Suggestions I hear is Pace wanted Rooney

Well I wouldn’t be anticipating anything stellar from our side unless we magically ‘click’ as I’ve kidded myself we might. I’ve not seen enough of you to say how you’ll fare. Right now I’m expecting a lot of passion and endeavour but not much quality football.

Your best chance in over a decade. I’m not even sure how we are supposed to be playing. It’s all very slow. Sideways and Backwards. Reasonable defence but that’s about it. We are a long way from being one of the best sides in the division.

Indeed, you can see it now and it seems almost as inevitable. You get into the PL, Arsenal are in town and suddenly the fans whose families have supported the club for generations are priced out of the game.

Here in peace. Weve partnered with Ticketmaster this season and I’ve read lots of negative stuff about it. Now personally I like digital and as a ST holder I can download each match to my phone (I can even forward it to a friend apparently, if only I had one) and that has worked a treat for me but there have been issues with enforcing loyalty point access periods and general sales issues according to a stories I’ve seen online. That said, I’ve had no issues personally and our issues might well be more Ticketmaster than basic digital issues. This feels inevitable but I doubt the motivation of the clubs/game, when was the last time they made any change that was about improving the experience of the fans? Surely there is no real issue with allowing those that want a digital ticket to have one whilst those that prefer a more traditional one can have one of those 🤷‍♂️

Not sure it’s lucky to win a game when you have the most shots and the most shots on target in a game. To be fair I wasn’t there yesterday as my daughter was getting married so perhaps you are right and we are just getting lucky - in which case it will run out soon I guess. We certainly aren’t the finished article based on what I’ve seen/discussed with other fans and look to have a way to go if we want to be serious promotion contenders but we do have some quality on the bench Incompetence by the officials? How so? As for the miss, they missed, we didn’t and that in simple terms is how games are won really.

I’ve tried to scrub those years out of my memory but weren’t you also well clear at the top at one point?

Look if we finish 5th or 6th I’m not suggesting he gets sacked. However top 4 is based on the fact that top 2 are spots that Sheffield Utd and Luton have as much right to expect as we do, they were equally as relegated last season plus at least one of the divisions big hitters will fancy their chances (Leeds/Boro). Perhaps what I should have said is ‘Promotion’ but again the play offs are such a lottery. I’m hoping for top 2, in theory we should get top 2 but then again I honestly don’t know enough about all the squads. Even Sheff Utd are very different to the squad we faced last season. Oh and the question was expectations, not what would I settle for. See above. We should be competing there but so should Luton, Sheff Utd and Leeds. I’m not sure I understand why he’d done it - the whole thing reads like he was helping outside people target our squad.

The major outs were inevitable, Odobert in particular but also Berge. Then there were a few agitating post Kompany so better to accept that and move them on. We also needed to shift a few ‘fringe’ players as we had too many. I’d have liked another striker and cover at full back - especially as we haven’t included Sambo in our squad. We only have one senior striker really, Foster. Same as they always were, Top 4. Anything less is failure for me when you have as expensive a squad as we do. There were some players who wanted out and they’ve gone. I think there was a mad 10 days where there was a lot of upset - and the infamous spreadsheet seemed to be the major catalyst for that. Windows gone, we have players who want to be here and Parker has a fortnight to work with the new signings. I’m not a fan of the leveraged buyout or using the clubs own money to fund the sale. That said they haven’t really put a foot wrong beyond being hoodwinked by Kompany. I honestly believe they have a commitment to the club and area - it dates back to Pace’s dad. He’s at every home game pretty much, walking around the fan zone and meeting fans. Whatever else he is, he’s present and visible.

