JBiz

I agree with everything here but I would add that we’d be more attractive to people with connections, power and wealth (being successful aka playoff and promotion chasing on a shoestring) and those are the things that you’d need to get the Rao’s shifted in my opinion. They’ll never bow to fans or public pressure. It needs to be something that puts them in a good light. Writing off bad investments isn’t one of those things. We are a perfect example of how football is fucked!

Wouldn’t that put our price up by 300m though - I mean Club value.

I wasn’t ever concerned with the “ambition and expertise” from the top, where our previous owners concerned. I also didn’t want the previous owners to sell. I was happy with the trust too. I’m no financial expert, but the way I see it, the more owed to the owners, the more difficult it is for prospective buyers. We can point to philanthropy and suggest that money is invested badly / lost - but we aren’t the ones who have to agree to sell the club. The Rao’s are, and they absent, stubborn, uninterested, and they hire cheap yes men.

We’re back at the “care and expertise” part of the story. If they spent a lot to get out of this league, they’d have to start with a CEO! Can you imagine Pasha being in control of a “war chest”?! You’re correct that money will get piled on with us at 120% wage to turnover ratio, but that’s our current wage bill, which is also not competitive enough…! Its just fucked. One of the reasons it’s good for your health to try and separate “Rovers” aka the team, and the ownership debacle. It’s not easy.

I don’t know, that’s why I asked. From my memory, whenever anyone at the club has been asked the answer has been “we’re not for sale”. This is probably the wrong thread for this, but that’s partly why I’d focus all efforts, protests, actions etc towards finding new owners. Aka, if you get can’t get any cooperation from the Rao’s, maybe someone with a lot of money, influence etc might have more luck.

You’re suggesting they give a shit what you or I think, and that’s the problem. I also hate the fact we’re in debt 200m+ to them, but apparently that’s something that doesn’t bother you or many others here. Pile more on.

Re the part in bold - that is the crux. We don’t have people who care, we don’t have a high level of expertise at the top. Doesn’t matter what “projects” (including the current Rudy / VI one) you’re running, if the people running the club from the top don’t have that expertise and care, you end up with people like Steve Waggott. Re the second paragraph - when they’re not putting money in, they’re not involved. That’s an immediate improvement for me. I don’t want their money. I don’t want my club to get further and further into “gift loan” debt with a set of cunts who don’t have that “care and expertise” that we both agree is needed. I also think that rovers are surely a more attractive proposition for alternative investment IF we are doing what we did in the 80s that you reference, aka punching above our financial weight, and being ambitious despite not having the backing or the crowds.

You sure? Explain to me how you know how much they want for it? How do you know they have an arbitrary figure in mind? What about if they just see it as a trinket or line in their P&L?

Because someone understands a position, they’re not condoning anything. Also “at any normal club” the manager banging on the owners door for money isn’t the usual anymore. Maybe in the days of Clough, but most managers aren’t even called managers anymore, they’re coaches. Tony even criticised himself, suggested perhaps this is why he never managed more in the top flight, his words not mine. don’t like “chaddying” a post however I had a response specific to this - you show me where Tony has said he told the owners to put their money away? It’s how it always was, they meet and decide an annual budget. Part of the reason they’re shite owners, they’re absent for 364 days a year. And he does in his “tippy tappy” he said they “just didn’t get over the line”. Sometimes in sport, football, tiddlywinks… it happens!

I just can’t get my head round the juxtaposition of knowing that all our problems go back to the Rao’s, but then wanting them to send money. Might just be me, but I find it odd!

I don’t think you realise how rich they are - their businesses could be putting a few million a year into us, well after we’re all in the ground and it wouldn’t touch the sides. I don’t disagree with you regarding the competitive cost element, we’d be in serious trouble with our revenues against our costs / facilities if we went into the third tier again without that backup. The problem is though, I don’t want this cycle to continue. I’d rather be a mid table championship club that has a budget decided by revenue, not investment. There are other reasons, for example (we’ve had this discussion before) the potential future sale of the club being easier with less debt / constant losses.

Honestly, I just don’t understand why anyone wants the owners to put more money in? How can anyone want to end this terrible tenure and expect them to be ambitious at the same time? Complete contradictions. Getting money for players back into the total budget for running the club, saves the need to go cap in hand to the cunts. I want us to wipe our own face, to cut our own cloth accordingly, even if it impacts any sort of ambition we may for promotion.

I agree with this wholeheartedly but I don’t think there’s any point in supporting Rovers anymore if all thoughts related to the club cannot be separated to the depressing ownership scenario. I don’t need a daily reminder for how bad they’ve been either.

No, I’d give Trav a round of applause personally but that’s not to say he’s a legend / icon / historic figure for us. Eustace personally though, he can fuck off.

I agree, however JDT openly gave up and continued to play the same football with players not up to it. At least Eustace made us harder to beat. You understand that you can offer someone a contract but not enough for them to want to sign it, right? Then spin that thought around, we might want to keep Lewis Travis but we might also think he’s not worth 20k a week.

Never won enough though. They also made plenty of excuses, JDT especially.

Maybe because the people deciding the wages thought he wasn’t worth what he wanted or could get elsewhere? Similarly to Brittain and Dolan?

People seemingly don’t understand that giving one player a big wage rise generally means everyone wants one too. I also am one of the few seemingly who doesn’t want more money off the Rao’s, I can’t get my head round the majority position here which is “fuck off venkys / Spend more money Venkys”… to me they are contradictions. Only time will tell on the replacements, but I’m with you on this one - the results we’ve had with Dolan, Travis, Brittain etc never got us further than outside the playoffs. So why give them a pay rise?

Personally wouldn’t call less than an hour of football in the league “started poorly” but then that’s just me.

“Yes let’s look like a shit club that’s stuck in the champ” suits absolutely nobody, and any suggestion that this is deliberate and not the result of a lack of ambition, expertise and care, is an insult to people’s intelligence.

Tavares, Alebiosu and McLoughlin all look well suited recruits to this specific style requirement. Cantwell also really stepped up into the “pantomime villain” role today unexpectedly. Absolutely ran the game.

It’s more and more common. Preston mate of mine was talking me about Emil Riis.

*until they’ve left us and then believe it as gospel!

I don’t think so, if the players told the dressing room he wants to leave, I personally would want them out asap. That interview was a way of expediting that process Imo.

Switch all focus to finding new owners, don’t even talk to the current backroom / owners. What’s the point