Me too, got a decent to reasonable record at 3-4 Championship clubs, not that I'll be happy with either.

He did nothing that Lee Bowyer, Aitor Karanka, Pep Clotet and Garry Monk didn't also do there - bottom half survival. He might be more well liked by their fans, suspect that's more to do with the unfairness of his sacking whilst they were sat in a good position and replacement with a clown. Anyhow, I'm not buying it, not accepting it and not falling for it.

Precisely, it wipes the slate clean for them upstairs. Forget about the January debacle, forget about £25 million banked and nothing spent, forget about it all and focus on the dugout. It's all JDTs fault and look we are sorting it out by making a change. Get behind the new bloke FFS! I'm not buying it for a second and hope nobody else does, but sadly a lot will because they'll start getting carried away by a new bloke in the dugout. Eustace or whichever other desperado takes over will have to firefight until the summer and then the next round of fun begins. More cutbacks ordered, no money to spend, projects to polish up for a profit, nonsense with India. Nothing can or will change. I really wonder if I'm missing something with Eustace. I'm baffled as to why he carries this reputation as a highly sought after desirable manager. His only proper stint as a manager (other than at non-league Kidderminster) was a little over 12 months at Birmingham where they finished 17th, 10 places below us. Anyone who claims they played 'good football' clearly needs to check their sources because they didn't. Not that this is essential as we need some organisation but I do think these 'reputations' in the game are exacerbated by media reputations when in actual fact there's very little on the cv to be impressed with. They had a good start to this season with some late wins but we were just outside the top 6 in December under JDT - so what?

McCall is Paul Heckingbottom's right hand man. I suspect if we did go external he'd be high on that list. Head coach, academy background, localish, available. What a sorry state of affairs.

I'm also convinced that secretly both Waggott and Pasha will want JDT gone and will have been expecting / hoping for his resignation for quite some time. I bet he quickly saw through both of them after his arrival and realised what was going on here and after the cushy number with Mowbray his ambition and drive wasn't in keeping with their plans to plod, keep India happy and collect their wages. JDT was obviously a Broughton man and not at all what the other two had in mind when they were looking at Mowbray's replacement. I think Waggott will now move into 'damage limitation' mode of trying to deflect all our ills and issues away and onto JDT. And I think there will be all sorts of dirty tricks to that end, to sway public opinion against the outgoing JDT and portray him as the problem, today's meeting being the first step. I'm just wondering how they'll try and spin it next. Probably Damian Johnson and as you were with the staff and costs, dressed up as 'popular ex player making the step up' 'Get behind Damo FFS'

Mowbray was competent. But because of that and him succeeding Kean, Berg, Appleton, Bowyer and Coyle he is of course seen as a massive success. Fundamentally his highest finish in 5 years was 8th. He had time and he had backing and that was the best he could do. Compare and contrast to what others have done in a fraction of the time elsewhere. A big +ve in the Mowbray analysis is the players he brought in and developed. Of course the Armstrongs, Rothwells, Diaz's all good. But I'm sure if the owners and board had actually applied pressure and demands on league position and results rather than just leave him be for 5 years we might have had less player projects and perhaps some higher finishes. The cynic in me suggests he knew his route to longevity here was to convince the owners he was protecting and developing their 'investments' and once he was out of the way it was 'cashing in' time leading to today's mess. That some people still pine for him 18 months on after his frankly disgraceful public comments and admissions sums up for me the depths and low standards the Indians have dragged this club to. Anywhere else and he'd just be consigned to the drawers of mediocrity.

Players not happy with numbers at Ewood or reaction of fans. Certain fans invited to secret meeting and sworn to secrecy afterwards. This sort of stuff is music to the ears of the morons out there who blame 'shit fans' for our problems, and it fans suspicion, division and confrontation amongst the fanbase. Slippery Steve knows his audience

The airwaves alive with talk of JDT, senior players, the atmosphere/attendances at Ewood and what might have gone on at this hastily arranged secret meeting. That, my friends, is how easy it is and precisely what Venkys, shadow man and Waggott want to happen.

