JHRover

They can't use a telephone to communicate with India so think arranging photos and press release of new kit still in Italy will be beyond them.

I think on balance the best assumption to make is that the Club has allowed his contract to run down. Just about every element of the Club is slow and late so to suddenly do the opposite on expensive player contracts is unlikely. But it actually doesn't matter. Because whatever the reason or cause of it the fact remains that Armstrong is a major asset that we are going to lose at an undervalue. Of course if the Club did make him a good offer in good time he should have been sold before now whilst we were in a position of some strength. I dont recall ever saying Armstrong wasn't worth what we paid for him. My recollection is that I was happy and supportive of the deal to bring him in permanently. It seems you have a better memory of my posts going back 3 years than I do so I might be wrong on that. Not that it actually changes anything. We keep hearing about these Bolton and Wigan comparisons. I'm starting to ask if we are really in that much better shape. OK we are currently a league higher but off the pitch and medium to long term prospects?

How come nearly everyone else managed it then?

This is the first mistake. The assumption that it costs £20 million a year to exist as we are. It doesn't. We are a basket case financially. Yes we will always lose millions a year at this level without player sales to plug the gap. But the losses are substantially higher than they need to be purely through mismanagement and neglect. For mid-table Championship Preston, Millwall, Luton, Barnsley all manage it spending a fraction of what we do. Why can't we do that and save £10 million a year? Bring that figure down to less than £10 million a year. Be more streetwise with recruitment and sales rather than allowing contracts to run down as with Armstrong. Get competent people running the club. Problem isn't solved but it is a hell of a lot better than it is now.

November 2019 was the turning point for me. Up to then promotion and a season back in the Championship fine. Events at Deepdale that day told me all I needed to know. Since then it has been wasting time and money.

Just looked him up. What an impressive background. Joins from the City Football Group. Graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a masters in business administration and management. Worked all around the world in scouting and management positions. Recruited immediately after the departure of his predecessor after a thorough process. And we've got Waggott. Mowbray's mate. We are so far off the level it is untrue.

Our offical season ticket sales figures for the 4 years after relegation: 2012/13 - 10,500 2013/14 - 10,700 2014/15 - 11,400 2015/16 - 10,400 Fast forward 5 years and here we are at 3000. The sad part is that even if by some miracle we managed to get back to 8,500 as per 2 years ago this would be hailed as a resounding success and yet even that is substantially lower than what we were getting at this level not long ago. Sustained decline. Where does it stop? I used to think the bottom point would be 7-8,000 hardcore. Seems those days will be yearned for before long. Who down there is concerned, interested, bothered in these alarming figures? Nobody.

I'm sensing a surprising level of consensus on here between people. Almost complete acceptance as to who and what is to blame for this and those pitiful sales figures. Usually you'd get a chunk of 'get behind the lads FFS' or 'the club has done its bit and can't do any more'. Not yet this time though. Seems that we are nearly all on the same page as to the weary state of the Club. Refreshing to see but sad that this is the state we are in.

Waggott has delivered his first increase in numbers. 2500 last year and already 3000 this! Hooray and keep up the good work. The likely gap of 3000 or so between what we sold in 19/20 and will reach this summer if we are lucky will be put down to Covid. After all, they've done all they can

At least it would kick the can down the road until January. Can't spend or do business now but just you wait until the next window when we have these targets lined up. Cheaper to plonk Mowbray's mate on a deal than signing a player or two.

I don't know. They used to have my email address and I haven't changed it. No I haven't renewed. I haven't even had the courtesy of an acknowledgment to my 5 page letter that was sent in 3 weeks ago. I may yet renew but this will depend on my discussions with my two friends who i have gone with since we were teenagers. If one of them are keen I will probably do it to not let them down. If not then it might be 3 of us stopping.

Some people don't use email, or twitter, or the Internet. Might sound ridiculous to some people on here but it isn't. I haven't had an email, letter, or call. I don't buy local newspapers. Good job I spend my time online. If I didn't I doubt I'd have known without word of mouth. I see Rich Sharpe is still awaiting a response to a question on how sales are going. Tells me all I need to know.

