He'll be top earner or close to it and on far more than he would ever have hoped for at Gillingham. Probably explains the lifestyle. He was going nowhere fast until we went in and gave him a platform in a good side and all parties have reaped the rewards. Biggest problem isn't his bird it's the media and agent chums down in London who will be bending his ear every other week after landing him a big move and a mega contract. He strikes me as being happy here and grateful to the club and manager but it doesn't take long with some of the low life that operate in football these days to engineer what they want. Alarm bells going for me when he was invited onto Soccer AM. Sort of thing not every Championship player gets to do and probably had countless agent connected Sky lackeys in his ear ever since. Could nip everything in the bud early doors by getting him tied to a new deal, which was rumoured back in January whilst that rumour mill was in overdrive but never came to anything.

I'm sure had Fergie packed in earlier or Hughes hadn't gone to City then he'd have been next to or ahead of Moyes for that job. But he burnt his bridges by joining City and ensured he wouldn't get the United job. He always had a high opinion of himself justifiably so given his record at Rovers but perhaps not on his record at Fulham, QPR, Stoke and Southampton. Not particularly well thought of at any of those clubs and each one ended in a shambles. Fell out with Al Fayed then left the others in dire straits. Decent job at Stoke with 3 top 10 finishes in a row but nothing spectacular really. If he wants to manage again it will be either Championship or abroad. Doubt his ego could handle dropping down a division so I expect it will be early retirement unless a good offer from overseas comes along. You'd think someone in Spain or Germany would be interested given his playing background. Quite clear with hindsight that the Trust were taking us one way only with their refusal to invest in the club and lack of interest. As with Venkys theres no room in this game for reluctant or couldn't care less owners. Don't need to be hands on but need to take an interest and want the club to improve. It was only the good work of Williams, Finn, Hughes and Allardyce etc. that kept the ship afloat. The Trust deserve no credit for that.

A few problems with that plan though. First off Mowbray might not be manager next summer if performance isn't acceptable this season. If he is here then he'll be preparing for his 4th full season which is above the usual lifespan of a Championship manager yet his scouting network will only just be delivering results. What if his successor wants to do it differently? Then it hinges on Venkys reinvesting all the proceeds of a hypothetical Dack sale which I think is unlikely given past behaviour. Then it comes down to our scouting doing what the other 23 Championship clubs aren't already doing. To do that we would either need to be going beyond what others are already doing or be extremely good at what we do. Mowbray sold us a 3 or 4 transfer window strategy to build a good side capable of challenging. We're now in window 3 since promotion and are being linked with Stuart Downing and keeping Ben Gladwin. Not exactly impressive. Hopefully there's better to come. But I do find it funny that there's now talk of European signings next season when that will be window 5. Always tomorrow, never today with this lot.

More massaging of the figures to suit the agenda. Last season it suited him to claim the higher figure whereas now with a pitiful 2500 sold it suits to set the bar lower and achieve higher.

Standard stuff from Mowbray really. As ever the proof will be in the pudding and I'll try to reserve judgement and not pay too much attention to the publicity. I do get sick and fed up of Sky, Radio Lancashire and Telegraph scuttling along to the Eid in the park event and trying to get a story out of him regarding Dack. Maybe to be expected from Sky in their Premier League obsessed world but it is disappointing to see from the local media. Gives them something to do I suppose but I don't think it is being done in Rovers interests and appears to be completely baseless at this point.

Hughes' right hand man Mark Bowen is rumoured to be becoming Reading's director of football. Unless I'm mistaken that will be the first time he's not worked with Hughes since Hughes entered management. That tells me that perhaps Hughes isn't planning on managing again for a while.

Unless things are so bad behind the scenes at Hull that he knows what's coming and he's getting out with a good season behind him. Their fans are blaming the owners and expect relegation next season.

Approval given for Coventry to play next season at St Andrew's. So the threats to kick them out of the league were hollow ones as they will agree to relocation to ensure they can fulfil their fixtures. My issue is whether the rental income and receipts through this ground share can be used by Birmingham to offset against Ffp calculations. Given their recent record with the regulations I suspect this extra cash will come in very handy. Question should be whether it is fair on rival clubs that a member can benefit from this arrangement to put them in a stronger position as a result of the league sanctioning this relocation. Convenient solution all round....

I actually don't mind that. It's different. I'd like to see that template applied to our home shirt with halves on the body and those stripes on the sleeves. Derby have got themselves a sponsor that works very well with their shirt though, whereas I still think the problem we will face is successfully incorporating the sponsor.

For all that see Wolves. They got lucky with good rich owners and did what they needed to. Obey the Ffp laws to the letter and you'll likely go nowhere. The clued up owners work around them, ours hide behind them.

I see there's a fuss being made about this 'investment' into recruitment being made. Whilst a positive development I do wonder how significant it is in the scheme of things. A bit like the 'investment' in pitches that Waggott claimed was happening this summer which if spread out across our sites actually doesn't represent very much and is probably the bare minimum upkeep needed to ensure that the facilities are adequate for next season. It's good that they're spending more and taking scouting more seriously but it appears to me that we're now playing catch up after years of neglect whilst rivals have steamed ahead. Thanks to the cost cutting slash and burn approach going hand in hand with complete and utter neglect from the owners and the board down it is baby steps stuff and probably still nowhere near what most rivals are doing every year yet Waggott expects everyone to be impressed as though we are doing something special.

