JHRover

I'm a little unsure how to feel about the Sheffield Wednesday mess. Of course at its most basic there should be sympathy for their employees/suppliers and genuine supporters who must be deeply concerned about the state they are in, and you hope their situations are resolved. It seems some want to use it as a 'be careful what you wish for' tool as to why things are actually ok at Rovers under Venkys because, look, it could easily be worse. Personally however there's an element of jealously. That might sound crazy / ridiculous but at least with them there's an end to their misery in sight. Light at the end of the tunnel. Their situation cannot continue, it is only a matter of time before they either change ownership or the authorities intervene like they did with Reading. It might not be quick, easy or smooth but ultimately they'll break the grip of Chansiri whereas we will just continue to rot under Venkys for years more. They'll have a new future to look forward to. What have we got to look forward to under this regime?

Maybe these players fancy going to Derby because they loved working under Eustace last season, were gutted when he left and are keen to get back working with him? That would mean more serious and longer term consequences and implications to him moving to Derby but hey, at least we've now got 'alignment' between head coach and work experience head of football and some compo banked for Eustace and his staff Happy days indeed.

Just for money? Derby are skint. The difference is their owner still wants them to progress and backs his manager as much as he can. There's no evidence other than the words of liars on the Venky payroll that any serious efforts have been made to keep any of our players. Most of the players have admitted this in public in the last few months. If we had really tried the odds suggest that at least one of them would have signed up. The fact that 0 have signed tells me that we aren't trying.

It won't disappear. Nobody has disappeared. They might have a couple of horrible years and might go down to League One but at the end of it will be rid of Chansiri and will get bought by someone better. They'll then be able to rebuild just like so many others have done under new engaged ownership.

A lot of people seem to think it would be a good thing for Rovers if we got £1 million+ as a sell on fee for Phillips I'm struggling to see any positive. It certainly won't provide a material benefit to Rovers.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25055813.blackburn-contract-talks-futures-three-key-players/ This was Gestede quoted on 1st April. Nearly 3 months on and total and utter failure to do any of what he was talking about. Giving Forshaw another year all he has managed.

You don't give up a secure job when sat in the top 6 in February, in with a shot of becoming a Premier League manager, and gamble your career and reputation on an uphill struggle to avoid League One at skint Derby unless you are desperate to get away. Somehow I don't believe that the hours drive it saved was the crucial factor. Something deeply, deeply wrong behind the scenes and has been for a while and 'alignment' isn't the word for it Funny how travel keeps cropping up here as a reason for people leaving. Convenient because location is one thing the wretches cannot affect or control yet doesn't appear to be the issue at any other North West club. They make out like we are Plymouth, Norwich or some other distant backwater.

And it works. Because it had us and Birmingham on track for the play offs on a limited budget and shambles behind the scenes. Simple question, requiring one word answer: Would you prefer it if decisions were being made by Eustace or the current lot (Gestede)?

I think the 135 / 15 years distinction is a good one. Also because it was only a week or so after our 135th anniversary that these awful people completed their takeover and their regime took the club hostage. So not only is November important as the anniversary of the clubs' founding 150 years ago but also the anniversary of its' darkest day 15 years ago.

The fact that Eustace at Derby is shopping in virtually identical markets to what he was doing here last year is not to be taken as a positive. It shows that Derby are not in any great shape, and financially are hamstrung, so much so that he is having to turn to free agents and people he knows in a bid to solidify them. He hasn't gone there to throw millions around on quality. He's working under tough financial constraints. Yet despite those constraints, despite shopping for free agents and despite gambling his reputation on what appeared to be a probable relegation to League One, he still couldn't get out of the Brockhall exit quickly enough. What does that tell the head in sand brigade about the state of things at Rovers?

