Yes, the mantra of being fan/local owned after their troubles quickly disappeared when they realised that they needed a lot more money to climb back up the divisions so quickly sold out to a 70 odd year old American billionaire.

I've lost track of goings on at Charlton now. Pretty complex stuff. Very much doubt the EFL will boot them out like Bury though. Easy to get rid of a small northern club with 3000 fans than an ex Premier League London club. Would be very messy.

Why does that Portsmouth news article say we are reducing our wage bill? Are we? Says who? I thought the talk last week from the oracle Nixon was that we would have money to do business, not that we needed to cut wages. This is how misinformation spreads and people and clubs start getting ideas. Telegraph suggests we need to make cutbacks. Soon that becomes a fact and clubs come sniffing to see if we are ready to do business. Some clown on Twitter the other day suggesting Derby, Forest and Boro interested in Armstrong. This should of course be complete nonsense and those clubs shouldn't be able to afford him but when the Telegraph is saying clubs are looking at him you then get halfwits on Twitter taking it one step further. Before you know it a made up column figure has become fact.

Everyone, including Mowbray, knows that permanent deals are better than loans, especially in key positions where the players are likely to be needed to play for 90 minutes across 46 games. Mowbray has publicly admitted several times he would rather not loan these people. He also keeps droning on about building something. It is almost funny therefore to see the Telegraph listing the longest serving Championship managers, of which Mowbray is one, having been in the job now for 3.5 years, a long time by modern day standards, yet he is still going on about building something just like he was 2 years ago. Then to be sat here with the new season a month away with no goalkeeper and one CB. No other club has such a farcical situation. Mowbray has had time, money and complete control of transfer policy yet has delivered a dangerous situation whereby we are still completely ill equipped to even put a remotely competent defence out. I know what is coming next. Names will do the rounds and they will tease us by making us think some decent options are being lined up and then nothing will happen until a couple of last minute loans. Derrick Williams will be 'like a new signing' and Mowbray will use the pre season schedule to 'have a look' at some of the younger lads before deciding not to bother. He shouldn't need friendlies to have a look at them as he has already done this in the past and could watch their loan games last season. Ultimately either he is responsible for a botched recruitment policy or the owners won't allow signings in those important positions.

But all those other clubs, the vast majority in the League, now have all that money in the bank to play with, invest or cover losses. People can worry about logistics and seating arrangements down the line. To begin with the club has the benefit of their money and because of that those people are hooked in for another year and won't be lost. I expect the chances of hundreds if not thousands not renewing are significantly higher here than they are at those who have got people tied in. Easier for people to stay away if they haven't already handed over hundreds of pounds. More difficult to get money back out. Then Waggott expects sympathy when he moans about no income. Try making some.

Absolutely, he won't tie himself into something he can't get out of. But at the same time if he's happy here, is confident that we are going in the right direction and we make a suitable offer it could be done, with a massive release clause like Watkins has which effectively means that only Premier League clubs can get him. Sadly for us to do similar we would have to be proactive, pay the required salaries and show some ambition. There's no indication that any contract extensions have been discussed in months. Could the club be set to flush millions down the drain again by allowing assets to reach the last year of their deals without getting them tied down? Then it will be poor old Rovers time again.

I'll stick up for Chaddy a bit here. Ollie Watkins joined Brentford in 2017 on a 4 year deal with the option of a further year. After a phenomenal couple of seasons he signed a new and improved deal in 2019 taking him through to 2023. That new deal presumably increased his wage significantly and secured Brentford's investment. They are now in a position where he has 3 years still to run, is highly sought after and they are looking at the neck end of £20 million for him off an initial outlay of less than £2 million. He is rumoured to have a release clause of £18 million. In this case Brentford have once again done a good job. Now in similar circumstances we would be soon offering Armstrong a wage rise and another couple of years on his deal. We might have to put a release clause in there to persuade him to sign it but to do that we would put the clause up at £18 million knowing that if someone paid that it would be great money for Rovers. No doubt there will be the old 'we can't go around offering wage rises at a time like this' line. Fine, watch your prized assets run their contracts down and leave for a relative pittance (again). We should also be doing the same for Dack and Travis before the end of the year. In some ways these deals are more important to conclude than any incoming transfers, if nothing else to protect the club's investments and avoid another Marshall, Duffy, King scenario unfolding. The same will probably happen with Nyambe in the coming months and then the club will actively try to sell him for a low fee just to get some cash in. Now Brentford have shown that making the right offer to a player progressing well can result in that player committing his long term future to a Championship club. But it requires ambition and proper planning from the club, and more importantly for that player to feel the club is going somewhere and will challenge for promotion in the meantime. Might be a hard sell with our dubious business.

