JHRover

Costs nothing to get Nixon and Jackson to propagate suggestions that we are paying millions for a player. Doesn't mean we are doing it. Whatever it is will go down as 'undisclosed' and we will never know the truth, but in the meantime the shysters running the club can convince some that we are serious and investing properly.

Travis will be sold and so will any of the others if offers come in that are tempting. The name of the game is doing this under the charade of 'rebuilding' or 'revitalising' the squad - i.e. bringing in a couple of cheaper alternatives whilst ushering the established players out the back door. Most of us with sense can see what the real game is - it's the same they've been playing for 2-3 years now and will continue until there's nothing left.

When the final whistle went at Sheffield United on the last game of the season and we had missed out on a play-off position the commentators on Sky Sports spent a solid 5-10 minutes straight after the game talking about our narrow miss and what we needed to do over the summer to ensure we could go one better next season. I simply sat there shaking my head because whilst the commentators and indeed most supporters and anyone else associated with the club could see what we needed and where we needed to go, the chances of this regime allowing that to happen were zero. Fast forward 6 weeks from there and where have we got to? Signed a cheap foreign lad nobody had ever heard of. Activated Hyam's extension clause. Kept Forshaw. Not addressed a single one of the critical contract situations - Travis, Tronstad, Brittain, Dolan Are making a dogs dinner of even keeping Batth or Weimann on new terms Not signed anyone of any note. Bizarrely sacked/removed/forcibly retired the CEO and have made no announcement about a replacement or who the hell is running the club now. So far everything going exactly as predicted and planned, just the opposite to what was actually needed for us to get anywhere positive.

'Great human being' claxon. Is Mowbray back?

Lowest hanging fruit stuff. Truly tragic but totally expected. If they weren't still trying, and failing, to shift more season tickets it would be funny. They long ago gave up on any pretence of ambition or targeting quality signings so instead they're resorting to trying to exploit family ties/traditions as reasons for why people should hand over more cash to the regime.

The claim that Dolan was offered a new deal months ago simply doesn't tally with everything else that we've seen occur, and with what other senior players have publicly admitted. So unless they've made an exception for Dolan I know my money is on him getting the same treatment as everyone else - no offer worthy of consideration.

Whilst Wrexham's commercial income is likely far better than ours (due to better management, no 'small town small club, We've done all we can' claptrap there) What they haven't done is brought in £40 million through player sales in the last few years, which we have. So that rather significant windfall I'd suggest matches or outstrips whatever advantage they might have had there.

A ludicrous suggestion IMO. Travis is probably our most important player. He has been here for ages, knows the club inside out, runs the dressing room, club captain, can be relied upon to keep fit and play 40+ games every season and rarely needs to come off in games. His importance cannot be underestimated and it is no coincidence that our success in the first half of last season coincided with Eustace maximising him and making him central to what he was doing. Also no coincidence that he's one of the few players we have left capable of attracting cash interest from rival (ambitious) clubs. Also no coindence that he's been earmarked for departure by the rancid regime who are desperate to extract more cash from saleable assets and chop the wage bill down further.

A bit like with the fans, the first one or two occasions where we chucked away good chances at promotion could conceivably be down to mistake, error of judgment etc. But it's happened now 3-4 times in the last 5 years. The players have worked their backsides off to get us into January in the mix and the regime has done absolutely nothing to help get us through the second half of the season. Instead they've simply expected more from the same players, run them into the ground, forced good managers out and continued to cut costs. People have started to realise that it isn't down to luck, misfortune, error or any other excuse. It is down to the regime, the very same remains in firm control today. If you are a player wanting to achieve success in the game you clearly aren't going to do that here. Even if we surpass all expectations and get into contention at Christmas this regime won't thank them, reward them with improved terms, or move to help them by bringing in quality reinforcements. And inevitably it will fizzle out, just as it has every year. The regime isn't changing course, it is doubling down. Why anyone would want to stay here after the events of the last 3-4 years is anyone's guess. At least at another club there's a chance they might try if they get to January in with a shout. Because that's all people ask for - to try - I'm afraid nobody associated with this regime can honestly claim that we've tried the last few years.

