I cannot believe that the deal with 10 Bet was structured to allow them to drop out mid way through at short notice and not be liable. That sort of arrangement seems to be highly risky to the club and no risk at all to 10 Bet. Essentially they had secured 3 years sponsorship of a Championship club but could drop out and not be liable for the final tranche of money? They've pulled a blinder if so. This is at least a proper excuse for the lack of new shirts. The club could have announced this earlier. Surely there is a date in the contract by which 10 Bet had to give notice to enable Rovers to plan accordingly. Now it's time for our commercial director to earn his crust and secure a decent new sponsor. Won't be easy in the middle of a pandemic without a commercial director and the club in lockdown. Maybe we're going to have another season with no sponsor. How many times has that happened in Venkys tenure?

I actually offered two comparisons - Abramovich and Marinakis - two wealthy businessmen who have managed to cope with Covid whilst still investing in their football clubs. Whilst I accept Abramovich is likely to be richer than Venkys I don't think Marinakis qualifies as a billionaire whereas Venkys have been by their supporters. The list goes on though. Birmingham have recruited a new management team and already a reasonable signing in George Friend despite supposedly being stuffed with FFP rules. We were told termination of Mowbray's contract and recruitment of a new manager were impossible in this economic climate. At the end of the day I see a succession of excuses. If it isn't Covid 19 it is FFP rules. If it isn't that it's waiting until summer rather than spending in January. There's always a reason why business can't be done NOW. There's always an employee eager to point these excuses out and there's always a legion of fans happy to lap it up If these people were genuinely worth what has been claimed and were genuinely keen to get the club moving in the right direction they would find a way to do it. Instead the policy seems to be to pull the shutters down and leave the club in its skeletal form to sort itself out.

Yes I know that but then if these people are billionaires they will have assets and funds at their fingertips that they could use to fund transfers at the club. The suggestion seems to be that because of Covid 19 and the apparent downturn in their core business this instantly means there is less money or even no money available for business here. I'm not sure why. If they really wanted to fund transfers surely they could use their personal funds rather than company profits. Abramovich has apparently lost a fortune recently with the downturn in the value of gold. Yet he has continued to fund substantial business at Chelsea this summer. There's an argument to be had that those owners with the clout to withstand the Covid dip have an opportunity here to gain an advantage when other clubs not blessed with rich owners might be struggling. It is also potentially very short-sighted and poor business indeed to insist on a sell to buy policy in our position. There isn't the time nor the market to attract good bids and then put funds to good use on new players. I'm sure Marinakis at Forest has struggled for business recently with the lockdown yet they've signed a few players.

Aren't we funded by the personal wealth of the Rao family rather than company funds? Aren't they billionaires? If so why does a temporary decline in company performance result in an inability to make funds available for Rovers?

but then if he is shite and we get rid we are right back to square one in the next transfer window. Mowbray claims to want to build something. Why not just find a decent CB and sign him on a permanent? Is he unable to do this?

Sounds like someone has given Sharpe the nod here. He doesn't come out with stuff like this unless he gets the OK from the club. I very much doubt a fee will be paid for him. So it will be a case of trying to get him on loan or swapping him with someone here. As Mercer says Stoke were rumoured to be after Evans in January. This isn't something I could support. I dont want further gaps in the squad appearing. I want gaps filling without further problems to sort out.

Do you really believe negotiations have taken place? I don't. I think Mowbray wants to keep him but hasn't had authority to issue a new deal yet. The place is in lockdown. Another year for Downing should be the easiest deal in history.

So all those clubs have no senior keepers? We haven't known since January that we needed two? It never ceases to amaze me the distance some will go to make excuses for Rovers failings.

Disgraceful how the Telegraph are implying that the market for a goalkeeper is a congested one suggesting that loads of clubs are after these players. We've had a head start on everyone knowing both Walton and Leutwiler were away months ago. Everyone else has at least one senior keeper on their books, none in as urgent need as we are. Predictably the focus is on young inexperienced loans. Essentially ring City or Liverpool up and ask them to do us a favour and send someone here for next to nothing and avoid the commitment to a contract. Never get promoted with such an approach.

George Friend off to Birmingham on a free transfer. I'm so glad we've been sensible and stuck to FFP rules. Never mind we've no defence or keeper and aren't doing any business at least we haven't ended up like Derby or Birmingham in dire straits after breaking the rules.

Venkys never say no to a cheque so nothing to worry about.

They're in League One. We are in the Championship. It's like us trying to stop Dack joining Southampton. If they really want him they'll get him. If we really want Phillips we will get him.

