I use it a lot when away from home and even using Premier Inn dodgy wifi I get a decent picture with no buffering.

Sam Gallagher is one that we are trying to sign it would be a loan with a buy clause in January. There is a difference in our and Southampton's valuation so if we can overcome that then he will be one that we will get.

Absolutely Matt but it does seem that this summer in particular the level has gone up much faster than previously. We had Wolves last year paying crazy money but the rest of the league was fairly sensible so things remained relatively controlled. Personally I would rather they carry on doing what we are doing in that we only spend what we can realistic afford to do so, it might not be very exciting but hopefully it will lead to the debt being slowly being reduced and our medium term future being a little bit more secure.

There are clubs in the championship who are spending crazy money this summer, some with parachute payments some without. Unfortunately for us this has had a trickle down effect in that what we thought would be a reasonable budget is now being stretched. The hope is that as we get closer to the deadline it will focus people's minds and deals with get done and a more realistic level. Priority has to be to get permanent deals done first as window closes 5pm on 9th August. Loans we can worry about later as that window is open until 31st August.

Poll Added.

The first half was excellent but missing those chances cost us. Croatia went in at half time knowing that they could/should have been out of the game. Second half they just used their experience and know how to slowly take control of the game, they pressed us and we could not deal with it and whereas previously we were composed we started to lose the ball in dangerous areas and our full backs got pushed back so we were effectively playing a back 5. Maybe Southgate could have looked at swopping to back 4 and playing with traditional wingers just to stop the Croatian full backs from coming forward. All in all this tournament has exceeded my expectations. 2 years ago we lost to Iceland and previous to that we played a brand of football that was outdated and made even poor teams look good against that. Southgate has found a formula that we can use to go forward, these players can be the core for the next 4-6 years in addition you would hope that a few players from the excellent Under 17's and Under 20's with the likes of Foden, Sancho, Dujon Sterling, Cook, Solanke and Calvert-Lewin all showing promise in addition to other players who missed out because of injury like Joe Gomez we have a lot to be positive about given where we were after Euro 2016. The other thing that this side have managed to do is bring back some national pride, their performances on the pitch and they way they and Southgate handled themselves off the pitch has made bought this often divided country together over the last 4 weeks and given us something positive/hopeful to cheer and that in itself is a huge achievement.

Same here K-Hod. This tournament has already been a success for us regardless of the result tonight because finally we have a team which is actually playing with a defined style and seems to have it's own identity. It is about the collective rather than the individual which bodes well for the future. That said I bloody hope we do win tonight and carry on with this brilliant adventure.

Currently the Championship transfer market is inflated with teams paying over the odds for average players, even the loan market is crazy with Norwich paying £3 million for Rhodes for a season long loan. Rovers have funds but we are not talking huge funds so we are having to be patient and see if the market calms down as we get closer to the deadline, at the moment the players we want ie Bauer the price clubs want is not something we can pay so it seems to be a case of waiting and seeing. I would rather they do this and wait rather than panic and buy players that they are not sure about who end up not being good enough.

When you get to a semi-final you expect to play a Germany, Brazil etc so in that respect playing Croatia is as good as we can expect for a semi-final. That said I think that this will be a very close game. Croatia's midfield is very good and they way we play it will give them more time and space. Our defence makes me nervous, we concede to many chances and better quality players will make us pay. However going forward we should also cause them plenty of problems if we continue to play as we have. Both semi-finals should be excellent.

Disappointed that we did not try to win the group last night. If we were serious about doing so then Southgate would have bought on Kane for the last 20 minutes (although I accept his point that he was worried about risking an injury). Colombia will be a tough test. They have some excellent players, their front four of James (if fit) Quintero (who a world star in the making) Cuadardo and Falcao will give us plenty of problems. Sanchez and Uribe will ensure that we do not get the time and space that we did in the group stages. Davinson Sanchez trains will Kane everyday so will know his weaknesses (equally Kane and Alli will know his). We will need to play at best to win this anything less and they will beat us. The other thing that Southgate has done with the team selection yesterday is pile the pressure on himself to get a result on Tuesday, if he does not then the he will get it from the fans and media, all the goodwill built up over the last few weeks will be eroded.

