'We've shown we can mix it with the big teams' Who are the 'big teams' exactly?

The alternative way of looking at it is that those clubs have worked extremely hard over the last 5-10 years to build their support up and it has worked. I remember going to Forest midweek the first season we were down in 2012 and the ground was half empty. Birmingham were getting 15,000 a week and less at times when Clark was manager. Bristol City rarely surpassed 15,000 until they rebuilt their stadium (plenty of empty seats). Flip side is if you look at Forest's season ticket offerings they are impressive. Birmingham have done numerous games at £15 a time this season and have season tickets for less than ours. Bristol City have a very impressive pre and post match atmosphere with entertainment etc. Their crowds have begun to deteriorate following the opening of their new ground and the hype that came with it. I accept that we've less to draw on than those clubs but I also think those clubs have made more serious efforts than we have to do something about empty seats. The way of things at Rovers seems to be acceptance that we're at our limit and we can't expect bigger or better.

I don't hate the pale blue. I wouldn't want us to wear it every year and would limit it to once every decade as a change. What I don't like with our home shirt is the socks and sponsor. If the socks were the same blue as the shirt, or white, it would be better. Likewise if the sponsor was less prominent or a different colour it would work better. Socks should be white or the same blue as the shirt. Add blue shorts and socks if away and there is a clash. I want us to wear blue and white wherever we can. So no more of this silly away shirt at Forest, Middlesbrough, Bristol City.

It's propaganda that the League rely upon to try and prove what a jolly good job they're doing. Never mind Bolton and Bury going bust, Coventry having no ground and Blackpool being run by an asset stripping convicted rapist. All they are interested in are numbers on a balance sheet. Record sponsorship and media income and more people watching due to smaller clubs replacing bigger ones in the top division. All the while showing that numbers through turnstiles becoming less and less important to a club's standing in the divisions. Replace Dingles, Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Watford and Palace with Leeds, Villa, Sunderland, Sheff Wed and Derby and the numbers wouldn't be as impressive.

Downing is out of contract this summer, so I can't see Doncaster buying him.

Its not Graeme Shinnie though is it. It's a club where they are able to swiftly take action to sign a free agent before his existing contract is up and before this season is over with, whilst our lot have to fly around the world next week or whenever it is and won't know what they can do until that is over with.

Other clubs, even those still in with a shout of promotion, are actually signing players. Our manager has said more than once he doesn't know what the budget or the plan (if there is either) will be until he has spoken to the owners in India. Following that he is going off on his deserved family holiday. It's safe to assume therefore that no free agent arrivals will be here before June. I'd like to be proven wrong on that but I think people expecting us here to move quickly to snap up the decent free agents are optimistic. We don't move quickly here.

Mowbray has said he'd rather build a squad of permanent players who will be assets for the club. We haven't had many loans at this level that have made a positive difference. Reed the obvious exception.

How can we do that when Mowbray has said that he doesn't know his budget or the target for next season until he's been to India next week? Safe to assume nothing concrete can or will be done until he is back from his family holiday after India Derby have already signed Shinnie from Aberdeen despite being in the play-offs. We're behind already.

To be fair I think HMRC have done all they can be issuing a Winding up Petition in the High Court for unpaid tax. For most people that alone would make them come to the table and settle. It seems the Judge and High Court are the ones giving Bolton extra time and chances to escape rather than winding them up and allowing HMRC to recover their debt. Fairly sure most businesses would have been shut down by now but it seems football clubs are treated differently in courts of law in the UK. Presumably it's all about the Judge not wanting to put people out of jobs and get criticism for shutting down a football club.

Again it's another angle from which to try and overcome FFP issues. Constructing facilities at Ewood that will generate income 7 days a week all year irrespective of footballing performance is essential. At the moment we have the indoor centre and offices in the DE but nothing else generating cash. We have the space to do it, there is clearly a demand for it, and in the Riverside we have the perfect opportunity to do it. It could include a leisure centre/gym with discounts for season ticket holders.

