I agree. Having been critical of him in the past, I've seen a lot of improvement in him over the last season. Better decisions, better output, stronger. His final ball is still lacking at times, but for me a very valuable player to have in the squad.

Rovers should be all over Kristian Arnstad who wants to leave Anderlecht with one year left on his contract. Norway U-21 captain with massive potential. Much younger version of Trondstad, who can dictate the play as a sitting midfielder. Probably in our price range. I see Rangers linked, so forget Cantwell and pick up him instead.

I'm also very much against the manager signing "familiar faces" approach. It too many drawbacks: 1. You are limiting yourself to a very small pool of players. Not likely a good a use of limited cash. The selling club will also be very aware and push for max profit. A lot of opportunity cost in it as well. 2. The other is that any change of manager will cause massive issues as the those players are likely to be loyal to the previous manager, and another squad revamp with the new manager's players. Any progressive club like your Brighton and Brentford will have a proper recruitment plan with long-term scouting both and attributes/personality/culture-fit. They will determine what the squad needs together with the manager and then let the recruitment team bring in the most suited candidate. The manager/head coach position should be similar. Already tracking candidates that fits the profile of what the club has determined as philosophy in regards to style, squad, academy etc. This is the case of most clubs in Europe. The all-ruling manager approach is now an English thing to some degree.

Seems like with the return of John Park, Nixon has been on the ball again. Stansfield would be an excellent signing. Played a lot on the left wing for Birmingham. Quick, excellent work-rate and can score goals. Great on the break. However it seems very unrealistic to spend that amount of money when there are limited funds and big holes in the squad elsewhere. I know Birmingham have tried all summer to resign him. But also the fact that the Fulham manager publicly stated he was staying only 3 days ago, makes it unrealistic.

That was in League One. But still sad to see his career path after leaving us. That pace and ability, seemingly left down by attitude and application. Now playing in Non-league at the age of 26.

Very much agree on Big Mak, big upgrade on Gallagher. Never going to be a clinical finisher, but far more mobile and pacier than I expected him to be. What I really like about him is that he seem to have a football brain. He's hold up play is good, and seems to understand where to position himself unlike Gallagher. Will be a good foil and focal point to have upfront, with the added bonus that's he is great in the air. A type of player we haven't had in a while, and very useful for the Championship. Also impressed with Ohashi. Two very good finishes for the two goals he has scored. While his first touch was lacking at times yesterday I think it's usually better. Also seem to have good positional sense esp. around the box. Absolute bargain if we only paid 150k for him. They both also been here only a couple of weeks.

Spot on! Especially true for defenders. The standard of the top two tiers of Non-league has improved greatly. For most parts National Conference is on par with League Two and most teams are full-time professionals. U21 is too much of a playground with a lot of quick technical players having a field day against stand-off defending that are better ball players then defenders. That's why a lot those matches are 4-3 etc, and why when stars at that level get a reality check when they go out on loan. A football league defender earning a wage to provide for a family will smash you before you attempt the first step-over.

Waching the game. Think I saw him sitting on the bench even if he's not in the squad

30 mill in the bank? It very much looks like player trading surplus has been used to cover operating expenses. If Venky can't or won't pick the up the bill, we need to generate 10-15 mill each year in sales only to break even. And that is with also having one of low end wage-budgets. It's pretty bleak

I think the correct wording is the club cannot afford anything but a gamble. When you have no money for transfers or wages you don't have a choice. There is no proven strikers who is free agent or will accept our wage structure. We're left with a gamble from lower leagues or obscure foreigners, or promoting from the youth.

He did play for Rochdale afterwards. O'Briens problem was that he was not part of Forest squad registration for the latter part of the season. Brierly was not affected of that, might be because U21 aged players doesn't need to be registered. (Too much Football Manager for me,)

Pretty excited by the Brekalo news. Someone I highlighted in the summer as one of the few players in the Norwegian League you could be confident would have an impact in the Championship. At that time I thought he would be far too expensive, and destined for bigger things than the Championship. Viking turned down a 6 mill offer in the summer for the League push, thinking they would be able to sell him for the same later. However, he got injured and their season faltered. Now there has been a huge fallout since the player claims the club have gone back on their promise to sell if he stayed for the rest of the season. Viking are now looking to offload this window, and the player is currently not training with the team until the transfer is resolved. Local media is also reporting Blackburn's approach

Yeah, got overconfident and played a high-risk pass that was easily gobbled up and put into an open net. However it's something that easy to fix and he'll learn from. Otherwise I thought he was terrific. Very good with the feet, safe handling, came and claimed crosses and generally looked the part. Very rare to see a keeper at that age playing U21 and apart from the big mistake, probably our best player of the night. Some prospect at 16 based on that evidence.

Pratical questions. Travelling over from Norway to attende the match. Are there any pub supporter are meeting up before the game?

Poor performance by the whole team.. The defensive work in midfield and forward was awful. A lot of cheating in tracking back