About 5 years ago it was our 140th anniversary. I don't recall so much as a mention of it from the club. Certainly weren't any commemorative events, merchandise or similar. Birmingham City, a footballing nonentity compared to Rovers, had their 140th the same year. They had a special crest, kit and all sorts of stuff to celebrate it. Nobody down there has the interest or ambition to do anything about it.

Richardson will resign and join Cook again as soon as he gets a job sorted out.

Wait, so they admitted giving Bell another year because they hadn't found anyone else? Wow. That's some transfer policy.

I think you are being kind here to Rovers, expecting there to be some larger reason why the kits aren't out yet. In the end I think it is just further evidence of the malaise and drift there is at the club that we witness every year. It comes down from the top and infests every element of the club. It is why we have no season tickets, are always among the last to put them on sale, are always among the latest to release kits, and now are drifting without any direction from the owners, seemingly no budget or communication and a CEO who hasn't been seen or heard from in months. The kit will be ready. It will either be sat in boxes at Ewood or in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be delivered. I genuinely don't think there is anyone currently working at Rovers who will be dealing with this sort of thing. Earlier I was looking at Oldham's new kit for their 125th anniversary. Very nice, complete with special club crest and all sorts of stuff on their page about the history behind it. Now that's a 4th.division club, run by a very unpopular owner with gates of a few thousand. Yet miles ahead of us in efforts.

So one day Rich Sharpe hasn't spoken to Mowbray or Waggott, the next he knows who we haven't bid for, when realistically those two are the only ones who can confirm what we have done. I suspect he is hedging his bets. He's probably right too, we will be some way off making any signings.

Why can Luton do it but we can't?

Everton have sold 30,000 season tickets for a 39,000 capacity ground. We have sold 0 season tickets for a 31,000 capacity ground. Everton will have millions in the bank from that. We have nothing. Who do we reckon knows best about running a football club? Everton or Venkys and Waggott. The club can put tickets on sale whenever it likes. But next news is Waggott will be moaning about FFP, lack of income and rich clubs having more money than us. Well speaking for myself i have my money ready to spend and would do so if the club was prepared to accept it. I won't be alone. Can't have it both ways. Can't be bothered with the basics and the hassle of devising a scheme e.g. £300 for the first 20 home matches whenever they may be. Don't then moan about not having any money.

They haven't been punished for breaking Ffp rules e.g. spending too much They've been punished for wrongly including figures from the sale of Hillsborough in their 2018 accounts thereby in effect dodging FFP by lying in their accounts. Simply overspending hasnt been punished. Though Venkys will be delighted with this. Signpost anyone towards Sheffield Wednesday whenever money isn't spent.

Good news for Sheffield Wednesday. More lenient than the 21 points it could have been and they get a full 46 game season to overcome it. Not easy but if fighting a points deduction the more games the better and by no means mission impossible. Wigan almost did it in a few weeks. Bad news for Charlton who go down this season but haven't cheated the system. If i was involved with them I'd be asking why a crime committed in 2018 and punishment decided now isnt going to be imposed until next season.

Grant Hall just joined Middlesbrough on a free transfer. There we go. Experienced proven CB on a free transfer passing by the wayside. Not brilliant but better than what we've got.

We will probably be OK with Sky propping the division up for their TV audiences and Venkys tipping in the difference seemingly without much concern Its the likes of Accy Stanley and Morecambe I wonder about. Sky aren't interested in that level and they don't have enough external investment.

What the Wigan owner did looks strange and may even be dodgy. But that wouldn't be the first time Infact I'd probably identify dodgy looking stuff in most cases of administration somewhere along the line. It doesn't actually matter. The rules are black and white. You go into admin then you get -12 The only complication I see is that this happened beyond the normal season ending date, however the League agreed to extend it until early August so surely the rules and punishments happen the same. The EFL want an easy life, minimal trouble or disruption. Upholding the Wigan deduction might sting them but is the least controversial and messy option. If they don't then any club in the league for whatever reason can go into admin, wipe off debts and cart on regardless. It cannot happen.

We do this every summer. Every pre season we set off with 6, 7, 8 younger lads who Mowbray wants to keep an eye on and see if they can break through. But by the time the real action starts they won't be. I'm pretty sure of that especially in a crucial position like CB. The problem is as you say this period of assessing the young lads either deters or prevents new signings coming in early doors and getting games and up to speed. Whether Mowbray genuinely wants to give them an opportunity or if he is sending messages off to India by giving them a try before deciding to spend instead I don't know.

