It'll obviously never come to that - this is change found between the cushions of the sofa for them - but again it does beg the question with all of this going on why are they hanging onto a very public PR disaster? Surely they'd sell and batten down the hatches?

They clearly KNOW they're going to lose the case, which is why they're so reluctant to put any money into the bond with the government.

“I was still training, sometimes with the team and sometimes on my own, but I was going in and being professional.”

You'd have said that to who? The manager clearly wanted to keep him. Imagine 20 goals from the #10 instead of whatever Cantwell / Weimann contributed - we'd have been comfortably in the playoffs.

I'm not missing the point, I'm arguing the point. You get your wall chart and the route to the final Is mapped out. The fixtures are then determined by results, nothing whatsoever to do with luck. If you get an "easy " game or a hard one, it's as a result of how each team performed. Luck would be drawing an "easy" game out of a bag every round.

He was going though wasn't he? It's principle, he can train with the squad until he leaves..

I think if anything they've had it so easy over here for years because we're powerless to rid ourselves of them. They're arrogant billionaires who never fall foul of the EFL or HMRC - they always put in just enough money to satisfy the two bodies that could force them to sell the club. They're despised by the vast majority of the fan base, but it's irrelevant to them as they simply never attend.

No they can’t.

Exactly. He is more obsess with luck of the draw and completely ignore the actual results. He is belittling Southgate's and the players achievements and they producing results that meant we got so far in tournaments. Wonder how far Tuchel will get

No. But you seem to be missing my point that there is a difference between results that we control and ones that we dont. France's results in a seperate game helping to give us a favourable draw is luck on our behalf.

And then I'd have said "Fuck it then I'll stay and you can get Venkys to send the £11 million over you need, and also stick another £11 million in their matched bond. Don't forget you want me gone just like you wanted Adam gone earlier in the season - to actually fund the club. The fact is you are hanging on for a bit extra money but there's no chance you are going to keep me. And I actually do want to go to the Premier League but if I get injured in pre season it fucks me up. But as you are being a set of nobheads, I'll stick around and watch you sell everything you can to raise funds elsewhere. Without that £11 million you will be that skint you will probably end up doing something really drastic and embarrassing to save funds - like making the entire women's team redundant."

Funny isn't it that all three of those clubs you name were taken over within the last few years despite all being in worse positions than us. Wrexham were a non-league outfit, Birmingham perennial Championship relegation strugglers with a collapsing stadium and Swansea the epitome of an average 2nd/3rd division club with a small fanbase. Yet there remains a significant portion of Rovers' fanbase who have convinced themselves that for one reason or another there is no other viable option other than Venkys. No other people in a world of 7 billion with the clout or know-how to replace and do better than the architects of our demise. All these other clubs have managed it, but for some reason old Rovers wouldn't manage it. It's baffling, it's bizarre, and I'm convinced it is totally wrong, yet the belief continues. Until we get over that particular issue it's little wonder there's hardly any noise about Venkys apart from when another one of their self-inflicted debacles comes along e.g. Eustace walking out They've had it so easy here over the years because so many are convinced they are necessary.

It isn't luck, it's a result of winning or losing games. Would it have been bad luck for England if we'd messed up like France did, and we'd ended up on the other side of the draw?

We are so far behind in terms of funding and ambition for this level, yet a minority still amazingly want Venky’s in. Mind boggling stuff. Suspect we’ll be eating Wrexham, Birmingham and Swansea’s dust in no time. Rovers have billionaire owners with first team investment level of barely millionaires and it will only result in one thing.

But that is luck from England's perspective. It can be a French mess up AND English luck.

I'd have said 'no worries, you go home lad and we won't pay you then!' .. Little rat!

I’d quite like them being unable to pay the fine as then a jail term comes into play.

Going back to the last Euros, the draw actually gave us the hardest route to the final, we were scheduled to meet favourites France in the semis. Some saw it as luck that we avoided them, I saw it as France messing up.

Good appointment imo.

Maybe having seen the circumstances around Eustace’s exit, and the clubs hierarchy refusing to even discuss contracts with established senior pro’s, Batth simply thinks “fuck that”.

Szmodics didn’t want to play in pre-season games. He went and discussed it with his manager awhile was fine with it , hence the quote "I went to see him and said listen, I don't want to disrespect the staff, the players, but I don't want to take any part in the preseason games and he said that's absolutely fine, I'll protect you and I'll help you with whatever you want. Therefore he refused to play in pre-season games but played in the first competitive games he encountered. Let’s remember that the club were probably active.y trying to sell him, but squeeze every last penny they could because we were skint. Also I’m not sure why people are suddenly bothered about this today as he told us all this when he left in September 2024. Rudy meanwhile refused to play in the middle of January whilst we were just 6 points from the play offs. We ultimately drew at 23rd placed Wigan in the game he missed. We weren’t desperate sellers as we didn’t sell him until the summer. Very different scenarios for me.

Sometimes its just better to say nowt.

A great player for us but he's gone now. If he plays against us I'll give him a good receiption up until the game starts. It was obvious when he started the pre season friendly at Accy that he didn't want to be with Rovers. Early that game he claimed to be injured from a soft tap and showed no respect for fans as he left the field. His mind was made up. Twelve months earlier he played again against Accy like no other team mate. That season he proved he could do the job and was outstanding for us. In his mind he must have been thinking this could be my last chance to play in the premiership. Chance came and he took it. Good to recall but he's no longer our player.

mmm fair question, if nothing else he earned a ton of respect and now he's earned the disrespect (mine at least). But then I feel the same about Shearer and he was a legend (or is that a leg end mmm).

He would have been a good partner for Hyam I think.