The League are as much up to their necks in it as anyone. Birmingham haven't just broken the rules, they've done it with flying colours. Almost £10 million over the maximum limit, not a toss given about the rules, a wage bill at 200% of turnover, blatantly ignoring the League's threats by signing a player despite being under an 'embargo'. And the grand punishment is a deduction of points that is likely to have no serious impact on their league status. Meanwhile when we were found guilty (when the rules were in their infancy, we were struggling to adjust post-Premier League and had made efforts by cutting costs) - they couldn't wait to sanction us quickly and decisively by putting in place a multi-window transfer ban. I'd argue we had a worse punishment than Birmingham have had.=.

For months and months all the talk was about a 12 point deduction, which if imposed now would send them right into the mire only 2 points outside the bottom 3 with 3 tough games to come. Lose those 3 and they could well be in the bottom 3 and then all sorts of things start to happen - their heads could go and they could get relegated. With 9 points deducted that still leaves a cushion of sorts. Rotherham would need to win 2 to get above them. If they'd have been in the top 6 or just outside as they were a few weeks ago then they'd face all sorts of trouble in docking them points - hence the convenient delay until now when they're out of the promotion shake-up. Birmingham have done quite nicely out of this. They ain't going up, so the only concern for them has to be ensuring they don't go down. Whether they finish 8th on 65 points or 18th on 56 points matters not. The cloud has been lifted and the reset button pushed - all clear to cart on in the summer and try again next season. The only way it could go wrong is if they manage to not get the 5-6 points they might still need to secure survival, which from 8 games is unlikely.

It's been done to give them the best chance of not going down.

Getting off topic but I reckon Barnsley and Sunderland automatic with Luton slipping out.

Wigan is too early to tell, but they seem likely to survive this season which is more than they managed in their last 2 seasons at this level under Whelan. Forest's owner may be 'dodgy' but he's spent fortunes, put a strong structure in place and is rebuilding their stadium - so far so good Derby's owner - invested millions and had them pushing for promotion every season Wednesday owner - invested millions - 2x play-off campaigns under Carvalhal and now appointed one of the best in the business - good Barnsley - took over mid-season when on the way to relegation - I actually see them as contenders for the Premier League in the not too distant future - they have money but more importantly people there with a plan - a bit like Brentford with the moneyball system. Leeds - look like going up and finally getting it right - good for them Sunderland - rebuilding after a poor owner in Short Birmingham - maybe dodgy but haven't gone to League One and have invested heavily so far Villa - still waiting for those FFP sanctions people seem to be expecting - managed to get 2 billionaires last summer and look like they might yet go up. Wolves - hit the jackpot Cardiff - learned from his mistakes, 2x Premier League promotions and wiped away their debts Reading - not much happened there but they'll probably stay up again Watford - weird way of working but has done them wonders. Don't think I'd put any down as being as disastrous as Venkys - who delivered League One football AND £150 million of 'debt' that they won't get rid of

Really? Which? Anderson's overseen a disaster at Bolton but he's never had the money to bankroll them and admitted as much. He hasn't claimed to be something he isn't. Cellino was a disaster at Leeds but didn't relegate them and swiftly sold up and cleared off once he'd outstayed his welcome. Al Hasawi unpopular at Forest but again he didn't take them into League One and sold up to someone better once the fans had turned. All the rest seem to be doing ok, or in the case of Wolves and Watford have completely revolutionised their clubs. The old crowds argument is tiresome too. Wigan, Watford, Barnsley, Reading get no more turning up than we do even now, and I've no doubt we'd have more turning up if we made more of an effort.

We don't know. Local owners don't buy Championship clubs these days. I don't think we're much less attractive than any other Championship clubs. All involve pouring millions into a black hole every year in pursuit of Premier League money.