The reason we have done 'well' over the last 3-4 years is because we've had good managers and more importantly the left overs of a very good Championship squad. The biggest credit I can give Tony Mowbray, and I believe it came at the expense of immediate results, is that he had a good eye for a player, patience and was able over 3-4 years to build a very good Championship squad. He was of course given time and resources to do that (way beyond the constraints the owners have imposed over the last few years) but he certainly left a legacy of a good Championship side capable of doing well in this league, Despite a reckless and negligent approach to contracts and reinvestment, resulting in the departures of important players like Rothwell, Lenihan, Diaz and others on free transfers, we have managed to keep going with the others that have been left over together with good recruitment under Broughton with Brittain, Tronstad, Hyam and Szmodics, again when they were actually allowing some reinvestment in the club. That is going to come to an end soon as the last of Mowbray's and Broughton's signings are offloaded to rivals on the cheap, leaving us will little remaining in quality or experience. The reason we've done 'well' (is finishing 7th in the second tier doing well?) is because of the legacy of previous staff and players from a bygone era when the owners were of some use to the club by spending some money on it. Now that's all changed.

Yeah but look on the bright side. This guy has reported it on twitter, so it will soon be in the Telegraph, half the fanbase believes overnight that we are going around making bids like this and the best part of it is it doesn't cost us a penny. Free positive publicity. What's not to like.

These are the teams confirmed to be using the Pinatar Arena over the course of this summer: Al Ain (Abu Dhabi), Elche (Spain), Murcia (Spain), NEOM (Saudi), Al Rayyan (Qatar), Melilla (Spain), Albacete (Spain), Bournemouth, Swansea, Bristol Rovers, Cardiff, Millwall, Everton, Hearts, Stevenage, Stockport, Crawley, St Mirren, Southend, Curzon Ashton, Rovers There will probably be more using it but these are the clubs featured on their 2025 poster

Best time to play the likes of Soton, Ipswich and Leicester away is either at the very start or very end of the season IMO. More chance of catching them off guard either before they've got settled down or after there's nothing left to play for. I'd rather play one of them first game than a Charlton, Birmingham or Wrexham bouncing from promotion.

Circa 15 goals walking out the door for nothing in Dolan and Weimann. Who's filling that void?

They're going to do this summer what they planned on doing last summer until Eustace put his foot down and threatened to walk out after only 4 months in the job. After that wobble they backed down and allowed him to bring in McFadzean, Batth, Weimann and Cantwell, some much needed British based experience. He also brought Travis back into centre place and vital importance to the team after the Regime had got him out the door to Ipswich and were looking to sell him. Eustace had correctly identified an issue with inexperience when he arrived at the club, they'd been going hell for leather down the track of untried and inexperienced under JDT, and it was going to catch up with us eventually. They'll be happy that they got Eustace out of the way and got compensation for him and his staff (is that our transfer kitty money for the summer?). Now they've got someone in place who is more likely to tolerate 'the plan' (and I use that term loosely for what this lot are doing) they can resume the operation with gusto. So bye bye to those expecting Championship level wages or contracts longer than 2 years, get shut of Eustace's favourites and it's back to the European bargain aisle.

QPR have confirmed that Cifuentes has left and are expected to appoint Julien Stephan, former Rennes and Strasbourg manager

I see efforts to sell the captain are escalating. Looks like Wrexham and Derby 'interest' not come to anything yet so let's try and get Coventry in on the act Wages and a couple of million fee long ago earmarked for savings and running costs.

Still no news on who we are playing on the weekend of 2nd August? Only 4 friendlies announced to date with no clarity as to the opponents in our two Spanish matches. Waggo was claiming he'd been arranging showpiece fixtures against sides in commemoration of the 150th anniversary so I'm intrigued as to who they have lined up here.

Plus the conveyor belt of boardroom, management and coaching staff - again a direct result of their poor recruitment, negligence, cost cuts, lies and lack of ambition - enables them to continually hide behind a 'new era' as each new manager/CEO/Head of can come along and ask for a clean slate, forget about the past, nothing to do with me, lessons have been learned and the cycle starts all over again.

Indeed. If shadow man was given his accurate job title - CEO - he'd face a lot more scrutiny. He'd also have numerous administrative and legal requirements as 'the boss' to fulfil including with the League/FA. Most importantly within a year he'd either be facing fan revolt or media attention, oh no, that's no good. By bringing in another stooge they can reset the clock - hoodwink the fans into thinking changes are being made, things are going to be different/better, 'just get behind the new CEO FFS' then by the time the new guy realises what he's up against or the fans start to turn on him another year will have gone by. Maybe by then they'll have seen off Gestede and got another 'Head of' in to replace him and another new 'project' to set in motion. All smoke and mirrors with this lot, always has been always will be. Going right back to when they employed a 'Deputy CEO' (who needs one of those?) without even having a 'CEO' for him to be deputy to.

