I agree to some extent but he’s played a level above all of them - we also started our Armstrong “journey” with a loan so I just don’t see the point in dismissing something purely on that basis either. If we can get a proper 18 together - a few of those - Brennan/burns can go play in league 1/2 and come back better like Haydn and Scott

Yea disgusting having Harvey Elliott wasn’t it… 🤦‍♀️

Thanks MB 👍

“Downgraded everything to do with the Club” is not true or we wouldn’t have a grade 1 academy for a start. Which sort of makes the point - they’re (Waggott especially) not trusted. Previous owners would’ve never had the same “questioning” in my honest opinion. Ps - they’re not trusted for good reasons (the owners at least) - but I still can’t see how the Indian family would know / suggest to make money by “downgrading” our facilities. I could see SW desperate to fill the commercial hole he’s created though. Im still on the fence (maybe should change my name here to “Arse splinters rover”)

Is that what it says in the plans sent out? I couldn’t find it with a quick look then (I’m making a bacon sarnie ffs) but I recall that we’d have the same number of practice pitches?

I’m no expert- how many pitches did it say we’d lose in the plans released?

You’re assumption that “are we screwing it up” is what I’m trying to explain that I haven’t made.

basically Southampton’s version of Crooke so could have some legs.

I don’t recall it being described as a “downgrade” hence why I mentioned some “independent” view of their plans would be more revealing. Mark Hughes originally changed the setup (swapped the senior for academy sites https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/6218466.feel-burn/ ) My take on the plans - we’ve so many acres of land worth x amount that we aren’t specifically using. We want to upgrade the brick, and by consolidating both sites (much like our first team is essentially “consolidated” by U23s) we could raise enough funds to pay for it. I think, under different owners / ceo, nobody would’ve batted an eyelid.

This is basically my thoughts on this. I understand the worry / lack of confidence in the rationale and current CEO. I don’t understand the mindset that what we have is already perfect, purely because it’s Jack Walkers investment and still category 1. Perhaps a more independent enquiry / assessment of these plans / ideas are necessary to avoid the speculation and worry?

To be honest though - How many bad eggs has Tony signed? Between 2010-2016, The list of “players” who should’ve never worn our shirt is an exhausting read.

One small observation on the “wingers” yesterday, when we opened the scoring - our “left winger” was directly between the posts and our “right winger” was following up directly behind him centrally to finish it off. I get frustrated by Gally far more than Diaz in that position, however I don’t think Sam has attributes to play as a pressing forward against a possession team either. In a Jokanavic team (SUFC vs BFC last night 442 vs 442) I think both these lads would do far better as they’re not expected to cover the full back, they’d play up top. Questions about why you’d recruit them for these roles still ring in my ears, however it’s hard to argue against their effectiveness yesterday as we created a lot, got into good positions, but their “finishing” was the issue and all three forwards spurned glorious chances. Finally - if you see below the last time we played Millwall, the same front three started, and I recall being more impressed by the Dolan than I’d been expecting too. He played this position in three games (Swansea / Brentford / Millwall) after our worst run in years (when AA was rested). Whilst he needs work on his finishing and final ball, his attitude, work rate and pace are key requirements for pressing from the front.

Some very similar thoughts - particularly Dolan. I watched WBA do the “Barnsley Gegenpress” last night, really impressive (if not a bit loose at the back) but constantly on the press / harrying the defence. I think we can do something similar with Dolan, we’ll create chances against teams that want to keep the ball, and for all Swansea’s management issues - they’re an established team in this division and he didn’t give them a whiff of time on the ball. The energy was amazing and made “Ewood return day” (for me at least) a properly enjoyable day.

On first read, I feel it’s just classic owner spiel, it’s that time of the year - see our next opponents Chief execs Q&A for an example of another clubs issues during this period- compounded with manager issues; https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/julian-winter-qa-swansea-city-21237989 Second delve - concerned that our owners seemingly haven’t been “advised” to understand that an academy isn’t enough to sustain a decent championship team. That said, they’re hardly going to be “negative” or critical in an address to the fans, and I also don’t really care if they come to watch the team or meet the staff - I just want them to ensure 100% is being done to move forward. Not convinced. Probably never will be. All cheques, no craft.

Yes for the cheques, no for the craft.

