The best it could possibly get for Venky’s for me (and I suspect anyone else like me), is if they get us promoted, apologise and sell up. Anything else and I can’t overlook what they’ve done I’m afraid.

It annoys me every time I see this topic rear its ugly head. Although this time it was for a better reason than someone genuinely asking the question I guess. They aren't welcome and never will be either. They have utterly mismanaged our club to the point that Accy Stanley are now getting more iFollow purchases than we are. It is a total embarrassment and perhaps a rude awakening for our future. The Venkys will always be pariahs in the town of Blackburn. Nothing they can do will make it otherwise.

All squads can afford to carry an injury prone risk or two. The benefits can outweigh the costs in these situations. What a squad cannot carry is more than a couple of injury prone players. I would suggest we are carrying far too many, which on top of Covid and long term unfortunate injuries is a real killer

The time lag doesn’t matter one bit. Just stay off Twitter until HT/FT and mute any ‘goal alert’ apps for 90 mins.

The passage of time had healed some wounds with me. But reading the stuff this week, reminding me of just how horrendous those first 3 years were, draws things back into focus. I can tolerate them but I can't want to forget just how bad it was. Nor do I want to. That feeling of complete helplessness as Kean and his mates destroyed the club whilst these owners sat back and watched, telling us we were wrong, allowing it to unfold. Never forget that. Personally speaking I had months of anguish and dismay watching Kean gut the club. This was all on their watch. They enabled it and allowed it to continue. We became the laughing stock of football whilst Kean and his Sky associates drove a wedge down the middle. I have equal or greater contempt for the co-conspirators and other people who took the Venky coin or maneuvered themselves into higher office whilst keeping quiet and doing nothing.

Think you are misreading the mood Dreams, like I said on the last page there’s been a real sea change in how they are perceived since League 1. Away from this board, I seldom hear anything negative towards them. Indeed if I aired my views at Ewood these days I’d probably get rounded upon...

Ayala who has averaged over 34 appearances a season over the last 3 years? Or Whatmore who has averaged less than 15 appearances a season in the same time period?

Never mind 'Rovers', surely, that should be "WE had another decent Geordie Striker when WE won the Premier League" !! Whilst I work, I refer to our company as 'We' whether I was involved at the time or not. eg "yes, it's a project we did back in 2015" (I started in 2017)

I was just thinking that. The bloke’s a carpetbagger. John Williams was from nowhere near East Lancs, but he still always referred to ‘Rrrovers’ in his Hampshire burr. But then more fool me for comparing JW with that spiv.

"Goalscorers keep you in jobs, don't they? They keep managers in jobs, they keep the fans happy and Blackburn had another decent Geordie striker when they won the Premier League way back, didn't they? "If he can get anywhere near him he'd have had a decent career." Makes me cringe when someone at the club refers to Rovers as 'Blackburn'.

The actions of those idiots in Pune have destroyed a once proud football club, destroyed families and local businesses and ensured the future of the football club will always be in doubt. I try not to hate, it’s wasted energy, but I reserve the right to hate the owners, Kean and the rest of the scumbags like Agnew that saw a few quid and pissed all over the club that Jack built. Bollox to welcoming them back

To be fair that is only one or two people As I live outside of Blackburn now maybe I am misunderstanding the mood but I certainly never got the impression Venkys would be welcome. The tweet "absolutely doomed if we leave" is so wide of the mark it is unbelievable. The day they leave is the day we get our club back. I look at Balaji in the same way I look at Anderson. Pure hate. I know that isn't good for your soul but quite frankly I couldn't care less. I don't like the man, never will do, and I am glad that Anderson is in a world of trouble with dodgy people right now. I don't quite know how I'd react if I saw them getting a standing ovation at Ewood again. I think in all honesty I'd probably walk away and never look back. There's plenty of local non-league clubs I could watch and throw my support to, however devastating it may be, but I could never, ever be in an atmosphere that is friendly towards them. From intimidating fans, siphoning of money, dodgy deals and the lies said about Jack Walker it is a hugely bitter pill to swallow seeing some of our fans forgive them, nay say we should be thankful for them. Those fans should stand for a moment in front of the statue of Jack and ask themselves what he would think and do. It wouldn't be clap.