The problem with VAR are the protocols are all wrong and there is a misconception that like Cricket the technology can clear up decisions. Cricket technology by and large gives a definitive answer, for example Ball Tracking will tell you if the bowl was going to it the wickets or snicko will tell you if there was a sound as ball passed the bat etc. However apart from the goaline technology the other bits that football use does not give a definitive answer so it is back to the "judgment" of the VAR ref/Match referee so you are going to get inconsistent decisions. Then the protocols are wrong and it is creating an inbalance, some teams are benefiting from VAR decisions being referred whilst others are not because VAR did not look/refer them. Those protocols need to be cleared up. If they are going to persist with this then they could just give the Manager 2 VAR referrals per match, so then you are putting the onus on the teams, so if they waste them then that is their own fault. At least the decision making protocol would be "fair". Having seen VAR in action for the whole season in Serie A and now this world cup I would say it needs scrapping in it's current format. I have seen it work brilliantly but I have also seen a lot of games where it has caused confusion and chaos.

Gallagher is currently on holiday with Williams and Raya so clearly keeps in touch with his former team mates!

FIFA 19:

Links here because some people prefer not to wade through pages of discussion and are just interested in reading links to stories.

I agree with @jim mk2 some of this comes down to effective coaching. Look at this Pakistani side for example, their batting line up is not the greatest but what they have done is bought into what Mickey Arthur and his coaching staff have been telling them to do which is namely to curb their natural aggressive tendencies and to be watchful and slowly build their innings. My dad who is a long suffering fan off the team said to me that he is never seen a Pakistani batting line up play with the discipline that this team did during the lords test. Ditto the bowlers, who are a talented bunch but have again totally listened to their bowling coach Azhar Mahmood and adjusted the lengths that they bowl, whereas when you look at our batsmen they are still making the same mistakes as they were 2 years ago and our bowling unit cannot fathom bowling a fuller length. I think it is time for Bayliss to focus on the limited overs sides and for a new coach to be appointed for the test side. As for the ECB, it is run by a bunch of idiots who are out of touch with reality, the recent farce with the “100 ball bash” a prime example of their incompetence.

23 Years ago, we were crowned Premier League Champions on an unforgettable day at Anfield. Much like today the sun was shining. The day was full of twists, turns and drama but in the end we prevailed. Winning the league was down to having a brilliant manager, fantastic group of players but most of all having a benefactor who dared to dream and take on the established order. Thank you Uncle Jack for taking us all on an amazing journey. You will forever be our number one fan. View full article

I have talked to a journalist who was at the presser. The context for the quote is that Tony said that Rovers face an embargo in a few years time if sponsorship, sales of merchandise and people attending matches do not rise. So the quote is genuine but the Sun have taken it completely out of context and used the first part of it to make it sound like it is imminent.

However without having the full transcript off what TM said it is impossible to judge what he has been said. For example he could have been asked a question about spending power and he answered it by saying if we spent millions then the club could left facing a transfer embargo.

Thanks to Nicholsb1 on twitter for this: "Losses were £17.2 million 2015/16, circa £4.6 million 2016/17, a total of £21.8 million, add in this season, which we won't know until December and we would have had to lose £17 million this season after Break Even rules have been applied to face sanctions. The way I understand it is that clubs have to present estimated accounts for this season (2017/18) to the EFL before the start of next season (technically 1st July 2018) These are then combined with the previous two seasons results, break even allowances calculated."

I have talked to the club and the quote is genuine and it was given by Tony at a separate presser with the Sunday papers after the game. Without the full transcript from that presser it is impossible to judge in what context this was given. I'll try and go through the Sunday paper articles on Rovers to see if it has been mentioned anywhere else.

It is from The Sun but it is a direct quote. Question is has the quote been completely taken out of context. I have asked the club for clarification. The FFP rules as massively complicated but the calculation will be based on the last 3 years so that is why we could fall foul. However, I am hoping that in FFP submission we can show that a genuine effort has been made to reduce costs given that there are other clubs in the Championship who are blatantly flouting the rules and seemingly getting away with it.

