JHRover

It seems clear that Gestede has well and truly got his feet under the table with the signings we are making. There will have to be more than a few fingers and toes crossed that he knows what he is doing here because on paper it is worrying. Granted he is, like everyone else around this club, working with his hands tied behind his back financially, but it is a high risk strategy. We've seen a similar sort of thing before with the Shebby and Portuguese influx. And thanks to someone last night pointing it out it does concern me that we've now signed two this summer from Vincent Tan's Belgian club who signed Gestede for Cardiff. I don't believe in such coincidences.

Hi Rudy No other club quantifies investment based on future wages and costs down the line. Everyone else quantifies investment based on the fee paid to get the player. Why? Well there's a pretty good chance that we will flog anyone who does ok, which will probably cover the outlay. Cloud cuckoo land stuff if anyone believes that we've committed to a £2.5 million spend on the two foreign signings we've made. Of course the only people it suits to spread such a grossly exaggerated figure is the Indians and their henchmen. Is £5k a week for these signings something to be happy or boastful of? It's a lot to us yes, but to a Championship club that finished 7th last year that doesn't sound competitive or ambitious to me. It screams League One finances.

On the contrary the less self-sufficient we are the better. The more it costs these owners and the harder it is for them to provide that money the more likely it is they will leave or give it up. Unlikely I know, but more likely than if it costs them nothing and they can just leave us to rot on the shelf. We've done the 'sell at a time where we get good value' - Adam Wharton, Szmodics - where did that get us exactly? Less than 18 months on from both of those - £30 million collected and what has it achieved? Nothing, we've reinvested a pittance and are now looking for more to sell. So yes I hope we lose the lot for free, then chief stooge has to go to Pune for £15 million this year and they can't do it. Game over.

You're better off having a couple of proven performers who at some unknown point in future will deteriorate due to age, than having a couple of kids or unproven younger players in there who might never be good enough. We know Travis and Tronstad are good enough and we know that rivals will line up to take them off our hands. We don't know what on earth this regime has planned for their replacements other than they will be cheaper, which, generally, means inferior. Not to worry though, at least we've got Forshaw secured for another year! With the way this club operates age and value mean nothing. We've had the good side of it - Adam Wharton - hit the jackpot then bundled him out the back door and never saw the transfer money again. We've had the other side of it - Adam Forshaw on short term deals. There is no plan or philosophy other than ££££££. If they can fill the gaps with 35 year olds they will as long as the contract terms tick the Venky boxes. Don't delude yourselves that there is a long term build or they are focusing on development/building value. They aren't looking beyond the next couple of months and ensuring the vermin owners don't have to send as much cash over from Pune.

Is there something wrong with a midfield aged 30 and 28? You make out like that is old, or unusual. Or that it is advantageous to have a couple of teenagers there instead who we will simply release or sell as soon as we can anyway. You also seem to be contradicting yourself. You confirm that they will most certainly get 3 years and decent money elsewhere (not sure where you've found the £20k a week figure from) yet suggest they aren't worth that. Well if they can get it elsewhere that suggests they are worth that. We can either pay the going rate or lose them and most certainly decline as a result. Our choice. I am concerned that you are doing exactly what the regime wants - accepting their decision making based on a belief that these sort of players should be let go because either they are 'too old' or their wage demands are excessive, and there's no evidence for either of those things. They are simply Championship proven performers coveted by rivals because they are good and therefore able to command Championship wages. The problem here is Rovers being unwilling to offer that.

Well they hadn't happened as of April, as confirmed publicly by all three of Travis, Tronstad and Brittain. Think I'll be believing them rather than the shady Venky stooges overseeing an exodus of talent. So unless something drastic has changed in the 2 months since April I think your confidence is misplaced. And the club could match their demands, just as it could carry a bigger wage bill when Mowbray was manager. Just like it could reinvest more of the £40 million received. It is choosing not to. Choice.

They haven't been offered them.

Gestede's racking up quite the collection of lies under his belt. Suppose that is what he is paid to do - keep feeding the fans excuses and nonsense whilst chief stooge guts the club behind the scenes.

