Appeared to be in a bit of a strop all evening. Possibly understandable in the circumstances but if he’s still here (touch wood) I expect to see him starting on the weekend.

THIS is the whole thing. If he wants the move that much, he can forego his loyalty bonus and put the transfer request in. It will sour the whole thing but it’ll get done and if everyone really wants that to happen, it’s what probably has to happen.

£15m for Szmodics. There’s no way he doesn’t replicate his form to some extent, after Friday. Half-fit and off the bench, he gets a goal and an assist (albeit against a chaotic defence). I’d be telling him to bide his time til January where bigger clubs will be getting twitchy. Bournemouth have lost Solanke, Brentford could still lose Toney. Everton are somehow considering signing Calvert-Lewin to a ridiculous deal. Any of those three or some clubs higher up start misfiring, he’ll be laughing and more likely to get a bigger deal with a team actually capable of staying up. In the meantime, he’ll probably win us enough points to be comfortably away from relegation that we could “afford” to lose him.

Chaddy vindicated with Josh Maja - credit where it’s due, he looked lethal y’day.

Agreed. Most were busting a gut tonight and I’ve never really seen Buckley get above a canter. I liked Siggy after his start, but I’ve only seen him go hell for leather once or twice in his time here. Both probably squad options while we have the need for it, but Eustace said in his post-match interview that he was looking for “good characters, good lads” and I think maximum effort is a part of that.

QPR for £2.5m or so

Gonna go out on a limb and say Big Mak is gonna be a cult hero. Impressive first 20 of his career. Opening night fluffing your lines is forgiven when you’re otherwise as dynamic as he is.

A little distracted by the game later today, so my productivity is somewhat down. That distraction is demonstrative of the kind of pull this club always has and probably always will have over me. The earlier despair of the summer has been slightly buffed to just a general - albeit serious - worry about the forthcoming season. Even still, that is enough for me to feel optimistic about the evening, if not exactly confident. Either way, Proper Football is back. We have a bad keeper, but I think Derby's is worse. Derby have done alright in recruiting at least a couple and were a side deserving of their promotion before the summer, but will need to do a lot more to stand a chance of staying up. I think Paul Warne seems like he has something about him as a manager, even if he comes across as a bit of a "modern middle manager." With that in mind and trying to put a positive spin on things, I think there'll be something of a "first day of school" zip about Rovers tonight. If Sammie's not playing, the players will already know and some may be looking to seize the mantle of "that guy" for the season. Who it will be is anyone's guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's Dolan, Sigurdsson or JRC. Derby to set up 3-4-3 with wingbacks in midfield and Rovers more of a 4-3-3, I think. Should make for an interesting spectacle, but I think it'll be Rovers by a nose. 3-2 (Sigurdsson, Dolan, Mak).

I think if he’s not quite there, half a season in League One doesn’t do him any harm at all. We have four back there currently (albeit two older ones) and if we want him to be part of the side going forward, he’ll need to bridge the gap that exists, which won’t happen in the U21s and a couple of Carabao Cup games. At least in League One, he’ll be regularly testing himself against a high standard than he’s regularly played against. Hope he makes it with us, I suspect he has something about him.

Remember, guys… they never refuse to sign a check.

Late to the uproar, but I don’t think we should be letting Szmodics away on the cheap. Ipswich have wasted £15m + £5m in add-ons bringing in Liam Delap. I think the reasonable point would be, “if that’s what you’re spending on 12 goals in two seasons in the Championship, you can get to £10m + £2m for 27 goals last season/top goalscorer.” That’s a fair price. Before the “he’s only 21, we was at City” shouts: it’s a market. An asset is worth what it’s worth and proven goalscorers at any level, as Sammie was last year, are valuable. If Ipswich don’t want to pay that, I’d be telling him that they’re cheaping out on him and he’s worth too much to us to let that happen. Truth is, I reckon he’s the kind to use that as fuel, bang a few in then go for considerably more around Christmas to whichever of the usual Premier League suspects and new arrivals are misfiring. FWIW - I reckon he will go up there and score goals. I think if Calvert-Lewin is still hardballing a new deal, Everton would be tempted. If Brentford lose Toney, he’d do well there. Would like it to be West Ham for his sake, although don’t see Lopetegui wanting him.

Yeah, I think he’s not cut out for Championship football, which there’s no shame in. Has the ability, but neither the intelligence nor the consistency for it. Agreed. He did well playing that role and moving into midfield occasionally as part of it but I don’t think he has the command of that position to make it his own. If Duru impresses, I’d look to move on Brittain, put JRC there and have Duru as understudy. If not, keep Brittain as the relief pitcher to try to maintain fitness for JRC through recovery.

We could of course be especially critical of this position, given how poor our options were last season. He did seem to get lucky a few times and if that can be described as a trait, I’d take a lucky keeper over any other type.

