The sort of deal we should be after to replace our talisman. Sadly they've already set the bar low on expectations of any replacement for Armstrong let alone a decent one. Soon to be 12 out 0 in. Mowbray's next excuse will be that clubs and agents are demanding too much because they think we've got the Armstrong money burning a hole in the pockets. It will be excuse after excuse with little action to show for it. Whether it is £10, 12 or £15 million matters Little. It won't be of benefit to Blackburn Rovers and it is a bargain in today's world of English young goalscorers. Shame because that sort of player sale should catapult us forward and enable quality reinvestment. But, like with Venkys millions, what should be of benefit won't be.

I suspect in a few weeks or months time Armstrong will give an interview and claim that there was never a contract offer from Rovers on the table. I think the same happened with Ben Marshall. If that happens it will be a choice for individuals as to whether they believe the player, who would have little reason to lie, or the people at Rovers, famed for their arse covering, who would have every reason to lie.

Are the club not selling Macron training gear i.e. t shirts or tracksuits? Went on the website but couldn't find anything other than the kits.

Agree. The cost of relegation exceeds that and isn't worth taking the risk.

If the club was competently managed then the wages squandered on contracts to Ayala, Downing, Smallwood, Samuel, Graham, Hart and Leutwiler last summer would instead have been diverted into giving Armstrong a pay rise and new long term deal. At that stage he was some way off a PL move but had shown clear signs of his capabilities and wouldn't have had a better offer than that. We could have secured him until 2024 or 2025. We would now be able to relax and demand minimum £20 million knowing that we'd have plenty of future opportunities to sell if nobody paid the asking price. There was zero suggestion of any attempt to sign him up to a new deal. Mowbray prioritised wasting money on deals for players he had no intention of using and who were of no financial value. Result? Probably at least 10 million off Armstrong's sale price. Next news is they moan about struggling under FFP requirements. I wonder why when missing out on that sort of cash?

Expect Preston to struggle. Not the strongest squad and inexperienced manager. Suspect that will turn out to be a poor appointment and quite foolish. The old promote assistant/caretaker to full time manager rarely works.

Portsmouth got a good win at Fleetwood. I expect them to be challenging for promotion. Think Sunderland, Sheff Wed and Ipswich will be top 6 too. Orient will be a top 7 side under Jackett IMO. A very good manager for that level.

Great to kick off the season with a win for the first time in years. I felt before the game that Swansea at home was an ideal fixture for us with their issues and departures. The team clearly worked their socks off and couldn't be faulted on that front. I still remain deeply concerned by our depth and options. That bench is worrying and had we been level or behind with 20 minutes to go I'm not sure there is anything there to trouble the opposition by way of changes. That simply has to change. Even if it means bringing in a lower league 6 foot 5 carthorse to rough the opposition up and aim for on set pieces. We just need something there to bring on. Likewise reinforcements needed defensively to avoid an inevitable crisis. 3 down 47 needed. Thats the only aim and hope I have. It was great to be back at Ewood and it felt normal. Didn't feel like nearly 18 months had passed since the last one. I was positively surprised by the number of people there, particularly in the BBE. I hope that isn't inflated significantly by it being first game back and first game of the season.

His days were numbered at Coventry. If he hadn't walked he would have been pushed. He thought he was too good for League One to start with. Never mind League Two. Here he won't be. There's still a large chunk of people who think he is god's gift and a blessing, that he cannot be questioned and is the best thing about this club. He's full of himself so isn't going to pack in when he's got so many eating out of his hands and he's still in the Championship. He won't be sacked. He's got this one stitched up good and proper for him and his mates to enjoy. Our owners who have 'learned lessons' have been had again. Hook line and sinker.

Let's see how many of the 24 Championship clubs actually do away with a programme. Anyone who has purchased a programme at away grounds will know that it is feasible to produce a decent standard product and sell it at £3. Here however we have a can't do attitude. Can't have a club shop in the town, can't put season tickets on sale, can't get new kits on sale, can't can't can't. Rapidly wondering why they even bother opening the doors. Would be easier and cheaper to not bother.

Anywhere else there would have been massive alarm bells many months ago. Here i doubt they will even know or care that we aren't getting 18000 anymore. But we're lucky to have them.

All just cheap gimmicks in a late and desperate attempt to improve morale around the place and shift a few tickets to get away from league embarrassing levels. Mowbray talking and talking about wanting at least 5 loans in - nobody here Inviting popular ex player back. Letter 'from' the owners pledging their support and 'intention' to turn up and see a game at some point. Some of us can see through it all. Waggott's panicking.

Knock off the 2500 who qualify for their costs back from last season, and 300-400 who get freebies for working at the club, and concessions. Just how many full price paying adults have actually bought a season ticket? A couple of thousand? Dire straits.

