Valérien Ismaël: Blackburn Rovers Head Coach

[RevidgeBlue]

21 minutes ago, TheFinalCountdown said:

Relegation is what they want.

Hard to argue against that isn't it when you consider what they did to Eustace and the experienced players, failing to give them any assurances on their futures and replacing them with Ismael and assorted Eurotrash.

The vast majority of us knew how it would turn out and so it's proving.

[JHRover]

33 minutes ago, TheFinalCountdown said:

This has season has been a carbon copy. Its relegation by design, to once again reduce costs and investments. 

Relegation is what they want.

Actions speak louder than words and their actions suggest you are entirely correct.

If this was the first time they had been down this road you might be able to forgive it and give them the benefit of the doubt - misguided, badly advised, not understanding the nature of the beast of the Championship and the inevitable consequence of radical cost cuts.

But they've done it all before, so unless they all have complete amnesia they will remember what happens when you do this. Yet they carry on with it. 

[G Somerset Rover]

Venkys: "We don't want to (or can't) sell - so trim costs further, if it means we slip a league again, no hassle. Just get the wage bill down as low as possible and ensure further investment is at an absolute minimum."

Pasha: "Understood"

[Athlete]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

Anyone surprised, confused or under any illusions about this regime and their interest/reactions to league positions and results need only go and research / remind themselves of what happened the last time they relegated us in 2016/17

Appointed a joke of a manager, not just proven to be a flash in the pan/busted flush but also with the added bonus of his only success being in the dugout of our hated rivals.

Left him in place until mid-February even though from the word 'go' we were nailed on for the bottom 3 and anyone with any sense could see it was only going to end one way. 

Lessons learned? I think not

BTBH had Danny Graham and Charlie Mulgrew and guaranteed goals

[London blue]

2 minutes ago, G Somerset Rover said:

Venkys: "We don't want to (or can't) sell - so trim costs further, if it means we slip a league again, no hassle. Just get the wage bill down as low as possible and ensure further investment is at an absolute minimum."

Pasha: "Understood"

This is exactly what I believe to be happening.

One can argue whether or not that is truly deliberate but I don't think it matters.

As Mark is so keen on pointing out, sporting performance is not the priority here. Reducing overheads supercedes everything, which sadly includes hiring a no mark like Ismail and keeping him in the role despite atrocious performance.

[RevidgeBlue]

14 minutes ago, G Somerset Rover said:

Venkys: "We don't want to (or can't) sell - so trim costs further, if it means we slip a league again, no hassle. Just get the wage bill down as low as possible and ensure further investment is at an absolute minimum."

Pasha: "Understood"

I think it's more likely that the owners don't WANT to be relegated but that Pasha and Gestede (and Waggott when he was still here) pitched them this masterplan about how they could reduce the age of the squad with a view to selling players on, save a shitload of costs in terms of wages and STILL retain Championship status!

(Cue £ signs!)

In short the stooges have played Russian roulette with our Championship future and probably failed. The live bullet is about to go off.

I still dont think either that anyone has accounted properly for the loss of Championship TV Revenue if we go down plus all the other associated loss of revenue.  

The net position will be we'll be a lot worse off.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

8 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I think it's more likely that the owners don't WANT to be relegated but that Pasha and Gestede (and Waggott when he was still here) pitched them this masterplan about how they could reduce the age of the squad with a view to selling players on, save a shitload of costs in terms of wages and STILL retain Championship status!

(Cue £ signs!)

In short the stooges have played Russian roulette with our Championship future and probably failed. The live bullet is about to go off.

I still dont think either that anyone has accounted properly for the loss of Championship TV Revenue if we go down plus all the other associated loss of revenue.  

The net position will be we'll be a lot worse off.

So they just cut playing costs accordingly. In my opinion they couldn’t care one way or another as long as they don’t have to pay a £1 more than they need to.

[roversfan99]

I think its the wrong way round to suggest almost as if the stooges have convinced Venkys to cut back like we have. 

Venkys have no interest in the club. Ive no doubt that Suhail and Gestede are happy to oblige as is clear.

Championship clubs lose money because wages are so high and more often than not outstrip all income before considering other cost. Wages would massively come down further if we went down. But again, I am not convinced thats the aim, just an inevitable symptom.

[JHRover]

19 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I think it's more likely that the owners don't WANT to be relegated but that Pasha and Gestede (and Waggott when he was still here) pitched them this masterplan about how they could reduce the age of the squad with a view to selling players on, save a shitload of costs in terms of wages and STILL retain Championship status!

(Cue £ signs!)

In short the stooges have played Russian roulette with our Championship future and probably failed. The live bullet is about to go off.

I still dont think either that anyone has accounted properly for the loss of Championship TV Revenue if we go down plus all the other associated loss of revenue.  

The net position will be we'll be a lot worse off.

I think this lot - Pasha and Gestede - are arrogant

They have seen what Waggott and Mowbray were doing, and to a lesser degree JDT and Broughton, and think they can do as well if not better than them on a lower budget.

I think this arrogance continues today - a refusal to backtrack or make changes despite it leading us into the bottom 3, a refusal to seek a change of manager or change in transfer approach. I think they think that we genuinely are in a 'false position' based on injuries/back luck/statistics and that we will eventually get enough to get us over the line and they'll get a pat on the back from the money people running the show at the other end.

As you say - this is playing Russian Roulette with the club and its future. If it works then they get another year on the gravy train, a bonus and they can argue it was worth getting rid of Broughton, Eustace, Waggott and all those players because we've still got Championship income and significantly reduced costs whilst bringing in millions from sales.

But if it doesn't - and I don't think it will - we go down and there's another £10 million gap in the finances to plug. I don't think the owners or stooges will have seriously thought about this

[RevidgeBlue]

8 minutes ago, JHRover said:

But if it doesn't - and I don't think it will - we go down and there's another £10 million gap in the finances to plug. I don't think the owners or stooges will have seriously thought about this

Pretty sure they wouldn't have at the time.

They might be worrying about it by now.

Of course proper owners would be ringing the stooges up about now playing holy hell because we've recently dropped into the bottom 3.

Whether our lot care enough or have even noticed is of course very much up for debate.

[Tomphil2]

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I think it's more likely that the owners don't WANT to be relegated but that Pasha and Gestede (and Waggott when he was still here) pitched them this masterplan about how they could reduce the age of the squad with a view to selling players on, save a shitload of costs in terms of wages and STILL retain Championship status!

(Cue £ signs!)

In short the stooges have played Russian roulette with our Championship future and probably failed. The live bullet is about to go off.

I still dont think either that anyone has accounted properly for the loss of Championship TV Revenue if we go down plus all the other associated loss of revenue.  

The net position will be we'll be a lot worse off.

I think that is exactly how its happened although imo the real drivers of this are hiding in the middle somewhere and this plan was hatched in the later days of Mowbray, hence them letting him go rather scruffily.

It nearly backfired spectacularly as JDT almost overachieved and raised the bar where they didn't want it but once he'd been reeled back in and him and GB weren't the right puppets Waggot regained control by prioritising league status over moneyball.

His card was well and truly marked then though so the 'middlemen' and their man Suhail bring in Rudy to shake things up and implement a more aggressive version of what they tried before. Removing every obstacle in the way with the ownerships blessing and installing his own puppets and data driven model.

And here we are.

[roversfan99]

The plan to cut costs stems from the owners. Thats the most logical conclusion.

The stooges are happy to oblige.