Bolton were clear in the smallprint that any games missed would be substituted for I Follow. No refunds. Nobody can complain, they signed up for it Better than taking their money promising 23 games and then refusing refunds and then putting prices up.

To crack the January window you need an operation on the ball who can move quickly and decisively during a busy period and close deals down. Here with dithering Tony, inept Waggott and Venus sorting out deals whilst not being assistant manager, all whilst the owners are absent and silent, its just easier to not bother and blame high prices instead. That and they can't get a meeting with Madame other than in the November international break so tough to get any cash. But when under no pressure or expectation and happy to plod along why rock the boat by trading in January?

I'm just dreading deadline day. Obvious issues that need to be addressed, the eternal optimists expecting incomings up to the last minute, Mowbray and Rovers claiming to be busy and confident of deals and then the crushing blow from Rich Sharpe at about 6pm telling us that nothing is going to happen and that our business is done.

Does anyone seriously believe that a proper contract was offered to Downing and he turned it down? I dont. I expect Mowbray will have had some informal discussions with him but given the clear cutbacks here it was unlikely to be viable.

The irony is that Mowbray is less accountable than any other manager in the League. If he gets it wrong, as he has on many transfers, nothing happens. If results are rubbish, nothing happens.

There's always an excuse here isn't there? Mysterious third parties that suddenly appear just as these foreign signings are flying in for a medical. Random Premier League clubs coming in and offering more money with our deal almost done. In fact we've had just about every excuse going and I'm bored with it. Its been going on for over 3 years and the situation isn't good enough. Something has to change. Our transfer strategy or system isn't working.

"To lose one may be misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness"

Are they doing away with the family stand? Because if not you need to buy a child ticket to be able to sit in half of the JW lower. The other half is already well populated with ST holders (me and my mates among them), the empty seats are down nearer the DE and corner flag. I'd like to know what the clubs intentions are here because currently most seats in the Jw lower are taken by ST holders. Some will need to move elsewhere. They can't surely be planning on turfing people out of there but then moving others from elsewhere in. I'd also like to know why as a paid up 1875 club member I will have to enter a ballot on level pegging with non members and on a lower pegging than hospitality people.

Yep. Sums it up. Presumably the hospitality folk will have no issues gaining admittance for the pilot fixture whilst us plebs have to enter a ballot to decide who gets to go.

Bit of an issue when the only way of asking is to be granted an audience in person with Madame and then jumping on a long haul flight to Pune before every transfer window to receive this cash. If only there was an alternative. I think Mowbray and Waggott may have honourable intentions with not acceding to the demands of expensive players but it really is no excuse. If they know what we have to work with it is foolish to pursue players outside this in the hope they significantly drop demands and then ending up with nobody,

This the same Suhail that oversaw the Lambert fiasco then the Warnock/Coyle saga? Sounds about right.

Waggott said we were mid way on wages during the 2018--19 season when we were back in the Championship. So we somehow dropped from being mid way in 2018 to towards the bottom end in 2019-20? How did that happen?

Nixon reckons Simon Grayson getting the Wigan job in time for Saturday. Pretty steady appointment for a side in their position. About as good as you can get at that level.

Therein lies the problem. According to our CEO it isn't. He said it was mid way, not among the lowest. But even if you are correct and it is 'among the lowest in the league' why is it causing us to lose £20 million per year? By comparison clubs really at the low end - Preston, Rotherham, Barnsley, Brentford, Millwall - lose a fraction of that amount. Doesnt add up in Venkyland.

And how it compares to others which is the relevant part for the 'we can't compete' stuff?

did I question the existence of a wage cap? When? I questioned the statement 'we can't compete with half this league' Irrespective of Waggott's hot air i refuse to accept that a club owned by billionaires losing £20 million a year and by the CEOs own admission rank average on wages paid out 'cannot compete' Anyway, let's not start this debate off again.

So we lose nearly £20 million each and every year whilst failing to compete with the 'top half' of the league on wages? Something doesn't add up then. Does pointless contract extensions to Graham, Smallwood, Samuel, Hart etc. fall within the 'cap'? What about the £90,000 a week on wages saved since last season?