Like a worm on a hook Waggott wriggles to try and get himself out of the spotlight. Now bringing select fans and players into it but not others. Divide and conquer tactics. He's not as daft as he looks but when you've a cushy £300k per year to keep hold of I suppose he'll try anything

Yep, all part of making out that our failings are the responsibility of JDT and that we are a normal club acting to address that. It's a con job orchestrated by those upstairs to keep the focus downstairs

I hope he releases a statement via the LMA containing all the sordid details of what has gone on here. And I hope he's considering a claim for constructive dismissal and takes them to the cleaners.

That would be sensible in our position. Stop conceding soft goals. So won't happen.

We're at such a stage I'd rely on the account of a Daily Mail reporter more than I would Radio Lancashire/ Telegraph It is inevitable. Yet the club will even drag this out to maximise uncertainty and confusion further damaging our already shredded reputation and hindering what is becoming a survival mission.

No money Scum owners Sham board Cost cuts galore Glorified academy team Unsackable coaching staff It's Damian Johnson's to lose.

The League can't do anything, they can moan and groan and give points deductions but if the owner isn't selling they can't force him to. They're only making noises about Reading because their fans have kicked off big time and the League want to be seen to be doing something about it. We need the Indian authorities / courts to rescue us and need to forget about English based intervention.

Because he was mates with Mowbray and he convinced the owners of the need for a 'CEO' after 8 years without one. Despite this he's a CEO in name only so they struck lucky finding someone happy to act as a human shield and not actually be CEO, just pretend to be.

Bullshit machine in overdrive. Saturday's anger won't have gone unnoticed by Waggott and the invisible man, they know people are getting fed up and seeing through their rubbish. It's taken them a few days but they've now managed to create another ridiculous scenario whereby some anonymous staff member has allegedly forgotten to click 'submit' and unfortunately this has cost us the transfer. Remarkable. Never mind, they've got various 'sources' on twitter running with it so they can brainwash angry supporters into believing it really was just a simple admin error. Of course it was. Wake up people, this is typical Venky Rovers smoke and mirrors. Divert attention away from India and to nameless people working in the club offices. End result, as it so often is, Venkys avoid spending extra money. How convenient.

What is abundantly clear is that the Venky stooges and employees at Ewood and Brockhall will go to great lengths to cover up the shenanigans of their bosses and to shield them from any criticism or responsibility. What we never, ever get is a story that our failings and ineptitude are a direct result of ownership decisions, incompetence, delay, cost cuts. They want us to believe that poor Venkys are blameless. They really care and try their very best but are let down by issues down the chain. Inept employees, bad advice, nasty authorities, Football League, you name it they've played the lot over the last decade. Sadly swathes of the fanbase have lapped up those excuses and stories, accepted them and convinced themselves that they are correct, and even insisted to others that they are and accused those who doubt the party line (me being one of them) of being negative, conspiracy theorists etc. They are desperate down there to avoid the spotlight being shone on Pune. They will blame anyone and anything but the people in control. One reason I believe is that Venkys in their obnoxious arrogance think they are great and faultless and beyond criticism, and also assume that because they pay the bills this entitles them to do as they please without question. But they also want people to think they are wonderful and if the truth got out - that they can't cough up the cash because they aren't spending or that rather than being great, wonderful businessmen they are actually a group of idiots who happened to get lucky with their daddy's fortune, this might tarnish the image they have of themselves. They'll have parasites like Pasha, Waggott, Kean brown nosing them telling them how great they are to stay on the gravy train. In return these cretins will come up with all sorts to keep the heat off the Indians and keep them happy.

Why are we expected to pay top end prices to watch an amateur unprofessional club

Just wonder how many others of these deals there might have been over the years, ones that haven't been common public knowledge I very much doubt we've conducted ourselves properly every window bar the last two January's. I bet there are dozens of similar horror stories that we don't know about.

