Indeed. They certainly haven't met him in person, which is key to how this lot operate as we saw with Kean, Bowyer and Mowbray, but I very much doubt they've even spoken to him on the phone. What the case is actually is that Pasha and his subordinate Gestede like Ismael because unlike JDT and Eustace he's currently willing to go along with their nonsense and isn't going to turn the spotlight on them in the media or try and get out of here asap. I say currently because I don't think it will be long - perhaps September - before Ismael realises what he's dealing with and starts looking for an exit. So yeah the two remaining stooges are probably quite happy with him and prepared to push their budgets as far as they can to help him. Just a shame that those budgets are pitiful and don't involve the owners pumping money in - it is all coming from funds the club generates itself, which isn't enough.

You say that as though the last 15 years at Rovers, or even the last 2 years at Rovers, haven't happened or that the root causes of it aren't still here. It also gets you nowhere in life to blindly ignore years of experience and track record and just pretend/convince yourself everything is going to be fine and dandy.

The owners and their stooges laughably claimed to have backed Eustace with investment in January when we signed Woodrow and Forshaw and he walked within days of the window closing, so I think that says it all. Their view of investment very different to mine and more importantly what is actually needed to get somewhere. Can always rely on a friendly reporter or two to come to the Venky aid. Two big 'positives' in 24 hours with Brittain imminently signing and backing the manager with more cash. Free credit for the Regime. Just need either of those things to actually happen now, which is the bit where we have a problem and the excuses tend to start. 'Money was available but we just couldn't spend it' 'We'd rather not spend than get ripped off by greedy players or clubs' 'We were close on Callum and offered him a big pay rise but his mind was made up and his Mrs wanted to go and live in Redcar'

I think because there's no serious intention or appetite on Rovers' part to do it. It's just for show and games are being played. Rovers want everyone to believe that they are serious, trying really hard, doing everything they can, so that when they inevitably lose these players for nothing or decide to sell them to a rival they can point to their 'efforts' to keep the players and instantly turn the focus onto unreasonable players/agents. This is something they've got quite good at over the years. Excuses. Reasons why things aren't done. We tried and failed. Like you say, if Rovers were serious the likes of Brittain, Travis and Tronstad would not be difficult or complex deals to sort out. There are no complicating factors. They will not be demanding big money by the standards of established Championship players at an established Championship club. None of them have ever been anywhere where they will have commanded big money and will probably never even reach the top division to command that sort of cash.

It certainly isn't a coincidence in my book that the same week Brittain was getting 'linked' to Derby and a Eustace reunion is followed a few days later by yet more talk about him being 'close' to a new contract at Rovers. Just my usual reminder that being close, trying to, planning to, hoping to, does not deserve credit or applause. Doing, completing, getting done are the only things that really matter. Gestede was in the Telegraph over 3 months ago claiming that we were sorting the contracts and there would be a couple of announcements soon. 3 months on and we've got Forshaw for another 12 months. There are games being played here I think. At the Rovers end there is a recognition that whilst people are irritated/disappointed in the Batth and Weimann departures it can be brushed aside, whereas a sale or departure of the key remaining players might tip the balance against the Regime at a time they are hoping folk part with cash for tickets and merchandise.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary we are 'giving back' to the 'supporters who made it possible'..... But only those supporters who pay £60 a time to buy a third kit that will only be worn by the players a few times and before we've even released the away kit. And only if you buy online, which for clothing is always a risk as you don't have chance to get a feel for it before buying. And if you do you go into a lottery to get 25% off stadium tours. For me not really much of an incentive.

Is anyone else not slightly annoyed that we will be sporting a white rose on our away shirts this season?

Based on the coat of arms of the town... I suppose it would have been just too much effort to actually use the coat of arms of the town then and actually have a unique kit for the 150th. Instead we've got the monochrome standard crest which is just cutting corners and costs as that is easier to manufacture than the standard version. There's nothing about that kit that in any way, shape or form suggests a link to the clubs history or origins. The only link, as I can see, is the green colour which happens to feature on the town coat of arms.

Well it seems like there could be four kits. The main three and then a special one for the anniversary. If they are going with the coat of arms badge on the third kit then I'd expect they try different badges on the away kit and anniversary kit. I don't buy the shirts and haven't done for years but this is going to be one hell of an expensive season for those who buy the full set!

Ah ok, but that's not the corner of King William / Lord Street, that would be the corner of King William Street and whatever the other street is called that runs from King George's Hall up the side of Natwest Bank. Edit - seems to be called New Market Street

Fascinating 'news' there from Nixon. So a club that has lost about 8 players and signed only 2, one of which is injured, is trying to sign some more but success depends on whether other clubs accept our offers. And our next 'CEO' is going to be even less influential than the last one, which we've been saying from here for weeks is basically just a figurehead/human shield so that Chief Venky Stooge can continue running the show from the shadows whilst hoodwinking the deluded into believing that things are going to change under the new bloke.

So when it says corner of King William Street and Lord Street are we talking roughly next door to where McDonalds currently stands? I always had it in my head that it was on the corner opposite the old Apollo cinema/Town hall, just down from the museum.

The promotional material looks like it has been filmed in a toilet going off the tile effect. That's about right for this lot.

Have we even started to talk to Brittain, Travis or Tronstad about new contracts yet? The three players publicly confirmed no communications had taken place as recently as April. So things will have had to have changed during the last 2 months during a time when the players have been away on holiday and the club has been semi-dormant. I have my doubts.