Last week in the Telegraph it was at least another keeper, lb and 2x cb with ideally a CM and RB also. Now the ever changing expectations come down another notch with Waggott's minimum 2 but preferably 3 or 4. No mention of the 6. I think Waggott wants us to be impressed by all the talks about limits on what we are preferred to do. Fine. We have a budget. So why spend months going after players obviously way outside that, Ayala the latest? Do they think these players are desperate to join Mowbray and co. and will accept a drastic wage cut? Surely this super duper recruitment department would pick up on excessive demands early on rather than taking us on a merry dance for weeks.

No club or manager in their right minds would base transfer policy upon the possibility of receiving a sell on fee from an ex player sale. Its such a flawed approach there is no guarantee it will even happen never mind in enough time for us to invest. It should simply be a bonus not money needed to get our business done. Yet I wouldn't put it past this lot as it might be the only way we get business done. In a normal world if Raya goes for huge bucks to a PL club this summer just a year after we sold him for a small fee there would be uproar and an investigation into why Brentford get mega money and not us. Here it will be shrug the shoulders, not Mowbray's fault whilst he and Waggott celebrate a sell on fee.

I very much doubt it. I was told he had already done a deal with a side in the Middle East so presumably mega money. Just hope it isn't another case of free training facilities down at Brockhall

Yes you read the Telegraph and the impression seems to be that we work on one deal at a time and only move onto other areas or targets either once a player is in the building or has gone elsewhere Other clubs seem to get several deals done quickly. That just doesn't happen here. I'd like to know who is on this 'transfer team'. Given Venus seems to be both assistant manager and director of football and I struggle to see how one man can balance those big responsibilities at this time of the year. Surely we need a dedicated individual independent of the manager to lead this leaving Mowbray and Venus to coach (their job).

I'm not talking about specifically selling tickets for the Wycombe fixture on its own. I am talking about getting season tickets on sale asap before Wycombe so we can sell as many as possible with the incentive to buy being the first 5000 to do so will know they are going to get entry for the 'pilot' fixture. Those who delay won't be guaranteed admission. 'Just let anyone in' was in reference to the fact that we are unlikely to be in a position to need to exclude anyone. The way we are going we will do well to shift more than 5000 season tickets. Especially in little over a week. My point was that given likely sales figures at this late stage in the day we are not going to be in a position where we need to turn thousands away or run some elaborate ballot system to select the lucky ones. Pretty much everyone who wants a ticket will be able to get in even at only 15-20% of capacity. How many do you think we would shift before the Wycombe game given they aren't even on sale yet. I reckon 5000 max. No away fans or single match tickets - there should be ample room for all those people at Ewood. You think Rovers have been sensible, I don't. They aren't interested in 'protecting fans' as they are already lining up another price increase. You do realise that we are in a very small minority here? Do you really think the Venky installed operation with Waggott here is ahead of the game and competition on this or just behind as usual?

However all those players you name were signed by previous managers or directors and not wanted by current managers. In our case Mowbray has, allegedly, had complete and undisputed control of recruitment and contracts for the last 3 years. So when he awards 32 year old Mulgrew with a 3 year contract on big money i have no sympathy when Mulgrew expects the club to honour that. We don't know the ins and outs but we do know Mowbray started last season with Mulgrew as captain, which suggests that he was confident in his abilities just over a year ago. Before that he was a cornerstone of the side for 2 seasons under Mowbray. Of course as Mulgrew gets older he will become less effective. But I don't believe his ability has deteriorated so much in just over 12 months that he has gone from captain and 1st choice to sat behind Carter and Magloire in the pecking order. More to it than football. Clearly a bust up of sorts.

Another slap in the face coming up. In May Waggott pleaded with season ticket holders to not demand refunds on missed games because it would harm the club, indicating that those fans would be compensated this season. Within a few weeks Mowbray decided to dish out an extra month wages to Samuel, Graham, Smallwood, Leutwiler and even more bizarrely Sam Hart. No material benefit to the squad nor much intention of it judging by his use of those players but another £100,000+ goes by. Fast forward to September and Waggott has re-appeared with another tale of poverty but this time preparing fans for another price hike rather than discount. We are all in it together. Then within days we are trying allsorts to get Mulgrew out the door including paying Fleetwood god knows how much to have him for a year to cover Mowbray's decision to give him a 3 year deal. You could be forgiven for thinking this is all a mick take from them but no, it seems they are serious.

You go on twitter a lot. A word of advice. Take a look at other clubs not just local and not just in the Championship. Your answer is there. I've already answered this numerous times. I'm not going to repeat it again. No money and no fans whilst others get on with it. And we wonder why we struggle.