The question facing any of our 'senior' players - Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis, Rothwell, Brereton - is going to be why would they want to stay here? I mean it is a decent club with nice facilities but other than that? It's not as though it is a club with ambition, or any sort of strategy other than limping from one season to the next. It isn't a club that will make changes when results are abysmal like they have been at numerous stages over the last 2 years. The priority appears to be ensuring St Tony and his chums remain in employment than ensuring the club progresses. We could all see that Mowbray had thrown in the towel last season and was expecting the sack. I expect the players were fed up too and deep down would have welcomed fresh ideas. But no - return to Brockhall and it is the same old lot again and now repeating the same old mistakes. I've said it before - if I had a choice I wouldn't want to be associated with this club so if football was my career and I was ambitious I'd be looking for a rapid route out of here rather than floating around listening to Mowbray and Waggott's book of excuses and reasons why we can't do better. I think Mowbray also knows that the route to securing his power at the club is by having a collection of younger players around him who he can bend to his way of doing things. A look at our squad now we can see that the majority are either graduates of our academy that Mowbray gave debuts to or are players Mowbray gave a Championship opportunity to in bringing them here. This will ensure the majority of these lads stay on side and don't step out of line.

With respect everything you have said is based on the words of Mowbray/Waggott, employees of Venkys who of course are going to concoct a narrative that paints them and the owners in a positive light and shifts responsibility away. Talk about a 'wage structure' yet it is a shame there wasn't such an eagerness to protect the club's wage bill when Ben Gladwin was being paid to be injured or when they were dishing out extensions for squad players last summer. They'll tell people what they want to hear. Just a shame there's such a readiness to accept what they come out with. Of course there's unlikely to be bids for Nyambe at this stage - suitors will just bypass Rovers and offer him and his agent a deal for the summer

Which is why I think in time we will see an attraction to the 'bang' that Bolton and Wigan went through. A couple of years of misery and chaos but after that a clean slate, new owners and hope. We can all see the inevitably of a slide back to League One under this setup, but all the while the club is shrinking and crumbling with the same names over the door.

You can't use FFP as an excuse or as the boogeyman for our difficulties and issues and then at the same time allow first team academy products to walk away for nothing for failing to sort their contracts out. The two are incompatible. If FFP is a genuine concern or problem then when you have assets on your hands you make sure they retain their value so that if sold you can smash FFP into the long grass for a while. Mowbray likes his Brentford comparisons. When was the last time they let two, three or four of their prized assets walk away for nothing/knock down fees due to contractual issues?

The trap that the players are the villains of the piece for demanding too much, or that poor Rovers are being constrained by factors beyond their control and that Mowbray and co. are looking after the club by not sorting new deals out. In reality the polar opposite is happening - they are jeopardizing the club by risking and allowing our prized assets to leave for nothing. Take a look at our summer transfer business this year. You really seriously think this mob are capable of replacing Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell with better on the same money? You really think they will even be allowed to spend similar money? Fees received? They are leaving on free transfers so we won't get any fees to reinvest, but even if we did it will disappear like the Armstrong cash under the guise of FFP compliance. Convenient how FFP issues always come along as the sales start. Mowbray is a crafty operator I'll give him that. Quite clear which way he is steering the ship now it has become obvious that there won't be new contracts for these players. So the latest strategy is to play on supporters emotions - mention the club and financial danger in the same sentence and many fans will just roll with whatever as long as the club stays in business. Lower than a snakes belly but he'll go as low as it takes to absolve himself and his cronies of blame in the eyes of supporters. The same group of people who gave Ben Gladwin a contract for nothing and have squandered funds in needless contracts and deals. Of course the elephant in the room is that losing prized assets for nothing actually causes more financial damage than it does agreeing to pay them more then selling them 12 months later or getting promoted - but we don't want to talk about that. One question for you Chaddy whilst you are on your FFP obsession - does it not infuriate you that we are (supposedly) under extreme FFP restrictions and looking like losing prized assets for nothing because we can't pay them more when only 12 months or so ago this manager and his mates were dishing out contract extensions to Samuel, Leutwiler and Smallwood? You think that is acceptable?

Mowbray will have no problems getting himself and Venus new contracts. I really am starting to detest him. I hoped this point would not come but it has. Pretty obvious which way this is going. Players come and go but this oaf remains. I note the article claims that Rovers are doing all they can - is this fact, opinion or what Mowbray says? Because I don't believe him. Chaddy - you're falling right into their trap. If FFP is the issue here then how do you propose we replace these players with no money and no space on the wage bill?

