I have a question for you. Would you take a season here where you have to accept relegation but we win the League Cup? And would you keep Ismael if that happened? I would take that for a memorable trophy win, but also want Ismael out as he would have failed to demonstrate the ability to get results week in week out.

I dont get why this Wigan comparison keeps coming up. I think most would agree that this season for Spurs will be a memorable one and they wouldnt swap it in isolation for a much higher league finish and no trophy. That doesnt mean though that the manager should stay. Results across the whole season have been awful and Ange has not demonstrated that he is the man to take them forward. They would essentially be keeping him on the result of one game against United.

Hopefully the championship wages for bog standard players and young players has been organically capping itself although i think ours has a lot to do with fluffing out the squad with kids.

nice pic

And the club is run by billionaires. They shouldnt require volunteers or fan funded standing sections.

Yup. Rovers' wage bill may have been nominally flat since 2019-20, but just plugging our 2019-20 £25.6m wage bill into the Bank of England's inflation calculator, that's equivalent to £32.7m in today's money, or a ~25% real cut if our wage bill is currently around £25m. Sure, footballers are privileged folk, but their agents will certainly be aware of economy-wide inflation when negotiating new contracts... To be somewhat fair, Championship aggregate wages had been flat/declining for some time due to Covid, plus perhaps a slight regaining of financial sanity by owners, but there was a big jump in 2023-24. Part of that will be due to Luton getting promoted on the cheap (I'd also suspect the rise of immediate parachute club bouncebacks have suppressed the league-wide wage bill), but it'll also reflect the new commercial deal feeding through + general inflation (and keeping the lights on has gotten pricier!) Revenue has been growing too. Obviously rebounding from Covid, but 2022-23 and 2023-24 were mainly due to JDT's Cup runs (which will likely have boosted our player costs too!) and the Championship's league-wide commercial deal improving by a few million.

It would seem that Chorley have had the best part of half a million quids worth of debt to the owner written off in their latest accounts.

Interesting the Jackson seems to think we are still after Sagnan. There can't be a release clause like we initially thought if the alleged bids from Sunderland are £4 million plus. Even if its just the agent drumming interest we would surely be out the running. I wonder if its the first sign of trouble between Ismael and the board; I'd guess he has a better read on French league players than us and he clearly wants a big strong left footed CB. I fear he will disappointed if this is the case...

Talks "not progressing" on Sagnan is the most predictable thing in that article.

de spair!

Can't say I see Marseille swooping in for De Neve, but could be a useful player just for his pace.

They must have misspelled De Lange a couple of windows ago

Yes, they want him to stay now but they were calling for his head for the majority of the season. Wigan is a different situation entirely, as they weren't expecting to be battling it out at the top of the Premier League. Of course they would take a trophy and relegation because it was the only chance of winning a trophy for a long time and they would be battling relegation anyway. Spurs are supposedly a big club, so the media constantly tells us, and so should be battling it out at the top and winning trophies. The bigger picture is, that he looks to be a poor manager despite the trophy win. They've backed him with good money and he's delivered a much needed trophy for the club but taking everything into account, the performances in the Premier League were horrific and it's been a huge factor in his dismissal. Would he have written the league off again from day 1 in order to try and win a trophy in a cup competition? Why bother with a season ticket when you know the manager isn't giving it any serious consideration? Incidentally, had he not beaten the worst Man Utd team for 30 years and was sacked, no one would be batting an eyelid about his dismissal.

Thanks. Sounds like a dangerous man to own one of our clubs and makes you wonder yet again, about fit and proper.

He did own Leeds. Its when he appointed Dave Hockaday as head coach where it's lasted about 6 or 7 games

This has appeared today and goes to show, how a club at a similar level to Rovers, can easily go this way, with poor/questionable owners. I can't remember it, but apparently he owned Leeds at one point. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/brescia-go-bankrupt-lose-right-to-compete-in-pro-leagues/ar-AA1GllJx?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=0def104f90a643a48f5149f5dfb6d251&ei=17

As Swiss Ramble rightly points out salaries obviously only go one way in football (⬆️), so without increasing the wage bill a club will ultimately find it harder and harder to compete on the pitch.

Johnny Otis - Willie And The Hand Jive

Speak for yourself. I couldn't in all good conscience attempt to lure my blissfully unaware neighbours into the complete despair of supporting modern day BRFC. They don't deserve that.

https://x.com/SwissRamble/status/1931976515924775117?s=19 wages not far off the same over the last 5 years

I would take winning a trophy and poor league campaign. Plus also got Champions league football cos of that trophy. How many Wigan fans would swapped their FA cup trophy for staying up in the Premier League? Bet not many. Plenty of Spurs fans wanted him to stay. Plenty of complementary videos on Ange bring a trophy to Spurs. Some fans want a change of course As I would expect. Q

Royal mail service is shocking poor. We are lucky if we get mail once a week. Got letters last week from middle of May. Rovers fans would be willing to deliver some leaflets in their local area for free if the club has.

Yes both PNE and Bolton in recent years hammered the Chorley area with stuff when they did their respective big early bird discounts. Doubt Rovers even bother in Accrington never mind Chorley !