The point about Johnson's salary isn't he doesn't pay for anything except his taxes and his Ryanair flights to bunga bunga parties. Oh and child support for 76 kids. Anyway, anticipating transfers staying quiet until the PL deadline looms on 5 October when we will be looking at loans as the squads of 25 get firmed up then the week after gets interesting when all the EFL clubs stare their new crowd-less financial reality full in the face.

The land is totally separate from the chicken feed business. The chicken feed business is the only one of 40+ businesses publicly quoted and it has ridden the wave of loose money to dramatically higher share prices as well as being well run.

After a 5-0 win it would be cruel not to pick the same side. Unless Bell shines I expect to see JRC swapping to left back and Nyambe coming on.

Staircases, entrances, bars, loos are all problems

The share price was about 200 when they bought Rovers. Now 1300!

The window closes on 12 October I believe. Don't worry, we will make it to 1,000 pages.

It is certainly true the dramatic improvement in approach by the owners exactly coincides with Mowbray's tenure. However, I have never previously heard even a hint that Mowbray is the cause.

That is incredible considering how early we exited the Cups.

Probably neither. I fully accept both had roles taking them inside the compound but I don't think either were trusted as the eyes and ears of the family. As for what the Raos did as a result of fans' writings on social media and elsewhere and whether it had any direct influence, I don't know. But Mrs D in particular was (and probably still is) interested to know. They did seek (and were obscenely reliant on) advice from others deemed to be expert. However, after the initial three or four years they set great store by their own appraisal of the character and intelligence of the people they were/are interfacing with. In general (not just Rovers) they work with and through people they invest a great deal of trust in. They expect loyalty and don't expect any exposure through loose tongues. Mrs D is by all accounts a lady of her own opinions. She is also willing to take a long (a really long) term view and I think we are seeing the impact of that at Rovers and, in some ways, it is beginning to really pay off. I am thinking of the Academy in particular. For big decisions, they seek unanimity between the four of them but they can be quick moving and decisive when they consider it necessary. How those factors played out are the story of the last ten years of Rovers. I will repeat my controversial views. Up until the sacking of Coyle they were a catastrophe (being polite) but since then they are the best owners a club like Rovers could realistically possibly have.

Covid is giving Rovers a competitive advantage given proportionately, losing match day income is doing us less damage than other clubs.

My knowledge is from eight years ago but one of the staff in the Pune compound had the job of reading supporters' comments on all the various threads and preparing a daily report that was available if asked for. I think that pre-dated Shebby who among other jobs was expected to get closer to the fans and influence perceptions positively.

I think there is enough about the lad for him to keep his head level. The issue is Dolan is now playing against seasoned pros who know to stand slightly off him and are quick, strong and dirty enough to deal with his tricks. We were all.fortunate that Newcastle kids and the Wycombe fixture came at exactly the right time in Dolan's development. It is all Championship tough men from here on.

100% with you. Raya today is vastly worse than at least 50% of the keepers in the PL but that is a moot point. Raya last season was vastly better than Walton and that certainly cost us numerous points. We also wasted the money we got from him making it an even more painful piece of business . Brentford are a trading club and they didn't want to trade Raya below their valuation is also as significant as Arsenal baulking at the price. Makes somebody buying Josh King even pressing for Rovers.

For all the grief our full backs have been getting, I can only remember two aerial crosses Kaminski has had to deal with and he confidently caught both of them.

I will put this here while we are chatting on other matters but Ayala's passing statistics are outstandingly bad. Given we are tapping it around at the back and not giving Kaminsky much chance to use his outstandingly good long kicks, I am just a tad nervous about this.

When a club starts as badly as Derby, the third game is when they roar back- we have done it ourselves at least twice in recent seasons. Dangerous if we let them get on top and start feeling confident. Need to ram (ho ho) home the inevitable Derby self-doubt

The head of International Athletics jailed for corruption- https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-athletics-corruption/ex-head-of-world-athletics-diack-found-guilty-of-corruption-idUKKBN267249 This raises huge questions over numerous athletics and Olympics medals. Europol have just issued a report into football. This reads like Rovers in 2010, 2011 and 2012 and Wigan more recently. Football most targeted Football is the most targeted and manipulated sport by international organised crime groups because of its worldwide popularity, financial dimension and large turn-over betting market attached to it. The size of the global betting market is estimated at €1.7 trillion, with football on its own accounting for €895 billion. Europol warned that South-East Asian, and particularly Chinese, networks were trying to acquire smaller football clubs in financial difficulty for the purpose of sport manipulation. “Individuals and companies are involved in taking control, or attempting to do so, of EU football clubs for the purpose of betting-related match-fixing. Details of the concrete involvement of Chinese organised crime groups operating in or having an impact on the EU in sports corruption remain a major intelligence gap,” Europol said. Buying or sponsoring clubs Europol said the more ‘professional’ method used by certain crime groups was to buy a club, or sponsor it to an extent of gaining effective control over the team. The targeted club is bought for the sole purpose of fixing matches and to launder money. “High illegal gains are secured through the execution of an extended series of manipulated matches for betting purposes,” Europol said. This is a growing trend especially in football, where clubs of lower divisions, sometimes beset by heavy financial problems, are taken over by foreign individuals and companies. Europol said that it is commonly observed that the new investors of a club will transfer specifically selected foreign players in the targeted teams and use them to execute match-fixing schemes.

Winning the next two games is very important for how players and agents will be looking at us as we get into the last week of our window. As I have previously written, I would be happy if we keep our limited powder dry for now. Normally I am relaxed about loans as opposed to permanent signings but other than a left back, we have so.much quality coming through from younger players, I am less happy about loans this window. I would take that Mbete or Tosin again from City though.

I thought Bayern only got 8 against Schalke..

100% certainty you will be disappointed. We are a long way off our window closing and the reality of playing the season without crowds could well be confirmed before it closes causing panic in numerous clubs. Relatively, speaking this will benefit Rovers so whilst this week could be frustrating, being in position to be able to do deadline day business could well be our best tactic.

will be interested in what he has to say

Travis is going to be a huge miss because without him as enforcer it is going to be difficult to include Buckley's genius.

On Manning, we are at the stage where nobody should take anything said seriously. There are clearly very tough negotiations with QPR and the player's agent. Fans have been conditioned for these failing but what Mowbray has said is also addressed to the player, his agent and QPR. Fingers crossed time- deal is not dead but we are not going to be legged over either so could easily die today. If the player is hell bent on leaving QPR, it all depends on who else is in the beauty parade of interested clubs and how determined they are. If there is a chance that QPR and the player can kiss and make up, I wouldn't rate our chances.

Can't wait to this one. Almost by accident we have an exciting team. Derby effectively blew our play off hopes with that comprehensive 3-0 defeat in our last game in front of a crowd. They will be dangerous after their stuttering start but no reason we shouldn't have revenge.

Crazy thing is, we could have had all those now if we had played our cards better last summer.