 was meant to be.
Every wasteful signing is a fair leap towards FFP sanctions. This is proven by the tentative situation we find ourselves in now.
I do think some people overlook and underestimate the wages that players are on and I can't agree that just because one injured player who has a potential value that the transfer'strategy' during the Mowbray reign is ok - it is dire. For me, there's no such thing as a 'free transfer' and every signing should be potential players for the first team. Loads just aren't worthy of their thousands a week and many of them have been paid for nothing or paid to 'get up to speed on the grass'. To put it into context, the annual wages for five or six of those pointless signings equates to the entire revenue from season tickets - yet we get the sob story every year from Mowbray and Waggott that we need more people at the ground with the half season tickets deals etc. and it stops us competing. Poor business acumen, management and transfer dealings stops us competing.
I agree that investing wisely is vital for any club in this league without parachute payments, and that some of Tony's signings haven't come off.
At the same time I think that it's exactly by the strength of some of TM's signings (as well as with academy players) that we are in a position to trade now in a way that is like night and day with the squad he inherited. I'd say we could've got a couple of million for Lenihan, other than that we had a squad full of toxic assets, in financial terms.
Some of the players marked as failures in the original post made some signficant contributions. Would we have got promoted without P. Downing and Samuel? Maybe, maybe not. We're not seeing any profit from Rodwell, but he played a part in winning games for us last year.
Every signing is a risk, and it's completely unrealistic to expect every signing a team makes to be a success. Some need to be, Dack needed to be, Tosin needed to be when we didn't bring another centre half in. Arguaby Walton needed to be and he's coming up a bit short, so TM should be the one taking responsibility for it. Sam Hart's wage still contributes towards FFP, but if you get the high ticket stuff right I don't think it's right to use free transfers or players brought in for their potential as evidence that we have been especially profligate when the squad overall is worth more than we paid for it.
Marshall is now playing exactly at the level he deserves. He was garbage at Rovers. One good game and ten where he went missing. He had ability but his attitude stunk, especially at the end when he wanted out. The fact no one took a chance on him says it all.
Friday night is going to be so exciting on the run up to 23:00. Ha!
Flicking between Jim White trying to make nothing sound exciting and Live coverage from the port of Dover.
They should make Jim stand out in the cold live in Calais. 
According to reports from Blackburn, Tony has said "defenders are coming".
According to reports from here in Calais, Blackburn's new Portuguese defender was unable to get a work permit due to not having the necessary skills required by the UK.
Downing was seen by many of his Rovers team mates to be something of a mentor figure, leading him to be known among the squad as Uncle Paul.
Waggott was in Ribchester yesterday although not sure what he actually does.
Cunningham, Dack and Evans all need to be replaced. 1 signing and probably two loans.
He was a bit fragile mentally and certainly was rumours at Leicester over “depression” if you remember.
Rumour was from a few Millwall fans before he signed for Salford was he was big into his gambling and extra curricular sniffing activities.
I saw Waggot coming out of Iceland on either Weds or Thursday. I'm not sure what he'd been buying, but if I had to guess I'd say steak puds. He seemed relaxed. I considered asking him about the window and any impending transfers but didn't. I just briefly looked at him and then past. If you're wondering what I was buying.. Zoflora! I was cleaning the house to impress the wife. I opted for Zoflora due to it's strong unmistakeable odour- they need to know you've cleaned up or what's the point, right? Bleach is another winner, strong, strong odour to it!
Have we made any progress on these foriegn lads we were sniffing around?
It looks like it will be down to the wire with the old transfers again. I reckon anywhere from 1-3 with a chance that we might not even make a signing.
An ultra-cautious pronouncement!
Still down-playing the most disastrous/bewildering signing in my lifetime.
You could just have said he was in Iceland and we could have had another 10 pages of speculation about signing a young Icelandic prodigy.
Even by recent years' standards, this thread is painful.
Have we ever signed anyone in a window before the last 48 hours?
How is that any kind of defence of our lack of activity?
It’s really simple: do we need players? Yes! We’ve all identified our weaknesses.
Last year, a good January convinced Mowbray that we could let P Downing go and not bring in anyone to improve us. We all said what would happen - and it did.
It seems, this season, a 5-0 win is just as good a reason.
I wasn’t defending anything. Just trying to give an explanation as to why we have not heard anything. Corroborated by the amount of regurgitated stories by all of the usual media outlets.
No one has any stories. Because everyone has been off grid. Yes they got it wrong last January. I’m sure it was a massive source of frustration for them too. I can’t see anyone wanting that again. Especially with the added pressure of higher expectation.
Formica and Rochina?
Rochina probably my favourite Rovers player in the last 10 years.
I said last season in years to come once we look back at Breretons career in terms of money spent he’ll be judged as the worst signing the club has ever made surpassing Davis/grabby. (Much to the merriment of some). I’ve seen nothing that has changed my mind.
His only hope is he gets a loan move and plays under a manager better equipped to man manage him and coaches able to bring the best out of him then comes back a better player.
Billy Sharp who himself said he's going nowhere and wants to fight for his place at United yeah?
Both about 8 years ago!
Says a lot about our decline If Ruben Rochina is a shout for ‘player of the decade’.
Anybody know any good IT technicians? I think a tumbleweed just blew across my screen!You may have heard that there’s a tough pro–gun control ad up in Kentucky this week targeting Senator Mitch McConnell, who faces re-election in 2014. The powerful spot features a veteran speaking to camera with his grandson on his lap. The man, a Kentucky resident named Rodney, calls for an assault weapons ban and background checks—but the thrust of the ad is to depict McConnell’s anti–gun law stance as a direct byproduct of his gun industry funding. Says Rodney: “Senator Mitch McConnell is funded by the gun industry, and he opposes common-sense reforms. Senator McConnell, whose side are you on?”
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is behind the ad, and they released some polling earlier this week as well, showing that 82 percent of Kentuckians favor criminal background checks for gun owners (versus 13 percent opposed) and 50 percent favored an assault weapons ban (versus 42 percent opposed). It was conducted by Public Policy polling, rated by Fordham University as the most accurate pollster in 2012.
Now, in more PPP polling results released first to The Nation, we see that hitting McConnell for his gun-industry backing is indeed fertile territory in Kentucky:
Who do you think Mitch McConnell represents more in Congress: his big campaign contributors or regular Kentucky voters?
His big campaign contributors: 53%
Regular Kentucky voters: 36%
Not sure: 11%
The poll was conducted February 1-3 among 712 likely voters in Kentucky, with a 3.7 percent margin of error.
We don’t yet know the impact of the ad itself, as the polling was done before it was released—but it’s clearly hitting McConnell in established soft spots. The PCCC received significant small-dollar donations this week after word of the ad spread, allowing it to extend the buy until Tuesday—including during the Louisville Cardinals game this weekend, the Sunday talk shows, and the State of the Union address.
This has larger implications not only for 2014 but for the gun debate in Washington now—if McConnell feels threatened at home by his pro-gun stance, he might be more willing to move bills on universal background checks and other measures.This week 4 years ago, the KID mobile site was launched! KID teamed up with WeMakeitSafer and Table XI to develop this site which makes it easier for parents and caregivers to shop smart for their kids. The site can be accessed by visiting KidsInDanger.org from a smartphone.
The site is easy to use; just type in the name or manufacturer of the product in the search bar at the top of