I hope that having a hotel within the stadium is something Rovers are looking seriously at doing. The obvious place to start would be incorporating it into a new Riverside stand and offer pitchside rooms. I'm sure such a thing if done properly with conferencing facilities etc. could bring much needed revenue into the club long term. Don't think Blackburn has that much offering. Bolton perhaps more attractive than Ewood given how close it is to the motorway and business parks round there. My worry is we've sat back and done nothing on this front and in the last 5-6 years there must be 5-6 new hotels built in Blackburn. Clearly there is a demand for hotel rooms and we're missing out when Ewood could be at the forefront of it.

There seems to be a train of thought among Bolton fans that the League shouldn't 'punish' them with a points deduction for next season as it would hurt new owners or prospective new owners. They don't seem to realise that the points deduction is actually as much a deterrent against other clubs as it is a punishment against them. If they are allowed to get away with what they have done this season then other clubs could try similar in future expecting to be free from sanctions. If they go into administration I would expect to see them start next season on a minimum of -18 points. -12 for administration and at least -6 for cancelling a game and then failing to rearrange it. If they got any less then the League has done them a big favour.

They committed 2 offences re. the Brentford game. The first was cancelling it from its original date - failing to play the fixture on its due date - and the second was failing to rearrange it and complete their fixtures despite being instructed to do so by the League. In theory each offence should carry a penalty of at least 3 points. I suspect the League will look to brush it under the carpet and will apply the mandatory 12 points for administration and throw the other issues under that umbrella.

So Anderson saying he's no choice but to put them into Admin. Sky Sports saying they have gone into admin. High Court have given them a 2 week adjournment. I wouldn't want to see them liquidated but this has gone on long enough. Ultimately it's the tax man owed money and public services missing out on millions of pounds of tax here. Once again administration will clear the decks to a certain extent but those who suffer will be the small fry businesses and local people. Meanwhile the millionaires will be ok.

I should have added that those other owners knew what they wanted and knew how to deliver it. Meanwhile Venky's 'investment' has all gone down the drain and we've nothing to show for it. I think the point I'm making is that whilst southern clubs generally have bigger populations and bigger incomes to draw upon more important is those clubs have got lucky with good, ambitious and rich owners (probably attracted by location). They haven't got where they are because they're in affluent areas or get big gates. In Brighton's case since they moved ground it has been plain sailing for them. Promotion from League One, play-offs, promotion from Championship, Premier League, new ground after years without one. If they have a decade like we've just had they won't be getting 30,000 a week on watching it. Ups and downs. Stoke and Swansea were getting full houses last season but another few seasons treading water in the Championship and they'll be down to a similar level to us numbers wise.

I noticed that the sales window for tickets was extended to this afternoon, which suggested sales have been slow. Rovers fans are being given the poor end of the ground, which is a bit of a mick take given we rent the place for our u23s all year.

And yet Bournemouth. Brighton and Watford would not be where they are today without the input of wealthy owners. So yes, they are more affluent places than NW towns and there are more people living in those areas with less clubs as competition, but all 3 were drifting and going nowhere before their current owners got involved and propelled them upwards through heavy investment and shrewd management. Brighton didn't get to the Premier League through being in an affluent area or having big gates. They got there because Tony Bloom pumped in £20+ million a year. Same for Demin at Bournemouth. Seems both broke or went close to breaking FFP rules in the process. Watford slightly different as they didn't spend their way up but benefited from their owners contacts and recruitment. It's only in the last 5-6 years that Southern clubs have begun to dominate the Premier League as wealthy foreigners take more interest and it suits them to buy clubs down South. As recently as when we were in it was dominated by Northern clubs with us, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, Stoke, Hull etc. If it was as straightforward as numbers living nearby and competition from other clubs then the likes of Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Coventry would all be up there rather than consigned to the lower divisions. Other factors in play - football isn't as popular down in those areas as it is up here or in the NE. Hence Swansea and Cardiff struggle to fill their grounds in the Premier League despite dominating South Wales with a vast population - more people enjoy their rugby.

At the time we were selling anyone who could fetch a fee and anyone of any value in the squad knew it. Then came the knee 'injury' which ruled him out of pre-season with the bandage that changed legs at half time. God they were taking fans for fools. He ticks all the boxes. Knows the club/area, come through our system, experienced at this level. Not really a gamble. I'd rather keep the punts and gambles down to a minimum so if someone is there who can come in and fit in quickly it's worth looking at.