Slight missed opportunity by the club. I would have done the early bird price of last season for maybe 2 weeks to build upon the positive feeling that we are all feeling today at the moment and give themselves the opportunity off encouraging the extra 12,000 none season ticket holders that are going to turn up today to sign up. The problem with the £50 increase is that it hits existing season ticket holders and if are buying for say a family off 5 then that is £250 extra which some might find difficult to find given the economic circumstances within the town and country,

A few weeks ago, shortly after the nail-biting tension of our narrow away win at Walsall, I was asked by a young supporter, “How did you cope on that final day in 1995?” and my shorthand (but accurate) response was, “I cried...!”. In the course of our dialogue it was quite extraordinary how all those feelings of excitement, nerves, tension, fear, despondency and finally utter elation all came flooding back, simultaneously. It was as if I was transported in time back to May 1995. I could feel exactly what I felt all that time ago, my pulse started racing, sweaty brow, gut-wrenching tension; an eerie sensation to be frank. I didn’t have a ticket for Anfield; for me it was always going to be a long-distance affair. Neither back then did I have Sky. In the week leading up to the game I had pretty much made my mind up that I would go on a walk and ignore it, making sure that I came back home as adjacent to the final whistle as I possibly could, oblivious to the ebbs and flows of the afternoon. A work colleague heard my dilemma and told me that the gym where he was a member had Sky, had multiple screens and he would sign me in on a guest pass to enable me to watch it. I couldn’t resist, this was I suspected, even back then, a once in a lifetime deal, now or never – for me, but more importantly for Rovers. The story of how those two games unfolded has been told thousands of times but the remarkable aspect was when I recalled it, the feelings and emotions of the time just flooded back. The joy of Shearer’s opener, the Liverpool equaliser expertly caressed into the corner by John Barnes. The overwhelming sensation was that it was out of our hands now and that a higher power would decide our fate. There were a number of screens set up around the gym; all but one showing the West Ham Utd v Man Utd match – partly a function of the high number of members claiming to be Man Utd fans, but also a high number of locals claiming to be “ABUs” – “Anyone But United”. The motivation of the latter being that it would be much more satisfying to watch Utd lose it, rather than another team winning it! It’s never enough to see our own team triumph, we also have to see our rivals falter..! The competing “oohs”, “aahs” and loud cheers for a goal rang around the room during the afternoon. As the clocked ticked down, it became abundantly clear that our fate was going to be decided not in Merseyside, but in East London. I too started turning around and craning my neck to assess the situation from Upton Park. I was drawn in fatalistically, unable to take my eyes off Ludek Miklosko in the West Ham goal. Never before had I so wanted a West Ham keeper to turn in the performance of a lifetime and in fairness, never since. I fully expected a Utd winner at any point, almost certainly in the inevitable “Fergie-time”; but I’d made my peace philosophically & so I entered a Zen-like trance. Time is relative apparently, well it certainly slowed down on that afternoon. When Jamie Redknapp scored, we knew categorically that it was now out of our hands and that somehow lifted the pressure. There was no more we could do except wait...tick, tock…ooh, aah…save, block, parry…over and over again. The tears came not at full time, but in the car on the way home. I had the radio on as interviews of all the key protagonists were being transmitted and out of nowhere, I just started blubbing. I was sobbing, massive tears rolling down my cheeks but with a grin as wide as a canyon across my face. My little team had just become the best in all England. Fast forward to this season. A lot of my rekindled joy for football has been watching our youngest fans truly enjoy their matchday experience as did I at the same age. Players that seem to care, a manager that oozes common-sense, pragmatism and ethics and let us not be coy, a significant number in the “W” column of the league table - it all helps. Last season I was genuinely angry at our Venky’s-inflicted plight and couldn’t quite believe another stint in the third division was in store. I was sceptical as to our powers of recovery, fearing that our new level was that which endured in the early 1970’s. Credit then to the powers that be for this immediate return. The scenes at full time at Doncaster Rovers will be etched into memory banks of our young fans in much the same way as 1995 still makes my spine tingle. As an 11 year-old back in 1975, I was ecstatic to see the word “Champions” and “Blackburn Rovers” in the same sentence. I was as proud of them as I was of the class of 95. The moral of the story, if there is one; is that you never know what is round the corner. Enjoy what you can, when you can – big or small, Premier League, League Cup finals, the u23 squad winning their division. Drink it in my friends, life is short, scenes of pure joy at the final whistle at the Keepmoat are stored away. Thinking about the last 8 or 9 minutes of that game now, the explosion of noise when Charlie’s header nestled in the back of the net, my pulse is already racing, I’m typing and chewing my fingernails consecutively…not recommended. It’s no 1995 but it’s still special and for a new generation, it’s their first taste of glory and it tastes quite delicious thank you very much. RED ROSE ROVER View full article

