JHRover

Look on the bright side, it isn't all bad, that saving will do wonders for Waggott trying to hit his target and qualify for his bonus next year.

Can I just check, do Venkys still 'never refuse to sign a cheque' or have we given up on that one at last?

Name of the game here is to pretend they are offering price cuts and making efforts to get more people in, without actually doing so or jeopardising their financial targets. Hence the Riverside price cut, knowing full well it should be cheaper given the facilities, it used to be before they upped it and drove loads into the JW stand instead. Only a lot won't move from behind the goals, relatively full and vociferous BBE to sit in the wide areas of the Riverside to save a few quid. But to compensate for the Riverside cut they've upped it in the BBE, which will drive some elsewhere and others put off renewing altogether after another season of nonsense from the management. End result another big drop in numbers. That hardcore that will 'always renew regardless' seems to me to be getting ever smaller.

My fingers remain tightly crossed that this is going to break them and their cruel grip on BRFC. Either by them being found guilty of serious crimes once that investigation eventually completes, forcing them to relinquish control, or in the meantime by these clearly onerous requirements on funding preventing/discouraging them from keeping the show on the road. As with the Oyston era at Blackpool the only way we are getting rid of this lot is with the help of higher authority. As long as things remain ongoing on that front I'll stay hopeful.

Or maybe Broughton and other staff had done all that was needed, told the media boys to release it but then Venkys and their slippery stooges pulled the plug.

Only a matter of time, probably not true yet as that would be impressive work even by Venky pond life standards to force a manager out before his first transfer window has even opened. But it will come. Once he realises that he'd get more backing, clarity and plan working at Clitheroe he'll set the wheels in motion Remember - the last two preferred unemployment and a high risk of League One with Derby County rather than stay at this stinking cesspit. If that doesn't tell you a story nothing will.

Lesley Fielding are you referring to? Well a quick online search suggests she went to Witton Park school from 1979-1984. Likely means she was born in 1968 or thereabouts. Making her 56-57 at a rough guess. So she might be retiring but if she is I'd say she's either very fortunate or has been on a very good number at Brockhall. I think those of us with common sense can see what is going on down there. Patterns emerge of popular long-standing staff members leaving in their droves. That doesn't happen at stable and well run organisations.

Club shop in town centre costs too much - shut it down Matchday programme costs too much - get rid Home fans in Darwen End / BBE upper tier - close them down Radio Rovers / Rovervision cost too much - shut down Academy and Brockhall sites cost too much - attempt to shut down but can't be done easily / on the cheap and too much red tape to deal with so leave for now Ewood shop / Blues Bar - start to shut down, reduced opening days and times and doing their utmost to discourage people from going with incentives to stay away from the Ewood site I've probably missed a few Women's team - costing too much - what happens next? Why stop there? Mens and reserve/youth teams don't make money either. Any reason for keeping those going? It isn't to benefit the town or fanbase that's for sure or they'd make some effort with it.

Covers all the topics that the regime and the local media have done their best to avoid and the head-in-sand brigade pretend aren't there. Brilliant stuff again

The best 'deal' would have been to have backed our manager 12 months prior when the PL was achievable, and again the following summer, and again the following January, whilst Wharton was here. Had we done any of those things there's a decent chance we'd have got to the PL, kept Wharton and now be naming our price for him like Palace can. None of the above is far fetched or ludicrous stuff. It was there to be done and our owners flushed it down the toilet because they don't care. So I'm glad they've missed out on millions on Adam, it's the least they deserve for their behaviour.

Makes no material difference to Blackburn Rovers whether we got £2 million, £20 million or £200 million for him. All it does is affect how much the regime have to find from elsewhere to keep the lights on. As far as I am concerned the less the better, at least it is one less revenue stream and hopefully one step nearer breaking point for those responsible.

Maybe he's analysed results and performances since Selles arrived, spoken to key players and staff, and concluded their chances are probably better with a different coach? All concepts that are long gone from this club but actually occur everywhere else where there are owners keen to get somewhere in the game rather than just make up the numbers every year.

Hull's owner actually invests in his club and wants them to get somewhere and isn't afraid of making big and potentially expensive and risky decisions to achieve something. Might work, might not, at least he can say he's tried and I'd rather be in their shoes than ours. Compare to our owners he's a world away and not in a good way for Rovers. Our owners have and would again sit back and allow a failing manager to drag the club into the lower divisions purely because they have no interest in the club's performance. No other owner would allow that. They deserve no credit at all for showing 'patience' which is actually total disinterest nothing more.

I'm afraid not

Their willingness to broadcast that 7500 have bought season tickets, with their extended phase one deadline only 5 days away, with the vast majority already signed up and likely next to none buying after Wednesday when phase two prices come in, is alarming Do they seriously think that figure is something they should be broadcasting? Are they happy with that number? They should be embarrassed and ashamed in my book.

Long term sustainability?

I'm not even confident that we will get the likes of Hedges or Batth done, never mind anyone else. Clear as day that the regime is ensuring that we lose Tronstad, Travis, Brittain, Hyam and Carter, either on free transfers next year or sold at an undervalue this summer. All thanks to refusing to even discuss new improved terms. But even if you want to defend the regime and believe that those deals are 'difficult' ones due to cost or contract length (just another excuse, there should be nothing easier than sorting that lot out after their performances this season), the easiest of easy should be securing Hedges and Batth (assuming Ismael is being truthful that he wants to keep them). But I think time here is as much an issue as cost. We will not be proactive, we never are, reptiles like Waggott will be working out that thousands of pounds can be saved by allowing their current deals to expire and then offer them new terms the week before next season starts if they haven't got another club and hope they just accept whatever it is we are offering. Trouble is that a lot will simply find other clubs willing to take them.

