And if you're dead set on selling, you negotiate a very healthy sell on fee. For me the minimum should have been 25%. Even more infuriating is the actual sell on fee we negotiated (12.5%) was only one season after we agreed to a 40% sell on when buying Arma from Newcastle. It's baffling how awful those negotiations were.

Dacky is a legend and I won't have a bad word said about him. Be the arguments rational or not 😂

There's no player we've had in recent times that deserves a thank you as much as Bradley Dack. Rovers have been a lifelong obsession for me and pre-Venkys, if you'd ever told me I could fall out of love with Rovers I wouldn't believe it. It didn't happen, but through the years of Kean, Jerome Anderson, the Bradley Orrs and just a long, long line of people who clearly didn't have the clubs best interests at heart, I was being worn down. It had come to the point where I wanted us to win every game but it was always through gritted teeth. I couldn't see any hope for the future. There were a few people who contributed towards turning that around. Mulgrew, Graham staying on. Even Mowbray in his early days. They actually wanted to do well for the club. Above all of them though, was Dacky. It wasn't just his goals, but the fact he played with a smile on his face, the energy he brought into the club and the fact you could see he really cared about Rovers. On the pitch, the fact he played such a big part in getting us out of League 1 at the first attempt in my eyes, is one of the most pivotal points in our history. The club was truly dying before that season. I was devastated when he picked up his first injury, and then his second. We've had wonderful players at the club in the past. Ones with more talent, but for me Dack goes down as a legend. Some will debate that and that's ok. But for a player to come along and help me fall back in love with Rovers cements his place there for me. I truly hope he gets regular minutes and stays injury free. He deserves it and you can see he's a player that just loves playing football. So thank you from the bottom of my heart, for bringing the joy back and all the best Dacky. I've been a Rovers fan a long time now and you'll always be up there as an all time favourite.

Pop my tin hat on. We've got a Director of Football who seems to have authority within the club. He may not be perfect but he is a footballing person. We have a strategy/direction even if some people don't agree with it. Broughton also hired a competent manager. I'd certainly hope he'd be able to do the same if and when JDT leaves. And the owners plug the financial shortfall. This is by no means forgiveness. They destroyed our club. Yes it was nativity, but it was also wilfull neglect of something very important to a lot of people. There are no excuses at all! Objectively though. Most the things I would want to see in place were done last summer. I want to see how this pans out. If they sold us, we could easily see a similar situation happening again, so for me, it's better the devil you know. If they visited, I wouldn't clap, but I wouldn't boo.

Hahaha. Sunderland didn't lay a glove on Luton. With all those talented players that was an absolute no show of a second leg by Sunderland. Thought Roberts was their only good attacking players. But Mowbray had him playing at right back for a game and three quarters.

Absolute bullies. I hope they go up. I don't want us to have to play them again next year. Think Sunderland have done a poor job at stopping the delivery. They need to stick like glue to the Luton wing backs. As soon as they get a cross in there's literally nothing Sunderland can do.

I agree with all of this. Especially Keane and Souness. Keane is the best pundit going by a country mile for me. Redknapp is simply there because he's a pretty boy and sky need a bit of eye candy when you've got Neville and Carragher front and centre. The only time my Mrs used to watch is when Redknapp was talking. Micah Richards has managed to make an entire career out of having a big laugh. I quite like the bloke, but he is by far and away the worst pundit going. Although, I do love it when he tries to contribute, says something stupid, and Keane, Souey, Neville and Carragher turn on him. I've seen them incredulous before. "What the hell are you even talking about Micah" in Irish, Scottish, Manc or Scouse.

Couldn't disagree more. The last time I bought a Rovers shirt is when we had no logo as it had a real retro feel to it without a tacky sponsor. One of my favorite shirts.

You sometimes see teams having a pretty hot season, a few players being plucked away by the big boys and then fading away. The way Brighton are set up makes me think this isn't just a flash in the pan. The young players they sign and bring through. The future planning is outstanding. Bringing in De Zerbi showed they had a set plan for the time Potter was poached. I'm sure they've got someone lined up as a De Zerbi replacement already should he be poached. I can see them being a fixture towards the top of the league for a sustained period of time. Outstandingly run club and impossible not to like and admire.

I was surprised how poor Luton were once Sunderland equalised. They needed to push up the pitch. All their direct, percentage balls in the second half were being launched into players around 30 yards from goal, where they could do no damage. Sunderland managed them well and really came back into the game. The second leg will be a tough game though.

Thought Luton were doing an absolute number on Sunderland in thar first half. Completely bailed out by Amad Diallo. Agree with @Exiled_Rover, it's almost a cheat code having a player of his quality at this level.

