He wasn't just picking out the worst (Murphy) of the dross we signed under Kean. He said 'and the list of expensive has-beens we've had' with Prem experience. Here's a few more off the top of my head: Etuhu Guthrie Rodwell (ok at times, but still, a very much faded force and a liability at times too) Wes Brown DJ Campbell Peter Whittingham (RIP, no disrespect intended, he was just past it at that point and it wasn't even the Championship) Elliott Ward Kilgallon I can't say they were all expensive as I don't know wages, but I'm sure none of those were worth what we paid them (possible exception of Rodwell if he was mostly pay-as-you-play, but he cost us in games at times and left for free shortly after). There's some others I'm perhaps being generous by not including, and doubtless some I've forgotten. Ignoring the list of Premiership youngsters with a few Prem games of experience who have flopped majorly too. There are some successes too, but you have to choose carefully when buying Prem players. Playing at or being on the books of a Prem club doesn't automatically make you good enough for this level, let alone the one above.

I suppose though, it might be considered that we didn't find enough targets that we wanted. You can't only come up with 5 players (not saying the list was that small, it won't have been) and expect to land them all. You need a decent-sized list as the law of averages in this game suggests you won't be able to sign most players you attempt to. Not with our budget anyway...with a much bigger budget we could probably say 'it's this guy for that position' and stand a good chance of getting him.

I would, but only because he's in charge of the one company I'd work for almost regardless of who is in charge. And I'd still resent it. If he was in charge of anywhere else, hard nope.

Agree. The only exception I'd say is if the backroom team feel somebody's workload has been too high and their body is feeling the stress in a 3-game week. We do have a fairly small squad and need to manage it carefully, avoiding too many injuries. We've been close to being stretched too far at times. I'm not advocating excessive caution with this, results come first, but the staff should have an idea of when players are on the verge of a problem. JRC in particular is one I worry about picking up an injury, as he's had such problems with them in the past. Apart from that, everybody should be in the team on form and form alone, not reputation. Of course, Dack, Diaz and other outfield players can have opportunities from the bench in the meantime. It's up to them to show they're playing better than the lads named in the starting 11. Until they do, there's no reason for them to return to a starting berth while the boys are doing well.

If you're ignoring hitting the woodwork, you might as well ignore the entire performance of both sides and look at one thing only: Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Sheffield United. Nice passing doesn't count any more than hitting the woodwork. Hitting the woodwork shows you came very very close to more goals, which is far more important than general play. Goals are what count.

I think more than a couple of overseas recruits would be good business. We haven't really been able to use Europe very well since Brexit, and apart from TK, simply failed to prior. Having Prem money and status would enable us to be able to secure players from a much wider pool, and it's a better value market.

Entirely possible. The short length of Phillips' deal does cause me concern. We pretty much need to begin negotiating a new one in the summer, already. I'm glad we tied it up but he or his agents obviously don't see him being here for very long unless there's a significant pay rise in it (if then). Sort of understandable, given how highly he is rated and predicted to go, but I'll be concerned about his future until we can tie him to a longer deal.

Finished 1-0. Valuable win for the U21s, as Leicester are bottom of the league and we were sliding a bit too close for comfort. This opens up an 8 point gap between the two sides, and I believe only the bottom side gets relegated. Only 7 games remaining, so you'd expect us to be able to avoid relegation now. I suspect this entered into the thinking when naming a strong side, although some players need fitness anyway of course. Surprised we didn't go on to win by more considering the experience and the early lead.

Hedges scored after 6 minutes. Leonard assist. Tried to find a stream somewhere but no joy. I'm sure Leicester used to let you watch u21 games if you had a free account on their site.

In a heartbeat. Won't happen though, not yet, and the article talks about more like 5 million (it's a figure this source seems to have plucked out his arse though, given the phrasing in the quote).

Yeh like Joey said, the transfer debacle will be basically nothing to do with him. The only conceivable reason to release him over the window would be if he was unable to find any strikers within budget that the management team wanted (that's find, the actual negotiations are the club's problem). I find it a bit concerning that turnover in recruitment staff seems so high in recent times. It's not a good way to build a coherent plan for the future. Whether it's our fault or not. I wasn't particularly impressed with Williams' CV, as I had doubts how well his experiences at international level would translate to club level. Good to read that we're already looking at the replacement. If it's all true, that's more proactive than we've been in the past. The report linked at the bottom of that though, about Spurs still sniffing around Phillips, isn't good to read.

Sorry about what happened to Bury, it was a sad thing. But on the other hand, welcome to the Rovers! Like any club you'll have your ups and downs with us for sure. 1) Unfortunately not! For most of the season it hasn't been, but recently things have massively improved. Not just the results but the entertainment value. We are playing better, and we're all hoping it's a sign things have finally clicked together under JDT. Considering how many points we've picked up playing poorly at times, we could really kick on now if that's the case. Fingers crossed! 2) Yes I'd say it's the best view. It isn't the best atmosphere though, that would be the Blackburn End. Usually, anyway...in recent years the atmosphere overall has really declined, although our away followings are always in magnificent voice. There are signs the home atmosphere is improving in line with the football though, it was nice to hear the BBE singing again on Saturday.

Wasn't that a 'Bennett at RB' phase too? Captain Fantastic never got dragged over the coals for his blunders though.

Christ, he only spent 4 months there!!

Steve Cooper. What a hypocritical git.

It said he was the son of the 12th son of the founder, so yeh, an awfully large royal family...but he's still part of it and they all seem to be connected and look out for each other (apart from maybe the odd black sheep) and all seem to have shiteloads of cash. No longer in his government post, no, but connected enough to those running the country that if they wanted a proxy he'd be a good choice. Have they ran into financial problems because he can't afford to fund them, or because of FFP limits?

The current U18s will also be more weakly stocked, as their best players have been needed in the U21s to fill the gap left by those moved up.

I had a look at who owns them, because I thought it was unfair to say they should be criticised because they have a Saudi owner, as criticising every Saudi owner regardless of personal background would be kinda racist. But their owner is the grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia. So, a member of the royal family and he has held a government position (General President of the General Sports Authority).

They've also lost 6 less games.

If it was his first such offence, I might forgive it.

That was probably just an unsolicited email...guess they never sent their bank details back.

Except Jack Vale.

No, but he still had time to adjust his position.

Yeh he did well, would have been more for sure if he wasn't on his game. However the Dolan goal, he was positioned far too close to his near post, which made it much easier for Dolan. He didn't have to aim right in the corner to beat him, it was relatively central.

Maybe through a membership scheme as MattyBlue said, or multi game packages etc. But if you can just outright charge more on general sale for equivalent seats without a sneaky trick, then the rules have changed in recent years. I wasn't talking about 'might' be trouble, there might be trouble at literally any match, even a pub team game. I'm talking about seriously increasing the risk of thousands of people kicking each other's heads in, in a game which already requires a police presence. Do we want even stricter policies on these derbies in future if that happens? Do we want to risk someone dying just to shift a few more tickets? Do we want to double our future policing bill for it, wiping out the benefit of more ticket sales? Nobody is saying close the ground for it (might not have a choice next time though if there's too much trouble). There's putting on a match for the football lovers in the area, and then there's irresponsibly asking for trouble from tons of meat heads only there to kick off.