Gestede has been pushing the 'homesick' Tronstadt lie since the calamitous 3 stooges interview earlier this year. It was his on-the-spot excuse as to why Rovers had done nothing about keeping such an important player. Thankfully Tronstadt himself clarified in his media duties that this wasn't the case and that he loves being here and would be more than happy to extend his stay. Ooops. Awkward. Life would be so much easier if everyone just swallowed the BS and left the stooges to get on with it. Anyhow it seems that has reared its head again on twitter today. Probably a club plant repeating the lie in the hope it gets adopted as the truth as it did with Eustace and Rothwell. Keeps the Indians off their backs if the fans believe it's all the fault of others and not the Regime. Thankfully more and more are waking up to what they are up to judging by the twitter responses. Still a few head in sand lot who can't comprehend that the problem here isn't the countless players, coaches, staff that have moved away from the cesspit.

Can guarantee that they will look to fill the void of no Leeds or Dingles Cat A games by creating a couple more. If Wednesday remain in their current turmoil they can also forget about that one being a sell out away end. I think embarrassment levels will totally go off the scale if we make Wrexham Cat A and use some really cringey marketing nonsense about their Hollywood owners, but I wouldn't put it past this lot. Totally shameless if it means shifting a few tickets to the tourist fans around town. They'll probably make the 'anniversary game' Cat A mistakenly thinking that hoardes of lapsed fans will flock to Ewood at any price to celebrate the 150th. That won't happen as most of us know, infact I can see barely any change to the usual sort of attendance and a mutinous atmosphere if Eustace comes back to haunt us.

True. Pound signs are flashing when it comes to these players. The club could have initiated talks months, even years ago giving themselves plenty of time and opportunity to iron out any problems / negotiations. They have chosen not to do that, inconveniently for the regime, if anyone needed confirmation, Tronstad, Travis and Brittain all confirmed the reality of the situation in their media duties a couple of months ago. Some of the head in sand brigade still defend the regime on this, suggesting that it would have been foolish to offer them new terms earlier in the year 'because we didn't know what league we were going to be in' or were concentrating on the run-in. I'm yet to hear a logical explanation as to why any of that prevents taking serious steps to try and retain key important players in the long run. Notwithstanding that the regime did everything in it's power to avoid promotion, including denying the manager and squad support in January and then allowing the manager to walk out the door in February to a relegation threatened club with minimal effort to keep him, even if we had by accident secured promotion after that these players would still have been more valuable to us under long contracts than short. Actions speak louder than words and actions show very little being done by the club. They can make baseless claims, like Gestede did in late March, of being close to completing important renewals and announcements being imminent, but the proof in the pudding is that this was yet more garbage spread to the fanbase via the local media to keep the heat off their back and the season ticket cash flowing. Waggott was the master of such things, going around the lounges telling people that Lenihan was imminently signing a bumper new deal, among other things. All this might be excusable if they weren't pretending they want to keep these players, or if they hadn't brought in £40 million from sales, or if we hadn't got recent experience of allowing prized assets to walk for nothing costing the club untold further millions. But we do and that makes it clear to me that rather than this be 'poor old Rovers' or accidental, it is instead a deliberate strategy by the regime to run down contracts, ensure that no wage rises are offered and diminish the club further. Their choice, as it always has been through the last 15 years.

The Regime must be starting to worry about a lack of bids for those players by now, so have got the Telegraph doing some advertising for them. 'Not close to a breakthrough' Someone needs to ask Gestede who he was referring to in March/April when he said talks were close to a conclusion and announcements soon to be made. Another lie?

At least they are trying. Might work, might not, but at least their owners and fans can look themselves in the mirror and tell themselves that they've given it a good shot. Nobody associated with Rovers can claim that after the last few years.

I've always thought that we could and should do something similar albeit on a smaller scale. We could have more statues of a few club legends, such as the empty space facing the Jack Walker entrance, or the gates at the BBE and JW stands could be replaced with ornamental gates paying homage to our history. Alas effort and cost are off the table here.

Because the club is in a financial crisis and the only way to deal with that is to sell assets, of which Carter is one of the few remaining. Make no mistake Chaddy - financial concerns and issues are top of the priority list here not making sure Ismael has the best squad he can. If we need to raise some quick cash he's one they will identify as a source of that. There aren't many others. I don't know what is more ridiculous, people believing that this regime has committed to spending £2 million on a player or that anyone would think spending that on a player with Tavares' background is reasonable/acceptable.

