JHRover

Where's the conspiracy theory? Fact: people are deciding to leave the club in their droves. Option 1 is your view which is that everything is hunky dory and it just so happens all these people get better offers all at once or suddenly have 'family reasons' which lead them to work elsewhere. Option 2 is my view which is that the club is a wreck and is falling apart and nobody wants to be a part of it any longer and these people are grasping an opportunity to work somewhere better. No conspiracy theory, just uncomfortable and unpleasant reality IMO.

I'm not having it that these departures are anything to do with FFP and attempts to cut the wage bill to achieve compliance. First off costs such as Billy Barr and Simon Cooper are exempt from these calculations as academy costs, in the same way maintenance and ground staff are. We could employ 100 ground staff and their costs would not count towards FFP. Secondly whatever we've saved by these people leaving will be utterly minimal in addressing losses it is a pointless exercise. Thirdly there's no evidence these people have been pushed out or made redundant. All have got roles lined up elsewhere which suggests they have been off trying to move away themselves. No, this is plain old Venky cost cutting, once again conveniently covered with the excuse of FFP. I expected this when there was all the talk of 'embargo' back in June. Plant it in people's minds that the cause of our issues isn't Venkys but those nasty rules. Looks like the staff at the club can't wait to get out of here including jumping ship to lower league clubs. This gives an indication as to morale around the place and the feeling as to how things are going to go. I never cease to be amazed by Chaddy who thinks these departures are normal, routine, nothing to be concerned about. Head in sand.

I think the sum total of it will be that if/when a vacancy arises, either because Mowbray packs it in or because someone eventually persuades Venkys to pull the trigger (far too late like with Coyle) then it will be the usual confusion. What do we do next, where do we go, who do we turn to. So they pick up the phone to the hired help and ask them to bring someone in who will be cheap and delighted to have a job at a club like this. Suggest a few names etc. Usually that will mean someone off the scrapheap e.g. Mowbray or Coyle. Sometimes might get lucky if the timing is fortunate and someone decent is on the lookout - at the time Lambert and Warnock was receptive to it we know that - but if those people wind up here and Venkys muck them around it won't last and then the cycle repeats. So the choice seems to be between the desperados grateful for a job who will play the Venky game and dance to their tune - or those willing to come here but not desperate to who won't put up with nonsense and will go elsewhere if they don't get backing and sensible decisions.

We could do a lot worse than Neil as manager and he's one I'd be pretty happy with. However, I'm struggling to believe there's any truth in the suggestion he's lined up or even been looked at by Rovers or that there is some plan in place on Mowbray. If they weren't going to remove him last season when he took us towards a relegation battle with that squad and not this summer when a new man might have a chance next season then why wait a few games this?

Don't need a training ground or academy if there's nobody left to work in them.

Coventry have just passed 10,000 sales. Anyone else reckon that we will have the lowest season ticket sales in the whole Championship? Struggling to think of many rivals for that position. We've done all we can though.

Sunderland have got themselves new owners though. As daft as it might sound I'd have shook hands on staying in League One for 3-4 years if it meant getting rid of Venkys and getting a different billionaire in the place like Sunderland have. Again it might sound daft but I'd sooner be in Sunderland's position now than ours - like Bolton they are emerging from the ashes, we are yet to go into it and even if we do will Venkys let go?

What players was Bowyer allowed to sign? 4 cheap free agents and a loan? Guthrie, Akpan, Delfouneso, Koita and Lawrence wasn't it? If that's Venky's backing the manager after selling Gestede and Cairney for £10 million then that's not good enough, but probably a clue as to the level of backing Mowbray might get in the event Armstrong is sold.

They sold that lad to Crystal Palace but that was a good while ago

Impressive looking business. All with similar gates to ours and whilst selling season tickets for £250. Shows it can be done. Weren't they the sort of club we were trying to avoid with their FFP issues?

Yes and also stemming from this is 'interest' in our better players. If a player is happy and settled at the club and can see that there is a plan and ambition here then he will sit tight. But when players see the club is a sinking ship, all over the place or realise that a poor manager is unsackable then they will start getting itchy feet and making noises via their agents. Then people like Nixon come with their weekly 'exclusives' and the whole circus takes off. Other clubs, who normally might not bother or would be sent packing with some firm resistance try their luck knowing a player has an eye on the exit door and knowing the club is a shambles. A snowball effect and there's all sorts of elements to it. I very much doubt it is just Club X wants our player and the player wants a pay rise. We supporters probably know but a fraction of the shenanigans that go on behind the scenes.

