https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18937468.dack-travis-among-rovers-quartet-set-new-year-returns/?ref=ar Injuries update

Sounds like he could be ready a week tomorrow.

Johnson had a word with Arma during the game and he seemed to react by attempting to shoot on sight even more. Ordinarily, he would beat the keeper at least once but his power and accuracy were totally awry. Hope this isn't the start of a trend.

Crazy to say this about the League's joint top scorer but he has to get his head sorted for the Norwich game after that weird show against Bristol City.

We are really missing Ben.

I don't see a need for dramatic change to personnel, strategy or tactics. Bristol City saw far too many players having an off night. The crucial one for me was Ayala. 80% of the time that header from the corner goes in the net and he doesn't swing at fresh air when the deflection which reached their goal scorer comes to him. Two injury ravaged sides so it is a bit pot luck. Brentford level performance we win. Bristol City level performance and we will lose. This is going to be about being clinical. The players we are able to field are capable individually and collectively of winning this one so let's do it.

Not making any predictions but Chorley certainly have a realistic chance of winning this cup tie.

Agreed this is must win. They are good but not unbeatable. Two injury hit squads going head-to-head. Surely we are not going to be as profligate with chances as we were at Ashton Gate. Equally we cannot assume Puki and co won't find row Z with the unerring regularity of Nakki Wells. Based on last night, strong cases for starts for Bell and Davenport.

22 shots 7 on target 60% possession Once out of my chair for Ayala's header wide from the corner Did Bentley make any save of note. Some games it is hard to find a cow with a banjo and this was one of them. The way we play requires full backs with more pace and presence than Douglas has. And the subs made little sense. Norwich becomes must win.

Bristol City playing dramatically better than in any of the bits of games I have seen of them this season. Rovers not flowing the way we can. Not been Armstrong's best half by a long way. A lot of room for Rovers to improve. We can't keep on letting them have chances- they won't always miss the target. At the same time we need to accelerate our play when in dangerous positions.

Part of the negotiations.

Steve Kean. He's the only one bad enough to have picked me.

I am saying there is a limit to what can be spent before FFP cuts in. In your scenario, I'd sack Mowbray and look for a new Manager hamstrung by having to sell players and reduce the wage bill.

You will get asked to produce evidence of the air charter... I believe you.

https://offthepitch.com/a/blackburn-ceo-says-club-are-operating-around-threshold-ffp

There was a pot with a ceiling beyond which league points get deducted. As with any budget you decide your priorities. We saw our priorities which was to bolster the squad size and with the two games a week and injuries that has proven 100% correct. Contracts are an emergency now but at least we have a promotion campaign to worry about protecting which we wouldn't have had we jollied up all the existing players' wages in the summer as a price for three year new contracts and not been able to call on the five new signings. This is revealing. Sparks Rover is out of touch obviously. (or perhaps an agent setting wage expectations for his cut to come from) For several years, overall spending on player and staff wages in the Championship has exceeded revenue, and the questionnaire, reported by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, showed that of the 18 Championship clubs who responded, the average basic monthly pay for their highest earner is 1.51 million pounds ($1.9 million) a year, which makes a monthly salary of 125,797 pounds. The best paid player in the report earned an annual salary of 3.54 million pounds, or 294,666 pounds a month. The figures from the 2019-20 season do not include win bonuses or other payments. In League One, where 15 of the 24 clubs responded, the average highest earner is on 247,188 pounds a year and in League Two, where 14 responded, it is 114,020 pounds. However, one player is paid 13,000 pounds for a year in the Championship, and two in Leagues One and Two received just 7,800 pounds. The highest-paid Championship manager was reportedly paid 3.46 million pounds a year, with an average across the division of 878,000 pounds a year. In League Two, the average manager’s annual income is 79,462 pounds, with the lowest-paid manager in the Football League receiving 45,000. One physiotherapist at a Championship side in the Midlands was earning 191,000 pounds a year, although that was almost three times the league average. At one Championship club, the kitman earned 56,000 pounds a year. The average salary for a chief executive or managing director in the Championship was 295,179 pounds, with one CEO picking up 740,000. In League One, that average fell to 89,566 pounds. ($1 = 0.8017 pounds) (Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Hugh Lawson) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Apparently we were within tens of thousands of busting FFP this summer. As in within tens of thousands of a points deduction. Rovers supporters consistently are in self-denial about this. Looking at other clubs, Max Meyer at Crystal Palace and Conor Townshend at WBA are both on £6 million a year- bargains!!!

If anyone thinks Phil Jones or Jesse Lingard would be good pick-ups for Rovers probably won't when you see they are both on £3.9 million per year. Gareth Bale is scraping by on £31 million a year. The problem for any rich owner is they are pumping into clubs and then realise that the players are getting bigger wages than the money they use in a year on themselves to live on. At that point a light goes on. It certainly did for the family beneficiaries of the Walker Trust.

This is an eye opener for this season: Average player salary in million U.S. dollars Bayern Munich 8.12 Borussia Dortmund 4.97 Bayer Leverkusen 3.19 RB Leipzig 2.42 Wolfsburg 2.41 Schalke 2.19 Borussia Monchengladbach 1.92 Hoffenheim 1.7 Werder Bremen 1.57 Eintracht Frankfurt 1.54 Hertha Berlin 1.3 FC Koln 1.22 Augsburg 1.02 Mainz 0.85 Fortuna Dusseldorf 0.76 SC Freiburg 0.73 Union Berlin 0.68 Paderborn 0.42

Wages weren't reduced when we dropped into League 1 but the structure was gently revised upwards when we went back up. The clubs target I believe has been to be in the second quartile of Championship wages. If there is rationality at work here, it is going to be because of the risk of promotion again.

I know I am going to be horribly nervous watching this one. It is the games you know you should progress in and equally know there is a list of reasons as long as your arm why we won't. Let's have more of that spirit we showed at Brentford. Combine that with the ability our players have deep in the squad and we should be ok... I hope...

Are they all on club 12 month options? That will make a difference on vulnerability.

Mancs getting spanked in the first 15 minutes. Leipzig already 2-0 up. OGS screwed up again.

Agreed. I read Doncaster is now also the target for Travis.

Douglas subbed off at Brentford for footballing (card crazed ref) reasons, not an injury. But Pike out for seven days for concussion suffered on Monday v Spurs in PL2