Baldee didn't see this one though Bristol Rovers are thrilled to announce the signing of centre back Bobby Thomas from Championship side Burnley on a season-long loan. Thomas, 21 previously spent time with Everton and then Crewe Alexandra in early 2017. He joined the Clarets in 2017 on a two-year scholarship. Bobby excelled at Burnley, becoming a regular on the bench for the first team and was named as a substitute for 24 out of Burnley's 38 Premier League games. Thomas signed his first professional deal with Burnley in March 2019, Thomas was named as Young Player of the Year at the end of the 2018/19 season, going on to captain the U23s. He made his debut for the Clarets in September 2020, playing the full match in a 2–0 win over Millwall in the EFL Cup. Barton on Bobby Thomas... "With James Connolly getting a bit of an injury and Lewis Gibson is coming back into the fold, but knowing we’ve got to be careful with the management of his load, we felt we needed competition in those areas and Bobby hopefully comes in and hits the ground running because he’s certainly made a good impression already."
Barton on the rest of today... "We’re still not done in defence. I think if I could do something else in that defensive space, I think I will and also if we can do something on the frontline or in the wide areas, I think we will. Six hours to go and this is a long time in the window, but the last hour will be a long time. When you’re a little bit under the weather, you want to be in bed early, but tonight I think I’m going to be into the dying embers making sure we get as much value out of the market as we possibly can. Wael has been superb. He’s supported us at every junction and we’re just waiting for the market to flush out and see what exciting things happen in the next five or six hours. We’re right down the track with one. We thought we were right down the track with another one this morning but then somebody else came to the table. We’re still exploring that. A weird and wonderful final day and I’m going to go home and get my yellow tie on sit on my couch and watch Jim White bring the window home. That’s gone out of my options, it looks like we’re going to be in these offices scrapping. We’re going to be working the phones like Wolf of Wall Street to get some new business."
Barton on why it's going to be a long and late day... "It’s just the way all the time. You just get used to it now and you think why doesn’t everybody do it earlier? You realise the driving force is the economics. Everyone is trying to get a little bit more for the player, whether they’re coming in or out. Everyone is haggling and all off a sudden the bell is going to ring at some point and then it’s like pass the parcel. You don’t want to be left with surplus in your matchday squad that you can’t select. Wasted wages sitting in the stands are no good for anybody. The problem we’ve got is everybody up the food chain, the apex lads at the top, they can absorb. We’ve seen Ross Barkley get paid up £200,000 a week at Chelsea. It is mind-boggling the money they can absorb and have people not playing. When they stockpile players, which they do, right through the age groups, all of a sudden the market forces dictate. There have been five or six Premier League clubs we’ve been asking for 18 or 19-year-olds, saying ‘Look at the work we’ve done with all the young players we’ve had’. They say ‘He’s not going out until January because we need to fulfil our EFL Trophy commitments and we need to have a good start in the Premier League 2 campaign. Great, but what does that do for the kid’s career?"
Barton on possible departures... "I don’t know. There still might be. We might end up trading. That might be the deal that’s out there. We’re at the last embers of the window and I don’t really want to lose anyone because I think we need to get players in and not players out, but also you have to be mobile and be prepared to exchange. It could be players maybe used as makeweights to force players out of another club, but it will be one or two, I don’t think it will be wholesale. We’re pretty much set on the targets we want to do. There is a bit of wiggle room where one or two might dip out, but I would want to get a couple in before I lose any.
Rovers have announced the season long loan signing of Bobby Thomas from Burnley, Thomas a CB has had league experience at Barrow where he scored his first senior goal against FGR he has also had loan experience at Crewe and was named as on of Burnley's subs in 24 of their 38 premier matches. He made his debut for Burnley in their EFL cup match v Millwall when he played the whole match
JB said he wanted another 5 got 3 better than nothing Matty Longataff joined Colchester on loan pity we didn't get the chance after the way we helped Elliott Anderson
Could still get more yet. Clubs often have too many players come the end of the window and end up not able to afford players to sit in the stands each week doing nothing. So expect to see some players mutually agree to have their contracts terminated and be available for free
David Coles has returned as GK coach. He will also support the recruitment department attending matches as required
Rovers have formally announced that Eddy Jennings has taken up the role of Head of football operations. He will continue to oversee player recruitment and support the day to day management of the football operations within the club
Ryan Jones has joined Jed Ward at Hungerford on a month's loan, and defender Sam Heal has North Leigh FC also on a months loan. I thought that Ryan Jones was a LWB / LMF and that with a shortage of defenders he could have in the 1st team squad
Gloucester City who are lying in 15th place in the National league north just 3 points out side of the playoff's have sacked manager Lee Mansell