Since we came out of the Premier League in 2012 the following clubs have been taken over whilst in the Championship: Bolton - by Ken Anderson/Dean Houldsworth Wigan - by the Hong Kong group Forest - by Al Hasawi and then Marinakis Derby - by Mel Morris Sheff Wed - by Chansiri Barnsley - by Chien Lee and co. Leeds - by Cellini and then Radrizzani Sunderland (just after relegation to Lge 1) - by Stewart Donald and co. Birmingham - by Trillion Trophy Aston Villa - by Dr Xia and then by Sawiris and the American Wolves - by Fosun Cardiff - by Vincent Tan Reading - first by the Thai group and then by the Chinese Watford - shortly before we came down by the Pozzo family With the exceptions of Anderson (no money) and Donald (backed by foreign money) all those were foreign owners with no past connection to those clubs, but chose to buy in the Championship for a 'project' presumably to get to the Premier League and are prepared to invest or sustain heavy losses in the meantime to get there. The only one of those that has been a disaster has been Bolton - as they can't pay their bills and are dragged through the humiliation of court battles and not paying their wages. The rest of those clubs have remained solvent despite many incurring bigger losses than we do and having similar revenues. In terms of the 'who will buy us?' line the simple answer is we don't know. We don't know how much Venkys would want for the club, there's no indication they have ever been open to a sale of the club. On the rare occasions we've heard about 'interest' the common outcome seems to be Venkys don't even bother to pick up the phone. Given it seems the staff at the club struggle to get answers from India that doesn't surprise me. So until or unless Venkys decide they want to try and sell the club its all ifs and buts. But saying there's nobody in the world who would want to take over an institution like Rovers in the Championship is, in my view, wrong, as the above shows.

Sounds like they're going to try and deduct Birmingham 9 points rather than the 12 that was constantly pushed in the media. This will apply immediately and would put them 5 clear of relegation. I think it would have been better either waiting until the start of next season and making them start on minus 9 points or doing them for 12 points and putting them into the middle of the relegation battle. 9 points won't be fatal, they'll still have a sizeable lead over Rotherham and will be able to go into next season with a clean slate.

Of course 'big' moves by our standards in recent years have usually come about in the same way - by the manager traipsing out to India to meet with Madame and her husband over a few days and receiving approval for additional expenditure. The sort of things that require cash in the bank and an injection of extra funds from above. The wages and running costs seem to get heaped onto the debt mountain as losses every year and on it seems to go with no end in sight. Of course we've seen it before how when the manager wants some cash to strengthen the team with 'big' signings. So their investment in the club is usually just to keep the bills being paid and keep the place ticking over - investment to actually improve the club - whether that be on quality players, infrastructure, staffing - appears to be very little and only comes through if the manager they trust goes out there with a request.

I pointed out earlier that even Preston, held up as an example of a well run 'locally owned' club doing quite well on a limited budget, still managed to lose £7 million last year in the Championship despite not really spending much on transfers. So this is where we are at. Ideas of self-sustainability are pipe dream stuff. Even the so-called well run clubs with minimal spending are still running up big losses.

That's what I was referring to. A £3 million increase in 'one off charges' to Venkys London Limited. I think the question needs raising with Cheston at the shareholders meeting in July.

I noticed this when flicking through the shareholder accounts the other day. Can someone explain what this is? It seems to read to me in the accounts as though Cheston says this £3 million was largely down to payments to the parent company (or something of the sort). Certainly seems like a massive increase and reads as though that cash has gone to VLL or the owners in some form.

I meant to say those are the only two options if they want out and want to stop funding the club. Of course they can cart on as they have been and juggle things around to suit them.

I think it is fantasy land to think Venkys could reasonably expect or ever get anywhere near that figure for this club. Two options - they do what Whelan did at Wigan or less successfully Davies at Bolton - write off their investment and sell the club for a reasonable price to someone else to pick up the tab from here on. Or alternatively dump the club into admin/liquidation and walk away - again they won't be seeing close to that money. It's gone. Spent. Not to be seen again. It's like me spending a fortune renovating a house with borrowed money and then when I decide to sell the house expecting someone else to pay those loans off whilst buying the house too. Isnt going to happen and nobody would realistically expect it to.

They aren't shares in the club, they are shares in Venkys London Limited. So surely VLL can sell the shares in Blackburn Rovers Ltd for whatever price they decide?

So we owe them £108 million then. You can't 'owe' your owners share capital. That money has been invested. They aren't getting it back and if they think they are they're in for a wait.

I thought Waggott said we were mid-table or top 10 for wages in the Championship?

