By that logic, if they similarly decided to cease funding of the Academy, and bearing in mind that few of us go to watch games there, then we shouldn't get 'worked up' about that either. Whether people attend the women's games is irrelevant. What is relevant, is yet another decision being made which is symptomatic of the way in which the club operates.

Doesn't make a blind bit of difference, "the budget is the budget" remember. All selling players does is reduce the pressure on our billionaire owners a bit to cover the shortfall.

are you Waggott/Pasha? or do they just pay you to post on here? 😉

It might be a good idea if all those getting worked up about the possible closure of the Ladies team said how many times they went to see them last season. To indicate the lack of interest there is, the thread on this forum about the Ladies team was begun in October 2018 and six and a half years later has reached page 12.

I would imagine Waggots wage alone eclipses the budget for the women's team.

I agree although I do have an element of sympathy. I was told the other week that Pasha and Swag were questioning the viability of the women's team. The national media would be all over this and shine the spotlight once again on the Punekars and their acolytes over here. It's essentially a free hit for the coalition if true.

We have been desperate for money, for quite a few seasons. It would not bother me because, if any of our players are sold, the first team will see sod-all of the money.

If this ends up being true about the womens' side then the temperature needs to be be turned up to scorching on these absolute tossers running the club. How absolutely embarrassing would that be for a club entering it's 150th anniversary and a club that has fostered generational talent in the womens' game. I really hope it's not true, it would be sickening

It cannot keep happening and it's far from ok with me we are on course to be desperate for money by next summer.

They were the only others that sprang to mind but obviously both Prem quality players who cost a few quid so we'd expect a bit more from them, Bert more of a wing back. Marshall looked ok in a few stints there but other than that there's been sod all in the last decade plus.

As long as he has a good season with us, leaving for free next year would not bother me.

I think he might stay, but he won't sign a new contract so he will just leave for nothing next summer.

But, in doing so, they built a platform that has allowed them to rapidly improve.

I hope this comes to fruition.* It's a PR disaster. Imagine the public uproar you'd receive, especially if the three Euro's winning Lionesses that started their careers at Rovers weighed in. Utd, Liverpool, City et al already get a load of stick for not financially backing their women like Chelsea do (nor should they imo). Rovers folding the women's team with billionaire owners? That'd be a goldmine for us. *I would like the women's team to be reinstated when we're taken over by owners that care

And yet there are still people who defend this ownership?

Lucas Neill or Brett Emerton maybe?

Retaining Brittain would be a coup to be honest as i expect him to have another good season under Ismael next season, hopefully injury free and he'll retain some value. Fast going into the cult status books if he keeps it up we not had a solid right back getting forwards and providing assists since ? I can't remember....

https://x.com/alexbrooks12/status/1922271298459254892/photo/1

Mr Miller made this point very well as the Fans Forum meeting, last time out- but basically saying, that he was buying a season ticket for the first team, not the under 23s. First team prices, youth team football.....

24 - 4th - Southampton 23 - 3rd - Luton 22 - 4th - Nottingham Forest 21 - 3rd - Brentford 20 - 4th - Fulham 19 - 5th - Aston Villa 18 - 3rd - Fulham 17 - 5th - Huddersfield Town 16 - 4th - Hull City 15 - 3rd - Norwich City 14 - 4th - Queens Park Rangers 13 - 5th - Crystal Palace 12 - 3rd - West Ham United 11 - 3rd - Swansea City 10 - 6th - Blackpool 09 - 5th - Burnley 08 - 3rd - Hull City 07 - 3rd - Derby County 06 - 3rd - Watford 05 - 6th - West Ham United 04 - 6th - Crystal Palace 03 - 5th - Wolverhampton Wanderers 02 - 5th - Birmingham City 01 - 3rd - Bolton Wanderers 00 - 3rd - Ipswich Town 99 - 5th - Watford 98 - 4th - Charlton Athletic 97 - 6th - Crystal Palace 96 - 5th - Leicester City 95 - 3rd - Bolton Wanderers The last 30 years of Championship (Division One) Play Off Finals 3rd - 40% 4th - 20% 5th - 27% 6th - 13% The common misconception of sneak into 6th and then go up in the Playoffs, hasn't happened since Blackpool in 2010!

If you do manage to stay in the Premier League then more than one year of the money then gives you a platform to then stablise but its so hard now to even do that. Forest got loads of criticism for their approach but it worked and it took a ridiculous amount of money just to scrapr survival in that first season. I stand by my point that the gap between Premier League and Championship is unhealthily big. No surprise that in 2 successive seasons the promoted sides have come straight back down in mainly embarassing fashion. Ipswich did spend quite big but all they can attract/afford in wages is top end Championship players. The Premier League has been terrible this season.

Exactly, and Gestede's comments totally lacked any context. They make out as if its a lapse in attitude and a bit of a dig at Eustace. But the reason for the change is down to players. The reason the minutes were so high in the 2 seasons prior to the one just gone were because we had first team ready talents in Adam Wharton and to a lesser extent Ash Phillips. We also had budget cuts the season before last so the likes of Leonard (who was injured for the majority of the season just gone anyway) and Garrett were given more minutes than they were ready for. Now those first team ready players have been sold, we naturally dont have that same level of talent. We cant just hand out minutes to meet an arbitary objective. It is cost cutting because if we glamourise this aim, then to get them those minutes, we will need a player or two less in the transfer market. So yes, cost cutting.

Assuming Sunderland progress they've been solid this season, despite putting their feet up at the proverbial beach about a month before the season ended. Won't matter if they can flick the switch and start playing well again though - aside from the fans who wasted their time and money going to watch those pre-playoff matches, obviously. Still, I'd expect them to give Sheff Utd a game in the final. Bristol City and Coventry were always going to be rank outsiders simply based on how low their points totals were. Sheff Utd and Sunderland can, at the very least, both legitimately claim they were better than the majority of the division over the course of a season. The other two were very marginally the best of the rest. If either somehow snuck up through the playoffs they would, much like in a hypothetical scenario where we go up under Venky ownership, be absolutely annihilated in the PL. If clubs weren't so desperately in need of the coin that the PL provides, staying in the Championship wouldn't be so bad. From a fan perspective at least, it's no fun getting completely wrecked every week. The Ipswich fans around me have been utterly miserable this season, arguing amongst each other as they see the team get battered repeatedly and paying a lot for the privilege.

Blooding youngsters is great, IF they can step up even selling our most promising is a reality for us (although flogging as quick as we can to pay the bills is a terrible model) How can anyone be comfortable with this: "That affects the value of the asset and we want to go back to that model. That was part of the discussions with Valerien. They have to be part of your squad planning" Whether you've supported Rovers for 60 years or 60 minutes we shouldn't be happy at prioritising becoming a B team or Lancashire Crewe at the expensive of success which clearly Eustace refused to do, while we sat 5th.... It's about flogging off the silver so Venkys can wean off , not to reinvest and build a team, Bristol City have spent 18 million last 2 years based on the Scott money. That's a model and used to be our model pre 2010, not what we are doing now.

Gestede actually said:- "The plan for our squad is to give as much (acadamy minutes) as we can. The year before was 2000 minutes for our academy players, almost 3000 minutes the year before, so now we want to go back to those numbers." That, as @roversfan99 says, implies that we do have an objective of getting back to 3000 minutes.