JHRover

Yes, the sums aren't adding up. I thought you estimated their gate receipts were 7 million a year more than ours? Not 7 million in total. Then you can deduct from that their massive wage bill which must surely be millions and millions more than ours? I'm struggling to reach a surplus of £7 million out of that to be honest. Leeds not have to worry about FFP either? Must just be us.

Derby agree fee with Peterborough for Marriott. Wow, there's another £6 million in extra ticket sales they'll have to find.....

Oh dear. That isn't good enough. That is a threadbare squad with which we could barely fill a bench. You're also including several of the U23s none of which have yet been given a run in the 1st team and so the jury is still very much out on them. Samuel and Nuttall - I hope I'm wrong but I'm not confident on their abilities to perform at this level. In my experience Simmonds has been hit and miss for the u23s since his arrival. A hatrick at Darwen last night doesn't make him remotely ready to play in the Championship.

I keep hearing talk of the 'slow' approach of gradually building a squad. Yet the manager has said that half of his remaining business will be loan signings. Several of those the manager has signed weren't good enough for League One, never mind the Championship - Gladwin, Caddis, Hart - and now need to be disposed of and replaced. He said yesterday that Evans and Mulgrew will not be getting new contracts as things stand as we can't afford them. So lets assume we bring in 4 more, 2 of which are loans. Then next summer (assuming we manage to survive) we need to replace the loans, Evans, Mulgrew and whoever else is out of contract. Its a never ending rebuilding job. Like building on quicksand. How about we sign some decent players good enough for the Championship on long term deals, keep them and each transfer window add a few who are better, rather than leaving it to the last minute and relying on the loan market to fill up the squad until next year. Before anyone has a go at me, the manager has said this himself and yet it doesn't seem to be happening.

Alan Myers suggesting we're interested in Ashley Fletcher from Middlesbrough, was at Sunderland last season.

Certainly takes some doing to accumulate those sort of losses without spending anything on transfers and supposedly with a sensible wage structure in place. Do other clubs with our revenues require that sort of money to be poured into a seemingly never ending pit?

Fair enough, and you have your agenda which seems to be little old Rovers have to sit on the sidelines and accept other clubs spending massive amounts without sanction whilst we spend nothing and worry about FFP rules.

Mowbray himself said that he had to slow the owners down in his meetings as they seemed to be getting carried away following promotion.

Note that it is £6 million per year extra through ticket sales, or £7 million if we work to your figures. You've already accounted for a £9.5 million spend and rumours are that Marriott will be another £6+ so that's knocking £16 million this summer alone. That's before wages and before last summers business. We're also not getting into the realm of us selling £30 million of players and spending effectively zilch in that period which comfortably outstrips our annual calculations of what they make on tickets that we don't.

Tommie Hoban joined Aberdeen on a season long loan.

That depends on what you class as our average attendances. Even with only 11,000 home fans our average should be 14-15,000 factoring in massive away followings so their attendances aren't really double ours. Maybe on average 12,000 more. In which case 12,000 x £20 = £240,000, x 25 league and cup fixtures = £6 million. Over 3 years (window for the farcical FFP rules) that's £18 million. They've spent way more than that on players infact won't be far off that this summer if they get Marriott and Waghorn along with that Dutch lad. Anyhow, it's clear we aren't going to agree on this. I think these clubs are breaking FFP rules and aren't being sanctioned, I think there's a lot of people in football who agree with me and no amount of calculations on ticket prices will change that after the sums these clubs have been spending. In an ideal world clubs would be left to spend as they wished and then I wouldn't have any complaints but whilst the league maintain the sham of these rules and we remain one of a small number to ever be punished I won't accept it. I don't think Rovers should accept it either. If those running the club had anything about them they'd be lobbying the Football League on a regular basis to intervene and sanction offending clubs.

I think I came up with a £6.5 million figure as a rough estimate so that was my acknowledgement. I don't think that amount covers their transfer outlay and no doubt massive wage bill for this league.

'Looking to sell' isn't selling. We're in a similar ball park on figures but you seem to be limiting it to this summer. Over the last 3-4 summers they have been one of the biggest spenders in the league and haven't taken money in through big sales. Darren Bent, Tom Ince, Tom Lawrence etc. It all mounts up and their net spend on transfers over the last 3-4 summers works out at a lot more. As does adding Waghorn and Marriott to your equation. You're right on Bolton who are in a bad way financially yet have still managed to bring in Donaldson, Wildschut and Wilson who can all 'do a job' in the Championship. More than we've done. Ipswich have signed Harrison for £1 million+ and Edwards from Posh for a decent fee. I think people are also forgetting that we need to improve as we are going up a level. Standing still isn't an option whereas it might be for someone like Ipswich who were comfortably mid-table Championship Eh? It's Mowbray and supposedly the owners who have said they want to get to the Premier League, not me. I don't think for one minute that the set-up we have here is appropriate for that target.

