JHRover

90+ points, 2 points deducted, play off final, arguably unlucky to lose late on to Sunderland. If that had happened at Ewood the manager would be given years in the job off the back of it. Wilder clearly the best man for that job, the new owners there very foolish but falling for the laptop / football manager spiel like so many others have in 'modern' football apparently needing a 'head coach' and 'structure' and 'alignment' but in doing so have cost untold time and money. No. You need to just support a good manager when he's done well. Bit like us with Eustace.

Why not appoint Coyle then? Or George Burley, Nigel Worthington or Micky Adams?

The club engineered the Hyam, Brittain and Travis situations in the same way they have engineered the Tronstad one - they made no serious efforts to keep any of them. Firstly they stubbornly refused to even discuss new terms when the players were excelling last season, even when Eustace threatened and eventually did walk out over it, and then when they did get around to 'discussing' new terms (which is a stretch, I suspect there was very little negotiation or discussion) it is clear they were offering appalling terms to such players to the extent I've seen moves to Wrexham and Derby described as 'life changing'. Anyone associated with Blackburn Rovers accepting this should be ashamed of themselves. So they certainly aren't going to get a shred of credit or acceptance on my part that having deliberately allowed the contract situation to develop that they then hurriedly cash in close to deadline day to eke out a few million rather than nothing. Again, if they had dealt with the contracts appropriately and interest had materialised we could have commanded a far better fee or simply rejected it with no serious consequence.

We've brought in almost £55 million in player sales since 2021. Why can we 'not afford' to pay our best players as much as or more than Wrexham, Derby or Middlesbrough? Why could we not have instigated contract negotiations earlier than May/June? (If they ever actually happened, which I don't believe). You're getting mixed up again. Venky/henchman choices are not the same as what we can afford ad could do if we wanted and they allowed it. If they allowed us to spend the money we brought in we could have offered these players the going rate. They chose not to allow this. It is their decision, and the consequences are on their heads. It isn't bad weather, covid, FFP, small crowds, bad luck, location or any other ridiculous excuse you and others want to hide behind. It is Venkys and their mates. Enjoy.

I think it is clear that the sole objective and barometer of success for the summer transfer window was to successfully offload certain players - those with cash value, expiring contracts and larger wages. The timing, impact, effect of those departures totally immaterial and of no concern to the owners or their henchmen. We are now a club that measures success based on how much (if anything) it can bring in from selling important players and whether it can cut costs further. That's it. Quite clear from the interviews with Gestede and Ismael that there is no footballing objective here - no pressure on either to deliver certain results, league position, points, improvement. If we limp our way to 21st they will be more than happy ahead of another summer and year in the job.

If they were serious tickets would be on sale now for the Derby game with every tom, dick and harry associated with the club being sent promotional material, adverts, offers to try and get them back in for such a special occasion. This includes everyone on the database, lapsed season ticket holders, and the general local population of East Lancashire - posters, digital adverts, etc. What we will get is tickets being put on sale 3 weeks before the game at Category A prices with standard 'efforts' made on twitter and Facebook and that's your lot. That they are seemingly expecting to be able to rinse people for hospitality for a 12:30 game against Derby County, suffering the humiliation of our former management team, captain and numerous other players turning up, tells it's own story.

You forgot the 'range' of 'Macron' anniversary merchandise released a couple of weeks ago, including these two classics Simply laughable stuff.

What a desperately unlucky club we are. I suppose that's what happens when you are owned by billionaires and located in a total backwater like Blackburn (less than an hours drive from Cheshire/Manchester and same commute as players for Liverpool/Man City/Man Utd). I mean in the space of 6 months we've lost our manager to Derby because he wanted to be nearer to home so much so that he cut short a 3 year contract and dropped a chance at PL promotion to join a club at high risk of relegation to League One. We've lost our mainstay CB to Wrexham on deadline day because he wanted to move on elsewhere (despite publicly stating the opposite earlier in the summer) We've lost our mainstay CM captain who had been with the club since being a teenager because he 'wanted a change' and move down the country to a Derby side unlikely to be any more than mid-table this season. We've lost Batth who played every time he was available last season, who had zero qualms about joining Sunderland, Norwich and Rovers quite recently, apparently because he wanted to be closer to home at Derby. We've lost Weimann for the same reasons despite him having about 5 years down in Bristol. We're now publicly preparing for Tronstad's departure because he wants to go back to Scandinavia (despite him publicly stating earlier this year that he was very happy here and would love to stay). Awful back luck really. Shame. Also quite odd how this misfortune doesn't seem to occur at any other club in such significant, large numbers, even clubs that haven't got billionaire owners and those based in far flung locations like Norwich or the NE. Ever so slightly convenient that it is absolutely nothing at all to do with any of Venkys, their henchman, Gestede, Ismael or anyone else working for the Club. No sir, nothing to see here. If ever you want to know what idiots they take us for just think about the above. Their assessment of supporter intelligence is such that they think people will buy all this. Sadly some will, and those people deserve what is coming.

