JHRover

Let's wait and see what happens. IF money gets invested, we address our weaknesses and we don't sell any prized assets then I will applaud that. As it stands we've spent a couple of hundred grand on a keeper whilst saving the same on outgoing wages, and are 12 days away from the season without any outfield signings, so lots of work to do and not much time to do it. No the deadline is not October when the window shuts and we can do our usual supermarket sweep of a couple of loans to fill the gaps. By then our season might already be over.

Of course, you're right, we did all we could but he won't move north of Watford because his bird didn't fancy it. Good job he's not on Liverpool's wish list or Klopp would be facing rejection. I'm sure spending half his season playing out wide whilst being told he wasn't good enough yet to play Central midfield whilst Richie Smallwood did was the right way to go about keeping him happy

Apart from we spent nearly that on Ben Brereton and well over that figure in the last two summers. Mowbray himself played Reed out of position and said he had to learn from Smallwood. I didn't. He missed games this year due to injury. If he had been fit he would have played more.

Good job no Premier League clubs North of Watford took an interest then. Still doesn't explain why he had to learn from Richie Smallwood.

He was, now Fulham have done a deal to get him permanently. Amazing that a newly promoted Premier League side see enough to splash the cash on him yet he wasn't good enough for our midfield.

Harrison Reed joined Fulham on a permanent deal following their promotion. I expect him to be quickly sent out on loan to 3rd division Hull so he can learn some more from Richie Smallwood.

Nor can anyone else yet they've been on sale. We can pretty much guarantee it because we won't sell more than 8000 which is only just over 25% of capacity anyway.

Why don't the club do their bit and sell season tickets? I'll buy one of them for £300+ and they get 100% of it

100 Club deal for academy finished then?

Mowbray's comments in November 2019 and nearly in September 2020 are virtually the same. That suggests to me that there has been little to no progress during that long period. I would hope that if both parties were on the same page then over nearly a year something could be sorted out. Granted in late December he sustained a major injury, which may have frozen things, but as he comes out the other side what we cannot afford is to nurture him through his injury only for him to walk once he is back playing. From the players point of view if he signed a new deal he could get a pay rise. Signing a new deal will not put off Premier League clubs. If one wants him and thinks he is good enough they will pay. I'm not sure he will ever make it to that level.

I'm not optimistic on Dack. This was November 2019: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18070592.latest-rovers-contract-talks-star-man-bradley-dack/ Seems little progress has been made now in nearly 10 months. Taking too long.

I did read it. Again I would like to see these contract scenarios resolved as a matter of some urgency rather than telling the owners that we need it. Too slow. We've been burned before by expiring contracts and if we want to moan about FFP then we cannot allow them to run down. What loans we do depends on the positions and who we get on permanents. I will be extremely disappointed if CB is addressed by loans, whereas I have no objection to midfield or attack being dealt with that way. But we need key areas dealing with permanently or we are just kicking the can down the road. Let's just hope these bids see decent players arrive soon. I recall you expected a couple of signings by today which hasn't happened.

Good to hear but they need to be more than just on Mowbray's mind. We need to be getting them done. They've been on about the Dack one for months. Sounds to me that Mowbray is communicating with India again warning against another summer of loans and warning they need to get these contracts done.

I agree that by national standards Blackburn is a small and relatively poor urban area. Good news for us is that a massive portion of our home crowd doesn't live in Blackburn. They live across Lancashire in North Lancs, Fylde, South Ribble, Hyndburn, Rossendale. Include those areas and it isnt just one poor town but many towns including quite affluent areas. Partly an exodus of people from Blackburn and partly our glory days of the 90s led to thousands of fans in these areas who still travel to games. Sadly I am not aware of any efforts the club makes in these areas to maintain or grow numbers. Meanwhile competition increases Our prices are mid range for the Championship. Lack of businesses to put money in? Have you seen how many industrial groups are based at Whitebirk, Bamber Bridge, Darwen, Shadsworth? Very few of them have deals with the club. We don't even employ a commercial director.

