Kirsti Montgomery: "I’ve been here for 10 or 11 years now and this is all I’ve ever wanted. I don’t want to ever go back to not playing for Rovers and I want to stay here for the rest of my life.”

Does anyone have a view on whether Ismael is signed up to this transfer strategy? I can't see how he can be much of a fan of letting probably six of our best players go (Dolan, Brittain, Bath, Wieman, Tronstad and Travis) and replacing with unproven imports. He doesn't look like a guy who will take it lying down to me. And he has a record of walking away from jobs.... Him not being around by Christmas seems possible to me.

A bit late for this but we had inter school comp and we came second after the results the music teacher said to me we would have won it if wasn't for you

Yes, he will certainly have suitors - the question is whether he and his agent have significantly over-estimated the size of the financial offer that he can command.

We will not be Blackburn Rovers again until venkys are gone.

Some people aren't half jumping to conclusions with this. He's been a championship regular for three years and he's only 23. He will have his fair share of suitors.

They showed a lot of ambition when Mel Morris owned them - too much as it turned out because it bankrupted them.

Sorry chaps, I'm having a bad day so I'm dumping my woes on you here. Hope its not too miserable a read. What is a club? What makes this club what it is? I ask because the pendulum of misery just swings wider and wider and it feels like things are reaching a point of no return. Is Blackburn Rovers still Blackburn Rovers despite 15 years of abuse, is it gone, is it recoverable? Players all go on record saying it's a fabulous homely club and they enjoy being here. What does 'fabulous' mean. Is it the infrastructure, likely not, we all complain of the state of things. Is it the history, well a very nice to have but it was won by others and not the current line up. Still, nice to have though. Is it the fans? We are a dwindling bunch of aging diehards, mostly pissed off and withdrawing our season ticket money. Obviously we're a big part but is that what constitutes 'fabulous' and 'homely'. Managers who come and go set the tone of who we are but rarely cause players to say "Blackburns the place me me, I must play for that guy". Dalglish is the obvious exception, maybe Hughes, but the rest? Meh. What constitutes the family orientated friendly club that defines who we are. I can get no further than the behind the scenes Lancashire folk who smile and joke and nod ... and ... in other words the unchanging body of local chaps and ladies who man the tills, the phones, cook the food, wash the kit, clean the boots, mow the grass, train the players etc.. They're the constant and likely best define who we are at the core. What's happened and continues to happen is that since Venkys took over these self same people are forced out the club. Why? Who knows, money saving? The departure of the higher profile ones like David Lowe is hard to miss but the tea lady slips away out of sight. It's the likes of Damien Johnson and Ben Benson who are mentioned by the players as being amongst the good ones, the core. Hollowing out the club's people changes the notion of what the club is. Without Jack and Williams, Brown and Fox to set the tone, all long gone, what makes us a family club any more. Dolan and Brittans departure and likely Trav and Sondres soon for me points to this rotting from the inside outwards, we are not who we once were even though the name stays the same. Lowe divided opinion but the loss of his dulcet Scouse tones in the background may have been the straw that broke the camals back. Have Venkys finally managed to kill off who we were and only the name survives?

See Derby have completed the signing of Patrick Agyemang for an initial fee believed to be almost £6million, however, he will miss the first games as he needs hernia surgery! Explodes the myth they have nowt to spend. Whether they have enough left in the coffers for Brittain and/or Travis remains to be seen. At least they are showing ambition and backing their feckin manager.

Someone on here said they heard he was out for 5/6 weeks

Think Dolan needs to sack his agent as he seems to have been sold, and believed, a fairytale. Huge dose of reality setting in for the lad.

Sold their near 5,000 allocation out last week.

Little doubt there will be. Yet another embarrassment.

Is Carter unfit? Not seen any updates on his cramp?

A marquee friendly against a team that was just another game until venkys turned up.

He only played about 200 minutes when he was there last time

I remember reading that he’d told the players if they won that midweek game at Bristol City ( the one we actually lost heavily ) the players could have the rest of the week off. Most players would lap that sort of attitude up.

They have just bought in a dutch midfielder for over £10M, have an Irish international, and a fairly highly rated youngster who had a decent spell in league 1 last season who they may think will be able to step up, but they will probably think that they need one more

That's a fair shout, could see it!

Team at a guess will be Toth Alebiosu Atcheson Hyam, Riberio Hedges Travis Tronstad Kargbo Cantwell Ohashi

I see Sam morsey looks like he’s moving from Ipswich - add that to Phillips returning to city and luongo leaving would they revisit a permanent deal for Travis given his contract situation? They seem very light in that area

Never been so apathetic at the start of a new Season at Ewood,possibly more away fans than home for this.

Yes okay but i have my doubts he - or most modern footballers - would behave any differently if we were suddenly well run

Fine him for agreeing with the truth that the club has already been brought into disrepute by the hierarchy?

On Saturday Rovers will play Everton at Ewood in our 'marquee' friendly match. With so much going on in the background it will be interesting to see who plays. Will Brittain carry on his strike, will Travis and Tronstad start and what the centre half pairing will be. Will Pears or Toth be available? For anyone who is interested Everton TV are covering the game live. I haven't seen anywhere that Rovers are yet. https://www.evertonfc.com/live