There are also ebbs and flows in international footy more so than domestic, where large clubs now rule the roost For example we could have played Germany, Brazil, Holland and Spain in recent years and that be seen as favourable as they are going through somewhat of a transition Conversely, Croatia had been there or thereabouts for tournaments leading up to our loss and teams like Switzerland have been outperforming their historic places by knocking out teams like France, and only losing by penalties to Spain let’s not forget This is a bit different from a comparison to domestic league positions

Think any out of work manager with a chequered history would grab a 3.5 year contract that might well give him financial security for life. So presumably you are saying Gestede is out of his depth, totally inefficient and useless? We will be lucky if we retain 1 of Brittain, Hyam, Travis and Tronstad - smell the coffee beans!!! Like we did under Jack! 'Rovers have held talks' - wow, could be as little as 'hi there, how's your summer going'!!! Just why the feck do players NOT WANT TO BE HERE!?!? - aint feckin rocket science Like we did under Jack! You never give us trying to defend the indefensible - can you not see this?

It’s also called trying. Our owners won’t, even though they have the money, especially from selling our best players. Tighter than a submarine door.

This is different to what is being suggested here. The notion is that because we played the likes of “Switzerland, Sweden or Ukraine” in the quarters or “Denmark, Croatia or Netherlands” in the Semi we had lucky draws The suggestion is that unless you play France, Spain, Brazil or Argentina you have had a lucky draw But that happens in every World Cup. It happens in every FA Cup too. A premier league club likely spanked a league 2, 1 and a championship club on their way to the FA Cup final. Go back through World Cup winning brackets and you’ll likely see the winners playing a Sweden, South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Turkey etc. it is rare that you will play all Seed 1 nations - that’s why the seeding system is around. What isn’t being told is that, in order for England to play Switzerland in the quarters, Switzerland had to beat Italy. To play Ukraine in the quarters, we had to beat Germany. Now in your example I don’t know if Walsall or Tranmere beat better quality teams on their way through. Maybe not. Although Tranmere only made a cup final in 2000 so weren’t a terrible side then either. Beside the point - whilst that route was favourable, it was also a stand out in totally avoiding a higher seeded team until the final. Nothing about Englands routes to both finals were extraordinary. It is quite normal to play the nations we played - the route Italy took to the Euro 20 final of Portugal, Spain and France is outside of the norm in modern tournaments.

We have multi-billionaire owners. They can afford to match the wages that Wrexham are offering. They can afford to renew contracts of our key players and invest modestly in new signings. Owners with a fraction of their wealth invest considerably more because they actually care! As owners they don’t have to invest, it’s entirely up to them, but what is the point of owning the club if you can’t even be willing to renew contracts?

i suspect that contracts for travis and brittain are more a case of the players wanting to get out of the rancidly run club rather than it being a case of money,as a player you always want to go to a higher level,they ar`nt going to do it with us,there is zero ambition at blackburn rovers

I worked in the industry of signed sports memorabilia for 5 years, be very cautious buying online by someone who isn't AFTAL (Autograph Fair Trade Association Ltd). A certificate of authenticity only means something if it's from a legitimate trader, otherwise any company can just print their own certificate to say they believe it's authentic. If you are buying from a private individual, try to get some evidence of how they acquired the shirt and with a lot of signatures you can google what they should look like to compare yourself if you think it looks right. Honestly it's a bit of a minefield and there are certainly a lot of bad actors out there so be careful!

I don't twisted sod all RF99, its yourself you twist the points some of us make to suit your argument. The situation is actually happened and even if we had offered Travis last season would that have stopped other clubs for bidding for him, not at all. my question was simple one which you completely avoid answering again. You can't answer such simple questions, you just muddling the waters

@rigger

Wrexham paid big players to attract former PL players there otherwise they wouldn't be going there.

Exactly. We deserved to win the Premier league, we were lucky Ludo had a stormer.

I do cos Wrexham throw high wages at players to attract them to the club, That how they attract former PL players. Birmingham owners through money at signings last season like Jay Stansfield over £10m for him for a league 1 club blowing most championship clubs out of the water for signing him. Rovers have held talks with all 3 players now that has been reported by Elliott Jackson. on Diaz, we held talks under JDT and GB but he didn't want to sign. Dolan again GB tried to get him to sign a new contract but couldn't agree. Rothwell didn't want to be here, Nyambe not good enough anyway.

