His first pro deal was already negotiated and waiting to be signed as soon as it was allowed, but then his agents delayed and presumably renegotiated anyway.

I agree, we need to try to get him into goalscoring positions more often. I actually feel that since January and obviously excluding players who are no longer here, he looks the most clinical finisher at the club right now.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23576445.blackburn-rovers-frustrated-lack-efl-opportunities-players/ I share his frustration at the lack of EFL opportunities we've been able to manage for our youngsters. We clearly have one of the best academies in the country, playing at the top youth level, churning out a string of Championship level players, and yet pro clubs don't seem as interested because the main team isn't in the Prem. I hope we can work on this somehow. You can't force clubs to take your youth players and use them, but the use of the phrase in there of something like the phone doesn't ring enough...maybe we can work on improving our networking with other clubs and starting these discussions ourselves instead of hanging back and waiting for it to happen. I'm not saying this is entirely our fault either, I do agree with him there's probably an unfair perception of our youth players not being as glamorous due to not being attached to a Prem club. I'm sure we've had more youngsters who could have made an impact at League One and Two levels if they'd had the chances, than have had the chances. That said, some of our youngsters loaned out have disappointed a bit (albeit sometimes from lack of game time), but that's the nature of loaning youth players.

I was aware of that Friedel performance and thought about mentioning it, but I didn't actually see it. I remember hearing some very excited commentators talking about how he was keeping them at bay single handedly. Honestly, what a fucking keeper.

I remember Williams saying many years ago they always knew they could charge more or less whatever they wanted to about 8 thousand hardcore (I think 8 thousand was the figure he used). But he knew that wasn't the way to grow the football club.

Speaking of performances that never repeated, Pedersen had a game (I think it was against Middlesbrough) at Ewood where, just for that one match, he looked like a proper flying winger! Really fast, great dribbling, kept beating men with the ball at his feet etc. I'm not saying it was his best game for us overall, I don't recall if he scored etc, but that aspect of his performance was weirdly unique. I never saw that in his locker before or since. Looked like a different player and had me questioning why he couldn't do that every week. I think it was in the middle of one of his poorer runs of form too. Other one off performances that come to mind include Jay McEveley when he marked David Beckham out of the game, and Adam Henley playing very well against Manure and Liverpool I think it was, the games that apparently got Real Madrid scouting him. Neither player went on to fulfil the promise we thought they had, especially Henley. None of those fit the brief of course...I'd probably go with Friedel in the Worthington Cup Final, as that one was the first that came to mind and it won us a trophy. Tugay's masterclass against Liverpool, as mentioned, for runner up. There is still a video on YouTube of every involvement he had in that match, warts and all, and they're nearly all flawless. I think he was 37 or 38 at the time?

And individually, too.

Then there's the less tangible question of whether we would have made the playoffs without being featured on Sky so much, due to our awful record when we're on it...but I don't know how much of that is coincidence, and how much is players bottling it in front of the cameras (or being less gee'd up due to smaller crowds).

My previous post explained why we would potentially be worse off financially for it. Depends how it was calculated - if Venkys simply sent us 1.5 mill less in losses due to it (ie all the extra Sky money), we lost money from reduced ticket sales from being on Sky.

No, just discussing the CEO basically admitting it in the press and most of the fanbase (including those who are somehow thankful for Venkys) not really noticing it.

Some of them are poor but I tell you what, for the most part I don't think it mattered. Look at how early he goes and how far across he is even by the time the shot is struck. Even hard shots directly into the bottom corner would have been saved on most of those. To beat him would have required sending him the wrong way or putting it in the top corner area. It amazed me that he committed to diving so early on most of those except the Barry one...which was pretty much straight down the middle and he stayed on his feet for it. How often do you see that? Keepers are always diving early, and he was doing too. If they save one straight down the middle it's usually with a trailing leg. Brad must have either really done his research on these takers or had terrific instincts, or both. Legend. That stat at the end of pretty much a clean sheet every 3 games is something else too.

If he becomes a really important member of the side, he'll be a good signing and one I'll be happy we've made. What I'm saying though is I have some faith in JDT and his team to manage the player's fitness better, and hopefully that will be enough. If he kept getting lots of niggly injuries at Plymouth, but still played a lot of games, yet wasn't staying fit enough to complete many of them, it suggests to me that something is wrong on their training pitch, or that he was being rushed in when he wasn't ready.

That would be one good use of it. One which might even have seen the money recouped through extra sales. Another option would have been to spend it on a decent player that could strengthen the team then either turn us a profit, or help get us to the Prem, potentially repaying the money many times over. More to the point though is just how it contradicts the claim we keep hearing, that Venkys will spend everything they can to help us go up. It's clear to me from that statement (amongst other things) that their commitment isn't at that level and they want to lose less than they are. Without seemingly realising the only two ways to do that are to sell players at good values (repeatedly vetoed) or get promotion (without investing enough unless we get lucky hiring the right manager who can do it with an arm behind their back).

