JHRover

Can't help but think we are in for a repeat of Januarys past. Lots of talk about multiple deals being worked on, expecting 2-3-4 arrivals, no plans to let anyone important leave and then come deadline day we get the usual Rich Sharpe tweet about tea time 'that will be it, not expecting anything else' I would hope with the rewards on offer and position we are in would change things and see us get stuff done but I'll believe it when I see it. Remember a transfer window is only a success if you actually strengthen and get better. Trying but failing to get better is not the same.

Disagree. If he has asked to leave then the manager needs to assess his state of mind. If he is able to contribute then he plays to the end of the season. If not he rots in the reserves until the summer. At least we deprive Bournemouth of a good player. Worst case us we lose him and he joins our direct rivals.

Maybe with Hedges both Mowbray and his brother will be happy. Tony is getting his target in early and his brother is getting Aberdeen some cash for a player that was set to leave for nothing in the summer.

Surprised there are still tickets in the home ends at Luton a day before a game. I was under the impression it was a sell out or close to almost every week there with a meagre <10,000 capacity of which over 1,000 is away fans and segregation.

The ones who should get tickets are those who have been to the most games this season whether they shout and sing or not. Plenty of loud folk only turn up when things are good. Rovers should have restricted ticket sales to season ticket holders with minimum 2 or 3 away tickets on their database to prioritise those most committed instead of opening it up to all season ticket holders from the start.

Travis signed his deal before Venkys embarked on another cost cutting era. Even then he will have been on a low cost deal in keeping with his status as an u23s player breaking through to the first team. Dack's deal was by many accounts lined up and agreed prior to his first major injury and was sealed after he returned to fitness. Buckley again see Travis - a kid coming through from the U23s signing a senior deal - easy for the club to manage Gallagher- many people have suggested he is on the same money as before just for longer which probably explains how they got that done. Nobody established in the first team has been offered and signed new improved terms since 2019 (unless Gallagher has had a raise which if so raises serious questions) All those players and not one has decided to accept the club's valuation of them. That tells me the club is doing something wrong. Personally I'm not convinced there are improved terms worthy of consideration on the table. Quite simply Venkys won't agree to pay them more. The wage bill is being cut. And with a moron like Waggott delivering on that it is a recipe for disaster. As I say I hope they feel good about the thousands a week they are saving (whilst still losing tens of millions a year) and allowing good players to leave to rivals for nothing depriving the club of millions in value Short sightedness in action but then again there has never been much of a plan.

If there isn't a decent budget from the owners this window then they might as well sell up because if they aren't going to move heaven and earth to back the club and manager in this position they never will. If there is a decent budget available and Mowbray/Waggott decide not to use it or fail to get deals over the line then I would hope the owners would be furious if it cost us promotion through shortage of numbers. I'm still expecting more talk of multiple signings only to get one in and expect more talk of people down at Brockhall with suitcases packed ready to join only for it to fall through due to unforeseen issues or demands etc.

That might be all well and good if 2 or 3 had signed up and 2 or 3 were hanging off signing. That might suggest that reasonable offers were being made but some were following advice not to sign because they might get better elsewhere. (Where on earth they are expecting to get those better deals I am not sure as there aren't many Championship clubs able to burn through £20 million a year like we can) Fact of the matter is that all of them are refusing to sign, which tells me there is something very wrong with our approach. This isn't one or two players it is 5 or 6 and these offers have been on the table for many months. I am also convinced that had he been given the freedom to do so Mowbray would have given new deals to at least a few of those who left last summer. It is abundantly clear that there have been considerable cuts to spending and Mowbray has admitted that in interviews whilst leaping to the owners defence blaming the pandemic and refusing them to criticise them for it. Whether it be due to FFP or the pandemic or the owners cutting their overheads it is a fact that outgoings have been cut. In view of that it baffles me why so many are happy to go with the belief that good sensible offers have been made and are on the table when all other steps by the club have been to cut costs yet apparently they are making improved offers to players?. Seems to me far more likely that the club smells an opportunity to make further cuts or that Venkys have refused wage increases. When you look at things from that standpoint everything we have seen makes perfect sense. Of course the elephant in the room is the loss of assets that have taken years and cost fortunes to develop on free transfers to rival clubs but that seems to be a risk they are happy to take, or in the case of Venkys simply don't care about.

