If it was a genuine accident, which I'm sure only a diminishing number of the deluded actually believe, then the obvious way the club/owners/management could address that would be to re-use the money supposedly sanctioned for those players in later transfer windows. They didn't do that - the money disappeared into thin air. Very convenient. A 'mistake' is much easier to believe if the club then rectifies it by reallocating the money and puts it into the squad. A 'mistake' that saves a lot of money which then never reappears and goes with the pattern of cutting costs at every turn might not be a 'mistake' but actually a blessing to those overseeing the cuts.

"He went just for the money on offer at Derby" If true how/why are Derby offering him more than we are? Last I heard we had to be thankful for Venky benevolence because without it we'd 'do a Derby'. Now all of a sudden they are offering more money than us? What happened to the £40 million and counting? You see...even if you are daft enough to believe the 'money' excuse and close your mind to all the other alarm bells going off around the place it still gives rise to additional questions and concerns that need dealing with. It is not quite as straightforward as some fools would attempt to convince us it is.

Yes we seem to agree on the contract situation and the urgent need to sort those out. I suspect we are already too late and the players in question will have decided to look elsewhere and will be getting advice from their representatives to dismiss any attempts by Rovers to renew them (if Rovers even make any attempts, which I doubt). The only exceptions to that will be people like Weimann and Batth who probably deserve new deals but Rovers can afford to muck around (as we did with Batth when JDT was manager) because at their ages and career stages they won't have loads of options and will be happy just to stay in the Championship playing for another year. The difference between me and you is that when these players waltz off into the sunset and join rival clubs at knockdown fees/free transfers I won't be shrugging my shoulders and concocting all sorts of excuses why Rovers couldn't or wouldn't keep them, I won't be blaming FFP, I won't be blaming crowds, fanbases, legal troubles, the players or their agents for being greedy, unreasonable, telling myself that someone has always fancied living in Stoke or Derby or Middlesbrough or wherever they go. I won't be doing that because it is almost certainly bullshit, fanned out to the media and supporters by people at Rovers anxious to protect their cushy numbers and keep the supporters on side in the meantime. I will be holding Rovers 100% responsible and behaving accordingly. You however have a habit of re-writing history or swallowing any old story that appears on twitter/Nixon/Venkygraph because it is easier to stomach than the painful truth of what is going on at Rovers. I am glad you are happy with the Ismael appointment. I couldn't care less to be honest. We have a 2 month season and future. What happens beyond that is way bigger and more significant than who the 'head coach' is. I'll have a bet with you now that he isn't our manager by March 2026. No criticism of him but he won't be given the opportunity or resources to do his job so he'll either quit (JDT) or engineer a move elsewhere (Eustace).

I'm not sure of the relevance of you highlighting 'transfer fees and associated costs' here when we were discussing the highest paid director. I agree it is almost certainly Waggott, and that makes the most (only) sense. But not quite correct to say it is 'definitely' him as there is more than one director on the payroll and in theory any one of them could be the highest paid. It would help if anyone knew what two of them looked like - have you any idea what Rao and Gupta do, have they ever been to Ewood, would you recognise them?

He's a professional footballer and extremely well paid for the privilege. One of the few downsides to such a career is that it can involve moving around the country or even across Europe/the world from season to season and club to club. You seem to apply conventional principles to an unconventional career and lifestyle. If every player and manager made his career decisions based on saving on travel time or not uprooting his family football would be an incredibly different and even more dull spectacle. The extreme lengths you will go to in an effort to absolve Rovers of any blame or responsibility for the vast number of people who wish to leave here and move elsewhere still doesn't cease to amaze me. I would have thought after all this time and all these departures that you would focus your attention on what the owners and their stooges are up to rather than trying to convince yourself that all is fine and dandy and just that some players fancy living away from here. Just to confirm again - blindly accepting what occurs at Rovers and the excuses they peddle via the media does not make you a proper fan or more loyal than it does questioning and scrutinising things. I'd argue the opposite - failing to take the lowlife to task on these things only makes it easier for them and more likely they'll continue destroying the club.

Clueless Chaddy. Rothwell is from Manchester and his wife from Birmingham. Other than his short spells at Bournemouth and Southampton he's played in Man Utd's youth team, Barnsley, Oxford, Blackpool, Rovers and now Leeds. He and his family have spent the vast majority of his life playing in the North of England. It is a myth that the move to Bournemouth was brought about by some family factors or burning desire to live on the South Coast. In a nutshell Rovers mucked him around, as they have everyone else, his head was turned by a better offer elsewhere and he took it. See everyone else that has departed in the last few years, Eustace and JDT included. Nothing to do with saving on travel or family pressure, just a desperation to get away from Venky Rovers. Who can blame them? Not me.

It could be Gandhi Babu or Sreenivasa Rao. I doubt anyone at Ewood has ever met or would recognise either of them but safe to assume both are on the payroll as executive directors. Unlikely and unjustifiable if so, but it could be.