Hmmm… seems to spill a lot of shots directly in front of him in this highlight reel. Almost a shame that there’s no such thing as a “lowlight reel” to understand if that’s a common problem.

Newcastle currently have five first team squad GKs, three of whom are English. Ruddy could well be fifth-choice there. If - speculation ahead - Eustace wants an experienced head in the building on loan, while that experienced head helps out with coaching and maybe is even working towards their badges, then I don’t think Ruddy on loan is a bad move. I’d rather have a new first-choice, Pears second-choice and then Ruddy, ahead of Hilton or Eastham (neither of whom have shown enough in training, U21s or the limited first team appearances of Hilton to dislodge either Pears or Leo) than just a new guy, then Pears, then Hilton and Eastham.

Real lack of imagination in that move, anyway. I think Fraser Read has done well on the kits and I suspect this is the first year where stock management won’t be an issue, likely because demand not quite as high as last season (pitch performances tail end of last year, combined with sustained impact of inflation). Clearly our consumer offering is still not of a high enough standard. I find it odd that the consumer offering is generally so poor and yet so much effort goes into the hospitality tickets and lounges. Am I wrong in thinking that should be the other way round? Is the hospitality offer really such a money spinner?

Yeah, where’s Neil?

Don’t threaten me with a good time.

Clearly the recruitment department has been putting the graft in and some financial circumstance has changed but it’s something to see us getting worked up over Andi Weimann on a free from Bristol City. All the new lads get a fair shake until they don’t deserve it anymore, but I’m not particularly enthused by anything I’m seeing. Waggott clearly in his element pulling a fast one on players. I hope an horrendous fate befalls him and not before too long, ideally.

Third transfer window in a row that I’ve put my OoO notice on for deadline day. We’ll be busy throwing smokescreens up right til midnight on 30th August, I think. I happen to believe the recruitment department are probably working as hard as Eustace has said, it’s just that all they are allowed to do is scout, analyse, sound out and recommend players. Unfortunately, we’ve got a senior management team more befitting a non-league club. Waggott has demonstrated no nous when dealing with the owners, no ability to manage upwards. We’ve got a notional COO whose major qualifications for his post at Rovers are being Balaji’s mate and being an orange juice salesman in a previous life. Rudy Gestede is on work experience, cosplaying a DoF, likely spending most of his time trying to get the most nutritionally dense potato smilies for Brockhall. Yasir Sufi has been promoted from engaging a previously under-engaged community to negotiating front of shirt sponsors with all the imagination of “what if we put the women’s sponsors on the men’s shirts?” Meanwhile, fans can’t agree on how to demonstrate discontent or - indeed - if there’s anything to be discontented by. Those who do engage directly with the club via fan groups are stifled by suckups at the top of those groups, more concerned with cordial relations in the hospitality suites than taking the club to task. And owners that don’t want the club but don’t want anyone else to have it and also need the fans to suffer a disproportionately worse indignity than being on the receiving end of a few snowballs, as they deservedly were the only time they visited Ewood as a whole. I believe the owners will be throwing a lot at winning on 20th August. They won’t want the embarrassment of a loss and I think they’re intentionally running the club down. I believe the club staff at all levels are planning for a loss because it’s a prudent thing to do and because the owners are so hands-off, nobody could know what’s going on. An undeniable mess, but for all of the above, we are surely close to seeing the backs of Venkys and - hopefully - the charlatans they’ve appointed.

Call it pessimism, if you like, but sudden uptick in some activity smacks of an impending cash departure (likely Szmodics). Delays are clearly to do with availability of cash/budget as some has been freed up. McFadzean being rekindled after months of talks inactivity especially so. I reckon the Ohashi deal is being delayed to coincide with Szmodics’ expected departure. We’re away at Morecambe tonight - Szmods being left out again as a precaution?

Pleased that there’s evidently some kind of budget, although aware it’s probably Szmodics money being spent ahead of time. Signing someone from the J-League is a very fun bit of business to do, hope he gets up to speed with the Championship quickly.

If this is at all in reference to comments I made last night, then I’m happy to apologise for offence that was caused but I did couch that it’s clearly not all who participate that I feel that about. A select few and based on what’s made publicly available. I recognise that it’s a somewhat thankless task. I also recognise you’ve offered your seat to anyone on here who wants to represent the site. I feel someone representing the site should be of long-standing and fairly deep integration with BRFCS, which would definitely preclude me.

Yeah, I think they’re trying to lock that off. Will be a good signing for them, I’d expect him to score goals for fun down there and continue in the championship. I’d like him here (transfer fee obviously precludes it) but he’d probably struggle here, with what we’re walking into next season with. I think there’s every chance we’re the lowest scorers, by a distance.

Needs to be many confrontations with him and Suhail. They need to be put firmly in the spotlight. After that, concerted leafleting campaigns around Ewood, targeting the people running the club, not just the owners. Outline the failures in bullet points, distribute to fans, update and amend as needed, but every weekend home game until there’s movement.