Yes there is. We're similar clubs, with similar infrastructure, in the same division in the same part of the world and similar attendances. Turnover should be similar. In terms of attracting new buyers we should be similar in terms of worthwhile investments. Wigan will have owed Whelan a fortune, at least on paper. Whelan knew when he'd had enough that he was never going to recoup his investment which he had built up over 20+ years. Admittedly probably not as high as Venkys 'debt' here but he will have poured tens of millions in and will have known he wasn't going to get it all back. Venkys method of funding Rovers has been to pile it all onto the books as 'debt' whereas other owners opt to do it differently, or write the debt off. Vincent Tan at Cardiff heaped it all onto the debt pile and then wrote it off as he knew that money had gone. Likewise Bolton - Eddie Davies was supposedly owed £170 million or something for his investment over the years, but when he wanted out he 'wrote off' that debt and walked away from it all - even though he probably wasn't even worth that much in total. All sorts of tricks going on and again - if Venkys decide tomorrow to leave the club the first thing they do is accept they are going to have to walk away from that debt - there's no other way of getting out of it.

If they are fed up with pouring money in every year the only alternative is to walk away. This is what happened at Wigan with Whelan and Bolton with Davies. When the end point came they walked away, wrote off their investment and left the club to someone else. Venkys will never get £250 million back from Rovers. How do Rovers owe them close to £250 million? I thought it was about £150 million?

An example of their couldn't care less attitude - in more than 8 years of ownership I'm not aware of a single sponsor/deal with a company or business that the club has benefited from that has been brought by Venkys involvement. Not a single one. Not a single advertising board, partnership, shirt sponsor. In 8 years+. It might be loose change in the scheme of things but if they'd have used their no doubt extensive contacts in Asia to bring other partners and sponsors to the table the club could have generated higher revenues, helping with FFP and reducing their 'investment'. Yet there's been nothing. Once again the only assumption to be made is they either don't want it or don't care - and from there the well of sympathy runs dry. You've got admittedly improved efforts on the ground in Blackburn to try and develop more business and corporate links after 6 years of complete neglect, and yet we've supposedly got the biggest poultry/pharmaceuticals firm in India owning the club and not once have we benefited from that by bringing big players into the sponsorship of the club. Before anyone says 'but no big companies would be interested in sponsoring a Championship club' I suggest you go and visit some websites of rival clubs and look at large international companies that do sponsor Championship clubs, many due to who the owner is.

Whatever it is you have to assume that it isn't causing them much pain. If it was they'd have walked away by now, because they certainly aren't in this for sporting/profile reasons. You'd think any company alarmed by continually pumping £10-20 million per annum into a black hole on the other side of the world would parachute in industry experts to get on with running the club properly and with autonomy to make big decisions. Alas it seems they're still wanting to run the show themselves in their own bonkers way. So either the penny hasn't dropped after £150 million or alternatively they aren't bothered in the slightest. Nobody feeling the pain would just allow the circus to roll on every year.

The debt is the big unknown. Clearly nobody is ever going to come near Rovers whilst we remain so heavily in debt to Venkys. Of course that is mainly 'soft' debt with no timetable for repayment and I very much doubt there's any expectancy from Venkys that they will get the money back. Like Eddie Davies at Bolton they will simply have to walk away from most or all of that when the time comes to leave. Wigan I think cost more than Venkys paid for us, which shows how far things have come in football and what a bargain Venkys got for a Premier League club. The point with Wigan I think is relevant - people point at Bolton as an example of the chaos that could await and yet overlook Wigan who were recently bought out by a foreign company. My point remains that if Wigan Athletic can be whipped into good enough shape for a sale then Blackburn Rovers can. I presume however that Whelan made them attractive for sale by effectively leaving them with low debts and a sensible structure in place, unlike what we have, which brings us back to square one - the only way Venkys are getting out of this - either by selling the club or by walking away - is by writing off the debt.

We'll probably never know the answer if Venkys refuse to even pick up the phone when someone tries to get them round the table

Why are there so many references to a 'local' future owner of the club? Those days are gone. Cast the net globally and there are potential owners. Yes there's the Bolton saga to use as an example of failing but up the road at Wigan they found a new owner when Whelan sold up. No disaster there yet?