I'd have been more concerned about that under Mowbray than I am under JDT. Seems more likely to only put players on the pitch when they're genuinely ready. Seen the benefits with JRC.

Indeed. But if this Sky money just meant they injected equity to cover 11.5 million of losses, we'd have been financially better off not being on Sky, and they're not doing their best to help with FFP

Waggott saying the 1.5 mill from being shown so much by Sky will be offset by losses made by the club and covered by the owners. Which is it, do they spend all they can within FFP or not? Bollocks. Also, the club lost gate money from so many Sky games, so that better have been calculated in before figuring out how much less the owners need to give us, or else the Sky games actually cost the club money.

Netflix?

Fergus Suter only played one game for us in the Football League. Because it only formed about a year before he retired. But he played for us for 9 years, including playing in 4 FA Cup finals. It was all about the FA Cup back then, even for a little while after the league started.

Did you honestly just put Raya in ahead of Friedel even though you've seen Friedel? Admittedly I suppose Raya suits the current style more a la the original question, as Friedel's kicking was the only poor element of his game, but still...

Shearer hurt like hell, but he went to his boyhood club who had just challenged for the title. There was no reason to think he would pick us in that scenario on the basis of loyalty. I honestly thought Friedel loved it here so much was going nowhere unless forced out. I'll never be that naive again.

Seaman was 'the' England keeper. Flowers won 11 caps.

He could have chosen to invest a more sensible amount that he was willing and able to lose. Didn't he have a degree from an Ivy League uni in finance or something? Always surprised me he managed to balls that up. When Friedel left it was the last straw for me in terms of never letting myself get too emotionally attached to a player again, or assuming their loyalty and love would keep them at the club. That one hurt, I was so sure he was going nowhere, and then it was only to Villa.

Has he actually publicly used the low uptake on that game as an excuse for not reducing season tickets? If so, it's well worth pointing out that's precisely what several on here predicted he would do when the Reading pricing was announced.

I'm not a fan of one or two of the data points used, we need to remember it's just stats based off comfortably the best season of his career (could be a purple patch) and it's only League One....but, I feel a bit more confident about Ennis after watching that. To regularly rank in the top 10 (sometimes top 3) for his position in his league on a range of important metrics is encouraging. On a free, presumably fairly low wages (this would be the kicker for me, if he's on 10k p/w or something like that then it's a big risk) and on a 4 year deal with a 1 year option, still quite young at 24 but has some experience...you can't really argue with that business. Sealed nice and early to give him time to adjust to the playing style, manager and his teammates. I'm not going to say I'm expecting immediate fireworks, and I can't say I want to risk him being our main man up top out the gate, we still need someone who has shown they can smash them in at this sort of level. But on the face of it, he seems a decent squad addition to compete for a regular goalscoring role. The proof, as always, will be in the pudding. With him still having room for growth and perhaps needing time to adapt to the level, as well as with it being expensive to permanently buy established Championship strikers, I'd think a loan is our best bet of reliable goals in the middle. Cannon or Archer are the two firepower options (see what I did there?) I'd prefer in this regard, then we get a season to see if Ennis can deliver for us.

Them too, but I was mostly referring to fans of other clubs. I used to hang with a few Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs fans at uni, and I remember trying to tell them just how good Brad Friedel was. They actually laughed when I told them he was a better keeper than Jens Lehman, but it was me who should have been laughing. As far as they were concerned though, nobody could be considered world class playing outside of the top 4/5 teams in England. I don't feel like Brad got his full dues until he'd played at Villa and moreover Spurs, and even then he doesn't get as much credit as he should from many. Far as I'm concerned, the top three keepers in Prem history are him, Schmeichel and peak Cech. Whatever order people want to put them is subjective, but those have to be the top three for me. On ability, not shit like trophies (which really depends a lot on the other ten players around you). I'm quite sure many football fans from the general public would replace Friedel with Van der Saar (who isn't far off tbf), and for me that's purely because he played for Manure. Incidentally, Friedel was also under consideration by Manure at the time, and the main reason they went for Edwin instead was reported to be because we would have wanted a lot more money than Fulham. There have been plenty of other terrific keepers who aren't too far off the reckoning (Jaaskelain was another underrated due to who he played for), but I reject any notion of that not being the top three. Still personal opinion of course, but I'm not for budging. Brad was superhuman, and so consistent. A human wall. But many couldn't see it until he was at higher profile clubs. Another bone of contention for me in this regard is how many players haven't been called up to England (or not often enough) due to playing for us and other 'unfashionable' clubs. Even in favour of 'big club' bench warmers at times. But that's a whole other rant.