It has been declared in the annual accounts for the last 4-5 years that the highest paid director has been taking home over £300k a year. It is an assumption that the highest paid director is the Chief Executive. If it isn't and someone else is getting paid more than him this is even more concerning. Assuming Waggott is the highest paid director, which his title suggests he should be, then yes, there has been a massive increase in his remuneration particularly in the last year, jumping from just over £300k to well over £400k. A huge increase for someone doing the same job at a club in the same league. This leads to the question of what he has done in the last year or so to justify such a substantial increase - the only logical conclusion is that he is being rewarded for performance and that directly correlates to the cuts and money brought in from player sales which has been massive and has essentially meant that the owners have avoided needing to transfer money from India. It is only right to identify that if correct, and he is being paid more for saving the owners money, this directly conflicts with investment, improvement, growth, squad building, new contracts. If we embark on serious investment in the stadium, squad, contracts this is potentially jeopardising his income. Conflict.

I'm increasingly of the view that this is all part of the two stooges doing whatever they can to make their own 'performance' appear healthier to the Indians. I am convinced that both are tasked and rewarded based on the cuts and savings they make - once glance at the circus they have overseen in the last few years supports that theory - as does the massive pay hike for one (or both) of them in this years' accounts. It certainly stands out as odd that for a club supposedly without cash, trying to manage on an even keel and cutting costs all over the show that in the space of a year someone has got a 30%+ pay hike for doing the same job. The fact that when Broughton came along he was able to quickly and effectively sort out recruitment and contracts in little time at all - and the fact that since he was sidelined nobody, not one, has signed new terms, suggests that it is a deliberate policy to run these contracts down. I am asking myself how this works - get to the start of June - another raft of loans, short terms and contract expiries off the books - the stooges toddle off to the annual summit meeting and get themselves a big old pat on the back for their handling of the finances. Nothing to worry about, we can just get Ismael and Rudy to sign a load of loans, frees, academy lads to bring in. Pay rise next year sorted!

Save us money and you'll get a cut of the savings. I suspect that is the basic premise the stooges are working to down there. Promotion doesn't feature in that quest. Just keep it ticking over and reduce reduce reduce. The Eustace compensation cash and next instalment for Adam Wharton are coming soon, then maybe a cut of a further sale if he leaves Palace. Another bonus/pay rise next year would do very nicely indeed. Soon, if not already, be top earner at the club.

Another thing that sums up how bad it is - the advertising boards around the ground - along the top of the Riverside and the front of the JW stand there are dozens of Venkys ad boards - and they are all absolutely filthy or faded. They've been there now for years and have just worn away. It's a pretty poor do when the club can't even be arsed to ensure the owners' boards are replaced and look decent. The ones on the JW lower look a right mess on TV and visiting clubs/dignitaries will be looking at the ones on the Riverside all match covered in grime. The signage on the BBE - the display for the Ronnie Clayton BBE - looked smart when it was first done over a decade ago - but inevitably it is now starting to wear away - there are bits missing and falling off. Just a mess.

And once again with Waggott's statement in the accounts we see why he should be nowhere near a club of this size - he considers routine maintenance - like cleaning parts of Ewood and repairing crumbling concrete - as noteworthy jobs requiring reference in public - just like he did the other year when he boasted about the new bus and laying of a new pitch. These are not improvements or significant expenditures - they are essential maintenance steps that are par for the course at a large, professional football club with a 30,000 capacity stadium Non-league clubs have to lay a pitch, repair crumbling concrete and clean the roofs - it isn't impressive that this is done at Ewood and it should be done each and every year not once a decade. Impressive noteworthy expenditure would be new floodlights, new sound system, a new Riverside stand, a Desso pitch, a new jumbo screen, real improvements that go above and beyond the bare minimum. These are things that are done at most other Football League grounds at some stage or another, but not under this regime at Ewood. They expect credit and gratitude for repairing and maintaining their own facilities.

Steve's £125k pay rise through to £433k a year needs funding somehow. Just remember when we are waving off our core playing assets as their contracts run down that this charlatan is taking this much out of the club every year.

I'm not worried about anything Chaddy other than your state of mind. Too much water passed under the bridge for me to be worrying about trivial minor inconsequential issues like coaching and backroom staff who will be here for at best 12 months before they give up / are forced out. My references to the Rothwell nonsense were tongue in cheek comments making fun of the claim because it was and is ludicrous. People like you were using it as an excuse and reason as to why he was leaving Rovers to join Bournemouth because that's what you enjoy doing - convincing yourself and others that there is a reason beyond Rovers' control why bad things happen and that they are not to blame - when in most cases I think Rovers are at least partly responsible. Heaven knows how Rothwell got permission to move to Leeds in the summer, how will his Mrs cope with that one? Or maybe it was just made up drivel as some of us knew from the start.

We are, allegedly, a Championship club challenging to secure a place in the biggest and most valuable league in world football in the next 2-3 months. And we are worrying about Eastbourne Borough's manager being grateful for them giving him a job and wanting to 'see the season through' in the National League South? Good grief Chaddy. Next up you'll be telling me that Adam Murray's wife enjoys living in Eastbourne and doesn't want to relocate to NW England.