Not sure how it will work. Surely Wigan, Sunderland, Ipswich etc. will need to make cutbacks. Surely they will need time to adapt. Bit unfair if they are sanctioned on contracts entered into prior to the rules existing. Then again that didn't stop us being nailed by FFP when a large part of our losses were from our Premier League days before we were subject to the rules.

I can't see any fair way that a cap could be imposed in the Championship without the Premier League playing along with it too. Otherwise it will just exacerbate the existing problem with parachute equipped clubs coming down and blowing everyone out of the water. I agree with the idea in principle but only if fairly applied across all divisions.

Hughton has had 4 seasons as a Championship manager, across 3 different clubs. In those 4 seasons he has got automatic promotion twice and got into the play offs twice. In his half season with Brighton he turned them around from relegation to finish mid table. Call me old fashioned but with that sort of record I'd be paying him what he wants and leaving him to get on with it however he wants. I've no time for unnecessary gambles on rookies when obvious excellent candidates are waiting for a job. A lot of it boils down to people wanting some sort of pat on the back or credit for unearthing someone new rather than just doing the obvious that is known to work.

Pretty sure that Abitro's story about the £10 million bid emerged BEFORE Watford were relegated. So unless they were bidding on players like Armstrong when potentially in the Premier League I'd say unlikely. Also managerless and making changes behind the scenes.

Which clubs are you referring to? Middlesbrough appointed Warnock who is probably as good if not better than Hughton. Birmingham went for Karanka because they seem to like Spain at the moment and are also run by loons. Bristol City, Bournemouth and Watford are still vacant and Hughton is one of the front runners for all of them. Bristol City have a head coach structure and seem to prefer having a young pliable coach in the dugout with Mark Ashton running things. Hughton has done enough at this level to be able to name his terms and price and relax and wait for a club to match it. Its the age old story. Clubs want sexy and 60 odd year old British managers like McCarthy and Hughton don't get the pulses racing. They do get the job.done well though.

There hasn't been an official statement as such. Rather when the club accounts or Venkys London accounts are released there is a sentence in there that states that the owners are committed to funding the club for the next 12 months as a minimum. It usually appears along with the expectation that the overdraft facility will be renewed. Without going and checking I am fairly sure that was in the most recent set of accounts. End of the day there's nothing anyone on here can do about it if they decide to turn off the money tap. The club would likely be in admin within a couple of months unless player sales plugged losses. Go into admin and the administrators take control from Venkys and go through the books with a tooth comb. Venkys would either have to walk away with nothing or try and demand some sort of repayment but given the state the club is in they wouldn't get 20% of their 'debt'.

Is there any suggestion that Cardiff are going to sell Cunningham? Warnock let him here on loan. Since then Harris has taken over but hasn't yet had the opportunity to use him due to his injury. Even if he was available are we going to be willing to pay him what Cardiff are? Unlikely IMO

Yes, but they'll get about £40 million for the pair of them, sell them to clubs in higher divisions, and have a plan to reinvest a large chunk of that into replacements. If anyone can replace them it will be Brentford. Beats flogging Cairney and Raya to Fulham and Brentford for £3 million a piece and not replacing either.

Bournemouth were wearing their new kit in the last few games of the season. We need a new manufacturer that better suits our needs. Waiting until nearly September every year isnt good enough when we've merchandise to sell. Hummel, Macron or Kappa please.