The rapidly changing world we are in when our u23 boss is jacking it in to go and be assistant manager at Salford City because they are paying more or are seen as a more exciting/attractive place to be.

We might as well be now

This is 2015 all over again. Venkys got bored or lost faith after a couple of years of backing Bowyer and he was a dead man walking from that summer on. It was obvious. Not invited to India for his chat, rumours of him being sacked, no money to spend resulting in signings like Delfouneso and Koita. But it dragged on until November by which time we were entrenched in the bottom third and the season was gone. Sadly I think there is a repeat ahead here, except rather than looking over our shoulders at the bottom 3 we are quickly going to be looking upwards at the safety spots. I also think Mowbray has his feet much further under the table than Bowyer ever did which is going to make his removal less likely and more likely that they just leave the carnage to unfold and the decision with Mowbray as to if he has the determination to hang on or throw in the towel.

So he's getting paid more being assistant manager at a fourth division club than he is managing our u23s in a Category A academy This offers an insight into salary levels around the place and also adds further confusion as to where this £20 million a year actually goes.

Is that a fact or assumption? Why can Huddersfield offer better wages? Do you think that is acceptable? And before you start saying parachute payments theirs are decreasing now and they have had the legacy of a crippling wage bill to deal with since in the Prem. They haven't got billionaire owners and haven't offloaded 11 players including some of their biggest earners this summer which should have freed up significant space to play with.

Waggott thinks that the supporters were all born yesterday, and that the peasants will just accept whatever excuse/rationale he comes out with. Sadly that is correct for a large chunk of our support base, who can't see the wool being pulled over their eyes. Fortunately there are a good number of us who can see through it all and can see the likes of him are actually unworthy of this club and are not to be trusted.

Community use? Since when was the purpose of our training ground to provide a facility for the community to use? With the demands of a professional football club, academy, full time staff, rehab there simply isn't the space or time for locals to use the facilities Nor do we want them there. BwD has perfectly adequate sports facilities as it is. If the community want more they can pester the council for it. Not Rovers job to provide facilities for people in Blackburn to use. I'm from Hyndburn. Would I be able to use these facilities? Accy Stanley have recently erected steel fencing to prevent locals using their training pitch so why would we be any different? Why should Joe Bloggs who supports United and does nothing for Rovers but lives in BWD get any benefit from our facilities? Do folk from Salford get to go and use Carrington for a kick about?

In what possible way would a training ground a few miles up the road but in BWD boundaries benefit the town and community? I believe that the training facilities are there for the benefit of the Club, Not the town or community many of whom do not even support Rovers. We have world class facilities in a world class environment. I'm struggling to understand any need to give that up to train on an industrial estate or playing fields in Blackburn. I keep coming back to it - why did Jack Walker build it in the Ribble Valley if it made more sense to build it in Blackburn?

No they just discovered the magic formula. Get rid of Mowbray and his gang. Things rapidly improved for them after that.

I don't recall Travis having many injuries. He had the big knee issue last season, and i think he was rushed back from that which probably caused further issues last year and I think he admitted he was struggling to get back to full steam after that. Prior to that I don't remember him missing many games at all due to injury. I stand to be corrected. Another one who could probably benefit from new faces and voices on the training ground.

Just to clarify my earlier posts. I believe he is a regular supporter and I wasn't trying to take any issue with that. I don't know the name myself. I remain concerned by this view that having a training ground in BWD would be better or beneficial for the Club. I don't think it helps that the minutes, which should be shared among the wider fanbase, include such views without any reasoning or explanation for them. I am also concerned that those views, recorded in minutes, could later by used by the Club or Waggott to help progress their schemes.

I'm not asking anyone to ask him anything. I was just curious if this person is actually a long standing Rovers fan with a history of involvement in Forums. I've never heard of him and nobody I've spoken to has either. Interesting that he seems to have such a firm view about such a sensitive subject and that this is recorded in the minutes with no reasoning behind it. Treat everything with suspicion in this area. I'll be delighted if I'm wrong and he is a genuine fan with a (strange and baseless) view that the training ground should be moved to BWD.

Does anyone know Mushtaq Khan? He was the one who turned up at the Fans Forum saying that the training ground should be in BWD. Is he a real person or just a plant by the club to sway opinion on the forum?

I didn't say I wanted him back. I said I'd rather have him than Mowbray. I'd also rather have Bowyer back than Hasselbaink or Ainsworth, both of whom have miserable Championship records. Mowbray shouldn't have changed anything. He appointed his staff, he has to go with them. Changing them is just passing the blame elsewhere. He's the manager, he goes if results aren't good enough