Scott Wharton seems to be due for at least one 'what are you doing??" moment every appearance... He's already had his one today, so he'll be fine for the second half...

Vale finally made an appearance as a sub for Lincoln (only his 2nd time on the bench) and got an assist (looks like from half losing a ball before recovering it and slotting in a decent pass), so that's encouraging. Walker with 4 league subs and 2 cup starts, with one goal, for Morecambe. Left on the bench last couple league games, so maybe not quite pushing for a start there. Probably not one to hold out hope for anyway. Gent with a few subs for Motherwell so far. Buckley at least getting regular starts for Sheffield Wed. Generally a shitshow there, but sounds he got decent reviews in their 1-0 loss on Saturday... (not sure if loan reports should be reported here or maybe in a new 'loan watch' thread - tracking Buckley doesn't exactly fit in here!)

"3-1 up, and you fucked it up..."

Haha, they're all confused. The VLL accounts were published on 25 September, but they were signed off on 29 July. The LT text simply highlights how that number makes no sense if it were to include all our summer business... No way were we net spenders this window 🙂 Generally sounds like we spent maybe £1m on Walhstedt and Telalovic (+ maybe a few loan fees), while Kaminski + Phillips brought in £4.5m + add-ons (and maybe some piddly loan fees 🙂) (anyway, just being a bit of a pedant...)

Think this has already been flagged on Twitter (and confirmed on a previous page here), but he's misunderstood the "£20k net spend" this summer, as that will only refer to what has been committed between the end of VLL's accounts (31 March) and when they were signed off (29 July). So, maybe minor fees (agents? nominal fees?) associated with the Sigurosson or Bloxham deals or an Academy signing (Nathan Dlamini?!?)... Does suggest we probably got nothing of note for Edun, but that's unsurprising (perhaps have an add-on or two with that one). Going back to 2020-21, for example, VLL's accounts don't mention the Armstrong sale given it took place on 10 August 2021. Maguire's alright, but clearly was just asked to take a brief skim and give some thoughts... Perhaps got tripped up that these are the VLL accounts, Blackburn Rovers'. Haven't had time to give a sorta detailed skim of the latest VLL accounts myself, but some interesting tidbits in there, if more of the same (back to what our losses are like without major sales/training ground FFP chicanery). Cup runs, general media income growth, and a bit of an attendance rebound got us to our highest turnover in years but wages went up (likely linked to bonuses related to a relatively successful season + a couple deep cup runs, but interesting that we probably didn't cut wages as much as some thought) as did other costs (I suppose inflation starting to bite in some aspects). So, wage/turnover dropped but underlying losses rose a bit. Anyway, the actual Blackburn Rovers accounts are usually a better read on things, but the VLL accounts does give an early view...

Hedges is 90% a PL-level player and 10% fucking shit. (I actually do quite like Hedges overall)

Looks like I'll need to miss this one. How soon after the game do they tend to put up the full match replay on RoversTV? Might try avoiding looking at my phone for the day... (which sounds quite nice actually).

#GBandBenBensonFanClub

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm a convert and have chosen my side... go Al-Raed!! Looking forward to a big year from Mohamed Fouzair and some indelible with my fellow travelling faithful 🙂 Mid-table may be the best we can hope for in the league... dare we dream of a group stage spot next year in the inaugural Asian Football Confederation Champions League 2?! Does a saucy road trip to see the best that Tajikistan or Uzbekistan have to offer beckon?? Perhaps a run in the legendary King Cup?!? We'll see!!

Another random one is Sam Burns has ended up in the 2nd tier Greek league: https://panachaikifc1891.gr/nea/o-agglos-sam-burns-to-neo-metagrafiko-apoktima-tis-panaxaikis Certainly an interesting move! Good luck to him.

Probably the whole reason this has dragged out. Sunderland hierarchy are happy/willing for Baath to go, who apparently only triggered an option year on his contract through appearances (as part of being their POTY). They've replaced him with a couple younger CBs (assets) and Baath is probably on a relatively pricey contract too. Rovers are scouring for an experienced CB to replace Ayala, but we're on a tight budget. Baath looks like a good target to pick off without a transfer fee (rather than resort to decrepit 'free' CBs a la Greer/Brown). Maybe sign him at 10k/week for 2 years, so a ~1m total outlay, but avoid an upfront fee. Mowbray probably kicked up a fuss about giving away an experienced POTY CB, so the Sunderland hierarchy decided to start angling for a fee (£500k-1m?). Baath has probably been pushing for the move to secure himself another contract and it looks like he's out of their starting 11 now too. GB may literally have zero budget for a transfer fee and/or Venky's and co. have argued against/disallowed fees for 30+ players. So, we said no thanks and started looking into fallbacks, like Sykes (who Venky's may be willing to sanction a fee for given he's 24 and could have resale value). Now, Barnes is out long-term, so we definitely need a CB, and perhaps have now offered something like £200k, while Sunderland is risking paying Baath a decent wage all year to mostly sit on the bench. We're at least avoiding having to start a young CB (like Phillips last year), so we're willing to see this to the deadline. So, who blinks first?

haha holy fuck do you realise how good we have it here when you happen to venture to some other club's forum...