All I need to know about him is that Neil Warnock made him his first signing this summer. That tells me he is either decent or a decent manager can rely on him. Warnock is a far superior manager to Mowbray and I fully expect Hall to be a regular in a team pushing for the top 6.

We were looking over our shoulders in November. Our defence was porous last season and we have a manager incapable of setting a team up to be defensively solid. Replace Walton, Cunningham and Tosin with Fisher, Bell and Wharton. You've lost an average keeper and two good defenders with one crap defender and two unknown entities, that might be OK or might not. It doesn't take much in this league for a team to go from mid table to relegation trouble. Just ask Middlesbrough, Stoke and Reading. Lose Dack or Armstrong or both and we are also in serious trouble for goals.

The difference is that pretty much every other club has done some business of a positive nature. They have either appointed new management teams, signed at least one player or have issued new deals to senior players. Off the pitch most clubs have done basics like securing revenue streams by selling tickets and memberships or releasing new kits. None of them have allowed a situation to develop whereby they have no goalkeeper and are facing a race against time to find one of a good enough standard before the season starts. It makes an absolute mockery of Mowbray's proclamations of building a squad and developing something here. It just hasn't happened. It also makes a complete mockery of Waggott's regular pleading poverty woe be us spiel. It seems the entire club is in lockdown waiting for something to happen. We are going to be in serious trouble if we haven't sorted this within the next fortnight.

we gave Sam Hart two contracts even though he was never remotely good enough. I'm not saying Wharton isn't. Just that in 3 years Mowbray hasnt shown any desire to play him. I'm struggling to believe that has suddenly changed this summer just as we happen to have no other defenders.

If it were so simple then all the trouble about Spain and France quarantine measures could be circumvented simply by people having tests done on arrival. The rules are the rules, I don't see why exceptions should be made for football clubs just because they can afford private testing. The players would still have to travel to the training ground potentially spreading the virus. We won't be signing triallists from abroad so we need not worry about that particular issue.

That's far too much of a gamble, especially in a position like CB. Too much being left to chance. Lets try him because he's here, last man standing in that position because everyone else has gone and he's done well in the 4th division. I'm not qualified to determine if he is or isn't good enough, because I'm not watching him train and I've not watched him play at this level or for Northampton. But it is a big step up from being a play off chasing/promotion winning League Two side to playing in the Championship, especially if we have serious aspirations of promotion. Accy Stanley are an established Lge 1 club... Far too much experimenting and hoping for the best here. Stumbling around hoping to end up with a solution that is easy and cheap rather than making a football and results based ruthless decision. If Mowbray doesn't judge him good enough now then the lad needs to move on. If he does judge him good enough then fine, play him in the side and lets see. But I can't see how Mowbray is genuinely going to be of that view. I don't think he knows what he wants. We would all like Wharton to establish himself at CB because everyone loves a local academy product getting through but I have serious reservations about our approach to defensive recruitment and the potential consequences if we get it wrong. Mowbray can't organise a defence to begin with, even with experienced defenders in the side. Chucking in someone who has never played higher than League Two in the hope it works is gambling with our league status. We need promotion, risks should be kept to a minimum and yet the agenda here seems to be the opposite - maximise risk in the hope a player or two rocket in value and we can get away without any investment into GK/CB.

Someone being daft. Don't expect any incomings for the foreseeable and certainly not decent money being spent. Wouldn't surprise me if our first addition was a midfielder though.

Another Bury. I think the Football League will demand guarantees from them before allowing them to kick off the season. If they can't they'll boot them out and they'll either disappear or apply to join non league. Doubt it will happen to Wigan or Charlton though. Too high profile.

Whelan must be stuck between a rock and a hard place. No doubt tough watching them face oblivion and he has the means to bail them out. But he's also in his 80s, a businessman who took years to offload them in the first place. Is he really daft enough to plough his families inheritance into keeping a League One club afloat?

https://wiganathletic.com/news/2020/august/Update-Statement-from-the-Joint-Administrators/ I would be worried reading this if I was a Wigan fan. Effectively 4 interested parties, but only just over 2 weeks to sign up and buy otherwise they won't be able to start the season. Not much time. I'd still expect someone to step in at the last minute but doesn't need much to go wrong.

So this mon reckons that there is a meeting next week between Mowbray and the owners, yet a week before that meeting he knows what the outcome of the discussion will be. Impressive journalism. He can tell Mowbray the outcome and save him the time of meeting the owners.

This the Sheffield Wednesday who we are supposed to be using as an example of how not to operate these days yet are doing decent business as we speak. I find it amazing that we are not raiding Wigan for a couple of their assets. They are desperate for cash and to reduce wages.

What hope do we have