i enjoyed that Times article. Covered most things quite well. Personally I couldn't really care less if Venkys came to Ewood or not. I wouldn't boo or jeer them if they did, but wouldn't be particularly impressed either. I do think that it would demonstrate some level of interest and commitment if they did. The problem for me is that I still feel that we are still some distance from being a well functioning properly structured club. I completely accept that the current stability and operation is much much better than it was in the early days and we appear to be operating as a proper club should. I am still worried however that the whole thing is built on sand. We still have this bizarre system where the manager of the club is running the show, just like Kean did back in the early days. The difference is of course that Mowbray is trustworthy and has honest intentions and also that he's a competent manager but this is all incredibly short sighted. It all hinges on Mowbray being here and performing to a reasonable level to avoid difficulties. Touch wood it won't happen, but I'm one who envisages difficulties when Mowbray goes - he appears to be secure in the job for as long as he wants it because they like him, he's got his mate in the boardroom backing him up, pretty much everything we've had since 2017 - transfer policy, appointments, investments, scouting - has been on Mowbray's say-so because he has had a word with the owners and they trust him to roll with it. In this day and age you need a setup where performance comes before personality. There needs to be someone reviewing things on a regular basis to see if targets are being met. I still think we have a vacuum where the manager is here regardless of results and this will hold us back. I also think Waggott is completely out of his depth and is now causing damage in the longer term by diminishing our season ticket base at a time when it needs to be growing. I find it astonishing that our season ticket base has declined on his watch despite promotion and recent positivity. An opportunity wasted to boost numbers all in the name of short term balance sheets.

Disgusting. That “fan” hasn’t got a clue what he/she is talking about. Utterly utterly clueless. Stockholm syndrome taken to the extreme. Thank Venkys? What for? Not finishing the club off completely? No Rovers fan should ever get down on their knees for these owners (or any owners). There is no need in any case. Thanks to these arrogant fools our once proud club has already been brought to its knees. ”Rich” indeed.

Quite a terrifying interview. Predictably season ticket sales are abysmal. No surprise when combining a pandemic with price rises, uncertainty and a 2 week sales window. Just don't compare our decline to those elsewhere as that will really bring things into sharp perspective. Waggott should be taken to task for those figures, as CEO commercial and financial performance should be his responsibility and a decline of that magnitude should set major alarm bells ringing. Doubt it though. Excuses at the ready and carry on boys. Waggott references poor commercial performance - how about employ a commercial director? Or is that too difficult? He's going to have to find a way to triple or quadruple sales post pandemic to just get back to where we were. That's going to be nigh on impossible before factoring in Waggott's ineptitude and short termism and another year of Mowbray going nowhere. Year on year declining sales on his watch. Any accountability or responsibility for that? None at all. Just another pat on the back for our great owners and blame the fans

This is why Saturday is a bit of a must win because i expect the inevitable in this one they always seem to want it more than us. Maybe them not having their rabble in with their giant Rovers sized chips on their shoulders will work in our favour.

Preston have picked up 13 points this season, all 13 away from home. They’ve played 5 at home and lost them all. Great time for them to play us! Home win nailed on. ?

I don't think I realised that there was a time delay on iFollow. It can't be very long? Anyway it makes not a blind bit of difference to me and I can't see why it would to anyone else unless you can't actually put your phone down for 45 minutes to watch a game.

It's hard to leave either Rothwell or Johnson out. Our record with Rothwell and Johnson both starting: P4 W3 D1 L0 Our record without them starting together: P9 W2 D1 L6

Their best is shoddy and poor. Their worst is abusive and criminal. Goodness knows how people can like them or what frame of reference they are using to come to that conclusion. I treat another human like that, say a family member, and they would view things in a very different light. Also have we forgotten - Hughes, Souness even ignoring (though we shouldn't) the years Jack was here and in charge the standards were still high. How can we have forgotten that?

Thought you'd be referring to a happy place next and chomping on a sheep's penis.

