First match of the tourney I've watched - good game and pleasantly surprised by the quality of the goalkeeping, particularly ours. Nice to see us win something 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I can’t imagine a player of Dack’s ability not playing his part over the course of the season. I’d have been a lot more concerned had Dack started yesterday, considering his fitness and level of pre season injury. JDT knows what he’s doing, certainly more informed than any of us in terms of who is ready to play.

Agreed. I’ve been fortunate to play at Ewood a few times, once as captain leading the side out - and absolute goosebumps when you’re stood in the tunnel and you hear those first few notes 👌

I was sat in line with Dack warming up throughout the match - I didn’t see anything untoward. In fact, he was laughing when the crowd were chanting for him to get on, can’t remember if he was with Dolan or Edun, but he seemed happy enough. And again, Vale did absolutely fine yesterday. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t start the next game, JDT obviously likes him. Oh and the Sammy S deal will be structured like BB’s - smaller initial fee, rest incentivised if we’re successful.

Strange comment - Vale did fine today. He's been one of the better performers pre-season and deserved his chance today. Dack has struggled in pre-season and, barring a well taken header in the final friendly, he was absolutely rusty - lots of misplaced passes. The season is long and Dack will play his part (should he stay injury-free). Vale was the right choice today, the result being vindication of that.

Agree with most of what’s been said - first half was a bit flat before the goal, but we picked up and improved further in the second half. Strange how opinions can differ from those in the ground to those watching on telly. I thought Brittain looked a mile better than Nyambe going forward. And he did fine at the other end too. Pickering and Hedges, the two current favourites for being picked on, it seems, both did fine. Could be better, but they both played their part - Hedges getting the assist for Trav’s goal was a bonus. And I thought Vale showed some very tidy touches and definitely didn’t look out of place at all. What I did find interesting, as I was sat not too far from the bench, was seeing and hearing JDT giving out his instructions; he’s very clear on what he wants. At points in the second half, he was literally telling BBD where to position himself to gain maximum advantage of space/etc. 3 points, that’s the important part and an okay performance. Some of the close control and passing was very impressive at times, but we were also wasteful in others and a better team that QPR might have taken advantage. Look forward to seeing who joins and how they make us stronger in the next couple of weeks 🔵⚪️

I see it encouraging that we’re taking our time to get the right deals in, rather than take a scattergun approach of just getting bodies in. Don’t know enough about the Posh lad, if I’m perfectly honest. It’s a position we’re light on, he brings some experience, which we’ve all been shouting for and the fee is reported either way, could well be a lot less. Once again, let’s see how we look once the window is closed and our squad is settled. As for whoever is calling Broughton a ‘dud’, based on the one decent signing he’s made so far and the clearing out of some deadwood…I have no words.

That's the important part for me - if he stays with us, he plays competitive games this season. And if he's as good as he seemingly has the potential to be, he'll stay in the team. Continue to do well and you earn your big move. Go to Spurs and you're gracing the U23 league, or (at the very best) being loaned out for a number of years.

Good move, seems the natural choice.

The Phillips rumour is no more than the Styles, Bowler or JPvH rumours. Let’s just see how it pans out. For all we know, he might be ready to press the button on his pro contract with Rovers and is looking forward to making his debut for us this season.

1. Where will Rovers finish? 5th 2. Who will be the Rovers (official) Player Of The Season? Lewis Travis 3. Who do you think will be the breakout/breakthrough academy player this season ? (Let’s say under 23 at season start & fewer than 10 1st team appearances to be eligible) Jack Vale 4. Who will win the Championship? Norwich 5. Where will Burnley finish? 8th

2-0 win for us, an early goal settling us down and enabling us to play some nice 2-touch, high tempo stuff. Couple of youngsters to make their debuts in the 2nd half. Looking forward to it, taking my two little lads (their highlight is usually the crap Rollover hotdog at HT...).

They did - and their fans were desperate to keep him, as they saw the potential. Think he won the U23 player of the season, didn't he? Either way, he was very highly rated and regarded and I believe he'll turn into a superb player for us in time. Delap is also highly rated, but didn't see or hear of any Rovers interest in Jan, not sure where that's popped up from?

From a business perspective, there is little risk involved with Styles and (especially) Van Hecke. Invest a couple of million on each now and quadruple (if not more) your money in a couple of years. The trick then, of course, is to make sure they don’t walk away for free at the end of their contracts…

So, hang on, Brighton have JPvH available to them and they play Shane Duffy ahead of him? Literally not a shred of logic applied there.

TM’s involvement with player contracts would have been limited to a brief chat on the training ground (ie - ‘are you signing a new one then, lad?’). Contract negotiations are handled by the likes of Waggott and numerous agents. Plenty to beat TM up about; players contracts is not one of them.

Hedges does have a very decent long shot on him - seen him do it a number of times since he joined. Really like the look of Harlock, seems to be something different to what we have (eg more of a dribbler than Dack). Albeit against Lincoln, it's encouraging to see the young lads impress.

I was thinking exactly the same. It's easy for rumour or misconception to become truth, as we've seen so many times. Having an open channel of (honest) communication would make a massive amount of difference for all of us. I'd love to be involved in something like this.

I've only watched from HT, but lovely cross from the new boy and Dack will eat those up all day long, as would Gallagher. Think A.Wharton has been tidy and first time I've seen Harlock play, couple of nice touches. Travis doing a good job of linking things together and Hedges seems to be doing well also.

If it's coming down to salary - at £8kpw, surely this is the one to push the boat out for?

I don't think we should sell SG at all - he's linked up really well with Vale in pre-season so far and I have faith in JDT's ability as a former world class striker, to get more out of him. Mistake to get rid, in my opinion.

They have got history with the ‘money for a marquee signing’ thing, to be fair. Rhodes was the first, BB was in that bracket and I suspect Gallagher probably was as well. We could certainly do with one this summer, as a signal of intent…

Your grammar is fine Glen - the only thing you do need to remember (as it makes you sound like a Cockney 😂) is 'we were' instead of 'we was'. Sorry, sounds a petty thing, but a personal peeve 🙂 Thanks for sharing so far, I actually think he comes across quite well so far - albeit based on text and not being able to look into his eyes and read his body language. Interested to read the rest, when you get chance.

Guess who we'll get more service out of - not to mention profit - in a couple of years?

Brittain and Styles would be an excellent start to our summer business, with the indication of a couple more to follow (as well as a couple of loans, ideally). Goes to prove that patience is required, particularly where a new management team is involved. As most of us said, judge at the end of the window, not before.