I'll have to take your word for it, I don't remember a single thing about his game! I do notice he played 11 games in his loan and we didn't bother signing him.

I see Hyam got his debut...in the 90th minute. I mean wow, what an opportunity to prove his worth...still, he will be happy with a cap at least.

A bit of shite too, mind. Andresen (I don't even remember him so I can only assume he wasn't up to snuff), Ostenstad, Samuelsen, Tore Pedersen, all dossers. King (during his time with us, though personally I liked him) and Bohinen (again, didn't mind him) would probably split opinion a bit. Gamst, Berg, Bjornebye, undoubtedly great signings for us. We should have made a lot more of King and he went on to have a very good career. It's probably a bit of an even split all considered, with Tromstad of course still to be decided.

I'm not surprised I forgot him! I should have remembered King though.

Our first Norweigan since Pedersen? Or am I forgetting somebody?

Looks like they haven't even finished sorting out their coding yet, judging by all those <h2> markers.

Many of our young attackers have seemed exciting over the years, until it comes to breaking into the first team. Then they never really quite manage it. Not since Dunn and Duff. I hope we're due one to buck the trend, but I think it's harder for youngsters to break in up top. If they don't score pretty quickly (and they'll often start out with just some cameos) they tend to be dropped in favour of experience. God knows how Vale managed to get so much game time.

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.