Sutton just another on the media bandwagon. Tread the middle ground and be careful as to who you upset. He wouldn't last very long in his line of work if he was out saying managers should be sacked. Unless he is watching Rovers with regularity, which I very much doubt, then he is no more qualified than any other randomer on the internet, and less quaified than any of us who endure Mowbray's garbage on a regular basis.

I'm not sure what your point is re. the first paragraph. Whether they are big players for our future or not is irrelevant to the point I was making, which was that their contractual situations were such that they were effectively academy deals being upgraded to senior deals, not senior deals being extended or improved which is the issue with Lenihan, Nyambe and co. Discussions were held with Bennett regarding a new deal: https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/may/rovers-confirm-retain-list/ So it was certainly something we were considering or wanting to do, yet off he went to Shrewsbury. I've no issue with that but it is another example of a senior player that the club has tried or considered giving a deal to and not done. Pattern emerging. There is as much evidence to support what I have said as there is to support what you have said. We come at things from different angles. You want to blindly support the party line and believe that good old Rovers are doing things properly, sensibly and that everything they do is correct. I take the polar opposite view - that the place is in crisis, run by liars and incompetents and owners who really shouldn't be here and everything stems from their neglect and mismanagement, and we are just in another phase of mayhem created by them. You might be right, I don't think you are. Keep on putting FFP spreadsheets up it won't change my opinion. My beliefs aren't conspiracy theories anymore than yours are. Infact, on the weight of evidence over the last 10 years I think you are the conspiracy theorist making out that all is well with the world at Rovers when it plainly isn't. I don't trust a word they come out with.

I know it will be in the next accounts. But for FFP purposes it would be possible to reinvest a chunk of the cash received and use the balance to reduce losses. We failed to do so. That was because we were unwilling or unable to get deals done, not because FFP rules were preventing them. If you believe what liar Waggott says we had a player ready to sign - so FFP wasn't stopping it.

We sold Adam Armstrong for £15 million and spent £100,000 on a left back. Where does that fit into your calculations? I really, really, really hope this time next year you aren't still beating this drum after we've allowed Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell to walk away for nothing, because if FFP was a concern those 3 would be under new contracts by now.

Since the start of 2020 - approaching 2 years ago - which senior first team players have signed new deals? Off the top of my head we have Dack (who who agreed his deal prior to getting his first serious injury) and Johnson (who I suspect had a clause in his deal for an extra 12 month extension on the same terms as his previous 2 years). Anyone else I've missed? The others like Rothwell were forced to stay when the club activated 12 month extensions. Other than that? Deals have been issued to JRC, Wharton and Buckley (who will have been on relative peanuts from their academy graduation and development into first team players) Beyond that we've by our own admission offered new terms to Amari Bell and Elliott Bennett, who turned the offers down and instead moved to Luton Town and Shrewsbury respectively. Waggott claims that we have been in discussions about new contracts with important players like Lenihan and Nyambe. Isn't it remarkable how each and every one of these players has a reason not to sign these terms supposedly being offered to them. Not a few players, or half and half, or 75%, but every player offered or in need of a new contract has failed to sign one. Remarkable. Maybe they have all been tapped up from elsewhere. Maybe they are all being greedy and making unreasonable demands. Or - how about another theory - these players aren't being greedy or unreasonable and would happily sign on here but that Venkys have turned the taps off and will not authorise them? Or alternatively that Rovers have sat and done nothing for months and months like they did with everything else and are now paying the price? So what if Nyambe wants a pay rise. I think most of us would agree it is deserved. His departure for free will cost the club a lot, lot more than a reasonable pay increase. It's a shame the idiots in charge don't see that but they will just try and replace him with a kid on loan. Now you're inventing the possibility of foreign interest in them as a reason why they are refusing to sign new deals. The lengths you will put yourself at to protect and make excuses for the proven liars running Rovers amuse me and frustrate me in equal measure.

Yes there is. Assemble a stronger squad that can cope with a couple of absences. We chose not to recruit properly in the summer. Our choice. Injuries are part of the game.

The club and owners are responsible. If our best players decide not to stay that tells us all we need to know. Normally academy products who are first team regulars/captains would want to stay. They aren't getting PL interest so their alternative will be some other second division club. Why would anyone with ambition want to stay here with this setup?

Only disappointing thing in watching Newcastle get pasted is that they are putting Burnley up a position in the process.

Normally one I'd be eager to go to but I'm just not going to make the effort or take time off work to watch more of Mowbray Rovers. I'll save my money and watch it in the pub instead.