Unfortunately we could have Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China competing to buy us and Venkys would probably refuse to even pick up the phone. We're in the triple lock of being dependent on external funding, being owned by idiots but also the sort of idiots who can afford it and won't entertain selling. All the while rival Championship clubs get bought up by foreign owners and many fans try to convince themselves nobody would be interested in Rovers and Venkys are the best we can hope for.

Looking forward to it. Shame it's a Sunday but might have to book the Monday off work. Going up on the train. Something to look forward to from pre-season at least. Been waiting a long time to go to Ibrox. Don't think there'll be anything to worry about allocation wise going off what it was like for the dingles the other year.

Why does a competition organiser for an English football competition have to meet in sunny Portugal? Back slaps all around as they spend that fine money. Never mind Bury or Bolton, record attendances this year and Sky are paying more!

What sort of people pay £5 million for a mansion on the other side of the world and then never come to stay in it? The sort who have a hell of a lot of money and are quite happy to let it leak into the UK every year.

Just more moving of the goalposts. Same with transfer window targets and expectations. To have sold half of what Blackpool have and a seventh of what relegated to League Two Bradford have so far is awful. Obviously we will see more sold as the summer rolls on but i can't for the life of me see why Rovers or the owners prefer it this way than having your core paid and signed up already.

Sounds to me like a move agreed or very close to being if Waggott is talking about it like that in the paper. Nothing to get excited about. Effectively waving goodbye to Conway and replacing him with Downing. Both well past their best, both free agents, don't imagine Downing will be costing much more at his age. I suppose at least he was playing regularly for a team in the top 6 most of last season...

Looks like they aren't following a 2-3 year plan and signing players to make money off. Want promotion asap and prepared to pay for it. No time for them but they're putting their money where their mouths are rather than trotting out excuses.

There seems to be a belief that it is one or the other - either a gung ho approach in which we spend big money and gamble on getting up or face big problems with Ffp and increased losses - or the slow build in which we spend small amounts each season to try and keep within Ffp rules and that in a few years we should have built towards promotion contention and that if we don't go up everything will be rosy in the garden because we haven't overspent. Problem is though that the slow build concept ignores the likely loss of our best players and difficulty in replacing them, failure to do so would likely see regression. It also ignores that we aren't self sufficient by a long way and every year we are out of the top flight we lose 6 figure amounts. It also ignores that only one other club has been sanctioned for breaking Ffp rules and that whilst spending more carries some more risk, the rewards are greater. The more you spend the greater value the assets are likely to be. Ffp has brought a convenient excuse to Venkys doorstep. If they don't want to spend more that's up to them but just be honest about it. Doing it our way isn't noble or better than others.

In 7 years we must have had 30 loans from Premier League clubs and about 4 who were any good. Cairney, Reed, Gallagher, Keane. They're either hard to find or we aren't very good at picking them but the majority have been a waste of time, space and money. Either way, basing our promotion plans on it is risky. We need a better squad before adding a couple of quality loans. We will struggle to do it paying 5k a week out when WBA are paying 30k.

The 2-3 years from now project is a myth. The only way that will end up is with us selling 2-3 of our best players either to claw some cash back for the owners or because the players get better offers elsewhere and then the whole thing starts again with the excuse being that we are in transition and waiting for new players to settle in. Before you know it you're 5 or 6 years down the line no better off, still hemorrhaging cash trying to find someone else to sell. The sort of mentality that sees a club in the doldrums for decades until or unless you get lucky, like the dingles did with Coyle the buffoon. Doubt Wilder was telling his boys to slow down this season as he has a 2 or 3 year plan. Went out to win every game and got the job done.

As with most transfers the merits or not of paying the asking price will only become clear down the line. It's a gamble but one you have to be prepared to take from time to time if you seek success or big returns on trading. Here and now there's no argument that the Brereton one has been a waste of money. But if he comes good, there's a decent chance yet that one day we will make a profit on him. Same with Gallagher. At his age, with his pedigree, I reckon he'd be worth a punt. No guarantees either way but there are signs it's worth doing. Obviously next question is how much we have overall to spend. If it is £6 million I'm not in favour of spending £5 million of that on Gallagher. If we've £10 million+ (lol) then I'd be doing it. I'd be delighted with a 3 pronged recruitment of Gallagher, Hanley and Reed which would go a long way to sorting things out. Probably talking £10 million + for all 3 though.

Yes, but the fact he mentions it in virtually every article on the owners or our finances suggests he feels it is worth reminding people about, or that it is different somehow to what happens elsewhere.

I suspect it is an orchestrated attempt to convince as many people as possible that operating at a loss is unusual and that Venkys are doing more than they need to or should be expected to by funding it every year. If they don't want to do it then clear off because we ain't going to be self sufficient at this level and there sure as hell isn't anything else they're bringing to the party.

Can someone name me a club without Sky tv/parachute money that DOESNT rely on a benefactor model? There seems to be a belief or attitude coming from somewhere that we are unusual and that everyone else balances the books every year.