The Club will try and divide and conquer. They will try and make this out to be an issue with particular individuals, their approach and demands rather than it being a bigger issue with the club. Easier to accept and blame individuals than face up to a bigger problem. We can see that with Waggott's comments to the Forum. He's driven a wedge between the situation with Lenihan/Rothwell and that with Nyambe. The first two on the lookout for their final big pay day whereas Nyambe categorised differently, reference to no communication with his agent of course designed to heap responsibility on his camp. So in the case of Nyambe the aim is to shift nearly all responsibility and blame away from the owners and Club onto Nyambe and his agent. Make them out to be unreasonable in their demands, make out that they weren't interested in staying and that no matter what the Club did it was always going to end in failure. Of course Nyambe and his agent won't be able to defend that until it is too late and they are elsewhere. This 'divide and conquer' strategy is to turn attention away from the alternative scenario - one which I firmly believe is the case - which is that the Club is almost entirely responsible for this situation, that the Club has done too little too late and behaved appallingly, like it has towards loyal supporters as well. In an attempt to cut corners and save a few quid in the short term they have blown it big time and are now losing assets. Not one of the academy lads have signed new deals. Seems strange. Almost as though the common denominator - the Club - has some responsibility for that. Tried saving a few quid on ticket refunds and price increases = result of collapsing ticket sales and attendances Tried saving a few quid on getting by with the old pitch = games get called off when the weather is bad in humiliating fashion Tried saving on contract extensions and pay rises = result is valuable players walk All part of a big game going on here - losing Nyambe for nothing will rankle both in the stands and in Pune at the summit meeting so best get the BS out there quick. Shame so many don't see when they are being played and taken for fools. I woke up to it many months ago and I think slowly more and more have.

Precisely. The monthly magazine was only ever a stop-gap. A temporary compromise rather than immediate abandonment of a publication. Then when that doesn't sell well - and lets be honest it was never going to do - use that as evidence of why the whole thing needs scrapping. Job done - less effort and input required, no risk of any sort of financial hit, another Waggott cutback successfully implemented. Of course the point behind running a matchday programme isn't to make money. Never was, or at least not in the last 20+ years. If you are a 1st, 2nd or 3rd division club and the money gained or lost from programme sales is a concern then you really should have bigger things to worry about. If we cast our eye around the Football League the simple reality is that the large majority of clubs continue to produce matchday programmes and either make ends meet or absorb whatever loss there is because there are other benefits from selling them - publicising the club, increased coverage for sponsors, maintaining a valuable tradition - things that Mr Short Sighted won't have any interest in but will then scratch his head with bewilderment when it limits our appeal to advertisers.

I've been going on for months suggesting that there has been minimal effort or engagement from the Club to try and keep these players. I think Waggott has just confirmed my suspicions. I remember when people were saying that it was a ludicrous suggestion that the Club would just sit back and make little/no effort to keep these players - I was called a conspiracy theorist and throwing baseless allegations around and the party line was that the Club had worked tirelessly to make good offers to these players which greedy players/agents had refused. Not sure how you do that without even speaking to Nyambe's agent.

Waggott couldn't lie straight in bed. I would urge anyone listening to him or reading his comments to do so with the utmost caution. Nice to see a couple of other gems of excuses as to why things can't get done here. We can't release season tickets because of "current inflationary pressures" Is anyone buying a word of this nonsense? He can use big words but I would hope by now most of us can see right through it. Bolton Wanderers, 3rd division, have had early bird season tickets on sale for a month and have sold 5,500. I don't see their chairwoman coming out with this nonsense. They just get them on sale - £219 an adult - whilst they are playing well and winning home games and sales figures show it is a good idea. He is just another example of a snake oil salesman who has managed to get himself into a senior position on a staggering salary by talking the talk and stays in position by doing the same at these rare meetings with fans and with his bosses whenever they come along. Paul Senior another one who could talk a good game but had precious little to show for it. Inviting 50/60 fans into a room for a Consultation Meeting might be a Covid risk? How? This is the same club that opens hospitality lounges every home game and has hosted many indoor events including boxing, comedy nights etc.

Boro play Luton at the weekend. Luton play Chelsea tonight. Hopefully both are equally exhausted after big 120 minute performances and play out a bore draw on Saturday.