In years gone by, when we partially resembled a professional and dare I say it ambitious football club, I agree that the people running it would be quite capable of taking the phone off the hook and ignoring / rejecting cash bids for our players even to the detriment of our finances. Recent example include ignoring bids for Rothwell in January when we were set to lose him for nothing 6 months later. But I think we have clearly turned a page on that chapter now and that behaviour is a thing of the past. This lot will do anything to achieve whatever it is they are trying to do. I suppose it helps when you've got half the fanbase believing that remaining in existence and losing key players to the likes of Derby County, Middlesbrough and Bournemouth is the best that can be expected. Fortunately the other half of the fanbase don't live in such a negative small minded world and do expect more and better from this club. Not that it will make any difference to what the club does, because they've made it quite clear that the opinions and values of the supporters are totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully he goes there and deprives the Regime of any compensation money. They don't deserve to profit from his departure.

If Weimann's move was motivated by being nearer to his family home how did he cope with being in Bristol for 6 years? Just the standard one for an ex-player to throw out there as a reason for moving. Avoids getting into the nitty gritty of what really goes on or revealing some home truths. Amazing how this keeps on affecting Rovers.

We are undeniably weaker than we were last season. We've lost Batth, our best defender, 15 goals a season in Dolan and Weimann, together with useful contributions from people such as Beck and Sanderson, have failed to secure new contracts for any key players and are likely to lose more important players as a result. So how Nixon reckons we are in 'ok shape' just now is hard to fathom.

"Alignment" claxon again, the favourite word for those coining it in from football. Just need to learn how to spell it right

For several years I expressed a view that Rovers themselves were opting not to invest and spend money despite there being no restrictions on our ability to do so. Some posters shot me down on that claim, insisting that I was wrong and that FFP rules prevented us from doing any more. I think we can safely say that the events of the last few years prove that FFP is the last thing we need to be worried about. Even ignoring the vast amounts of cash banked from player sales and sell on fees, we are now witnessing the likes of Charlton, Oxford, Derby, Millwall and Preston comfortably outspending us in the market. It really isn't a great mystery as to how that can be - they have owners willing and able to invest in trying to support their clubs and make them better, we don't. They have staff employed to grow and improve their clubs, we don't. Their executives are tasked with trying to deliver sporting achievement and success, together with growth, our sole executive is tasked with saving money in every department, no more no less. Can only get away with this for so long. Something will have to give.

That's one excuse gone then. What next? Will have to be Batth's wife wanting to go and live in Derby.

I think that there was a power struggle behind the scenes. Back in 2017 Mowbray was winning that struggle, Pasha was pushed to one side after he had overseen relegation and Mowbray got his feet under the table by going to India after relegation and selling them a project they agreed to back. Since then Pasha has won the power struggle, and seen off Mowbray and Waggott. He did this by severing the direct communications between manager and India and stopping the annual jaunt to Pune. This means he can resume what he was doing 2015-17 after he got shut of Bowyer and then we had the familiar chaos with Lambert and Coyle - similar sort of managerial turnover and nonsense to we've seen recently under JDT and Eustace, with the club trying and failing to be self-sufficient by flogging everything of value and ultimately paying the ultimate price for that. I firmly believe that he is paid, or bonused, based on how much he 'saves' the owners each year by ensuring they don't need to transfer as much cash from India to the UK. He also enjoys the power that he has with absent owners leaving him to it whilst it costs them less and there's no hassle at their end. I don't think League One is necessarily the aim, I think they'd be quite content to float around the Championship permanently, but unfortunately due to a combination of factors, ultimately all going back to Pune and the owners, relegation back to League One is inevitable. You can't combine all the elements we have here - relentless cost cutting, futile attempts to be self-sufficient, failings on contracts and keeping important players, lies, deceit, cluelessness, constant chopping and changing, outrageously high turnover on staff, promoting work experience people to head of positions, prioritising financial concerns over everything - and not pay the price for it. You might be able to survive with no money if you are well managed. We certainly aren't that. Once we get back to League One unless the owners change course and quickly - and the only way that is going to happen is by someone getting to fly out there and sit around a table with the top dogs - then there isn't any coming back. Again not necessarily the aim but might as well be because it is the inevitable outcome.

4 months from now it is the anniversary. So far we've had nothing from the club to commemorate or celebrate this, save for a sticker on the back of the neck on the new shirt I notice Birmingham, also celebrating their 150th but with a far less glorious history, have released an anniversary kit that they are going to wear all season, including a gold theme and special badge

So there's evidence coming to light that Oxford United, Charlton and Wrexham are all comfortably outspending us in the transfer window, signing quality that we won't get close to this summer. Two newly promoted clubs and one that narrowly survived last season and wasn't long ago in non-league. Unfortunately this presents a problem for the Venky apologists as they can't lean back on parachute cash or '25000 a week' turning up at those places so they'll have to concoct some other nonsense as to why we are getting left behind by such clubs. The problem this presents is then finding 3 clubs that we are confident of finishing above this season. Sheffield Wednesday might be one thanks to their plight but another two after them? I'm struggling. I get the distinct impression that our summer incomings are done for the foreseeable. The rest will be at the back end of the window once the usual Brighton / Liverpool / Everton loans are let out and a couple of free agents might cave in and accept our offers (Cauley Woodrow one). All the focus will be on a sale or two to generate some cash and free up some more wages. Travis one of the few who will attract interest so they'll be beavering away on that one. Call me paranoid but I've seen nothing of him on the videos or photos released by the club since the first day back, suspect this is deliberate.

Yeah but what's the population of Bolton? Funny how that's only become an issue worth mentioning now that their crowds are comfortably outstripping ours.