9 minutes ago, philipl said:

You don't need Jerome to find them a buyer.

I know of two potential buyers.

But you wouldn't want them at Rovers because the club would just be a feeder in an international stable of clubs.

There's currently a very, very short list of people I wouldn't want at Rovers rather than the current lot, and I doubt people running other clubs with a degree of professionalism would be on that list.

Almost anything better than the purgatory inflicted by the current regime.

4 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Good luck to Waggot and the marketing team trying to sell season tickets this summer.

The only calculations currently going through his rancid brain will be how much more he needs to put up prices to counter the inevitable substantial drop in numbers that is coming this summer. 

That's all he's interested in and has made that quite clear in his time here. It isn't about numbers through the turnstiles it is about hitting his own financial targets and I think track records suggest he'd be quite comfortable with a virtually empty Ewood so long as those turning up paid what was needed to hit the target. 

Less paying more not more paying less is his motto.

12 minutes ago, Devon Rover said:

I guess the best case scenario is they find a way to reroute sufficient cash to get through until the summer then sell Smod and Carter to keep the life support electricity running a bit longer?

I'd consider that to be the worst case scenario - we limp along for another 6 months with no aim or purpose other than to find enough cash to stay afloat, sell our few remaining assets and have another diabolical transfer window leading to at best another Championship relegation battle next season. No thanks.

Best case scenario is surely that the scum are informed that this arrangement stops in August and then they realise that they have no way of funding the club any further and have no other viable option other than to hand it over to someone else.

EDIT - sorry just seen the above

42 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The future of the Club hangs in the balance and the LT are back in 3 wise monkeys mode I see.

It's like the whole thing just isn't happening.

It's too complex and sensitive for the local media mob to get their teeth into.

They don't know what they are talking about on the subject and will be discouraged from covering it by the people at Rovers.

So rather than go digging and get some expert analysis of the situation from people who are up to speed on these things and risk upsetting Waggott instead they'll cover easy and comfortable ground which means tuning into the weekly presser to discuss which injuries might be back for the weekend.

As you say, clubs existence in question due to these funding issues, yet hardly anything from the club or local media. 

They're a disgrace the lot of them.

Interesting

'Likely to take some time' suggests this isn't quite the tick-box procedure implied previously and that the Court will need to hear evidence and determine the application. Hopefully Venkys lose.

The listing of 'final hearing' also interesting. What happens for the next tranche after August?

Mowbray had a Championship budget for 4 years and with the exception of Armstrong in his final summer wasn't compelled to sell anyone.

In the 18 months since he left we've sold pretty much everyone of value or experience and replaced with much cheaper / academy players and adopted a League One level budget.

He knew what was coming alright.

These are other factors that will get ignored and overlooked when they put us back in League One and the Mowbray acolytes are out in force telling everyone how great it was under Tony and what a fab job he did. 

Or perhaps the worst outcome of the lot....that Mowbray returns to manage Birmingham just in enough time to pluck a couple of wins out and leapfrog us, consigning us to relegation whilst keeping them up. 

15 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

So another hearing absolutely pivotal to the future of the Club, maybe even pivotal  to its continued existence.

Nearly 24 hours on, not a word from Ewood about what was the eventual outcome.

Could Waggott possibly treat the supporters with more contempt? Fans groups need to start putting their foot down and say that treating the supporters like mushrooms I.e. keep them in the dark and feed them a load of **** is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated.

A true leader.

Happy to swig the champagne and dine with the hospitality mob on matchdays whilst collecting his huge salary.

Not so happy to front up and speak about issues fundamental to the club's future.

It will just rumble on for another 5 months. I suspect put back due to influx of cash from Adam Wharton which will keep the lights on until August.

What an utterly depressing existence they've reduced us to. 

Other than the points deduction I'm not sure how much worse administration would be than this. At least there would be an end and the prospect of a brighter future.

Relegation is inevitable. Even if we survive this season another window of cuts, sales and dross coming in will sink us from day 1 next season.

How on earth they expect to sell any season tickets this summer I don't know.

"We've done all we can"

I agree Steve. You really have done all you can to dismantle, reduce and hollow out this club into the husk it is today. 

Now how about that bonus for turning profit this year...

Middlesbrough one of those sides that always seem to be looked upon with apprehension and trepidation, no matter how well or badly they are actually doing in the division from one season to the next.

In reality this season they are a middle of the road Championship side, 11th in the table after 36 games and behind dismal outfits including PNE and Cardiff.

If in our 'battle' to survive we aren't targeting a win there I don't know where we will be targeting one.

At their place since the start of this year they've won 2 games, against 10 man Norwich who were winning before the red card, and 1-0 v West Brom. In that time they've lost to Plymouth, Bristol City, Coventry, Hull and Ipswich and drawn against Rotherham.

'No excuses' yet we need to emulate Rotherham and Plymouth and get a result at the mighty Boro.

They're virtually safe after 2 wins in the last week, so under no pressure, and being 8 points off the play offs would probably need to win all or at least the majority of their games to sneak into the top 6. These sort of mid-table teams should be exactly who you want to play when desperate for a win.

I'm still at a loss as to why they need permission to send funds from India tomorrow when at least a portion of the Adam Wharton cash will have been received in the last few weeks.

Any ideas?

Which is why I hold out a distant hope that the intervention of the Indian authorities and Courts may ultimately be a blessing in the long run. 

In the short term not - the stripping back of the last 12 months or so shows that - but ultimately there's now the involvement of a third party infinitely more powerful than Venkys. Up to this point they've been free to do as they please with nobody able to do a damn thing about it. Get the authorities and Courts involved and things get interesting. 