Oh dear, looks like we are sliding back into the bad old days again. Whether it is right or wrong about the wage cap makes no difference. Whether we have a £10k a week self imposed wage cap or don't, makes no practical difference. Either way we are incapable of keeping our best players due to our approach to contracts. I don't care if we are going around offering £50k a week, if players don't sign the damn thing its the same end result - failure and assets leaving to go to rivals. The point is that whatever we are doing isn't working. Hence in the space of 4 years a complete and total exodus of just about every player with value or who could command a deal elsewhere, leaving us with unknowns, academy grads and cheap signings like Forshaw. Truly pathetic. Nobody knows what Derby are offering Batth. Maybe it is 2 years, maybe not. You seem to have acquired inside knowledge that they are giving him 2 years and seem to have decided that it is ridiculous for us to have done the same. Again, doesn't really matter. What matters is that he is a good player, a leader, was outstanding for us last season, we were a better team with him in the side, and ultimately whatever the cause of it he's deciding to walk away from us after less than a year, walk away from regular game time with us and potentially the captaincy once we've offloaded the incumbent, to join another club. That tells me that what we are offering isn't good enough. Our choice. You're rewriting history on Eustace. He left because this club is a shambolic joke, that bungled last summer so much so that he threatened to resign despite only joining in February. A club that trousered almost all of the Adam Wharton and Szmodics cash and left him scratching around for cheap signings to rebuild despite keeping us up. A club that mucked around the easy signings of McFadzean and Batth despite the manager wanting both and from that moment on had his eyes on moving elsewhere. A club that introduced a rookie work experience director of football over the top of Eustace who I'd say has forgotten more about the Championship than Gestede will ever know. A club that changes 'project' every year, not because it is trying to get somewhere but because it can't retain staff because they quickly realise it is a lie and doomed to fail because the owners down aren't fit for purpose. People like you who reset every summer and forget about all the above and invent narratives to make you feel better about the state of play at Ewood play right into the regime's grubby hands. Rovers don't want to explore the overseas market any more than they did 10 years ago. It is just the way we have chosen to go because by choosing to slash costs it is inevitable that we have to go to the bargain basement to find signings. Their choice. If Eustace had been a good boy, shut up and got on with it and stayed put they'd be doing something totally different now. There's no plan. It is just fake and a con job.

Those players got their deals years ago, Cantwell the only recent exception. Reports not long ago suggested Eustace was set to resign last summer and it was only the club relaxing it's ridiculous approach and signing Cantwell, Batth and Weimann that persuaded him to stay. So the wage cap thing makes complete sense, it explains the inability and unwillingness to sort out new contracts for our best players because we are choosing to let them go due to our own wage policies. Our choice. Not FFP, not COVID, not the weather, not a player wanting PL football, not a project, not a player wanting to go and live down South. Just plain old fashioned cost cuts. Eventually that catches up with everyone and will do here very soon. Absolutely ridiculous the reaction from some online to the two foreign signings whilst we see the cornerstones of last season's relative success depart, again due to our failings and policies nothing more. It was these policies and refusal to sort out the contracts that led Eustace to jump ship mid season at the first opportunity, an unprecedented step that the head in sand gang have managed to erase from their consciousness. This is project 4 since 2022. We had Mowbray's project, we had the Broughton and JDT project, we had the Eustace and Park project and now it's the Gestede and Ismael project. This time next year it will be another one. They're winging it from one year to the next masquerading as a professional outfit.

Just waiting for the 'we can't compete' with what Derby can offer from the same people who defended these owners when Derby were going bust a few years ago.

You are the one who will use this signing as 'evidence' of us investing and spending on the squad and relying on the online reported fee for this. It's blatantly obvious that we aren't spending £2 million or anywhere near the that on this guy yet they've already succeeded in convincing some that we are throwing money around.