Last summers question of if Sigurdsson's registration was converted from ESC to GBE (or if the club were aware that this could be done) has finally been answered "There have also been other players brought in on an ESC slot and converted. Arne Sigurdsson initially for his loan transfer again we were able to successfully convert him because he played enough first team minutes I assume that we can therefore presume that Ohashi's registration will also be switched over this summer ""Yuki works because he was a regular player in the first team he played over 50% of minutes during his first season which meant that Blackburn were able to say to the FA well he's played this percentage of minutes, therefore, we can convert him to a full GBE."

Great example. Lucky draws and good achievements can both happen together.

And that failure to even get a contract in front of Travis (or indeed any of our 3 key players) ultimately is the critical part. We are now left in a fairly helpless, really weak position. Anything around that inability to get a concrete offer down long before now becomes somewhat immaterial. We have missed our chance. As you say, its been dismissed and shrugged aside. If we had offered him a deal last summer or even after the season had started, at that point, he would have obviously had twice as long to run on his deal, he wouldnt have just had that extra strong season as credit in the back and crucially, if we assume there is any truth in these convenient rumours, we wouldnt be being blown out the water by clubs who were then in League 1. You dont expect us to pay £30k do you is such a brainless counter argument. That shouldnt be a question that needs to be asked and wouldnt if we were run with a semblance of order.

The difference between you and I is firstly I don't believe for one second that those clubs will be offering that to Travis, nor will he be demanding that, it is a made up figure to exaggerate the situation and make out like the money required is at crazy/ridiculous levels. This is all part of the regimes strategy - making out like little old Rovers are at the limits of their capabilities, can't compete, are being blown away by richer clubs, poor us. It just isn't true. The reason Travis hasn't signed a new deal is because he hasn't been offered one. He told us this in March, and I'd be surprised indeed if Rovers have done very much since then. Rovers approach to renewing contracts - aside from a brief and ultimately sabotaged spell under Broughton - has been a total failure. Lenihan, Nyambe, Rothwell, Diaz, Dolan, Travis, Tronstad, Brittain, Tens of millions of value flushed away, quality committed players allowed to walk and you seem fine with it. Shoulder shrug. Secondly you seem fine saying 'Gestede should have sorted it'. Shoulder shrug. That isn't good enough in my book. The situation this club has put itself in is not acceptable.

We shouldn’t be paying our players miles less than what newly promoted clubs are willing to pay them, there’s no excuse for that.

You just twist things to make others appear unreasonable. This situation simply should not be happening because the contract situation should not have been allowed to get to this stage. To have all 3 key players admitting publically at Easter that they hadn't been offered a new deal is unacceptable and inexcusable. You acknowledge that we should have offered new deals last season but dismiss if as if it is minor. This Wrexham £30k offer is pure speculation but had we offered him a deal last summer or even after the season had started then Wrexham (or Birmingham) wouldnt have been an option. You say I am blaming Rovers as if its unreasonable considering the dreadful way in which we are run. We are again left in a position where we have multiple key players entering their final year. So amidst an already busy summer, we have these totally avoidable situations. This always seemed inevitable too. Thats the frustrating thing. Yes we can offer new deals now but our negotiating position is now really weak and its all our fault.

Millwall reached an FA Cup final in 2004 before getting battered off Man Utd in the final. Still a great achievement for a 2nd tier club. However they didn’t face a premier league team until the final. They played:- Walsall at home, Telford away Burnley at home. In the quarter final they got past 3rd tier Tranmere, the lowest side still in the tournament. Meanwhile the four remaining Premier League sides all drew each other. In the semi they beat second tier Sunderland whilst Arsenal played Man Utd in the other semi. Is anyone actually arguing here that they didn’t have luck on their side with the draw?

Yep. The standard Rovers playbook..

YES. Absolutely. "Clubs like Wrexham". Deary me.

Two opposing things can have an element of truth in them at the same time, novel, I know.

Well that makes me question him even more, then. He was either naive or desperate and I'm thinking more likely the second option

There's a surprise that you are blaming Rovers. So you think we should be paying Travis 30k a week then if that what other clubs like Wrexham and Birmingham are? Yes Gestede should have been on with new contracts during the season but he didn't. We can still get them to sign new contracts even now.

Its wonder why yourself Mark. 😁