Indeed. They certainly haven't met him in person, which is key to how this lot operate as we saw with Kean, Bowyer and Mowbray, but I very much doubt they've even spoken to him on the phone. What the case is actually is that Pasha and his subordinate Gestede like Ismael because unlike JDT and Eustace he's currently willing to go along with their nonsense and isn't going to turn the spotlight on them in the media or try and get out of here asap. I say currently because I don't think it will be long - perhaps September - before Ismael realises what he's dealing with and starts looking for an exit. So yeah the two remaining stooges are probably quite happy with him and prepared to push their budgets as far as they can to help him. Just a shame that those budgets are pitiful and don't involve the owners pumping money in - it is all coming from funds the club generates itself, which isn't enough.

You say that as though the last 15 years at Rovers, or even the last 2 years at Rovers, haven't happened or that the root causes of it aren't still here. It also gets you nowhere in life to blindly ignore years of experience and track record and just pretend/convince yourself everything is going to be fine and dandy.

The owners and their stooges laughably claimed to have backed Eustace with investment in January when we signed Woodrow and Forshaw and he walked within days of the window closing, so I think that says it all. Their view of investment very different to mine and more importantly what is actually needed to get somewhere. Can always rely on a friendly reporter or two to come to the Venky aid. Two big 'positives' in 24 hours with Brittain imminently signing and backing the manager with more cash. Free credit for the Regime. Just need either of those things to actually happen now, which is the bit where we have a problem and the excuses tend to start. 'Money was available but we just couldn't spend it' 'We'd rather not spend than get ripped off by greedy players or clubs' 'We were close on Callum and offered him a big pay rise but his mind was made up and his Mrs wanted to go and live in Redcar'

I think because there's no serious intention or appetite on Rovers' part to do it. It's just for show and games are being played. Rovers want everyone to believe that they are serious, trying really hard, doing everything they can, so that when they inevitably lose these players for nothing or decide to sell them to a rival they can point to their 'efforts' to keep the players and instantly turn the focus onto unreasonable players/agents. This is something they've got quite good at over the years. Excuses. Reasons why things aren't done. We tried and failed. Like you say, if Rovers were serious the likes of Brittain, Travis and Tronstad would not be difficult or complex deals to sort out. There are no complicating factors. They will not be demanding big money by the standards of established Championship players at an established Championship club. None of them have ever been anywhere where they will have commanded big money and will probably never even reach the top division to command that sort of cash.

It certainly isn't a coincidence in my book that the same week Brittain was getting 'linked' to Derby and a Eustace reunion is followed a few days later by yet more talk about him being 'close' to a new contract at Rovers. Just my usual reminder that being close, trying to, planning to, hoping to, does not deserve credit or applause. Doing, completing, getting done are the only things that really matter. Gestede was in the Telegraph over 3 months ago claiming that we were sorting the contracts and there would be a couple of announcements soon. 3 months on and we've got Forshaw for another 12 months. There are games being played here I think. At the Rovers end there is a recognition that whilst people are irritated/disappointed in the Batth and Weimann departures it can be brushed aside, whereas a sale or departure of the key remaining players might tip the balance against the Regime at a time they are hoping folk part with cash for tickets and merchandise.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary we are 'giving back' to the 'supporters who made it possible'..... But only those supporters who pay £60 a time to buy a third kit that will only be worn by the players a few times and before we've even released the away kit. And only if you buy online, which for clothing is always a risk as you don't have chance to get a feel for it before buying. And if you do you go into a lottery to get 25% off stadium tours. For me not really much of an incentive.

Is anyone else not slightly annoyed that we will be sporting a white rose on our away shirts this season?

Based on the coat of arms of the town... I suppose it would have been just too much effort to actually use the coat of arms of the town then and actually have a unique kit for the 150th. Instead we've got the monochrome standard crest which is just cutting corners and costs as that is easier to manufacture than the standard version. There's nothing about that kit that in any way, shape or form suggests a link to the clubs history or origins. The only link, as I can see, is the green colour which happens to feature on the town coat of arms.

Well it seems like there could be four kits. The main three and then a special one for the anniversary. If they are going with the coat of arms badge on the third kit then I'd expect they try different badges on the away kit and anniversary kit. I don't buy the shirts and haven't done for years but this is going to be one hell of an expensive season for those who buy the full set!

Ah ok, but that's not the corner of King William / Lord Street, that would be the corner of King William Street and whatever the other street is called that runs from King George's Hall up the side of Natwest Bank. Edit - seems to be called New Market Street