Even at 11 days shy of his 19th birthday, I would be building the Rovers team for next season around the strengths and covering the youthful weaknesses of Adam Wharton. He is good enough to steer us to automatic promotion in 23/24. And yes I would play him a little bit deeper because when the Championship learn they have to man mark him, oppositions will be pulled out of shape to do so.

Potter is close with Jim Ratcliffe of INEOS. They own Nice but are also a bidder for Manchester United which is apparently Potter's destination if INEOS prevail against the Qataris. This is why I knocked back Mercer's Potter to Southampton. I suspect INEOS will not get Man U but I fully expect the Glazers to take an eternity to decide and the decision is as likely as not to be no decision. So Potter will be hanging on/ getting parked pro tem at Nice.

What cut backs on the football side? Broughton and JDT themselves would not have come cheap. We got ourselves in the contract pickle on the back of covid precautions and weren't the only club caught that way. Read the accounts.

Ploughed my way through this lot. Correct me if I am wrong but Slot is still in his job in Rotterdam and Levy the unpredictable is still in his job at Spurs. There are credible reports of JDT relocating his family and GB clearly said they have been visiting schools for JDT boys which is the litmus test of family relocation. If JDT objective (we don't know if it is) is the Premier League, leaving an English Championship outfit which outsiders would judge well positioned to get promoted wouldn't be the most obvious career move. It would question JDT ability to see through what he had started. And a move away from English football would be a detour. Of course this pre- supposes the Rao family are following through on their commitment but the quarter of a billion which has gone into Rovers over the past 13 years suggests that money isn't a limiting factor for them. Talking of Raos, the call to MGP is the first indication on a personal level of them valuing the opinion of anyone that was at Ewood prior to Anderson bringing them in. I maybe mistaken but I cannot think of any other examples.

What does finishing above Watford, Norwich and West Brom count as?

Gerrard is a catastrophe as a manager. Ditto Lampard. People skills close to nil.

Big Sam knows how to win the games that matter in the Premier League. Plus Bournemouth are the sort of party poopers who have beaten Everton already this season I wouldn't want for my PL survival game.. Despite Everton having 2 points and a vital 1 goal advantage, I shade it for Leeds to survive.

The 10 most expensive goalkeepers of all time Player Clubs Fee Season Kepa Arrizabalaga Athletic Club to Chelsea €80m 2018-19 Alisson Roma to Liverpool €62.5m 2018-19 Gianluigi Buffon Parma to Juventus €52.88m 2001-02 Ederson Benfica to Manchester City €40m 2017-18 Jasper Cillesen Barcelona to Valencia €35m 2019-20 Thibaut Courtois Chelsea to Real Madrid €35m 2018-19 Manuel Neuer Schalke to Bayern Munich €30m 2011-12 Jordan Pickford Sunderland to Everton €28.5m 2017-18 Aaron Ramsdale Sheffield United to Arsenal €28m 2021-22 Francesco Toldo Fiorentina to Inter Milan €26.5m 2001-02 Note how long ago those transfers were. Kepa and Allison were the 3rd and 5th most expensive transfers in the world in the 2018/19 season. So if Raya makes the top 10 in 2023/24, I would expect him to top 40m.

The Premier League is showing its competitiveness. The European Super League wannabes in other countries are good for European qualification - all in the Champions League except AC Milan. But only 3 of the English "Big" 6 are headed for the Champions League and 2 will probably miss out on European football altogether.

I believe it is 10% on any profit on sale. We have received 3.5m on transfer + 1m on promotion + 1m on first Spanish cap. So if the fee were 40m, we would receive an additional 3.45m. Given the prices international class keepers command these days, I'd hope he would go for a lot more than 40m.

A benefit of us missing out is the message board isn't full of complaints about prices...

Stick in the ground was about my level at my best...

Never watch it live in person but wangle seeing u21s whenever there is live coverage. My impression was he started badly at Rovers then became a bit of a goal scorer and became nearly unstoppable then cooled off again. Injuries took their toll. So needs a lot of working on and anybody's guess if he makes it...

We all remember and cherish some of the sensational saves Kaminski has pulled off. I think those memories are blinding us to the fact that there were quite a few goals let in during the season just gone which TK shouldn't have let in. I think it is much more nuanced as to who is the best keeper between Pears and TK. Had you asked me after that Wigan FA Cup defeat, I would have also argued it was nuanced as to who was the best keeper between Pears and me, and for that matter, I could have offered myself as the better central defender after one particular Hayden Carter "performance" three years ago... Real players develop. Pears has the advantage of years on his side to become much better and he doesn't scare me in the way TK does when we are kicking it around at the back to bring on a high press creating space upfield.

Southampton are dropping like a stone and will lose Ward-Prowse. The club needs a lot of work on it. Leicester is losing the Turkish central defender and Thielemans on frees. Barnes Maddison and Ionaci will be sold. Everton and Leeds are both shambles behind the scenes. By no means a given these clubs will thrive in the Championship. The three coming up from League One are all capable of doing a Sunderland.

Well I heard a different interview. https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-tomasson-future-leeds-26942819

Glad to see Lenni Cirino retained. He looked exceptional in the coverage I saw of him 21/22

Big thanks for Daniel Ayala. An absolute rock when fit.

I would keep it open. BBD at Chile under a manager who clearly doesn't rate him and as a rather archetypal English sort of player at Villareal is going to be interesting to keep half an eye on.

Whatever the dubious practices of the Man City marketing team in hard selling City to Abu Dhabi falconers as their ideal bird lure suppliers, that performance was a thing of beauty. But for Courtois, that would have been a 7 goal humiliation.

My inside has Potter going somewhere else. My eyes tell me Rodgers would be nuts to go there. My scales tell me I have drunk too much red wine.

Both Coventry and Luton are the living proof of resurrection in football. Even in the moneyed world of today. So good luck to them. Will be interesting to see if they fill Wembley between them. I had huge respect for job Carrick was doing at Boro but it seems in the battle of erstwhile Mancs, the lesser Robbins did an absolute number on him. Incidentally at the nether end, the imposition of the delayed 6 point penalty on Reading sent them down. Cardiff are very fortunate because they ended up only 5 points above the drop.

Sunderland can't even sack a manager! They need to get that guy from Watford to give them a few tips.

Real took a real stuffing

Coventry v Luton What a sickener