JHRover

The claim that Dolan was offered a new deal months ago simply doesn't tally with everything else that we've seen occur, and with what other senior players have publicly admitted. So unless they've made an exception for Dolan I know my money is on him getting the same treatment as everyone else - no offer worthy of consideration.

Whilst Wrexham's commercial income is likely far better than ours (due to better management, no 'small town small club, We've done all we can' claptrap there) What they haven't done is brought in £40 million through player sales in the last few years, which we have. So that rather significant windfall I'd suggest matches or outstrips whatever advantage they might have had there.

A ludicrous suggestion IMO. Travis is probably our most important player. He has been here for ages, knows the club inside out, runs the dressing room, club captain, can be relied upon to keep fit and play 40+ games every season and rarely needs to come off in games. His importance cannot be underestimated and it is no coincidence that our success in the first half of last season coincided with Eustace maximising him and making him central to what he was doing. Also no coincidence that he's one of the few players we have left capable of attracting cash interest from rival (ambitious) clubs. Also no coindence that he's been earmarked for departure by the rancid regime who are desperate to extract more cash from saleable assets and chop the wage bill down further.

A bit like with the fans, the first one or two occasions where we chucked away good chances at promotion could conceivably be down to mistake, error of judgment etc. But it's happened now 3-4 times in the last 5 years. The players have worked their backsides off to get us into January in the mix and the regime has done absolutely nothing to help get us through the second half of the season. Instead they've simply expected more from the same players, run them into the ground, forced good managers out and continued to cut costs. People have started to realise that it isn't down to luck, misfortune, error or any other excuse. It is down to the regime, the very same remains in firm control today. If you are a player wanting to achieve success in the game you clearly aren't going to do that here. Even if we surpass all expectations and get into contention at Christmas this regime won't thank them, reward them with improved terms, or move to help them by bringing in quality reinforcements. And inevitably it will fizzle out, just as it has every year. The regime isn't changing course, it is doubling down. Why anyone would want to stay here after the events of the last 3-4 years is anyone's guess. At least at another club there's a chance they might try if they get to January in with a shout. Because that's all people ask for - to try - I'm afraid nobody associated with this regime can honestly claim that we've tried the last few years.

Perfectly summarised. Still people don't recognise that we are in the midst of an existential crisis under these owners, there is no future, no growth, no plan, no ambition, at the very best we tread water under a zombie administration making a competent job of whatever resources they chuck our way until either the staff/players get fed up and go elsewhere or our wonderful owners smash it all to bits again because they feel like it. Every day, week, month, year this regime continues its poisonous grip on BRFC is simply more and more time and distance we fall behind just about any other club with competent fit ad proper ownership. Ultimately there will be nothing left, only by then it will be too late to recover from.

Venkys would rather be Kings of the Ashes of BRFC and Ewood Park than leave via the back door and hand it to someone else, they'll drag the club into the gutter and hollow it out until it scarcely resembles a professional club rather than just admit defeat and sell it. The myth that there's no interested people out there, based on a curious blend of Stockholm syndrome and the Walker Trust's failings almost 20 years ago, has been dismantled many times over the last few years. Vile people only interested in their own egos and power rather than the greater good.

Hull had their 120th anniversary last year and released this beauty in commemoration. That's Hull City, 120th anniversary. Nothing like Blackburn Rovers' 150th anniversary, a far bigger occasion and more successful club, yet they made the effort. A unique strip, with a special badge to show everyone what it was all about. They also released a whole range of other gear - t-shirts, tracksuit tops etc. in the same range. Made a load of money out of it and had to order more in. I'd hoped that at the very least we'd be able to manage something similar here. Seems not. Effort....something money can't buy. You can either be bothered or you can't.

If they do release a different special edition shirt for the 150th, and I'm not confident this lot have the capabilities to do something like that, it just raises more questions. Why do it as a limited edition? Would it not be more befitting of the monumental occasion for the special kit to be worn all season and make it a full year of a celebration? This is what others have done who have celebrated this occasion recently, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday. Limiting it to being work in one game, or a limited release, to me just dilutes the occasion and shortens the exposure. Knowing what we do about their approach to stocking kits, running out etc. I could see an epic fiasco unfolding if they introduced a new kit later Plus are people going to be willing/able to shell out another £60+ a time for another kit if it is only going to be worn once? If they'd have gone to town on the main kit and made it a true anniversary product and got plenty of stock in they could have made a fortune on it.

Alexa.....show me a Rovers shirt that has absolutely nothing going for it to connect to the 150th anniversary. It looks like the best we are going to get is that '150' sticker on the back of the shoulder that someone posted on here last week. Bland. It seems they haven't even managed to reverse the halves on the back, haven't done anything different with the badge, just pointless and a wasted opportunity. Dismal and a lack of effort.

