play Gallagher at the back - probably better there than he is on the wing

We've been infected by the virus for nearly 10 years!

Venky's treating our club like a hedge fund and tying the manager's hands at the same time. On the threshold of FFP because Venky's are playing their little games leaving no money in January when we needed it. Mowbray shouldn't put up with it and neither should we. No way to run a football club.

Not disputing Mowbray's influence but I have lost the ability to just concentrate on the football like I used to. I always have a feeling of resentment about the shadowy goings-on behind the scenes. Give me a penniless Bill Fox with lots of honesty and endeavour any day. Even if it means playing at a lower level. I was happy supporting Rovers back then.

No, I don't know anything you don't regarding Venky's. I could never pretend to understand why they are continuing to throw money away on a business they seem to have little interest in. Do they need to clear the debt before selling, you may be right? I just presumed they would have to negotiate a selling price that they would include an agreement on the debt. In theory, isn't the debt just what the owners have paid for buying more shares in the club. They can sell these for whatever they want but they will never get back what they have put in. The higher the 'debt' the more money they will be asking for if they decide to sell. There must come a point when they decide enough is enough and at that point the debt must become relevant. But who knows? I just hate seeing the figures going up year upon year and never any real statement of intent from the owners.

The debt is very relevant because it will put off potential buyers if Venky's decide to sell. I know you stipulated 'while Venky's are here' but that is so shortsighted. As for FFP, what makes you think we are safe? To quote SW, recorded in the fans forum minutes '"We are on the threshold and are very limited to what we can do". Do you know something the CEO doesn't ?

Everybody boycott the next supporters consultation meeting unless the owners send a creditable representative to listen to our concerns. Attempt to create some meaningful communiction. If they refuse then more fans will realise they just don't care.

Despite their wealth, this will continue while Venky's are here. Managers, players, CEOs come and go. The only people who really care are the fans. While the club is in a 'reasonable' position in the league people will put up with the situation but what we really need is positive action to persuade the owners to sell up. I know the arguments - Who would buy the club with the debt? we wouldn't get anyone better, Venky's pay the bills - I know I know, but as TBTF says the club is dying a slow death - look at the demographic of supporters at Ewood - where's the next generation of supporters coming from ? Action required!

Why haven't we got enough quality?? Mowbray has had enough time and enough money to recruit a whole team of quality players. You should have lots of complaints!

How would the players know what Venky's would be prepared to spend ? Even Waggott only speaks to the owners once in a blue moon. I bet the players know about as much as we do!

And they have totally ignored that too. Steve Waggott and Mike Cheston - no change there.

Every club owner has to cover the cost of running their club. Venky's are not special in that respect. The difference is other club owners understand what they are doing and accept that is what they bought into and actually take an interest.

Why didn't they do that when we were still in the Prem ?

A concerted alliance of assorted supporter groups bolstered by a social media campaign has urged Donald to quit Wearside and, in a statement on Tuesday, Sunderland outlined his plans to grant their wish. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jan/07/sunderland-fans-ire-owner-stewart-donald-sell-club Maybe we should give this a go.

All stems from the owners lack of interest and understanding- No pressure on Mowbray from above, no pressure from Mowbray on the players. Truely going through the motions. We want our Rovers back!

I guess this is a good opportunity to ask some searching questions but the last couple of meetings have been derailed by Tony Mowbray telling tales of working class life in 1970s Middlebrough. I enjoy listening to Mowbray but it's not really the point of these meetings. Perhaps people sending in the questions could try and be very specific with the wording so they require a simple answer and can't be avoided by waffle. I'd like to know if the plan to avoid the threat FFP was to sell Dack in January. If not then what is the plan?

Kamy, just out of interest, if you believe there are still outside influences that can affect Venky's decisions, how do you know that Mowbray has full control of recruitment ? I'm not so sure. I believe he is able to sign freebies and loan players himself but maybe he has act on 'advice' when it comes to spending big money ( young, British, 'potential', investment etc ).

I believe we had a decent GK lined up in the summer and he was ready to sign but eventually the a decision was made to spend the kitty on Gallagher. Who's decision that was is another question.

Given those figures how did all the clubs in the top bunch ( other than Brum ) avoid points deductions for FFP on the basis of one season alone ? Why were Birmingham singled out ?

But this time it was avoidable and self inflicted!

Shows what a hash they have made of everything. The policy to spend big on young British players to sell on at a profit has totally backfired and we are stuck with expensive flops. The risk of that policy has been highlighted by the only saleable asset being injured and may potentially be worth nothing in 18 months. They are treating the club as some sort of hedge fund without really understanding anything about the football side. Problems all of their own making.

I did notice this and so did a few people around us. Mowbray stood there with his hands in his pockets and our players all stood apart on the pitch looking at their boots!. While Huddersdfield were talking and planning our players didn't even communicate with each other. I think it sums up the whole problem at Rovers at the moment. No leadership or desire on the pitch, no direction from the manager, no pressure on the manager from within the club which, in turn, translates to a general lackadaisical attitude all round. It also feels like there is no real rapport between this team and the fans or between the manager and the fans. As always, it comes down to how the club is run by the current owners - no interest, no pressure, lack of desire, awful performances. Today, I think the atmosphere generated by the home fans helped their team enormously and, despite a poor season, the club had the 'all in it together' approach - manager, players, fans. All sadly missing from our club at the moment. @ColtSeavers has said similar on this thread already and that incident today summed it up for me. I don't dislike Mowbray and the situation is not entirely his fault but He, Venus and Waggott have the running of the club to themselves and I don't think its a healthy situation. We should be showing far more appitite than we did today - nobody looked particularly bothered about anything.

After today?? - He had 10 minutes ! The rest of the team were as bad if not worse for the whole game.

Or someone told Balaji he was a good investment!

Depends what he offered. He could have offered a pittance. Means nothing if we don't know what it was they turned down. They will sell one day. Even the richest fools don't like losing money continually