There's nothing wrong with being versatile, no. But there's a lot wrong with recruiting a player specifically for a position when he has barely played it. If Porteous comes in, the main aim in mind should be to play him at CB. If he can fill in at a pinch for another role and do a good job at it, sure, that's a plus, but nobody should ever be recruited with the primary intent of playing them in their secondary position.

Why is he available?

Honestly, after Rotherham I have finally given up on top 6. We might as well sell Brereton if we get a fairly reasonable offer (I'd say 8-10 mill) and start preparing for the future. Whether we like it or not, it's project time, so we might as well do it properly this time. That means selling assets, especially such rapidly depreciating ones, and reinvesting smartly.

Only if he is eager to move now. If he doesn't mind waiting til the end of the season, he would still be in his rights to reject us and sign his pre contract with Udinese for example, regardless of if we bid money now.

Prep for Ayala leaving is sensible (although if Wharton, Carter and Phillips kick on might not really be necessary), but if we are signing a CB from 'abroad' with 6 months on their deal, I'd rather pay no fee at all and sign him for the summer. Ayala is still here now and another CB would leave us crowded there. Unless we have an interested party in bidding for Ayala though. Even then, just sign him to a pre-contract and then once it's sealed you can still offer to expedite the deal to now, at which point they'd likely take an even smaller offer.

"You dirty bastard, you followed through Remy? I wish our strikers could! In that way."

Funnily enough, I think we could do with a bit more hoof.

In the interests of fairness and balance, it should be pointed out that he has branded the performance 'embarassing': https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23251111.embarrassing---tomassons-verdict-blackburn-rovers-defeat/ Also I think I should say, there was another time they showed him in the dugout, when it was at least 2-0, where he didn't look happy at all. We have no idea what he was laughing at, but the media love to show little selected snippets to make controversy. Again though, I do agree it's a bad look and he should be more conscious of it when the cameras are on. If you'd put the camera on me today I had a face of thunder throughout the second half just watching at home, but there have been times at games where we are losing, and I'm angry, but somebody says something amusing and I chuckle for a moment.

Maybe the assistant (I can't spell his name yet) is funny as fuck with gallows humour? 😛 I agree though, it's not a good look.

Just the Bristol City game I believe.

77 percent possession, 4 nil defeat. When will we figure out that we do much worse when we try to have the possession? I've been pointing it out for what, nearly 3 years now I think.

Every time Markanday gets the ball here it gets more confusing that he hasn't been playing.

Wtf Dack

Markanday's running is electric, how the fuck are these his first Championship minutes this season? Especially when Vale has had and thrown away so many opportunities.

Lol they're in 19th after this win. 'Go a long way' is generous in the extreme!

Tbf that's not a game plan though, I'm sure they can't finish like that most games or they'd be where we are.

God knows why Rotherham haven't taken Rathbone off, looks much worse than Hyam did and they are a comfy 2 up against a team who rarely even score when behind.

If I remember rightly, when I went through the games not long ago, we had only even scored in one game after falling behind, Bristol.

I wasn't able to get the game on for the first half, but it sounds like we made lots of chances first half. Pretty much always followed by creating bugger all the next half.

Hard to tell if people are being serious when they say things like this, but there are plenty of League One players who would score less than Gallagher in this league. We just got rid of one in George Hirst.

I read this post first, then went backwards to find out who it was in regards to. But truthfully, I already knew it would be Chaddy.

Tbf it sounds like it was until Venkys needed to sign it off.

The strikers are shitter. See George Hirst.

Let's just persevere with all our crap players in the hope they come good then. Sure wish we had stuck it out longer with Chris Brown, Danny Murphy, Jason Lowe, Adam Henley, etc etc etc. Brereton was a boy, Pears is 24. Brereton had also shone in his career prior enough to earn a reputation as a very promising youngster, and a 7 million quid bid from us. Which additionally made him an investment we needed to come good. Pears was a mate's son signed for a few hundred grand. More importantly, Brereton was an extremely rare event - it was the biggest turn around in a player's fortunes I've ever seen, certainly at Rovers. It was comical at first how quickly things developed. It can't be used as a bench mark for future player dealings. Also, there had been talk of loaning him out, but it was actually keeping him around that saw things change. It doesn't really matter what Pears does in League One. It's a shit level we can't make any judgements from. His contract will also have one year left by the time he came back, leaving us with a decision about extending his deal or, if he did come good, potentially losing someone for free again. Fuck that noise. He is our backup keeper, he should stay here as backup so we are actually getting something for our money, and if he gets his chance in the team due to injury and actually takes it, we can have a discussion. Oh, also he has already had a season in a reliable league - this one, with Boro. They then sold him off for not an awful lot. League One would actually be a step down in his career experience.

I see we are repeating the cycle of Pears having a few alright games and people thinking he can therefore be relied on until he costs us games again. Short memories. It wasn't just Wigan, he was crap the season before too.