So why did we reject the 18.5m bid from Palace?

To some people, turning down a bid of £18.5m is actually a sign that Venky’s are deliberately trying to sell him to avoid transferring funds from India… I think it’s clear that we’re not actively trying to sell him but if the money gets high enough then of course he has a price tag.

I’m not sure we can expect to get much more for a Champ player. If £20m isn’t enough to sell, I’m not sure what is. The timing is a problem alongside the obvious question of how much we’d get to reinvest, but £20m+ does seem too much to turn down. Ideally we hold out to the summer so don’t weaken the squad and get a slightly higher fee, but can understand if the club chooses to take the money now.

Impressive if we’ve turned down £18.5m. Always find it surprising when people criticise Venky’s for actively trying to sell our best assets when they so often refuse to sell until the asking price is met even if it means players running down their contracts.

Everyone against the prospect of selling Wharton because we wouldn’t reinvest the money is exactly the same talk when the prospect of selling Rothwell came up a couple of January’s ago. Same people then criticised the club for allowing players to walk away for nothing. £15m is reasonable for Wharton and we clearly need the cash. Don’t want him to go and clearly we won’t reinvest all of it but if it gets us 2/3 proven Championship players, it’s probably too good to turn down.

The bigger call was not playing him over the last few months. Hardly like he was getting a look in so I doubt there’ll be a big impact. I can’t understand why but JDT clearly doesn’t want Travis in the team and had no issues with him leaving.

Thought about that the other day. Bell, Steele, Giles, Branthwaite, Brereton Diaz and Van Hecke all now playing for PL clubs. Cairney is still the one that hurts the most. Best midfielder at the club, didn’t want to go and sold to (then) a Champ rival for a trivial amount.

Wouldn’t the Oxford and Bournemouth games have had similar figures? Certainly very few other occasions though including local derbies.

Pleasantly surprised with the attendance. Wasn’t overly confident we’d see a decent gate looking at the seat map earlier in the week. Can’t have been many home crowds this size since the Oxford game. Bournemouth at home a couple of years ago when they opened half the Darwen End perhaps. Be good to see the BBE upper open again but with the amount of seats in the Riverside left I can see why they won’t for tomorrow.

Arguably the biggest criticism you can aim at the club over the last couple of years is not allowing players to be sold rather than actively trying to sell them..

‘To see some of our own fans chiming in just shows what we’re up against’ That didn’t take much provocation did it. Commenting that a good crowd by our standards would still leave Ewood nearly half empty is hardly critical of the fans who are turning up. I just want to see the club do more to bring the fans in and be more creative and brave when setting ST prices. We’ll never fill Ewood but it’d be nice to see it a bit fuller than it is now wouldn’t you agree? Tomorrow is a positive step but I still think a lot more could be done by the club.

Surely any new ST holders will be taken from within the regular walk up crowd so the overall total for a game like tomorrow would likely be the same. A higher ST base would certainly help for the regular midweek fixtures though.

Won’t be necessary. There are still a reasonable number of seats available across the JW and BBE not to mention the half empty Riverside. Scary to think that even with £10 tickets the stadium will still be half empty and yet it’ll be considered it a decent turn out. Would be great to get up to 20k though.

The reaction next week is arguably more significant than todays result. Anything like a repeat of today, we’re in trouble.

I’m not debating whether the club is being well run but don’t think there’s a need to bring Raya and Rothwell up given we’ve signed up our best players to new contracts recently. I’d also suggest the signing of Leo is hardly a stick to beat the current regime with.

You will not see a more comprehensive defeat than that. Yes they’re better than us on paper but that doesn’t excuse the gulf in standards. I’ve never seen such a toothless display and the final scoreline flattered us. Didn’t even think Southampton were spectacularly good. After the first 10 mins we absorbed most of their pressure in the first half relatively comfortably but kept throwing possession away on the rare occasions we had the ball. Can’t expect to invite pressure for 90 mins without posing a threat at the other end, and get anything. Brittain won’t sleep well tonight. Inexcusable given the circumstances today and overall squad situation. Wahlstedt the only one to come out with any credit and he conceded four. Says it all.

He’s in the U20s not U21s. I’m sure many will be on more money but very few will be getting the same game time as AW. Also he’s been in the England set up for a while yet has signed two new deals in the last 12 months. If his head was that easily turned, I think it would have happened by now (as it was with Phillips).

Our midfield back then consisted of Hope Akpan, Liam Feeney and Danny Guthrie. Wes Brown was getting a game. TM didn’t keep us up but look at the tools (literally) he was working with. I’ve always thought overall he did a fairly decent job with us. The biggest criticism I have is significantly underachieving with the 20/21 team. He overstayed his welcome which soured things as well. The squad he left behind was vastly superior to the team he inherited despite limited investment in his last couple of years. Also don’t think it should be understated that his appointment enabled the first real period of (relative) stability since relegation from the PL which was desperately needed given the chaos beforehand.

Playing some of the best stuff I’ve seen from us in a very long time. Few teams at this level could handle us when we move it quickly as we did in the first 10-15 of each half. Always a high risk of conceding with the way we play and general inexperience but when it clicks, it’s great to watch.

JRC has been a big reason behind our good run of form recently. If he’s out long term that would be a massive blow.

Our right hand side has been our biggest strength in recent games and no coincidence it’s come with Hill at RB, JRC central and Brittain further forward. Should maintain that arrangement as best we can.

Support and empathy?! He’s been criticised by virtually everyone. He’s made one bad mistake but overall has done fine since coming into the team. I also think Pears has been harshly treated by some fans, possibly down to the perception that he was initially only signed because of Mowbray’s connections.

Sounds perverse but I’d argue we actually look more dangerous as a team with goals coming from everywhere than having one striker get them all. Still in need of a new striker but goal scoring hasn’t been the issue so far this season.

We only had the top tier of the away stand and sold it out. Not massive numbers but interestingly I don’t think we sold the top tier out last year despite being in a far better league position and run of form.

Went to the Lewes game last week (despite clashing with the Leicester match on Sky). Great day out and much healthier atmosphere than the men’s game. Ideal for families with young kids. Definitely recommend to those that haven’t been to a women’s game before.