I can't se them signing him as back up with that kind of fee involved. He may well be to replace Lenihen IF big bid comes in and if so he sounds decent enough. Starting the season with someone like him in the ranks alongside what we already have would be a nice bonus though.

Given the difference in sizes of the places and fanbases I think Sunderland on 18k and Rovers on 8 for league 1 is pretty fair comparatively speaking. Can't help but still think Rovers missed a big trick again though when you look at 26 thousand turning up at a tenner per ticket for the last game showing there is big interest still there but getting more to commit to a likely Championship struggle needed some thinking outside the box not an excuse to nudge prices up on the back of promotion. As always in Blackburn a bit of success along with the general feel good factor combined with cheap tickets will pull them in.

No absolutely not.

About 500 more than last season i'd guess.

This is why the freebie market at Championship level is getting more and more serious and driving wages up. Lucrative to be in if your not fortunate enough to have Prem clients on your books. Also a very tricky market for managers and clubs as just because they are free doesn't mean you always get value for money.

Top half of the championship is a very tough league one of the toughest around it's becoming Premier league 2 as time goes on. Agree the bottom end isn't that great and that's what we have to better to finish far enough up however a lot of beatings from the top half teams depending how the fixtures pan out can have you in bother from the off and it's hard to recover and that's something that needs guarding against. We've a decent little squad it just needs help in terms of a couple of quality additions and some raw pace. No squad fillers, use our own youth and put all the eggs into getting a few who can contribute to the first 11 basket.

Hopefully TM isn't about to learn the hard way how the V's operate - face to face meeting and promises followed by we'll get back to you when players ( and fees ) are put forwards. Then the phone in Pune is off the hook apart from the batphone marked outgoing which has only dial with offers of 3 million or over on it but gets answered after one ring. There always seems a delay around this time and I think the key is catching the Vs before the go on their summer vacation as once gone they are gone. Thing is this time we have a CEO and finance director so they should have the budget and be able to say yes or no unless it's an unexpected budget stretching player. Still just think it might be down to us just waiting for the freebies to become officially available but I hope GB, Lambert and one or two others aren't on his phone saying, ah - get used to it this is the REAL BRFC of modern times ! He certainly got fortunate last summer let's hope it isn't revert to type.

It's going to be a long few weeks until the freebies are free from their contracts and can choose which offer they might accept.

The major point here is he just hasn't got the legs for that anymore but I think anyone expecting him to hardly start a game is in for a shock.

Posh Scouse

If it's freebies we are mainly looking at that action doesn't usually get going until their contracts end then they pick from whatever is on the table ?

Yep, the home form is likely what will keep us up next season so got to make the very best of it every game.

Be nice if they could use Conway a bit like Nobbers use Gallagher coming on late and busting a gut for 15 mins trying to set things up. Granted he's not as talented as PG but if he can get a good 15 mins out of his legs he might be handy like that. What I don't want to see is him starting every home game as a defensive winger !

Why is anyone worried about Bumley signing someone with a dodgy injury record surely it's to be celebrated it's about time they got some Murphy's and Etuhus foisted upon them ! Sad thing is though their manager will still rinse something resembling effort out of these types.

Wasn't there a lad called Chris Holland or something who had the Gazza tag as well ?

I'll go for 24 hrs before the early bird deadline is set to end ?

Agree the one's who've done a bit of a stint somewhere and proved they have a bit of something are the one's to go after even if the wages are a bit more. Those mollycoddled through big club academies with maybe the odd sub appearance here and there rarely work out so it's all a bit pointless bothering with them especially in front of our own youth.

I'll say 1.5 million on initial cash buys not including add ons I think they are following a plan now set out after that audit last year that allows a certain minimum yearly investment in buying players. Of course you never know with this lot but as long as it's not a minus budget i'll take that as a positive compared to a few years ago !

The deals for present players are getting sensible at last if nothing else I can't argue much against one year deals with the option of another it gives the player incentive and covers the club. That is definitely the right way to go about it at last, you get the impression certain other managers, directors, advisors would have been recommending two or three years for these lads to tie them to the club as others were set to pinch them ! %%%%% Only concern I have so far is how much of the budget gets tied up in these and others and may end up with us rooting about seeing what Prem clubs will give us on loan for next to nothing just to fill out gaps. That's somewhere we've been a few times recently so if that was the case I might like to see one or two spare parts shifting out to free up some wages.

Curtis is heavily involved in coaching in the USA now I think. Good steady right back of a certain level, he'd certainly be decent in this present team.

Haye finally retires and it's the right move but years too late as is the norm with top fighters in the HW division. Those who've panned him in recent years need to seek out and read his full statement in it's entirety. There was no Hayefaking that's for sure just a top fighter who couldn't leave it alone for whatever reasons and thought he could win his biggest fight - v his own crumbling body - time and again but was very wrong. Brilliant career, top fighter.

He made it on Youtube though ?

Totally agree, Sauerlands are great at rebuilding careers and very underrated promoters in general. There needs to be a viable big European alternative to Mr PPV hype train and 'we do it proper' Frank the gangsters moll. Look at the job they did with Groves. Fury calls his own shots though that's why he is where he is imo.

Needs the doh that's why and the path Hearn was offering would've been over before it began because he was only offering worthwhile opponents in a route to a huge payday. Warren will feed him some duds, get him up the rankings by stealth so he ends up in pole position for a title shot probably with the WBO or WBA. Joshua is going to have his hands full trying to juggle all those belts so one might well become vacant in the next 12 months with these lot ready to pounce. Warrens one of the biggest twohats in boxing but he isn't daft. Like I said earlier though I think it might come off the rails like Haye if a big payday he thinks is a formality suddenly presents itself, just depends how quickly they need money.

To be honest Flanagan v Hooker was the main event, a world title fight and evenly matched on paper. Fury was a sideshow that probably pulled a few extra in, by the way part the arena was closed off making the capacity just over 10k ish and putting rather a different angle Bunces spin of a sell out crowd.