14,110 the official gate yesterday. Let's say that means 10,000 home fans. So with 'approaching' 7000 season tickets sold they reckon at least 3000 home match tickets sold. Really?

Maybe those who would voice their unhappiness are the 2000+ who no longer go. I'm sure Waggo and Mowbray would be quite happy if only 1500 of their biggest fans were left rattling around Ewood. No dissenting voices and 100% support. Just because there aren't people left being vocal about things doesn't mean people are happy with the current manager. I'm one of them - I've wanted Mowbray out for nearly 2 years and spurts of 3 or 4 wins or being 9th in the second division won't change that. I stick to my guns and opinions - he needs to prove me wrong and he hasn't done - results like today and Luton merely prove me right. The only surprise really has been the demolition of Cardiff but these things happen from time to time. That doesn't mean I will spend my time shouting and bawling at him because I know it is futile when the CEO is his chum and the owners don't watch, listen or care. I think a lot of others know this which is why they've either given up going and funding it or still go but sit quietly and watch it unfold.

It's a zombie club. Lights on but nobody home. Ewood is a morgue and it is getting worse with falling gates. The whole operation needs refreshing and restarting, otherwise what little life is left in it will be gone. That means owners, board and management.

He thinks he's a managerial goliath alongside Guardiola, Klopp and Tuchel, who knows it all and clubs are lucky to have him. He seems to think that the problem is other people not being able to understand his greatness and his bright ideas in football.

A few weeks ago it was 6th, then still 6th, then 8th, now 9th. Out of interest what position or run of form would you say is the tipping point? Of course clubs and executives who know what they are doing don't base a manager's position on 'oh well, we're 9th so everything is fine'. They look at a whole range of measures including team performances, results, trajectory, development, growth, improvement. Here they don't though. Not at Mowbray Rovers where he has god-like status, cannot be questioned and is the only manager who could ever work here. I'd be surprised if the owners had a clue who we had been playing, let alone how we have done. Waggott will be happy no matter what as long as his mate is in place. There's no chanting towards Mowbray because people just can't be bothered anymore. It's pointless. He's got the club stitched up and the people who go to Ewood know it won't make a blind bit of difference.

I've seen and heard some baffling things in my time going watching Rovers but the latest, that a draw against Coventry at home is a point gained or one we would have been happy with before kick off, perhaps tops the lot. This is Coventry who Mowbray left consigned to relegation to League Two, who were playing in that division when we were in League One, who have had no serious cash to spend and no stadium to play in, and now we with our 'stability' and substantial spending and losses over the last 4 years are looking on them as a decent side? When did that happen? As far the game. Boring. Same old Mowbray Rovers. You can change season and change players but the same manager, same routine and same excuses. We're back to needing 3 to win a game, Mowbray's speciality. 4 points chucked away against that noisy lot and Luton that we had in our hands from good individual quality. Today Rothwell got us the two goals through individual determination and quality, I thought we were lucky to be 2-0 up but you have to seize it when it comes and the performance in the second half just symptomatic of a side with no idea how to approach the game or how to manage a 2-0 lead. The second half I found to be a depressing affair, an air of inevitability to their equaliser, and after that Ewood seemed flat and defeated. Lets just hope that these points we are squandering don't end up relegating us, anyone who thinks we aren't in for a relegation scrap I think needs to brace themselves.

People on here tipping Burns for the first team in the Championship and then we send him to the Northern Premier League despite being short on numbers. Brings things into perspective.

What about the two massive car parks, BRIC and derelict land adjoining Bolton Road where the church used to be? Quite a substantial package of land there and all of it could be built on if the right wheels were greased. The charlatans owning and running Rovers will draw the line at nothing, in my opinion, and nothing should be ruled out. A quick glance at Waggott's 'resume' sets alarm bells off. Consultancy work at Southend and Gillingham associated with developments and property? Not very reassuring.

Maybe Waggott want's to build our new training ground in Burnley. I'm sure there would still be folk saying what a good idea it was.

The irony of labelling serial promotion winners as dinosaurs when we are managed by a bloke last relevant in football about 12 years ago. I was in Dublin at the weekend. One of the lads in our group a Newcastle fan and when I told him Mowbray was our manager he couldn't even believe he was still working in football. Genuine reaction of when I told him he couldn't believe he was still going. He should be consigned to history along with the likes of Iain Dowie, Andy Boothroyd not running this club from top to bottom. I'll have a bet now with you that assuming McCarthy and Warnock stay the full seasons they will both finish above Rovers.