Crikey, West Brom gift us a goal!

Damn we needed to keep the deficit to 1

Gallagher central. Unusually for this season, we are not bossing possession.

But Players don't have fixed prices and wages. Plus why not go shopping a level up beyond your budget to see what might drop? Bauer and Reed are well documented on here being within scope then a greedy agent and a Fulham coup respectively took them away. I doubt Bauer is on any dramatically higher wage at Preston but they probably poneyed up front moneys.

Good to see Rankin-Costello and Buckley on the subs bench. Bell and Smallwood both miss out completely.

Boro given Bristol City more of an examination than they gave us.

We have a budget and rules on player pay from what I understand and they cost us potential signings this summer. Signings within budget could be made without hold-up from Pune provided they were within parameters. Not gospel but what I understand.

I'd have started with Graham over Armstrong as I think WBA need to be handled with a more physical presence. Let's hope Armstrong remembers to bring a brain with him onto the pitch today!

Thanks - some excellently taken goals there with Chapman's first the pick of the 8. Good to see Samuel looking sharp. Somewhat evens things up after Rovers' double sending off last week rather tilted things Wolves' way.

Just been on the Brighton website and they don't keep PL2 highlights for any games so looks like I am going to miss out on seeing last night's goal fest.

Watched Cardiff v Fulham not knowing I could have been watching the youngsters at Brighton. Fulham are everything you would want of a passing side- accuracy vision movement and ability to snap into a clean tackle to win it back. Reed is sitting in the centre circle orchestrating it all. But in the final third for all the apparent threat they don't actually deliver against a well drilled aggressive defence plus their own defence is vulnerable. Cardiff pretty much as they were at Ewood- never going to win a beauty contest and probably a bit short of what is needed to get automatic promotion this season.

Probably inviting the wrath of the Gods but last season the best we could hope for from West Brom away was a draw. This season, it appears that if we score 1, there is a chance of keeping the opposition to 0.

And that is what is why those of us who were fighting what was happening in 2011/12 are condescending to the griping of today.

Worth remembering even Jack Walker and Kenny Dalglish couldn't click their fingers and be certain of getting their first choice players at Rovers.

Mowbray not flawless. We do lose games through his selections, tactics and substitutions we should otherwise be getting points from. But in a dirty industry of mega egos and prize shits I am deeply pleased we have a human being who fundamentally tries to be decent and do his very best as Rovers manager. Mowbray is a welcome change considering the open sewer we had running through the heart of the club in all too many of the recent seasons. I am grateful Rovers now look like a football club in senior management. Sure not of the calibre of Williams Finn and Hughes but what we have now is a blessed relief compared with the rest of this decade. I am also grateful that I no longer shame for being a Rovers fan and can feel genuine optimism and excitement about approaching games and for the future of the club. Mowbray is the football boss and just as the criticism stops on his desk so should the recognition praise and thanks for us being in a better place now, a much better place in reality, than I think any of us could have realistically forecast when he first walked into Ewood.

Only saw him play once and that was for Villa. Rip, another legend gone too soon.

Storming come back from 2 down and 1-3 to win 5-3 away at Brighton with Samuel and Chapman braces.

Tosin is a nice problem to have when he is fit again.

I hope they have a sports psychologist working with him because he looks like he is playing with fear from the tiny bits I have seen of him.

January window

Swansea look like this season's Norwich- selling top players and raising over £25m only to emerge a much stronger outfit. Early days but I wouldn't say we are in an easier league compared to last season. Strikes me all the clubs have enough about them to be able to punish opponent's weaknesses as Stoke and Huddersfield are discovering all too painfully. Reading absolutely clobbering Cardiff was a wake-up to everyone that there are no easy games in the Championship. Leeds v Swansea tomorrow will expose credentials. Thus far Leeds have had one fixture against likely challengers (won 3-1 at Bristol City) and Swansea have had one (drew 1-1 at Derby) whereas Rovers have their third game against a club in the bookies' list for the top 6 tomorrow. I hope we can get a point at West Brom- if the side we know can turn up performs at the Hawthorns there is no reason we should return empty handed. However, the real test of Rovers' ability to kick on are the fixtures after the international break in September- Reading, Millwall and Luton- if we can win those games reliably, we are serious about challenging for the play-offs this season.

FISHER not first choice at Northampton but is getting some games. That performance at Sheffield United has killed Leutwiler's prospects at Ewood so bringing in a serious challenger for reserve keeper shirt makes sense- even if he is a Crewe reject.

This is the first I have heard about audits looking for cash drains. Cash may has been spent hugely inadvisably particularly in the first four years but Mrs D has always kept a tight system of authorising and accounting for expenditures.

Got to remember relegation in 2016/17 was an existential crisis. All options would have been on the table for consideration by the KPMG and Deloitte teams including highly distasteful ones. So look at the club now compared with the one in 2016 and there has been a wholesale revolution. Even more so than in 2015 when Balaji's preferred funding method suddenly dried up and we had a Chairman we were openly slagging off in a Court of Law... The route chosen in 2017/18; take a £20m hit including retention of Category A academy thankfully was rewarded by immediate promotion with a squad and management decently assured of staying up. Again retaining a cat A academy doesn't guarantee anything but it now looks feasible that having a Premier League level youth facility could be beginning to yield Premier League level young players. Doubtful Rankin-Costello, Travis, Buckley, Butterworth are going to be the backbone of a promotion winning squad this season but 20/21 could be a different matter. There are other players who will be coming into contention too.

They were the consulting divisions of accounting firms accompanied by their less illustrious bean counting colleagues- hence the eye watering six figure bills And with the money at the top end of football these days, the city offices of consultancies are getting quite a bit of work from football and building considerable expertise.