JHRover

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.

As opposed to who? We don't have anyone else. Even with Wharton and Carter in the reckoning that is 3 cbs once we sell Williams Seems insanity to me to be paying Mulgrew to clear off elsewhere whilst in the state we are in. If we need to raise the wages by sending him to Fleetwood then we've no hope. Are we really relying on that lot to take him off our hands for a year?

Why don't they just put them on sale now and allow entry for Wycombe to the first 5000 who buy them before the 19th September. Seems fair to me. We probably won't sell that many by then anyways so don't need to worry. Just let anyone in. Only problem is that with the club shop closed those who don't have Internet access might struggle to renew. Doubt Rovers will be bothered about that though.

Maybe thats why Waggott is doing his annual price increase so we can all contribute to the Mulgrew sponsor/pay off fund. Personally I find it criminal that a player on Mulgrew's money is being paid off or sponsored out the door whilst the manager who gave him the deal we are lumbered with fails in his quest to sign defenders. I'd rather we just kept Mulgrew here and got our moneys worth than subsidised another move elsewhere whilst failing to get what we need.

Loan, young, inexperienced, cheap. Can see that one happening.

Who? Perhaps Wycombe, Rotherham, Luton, Barnsley. Not sure who else comes into the 'folder' category There's the 3 relegated clubs. Then sides like Forest, Derby, Brentford, Millwall, Swansea, Cardiff, Preston, Bristol City who finished above or alongside us last year. The other 8 clubs remaining we have Warnock's Middlesbrough (likely to be up there due to him alone), Huddersfield (unknown entity), Stoke (will spend and likely to improve with their squad and manager), Birmingham (new decent manager and made some good signings), Reading (unknown entity but some good players in their squad), QPR maybe or maybe not, Coventry may struggle but have upwards momentum and Sheffield Wednesday who will be hamstrung by their points deduction but aren't a bad side on paper. I don't see an abundance of clubs I'd put money on us finishing above. A handful maybe.

We are currently weaker and the season starts on Saturday. Facts What we might or might not do at some stage between now and October doesn't matter. We don't get points for that.

and this is something to be happy or positive about having spent £10 million+ and lost £30 million since 2018?

Kaminski we know nothing about yet. Nyambe doesn't play every week. Williams we are trying to offload Bell is a liability. Holtby won't play more than half the season. Brereton might look better but has a long way to go before being a good Championship player. We will see what unfolds. I think a lot of people are living in a rose tinted universe.

Who have we got now that we didn't have in 2018/19 that you think is so good that they make up for the multiple departures? Fine margins in this League. Doesnt take much other than departures or injuries to drop. Middlesbrough plummeted from play offs to relegation zone in one summer by getting rid of experience and turning to youth.

Because we have a weaker squad than last year. What happens when mid table sides get weaker?

Or 71 and the goal difference we got. Either way not enough.

Well we would have needed 71 due to GD but yeah

With that sort of attitude you will never get promoted. Likewise you don't aim or target the top 6. You aim for the top 2 because 3rd might not be enough. One of my biggest gripes with Mowbray is his meaningless 70 points target (which he missed). Not enough even for the top 6 so why bother? The likes of Warnock, Santo, Wilder, Bilic would never have done that

I don't see why Venkys would do 99% of what they have done at the club. I'm not saying it makes any sense, does anything they do make sense? We don't know who advises them or what potentially deluded views they might have on 'investments' into their team. They clearly fancy a goalscorer more than other positions - the evidence for that is massive outlays on Rhodes, Brereton and Gallagher which dwarf all other transfers and clearly represented special one off injections from India. Why if they fancy a spend of that magnitude on attackers can the opposite not apply to defenders?