Of course, he is a very good defender fitness permitting at this level which is exactly what we need, I just hope that he is not exposed in a way that basically all defenders would struggle.

My main issue with Ayala, not as an individual because as I said, I am very happy if he signs. But he isnt the quickest and he isnt the most elegant, he is a proper defender. Playing too high and playing with the full backs concentrating on attacking may expose his weaknesses.

Not specific to Rovers, but a quick look at twitter regarding Aubameyang agreeing a new contract. How ridiculous is all of the "announce" and "signed da ting" crap that surrounds transfers nowadays on social media.

Areas in local lockdown will be declined.

Looks like we will be declined in terms of being a pilot event.

Maybe leader was an incorrect summary. Our results with and without Lenihan are vastly different, obviously Lenihan will head stuff away, I do think Adarabioyo and Williams together was not a good partnership because they arent as dominant as Lenihan. I would like to think that if Ayala came in and partnered Wharton or Williams, then that might be a better alternative.

Not at all. My beef in general is with people when they say "I know something but I wont tell you all" as that achieves absolutely nothing. In this instance RovingRover didnt come under this category at all, and my post was very much tongue in cheek towards him. I think that the quote he put "As I revealed over 24 hours ago. Nice of the Sun man to catch up. ?" which again is fair enough, bit of self praise. I am not sure if he genuinely knew information seperate from what was already in the public domain (it had been mentioned on twitter that the Ayala deal hadnt gone through in Saudi Arabia by Rich Sharpe) but either way, he actually shared that information so fair play for doing so. If you have in the know information, I think you have to be prepared that if it doesnt come off, you will get some questions and some banter, and if you self praise, equally, a bit of banter. I agree that his post was useful and welcomed.

I dont agree with Bolton, Wigan and Bury being used as examples to justify the increase in prices. We cant justify any decisions made as long as they dont lead to us being in administration or going totally out of business. Ultimately, it isnt even about whether we feel that the decision is 'fair.' I dont think that its the best business decision, he doesnt appreciate that there is, albeit not as much as with many other things, a level of elasticity with the pricing. Not only will quantity of sales decrease this year, but it will lose potentially previously regular fans from attending in the future. No one has any obligation to buy a season ticket, especially at this time, and Waggott with his marketing campaigns and his continued aggressive pricing policies is going about it the wrong way. I will probably for my sins still renew, but totally respect those that dont. I also dont get why there is no cap on season ticket holders. The potential for a ballot brings up all sorts of issues.

Ah, lovely ITK pats on the back Wont fully believe the Ayala deal until hes on the official site but would be as good as we could possibly get. Proper leader, experienced but not too old and a track record of being in good defences at this level. Also, Adarabioyo was good but when Lenihan didnt play, Adarabioyo and Williams lacked leadership. Ayala means that we have 2 leaders back there. Injury prone however, a lack of fitness and of course potentially quarantine team will mean we might have to go with the current centre backs until the international break which is not ideal. Also, if Mowbray doesnt compromise slightly on his principles, we will concede even with Ayala, if it is left just to him and Lenihan to defend with both full backs high up, even having a good CB pairing wont be enough. Ayala isnt going to bring the ball out from the back and he isnt the quickest but ultimately I dont think they are the 2 biggest priorities of a centre back. Him and Pears would also increase our "Middlesborugh quota" that Mowbray needs, especially with Graham, Smallwood, Leutwiler and Downing all going. I just hope we get a left back as soon as possible as Bell is the weak link.

No real clarity from what I can see in how you link 2 people together in a "bubble." The terribly timed price rise is a further stain on Waggotts "legacy." The sooner he leaves our club the better. The ballot thing seems crazy too. Surely limit season tickets at 6k (20%) for the time being. The 17.34 split between a link and a pro rata refund is sensible.

No i know, I was just backing up Ewood Ace regarding his comments on the comparison. Boro have a good academy too although I would probably favour our graduates at this moment. Buckley and Rankin Costello have not really established themself in the starting 11 at any point but hopefully will at some stage and the other 3 are very important to us.

Very true on their academy. They have the likes of Wing, Fry, Spence, Pears, Tavernier all regularly in the first team picture.

No I know but you said the squad was identical, so I was just correcting you on that.

The squad isnt identical, theyve signed 3 players to improve their first team. And ultimately that comparison doesnt factor that Mowbray has had 3 years and 20m pound extra to mould his squad compared to Warnock.

Unforgiving position ? being an ITK, because not all heroes wear capes! Regarding the targets. By all means its about quality, but he under appreciates the games that any signing will miss the longer these deals take to close, especially with quarantine. Need the competence and the urgency to get a left back and a centre back in ASAP. Ayala would be ideal, not fast, not good on the ball and has had injury problems so may need a second CB and we cant play too aggressively high up the pitch with our full backs. No resale value either. But a proper defender and a leader. Im unconvinced we can get a deal done for him however.

Lets not get carried away and give a player with about 40 minutes competitive football under his belt a 5 year contract.

I do regularly see people refer to Mowbray and Waggott as the people who have ensured that our club has "stabilised" and returned to some sense of normality. Mowbray, for all of his flaws, you cant really argue that he has not been positive for our club. Waggott on the other hand, I have yet to see why he warrants the respect he regularly receives.

That is the main issue. For all of those defending every single decision that the club has done, whether people thing it is the right or wrong thing to do by the club, the main thing that is important is whether those fans affected will continue to attend.

Because he is the most vocal with his frustrations and thus seems to be the go to from those defending our lack of ability to get signings through the door, even though it is a recurring theme, especially in defence. What that fails to appreciate is that why, as a club who have lost some key figures and one who was well off our target last year in the end, we are benchmarking our transfer business against the most frustrated manager in the league, we need to make up points and have a better window than our rivals. And also that amidst the public frustration, Warnock has signed 3 first team players to our 1. That being said, theres no doubt that he is as good a manager as you can get at this level.

It isnt, but we are always the club that lags behind most which is the main frustration. We need to improve and our current side is worse than last season, why would we compare to an example of the most frustrated manager in the League. Boro have signed 3 players too so even amidst the frustration he has done a lot more than us.

I dont think we can afford to start Armstrong, if he gets injured I dont see any goals across our front line to be honest. And Lenihan is equally critical in terms of staying fit. I am usually very wary of falling into the trap of underappreciating the cup, I do want to go through but I dont think that we can risk those players. Kaminski Rankin Costello Magloire Wharton Williams Buckley Evans Davenport Dolan Brereton Rothwell Subs: Eastham, Lenihan, Bennett, Chapman, Armstrong, Travis, Holtby

Hes had about 6 cameo appearances of around 20 minutes during his time here. Its not a reasonable amount of game time. In one he set up the winner. Ultimately Dolan was very bright but his main contribution was losing the ball in the lead up to Bournemouths winner. Even in your hypothetical scenario, Dolan wouldnt have directly got us any points, he didnt cross the ball for Evans or Holtby. They had 5 shots on target, 3 he had no chance with, he made one good save and the 5th could barely be considered a shot. Did all he could and the save is reason for praise but nothing too much to really judge overall.

Wheres that from? Guessing assumed from that random tweet? Would be the best possible CB we could get although doesnt have the mobility to cope with the full back on his side playing so far up.

Every player cannot be signed based on re-sale value. You need experience amidst it and we have lost a lot this summer.