There won't be any time or patience if results don't improve because at less than a point a game relegation is quite likely. It isn't the fans that are 'hell bent' on preparing for relegation it is the Club due to voluntarily pursuing a policy of rapidly dismantling a proven competitive squad and replacing it with a totally inexperienced questionable quality squad at low cost. Unless you are very, very good the likelihood is that this policy will result in a deterioration in results, something you seem to accept with all the talk about 'patience' which basically means we should accept a decline in performances, results, league position as a result of choices the management have made this summer. Why should we accept that rather than expect an improvement on last year? I'm not interested in a team that can 'grow together' - as pointed out a combination of a wage cap not competitive at this level, an obsession with cutting costs, a high risk recruitment strategy and general unwillingness to compete financially in this division this means there will be no growth or project because the minute a player proves himself of quality in this league we will be vulnerable to him being poached by a rival e.g. the mighty Derby. We had a squad that had 'grown together' with people like Travis, Brittain and Dolan who had been at the club for years, often since academy days. It is as much short term now as it was last summer only with a lower cost base.

We had a squad that finished 7th on the final day after spending the entire season sat in the top 6, despite being so badly mismanaged that the manager ran off to have a relegation battle with Derby rather than try and finish the job. I think everyone in football would focus on retaining the best parts of what was there last season, and add to it to try and go one better in the hope of getting into the top 6 this season. That means keeping the spine of the team, adding some depth and more quality. I don't agree that they 'ran out of steam'. Their efforts were derailed by another negligent January transfer window failing to improve the squad in any shape or form and then by the club allowing its manager to walk out because it wouldn't give him the tools to build or strengthen us further. There is zero evidence available that the new signings possess 'more steam' than those that have left. Infact a number of them are unlikely to be up to speed or familiar with the physical demands of the Championship and will take time to adjust. I don't agree there is a strategy other than saving more money and dumbing things down further. No I'm not behind it. I think it will end in relegation to League One, or at best several years of struggle in the Championship, neither of which were necessary given where we were last season. 'Build value' can't be done due to our contract approach - how can it? - even if these new players turn out to be world beaters we won't pay them the going Championship rate - so they will be off at the first opportunity. The only way we can build a quality squad is by paying them a competitive wage and offering 3-4 year deals. Otherwise it is a revolving door.

Is the club being smarter? Offloading people like Travis (academy developed and cost us nothing) and then having to take a big gamble going into the foreign markets paying cash to bring in someone injured, unfit and unproven at this level I don't see as 'smarter' - I see it as taking a massive gamble. Pats on the back that the new guy falls within the 'wage cap' but you have to factor in the money we've shelled out to bring him and others in that wouldn't have been needed had we paid the existing proven crop more money. 'Building a squad that wants to be here' - the last crop of players wanted to be here and their efforts in the first 6 months of last season proved that. A more committed, united, hard working group you would not find in the Championship under Eustace and led by the senior players. That's been dismantled - deliberately - for non-footballing reasons. It doensn't mean the previous players didn't want to be here and doesn't mean that the new lot do either - they'll be here because we are paying them more than their last clubs and will be out of here as soon as they get a better offer elsewhere. You make it sound like there's a grand strategy to build a great side in place - but by your own admission and the 'wage cap' that will never come to fruition because players will want away the minute another club comes sniffing or Rovers decide to cash in because we aren't willing to offer them pay or terms in keeping with the Championship standard.

