And outside of the transfer window I think by mid Jan with utterly horrendous results he was beginning to get on sticky ground anyway... Given where we are and what we need for a relegation battle JDT leaving may not be the worst thing - provided we have someone competent lined up. I am however worried the options we have been looking at are not experienced Championship battlers who know you stay up by ultimately being defensively solid, but are instead young aficionados of the gegenpress and silky triangle football.

Can't see how we justify Sigurdsson starting? Dolan looked a lot brighter when he's been in. Sigurdsson has been a total passenger. From my perspective Sigurdsson doesn't have the pace or workrate to play wide, plus he looks to always come inside very early anyway. If we play him he needs to be at number 10 for me. Think if we went 4231 we could maybe play Sigurdsson at number 10 and Szmodics wide left. But do we move our top scorer excelling and scoring goals out of number 10 wide to accomodate someone (Sigurdsson) who does not seem to even be putting the basic level of effort in. I would probably go : Pears Hyam Fadz Wharton JRC Tronstad Garrett Chrisene Szmodics Gallagher Dolan

I assume it didn't go in because of further blocking/delaying by Venkys, that seems more likely than another paperwork error. I am looking forward to hearing what Gregg says in his post window interview...

Agreed - something the incoming football regulator should be allowed to do imo. No idea if that is in the scope of its proposed powers though.

Absolutely agree with this... We need back to basics. I know JDT will say if we are not ultra offensive we wont score goals as we lack quality up top.... But whats the point in being ultra offensive if you ship goals at the rate we are??? We really should be going back to playing deep and hitting on the break. With the like of McFadz and Fleck they are not going to be running around anyway. Id go 343 and just look to make it very difficult for the opposition by sitting deep and look to Gallagher, Szmodics, JRC and Dolan to make the most of counters. Don't over commit. Pears Hyam. McFadz. Wharton JRC. Tronstad. Fleck. Chrisene Dolan. Gallagher Szmodics. If fleck isn't fit put Garrett in there. Main instruction is forget about overloads, nice one twos etc. Win the first ball and the second ball in the air or on the ground. And break quickly.

If fit I can see the likes of McFadz and Fleck making a big difference in terms of competitiveness.... But is JDT going to be telling them to focus on running the channels to make overloads? As we seen far more worried about that (several times yesterday I saw four rovers players in the small stamp of territory between edge of the opponents box and the touchline) than being solid in the centre of the pitch.

Dont really agree. Going to three at the back has helped a bit but we are still committing 7-8 players to every attack and on the break other teams just walk through us. JDT seems absolutely unconcerned by it. Maybe we will shift to playing more conservatively but theres no indication of it so far

Oh I think he did care, I really rate him as a manager. But I think hes got to the point where its all such a clown show, and the goal post keep moving etc, that hes checked out and feels miminal accountability for how the team is performing. We've been dragged into a relegation battle in a death spiral which puts Mowbray in the shade but you wouldnt guess it from his demeanor or what he says. Hes been sold a pup so I dont blame him - in his position I would probably react much the same - but that doesn't take away from the fact the manager / coach needs to take accountability and lead. And if hes checked out then that is very very bad news.

In his interviews you can also see he is past caring. The last thing you want from a manager in a relegation battle is someone who doesnt give a shit.

Wrote the above before the deadline day shenanigans and JDTs clear rift with the club. Definitely worried now.

Ah that makes more sense .... Like a player. Hadn't thought of that. I have more sympathy for JDT.

True but hes got a golden opportunity now to get off the sinking ship and blame it on the owners. If he sticks around he could end up with a relegation on his CV. From my perspective I am a bit conflicted - changing the manager with the utter chaos going on does not seem sensible. But on the other hand JDTs tactical instincts are the absolute opposite if what we need in a relegation battle. And he must be pretty low in morale and enthusiasm which is hardly what you want from your leader in this situation.

Watched the post match presser. So weird Surely if JDT has any self respect he'll quit? Alternative is he just hangs around waiting for a pay off which is a bad look for his career.

Indentured servitude finished in the 19th century..... The employee can break an employment contract at their will without penalty. The difference is if you walk you get no comp, if youre sacked your contract is paid up.

If JDT is disappointed and furious he should quit. Why stick around for 18 months wages? Just makes him look weak and will keep eroding his reputation...