I'm not talking about matching Stoke. I'm not talking about buying our way out of the division. I'm talking about matching Bolton or Ipswich and having a side equipped to survive.

Ok then. Average ticket is £20 factoring in concessions. They get double what we do through the doors. That's about £6.5 million a year. They're supposedly paying that out on Waghorn alone. Where does the rest come from to fund their wage bill and other transfer business?

All the evidence at this point suggests it is true. Maybe I'll be wrong and I'll be man enough to hold my hands up if so but time is ticking. So far we've 'spent' the equivalent of buying a house on Jack Walker Way and I very much doubt all that money is up front. I don't think that is a decent budget for a Championship football club supposedly wanting to kick on towards the Premier League.

Whatever it is it seems we haven't got it. There are lots of clubs in the Championship who have players under contract on decent wages, clubs who get gates of 15-20,000 a week, yet those clubs also spend in the transfer market. All those players bar Evans signed deals either under Mowbray or Coyle so ought to be on sensible Championship wages. I'm as pleased as the next man that we haven't lost any big hitters from last season - yet - namely Dack. Lenihan and Mulgrew - but no evidence our resolve has been tested by way of bids given that Dack has never kicked a ball in the Championship, Mulgrew is out of contract next year and Lenihan spent most of last season in the treatment room.

Being honest with paying customers is unprofessional?

Nobody is getting a transfer ban. At least not whilst the window is open. They'll probably wait until all the business is done and then embargo clubs in September when the consequences are nil. Waggott should just be honest and say there's very little/no money in the pot for transfers and they want to do it on the cheap by bringing in low cost loans and a couple of hundred grand signings. It's Venkys money and ultimately their decision but just be honest about it. Stop hiding behind FFP rules when it's clear that clubs who want to spend can do, stop saying things like we had a really good budget and had money left over in January which we chose not to spend. I think Mowbray's priority was tying down Dack and Lenihan and keeping what we had and Venkys agreed to that, but sadly it has come at the expense of a reasonable transfer budget. Strange that Mowbray has spent what little money he has on a couple of midfielders neither of which have any pedigree at this level but then again both were cheap and have re-sale value which is what Venkys are into. I'm extremely disappointed with the window to date. I didn't expect to be throwing fortunes around but thought they would reward Mowbray with a half decent budget that would at least enable us to recruit a higher calibre than the likes of Bolton and Ipswich. Seems we can't even go to their level now. Time to prove me wrong and turn it around is rapidly disappearing. I consider Ipswich to be the start of the season not some Sky sports fuelled deadline day in a few weeks. Points are won and lost when the season kicks off not when the window closes.

And on and on and on it will continue unless we get to the Premier League or find another £30 million in sales every few years. I could understand it if they were getting something out of it. Most clubs lose similar amounts at this level but their owners have a goal in mind or at least enjoy the game and the adulation.

The stadium plan on the season ticket section of the website has been out of order for weeks. The club were aware of it yet still hasn't been fixed. Meanwhile the stadium plan for the Liverpool and Everton games is working. Makes me wonder whether they want it fixed as when it is people can count the number of tickets sold, and we know they aren't keen on that information being readily available. Waggott reckoned last week we could shift another 1500 season tickets at full price on the back of incoming signings. If he thinks a couple of teenagers on loan from Southampton and City are going to get people queuing on Nuttall Street for tickets he's very much mistaken.

Quite frustrating. Having been sanctioned by the league for overspending ourselves and having had to watch on for the last few years as these clubs overspend i had hoped they would now get their comeuppance. It seems Villa, Wednesday, Birmingham etc. have had to put the handbrakes on spending but haven't been sanctioned whilst others like Forest, Derby and Middlesbrough carry on regardless. Anyway, back to home. Another day gone and no new signings. Excuses like 'the market is crazy' or FFP rules won't cut it.

How are Derby spending such money? FFP rules not a problem?

Chapman starts for Middlesbrough at Rochdale tonight.

I thought Maddison had a release clause in his contract. If so there's not much their Chairman can do about it other than watch things unfold. Clearly if a club is trying to set it up in smaller instalments rather than pay the money required then he might not be happy about it and who could blame him.