That's because the majority of people they have to deal with / bullshit actually are quite stupid. They're still sitting comfortably at the moment because the consequences of their high risk strategy are yet to unfold. As I said the other week - Rudy has had it incredibly easy in his 12 months in this high responsibility position so far because thanks to players already here (Brittain, Dolan, Travis, Hyam, Tronstad), a manager already here (Eustace) and players Eustace insisted we recruited (Batth, Weimann) business took care of itself last season with a better than expected 7th place. Rudy and his chums have recklessly and comprehensively dismantled all that this last 6 months, and over the next 6 months the results will become clear. Unfortunately we have owners and a large chunk of fans who are quite content to plod along in mid-table/bottom half, and even scrape survival and finish 21st every year with little more than a shrug of the shoulders, so provided Ismael has enough about him to achieve that the circus will continue under the current setup. At a normal club a bottom half or relegation battle this season would not be tolerated after finishing 7th last season and heads would roll, but here we all know it isn't about results or performance it is about who you know and whether you are prepared to 'play the game' the way the owners and their stooge require. Things will only get heated if our Championship status is coming under increasing threat. I think Rudy might struggle to bullshit his way out of that one with comfy in-house interviews masquerading as communication.

It shouldn't be overlooked that Waggott, like Mowbray, had a direct connection to the Indians. This is of critical importance in the weird heirarchy and power struggle that we have witnessed here over the years. Now that the shadow dweller is the last man standing with that direct connection to India he has carte blanche to crack on with his agenda. A bit like in 2015 once Bowyer and Shaw had been ousted and he was able to play games with Lambert and Coyle beneath him. Mowbray's flight to India following relegation in 2017 interrupted that as Mowbray did what Mowbray does and won over those listening to him in Pune. Part of that meant they trusted him to recommend a CEO to do the upstairs work and along comes Waggott. Of course a total coincidence that they had worked at Coventry together just a few years previous. Waggott was also allowed to go out there with Mowbray and say his bit to those at the top table and off the back of it secured himself year after year of lucrative employment with probably little-no pressure from the Indians to actually deliver a great deal. I would be astonished if any of the top brass in India ever put him or Mowbray under any serious pressure in terms of performance, results, targets, growth, league status, attendances, facilities etc. Strikes me as something of a ghost ship here - once you are in and get the thumbs up from the Indians you are just left alone to coast along - pros and cons with that sort of routine - the downside being zero communication, direction etc to the point where you are literally your own boss and left to fend for yourself. Things start to unravel if you expect more or better of them or dare demand or criticise them - but as long as you are willing to put up with this upwards/reverse hierarchy you're laughing. That is until the shadow dweller reasserts himself and re-establishes control and then the party comes to an end. I would be fascinated to know the truth about who the shadow dweller truly acts for and represents because from where I'm sat there is a clear divergence between what he has been overseeing the last 10 years and what people like Mowbray, Waggott and Bowyer were up to with their direct connection to the bigwigs. Often we get 'the owners' chucked out there as a term for who is running the show and making the decisions but that is really quite unhelpful. Even if we accept that 'Venkys' are the only ones who are the owners of the club, we already know there are four in their inner sanctum all with likely different ways of operating, then there's their children, and other board members/hangers on/family members, advisors, finance people. Quite the tangled web. Like who is the other Rao bloke who is on the board who, allegedly, turned up for a game recently (how anyone knows what he looks like I don't know).

You could spend £50 million on transfers but if you are only willing / able to pay players £5k a week then they aren't likely to be very good and you probably won't improve as a team. Likewise you could spend £0 and bring in free agents and loans only, but if you are shelling out wages on a PL or parachute level then you're probably going to end up with a very strong side at this level. No doubt of course that this £8-9 million transfer spend estimate will enter the history books as fact once Gestede and co have told Jackson about it and then they can pretend as though there has been serious investment in the team. Anyone with sense can see we have drastically regressed off the back of it.

Lots of smokescreens at the moment. Not daft the two stooges, they know that the pressure is building both in terms of results but more than that the outrageous transfer activity of this summer. Gestede speaking to people via LinkedIn. Hastily organising a 'podcast' or whatever it is with Gestede, Ismael and Owen - attempting to present a united communicative front (of course all questions submitted in advance, cherry picked and rehearsed beforehand). Handing Rhodes a work experience position to charm the fans who remember his goalscoring efforts. Giving Nixon a name or two of targets we are 'after' to replace Hyam. All part of the playbook. None of it actually matters, what matters is offloading quality players that we owned that got us into top 6 contention, trousering the proceeds and gambling away our Championship status.