Possibly! I suppose it depends how that £356k/y 'fair market value' rent charge is calculated. You'd suppose that a 'true' private operator would essentially seek to bundle maintenance costs into a rental agreement with its only tenant.

Pretty sure it's how we avoided a transfer embargo in 2020/21... (and had decent room under FFP to work with the past couple years) The Venky's 'debt' is all interest free (well, the bank overdraft they utilise for some reason costs about £500k of interest a year. Further digressing, but we also made £761k of interest on the £17.3m from the training ground as it sat in our accounts, so there was a rare net interest gain in 21/22...) I suppose the negative after effect is we now have to book the cost of renting the training facility from Venky's (at fair market value of £356k/year...) as an ongoing operating expense...

Ha, was wondering myself. Looks like Maguire mistakenly added a photo of Raith Rovers' directors, which was in a previous tweet (https://twitter.com/KieranMaguire/status/1668967479018700807)

FWIW, Markanday has now been subbed on for the last two Aberdeen games. Came on in the 58th minute in a 0-0 draw against Hibs and in the 79th minute in a 2-1 loss to Hearts. So, 3 sub appearances total so far... While obviously worrying/disappointing that he hasn't outright broken into their squad, it's worth keeping in mind: a) Aberdeen apparently already had a surplus of wingers when he joined b) He joined Aberdeen right after they sacked their manager amid a horrid 1-1-8 run (including 2 cup losses), so a signing made amid turmoil/uncertainty (Both points obviously raise questions as to why Aberdeen was considered a good landing spot for him! Who knows if there were other options) c) Aberdeen have gone 8-1-2 since his loan. Hard to break into a squad that suddenly went on a roll and there have been few opportunities to at least come on as an attacking sub Having said all that, apparently hasn't impressed in the sub appearances he has made, but just wanted to point out it's hardly been ideal circumstances for him to get a run of games.

Just a shame he wasn't at least available as a 3rd CB down the stretch instead of Wharton (don't mean to pile on Scott. I'm hopeful he'll rebound next year). It was only the last few minutes, but I'm pretty sure he cleared the ball from our box with authority at least a couple times when he came on at the end against Millwall. I suspect he would've been able to help shepherd us to wins against PNE and Coventry, if only able to come on for the last 20mins or so... Bah. A quality, 'traditional' CB, just a shame about the injuries. But there is reason for optimism at CB despite his departure!

The intensity he had as he ran the ball up the pitch before the 4-3 goal... I hadn't seen that in a while. In many ways a frustrating end to his Rovers career, but I'll at least keep some fond memories for that 2nd half send-off.

Swiss Ramble did a review of Rovers' 21-22 accounts. He's switched to a substack subscription now, but you can sign up for a free 7-day trial if you want to take a look: https://swissramble.substack.com/p/blackburn-rovers-finances-202122 Key summary: I haven't had time to skim through the latest accounts, but doesn't seem to be any real surprises. Operating loss continues around £20m/yr (before sales). Income up with matchday returning, although broadcast revenue a bit lower (I think from bringing forward some revenues during Covid), and no longer have our pandemic insurance claim included. Impossible to know how we stand on FFP given the weird two-year averaging and extra exemptions for Covid (plus the usual exemptions for academy and community spend, etc.), but safe to assume we have some wiggle room. 2022-23 operating losses will likely look a touch rosier given a couple cup runs, league attendance up about 7% (unsure of the source here, haven't tallied it myself), and the wage bill was likely slashed a bit more, but probably still a £10-17m-ish loss with no Armstrong/STC sales (Venky's London accounts surprisingly suggested Magloire+Stergiakis netted us £462k, but still relative peanuts)

"He did what to Rihanna?!?!"

Well, that was a fun time in the away end. All I could do was laugh at that second half.

Plenty to be annoyed about for our run-in... But I'm just going to sit back and be thankful that we have something to play for on the last day of the season 🙂 (Aside from the agony of the game itself, I was feeling a pang of embarrassment having just before the game convinced a neutral friend to join me at the Den on Monday, advertising it as a game that will 'matter' haha...)

Liked him a lot at the start of the year, but he ultimately frustrates. Ooccasionally plays with a certain 'X factor' suggesting he's capable of creating some special plays, but too often his plays don't come off at all. Has had enough solid displays to suggest he's a decent squad player at this level, and probably relatively cheap, so happy to keep him around. For the sake of the question at hand, it should be noted he's currently signed through 2025 with a one-year option. It came to mind that JRC seems to be flourishing in the role that JDT was trying to slot Hedges into earlier in the year. A sort of 'roving RWB'...

I took a brief glance at an Aberdeen FC forum (woof, if you think the quality of posts on BRFCS can be bad🙂) and they seemed a bit baffled by the signing at the time. Apparently they already had a surplus of wingers and Markanday was probably a panic signing amid a horrid Dec-Jan (including back-to-back 5-0 and 6-0 losses at the end of January), falling out of the top 6 (having earlier been 3rd), and sacking the manager. They've since gone on a 7-0-2 run and are back in 3rd. So, it's looking like a bad loan and it's never a good sign when a player can't break into the starting 11 in the SPL, but it also seems like an odd/unfortunate bit of circumstances for Markanday as he joined just when they started rolling and there hasn't even been much opportunity to come on as an attacking sub.