Although not an unreasonable assumption, we don't know that Kaminski is being sold. I'd like to see them both pushing each other for that number 1 spot. If one does go I hope the fee is reflective of their ability. 1.5m for Pears, 2.5m + for Kaminski.

I think the original Duff comparison was tongue in cheek when a poster pointed out it was unfair to compare Brereton to other strikers, considering he plays wide left. My thoughts on Ben are the highs were as high as the lows were low. I'll remember him very fondly mainly from 'that' 6 months. It was magic and had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief. The journey to Chile International was quite unbelievable and I wish him the best in his future career. I'll always keep an eye out. I've been of the opinion for a while the step up will be too much for him, however he's made me look stupid before, as I was one of those wondering how he was a professional footballer when he first joined. He's a determined lad, and I hope he takes the Spanish bull by the horns and keeps writing his own peculiar story.

A link to what is going on at West Brom TLDR (to long didn't read) - owner purchased the club in 2016 - relationship broken down with the fans - parachute payments now ended - owner 'loaned' £5million out of the club during covid to support one of his other businesses which was failing - has repeatedly missed deadlines to pay this money back - club have taken out an external loan of £20million to keep them running All in all I think we can expect to see a firesale there and no investment. Expect to see them battling relegation soon and Corberan will be far from happy. https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/west-brom-desparate-premier-league-promotion-avoid-financial-freefall-derby-2109463

It depends if Leao is back for the second leg. He blows hot and cold, but when he's on form he is unstoppable. I see him as Milans only chance of a comeback.

I'd like Luton to go up. They are consistent and purely looking at next season, they are the one team I'm certain would be occupying the playoff places again. Sunderland I'm sure would go full Mowbray, Boro are made up of great loan players, Coventry will struggle to replace Gyokeres.

It will be good to see. He's got bite, he's brave on the ball and a very intelligent player. He's been brilliant at right back and overall I think we've coped defensively when he's gone roaming, but it would be naive to say that him doing so doesn't make us defensively weaker. I think back to two of the goals we conceded vs Stoke. Both were finished after a cross into our left back position. Neither were the fault of JRC but his positioning does pull the whole defensive unit across to the right. It's also good to see after just one half there JRC also has an awareness around his weaknesses in centre mid and his lack of ego means he's happy to be open about the need to improve there. He's one of my favorite players and I think it could be a positive move.

Pretty poor showing from us. Thought Gillsenan looked decent on the ball but not involved nearly enough. Batty tried hard. Apart from that we just passed it back and forth without ever threatening. A side note. Time wasting and a complete lack of sporting behaviour looked even worse at youth level than senior football. Not that we looked like creating much anyway but the amount of time Brentford wasted was unbelievable. Thought the referee was terrible in controlling it. Then there was an occasion where Eastham had the ball in his hands and was literally being kicked and shoved by two Brentford players. None of it looked like men against boys stuff, just pure petulance with a weak referee. Considering the level it just demonstrated to me even more how much of a slight on the game all these 'spoiling tactics' are. Something the authorities simply have to get a grip of. It ruins football as a spectacle. As I said though, I don't think it affected the result. We looked toothless.

The big thing which is mentioned in this article is that he apparently has the option of an additional year as part of his current contract. A new long term deal should still be an immediate priority but its extremely comforting to know he effectively has 2 years remaining on his deal rather than 1.

Reading between the lines I think we knew this anyway. Jdt has talked openly about the mess in January. Personally I do not think he'll walk, but would absolutely be keen to listen to any offers. It does put us in a precarious position. I think the chances are that a big club coming in for him are less than 50%, however what would be even worse is we start next season well and he's in the shop window for the early season merry-go-round. My betting is we'd be totally unprepared for that eventuality.

Anybody notice that Luton rested half their first team in their final match vs Hull. But not against us 😐

Think I pretty much called that result. Just that the swashbuckling part didn't happen until Sunderland were making the playoffs impossible

I've not a clue what to expect. I could just as easily see us put in a swashbuckling first half performance and be 3-0 up at the break. We'd all be sitting there scratching our heads and wondering what could have been. One thing I'm sure of though, is come the final whistle, we won't be in the playoffs.

I'm not sure Big Sam would describe his brain as small. He's got the biggest, all knowing brain the footballing world has ever seen.

I like Big Sam. He's great entertainment. You know he was saying it for a reaction and a bit tongue in cheek, however you'd be naive to say there isn't a small part of him that believes that statement. To be fair to him, his record has stood the test of time but he has become synonymous with a certain brand of football and being the relegation escape artist of football. I'd have loved to have seen him given a good crack at managing an elite club to try and back up some of his bluster. I think he'd have failed miserably, but it would have been great to watch.