And yet you will still have fans saying that this is all natural and expected with us not being in the Prem any more Or blaming Covid Ignoring sales at just about every club elsewhere. Or those aiming for one upmanship on other fans - "well I'm going so there"

Thanks for that. Shows what a complete and utter dereliction of duty and care we have here, negligence that could jeopardise the clubs future both on the pitch and off it. Yet some nutters think this is all down to FFP. Anyone else in this state?

I very much doubt they will, especially if we are stuck near the bottom and the locals are angry.

I think this is the last desperate attempt by Waggott and Pasha to drum up some interest and entice some fans back before the season starts. The damage their regime has caused will be coming clear now with awful season ticket sales and the last trick up the sleeve is to try and win people over with something 'direct' from the owners reaffirming their commitment at a time when there are rightly serious questions being asked again about their running of the club. I very much doubt Balaji has written this. Probably dictated or prepared by Waggott and then emailed over for his staff to transpose onto his letterhead and for his signature. Appears therefore more authentic than merely a typed article on the website as in previous years.

We're back to the Venky special motto "Always tomorrow, never today" We aren't even through this diabolical window, and are facing the real prospect of relegation, yet you are already pinning your hopes on them spending 'a few million' next year. This boom and bust model of falling foul of FFP (for the second time in 5 years) is on their watch, exacerbated by their management and their staff. We don't need it, certainly not to finish 15th in the Championship every year. Employ competent people and we could emulate titans like Luton and Millwall and finish mid-table, not break FFP and not need as much of their money. No doubt when that time comes another excuse will come along as to why they should have could have or would have spent money but didn't.

There will always be a bit of a mad rush in the build up to the first home game. I'll be amazed if Rovers have actually supplied Sharpe with a number for sales. It will all be percentages and 'healthy' or 'close to target' stuff. Looking on the website there is still plenty of availability in the middle of the BBE and the Riverside looks more empty than ever. Since relegation from the Premier League in 2012 there have only been a handful of sub-10,000 official attendances. Plenty of times when people through the turnstiles were less than 10,000 but we always had that block of at least 8000 ST holders to count ensuring the 10,000 mark was always reached. Suspect we are facing the opposite now and unless the away club brings several thousand the norm will be sub-10,000 official gates. In most cases once people stop they won't start again unless you give them a good reason to - extra cheap tickets or a good product. With this bunch in charge that won't happen.

Hmm not strictly true. If we look at the era after JW died but before the wretched Venkys appeared we were comfortably above all these clubs. Norwich and Soton were in League One when we were top 10 under Allardyce and Palace close to bankruptcy when Venkys took over here. The fruits of Venkys investment such that these clubs are now streets ahead of us. And did I really just see a post lauding Palace's following?

The only thing I'm bothered about now is making sure Mowbray isn't here next summer.

Because their parent clubs would expect us to pay the going rate rather than gift them to us for development purposes. We are nothing but a charity case to be used by the top clubs. We're becoming a B team.

You can't keep mentioning FFP as a source of problems and then not be desperate to secure our best players to long term contracts. You can't use FFP as an excuse for not getting players on long term contracts What difference would an embargo make right now? Any?

Deary me. I have had plenty of suggestions for replacements for Mowbray, most of which have been snapped up by rival clubs. You are welcome to go back and trawl through my posts if you want to see who but there's little point in me repeating them now they are employed at better clubs and Mowbray is clearly unsackable. I'd say there was little evidence to suggest either Mowbray or Waggott were competent enough to get this club back to the PL. He deserved a shot after League One, but by mid 2019/20 season it was clear we were going nowhere and a club with serious ambition and management monitoring performances and results would have taken pre-emptive action before the sh!t hit the fan and we wasted more time and money. I'm not interested in what is deemed 'reasonable' this club is more important and bigger than Mowbray and his feelings/opinion. If an improvement in management was seen as beneficial it should have happened. Sadly we've a reactive setup here who allow problems to build and unfold and then it is too late to do anything about it. Armstrong is the latest one, Coyle's season another. If you think it is 'irrelevant' that the first team manager appointed or at least recommended the CEO then we can't take this much further. It isn't irrelevant, it isn't normal, it isn't healthy and it isn't acceptable and it is a major, major issue in the dysfunctional setup of this club. A CEO should be able to change or at least recommend a change in manager. That isn't ever going to happen when the CEO got his job thanks to the manager. I think I agree with you - chumps like Derek Shaw and Waggott aren't fit to be running a club of this size and stature - you asked for a solution and I gave you one - stop employing these sort of people and get better in. It doesn't have to be a Blackburn fan at all. I don't believe that there are unique conditions here - football fans are similar wherever - they just want treating with respect something in short supply here. Again I don't accept that FFP is a reason not to fire a manager who is failing. That is nonsense. Sheffield Wednesday sacked 2 managers last season whilst under FFP trouble, as did Birmingham and Derby. Results come first and if they aren't good enough a change is made. It's the way it has always been.

Sold Raya and signed Kaminski and Pickering wasn't it?