The ease with which some people just swallow the 'blame the agent' stuff that the Club are desperate to embed in the mindsets of supporters. I get that some people don't like criticizing or questioning their club as they feel it makes them less of a supporter, but it seems some cannot comprehend sometimes that Rovers are responsible for quite a lot of the misfortune that befalls them. It isn't always some freak event or third party causing havoc for the club. It is sometimes that the Club itself, run by incompetents, has allowed or created an environment where academy graduates are looking to the exit door to get away from here because they know they can get a competitive Championship wage elsewhere that the cretins running Rovers won't offer them. Nyambe won't 'end up shafted'. He will have half the Championship queuing up for him on a free, paying him a wage reflective of his abilities, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a couple of bottom end PL sides took a look at him either. The ones who will 'end up shafted' are us and Rovers, because we lose a very decent player, with scope for improvement, who has been a regular in the team that has got into a promotion battle, for nothing. A player the club has invested a lot of time and money into and we get nothing. As pointed out - in all probability he goes to a rival club. Those laughing will be Championship rivals picking him up for nothing at our expense. Why? Because Waggott and Venkys have tried pulling a fast one like they have done with many other academy produced players by not offering them an increase reflective of their status. 3-4 years ago the likes of Nyambe, Travis, Buckley, Wharton were kids just about to make the breakthrough. They are now core players in a good side in the Championship. Of course they deserve a substantial wage rise to reflect that and the club could of course afford it given the savings made last summer and cash pocketed and to be pocketed this summer from Brereton. But when run by cowboys like Waggott this is what you get. Not that he'll be here to pick up the pieces in a couple of years' time. Not that he will give a stuff about how bad it looks for the club as he's more than happy to operate like an amateur operation anyway.

And that needs building on. No good for anyone if we finish in the top 6, lose and then dismantle the squad and start again. No arguments from me that by accident or design we have ended up with an exciting good squad surpassing expectations, but the Club needs a plan to take that further. Progress this season is meaningless if it gets undermined by an exodus of players or lack of investment.

Its interesting - I was saying after the game on Saturday that I don't remember Travis ever being awarded MOTM despite being an ever present over the last 3-4 years. I think he won it in his home debut v WBA back in 2018 but since then don't remember him doing. Might be wrong as I haven't checked. I think because he doesn't make match winning saves or sit in a defence keeping clean sheets and doesn't score goals that he gets overlooked for this, because on Saturday I thought he was excellent, even winning the free kick for Khadra's goal just by heading towards the corner flag and winning a foul off the QPR player.

Not really. How is Nyambe or his agent to blame if Rovers have made him a laughably low offer? Only have to look at the array of others in a similar position to see that there is a big issue with how Rovers are approaching these deals. You might want to make Nyambe or his agent out to be unreasonable in their demands but that doesn't explain how Lenihan, Rothwell, soon to be Travis, Buckley and Wharton, all excellent prospects and key players yet all facing expiring contracts. IMO Waggott, clown that he is, has tried pulling a fast one with the academy developed lads, trying to keep them tied down to the club on relative peanuts by offering only very small increases on their academy level deals. This strategy will come back to bite the club big style, costing us millions in lost revenue and the loss of key home grown players. Waggott will still be here collecting his obscene salary telling everyone why we can't afford to do things. Meanwhile you'll be happy when Nyambe and co. are lining up for Preston.

Tickets sold out for this one which I think is an outstanding effort at £35 per adult for an early kick off and TV game. If we were Forest or Middlesbrough we could make a weeks worth of social media posts about what a massive incredibly well supported club we were.

Robins is a similar manager to Mowbray IMO. Lots of good traits and steady away but will never be good enough for what we need to get to the PL. I'm not sure if or why Critchley would leave Blackpool to come here but even if he did he's not done anything other than what many others have done and got a side out of League One. How about Darren Ferguson? Ainsworth and Warne have been relegated out of this league every time they have been in it. Great in League One, never done anything in the Championship. Johnson has never managed. How does that qualify him to manage this great club? All in all I think your list shows a complete lack of ambition and imagination, and for that reason is probably the sort of list that will get formed on Waggott's desk. Look local (in house) and look into the division below. Small time small scale mentality. Even if this season ends in disappointment again, which it looks like it will, I would hope the club have got some determination/ambition to go one better next year.