Perfectly summarised. Still people don't recognise that we are in the midst of an existential crisis under these owners, there is no future, no growth, no plan, no ambition, at the very best we tread water under a zombie administration making a competent job of whatever resources they chuck our way until either the staff/players get fed up and go elsewhere or our wonderful owners smash it all to bits again because they feel like it. Every day, week, month, year this regime continues its poisonous grip on BRFC is simply more and more time and distance we fall behind just about any other club with competent fit ad proper ownership. Ultimately there will be nothing left, only by then it will be too late to recover from.

Venkys would rather be Kings of the Ashes of BRFC and Ewood Park than leave via the back door and hand it to someone else, they'll drag the club into the gutter and hollow it out until it scarcely resembles a professional club rather than just admit defeat and sell it. The myth that there's no interested people out there, based on a curious blend of Stockholm syndrome and the Walker Trust's failings almost 20 years ago, has been dismantled many times over the last few years. Vile people only interested in their own egos and power rather than the greater good.

Hull had their 120th anniversary last year and released this beauty in commemoration. That's Hull City, 120th anniversary. Nothing like Blackburn Rovers' 150th anniversary, a far bigger occasion and more successful club, yet they made the effort. A unique strip, with a special badge to show everyone what it was all about. They also released a whole range of other gear - t-shirts, tracksuit tops etc. in the same range. Made a load of money out of it and had to order more in. I'd hoped that at the very least we'd be able to manage something similar here. Seems not. Effort....something money can't buy. You can either be bothered or you can't.

If they do release a different special edition shirt for the 150th, and I'm not confident this lot have the capabilities to do something like that, it just raises more questions. Why do it as a limited edition? Would it not be more befitting of the monumental occasion for the special kit to be worn all season and make it a full year of a celebration? This is what others have done who have celebrated this occasion recently, Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday. Limiting it to being work in one game, or a limited release, to me just dilutes the occasion and shortens the exposure. Knowing what we do about their approach to stocking kits, running out etc. I could see an epic fiasco unfolding if they introduced a new kit later Plus are people going to be willing/able to shell out another £60+ a time for another kit if it is only going to be worn once? If they'd have gone to town on the main kit and made it a true anniversary product and got plenty of stock in they could have made a fortune on it.

Alexa.....show me a Rovers shirt that has absolutely nothing going for it to connect to the 150th anniversary. It looks like the best we are going to get is that '150' sticker on the back of the shoulder that someone posted on here last week. Bland. It seems they haven't even managed to reverse the halves on the back, haven't done anything different with the badge, just pointless and a wasted opportunity. Dismal and a lack of effort.

The difference between you and I is firstly I don't believe for one second that those clubs will be offering that to Travis, nor will he be demanding that, it is a made up figure to exaggerate the situation and make out like the money required is at crazy/ridiculous levels. This is all part of the regimes strategy - making out like little old Rovers are at the limits of their capabilities, can't compete, are being blown away by richer clubs, poor us. It just isn't true. The reason Travis hasn't signed a new deal is because he hasn't been offered one. He told us this in March, and I'd be surprised indeed if Rovers have done very much since then. Rovers approach to renewing contracts - aside from a brief and ultimately sabotaged spell under Broughton - has been a total failure. Lenihan, Nyambe, Rothwell, Diaz, Dolan, Travis, Tronstad, Brittain, Tens of millions of value flushed away, quality committed players allowed to walk and you seem fine with it. Shoulder shrug. Secondly you seem fine saying 'Gestede should have sorted it'. Shoulder shrug. That isn't good enough in my book. The situation this club has put itself in is not acceptable.

Things we know are true: Venkys aren't funding the club, at least not properly Rovers are raising cash wherever they can via cost cuts and sales Pretty much every senior player has run his contract down over the last 3-4 years and nobody has renewed a contract in over 18 months. Prior to the end of March, as confirmed directly by Travis, Tronstad and Brittain, the club had not so much as even contacted them about renewing their stays, let alone put forward concrete proposals for new contracts - I am confident that these three haven't lied Now, by mid-June, we are supposed to believe that suddenly Rovers have got their act together, whilst the players have been off on holiday since early May, and have put forward concrete serious proposals for new deals in an effort to keep all these players and incur the substantial extra financial cost and commitment that comes with it, totally contrary to all the above? Nah, pull the other one. They're paving the way for sales, so they need to get their agenda out first and also drop 'links' to a few incomings in to balance it out a bit. Seen it all before. Some never learn.