Not aware of the finer details but no I don’t think we are . We’ve just raised around 120 million in sales/compensation. We’ve still got parachute payments to come as well. A lot of people spouting because we sold a couple of players but in reality there were 3 factors feeding into that: 1. A couple of them were simply too good to keep hold off, particularly Odobert (£25m-£30m). Think he’s the genuine article. 2. Kompany was allowed to sign a bucketload of players. I think we had 42 on the books. Clearly too many and we had to trim. 3. We had a few who were disgruntled, either by Kompany or because they only signed for Kompany and/or they didn’t want second tier football. No doubt we wanted/needed to raise some to balance the books but I think a lot of people interpreted the sales as a firesale (which is a nonsense because the basic component of a firesale is knock down prices, we got top value for pretty much all the sales) when in reality, at least my understanding of things, it was a combination of the three things I’ve put there. Obviously we will know more when the accounts are submitted but I think (hope maybe) we are reasonably solid financially. If we don’t go back up within 2 seasons things might well be different though. Never, easily my best years as a fan, I doubt they’ll be beaten in my lifetime. Eustace isn’t fit to lace his boots but he definitely learned a few things from watching Dyche teams. Absolutely, that’s the whole point of them. With minimal jeopardy you get minimal excitement.

That’s your view, the stats say otherwise. Not my stats by the way. Evidence of my own eyes also said otherwise. At the end of the day, as has been said, the only stat that mattered was it finished 1-1 so in fairness whilst you managed to stop us winning 7 in a row and also scored against us for the first time in a decade, neither side won.

I agree, ultimately all that matters is the score. I genuinely approached this game with more apprehension than any in the last decade and a half. We went through major upheaval in the 10/12 days leading up to this, 20 players out (plus a couple still with us who wanted out but didn’t get it) and 15 in. So all things considered I’ll take the draw and look to January and a much better performance and outcome. In the end we can go around and around and we probably won’t agree. I now expect Parker to be able to work his new signings and existing squad into an effective team. As a club there is no excuse for anything other than a top 4 finish - I won’t say top 2 as 2 other clubs came down with us who have as much right to expect top 2 plus we have the likes of Leeds and Middlesbrough who are exceptionally well financed with strong squads. All that said I still feel we are a striker light so will need goals from midfield - though I seem to recall Flemming has a decent goals record in the Championship.

Like I said, prior to last week and Sunderland, I'm not doing any post match reports in detail as quite a few posters objected - and that's fair enough, its a Rovers board after all. I'll say to you, as I've already said, we clearly saw very different games. I saw a game where we dominated almost every aspect inc possession, passes, shots. The one area you dominated was defensively, with 3 times more tackles won & interceptions and 4 times more clearances (44 v 10). Almost half our team had more or less never played together as well. You guys saw a different game, fair enough, We aren't going to agree, that much is clear. I thought the ref missed 2 possible red cards and a possible penalty as well - you thought he "gave us everything". I didn't think we were the finished article and we look a striker light to me as well but I did think we were much the better side. I guess we will see on the 4th of January where each side is at and how we are progressing. Leeds away next is a tough game so lets see how we do there after, hopefully, a couple of weeks work for the new players on the training pitch.

The ref? Seemed fairly standard to me. Thought you got away with a couple of bad challenges. The red was stupid but it is a rule about bookings for waving imaginary cards so when you’ve already had a card, harsh or not, you should be careful . I also thought Hannibal got lucky, he seemed to be berating the Lino and he already had a card. Thought we had a penalty shout as well but haven’t seen it back yet so not certain. Also on the disallowed goal, I don’t think it was offside but I did think Esteve was fouled in the build up - again haven’t seen it back yet. Overall I thought the ref was about what I expect.

Some of you guys saw a different game to me but in the end only the score line matters, and that said honours even. We featured 3 players who’d only been at the club 24 hours and another 2 who played once for us before so no huge surprise at times we were a little disjointed. Just on unrest and players leaving, we’ve shipped out those that we needed to/were agitating for moves. Surprised Trafford didn’t go, think he will in January & if Koleosho plays as he can imagine someone will come for him in Jan as well. So i do agree we now need to see if Parker can blend them into a team or not. We were much better than I had expected after recent results and all the turmoil. As for your performance - it was so different to the home game last season. You put up a proper fight - and that goal was top drawer. In the end it was a fair result IMO as despite having all the possession etc we didn’t really create a lot of big chances and I think you defended really well, especially with 10 men, kept us to shots from outside the box.