The difference between you and I is firstly I don't believe for one second that those clubs will be offering that to Travis, nor will he be demanding that, it is a made up figure to exaggerate the situation and make out like the money required is at crazy/ridiculous levels. This is all part of the regimes strategy - making out like little old Rovers are at the limits of their capabilities, can't compete, are being blown away by richer clubs, poor us. It just isn't true. The reason Travis hasn't signed a new deal is because he hasn't been offered one. He told us this in March, and I'd be surprised indeed if Rovers have done very much since then. Rovers approach to renewing contracts - aside from a brief and ultimately sabotaged spell under Broughton - has been a total failure. Lenihan, Nyambe, Rothwell, Diaz, Dolan, Travis, Tronstad, Brittain, Tens of millions of value flushed away, quality committed players allowed to walk and you seem fine with it. Shoulder shrug. Secondly you seem fine saying 'Gestede should have sorted it'. Shoulder shrug. That isn't good enough in my book. The situation this club has put itself in is not acceptable.

Things we know are true: Venkys aren't funding the club, at least not properly Rovers are raising cash wherever they can via cost cuts and sales Pretty much every senior player has run his contract down over the last 3-4 years and nobody has renewed a contract in over 18 months. Prior to the end of March, as confirmed directly by Travis, Tronstad and Brittain, the club had not so much as even contacted them about renewing their stays, let alone put forward concrete proposals for new contracts - I am confident that these three haven't lied Now, by mid-June, we are supposed to believe that suddenly Rovers have got their act together, whilst the players have been off on holiday since early May, and have put forward concrete serious proposals for new deals in an effort to keep all these players and incur the substantial extra financial cost and commitment that comes with it, totally contrary to all the above? Nah, pull the other one. They're paving the way for sales, so they need to get their agenda out first and also drop 'links' to a few incomings in to balance it out a bit. Seen it all before. Some never learn.

100% spot on. I do find it really strange how some are so desperate not to blame or criticise Rovers that they will happily watch the good managers and that important core of senior players broken up and offloaded to the likes of Derby and Wrexham What is happening here is just another step along the Venky stripping down or the club and gutting it of assets. Nothing more or less to it than that What the fans, manager or players want or think is totally irrelevant. The issue is with Rovers and their approach.

It's the old 'Lenihan ploy' Exactly the same narrative with him - claims from Rovers that he had been offered a good, substantial deal, that we could do no more just as he trotted off to Middlesbrough No evidence, or reason to believe, that Rovers have even initiated talks with these players. The players themselves were clear on this a mere 8-12 weeks ago. Since then they've been on holiday for the last 6 weeks You're already at it - believing that a reasonable deal is on the table but that the player is after 'big money' and that Rovers are entirely reasonable in their approach. This is the problem. We wouldn't even be discussing this if Rovers had approached this reasonably because these players would have been under proper length contracts, other clubs wouldn't be in any position of strength to entice people away.

Good old Nixon wins the game of bingo Rovers 'trying' to tie them down Offering a good length contract Players are after 'big' money and waiting on other clubs That's the party line right there, as predicted and exactly the narrative the club stooges want the paying fans to believe. The truth is we haven't tried. The players confirmed this relatively recently in their press interviews. What we see now is the cover up con job to try and shift the blame and narrative and convince some of the naive elements of the support base that we've 'done all we can' before a sale is rushed through Total and utter liars and charlatans still using Nixon and Telegraph to do their dirty work.

Funny isn't it that all three of those clubs you name were taken over within the last few years despite all being in worse positions than us. Wrexham were a non-league outfit, Birmingham perennial Championship relegation strugglers with a collapsing stadium and Swansea the epitome of an average 2nd/3rd division club with a small fanbase. Yet there remains a significant portion of Rovers' fanbase who have convinced themselves that for one reason or another there is no other viable option other than Venkys. No other people in a world of 7 billion with the clout or know-how to replace and do better than the architects of our demise. All these other clubs have managed it, but for some reason old Rovers wouldn't manage it. It's baffling, it's bizarre, and I'm convinced it is totally wrong, yet the belief continues. Until we get over that particular issue it's little wonder there's hardly any noise about Venkys apart from when another one of their self-inflicted debacles comes along e.g. Eustace walking out They've had it so easy here over the years because so many are convinced they are necessary.

Frightening yes, but completely inevitable as a direct result of decisions and steps taken by the ownership and their regime. There are consequences to everything in life. Yet I still get the impression there are people employed down there who genuinely don't understand this and think that they can just rely on and take for granted that people will just hand over their hard earned cash without question every year whilst this lot take the piss out of them. A look at the Ewood seat planner suggests breaking point has been passed for quite a few.