I guess the reason why you’d find my views utterly bizarre is I find the quotes in bold “utterly bizarre” equally. ..and no, I don’t work for the club. I think the commercial aspect has been poor but I’m nowhere near at the point of suggesting something “sinister” is going on. Just incompetence probably inherent from the top. Perhaps a lack of support staff or budget for that. The Buck stops in India.

Reactive not proactive. This ownership lends itself to that entire issue. This is my concern with new faces / bosses below. Won’t make a difference. I guess the difference in the most simple terms, between our view on this - the issues are in India, not Ewood. Or rather the cause is in India for the staff at Ewood. It would come as a complete surprise to see that change without changing the names on the deeds, and we’ve been talking about that for 10+ years now. Still - your point about the price of changing, SW have a very similar problem - a clueless owner. Chansiri causes different issues because he’s constantly interfering whereas we’re the result of neglect… fair enough assertion? I think in terms of the fans view of them - if they wrote the cash off and injected the maximum they can, created some sort of “loop hole” sponsor to avoid FFP (see Etihad) and then immediately gave a top proven CEO carte blanche to do as they see fit… maybe that would entice more people in, regardless of the previous results / performances?

Be a hell of a sign for “taking responsibility” towards the club though?

“These sort of comments don’t help”… who? The club? Your opinion? Lets just start with the first bit about sacking people - you’ve a list of prerequisites for their replacement but you have no names? Equally you mention two years wasted / money up the wall.. does that mean TM and SW should’ve been sacked after finishing 2nd in league 1 then 15th in the champ? Hardly reasonable is it? Maybe in hindsight? In terms of CEO recommendation from the manager, surely that’s irrelevant? Surely we should sticking to the “poor results” argument (in terms of commercial) with Waggott, because simply firing him because of his previous employment makes no sense? You’re experience and view of the current setup is fair enough, I actually would love someone like John Williams - but John Williams made his name in the job. Equally I’d love a top down tooth and nail approach but you won’t even accept that this is hindered by our “freytening” levels of turnover to expenditure, won’t accept FFP impacts this, won’t accept Covid impact… it’s all excuses to you. Would you seriously advocate spending millions on sacking managers / CEOs when we can’t even afford free transfers? What benefit would that bring and what top manager / CEO combination are you bringing in (who seemingly is already a Blackburn fan and knows the club inside out) for free, on the basis they’ll have nowt to spend? There are surely areas we can discuss the club / team - without constantly harping on about how our current setup doesn’t match our expectations. We didn’t even have a chairman based in the UK for 6 years prior to SW… and the initial people the owners trusted with that a shadow of that role…. Feckin Derek Shaw.

All of those “issues” are subjective. I don’t feel disrespected? Disappointed in last years results? Yea definitely but there is no guarantee in anyone signed or bought. That includes staff too; surely you’ve more idea of who these potential staff people should be? Constantly remind us? If ate soup once in 4 years, would that be constant? Apologies if he has said this more than once, I can only recall one article. Style of football too - massively subjective. I actually preferred our style last year than the Danny Graham / Dack axis of long balls. Results matter more though. I’d take Dyche in a heartbeat, but I don’t watch football to “coo” over effort/defensive organisation. What / who are these magic wand solutions to all our worries lads?

JHR what do you suggest would work? Owners write debt off? Manager replaced by Mourinho? 50m war chest?

I’d say owners - 11 year malaise. Do you know what I mean though? As it’s a vicious circle. The more that walk away, the more the ship is harder to steer? Finger pointing gets us nowhere.

Hopefully not. Whilst there’s a whole host of issues we can chomp on, is there a club in the entire football league that doesn’t put away travel on? Does the club having a decent income from supporters REALLY MATTER when it comes to investing in players, staff and contracts? Does the 200m in debt because of constant mismanagement REALLY MATTER?… I get what you’re saying MB, and I agree with the importance / worrying aspect of a few of those. In terms of turnover / debt; We’ve been close to the line even before covid, and none of that has ever been the fans fault…. I REPEAT, NONE OF THAT HAS EVER BEEN THE FANS FAULT! When we’re thinking mindset / approach to a solution; Taking our interest and money out of the club will only make things worse, when you’ve absent (minded) owners, a few self preserving directors and also a FFP system that’s effectively designed to push smaller town teams backwards.

Thankfully - if there was any chance of it happening, it hasn’t. Would’ve been a complete joke if the club suddenly pulled this service.