Other clubs are paying more = Bournemouth. We can’t compete on a level footing with them given parachute payments and FFP restraints. That’s just the reality all championship clubs who haven’t recently been in the PL find themselves in.

When Butterworth has been on the pitch we may as well have been down to 10 men. His performance against Middlesbrough was appalling, he didn’t break out of a jog. Deadwood. Glad to see him gone. Hopefully he can sharpen up on loan.

All the noises before the window was that we couldn’t throw big money around and we were never going to compete with Bournemouth’s spending. Overall, fairly satisfied. Keeping hold of all our key players was the main target this window and there were plenty on here that assumed Venky’s would flog the lot at the first sign of a big cheque. Centre mid still feels a bit light but when the injured players come back, we have reasonable depth across the squad. Play offs still need to be the goal. Top 2 would be a huge bonus. Looking around the Championship, other than Bournemouth I wouldn’t say that many clubs had a better window than us.

Sounds like we had a bid accepted for Dembele but he chose Bournemouth. The wages some of the Bournemouth signings must be on. If they don’t go up this season they will be in massive trouble.

Refusing to sell a player out of contract in 6 months for a fee over £3m doesn’t suggest that at all.

You don’t think Zeefuik took some planning? Household name to you was he? Feel underwhelmed about today given the comments over the last week but at the start of the window I would have been relatively happy with keeping the squad together. Think we’ve done some decent business all told. Squad still feels thin in places but we’re better off than where we were 4 weeks ago. Bournemouth aside, I don’t think many championship clubs have spent much. Glad to see Butterworth head out. Miles off Championship standard at the moment.

An underwhelming day but doesn’t mean a bad window necessarily. Retaining the key players was the priority and adding to them with a few good value, quality additions. Think it’s been acceptable. We can’t use Bournemouth as a yardstick given their parachute payments. We were never going to spend big money given the FFP situation.

I still think play offs are the most realistic for us. Top 2 would be a phenomenal achievement. Hopefully we can get one or two in the door but at the beginning of Jan I’d have taken keeping hold of the squad with a couple of additions. Interesting that there’s been no interest in Brereton even since his goal against Argentina (what a ridiculous statement). Can’t help but feel that him being in South America has helped us on that front although I doubt anyone would have met our valuation.

To be fair, I agree. If no bids have been accepted then this should have stayed in house. O’Rourke broke the news regarding the bid so wide of the mark from him.

Interesting to hear how all this will be Waggott/Mowbray/Venky’s fault.

FFP vs parachute payments. It’s a two tier league. Bournemouth will be in trouble if they don’t get up this season however.

Obviously the money side is all guesswork but it sounds like he asked not to play against Luton so I think we’re already at the stage where his commitment can be called into question. I don’t know how we can have him back now, the bridges are burned. I just can’t see how we’re going to find two decent replacements in 24 hours.

Rothwell has chosen this moment to down tools, not us. There is no good outcome here, but this is all on Rothwell.

Do you honestly want Rothwell anywhere near this club right now??! Mowbray wants him out because his head isn’t in it. Fair enough by me.

We’ve offered him a pay rise within a new contract and he turned it down. Rothwell has chosen to force a move to a promotion rival with three days to go in the window by downing tools and refusing to play. Stop trying to absolve him of blame. He is a disgrace.

I don’t know why I bother to go over this multiple times but if Rothwell refuses to sign a new deal and is determined to leave, there’s not a lot we can do about it. We’ve not ‘done nothing’. We’ve offered him new terms and he’s rejected them. He’s now forced a move to a rival club. Could we have offered more money? None of us have any idea but that doesn’t excuse Rothwell downing tools in the middle of arguably the biggest season in recent memory, to force a move to a promotion rival.

You’re oversimplifying it to suit your narrative. It’s not Mowbray simply thinking he can find better players. It’s Rothwell refusing to play for us and forcing a move. It’s clear that Mowbray and Venkys did not want to sell Rothwell but he forced the issue. The whole saga is regrettable but Rothwell has effectively downed tools and Mowbray clearly thinks that having him around with his head elsewhere is worse than selling, even to a rival. Tomorrow is huge.

It stings having to see him go to Bournemouth and it may well see them finish above us but Rothwell sticking around the group when his head is clearly elsewhere could equally derail the season. How would he play for us now? The reaction at Ewood would be toxic. Tomorrow makes or breaks our season. A couple of suitable replacements and we might be fine.

I really hope Rothwell Odemwingie’s it and ends up standing outside the run down seaside mini golf hut that doubles as their training centre at 11pm in the rain waiting for a medical that never happens.

He’s basically refusing to play for the club. The damage is done. We either take the £3m or let him fester around the club. We’re damned either way.

Clearly Rothwell’s burnt his bridges and Mowbray would rather him gone regardless of which club he ends up at. Shocking. For all those wanting to skew this to blame Venky’s or Mowbray, Rothwell has downed tools and essentially forced us to sell to our nearest promotion rivals. There’s only one villain in this. There will be Bournemouth fans reading this thread pissing themselves and frankly so would I in their position. All I’d say is that it took us three years to get a worthwhile season out of him and he will screw you over at the first opportunity. Glad to see the back of him.

Sharpe is saying that Rothwell wants the Bournemouth move. That seals it for me. Keep him and let him rot.

The longer this goes on without updates, the less likely he goes I’d suggest. To get in 2/3 established replacements by tomorrow night is a tall order. I’ve made my peace with him going so I’m not fussed either way now - provided we get the replacements in. Intrigued to see what other business we might do. Sounds like there were a couple lined up other than Hedges before the Rothwell nonsense. One thing does seem to be clear is that there are very few leaks from the club these days. Tend not to hear about a move until it’s more or less tied up.

I disagree with the notion that we’re ‘letting’ the players contracts run down as if we’re not attempting to do something about it. Clearly Rothwell, Lenihan, BBD, Nyambe all think they can attract PL interest and have refused to sign improved contracts. Apparently we offered Armstrong the best deal we could possibly afford and he turned it down, understandably because he wanted a prem move. We don’t know the numbers involved but if the players mentioned above are determined to hold out for a big move (Rothwell’s antics this week seem to confirm that..), there’s next to nothing we can do about it. If you were in Brereton’s position, would you sign a new deal with us on any terms?? No, obviously not, he’d just be making it harder to get out in the summer. Is that our fault too? Or should we have tied him down 18 months ago when he still had 3 years left on his deal and could barely get in the team? Fans would have been furious. It’s easy to blame the club but if the players are refusing to sign new contracts, what more can we do??

I had been frustrated about the situation but then in a moment of clarity thought, it’s Joe Rothwell ffs. I doubt most fans have even heard of him outside Rovers. Bring in two or three replacements by Monday and we’ll be better off without him. Bad timing but he’s shown his true colours. Get it over with and move on.