Everton were supposed to be looking at Tosin and then went £20m + £5m on the ex-Shrewsbury lad from Norwich. I guess Ancelotti is as good a judge of a player as there is amongst current managers.

Totally agree with your observation about the lack of sales by Rovers. Indeed if you accept (and there is no evidence to contradict this) Mowbray and the Raos (pre-Covid) were/are building long term then Kaminski and 2017's boy wonder (assuming we get him) are together a dramatic advance in the goal keeping department over the Raya/Leuitweiler combination. However, Watkins is a level of fabulous beyond Arma with the best will in the world. There is a reason why Benarama is still at Brentford (found out in my view) and Watkins is tearing apart the Liverpool defence. Arma is not remotely in the Watkins class- hope he proves me wrong but...

It is very obvious you have never managed a business under severe cash flow problems. That £70k a week in saving will have been banked, probably triple banked! Even Friday this week feels like an aeon away. Most non Premier League clubs are in precisely this position. Waggott at least has the luxury of trying to manage down the size of the next Capital injection he asks for from Pune. But he is utterly hamstrung while the FFP rules remain in place unaltered. So the choice for Rovers right now could well be between letting the highest earners walk for free and a nine point deduction this season.

Next summer is an aeon away when you are living hand to mouth with next to zero income coming in. Which is where all football outside the Premier League is effectively until the next TV cheque arrives. Can players walk out and get a much better deal? Realistically, only at Premier League clubs and 50% of those are having to be very careful with the £££. Pre-Covid thinking about player contract mostly does not apply any longer. So nail down players who might interest Premier League clubs and be very polite, loving and cuddly towards the rest for the time being. But lose your Mont Blanc..

Can we just confirm that the Norwegian LB is now a free agent and so not subject to last night's deadline?

For everybody fretting about players going out of contract, I will ask one question. Are they undoubtedly Premier League class? If yes, we need to get a move on and sign the extension. If maybe or no, not the top priority. Other Championship clubs have covid financial problems as well. And if we do.go up, we don't want to be over burdened with contracted Championship level players.

FFP

Cash is king and that is how businesses are operating right now. Herbie is right. Blame the virus. On another thread I have argued Rovers are actually better placed than most other clubs in dealing with Covid consequences. However, during this window, we have gone from a realistic assumption fans will be back in to a realistic assumption there will be zero fan income in 20/21. Mowbray hasn't hidden what that changed business budget assumption has done to the transfer budget. It wiped it out.

Don't you have WhatsApp in Blackburn yet?

I had better keep my phone on then...

Well we have done our bit and made it to 600 pages. Time for Rovers to pony up that new left back... Actually they are probably ringing round the Prem and internationally to see what offcasts and loans in any position are now likely/ possible last minute steals

luv 'n kisses, Jack

Again Championship Manager-itis. Bonkers to let Williams go now without previously signing a much better replacement. No issue about a loanee replacement because I think Wharton will at least be a decent third choice central defender next year and the other young central defenders are promising.

Rovers old boys that club.

As FFP currently stands, Rovers will automatically go into default because it looks at the ration between club's own generated income and the owners' support. But because other clubs had larger fan-based revenues, they could fall into FFP trouble quicker than us. The key to handling this sort of issue is not to be the first into trouble and not to have the biggest default numbers when we get into FFP difficulty. If we break FFP on our own, we can be sure to be clobbered. But if we are part of a systemic wave, then we are far likelier to avoid trouble. In the final analysis, because of Covid, the FA and League are totally dependent on club owners stepping forward and injecting the necessary cash. Then FFP punishes saviour owners by deducting points and imposing relegation.

Perhaps not everyone will appreciate this...

16 October is our window closure. And free agents like the Norwegian left back can join at any time.

Bad news for our game in two weeks' time

Well I guess when Evans, Lenihan, Dack and Travis are fit and if nobody else gets long term injured, we will have no choice but having an impact sub because we will quite easily have 14 players who all belong in the starting XI And that's without thinking of Buckley becoming an automatic first teamer; or any or all of Davenport, Brennan and Chapman really coming through, a fit Butterworth or who knows what we find bin bagging around Europe or other incoming transfers from financially distressed clubs...

Saturday was one of those days. Crap weather. Opposition niggly, tough and extremely well organised and disciplined. If Joe Rothwell had hit and not missed the target three times. Arma had hit it less true and gone either side of the keeper on three occasions Gallagher had hit an empty net instead of a passing cumulo nimbus ... In short despite the frustrating 95 minutes, we were not without chances we could and should have taken. But Cardiff didn't really have much of a look in at the other end despite statistically having the same number of shots and on targets as us. There were very few moments of alarm about them scoring. Even so, I'd swap Gallagher for Keiffer Moore without a second thought.

It is 2018/19 and does not show anything in relation to crowd income. You are looking at the wrong chart for crowd impact.

If we look at clubs we could be competing with for a promotion slot, Norwich and Bristol City had 2.5 times the level of commercial and match day income of Rovers Most of our near rivals had at least 50% more match day and commercial revenue. Given football clubs are budgeting down to their last penny, those are significantly bigger hits from coronavirus than Rovers are taking.

Only Rotherham and Wigan had smaller matchday revenue than Rovers. Only Sheffield United, Millwall, Rotherham, Preston and Wigan had smaller commercial income- actually that is pretty good being ahead of Sheffield United and Preston.

The point of the thread is this. Rovers are almost certainly net beneficiaries in comparison to the other clubs in the Championship in what is otherwise a total shit show with this pandemic. Look at the numbers. We are less dependent on match day income than almost every other club in the Championship. That is why without being extravagant in the transfer market we are skating on FFP thin ice all the time. I also suspect when the bean counters up and down the land decide what is necessary, some interesting opportunities will open up for Rovers in the remaining two weeks of this window and the January window. Equally unlike other clubs, Rovers are not forced to sell.