Imagine a club that can decide on a transfer policy whilst still playing the season out and not knowing what league they are going to be in, and immediately put that into action rather than waste weeks

I get where you are coming from but a couple of points. Amidst a decade of neglect our commercial and corporate income has collapsed. I am certain that new owners would very quickly be able to achieve a significant increase in sponsorship, commercial and corporate income just by making an effort. This income would admittedly not come close to £15 million a year but would make a dent in it and grow if approached in a competent manner. It isnt right to suggest that our income cannot increase because 'we are where we are'. We haven't even got a commercial director such is the lack of interest and effort on that front. Secondly you talk about Covid income depletion and yet I have already identified 3 clubs - Prem, Championship, League One - Everton, Luton and Peterborough- who have already matched or bettered last season's ticket sales despite Covid 19 uncertainty. As a result their incomes will be boosted yet here at Rovers we know better and don't sell anything then moan about diminishing income. Same applies to shirts and merchandise. Neglected. I'm not saying it would be easy but significant strides could be made just through having some interest and being proactive.

Employing him on a 6 month deal from January much cheaper and easier than getting approval to fire off Coyle and all his mates. Also kept the fans quiet for another few months as January passed by with only one loan signing (who does that when fighting to stay up?)

How about asking Peterborough fans. https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/football/peterborough-united/peterborough-united-hail-incredible-season-ticket-sales-warn-fans-not-dawdle-and-miss-out-any-2020-21-action-2933012 Amazing how they have managed it and 3000, the same as last year, have bought one. Last time I checked Ewood Park a lot bigger and better equipped to cope with distancing than their ground

What is a selling club though? One that is at risk of losing its best players to clubs in higher divisions? Fine, I can accept that. That's life in the Championship. Nobody I've ever come across has any issue with us reluctantly allowing players to take a step up, getting the best deal possible and reinvesting the money to improve the club. In that sense everyone at this level is a selling club. Or is it existing purely to accommodate and try to polish up potential by giving players Championship minutes purely so they can be moved on again at a profit within a couple of seasons, to the first club that shows interest, even to sides around us in the table at a poor price, with the needs of the team, manager, fans or players an irrelevance just to help pay some bills with no reinvestment or improvement to be had and no other purpose to our existence? Well that's not OK and not acceptable but unfortunately I think that is what we are. We shouldn't be.

I'm not necessarily talking about the most loyal. I'm talking also about those fans who aren't that bothered about going who after months of inertia from the club might just decide they are better off doing something else with their money. Once gone they aren't coming back. But also the regular renewers who go every season, as the economic damage increases from what is was in March and April more and more are likely going to be struggling for cash and be less willing to throw money Rovers way.

At a proper football club after selling Raya there would have been a coherent strategy to replace him and address other areas before splurging the whole lot on someone like Gallagher with no defined role for him in the team. Then the cupboard is bare for spending on crucial positions so we end up scuttling around for a few generous loans to plug gaps, kicking the can down the road for another 12 months. Now it is coming back to bite. I almost struggle to believe that Mowbray likes Gallagher enough to splash his entire budget on him especially when you look at where and how he has used him in the side. Very strange. It's almost as though someone else took a shine to him last time he was here and obtained the funds from Venkys to make it a permanent deal, on the basis he was likely to grow in value of course. Selling, reluctantly, a decent player every few years may be necessary or helpful but it is the way in which that comes about that is the concern. The Brentford way works because they have replacement targets lined up ready to go and spend the money back on the squad. Here it will be confusion, inertia then permission for a few loans instead.

That reads to me as though Mowbray hasn't yet been told he has to sell assets, but perhaps might be told that in the near future. He's priming the fans for it. But still hasn't had confirmation or otherwise from upstars. He says it is inevitable that we will have to sell eventually. What if we get promoted this season? Or has he written that off already as part of this never ending transition? Basically he's sold things to the owners as an investment to recoup their money down the line and now its time for cashing in. Just like under Bowyer. He talks about using funds to strengthen the squad but we all know that doesn't happen. Last time he used the Raya money to sign Gallagher, and used loans to sort the defence for a season. Now because of that we are in dire straits at the back. Wouldn't happen anywhere else but Venky Rovers.

Oh he already has. Them and Stoke. Only last week it was Sunderland and Ipswich he was waxing lyrical about.