Moran has done okay for me... Id leave him on unless Fleck is fully fit which i doubt. Sigurdsson though is totally anonymous. Id just straight swap him for Garret

Think we've looked pretty good Chisene looks much better at lwb than Sigurdsson. Think we are doing 424 in possession and 352 out of possession.... Pears JRC. Hyam. Wharton dolan. Moran. Tronstad. Sigurdsson Chrisene Gallagher. Szmodics turning into Pears JRC. Hyam. Wharton. Chrisene Moran Tronstad. Dolan. Gallagher Szmodics. Sigurdsson

Yes but considering they have sunk so much money into the club, and the biggest priority for them seems to be keeping things low hassle and low profile, I am hopeful they would write off the debt. If they dissolve the club trying to get their money back that will turn into the sort of massive media storm they have tried to avoid. While clueless and incompetent one thing they don't seem to have been too worried about is writing off investments into the club. So it would just be another one of those. But who knows.

He fired Sam Allardyce, hired Steve Kean (a client of his management stable) and started recruiting players, often with massive agent’s fees for associates of his. As far as I could judge, the matriarch of the Venky’s clan, Mrs Rao, was naive and massively badly advised, but wasn’t corrupt and had good intentions for the club. The Rao family remain owners and have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on Blackburn since 2011 because, I feel, they do not want to fail. They still think they can get the club back to the Premier League one day. At this point, it’s unlikely that they will receive an offer for the club that would recover a substantial amount of the money they have spent – but if they did, I think they would probably sell. More likely, they will do whatever they realistically can to keep the club out of administration – a scenario in which they would lose control completely. As for currency export issues, these have been happening since late 2011. Remember when there were fears that not having enough money in the club’s bank account at the Blackburn branch might lead to wages not being paid? That was due to currency export issues. One of the moves they made to get out of that one was selling Chris Samba to Anzhi in Russia in early 2012. I will try to look again at the whole situation soon – and if I find anything concrete to report, I’ll write about it here. Good thought out response from NH. But he doesn't really address the key point which is for six months now Venkys have struggled to put money into the club causing all sorts of contortions and potentially our manager to resign. The hassle from the court cases, indian governament, press attention must be aggravating. Essentially the friction in keeping the club is significantly rising, and as that rises their desire to sell must as well. There has been mentioned a month ago or so a delegation from India came to Ewood, and that next month a delegation from the club will go out to Pune. I really am beginning to wonder if the wheels are starting to turn for a sale....

If JDT has gone, this seems to me a great opportunity to put maximum pressure on Venkys to sell. We have money in the bank from Wharton and Raya which lowers our dependency on them. Clubs on a better footing in terms of income vs outgoing. The legal hassle, attention from indian government and bad press must not seem worth it Venkys. Getting the club on the market feels close to me. Hope there are viable people out there who want to take us on. That said it's likely that they will be totally unrealistic in what they ask for the club.

After thinking about it for a while Im pretty certain JDT will leave after the game. No new info to base that on, but I just cant see how any manager comes back from being blocked from speaking to the media by the club. Thats a total break down of trust. In terms of why he would take the game anyway - think it's consistent with his personality to try and end on a good note, say goodbye to the players and fans. We shall see. Hope I'm wrong.

Anyone got a link to the Nixon story?

I imagine he was of the view to "see how it goes". Unfortunately he has now seen how it has gone.

Ties in with us nearly crashing the McGuire deal by insisting Palace loaned Wharton back. Probably JDT threatened to kick off, so they went back to Palace and said they had to loan back. Palace said deal off. Then we caved. JDT seems like a pretty reasonable guy. Said he signed up to have a DOF etc so knew not controlling transfers came with the territory. But the moving goal posts with the indian capital controls must just seem total clown town to him (as it does to us). It's really a great opportunity for him to jump now. If he is weighing it up with us in 18th, all the turmoil at the club, and the battering his reputation is taking he's got a bit of a get out of jail card now. Can paint this season as entirely about the Indian court shit show and talk up finishing a point outside the playoffs last year as his key Rovers CV achievenment... While I doubt he would get a job above our level, he should be able to find a good equivalent one in a few months given the sack race. I can't see why he would stay. Edit - can't see him being sacked due to payoff. And to quit he needs to accept losing out on his remaining contract. But as said he should find an equivalent okay so its not really that much of a risk for him. Maybe lose a few months pay. JDT goes and relegation is definitely on as we will be in total disarray.

Yeah - clear flag that he is about to quit. Things have not been going well generally, and from his perspective this is a good moment to go as if he is questioned about leaving Rovers in the future he can point to players from being sold under him and not replaced. If he sticks around and leaves later it will be much muddier.