My understanding is that when Brockhall was a hospital the JTC grounds were outside the hospital footprint and used solely for recreation and sports. The difference with the areas 'up the hill' were that these were within the 'footprint' and when the hospital was demolished planning permission was secured to build housing over it. If you ever go to Brockhall you can tell feel this is the case, as the JTC can only be accessed through the village, passing the houses and going down a lane to the bottom of the hill outside of the village. It feels very much separate and outside of the village area. Also the north side of the site has very impressive unrestricted views out into the Ribble Valley and over to Stoneyhurst. If you look at the satellite images of the JTC on Google Maps other than the pitch markings and the building itself I don't think the site has ever really changed since before Rovers got hold of it. That is there's a narrow lane down to a tarmac area with a car park and pavilion. The building Rovers use was built in the early 90s as the STC, but I think this was only allowed because it sits on where the old changing rooms were and so wasn't a development as such, rather replacing existing facilities. It's also a single story building with a shallow roof and hidden on 2 sides by the hill to the village. My understanding (from the information I've picked up from people and online) is that when Gerald Hitman got hold of the lease to the Brockhall hospital, and then it was closed and ripe for redevelopment into housing, he found that the JTC site was useless for housing as permission would never be obtained to develop it. It was this basis on which Jack Walker came along on the look out for a new training ground for Rovers, and did a deal with Hitman for site relatively cheaply. It was worth little to Hitman as it had to be preserved for sports purposes although it did sit right next to his mansion. The 'plans' that Rovers have submitted show that the dimensions of an indoor pitch could fit over the existing car park and building. However there seems to be no provision for all the other facilities that would be required down there - which even if built multi-story would still take up a lot of room. I think that any building down there will have to be done strictly on where the existing building and car park are. I think it will be difficult or impossible to be able to build out beyond that footprint, and they know this, which is why the 'plans' released reference this footprint and make no mention of going beyond it. Building an indoor pitch down there? Not going to happen in my opinion. Access will be a huge issue. It isn't wide enough for 2 cars to pass in some places. When games are taking place down there the existing car park fills up and cars have to park on the road up to the village. Personally I think the issues are going to be insurmountable to build anything remotely close to what we need. This leads to a few possibilities. 1) Waggott knows full well this site can't be developed for what we need, yet has cracked on with this regardless - why? 2) Waggott hasn't even considered the above issues and has simply focused on the housing development side with scant regard for the replacement facility at this point. 3) They are going to crack on and build something that isn't suitable or good enough but they don't care and will not bother if we lose the academy or facilities.

We have to play both Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday away. Defeats in those games could be fatal, wins could keep us up. The next month is going to be a fascinating watch. We have a set of fixtures that are tough by any measure, our record this season shows we struggle to get results against the better sides and rely on individual quality to dispatch the poorer sides. I don't think it is unlikely that we go through March without winning. By the time April arrives we could be looking at 0 wins in 12 games and if we were to even go as far as to lose them all it would be 11 defeats in 12 games. I expect we will eke out a couple of points here and there. Millwall away and Brentford at home are my predictions. Get through to April and it doesn't look much easier - away games at Wycombe and Sheffield Wed could decide our fate but other tough fixtures away at Cardiff and home v Bournemouth and Derby. I don't think there's any point even kicking off against Bournemouth because they were in the Premier League last year and spent money so we've no chance.

He'll end up going to a Championship rival. There will be no new contract and no buyers at big money from the PL. Expect a sale of £8-10 million. To be honest I couldn't blame him in the slightest leaving the club. Devoid of ambition and prioritising preservation of the status quo over a real push for promotion.

So Nixon 'might' have an update on Mowbray but it will only be in the paper and not online. Guess we're all going to have to go out and buy the paper then? He must think we were born yesterday. Another Armstrong 'update'. Who's pushing this and why?

Another one who won't have paid for a ticket in years along with Dunn, Myers etc. Earning a living out of the game distorts perceptions.