Maybe Ismael insisted that a condition for taking the job was that he would be allowed to bring in his own backroom staff and Rovers have 'agreed' to this in the summer. We all know what jam tomorrow promises can be made at Rovers and how often those don't materialise once 'circumstances change'

Every single ingredient is in place for a recipe for disaster here. Hope to god I am wrong because nothing less than a win will be enough for our fading play-off ambitions. Sell out relatively large away following travelling in confidence/expectation - rarely bodes well Eustace factor / added spice Our struggles in recent weeks and unconvincing performances Most of the season we have struggled away against struggling sides - Plymouth, Oxford, Millwall, Swansea They have a couple of monkeys on their back that will have to end soon - no goals in ages, no wins in ages, no points or wins for Eustace, risk of getting cut adrift They need a result to keep in touch with the teams just outside the bottom 3 - if they don't they will be adrift very soon with the likes of Hull and Stoke still collecting points As others have pointed out their defensive record isn't bad for a team in their position and given our troubles putting the ball in the net and Eustace/Ismael caution expect a low scoring affair decided by an odd goal So yeah, I'm worried. The thought of 3000 Rovers fans spending 90 minutes obsessing over and abusing Eustace rather than the real scumbags sat in the directors box doesn't appeal either.

Sales of Carter, Travis, Hyam, Tronstad and Brittain should net them £10 million+ which in their eyes is another year of losses Venkys don't need to cover. What's not to like? Achieving this whilst also selling some season tickets and not getting relegated from the Championship could be tough so suspect they will have to try and hit some middle ground. They can dress most of it up under the guise of Ismael and the new era wanting to put a new fresh stamp on the squad and get players suited to his style of play. Then they will also turn the tables on the players themselves and make them the enemies by suggesting that they are refusing to sign new deals and therefore forcing the club into an impossible position where a sale is the only realistic option. Of course most of us know that there are no new deals on the table, they have no intention of offering these players improved extended terms because that costs money. Unfortunately quite a lot of Rovers fans will just accept it and shrug shoulders.

The club finds itself in the top 6 by complete accident, it was never planned or intended and is simply a result of a tight knit dressing room working their backsides off all season overseen by a decent manager and his staff. Nothing at all to do with the wretches in India, or their cowardly stooges in the boardroom. They deserve not one single iota of credit for it as not a single act they have performed has helped the team get into the position that it is. The fact that they never had any expectation, hope, plan or intention of being in the mix is evidenced by the CEO publicly declaring 18 months ago, a few months after missing the play-offs on GD, that his ambition for the season was survival, and then having twice ended up in the shake up for the play-offs since then to have successfully forced out two good managers by making their positions untenable to the point where one preferred to be unemployed and the other preferred a probable spell in League One next year. Quite the achievement to make it so unpleasant and undesirable to stay here and compete for the top 6. So no real surprise then when Ismael rocks up and there's no talk about promotion, but plenty about projects. His discussions with the stooges will have been based on yet more vague promises with no real intentions of delivering 'jam tomorrow', probably telling him not to worry about the summer as money will be available, things will get sorted out. He will discover in the fullness of time that these are lies aimed purely at getting him in the building and under contract then worry about the rest later.

They're just making it up as they go along. None of them - I include Ismael - can be taken seriously when they speak publicly. I'm not suggesting Ismael is in on it or should be compared to the scrotes in the boardroom but at this early juncture he is just repeating the same old stuff the last three have come out with, he will probably have been given the same false impression in his discussions with them and it is totally pointless as he will find out in the next 6 months.

Whoever writes these things down there needs to get a grip on their use of exclamation marks.

Think Waggott is going to be kicking back and celebrating a fantastic few weeks for him and his mate in the shadows. 6 figure compensation for Eustace and his staff 3 off the wage bill. A 2 week long search concludes with Ismael accepting their terms on the basis he works with existing staff. No compensation required. As it stands a wage down with Gardiner and Downing off the books and Whitehead on. Fans gearing up for a day at Derby giving grief to the bogeyman whilst Waggott and his mate sit in the comfy seats upstairs (at our expense) enjoying the show. If we fall short of the top 6 everyone can blame Eustace upping sticks and leaving mid-season and the instability of having to find a replacement. Job done.

I believe that part of his attractiveness to the regime will be that he won't have many demands when it comes to his own staff and that the current establishment behind the scenes will be brought further into the fold than they were under Eustace, where other than Benson the others were rarely seen and apparently sidelined. The regime will want to ensure they are front and centre again.

What the players want or think doesn't matter to this regime. Nor does what the manager, staff, fans, think. They won't be staying because the owners and their stooges have decided they won't be getting offered reasonable competitive new contracts, hence nobody renewing in over a year.

Brentford sell Watkins to Villa for £30 million and within weeks have invested most of that back into their squad and the show rolls on - either get promoted and recoup the money or sell the replacements and reinvest - and on it goes. Here the name of the game is to save cash for the Indians with no end in sight. No promotion, no reinvestment, no sale of the club. Just purgatory.