I am desperate for us to win this one regardless of our league position. We are really due a win against this lot. I cannot stand Jones - truly vile and probably comes out on top ahead of Paul Cook and Lee Johnson as most unpleasant opposition manager. We have fallen victim to their nonsense already several times - a nasty dirty team that will try every trick in the book - and I just hope we can apply equal amounts of it and we have a referee who is strong. I dread us falling behind in this one because they are good at holding on to leads. I am not confident, but at the same time there should be no reason why we cannot win it. Nobody is telling me they are better than us. I disagree we should be happy with a point here, we need 2 wins from 3 and after Hull and Huddersfield don't want any dropped points here. Save that for the WBA/Fulham/Sheff Utd away games if it is going to happen.

The form of Forest and Middlesbrough has to be a concern as they have been relentless over the last couple of months. But we have a cushion and our form is also very good so if they manage to overturn that gap in the coming 18 games that will take some going. For example Forest would effectively need a 4-5 game swing of wins for them and defeats for us to overtake us. Of course it can be done but there isn't much scope in 18 games remaining to do that if we sustain our good form. It soon gets to a point where they can't have many slip ups. QPR have been in good form and their run of late winners this season is impressive and indicative of a side with a strong mentality and never say die attitude, but it is also indicative of a side that relies on fine margins and isn't putting teams to bed in games and you can't rely on late goals forever. I am worried that WBA will make a managerial change soon. I hope they stick with Ismael at least until we play them as watching them last night they were absolutely abysmal.

Not sure I believe that - who on earth is out there bidding £4 million for him with 6 months of his deal left? Nobody. Which suggests either the £2 million figure from Bournemouth is nonsense or Mowbray is just rubbishing Bournemouth's attempts by telling them how far off it they are with their bids.

Bournemouth is a huge place but lacks footballing or sporting tradition. One of the main reasons for that is because it has always been a resort or retirement town where people migrate to from elsewhere in the country. More generally that part of the world has never had footballing power. Whether it be Bournemouth, Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter or South Wales there really isn't much to show in accomplishments. Affluent and prosperous yes but a tiny club propped up with Russian and PL money.

Bournemouth broke the rules when they got promoted to the PL in the first place and unless I'm mistaken were never sanctioned for it so looks to me like their wealthy owner will be able to continue funding them beyond their means without issue.

Best wishes - I sit two rows behind and it was scary watching as so many people calling for urgent help so can't imagine what it must have been like for family/friends.

Exactly. A firm statement from our owners that no bids will be accepted for any of our prized players from any Championship club would suffice.

Even if he could sign a PCA with Bournemouth and Boscombe, why would he with the clubs in the positions and form they are? Bournemouth have won 2 in 10 and are stuttering. Rovers have been outperforming them for 3 months. How stupid would he feel if he signed an agreement with them now, we got promoted and they stayed in the Championship? He'd of course be better off waiting until the summer, see how things go and make his decision then.

He isn't going to sign the deal offered so far. If he was it would have happened by now. Which leads me to believe that the offer isn't a great one at all, but actually quite a poor one which is the same reason the others haven't committed to a club they are settled and playing well at. The onus is on Rovers to improve their offers and pay good players their worth, otherwise we will continue to face this sort of thing from nonentities like Bournemouth and Boscombe.

My worry is that a plonker like Waggott would drive Rothwell to Bournemouth if they were offering £2 million. Hopefully there are greater forces at work that prevent that happening. There would be nothing more pathetic than offloading an integral player to a direct automatic promotion rival in the late days of January but I do worry they will set it up so that it happens but they bring in a loan to cover for it which will smooth it with the fans. Of course Venkys could sort all this out very quickly by offering Rothwell a better deal. Their choice not to.

Massive win. Thought we might have missed our chance at half time and unsurprisingly Wilder made changes and they improved. The last 20 minutes or so showed real doggedness and determination to preserve the lead. So good to see supporters of other teams acknowledging now that coming to Ewood to play us is a huge challenge and we are a force. Another one ticked off, 18 to go.