Back in the summer or earlier this season there were quite a few decent looking options available for us - Wilder, Neil, Hughes, Cooper, Bruce until recently. Now I'm struggling to think of many decent options. Good news is I'm not paid £300,000 per year to go out and find these people, and because a name or names don't jump out immediately by virtue of them being linked to Blackburn doesn't mean there aren't good strong options out there in the big wide world. This season has gone in 3 phases so far. The first phase was from August to November, saw us floating around mid-table and inconsistent. The second phase covered November and December, saw us establish a settled and functioning side, went on a brilliant run and gatecrashed the automatic spots. The third phase covered January and February and has seen relegation form, no goals and a return to inconsistency in performance, tactics and team selection. Only in one of those 3 phases - covering 2 months out of 6 - have we resembled a promotion or play off chasing side.

Its just very strange. I mean I get him dropping down a level to rebuild his reputation, I get that Premier League and even Championship sides might not have been too keen on him and try and get back to where he was. But League Two? He'll be 59 in November, barring a complete miracle they aren't going up this year so have next season to get through at least. He's perhaps got 5 years or so in the tank as a manager, yet will be spending at least the next 18 months in the bottom tier going to Harrogate and Sutton. Yes Bradford have potential but realistically they are at least 3 years from getting to the Championship even if he works miracles. By the time they've got there or above he will be nearly retired. I expected him to get an international job somewhere or perhaps in the US.

Interesting. Amazed he's dropped down so low but maybe he is desperate to manage again. Success or bust for him now.

I think Mowbray's future will be determined by himself. Regardless of what happens between now and May I think Venkys will be happy for him to continue and if he gets his meeting in India they will invite him to stay on. The question will be whether he wants to begin another cycle and spend the next 2-3 years going through another pointless rebuild working for lunatics. He was clearly fed up last season and ready to go, was kept on because the people owning the club are incompetent and has somehow managed to surpass expectations this season which might have reignited his passion. Then again it is relegation form since the start of the year. No excuses for that.

Yes he has a clear track record of this sort of thing. Anyone expecting him now, after 18 years as a manager, to suddenly buck that trend this season I suspect are going to be disappointed. This is the sort of manager he is. Very very frustrating because he has a lot of good attributes which is why he is popular wherever he goes and the media like him. He clearly has a good relationship with his players, he clearly conducts himself relatively well, he does a lot of good. But fundamentally he has a few major flaws which have always and will always prevent him from being a good manager. Others have come and gone with greater accomplishments in the game whilst Mowbray has spent the last decade floating around the Championship and League One. Time and time again showing lots of promise but collapsing as the season progresses. He has been unwilling or unable to get away from those peaks and troughs. It was pointed out last night that having been in the top 2 at the start of the month and well clear of 7th that by the end of it we could be in 7th or below. That is nothing short of a disaster, a spectacular collapse in the space of less than a month and there is no excuse for it. Any other club or manager it would be catastrophic yet here it just seems so predictable and shoulder shrug. The failure to strengthen in January a complete dereliction of duty brought about either by a manager who again has tried to be too clever or complicated about things or owners/representatives who have failed to provide the backing required at a key time.

Hopefully so, but I'll be very cautious on that front until I see a result. Wasn't long ago Waggott was going round telling people Lenihan was days away from signing. Should be an absolute no brainer - mainstay of the side and we've seen how much we struggle without him there and how little tenacity there is without him. Should also be an easy deal to do if he is happy as he should be given a rise commensurate with his increased value and importance. Lets just get it done and worry about other issues.

Thanks for that. I'm glad someone has gone to the trouble of backing up with evidence just what a bull5hitter Waggott is. It is all lip service - tell the people what they want to hear but with no plan or intention of ever actually doing it. He's got through over 4 years of employment at the club without delivering any significant improvements or changes. The pitch is one example which comes back to bite him on the arse quickly because you can't get away indefinitely with doing nothing. It will only get worse and eventually interfere with fixtures. Other areas are similarly neglected - club infrastructure, marketing, facilities, stadium, training ground - yet these are harder to see and don't stop games from taking place so easier to get away with. There's always a raft of excuses - Covid, congested fixture list, cost, weather - but all those things occur at every club and yet most clubs get it sorted. This summer's excuse will be the music festival which will mean that there is a narrow window in which to do any remedial work on the Ewood pitch before the new season - especially if we have a play-off match to host.