We'll just be getting some arse covering from the club being fed to Nixon and the Venkygraph over the next few weeks. The club, or the stooges running it, will want to get the last word out. They won't be happy at all that the trio of Tronstad, Travis and Brittain have publicly confirmed the truth - that the club hasn't even made the effort to speak to them about new deals - this disrupts the club's spin that they are hard at work and trying to sort it out but the greedy players are holding out for something better. They succeeded on that con job with Lenihan, Nyambe, even Dolan. It isn't working on the others. So we will get bits in the press about this with the club trying to convince supporters they are trying, when most of us know they aren't.

I really think that it needed to be something unique that shouts '150th anniversary Blackburn Rovers' If they want to use the Maltese Cross.....ok......but it really needs something above/below/around it as well to tell people the point behind it Not many people outside of our support base are going to have the foggiest why we have a cross on our shirts or what the relevance of it is. Now put it in a gold circle/shield with a ribbon beneath saying 'Blackburn Rovers 150 Years' and that does the trick.

At one stage, when we were a club with pride and self-respect, I would tend to agree. I think we are way past that stage here. Pride and self-respect went a long time ago. We'd sell the trophies in the cabinet if the offer was tempting. I've no doubt Eustace will be after linking up again with Travis but would be surprised if Derby were able to come up with the cash needed, then again if they are backing their manager they might well find it, unlike here.

I'm so glad that we've got Venkys, if not we'd definitely have gone the same way financially as Derby and ended up in a similar mess.

Travis won't be moving to Wrexham or anywhere else because it is a shorter or easier commute. He will be moving elsewhere because Rovers have made it as clear as they possibly can that they have no intention of keeping him here beyond 2026 and probably sooner than that if the money on offer tempts or our financial crisis is such that they want to free up the wages. He's soon 28 and needs to know where his medium term future lies and needs a contract to take him into his 30s. Probably his last 'big' opportunity. Rovers don't want him so he needs to look elsewhere, and that will be to whoever offers Rovers/him the best deal. Alternatively he can sit tight for another 12 months working his socks off for a club that doesn't want him and has no intention of getting anywhere, walk away on the expiry of his deal and probably command a signing on fee elsewhere, but there's a lot of risk with that e.g. injury or not the same offer available.

I remain convinced that the stooges have had Travis on the list for sales for the last couple of years. Despite attempts to suggest that his plan to Ipswich was all the fault of big bad JDT I think this is too good and convenient to be true. I suspect he was instructed to offload the bigger earners and go younger and cheaper. Unfortunately the Ipswich plan only worked temporarily by getting his wages off the books for 5 months, with their promotion they dropped any interest in signing him permanently. Then Eustace obviously wanted him back to build his team around him and other senior pros like Batth, Weimann etc. Not good. Anyhow fast forward a year and they can return to plan A with a more compliant and willing manager who won't threaten to walk out. Cash in, wages off the books and cheaper replacement the only name of this game.

How will anyone sign new contracts? They haven't been offered them. The club hasn't even started to talk to them. We aren't even capable of sorting Batth and Weimann out, also Hedges. 2 years ago we missed out on Batth because we wouldn't give him a 2 year deal. He went to Norwich for a year, then came here on a 1 year deal, and now despite his efforts last year we are looking like losing him again because someone else is offering longer. Just totally ridiculous.

Hopefully they are about to be tested on this. No big sales coming. At best perhaps £5 million or so from selling our last few assets at an undervalue due to a weak contractual position they have created. They'll be hoping and praying for an Adam Wharton sell on lottery win. Hopefully they don't get it. I hope this investigation drags on for as long as it takes to break them and their grip on this club.

The whole basis of Venkys' argument seeking permission from the authorities in India to send money to Rovers via their holding company is that without this money Rovers goes into administration and the tax man and wages / suppliers are unpaid. A judge will be sympathetic to that. They will not want to be the person responsible for a business failing and all the fall out that comes with it. They can see that money is required. Totally different story to wanting to spend non-essential sums on a few new players because we fancy signing someone. Nobody can reasonably argue that this is essential expenditure. So those thinking that we are spending a few million this summer whilst all this is going on perhaps need to sit down and have more of a think about the financial crisis these owners have put us into due to their investigation in India. A crisis that has been running now for several years yet they've done nothing to resolve e.g. by selling/giving the club to someone who has the ability to fund it. Any money being paid out for players will have to be found from the club's own resources - either a portion of funds brought in from sales/sponsorship/receipts, perhaps borrowing or even some crafty working with the instalments.