It took Court action to bring the Oystons down and get them out of Blackpool, and it might take the same to get rid of the poison here.

As long as the investigations and restrictions continue I'll hold out hope that it is leading towards findings or an end point. The worry is that the investigation goes nowhere and the restrictions are released, then we are back to square one. 

Personally I hope they are found guilty of some very serious stuff, and it ultimately brings their entire empire crashing down.

We all know how this goes.

We can cling to hope that relegation is the final straw. That the financial implications or otherwise of another drop to League One finally pushes the vermin into leaving the club. For 99.9% of people it would be the end.

But not here.

It's just more of the same. Waggott making up statements on their behalf about their 'commitment' to the club, playing down financial concerns, trying to shift the blame onto fans, EFL, JDT.

I expect a similar course to last time around - Eustace has our support, determined to put it right and get us back up, blah blah blah all the usual soundbites. Unfortunately large swathes of the fanbase will forgive and forget after a few weeks it will be a clean slate, no point talking about the past, we should walk it in League One (we won't).

Of the estimated £10 million black hole we have the Adam Wharton and David Raya cash. We can sell Szmodics, Carter, Travis, Gallagher and bring in another £5 million or so. With the exodus of loans and expiring contracts and the rump of a squad left over costs will be slashed again. 

Forget about investment and building a promotion worthy squad, it will be an opportunity for further cost cuts, stand closures and Waggott's only task will be filling that £10 million hole. 

The signs were positive for the first 10-15 minutes. They often are. Under JDT and Mowbray we often started home games brightly and with high energy. Many away teams will let us do so. But it is what comes after the 15 minute mark that is such a concern and has been for a long time. We run out of ideas and energy and have little or nothing in reserve to change it.

There's not really any more to be said beyond @arbitros excellent analysis.

The result alone would have been disappointing and damaging enough, but the performance was in my book deeply alarming considering we were at home in a 'must win' game against Plymouth. We were lucky to get anything out of the game. 

My frustrations building again as I am trudging away from my seat, a feeling of disappointment and despair, yet am surrounded by rounds of applause presumably for 'digging in' and holding on to a point. I wonder when the inevitable relegation comes will these people perhaps look on this week with regret or just a shoulder shrug?

For me the Millwall game was dismal, but today was even worse. At least with Millwall we were value for a point and they never looked likely to beat us. Today we were fortunate and on another day would have been comfortably beaten.

Phillips is playing regularly for a side above us in the table and is getting paid a hell of a lot more for doing it than he was for sitting on our bench last season.

Sounds like a good move to me. That's before you factor in that at Spurs and Plymouth he's playing for real clubs that actually want to be successful and have an element of professionalism about them.

https://x.com/PNEBenHD/status/1766156870203343107?s=20

Saw this on twitter and thought it was interesting. We are virtually flatlining on attendances over the last decade, whereas the vast majority of our rivals are seeing massive increases in their attendances.

Quite a useful tool to highlight what a disaster the Venky era has been and the medium term impact of their policies. Perhaps someone who can find him and stomach speaking to the man could ask Waggott what he thinks about this.

1 hour ago, rob_of_the_rovers said:

Looking forward to seeing if some of the youngsters can cut it in league one next season.

Maybe even Telalovic will get a goal or two.

It almost makes me wonder if that is part of the project here. Playing in League One will give a more appropriate platform to the likes of Vale, Leonard, Markandy, Garrett, Telalovic, Wahlstedt and co. to get the minutes and opportunities under their belt ready for their sales.

22 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

The worst part - JDT wasn't sacked. He resigned (and had to pay to get out of his contract) - that's how desperate he was to get away from this club.

 

He was obviously desperate to get sacked and was doing everything he could during December and January for that to happen.

Unfortunately for him this lot won't sack anyone, so instead he was left in situ for months when he didn't want to be.

Eventually, after they 'did it again' in January even he couldn't stomach hanging around and so came to an agreement to get the hell out of here.

Hopeful of a profit. Wonder if Swag gets a juicy bonus if that happens.

If we need Court permission to release funds in March where has the Adam Wharton money gone?

28 minutes ago, Stonesrick said:

Attendances this Tuesday in the Championship:

Coventry v Rotherham – 22,092

Hull v Birmingham – 20,398

Ipswich v Bristol C – 28,001

Leeds v Stoke – 36,118

Sheff W v Plymouth – 23,037

Sunderland v Leicester – 40,293

And……

Rovers v Millwall – 11,711

 

Prior to those charlatans taking over:

30^th October, 2010:

Rovers v Chelsea – 25,836

Thanks very much Venky’s and all your minions for protecting Jacks legacy.  

Also worth noting that the likes of Hull, Ipswich and Coventry were all getting much lower gates at this level, down in the teens rather than 20's, until recently.

Then all three got taken over and new owners delivered a wave of optimism and engagement and attendances rocketed.

Still apparently such a fate is impossible here.

As it stands Wednesday, Millwall, QPR and Huddersfield are showing that they have the ingredients to stay up. All are picking up points at a healthy rate. All still in trouble but if they keep doing what they are will be fine. 

The ones sinking fast are us, Plymouth and Stoke. Birmingham struggling a bit without Mowbray but are showing fight. Could have got a point with 10 men against Southampton and got a good point at Hull last night. So I don't see them going down.

Thing is that Plymouth have a good solid home record and will win games there against the poorer sides. So not sure about them

Think we are destined for the drop, only positive at the moment is we aren't losing every week and are getting a few draws but those could well cost us as they did under Mowbray when draws against Wolves and Bristol were celebrated and then we were relegated.