What is one of those? Do all managers/head coaches not work on the training ground? How do you measure or determine if someone has 'modern ideas'?

And Heckingbottom was rubbish at Hibs and Leeds. Mowbray was rubbish at Celtic and Coventry. Karanka took over from Mowbray at Middlesbrough and got them promoted. Warburton binned at Forest and average at QPR for a couple of years but has them in the promotion mix now. Karl Robinson and Gareth Ainsworth modern up and coming managers who in 20+ years between them have had 2 seasons in the Championship and been relegated in each. Lets look through the Championship. The only managers who don't have a 'failure' on their CV are those who haven't been doing the job very long. Wilder left Sheff Utd after a horrendous run of form. Still a very good manager thriving at Middlesbrough. Daniel Farke just sacked at Norwich after pitiful results. No doubt he'd be ok. Dyche won 2 games in nearly a year at Burnley yet he's great. Managers fit clubs and circumstances. A poor job in the past doesn't mean they are finished or yesterdays men. Nor does an unblemished CV for a relative rookie or bloke who has only had 1 job and never tested himself elsewhere mean he's great.

I think that's an exaggeration. To my mind he has done a very similar job to Gary Bowyer - brought stability, honesty, decency and a focus on the football along with mid-table finishes after taking over a mess. Up until this season he had done the same as Bowyer - got us to the cusp of the play-offs before sliding away quickly again. This season we've been better - but nothing won yet and if we slide back out of it we end up no better off than we started.

We need to sort ourselves out and pronto. Yes every side has blips but ours is now at 6-7 games. Can't last much longer or it becomes a rut which ruins a season. If we put it behind us and get back to top half/top 6 or top 2 level form then we will be in the mix. We played Hull at the worst time imaginable. A couple of weeks earlier and they were shot at, and a few weeks after they are shot at. We just hit them as the takeover went through and McCann was on his way out. Can't worry about what others are doing because unless we get back to winning we are going to slip out of it. We've got away with it thus far due to having credit in the bank.

Undoubtedly he's brought a measure of calm, stability and sense back to the club from the chaos of Coyle. But I think that is more an ownership flaw than it is a Mowbray asset. He's clearly a decent bloke and a steady manager who most players are happy playing under. But those aren't particularly unique or rare traits in management. It's just we've been lumbered with 2-3 absolute jokers and frauds under these owners that steady away and a dose of integrity are welcomed. I don't think he's done a bad job. Decent even. Particularly in those first couple of years and this season. But at any other club I think we would have been sacked or parted by mutual consent quite a while ago.

So plans afoot for the annal trip to Pune to speak to the owners after the season has finished. His first trip since 2019. Positives to this - I think this is the best and probably only way Venkys are going to sanction any serious funds be that for new players or new contracts. Without that meeting with the top owners we will once again be relying on the loan market and selling players. Negatives - it basically means Mowbray is here next season as long as he wants to be. There's an argument that he has earned that this season but I'd rather wait and see how things pan out before then. There's no way Venkys are going to take him and Waggott out to India to tell them they aren't needed. I'd rather there was more to the process than 'cart on Tony' but doubt it with Venkys.

The biggest and most important deal the club could release is on season tickets for next year. It is those sales which will make or break our attendances next year (assuming we don't go up and get the tourists). That article explains all about what a good young side we have and how well we have done this season and how good our home record is. All agreed. So make hay while the sun is shining and capitalise on the feel good factor. Last summer we had miserable sales figures on season tickets and that is the reason why even after a good season we are still struggling to get much more than 11,000 home fans on watching. Hamstrung by poor sales of what is our bread and butter. All sorts of reasons why sales were so poor but I hold those at the club primarily responsible for a ridiculous pricing system and botched sales process, including putting them on sale far too late. If you can't sell season tickets when top of the league and with good home form then something is very wrong. Bundles don't work and the only way we are going to get substantial increase in numbers between now and May is if there are really cheap tickets or we get through to the last couple of home games in with a realistic chance of automatic promotion. Even then we are talking one off crowds on cheaper tickets. They should have one eye on next year and prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Prepare for us being in the Championship. Target those 3-4000 who have been turning up since December who don't have season tickets. Get them whilst they are turning up at Ewood. No good once we get to June/July and people are off spending their cash on summer holidays or are fed up with us missing promotion or selling our best players.