Still had to have boots on the ground with both the Kaminski and Holtby deals. First to pick up on the vibes then be there to influence them. Remember Hotby's tweets about coming to Rovers?- somebody did a great job selling him on coming to Blackburn. I an very much in the pro-Raya camp but (VERY early days) I am glad we have Kaminski

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/oct/02/new-asda-owners-mohsin-and-zuber-issa-the-blackburn-billionaire-brothers?utm_term=8beb6548de79697d4e0629b23edb96c6&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Clearly something went on with Raya given the way he dropped out of the squad for a League match then got a new contract.

Depends on the contract break terms. Greggs are probably pretty unbreakable. Spar are global. If those two see the Asda deal as a threat don't be surprised by a hostile reaction. Asda is usually assessed as the most vulnerable/weakest national supermarket chain and two decades of Walmart ownership didn't solve it - hence the partial disposal. Ocado are easily the hottest thing in British retail despite that fire destroying their automated warehouse

Should be ok to see it

Both Grayson and Carter looked very ponderous. Mind you they were up against some flyers in the Manc youngsters.

Poor old Josh King missing with a migraine. Danjuma who has impressed me enormously totally missing tonight. £14m man Lerma has just scored for Bournemouth in Birmingham.

Man U had some tasty players at the back. McBride held his own but didn't shine. Luke Brennan was too much of a handful for the Mancs though.

They are very heavily leveraged. Great if everything goes well. Unravels rapidly if not. Risks for their sorts of businesses are sky high in times as peculiar as these.

Given where they are in the evolution of their business, this is not the time for the Issas to be making unnecessary spending.

Rovers top of PL2 Div 1.

Rovers well on top then ran out of energy from the 80th minute. Hugill got his 2nd to peg it back to 2-2

Pike on Grayson off

Hit post, cleared off line, now Lyons 2-1. Rovers well on top this half.

HT. Rovers have had good chances to be ahead but the pace of the United forwards looks too much for our defenders.

All the possible options for the first team are not in the u-23s squad today.

1-1 McBride Penalty

Awful keeper clearance and 16 year old Hugill puts Mancs ahead after 1 minute. Completely bamboozled Joe Grayson.

9 changes for Rovers. Mancs have an extremely young side.

This time last season, an opposition manager setting up his team to play Rovers had to cut-off the supply to Dack and crowd Dack out if he received the ball in or around the 18 yard box. On Saturday, if Neil Harris is thinking in terms of nullifying Rovers, Neil Harris has to: - stop Holtby pulling the strings - make sure Johnson cannot get into a shooting position anywhere within 30 yards of goal - prevent Rothwell getting a run on his defenders - deal with Brereton's close control and stop his runs with the ball - double up on Dolan to stop his tricks - have players ready to get out to over lapping full backs (without leaving gaps behind) because of driven accurate diagonals - deal with Kaminsky playing extra central defender and the accuracy of his distribution - not forget about Armstrong And also be aware that Cardiff having 55 or 60% ball possession isn't in itself enough to stop Rovers having 20+ attempts on goal.

In short it is a damned good deal. Fans are not going inside stadiums in the 20/21 season. People are going to have to get their heads around this.

We are not going to sign a £10m left back on a permanent. But we get one on a loan. I would prefer a loan deal over a permanent signing. Preferably with an option to buy if promoted...

Rothwell is doing serious damage to the opposition from the position he plays in now. Really hope he stays fit and keeps this going.

£166

14.00 (BST) kick off tomorrow. On MUTV behind a £7 pay wall.