Burnley probably want this sort of story to try and get shut of Gibson. Do Rovers want shut of Armstrong? These made up stories are NOT helpful to Rovers, the player or the team. At best they cause speculation and rumours to swirl.

Its amazing after the shenanigans that have gone on here over the years that you think it is farfetched. Wouldn't be the first time.

There's interest? Says who? I thought the whole point in the story was to speculate that there might be interest. Armstrong is away on holiday whilst almost everyone at Rovers are also away on leave or furloughed. Sharpe must have his fingers in some pies to know of this interest barely a week into the window. Alternatively he's just making it up. They've spent the last couple of summers doing it with Dack and now he's out of the frame it is on to plan B. I give it a fortnight before the Mirror, Mail and Sun are linking him with clubs and this will have been caused by stories like this. Some local papers still have an inside track to their clubs and stories are taken seriously by national papers. That's not the case here, where the Telegraph are spoon-fed info from the club. As I say I'm not sure the Telegraph are capable of orchestrating it on their own but they are never afraid to wind it up a notch. Note how no vultures circling for Pope or Wood up the road.

Never seems to happen up the road at Burnley though. Perhaps because they employ Burnley fans to do their writing whereas not for Rovers.

I've long believed that this is the intention. To stir up rumour, wind up the fans and prime them for a departure whilst also perhaps also unsettling the player himself. All sounds a bit far fetched perhaps but what appears in local media quickly spreads to the gossip columns of the nationals. Before you know it this 'could happen' becomes definite interest in the eyes of some I dont think the telegraph have the intellect to do this themselves, but are put up to it by certain other individuals who stand to gain from it, perhaps even people at Rovers.

That's his business. Nothing to stop him demolishing their stadium if that's what he wants to do. He owns them so it is his business. Only the same as why Venkys continue their reign of terror here.

For some reason they are allowing Barnsley to make submissions at the appeal hearing today. Seems strange to me as whilst Barnsley are impacted by this surely the decision with Wigan should purely be on the basis of what has or hasn't happened there.

Yep. Today Kean is about as relevant in football as Les Reed or Brian Laws are yet only one is getting airtime on leading national radio. I wonder how that can be. Everyone knows by now what Kean is and his activities here are the reason he's spent 8 years in the (tax free) backwaters of Brunei and then some bizarre job in Crete. Must be on the lookout for another gig yet is unemployable in England and probably Europe as a manager. Amazing for such a great coach. You'd think with such great mates like Moyes and Fergie he'd have no problems there. But once again the true colours of Jim White and the Talksport/Sky mob are seen. Always happy to get an old friend on the airwaves. Boy they did a real number on us. And with Merse, Charlie and Co. also there we never had any chance.

The reason we might not give him a chance is because the manager might not think he is good enough. I dont know because I haven't seen enough of him the last couple of seasons. It is a big step from League Two to the Championship. What I do know is that it is make or break time. Either he is good enough, in which case he contributes here, or not, in which case he needs a move. But what we don't do is just chuck him in for the sake of it and hope it works out just because he's already on the books and it is cheaper/easier than bringing someone else in or because we are making some sort of point about giving academy lads a chance. Now that would be daft and dangerous.

Lets hope we ain't in Sasha Petshi or Bengali Fode Koita territory

We could try selling some tickets to boost the budget. Here we will see the nonsense of Waggott and Venkys. For years it has been 'poor Rovers' unable to compete because we don't have a huge fanbase buying tickets. Now here we are not even putting them on sale. It shows that they were never really that bothered about the fans money. Just a useful excuse to blame the fans for not buying instead of our wonderful kind owners.

I'm not even sure there's that much thought goes into it. I've no doubt Mowbray has ideas of what he wants from a keeper and one look at those names linked last summer suggested he was looking at decent quality. But in the end for whatever reason we end up yet again going down the loan route from another clubs academy/reserves. I believe this is because the owners insist upon loans and low cost ones at that. So we end up going cap in hand to Premier League sides asking for a favour. What a positive start to the window it would be for us to go out and sign a permanent proven established keeper who knew the division