I dont really get the comments about "abysmal" quality, just seems like a normal stream to me. The commentators are irritating but that is minor. The delay is unavoidable and I am used to delay from having sports through Now TV, thats not ideal but especially with Rovers its just easy to avoid twitter etc for an hour and a half. If my friend watching it seperately messages about the football then his stream tends to be in sync with mine when it isnt with Sky. I do also think that it is a very difficult time for Rovers and all clubs but it doesnt sit right when people imply that we have an obligation to help out, the responsibility shouldnt be on the shoulders of the customers/supporters. And as ever Waggott has failed in my opinion with his policies since the pandemic took hold as much as he had done so prior. The issue with refunds was terribly dealt with and the delays releasing season passes this season was totally avoidable and has led to lower than hoped for sales.

Very strange and quite unprofessional for a Chief Executive to be speculating publicly about the sort of bids he could attract and naming potential clubs who might be interested. I get the impression that a sale of Armstrong would actually be welcomed by Waggott and Mowbray. A massive profit and windfall for the owners right now would vindicate Mowbray's management and recruitment and bolster his position whilst Waggott will want to use the funds to improve the balance sheet. I'm not stupid and know that if a huge bid comes in from the division above it might suit all concerned for us to take it. I would hope however that this is secondary to trying to get promotion and only happens if a huge bid comes in - compare to Watkins when Brentford got £30 million- that is what I'm talking about - not £8-9 million to a rival club.

I'm just cracking open a bottle to toast our marvellous owners after the news that we've sold 2500 season tickets but they are topping up the difference to keep us in business. Fantastic.

Looking forward to sharing some stories of how bad it really was, be interesting to hear the type of things people would like to know. The protest The investigation Transfers Board room battles Communication with the owners Manager merry go around Takeover talks Hopefully will get an opportunity to touch of things people were not aware of,

Venkys can NEVER be forgiven to what they did to our club. I have absolute contempt for them whatever they achieve in the future, unless they decide to clear off. Anyone who says otherwise needs to go back and see how far we have fallen in 10 years, both on and off the pitch. It wouldn’t make much difference to me but they should get down on their knees and apologise to supporters, not the other way round! Venkys out.

Simon Garner’s last Rovers goal...

Wouldn't bet on Ayala clearing up he was supposed to be in with a shout of playing the the Coventry game, yet a month on and he still isn't fit.

Have to pay the robbing nobbers back big time

I think so, can't blame him though, I've been to Boro in summer...winter must be horrendous!

Hibernating? ??? My main issue here is that he has a three year deal and has turned 30. His ability is not in doubt for me but three years is too long.

Not remotely similar in terms of style of play and without AA's pace up front the opposition would be able to defend a lot higher up the pitch.

Nobody is paying 30 million for Armstrong like no one is paying 10 million for Lenihan and JRC isn’t going to Madrid so can we get to the end of the season in 12th and then let him leave at the price he will leave for which will be about 8 million to another championship club. Probably brentford

We'd take £30m. Would be daft if we didn't tbh. Who we replace him with is another matter.

Considering we have a manager that gives us no hope of promotion to the premier league, we might as well take 30m if that size of offer is received. And it really pains me to say that.

Agreed. He's talking like a complete outsider with no connection with the club.

If Tony was listening to you he'd have got rid of Dack and brought in Duncan Watmore to replace him

Or maybe Tony should have read this board. I was telling him Ayala was an old crock.....everyone on here bar one or two were proper laying into me.... "He's 29 , not 30!!" they said.... Things go against you when your transfer policy is based on old pals act and lack of contacts in the real football world.

You remember correctly. 5-1 up inside 24 minutes. There can't have been many Premier League games with 6 goals in the opening 24 minutes.

Some players have a reputation for it in the modern game and we have had our fair share. I remember many years ago and I was at Sheffield Wednesday as fourth official and Benito Carbone went down like he had been shot. My instinct told me that the physio would be busting a gut to get on to assess and treat the seemingly stricken Italian so I stood on the touchline to manage this. The referee signalled the physio on and I expected him to be breathing down my neck but he was just about standing up, still in the dug out. He literally ambled on to the pitch and very quickly off again as Carbone was several yards behind him. I knew Dave Galley, the physio quite well so later asked him what it was about. He winked and said "you have to know your players" inferring that Carbone was a mard arse.