100% spot on. I do find it really strange how some are so desperate not to blame or criticise Rovers that they will happily watch the good managers and that important core of senior players broken up and offloaded to the likes of Derby and Wrexham What is happening here is just another step along the Venky stripping down or the club and gutting it of assets. Nothing more or less to it than that What the fans, manager or players want or think is totally irrelevant. The issue is with Rovers and their approach.

It's the old 'Lenihan ploy' Exactly the same narrative with him - claims from Rovers that he had been offered a good, substantial deal, that we could do no more just as he trotted off to Middlesbrough No evidence, or reason to believe, that Rovers have even initiated talks with these players. The players themselves were clear on this a mere 8-12 weeks ago. Since then they've been on holiday for the last 6 weeks You're already at it - believing that a reasonable deal is on the table but that the player is after 'big money' and that Rovers are entirely reasonable in their approach. This is the problem. We wouldn't even be discussing this if Rovers had approached this reasonably because these players would have been under proper length contracts, other clubs wouldn't be in any position of strength to entice people away.

Good old Nixon wins the game of bingo Rovers 'trying' to tie them down Offering a good length contract Players are after 'big' money and waiting on other clubs That's the party line right there, as predicted and exactly the narrative the club stooges want the paying fans to believe. The truth is we haven't tried. The players confirmed this relatively recently in their press interviews. What we see now is the cover up con job to try and shift the blame and narrative and convince some of the naive elements of the support base that we've 'done all we can' before a sale is rushed through Total and utter liars and charlatans still using Nixon and Telegraph to do their dirty work.

Funny isn't it that all three of those clubs you name were taken over within the last few years despite all being in worse positions than us. Wrexham were a non-league outfit, Birmingham perennial Championship relegation strugglers with a collapsing stadium and Swansea the epitome of an average 2nd/3rd division club with a small fanbase. Yet there remains a significant portion of Rovers' fanbase who have convinced themselves that for one reason or another there is no other viable option other than Venkys. No other people in a world of 7 billion with the clout or know-how to replace and do better than the architects of our demise. All these other clubs have managed it, but for some reason old Rovers wouldn't manage it. It's baffling, it's bizarre, and I'm convinced it is totally wrong, yet the belief continues. Until we get over that particular issue it's little wonder there's hardly any noise about Venkys apart from when another one of their self-inflicted debacles comes along e.g. Eustace walking out They've had it so easy here over the years because so many are convinced they are necessary.

Frightening yes, but completely inevitable as a direct result of decisions and steps taken by the ownership and their regime. There are consequences to everything in life. Yet I still get the impression there are people employed down there who genuinely don't understand this and think that they can just rely on and take for granted that people will just hand over their hard earned cash without question every year whilst this lot take the piss out of them. A look at the Ewood seat planner suggests breaking point has been passed for quite a few.

We'll just be getting some arse covering from the club being fed to Nixon and the Venkygraph over the next few weeks. The club, or the stooges running it, will want to get the last word out. They won't be happy at all that the trio of Tronstad, Travis and Brittain have publicly confirmed the truth - that the club hasn't even made the effort to speak to them about new deals - this disrupts the club's spin that they are hard at work and trying to sort it out but the greedy players are holding out for something better. They succeeded on that con job with Lenihan, Nyambe, even Dolan. It isn't working on the others. So we will get bits in the press about this with the club trying to convince supporters they are trying, when most of us know they aren't.

I really think that it needed to be something unique that shouts '150th anniversary Blackburn Rovers' If they want to use the Maltese Cross.....ok......but it really needs something above/below/around it as well to tell people the point behind it Not many people outside of our support base are going to have the foggiest why we have a cross on our shirts or what the relevance of it is. Now put it in a gold circle/shield with a ribbon beneath saying 'Blackburn Rovers 150 Years' and that does the trick.

At one stage, when we were a club with pride and self-respect, I would tend to agree. I think we are way past that stage here. Pride and self-respect went a long time ago. We'd sell the trophies in the cabinet if the offer was tempting. I've no doubt Eustace will be after linking up again with Travis but would be surprised if Derby were able to come up with the cash needed, then again if they are backing their manager they might well find it, unlike here.

I'm so glad that we've got Venkys, if not we'd definitely have gone the same way financially as Derby and ended up in a similar mess.