Our spend has been minimal for the last 2.5 years since Gallagher was signed. Cash buys have been Kaminski, Pickering, Edun and Markandy all for relatively small sums. Since Mowbray took over we have had a net profit on transfer fees with Armstrong and Raya fetching over £20 million and spending of less than £20 million. That would likely be substantially greater had Dack not got injured and will be in the summer if/when Brereton goes. I'm sure you'll remind me again that free transfers like Ayala are still expensive outlays which I agree with. But you've just referred to Middlesbrough's spending without factoring in substantial costs on frees and loans they have incurred whilst avoiding FFP issues and selling their training ground.

So when we sell Brereton in the summer and get minimum £15 million for him that will take income from sales to upwards of £50 million in 12 months. Not to mention huge savings on wages since last summer after slashing numbers and costs. Plus the excuse of the pandemic really doesn't apply to this season as we have been allowed unlimited numbers at Ewood. Any other club brought in £50 million and still using FFP as an excuse? The alternative explanation, one which for some reason people are desperate to avoid talking about, is that Venkys are cutting back and turning off the taps on funding and trying to claw cash back after 2-3 years of backing Mowbray. That makes much more sense to me. A quick look at our opposition tonight shows you don't need £50 million in sales and training grounds being transferred to comply with FFP and still invest.

You make it sound as though we are operating to a prudent and sustainable business model. That simply isn't the case. The clubs finances are at risk and have been since the day they arrived. We make massive losses every year even with minimal spending and that will have to remain the case if we want to stay in the Championship and not slide into the lower leagues. Lets not also get on to the subject of abysmal income levels and assets soon to be out of contract - both of which would be resolved if the club and owners were looking at stable finances and sustainable footings. In a good year, assuming we don't stumble across a massive sale, we are going to lose £15 million a year in this league. That is sustainable as long as the owners are willing to plug the gap. You make it sound like what is happening at Derby can't or won't happen here - it will happen if Venkys do the same thing as Mel Morris and decide they've had enough. I think the only thing in our favour on that front is that there are 4 Venkys and they have deeper pockets than Morris.

Pasha the bloke who appointed Owen Coyle? Says all we need to know about his competence and understanding of the job. Not to be trusted.

We should consider refusing to play the Middlesbrough game. Hull did it and got away with it, Burnley too. I am absolutely furious at the situation with Sky moving the game to Monday and in doing so causing us to lose Brereton for 2 games rather than 1. If I was running Rovers I would have told Sky to go and speak to Chile and if they couldn't resolve it then we wouldn't be playing Monday night. This is (supposed to be) a serious business here with game changing rewards on the table and we are supposed to just accept losing our star player for an extra game due to some idiot at Sky HQ deciding to put us on Monday night? The Markandy development is a blow but lets not overreact. He hasn't been part of the squad that has got us here and we don't know if he is even ready to contribute this season. Mowbray himself was desribing him as a young player to polish up and develop over a few years so seems premature either way to pin our promotion hopes on him and his fitness. It is a shame yes and quite concerning that it has happened so soon into his time here but I would be more worried if we were losing the Breretons, Travs, Lenihans or Rothwells given their contributions. This brings me on to my next point - that there is still ample time remaining this month to make other additions to address the scenario so lets see how serious we are. Even without this injury I would sincerely hope further business was going to happen because those two signings alone are unlikely to be sufficient and now one is out long term and the other isn't match fit. I'm worrying there is a lot of negativity creeping in here. Everyone is going to get injuries, everyone will lose an odd game, we are still firmly in the mix for automatic promotion yet I am reading a lot of doom and gloom, talk of the play-offs being the aim and panic about QPR/Boro. I want to see us fighting to the bitter end because 2nd place is up for grabs. I hope to see more from the Club over the coming week or so to bolster the ranks.

Not a chance on this earth that we would be able to pay Lawrence the wages he will be accustomed to. If we were the only show in town he would still expect us to get close to what Derby are paying him - a lot - but up against Bournemouth and QPR no chance.