Myers applies double standards. If it was his beloved Everton struggling with horrendous form he'd be keen to see a change, and if there was the opportunity of a far better manager coming in he'd jump. Then little old Rovers are supposed to accept their lot in life and trust good old Tony to plod on forever.

Our Match Sponsor today is the Rovers Community Trust. They are also the Sponsors of the Family Stand and took the advertising space the club tried selling on the Jack Walker stand windows when the ground was shut. Here is the problem. Commercial and corporate development is non existent, to the extent we are relying on the Community Trust to sponsor the club. It is embarrassing. But that's what happens when you neglect this important part of the club and treat fans and partners with contempt. Get rid of Waggott and pay a top drawer Commercial director to increase income.

How about a starter from the club to evidence their intentions before cracking on with this Brockhall project? If the owners and club management are so keen to improve the club, facilities and modernise things then lets see some FFP exempt investment into these facilities that doesn't rely upon selling off acres of prime land for housing. A new or refurbished Riverside should convince people. Or how about a deep clean of Ewood to get rid of the filth that has built up over the last decade. Or how about we see if this major pitch project actually happens without needing to sell off players or assets to fund it. I'm sure if I saw some more sustained and wider efforts to improve the club I might believe a corner had been turned. But when it goes from one extreme to the other it rightly gives rise to suspicion. A club that can't even be bothered to clean it's own stadium yet will spend millions building a new training complex that isn't even needed is suspect.

Can't be right. Ipswich in League One and a Town club millions in debt. Nobody would buy such a club, so they would have us believe. Evans is walking away from £100 million in loans to Ipswich. That's what Venkys would have to do with their £200 million.

If you believe that, you'll believe anything. Talk about trying to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted. He talks about being sorry for the fans finding out via the Ribble Valley planning website in Friday night and that he didn't expect it to appear so soon. Then says he is experienced in large developments and the sensitivities of these at football clubs. Surely with that experience he would have been wary of the risk of this leaking and done something about it? I dont believe much of what he comes out with. I think he speaks with a forked tongue. The only part that I welcome is that he says the Cat 1 academy is essential. The £2 million pitch refurb will not happen, that i am confident about. Perhaps someone could measure the size of Everton's Finch Farm compared to the academy at Brockhall and contrast.

I dont understand this suggestion or theory that Venkys are effectively being held to ransom by Waggott threatening to leave immediately if Mowbray gets potted. It seems to be reminiscent of the rogue Shaw period where they are unable to act due to an employee being untouchable. Remember that Waggott only arrived in late 2017. So who was doing all these essential jobs of his before then?

For what its worth i heard last week that both are going in the summer. Trouble is the summer is a long way off with our results and position. I still think Mowbray is under the misapprehension that our owners closely monitor results and are prepared to act when they aren't good enough and that means he's on thin ice. I'm not sure that is true. Not now he's ensconced himself with the top dogs in India. They've shown before that they'll sit back and watch the club burn and fans rebel rather than remove someone they like. And lets remember that Coyle got to wreak havoc until February 2017 despite sitting in the bottom 3 all season. They did nothing.

Jokanovic had a poor record at Fulham in his first half season. Did enough to keep them up and then the next season got them up through the play offs. Cowley's record is unbelievable. If he hadn't been at Huddersfield I would have doubts about him stepping up in size and division to the Championship. But he's now had that experience of managing at this level at a sinking ship and kept them up in poor circumstances, inheriting a right mess from Wagner and Siewert He's low risk, potentially huge rewards and would offer something different. Having squandered the opportunity to get McCarthy, Warnock and Pearson in the last 12 months I think Cowley ticks most boxes for us right now. If it doesn't work, let him go and try someone else after next season. We don't have to give the next manager 3-4 years to deliver "stability". Much sooner Cowley with his experience and record than a rookie like Johnson or someone like Pulis.