I keep seeing Rovers fans anticipating a multi-million windfall in the event Adam Wharton is sold by Palace this summer. Lessons still haven't been learned. Such a windfall is not going anywhere near the club be that facilities or new players/contracts. It is going to one place and that is covering Venkys losses and by extension meeting Waggott's targets. Why anyone would want those two to benefit whilst Rovers continue on the current path is beyond me.

Grass seed BBE lift repairs Deposit on the new coach lease Powerwashing the metalwork on the BBE Fixing the leaky roof Deals for Adam Forshaw, Cauley Woodrow and Augustus Kargbo (significant investment....)

Tie over in Bristol. I think the lesson is that securing a top 6 position is not the holy grail as some seem to think it is. Getting through the play-offs is the successful part. Within a matter of 4-5 days of finishing the regular season it can be effectively over.

End of the day despite all the criticism Watford's owners have proven themselves to at least be trustworthy, competent and interested custodians of their club, and they've enjoyed a significant degree of success during their time in charge. Not only that but they've refurbished their stadium, built a new stand and improved the club. You might not personally be a fan of their hire and fire culture but you can't argue that on the whole they have had good times by their standards over the last decade. To me it seems a pretty flimsy stick to try and beat them with all things considered. Their biggest fault being they don't give their managers much time. You compare to the absolute disgrace and shame our owners have delivered in a similar time period, dragging the club downwards and backwards in just about every department you can think of, give me their approach any day of the week.

Changing managers with regularity has not done Watford too much harm over the years. They've been an established Premier League club for much of the last decade which for a club of their size and resources is impressive. When they've been out of the PL they've been either pushing for or getting promotion from the Championship, mid-table being the worst. Changing managers regularly has worked perfectly well for Forest - in the last decade they worked their way through Warburton, Karanka, O'Neill, Lamouchi, Hughton, Cooper and now Santo and they've shot up the leagues under a ruthless owner who wants success quickly. I could also add clubs like B*rnley, Sheffield United, Leeds, Leicester, Southampton to that mix - gone through a high turnover in managers in recent seasons, yet continued to be relatively successful getting promotion to the Premier League. 'Stability' is basically another word for 'jam tomorrow'. Don't expect results today, but we've got a plan and it will come to fruition at some point in the distant future. For now lets 'build' on a road to nowhere. It all sounds good and in theory it is good but we have negligent unfit owners who will never allow any construction to be finished because they'll pull the rug out from under the staff's feet. We saw it under JDT - he came in late, and in his first season in England had us in the top 6. If he'd have been backed he probably would have got us into the top 6 and possibly promoted. We saw it under Eustace - he came into a terrible situation, stabilised it and in his first full season had us in the top 6. He was undermined and forced elsewhere. The reasons those two did well was nothing to do with them having 3-4 years to 'build' or being given time to settle in. They had an immediate impact and could have taken the club somewhere if it had wanted to go. Shame it doesn't. We will get another round of 'build' and 'stability' talk this summer which is basically telling fans to shut up, expect little and wait for tomorrow to never come whilst people like Waggott and Gestede continue to profit from the dismantling of the squad and occupy jobs they shouldn't have. Give me a ruthless decisive owner who wants his club to get somewhere and quick over this gang of charlatans.

Great offence and upset taken by another club / owner dispensing with their manager (and paying them off handsomely in doing so) to appoint someone else in their quest to advance and progress. Might work, might not, at least they are trying. I wish some of that offence and upset would be channelled against our owners genuinely disgracing the name of the club, including but not limited to tangling it up in an Indian Court battle, investigation, dragging it through the English civil courts, taking out pay-day loans to pay bills and just the general shame and humiliation of episodes like the Duncan McGuire/Lewis O'Brien transfers which must have caused unprecedented damage to the club's reputation.

Hull will be in the PL/Play-Offs before we are. That's all that really matters. Yes their owner is a bit of a hothead and chops and changes but he'll get it right eventually, whilst we rot away

So they can't hide behind it being a PL move for Dolan (it was never going to be anyway) They can't hide behind it being one of the 'trampoline' clubs throwing their cash around. Instead it is a run of the mill mid-table side snapping up another one of our important players on a free transfer. You can bet they move quickly to get the deal done and recruit, whereas we will be scratching around waiting for demands to drop and loans to become available. I'm old enough to remember when I was being assured on here that thanks to our sensible approach compared to reckless spending by clubs like Middlesbrough, Stoke and Bristol that we'd reap the benefits of it when they had to make substantial cutbacks and face the consequences of FFP trouble. That, of course, never happened and never was going to happen. I'm sure there will be people on explaining how Middlesbrough can offer him far more than we can because they're getting bigger gates. I'd like anyone who is thinking that to first calculate how many extra tickets they would have to sell to put a dint in the £30 million+ in cash we've received in the last 18 months from selling assets and why a small fraction of that can't be used to ensure our key players are under competitive long term contracts. Good news for the slimeball stooges though, another contract avoided. We really haven't changed at all from the days of losing Rothwell, Lenihan and Nyambe have we? Despite all the talk, especially under Broughton, of ensuring such things never happen again we are right back at it under the stooges.