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Our grassroots expert Stuart Grimshaw's blueprint how England can catchup. In Part 1 he focuses on coaching. With the World Cup looming in just a few months, that means we’re only a few months away from the usual outcry in the red tops, navel gazing from the FA and “Don’t look at us” shoulder shrugging from The Premier League and The Football League, as England inevitably leave Russia under some kind of cloud. And so we look for the reasons why. There isn’t a single silver bullet to solve all the problems in grassroots football (which is good because it’ll give me plenty of things to write about!). Let’s start with coaches, and coaching, if we had better coaches we’d have better players, better players means more English players for our teams and more English players playing at the top level would mean better players to be selected for the squad. In Iceland, every junior player has at least 1 UEFA qualified coach, that’s at least a UEFA B license coach, in the UK it’s mandated that each team has at least 1 level 1 FA coach, which is 2 levels below a UEFA B license, and works out at 1 coach per 15 or 16 kids. I can imagine some people saying how much smaller Iceland, with less players, so it’s easier to have more coaches per player. True, but the turnover of Iceland’s governing body, the KSI, was only £7m compared to the FA’s £318m for the same period. Don’t get me wrong, the FA level 1 Coaching Award is a very, very good course to go on, but by it’s own admission it’s not there to teach you what to coach, it teaches you how to be a coach for young players. It focuses on how kids learn, on safeguarding and running a club. It’s very much an introduction to coaching and will not give you the skills to observe and guide technique, it covers nothing on tactics, formations, reading the game or anything you need to really improve players, it leaves them largely to pick the game up themselves. The UK, at the last count, had just over 1500 coaches at UEFA A or Pro level, Italy had 2200, France had 3300, Germany 7000 and Spain a massive 15500! Is it any wonder with that many trained coaches they’ve found some good ones to coach their young players? In the UK it would cost a coach £1200 to become a UEFA B coach (and nearly £4000 if they wanted to take the next step and get their UEFA A license) an astonishing amount for a volunteer to be expected to pay. Icelandic grassroots coaches, like coaches in the US, Iceland & Canada (and may other countries) are often paid for the time they commit to the club, rather than be volunteers Once you have your basic coaching qualifications it can be difficult to progress any further. Having the qualifications is fine, but it’s only the start. A good coach will have a range of experience across multiple aspects of football, from junior to senior, disability football, womens' football, pub football, futsal, 5-a-side ... either professionally or as a grassroots coach. Courses can be expensive for individuals, gaining experience at any level other than Sunday League is nigh on impossible, you can get a job with a local academy when you get your UEFA B (or level 2 if you’re lucky) award, but again that takes time & money and the jobs are of course the ones no-one else wants to do, Friday night at the centre of excellence that’s furthest away. I believe local clubs from the semi-pro level upward could benefit themselves and local coaches by sponsoring them to take the higher badges and then employing them afterwards to work with their own teams. It’s an easy solution to the problem of the cost and lack of coaches. I’m a software consultant by trade, one of the most valuable things I do outside of actually working is “networking”, meeting and talking with other people who do the same job, other people who hire consultants like me. It’s a great way to stay up to date with what’s happening in the industry, but it’s also a great way to advertise yourself, get your name known. One of the best things about being a coach, in South Yorkshire at least, is the local Coaches Club and the CPD that they provide. It’s £10 a year and each month we get the opportunity to go and watch & learn from some of the top coaches in the professional game today. They travel the length and breadth of the country to come to Sheffield and show us sessions, ways of coaching, different formations and the basics of coaching them. It really is a fantastic resource and I urge any coach to go to as many of them as they can. So there we go, I’ve put forward my thoughts on how to start fixing. View full article