Ethics and integrity. Essentially had these rules been in place 30 years ago then what Jack Walker did here in 1990-1991 would have been in breach of the rules and 'ethics and integrity'. Would you have told him to put his chequebook away because it wasn't good for integrity? If you have money you should spend it. Not be hamstrung by nonsensical rules. Derby have proven it can be done and challenged. The Rooney stunt and the stadium sale just clever ways of beating the system that brave and bold clubs will find and get away with. I have seen Sheffield Wednesday. What about them? You will note that their points deduction wasn't given for breaking Ffp rules or overspending, but was given for failing to provide accurate records in their accounts and attempting to decieve the League by backdating their stadium sale. Two very different things. Many of those clubs to get promoted in the last 5 years have broken the rules and ethics and integrity, including QPR, Leicester, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Brighton. Nice guys finish last in this game.

I don't expect 3 or 4 for every position like Man City. I think we should have 2 for each position and if we don't i think injuries will cost us. We are a long way off even having 2 for each position. For a club like ours to be on the cusp of a new season without any depth in GK or defence I think is very poor and I will criticise that because it was avoidable and shouldn't happen at a club like this. I've accepted already that the pre season training camp isn't a major issue especially this year but I do think this is another area we lag behind similar clubs and could do more. It annoys me when we play Barrow and Bury whilst smaller clubs go off to the continent playing quality opposition.

Talk about moving goalposts - we've gone from me saying we can compete in the Championship to me apparently claiming that we are a 'big financial powerhouse'. Lol More than half this league would love billionaire owners willing and able to write off £15 million a year. I detest Venkys but I accept that the money they put in should at least put us a notch above many in this league. You seem to think even though we are burning up £15 million a year in losses that we are neck and neck with the nobbers and the rest.

OK. Still bought them though. And Venkys are still putting £15-20 million a year in. So that makes income quite irrelevant. If the owners can and will pump millions in then we can compete. Your theory appears to be done on the basis the owners don't put more in here than most every year. Of course without external investment we might struggle to compete. You can apply that to everyone. Without Sky money the relegated clubs couldn't compete.

Pretty much what I've been getting at all day but seems I'm preaching to the converted. Ah well, some can look forward to a future of struggling to compete with Wycombe and Luton. I expect more and with owners pumping in £20 million a year I hope they expect more too.

Interesting interpretation of what I've been saying. Still, I'd rather have high expectations and views on my club than convince myself that we can't even compete in the 2nd division.

Probably yes. That would be normal of an agent to do. I was questioning who at Rovers told Sharpe about it and why when the deal wasn't over the line.

We've seen how the snowball effect works with transfers both in and out. I've long criticised the Telegraph for spreading rumours about our prized assets which seem to be based on little other than national tabloid or twitter gossip but then spread to bigger stories. But this time around I'm sure someone at the club will have had a word with Sharpe and confirmed the Kipre deal. I dont believe that the Telegraph story will have suddenly made Bilic put a bid in for him. But i do wonder who at Rovers will have fed Sharpe that info and why they allowed him to release it when they did. We know from experience that Sharpe will only run with these sort of stories if Rovers give it to him or give him the go ahead. So why would they do that this time if the deal was still to be done?

Not something I've ever seen before, was wondering if it would be new merchandise for sale or just something Umbro have made for marketing

I didn't think our income was 'poor'. I thought it was competitive. Not big but certainly no reason why it should be lower than many others in this league. I've been over many times that these owners are at least in part responsible for our income levels due to their mismanagement and neglect, which includes years of not taking commercial and sponsorship seriously and allowing thousands of fans to become alienated. So I suppose in a way I accept things aren't great, but I don't believe that is natural but rather created by poor management and shouldn't be an excuse. It isn't that this club cannot compete at this level as history shows we can. It continues today with us being one of a small number not to sell tickets. Either way for whatever reason Venkys appear comfortable pumping £15 million a year in. Whether you like that or not or want it to continue or not as long as it does this club can compete in the Championship. I find it ludicrous that anyone would argue 'we can't compete' whilst surrounded by Barnsley, Wycombe and Luton and owned by billionaires

Can anyone work out what that is on the left which appears to be a flag with a different red rose over it?