The likes of Watford, Reading, QPR and Fulham have benefited massively from foreign investment which is heavily down to the areas they are located in more than the clubs themselves. All within a short drive of Heathrow airport and London. Even with that investment only really Watford have managed to establish themselves up there. You would think however that some NW clubs would be attractive given how nearby Manchester airport is and how much Manchester has boomed in recent years with long haul flights to the Middle and Far East, US etc. Can easily get from Wigan, Bolton, Preston, Blackburn to the airport in less than an hour. In theory it should be the more peripheral clubs that struggle with it - East Anglia, South West, South Wales and North East.

I'd be quite pleased with that. For me him and Lenihan would box off the CB issue for the time being.

It really is quite straightforward. We've spent the majority of our League existence in the top flight. Our league existence is as long or longer than everyone else's. On that basis our level should be top division. We're in the top 10 on major trophies won in English history. On that basis we should be in the top division. The fact that the majority of those trophies were won a long time ago is about as relevant as Liverpool winning most of their trophies pre 1990.

People say that we've a small catchment area in Blackburn with it not being a city etc. etc. We need to look beyond that and realise/accept that our catchment area isn't Blackburn with Darwen. It's also Hyndburn, Clitheroe, Whalley, Rossendale, Bamber Bridge, Lostock, Leyland, Euxton, Chorley - all within 20 minutes drive of Ewood Park. So whilst you might 'only' have 150,000 people in BwDBC you've another 200,000+ in these areas on the doorstep. Most of which are heavily populated with Rovers fans already and that needs building on. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when the club and people involved in it focus all their efforts on the town of Blackburn rather than the areas around it. We've competition in these areas - Dingles, PNE, Bolton and Stanley - not to mention the big boys - but we need to make it more attractive than the others.

Sounds like Mark Warburton is to become the new QPR manager. Think he's a decent appointment and better than most they've been linked with.

If Mowbray's comments re. Bauer are anything to go by then he's not going to be shopping in the League One aisle of the transfer store. Likewise if his comments about building towards promotion next season are accurate he's going to be taking a massive gamble if he intends to do that by focusing his search on the lower leagues. Of course there are handy players out there and Preston have done well at recruiting them but for me if you're aiming for promotion next season you either need to be prepared to invest in Championship or above proven players or have the skills to exploit the European market. I was refreshed to hear Mowbray's comments re. the defence and bringing new players in. However, I am not convinced that rectifying our leaky defence and horrific goals against column is quite as straightforward as going out and signing some new defenders to replace those here. It should help but the other element here is coaching and team structure and I believe when you've conceded as many as we have, and particularly the way in which many have been conceded, there are other issues that need dealing with rather than just going and signing someone else and expecting the defence to improve overnight. The whole team needs to defend better and that means being fitter, more disciplined and better organised e.g. set pieces. Someone like Allardyce is the expert at sorting out a defence. He can go into a struggling side leaking goals with low confidence and immediately and drastically reduce the goals against column. Not by going and signing different players, but by sorting out those he inherits straight away and replacing them in due course. I'm not sure that Mowbray has this ability. Also worth noting that defensively we were far from impressive last season and that was when we had better players than most other sides so how do you explain that? Moving forward I believe 5-6 quality additions are required at a minimum, assuming we keep Dack, Lenihan and in the hope that Armstrong, Brereton and Rothwell kick on and improve from being potential to regular performers. Replacing Downing with a quality CB is essential, as is replacing Leutwiler with a better GK. Replacing Harrison Reed (if he can't be brought back) is essential. Obtaining a partner/backup/replacement for Danny Graham is essential. Replacing Conway with a quality winger who can cross a ball is needed. Unfortunately I doubt things will be so straightforward. I expect that Samuel, Chapman and Davenport will be sold to the supporters as being 'new signings' given they should be fit and up to speed for the new season. Problem is we've no idea how any of them will fare at this level. Finding someone to take Smallwood off our hands will be tough. Even for free I can't see anyone paying him more than we are. Same goes for Mulgrew (if we actually want him to go). So Mowbray has to convince the Indians to back him, identify the right players, then manage to get them here whilst getting shut of a few on lengthy contracts to balance the books. Won't be easy, or quick. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Conway return for pre-season without a contract and then him end up getting another year once Mowbray realises the constraints he's working within and the difficulty in getting someone better in.