It's time we gave them a game !

I think the ‘illegal streams’ thing is a bit of a red herring tbh. I can’t imagine there’s much demand for Rovers matches illegally! Due to job uncertainty, I’ve not bought a season ticket this time around and just bought streams game by game. It’s been alright so far, but it’s no substitute for the real thing, obviously!

I honestly fear we have bought a pup. He is 30 now and we gave him a three year deal. Madness.

Sums up my feelings too - I've lived abroad for 6 years and iFollow is a great way to keep engaged. Warren Lucy aside, its a great offering. Reading the story in the telegraph this morning that Rovers have averaged only 1,200 iFollow passes per game (for context....less than Accrington Stanley & Bolton) surprised me. I do feel there is a large section of the fanbase who won't be happy whatever happens. I struggle with people who have only negative things to say, yet won't pay to watch the club instead favoring illegal streams. Not sure some have the full understanding of the economics behind all of this.

I haven't had a season ticket for 4 or 5 years now, as I moved to a more remote part of Scotland after making a 400 mile round trip from Glasgow to Ewood for 20 years. However, I have paid my tenner for every iFollow game since lockdown last season and have been delighted with it and feel good about regularly putting money (albeit not much) into the club's coffer again. The ability to see the games every week has been a bonus for me. That said, I can't wait to actually be inside Ewood again!

What a great player Ripley was. I'm not sure we'll see many players like him ever again as the game moves away from the old fashioned wingers. Also great to see Sellars in a Rovers shirt as this was just a little bit before I started watching football. I always remembered him being at Newcastle as a kid, but he looked a lovely footballer on this video.

Hi Glen. I'd like to hear about any crazy things you heard Shebby say in relation to Rovers/football matters. He made himself out to be an expert but the way he came across at KGH says otherwise. Were there things that he said to you that left you baffled or concerned? I'd like to know what his views were on Rovers' transfer dealings back then too. Also, could you expand on how farcical the situation was at the club with Agnew and Shebby in the same boardroom? I listened to the Nick Harris Podcast the other day and he mentioned how Agnew would decide one thing, Shebby another, and nobody at the club would know who to follow as they didn't know who was in charge! Finally, could you tell us about some of the intimidation tactics that were used by others to try and stop you from protesting or putting the dossier together? A couple of posters on here alluded to receiving letters/threats. Fair enough if you can't or don't want to go into it. Cheers.

Generally a well balanced article, however as for praising the ‘stable management off the field’, I would argue that we are still very poorly run on the commercial side, largely down to a Chief Exec with a tin ear when it comes to the fanbase and local demographics.

Or in the pub with Sammy Lee and Graeme Sounded at a charity event. Yozzer says to Souness "You look like me, and Magnum". He then says to them "I could have been a footballer but I had a paper round". Absolute classic stuff Andy.

hI was at this game, sat way up in the Jackie Milburn stand amongst a bunch of knuckle dragging Geordie neanderthals.. Couldn't show my colours, but was nearly found out right at the end with that breakaway attack on the counter where (was it Scott Sellars) the ball was belted at their keeper. As the attack developed I got to my feet, caught up in the excitement and completely forgetting where I was momentarily. When the shot came in I was already celebrating the winner in my head (as you do) and jumped up in anticipation, realising as I landed that all eyes were upon me, at which point I regained my composure and said something lame in my best Geordie accent like, 'Did yee see that. Wankers!" I think I'd been rumbled though, so I sidled off for an early exit before the full time whistle. I probably wasn't in any real danger, and given what I know about Newcastle fans I could probably have had some banter during the game instead of cowering quietly as they bombarded our goal. Suffice it to say I don't count this as one of the finest spectacles in football that I've had to endure over the years. But I survived, and Rovers went on to glory, whilst the barcodes just became the bitter parody of football fanaticism that they remain today - not even quite nearly men!