, but most look to have real quality for this league. Talking about rivalries, I find the extras around our derby to be very unsavoury. It’s just ridiculous that away fans aren’t able to make their way to the respective stadiums. My best mate from all the way back at school is a big Burnley fan, and the banter still goes back and forth to this day. I suppose that’s inevitable when half the school is Rovers and the other Burnley.

Except that none have actually arrived yet, just the arrivals board predicts a cluster soon.