I agree we should be targeting promotion. If you are in this league but don't target success then you are in the wrong job. You can guarantee the likes of Warnock, McCarthy, Pearson, O'Neill, Hughton will be planning for their sides to be challenging and even the likes of the vile Jones at Luton will be gearing his side up for a push. Sadly at our Club all I see are losers from top to bottom. Owners who don't give a toss and let the manager set his own targets and then miss them without consequence. CEO more used to corner shop operations than aspiring PL Clubs and more interested in telling us why we can't do things and covering his mates backside. Manager who has repeatedly put the club down with negativity and defeatism and excuse making, who to all observers had thrown in the towel by March and was practically begging for the sack still here stinking out the place ready for the next phase of whatever plan these cretins have. Yep. Losers from top to bottom. This club sorely needs a change in mentality and mindset. Away with the downgrading, downsizing, dumbing down and in with the winning mentality that just because some clubs have more money or fans means naff all if we do our side of things properly. No more 'can't do' and much more 'can do'. This is going to require significant change in personnel because those there at the moment clearly haven't the interest, wherewithal or capability to do this, just keep the status quo going and justify it through minute savings and incremental 'improvement' e.g. putting pounds on an individual valuation.

Which is why you change manager. If you can't afford good new players then you change the other thing which is cheaper - the coaching staff You don't accept failure and mediocrity yet it seems that's exactly what this group of losers are trying to do.

If Armstrong is still here by the time the season kicks off I expect he will suddenly develop a random injury which prevents him being selected. Then this will shift to his head not being in the right place and only wanting to pick players who want to be here etc. All choreographed to shift blame and responsibility onto the player not the club.

Predictable. Start the summer as we mean to go on. Ask City and Liverpool for heavily subsidised favours to borrow a few of their kids. Focus on flogging Armstrong off to anyone interested. Not a bean to spend thanks to gross mismanagement yet the perpetrators are still here to continue the 'good work'. What an absolute sham of a Club this has become.

The least I would expect is an envelope enclosing prices, plans, direct debit and application form and pre-paid envelope to return it in, posted out to everyone who has a history of buying tickets in the last 10 years.

We can sign as many players as we like. It is the managers job to decide which of those go towards our 25 man limit. Some will go the other way out of the club and others will have to make do with being in the u23s. We've enough problems to deal with before telling ourselves we are only allowed x numbers of signings.

Nixon prints a Sunday 'exclusive' linking a Rovers striker with a move away. It could be 2014. How this guy makes a living I don't know. Well actually I do, clicks on The Sun website.

A strong a side as we have but not a strong side to be heading into a season with. No depth and with no Armstrong no goals.

I'm struggling to understand why our incoming business is dependent upon a resolution to the Armstrong saga. Within the last couple of weeks we've shed from the wage bill Evans, Bennett, Mulgrew, Bell, Downing and Holtby. Any guesses as to weekly savings there alone? I'll go for a minimum £65,000. A week. Then there's other savings- loans going back and Williams offloaded. Probably not too far away from £100,000 per week all put together (at a guess). Why do we need to shift Armstrong to bring in free agents or pay small fees? I suspect the answer is because we don't. They'll sell the Armstrong departure on the basis it will enable investment but we will see hardly anything coming back in.

Just seen the new Bristol Rovers kit (they're made by Macron yet Covid issues don't seem to have reached League Two Bristol or Scunthorpe). Must say I really like it.

They're just playing for time. Cost of bringing this guy in will be a fraction of the cost of just one transfer in. They'll already have their excuses ready for the end of the window: Armstrong saga made it very difficult to plan/not enough time to invest the money recieved Covid Only got John Park in mid-July - not enough time to do anything but by January we will be at full steam. Transfer embargo. Shuffling deckchairs around on the Titanic.

Can't imagine there is anyone at Southampton on a wage that we will be willing to pay, so expect that rules out any players in exchange. At best we will be looking for more heavily subsidised loans and kick the can down the road.

The only plan since day 1 has been to get himself and his associates into jobs and to stay in them for as long as possible. They each know that this is as good as it gets for them and after the Coventry City debacle Waggott was picking up 'consultancy' jobs for Southend and Gillingham and Mowbray was unsuccessfully applying for the Chesterfield job. Can't really blame them for this, despite putting the Club and supporters down with negativity on a regular basis they will know this is a brilliant job to have and nobody can really blame them for trying to stick at it as they won't get another job at this level. Unfortunately for us we have owners more interested in being told how great they are and ensuring their involvement is the bare minium, meaning they are more interested in doing nothing than rectifying things. All the talk about journeys and plans was just PR speak and to take some expectation/pressure off his shoulders for a year or two. Those watching our recruitment and over-reliance on loans could see there was no such thing.