That's what my money is on unless something drastic happens. Venkys will put their liking of their manager before the fans and ticket sales. Waggott will accuse people of disloyalty before telling us all about what a small club we are with hardly any fans.

I, and I hope others, knew this point would come sooner or later. Investing everything into Mowbray's hands, just because he comes across as a nice man or did a decent job 3 years ago, was a disaster waiting to happen with this ownership. We were always going to hit the buffers or unravel, because that's what all teams do sooner or later. Everything that has happened here has been on Mowbray's say-so or suggestion, not because the owners have suddenly changed their ways. They still don't get what football manager is and how results and performances have always decided the position of a manager, not individual qualities or trust. What a sorry, sorry, mess. We were always going to hit this point sooner or later. Mowbray won't walk unless his position becomes untenable. That would only happen if we ended up like Coventry when he gave up there. As long as we're outside the bottom 3 he won't be under sufficient scrutiny to throw in the towel. He's got the owners on side, just like Kean managed to do very quickly. We know how that works - go to India, have a few cups of tea at the bungalow, tell them how brilliant they are and ask them for some money and tell them you'll sort it all out without the need for them to do anything. The benefit is we get stability and money going into the transfer kitty but the downside is underachieving or failing managers being untouchable. I had hoped this had changed with mystery man Pasha there to act as a buffer but it seems not. Mowbray's not going to give this job up easily. Who can blame him. Its the best job he could hope for. The onus shouldn't be on him to walk. It should be the club thanking him and parting ways in an orderly fashion.

Cowley brothers. Now. Deal until summer 2022. Crack on. Let's reassess into next season and extend contracts then if we are making progress. We need fresh eyes and voices and energy in the dugout. Available, affordable, quickly improved failing Huddersfield last season. No time now for rookies or caretaker coaches.

I see we are back to injuries being the excuse for some for these results. 11 out apparently. We need to get them back apparently. Of course we couldn't have predicted that Ayala, Williams, Holtby would spend swathes of the season out injured. And Trybull was in and out even when fit. And we signed 2 CBs in January to cope with it.

I've been thinking it for months that an Armstrong sale in the summer saves Mowbray's bacon with the owners. They'll be wondering why we haven't been promoted and why Mowbray wants more money for the transfer window in the summer. If he can flog Armstrong for good money then he'll be able to fall back on that and show them how his dealings have delivered them a tidy profit and ask for a slice to spend in the summer.

Sickening. Not even a whiff of the bloke being on his way out. Instead all the talk about Saturday now being a huge game. Correct. Saturday is a huge game. But for all the wrong reasons. That doesn't mean he should be here to oversee it. If the people running this club had a clue they would already have had the feelers out over the last couple of weeks and would remove him and his mates and make a swift appointment. Cardiff and Bristol City did it in a matter of a couple of days.

So maximum 2 acres per pitch. There are only 5 pitches on the academy, space for a sixth where the car park is. Never get 9 or 10 pitches on it.

That's still far too big. 1 football pitch is roughly 1 acre. There's no way there's 19 acres on each site.

I can only assume that the 19000 figure should be square metres rather than acres. Thats the only explanation that makes any sense. Not off to a good start with this exciting project are they? News leaked from fans and forced to hastily release a statement Nobody putting their name to it Manager denying any involvement Inadequate site to accommodate what is needed. Company instructed to prepare plans can't even distinguish between square metres and acres. Maybe that explains why they think they can get it all on one site. They might have measured everything in inches. I'm sure we are in good hands...

The same document states the senior training centre is 19,140 acres. A mistake made twice in the same document? Odd.

They've made a rod for their backs by mentioning the indoor pitch being built down there. That will be the expectation now. If that can't be built then not even the imbeciles on Facebook will be able to claim that its anything but a drastic downscale of the operation.

I'm not a planning expert. But I would think that if 6 floodlight pylons would be refused due the above concerns then constructing a 50ft+ tall indoor training pitch might be difficult to get through.