This 150th game is the regime's opportunity to paint an image of normality to the world. They'll be expecting a bumper crowd of people to turn up for the 'special' occasion, probably stick some Rovers 'legends' on the pitch before the game, wear a special shirt. This will all make them look and feel legitimate. I agree the best, probably only way, for supporters to send a message to them and the watching people on Sky, is to not turn up for it. I also appreciate that is everyone's own choice and might not be acceptable to some. So ultimately we will get a half-way house. We won't get a total boycott of the game or a ridiculously low crowd, but the ground will be more than half empty, which tells a story in itself for what should be a significant occasion in our history. Personally even ignoring the 150th stuff the ignominy and humiliation of sitting there as our former manager, captain and half our side turn up for Derby, and imbeciles around me in the stands booing/blaming them for our demise, is enough to ensure I stay well away from Ewood, as I genuinely would not be able to go and sit there without either falling out with someone or walking out in disgust.

Ah so it wasn't to save 30 minutes on his commute then? Almost as though that was another lie made up by the regime and their defenders.

Qualified people want paying. I imagine Rhodes, like Gestede, will be willing to work for very little or even nothing to get a post-playing career off the ground at a Championship club. Rovers get a 'fan favourite' to roll out for little-no cost.

Is there another Championship football club, or even any other professional football club, where this guy would have waltzed his way straight into a senior management role, one that seemingly gives him free reign to upend the entire football operation and squad? Just when you think things couldn't get any more ridiculous under these owners up pops Gestede. They just love to appoint these people - grateful for a job, wouldn't get a comparable position elsewhere, compliant. Absolutely zero experience of doing anything other than playing football at a myriad of random clubs across France, England, Australia, Iran and Greece, yet within 2 years of retiring as a player is parading around Ewood Park in his fancy suit. It would be beyond comprehension at most clubs yet here it is just the sort of thing that we've become accustomed to. Knows the right people, says the right things, you're in for as long as you want to be. If he thinks he can occupy such a role and oversee the changes he has and not face criticisms or pressure then he hasn't done his homework. He's going to get it big time this season as the consequences of his decision making unfold and his mate in the shadows hides away. Good. It has been plain sailing in his 12 months so far, mainly because of Eustace's good work and the efforts of players bundled out of the back door. Now it is Rudy's project he gets to own it and face the realities of it.

This is the bit where the Facebook/Twitter/Venkygraph bots line up to applaud the club for 'honesty' and 'transparency' for this stage managed stunt to quell anger following another humiliating and disgraceful transfer window. Doesn't matter whether they talk any sense or indeed the truth or not. The questions will be vetted in advance, Jackson and Chaddy along with hundreds of others can praise the communication and 'honesty' of the trio (Suhail hides away of course) and on we go. They're able to tick a box on transparency and communication and there we have it, it really doesn't take much for the Venky stooges to manipulate the narrative.

Will they be advising the owners to immediately take steps to sell the club? That's the only question I'd like to hear them answer. Even then it ultimately makes no difference.

Venkys 'got away' with it before because people focused their energy / attention on subordinates - Kean, Singh, Shaw, Waggott, Coyle, now its Gestede and Suhail. Whilst I fully accept that those subordinates are a symptom of the problem and need addressing urgently as they should be nowhere near running a Championship football club - we must not lose sight of the ultimate control here. One thing that concerns me is that when, eventually, Gestede is moved aside and made into the fall guy for the latest disaster, that people think everything will get sorted out and that there is a future with Venkys once they employ someone better to run the show at Ewood. Isn't happening folks. Our problems will remain for as long as they do. This is all happening on their watch.

If anyone needed confirmation then the Hyam sale provided it - results, points, league position are not the priority here and haven't been throughout any of this summer. Those that were concerned with results - JDT and Eustace - moved on because wanting to be successful and get results was incompatible with the agenda being pursued by the owners and their stooges. Their desire to get Hyam out, his wages gone and their hands on a couple of million of cash overrides everything else, even Championship status. Remember that in May when they start pretending that relegation was unexpected.

I'm not blaming 'the fans' for our situation, but I do hold those (Increasingly few) who publicly defend the regime in contempt

How is the regime going to paint Hyam as the villain of this sordid affair? They pulled it off to perfection with Travis.....but pushing their luck expecting people to believe that sort of thing twice in a couple of weeks