This is hilarious. Almost a word for word copy and paste of the shit they were coming out with last February after the O'Brien fiasco. It would be bad enough if this had never happened before, but twice in a year in identical circumstances? A disgrace, embarrassment and utterly tragic. I don't know how they dare even release this statement after last year.

I think our only hope is that the investigations / court applications in India come to our rescue. If the investigation expands or continues for a long time to come, or if it unearths evidence of wrongdoing, or if the Court for one reason or another decides it isn't going to allow this to continue, then they are going to have to come up with something new, this being either a new way to fund the club free from these restrictions or lose the club. I can't see any alternative and assume it isn't easy to simply switch to another way of funding the club. If it is indeed the case that we are relying on sales and cuts every transfer window to generate the funds and space on the wage bill to continue to operate then this is unsustainable for many reasons. For me the worst outcome would be that the authorities don't find any wrongdoing, end the restrictions and Venkys return to 'business as usual' albeit conveniently with a drastically reduced cost base. We will still likely end up in League One due to cost cutting but the pressure will be off the owners and they can revert to leaving us on the shelf to rot for a few more years. They aren't giving this up easily or voluntarily IMO. The only hope is the decision is forced on them by more powerful bodies, a Court or government agency.

My guess as to the answers to your questions 1) It was Gregg who appointed JDT and probably made promises to him when doing so. Nominally Gregg is the boss when it comes to recruitment and signings. So I expect in the early days JDT assumed, like most people would, that Gregg was in control of this and that when things went right or wrong he was responsible for it. I think JDT has learned over the last 12 months that actually Gregg is another who has been played like a fiddle and made into a scapegoat when the problems lie much higher up the chain, and I suspect JDT even has some sympathy for Gregg, and is doing his best to turn the focus onto the real problem here, and the chuckle brothers who occupy the directors box. 2) I believe that Mowbray had a 'personal' link to the owners due to his trips to India and that as a result of this he essentially had his own power base and authority to do certain things, within reasonable limits. I suspect this is the reason why Mowbray had more freedom, he was effectively unsackable whilst under contract and he was able to go out into the market and recruit under his own steam (e.g. Hedges). The shift to the D of F structure has severed any link between India and the team management and instead left the shadow man as the only direct link to India. As such the only way anything happens is through him and when India approve it.

I don't think this needs to be made into something bigger or more elaborate. I think it is actually quite simple. People on the ground, manager, Broughton, Silvester, do what they need to do to get the deal ready for finalising. One of the final steps on this route is Indian approval. No purchases or cash commitments can be made without, That approval doesn't come through in time. Either because they are busy doing more important things with their time, far too important to concern themselves with this organisation, can't agree on whether to do it or are bullshitters when it comes to money and won't authorise it despite previously promising to, fundamentally the end result is the same - no authorisation and therefore no transfer. People on the ground are understandably left looking rather silly, so they can either be honest and blame the Indians and lose their jobs, or make up various increasingly unbelievable excuses but keep their jobs.

People said that Venkys 'rejected' bids for Rothwell and Diaz in a bid to get what they wanted or help the team to promotion. I don't believe they did, I just don't think they approved those sales in sufficient time for them to go ahead. People said that the O'Brien deal was a transfer paperwork cock up by Broughton, Silvestre, Waggott. I don't believe so, I think authorisation couldn't be obtained from India in time to allow it to complete before the deadline. Looks like the same with McGuire. People said that the owners had decided to change path from Mowbray which is why they let him go. I don't believe so, I think his contract ran out, they failed to do anything about it until even Mowbray got fed up with them and walked. It is this silence and complete and utter indifference to the fortunes of their football club that saw Kean wreak havoc for years, that has seen a hollowing out of the club and decaying infrastructure, that saw Mowbray plod on the road to nowhere for 5 years, that sees Waggott sitting in an office he should be nowhere near and still on the gravy train after 6 years. They are responsible.