What are the odds on Rovers deciding not to produce a programme? I reckon they will have one eye on not doing. Have any clubs announced they won't be bothering following the rule change? I've noticed a few who have said they will continue to print a programme irrespective of the rule. You can understand it to some extent at the top Premier League clubs with truly global support - simplifies things to churn out a digital product for their worldwide fanbases - and at League Two clubs getting a couple of thousand on it might not be worth the effort given the amount of programmes they sell - but Rovers should buck up their ideas on this and start producing a programme worthy of the £3 price.

Mirror reporting we're after Trevor Chalobah and Michael Hector on loan from Chelsea. Don't know anything about either of them except I think Hector has been at Reading on loan in the past.

Or alternatively we spend as much money as possible before then up to the limit before it resets, enabling us to avoid sanctions by spreading spending around. I'm not a maths wiz kid but I'd love someone to explain to me how we can be within but close to a £39 million loss over this period having spent about £1.5 million max on players and sold £30 million of players whilst Derby and Sheffield Wednesday have for 3 years spent £10 million each summer and not sold anyone of major value. Yes they get bigger crowds but that's a hell of a lot of tickets to plug that sort of gap.

Potentially concerning. Getting someone like Graham tied down to a new deal should be the first and easiest piece of business to do this summer. He's already here, clearly wants to stay here, he deserves at least another season and it really is a no-brainer to have someone with his experience in the squad for this season. To see it dragging on in such fashion is not encouraging. Conway is less serious/urgent as he didn't perform/contribute as significantly as Graham did last season and moving forward will likely only be a squad/sub player at best, but where we stand today Graham is our primary and only striker of proven Championship quality at the club. If he goes then we're looking at needing 3 even 4 decent forwards to rebuild the attack, unless relying on Samuel and Nuttall is the plan. If we're attempting to keep him but risking losing him by trying to get him on lesser terms than those contained within his 1 year extension option rather than merely activating the option it is a very dangerous game. I remain confident he will stay but I'm sure he will have numerous other options in the Championship should we not cough up. We need to pay the going rate or struggle.

As mentioned earlier on here it would just be typical for Lowe to notch his 2nd goal in nearly 200 games in the last minute against us. As unlikely as that may seem given his performances for us we're the side that allowed Emile Heskey to bag a winner against us for the pigs feet not long ago. We seem to have a habit of making the unlikely and unbelievable occur against Notlob.

Something along the lines of that 80s yellow shirt in the mould of that Hull home shirt would be very nice. Substitute the amber for pale yellow and the black for pale/sky blue and it would be a winner. I hated that yellow and black away shirt when Kean was manager but if done properly some of Rovers' best away shirts have been yellow. Red and black stripes/halves is the best but after having that last year it wouldn't make much sense to have the same again this year. Failing that an orange/grey/silver combination wouldn't be bad. Just hope it isn't another all red or navy blue generic kit.

Villa situation: Rumours of FFP trouble and a fine/embargo - hasn't happened yet Rumours of administration and a points deduction - hasn't happened yet Rumours of all their best players being sold in a desperate bid to balance the books and stave off Armageddon - hasn't happened yet Rumours of Bruce walking away - hasn't happened yet. So basically loads of rumours which are to be expected when a so-called big club with huge expenditure fails to go up after 2 attempts, but as yet nothing serious has happened which makes me think they will struggle next season. The clowns at the EFL have put in place a FFP system that can be flaunted as numerous clubs have successfully done over the last few years so they can bang the FFP drum all day long but until the punishment is issue and enforced it is meaningless talk. Likewise administration is highly unlikely to happen and is often thrown around in the media to try and wind people up. When was the last time a League club went into admin? So of course I might be proven wrong and frankly with Villa I hope that I am, but as we stand they've still got a huge wage bill, quality squad and quality manager for this league and if things remain as they are they will be in contention again next season. Maybe they will have a fire-sale and collapse but that doesn't happen very often. Infact it only really happened at Rovers. Most other clubs find a way of sorting themselves out without flogging all the family silver overnight.

By my reckoning Block W01 holds about 600 people at the most. If we work on the basis that the club or their 'safety' advisors will net off the corner block then we can knock another couple of hundred off leaving about 400 seats at the most in W01. If the majority of those who were in the DE last season decide to move to the JW lower then there won't be many seats left in W01, especially when there is already a number (admittedly small) of season ticket holders in that area who will have had tickets in there for many years. I think that if the club is actively encouraging/supporting W01 becoming a singing/standing area which it will almost certainly be, then the least they should do is make existing people in that area aware of the high likelihood that their matchday experience is going to be very different from now on and make them aware of relocation options. The next problem I can see is that Rovers will decide to net off additional areas, and then when the derby games come round or the so-called high risk fixtures arrive and more Rovers fans turn up there is going to be a spillover from W01 into W02, where there are quite a lot of long-standing season ticket holders. I don't mind standing up for 90 minutes as I'm quite young and tall but around me there are a lot of older people who simply cannot stand up in games and will be unhappy if that happens. My view is that if the club is supportive of such a thing then fine, but it needs to be done properly. Make it strictly W01, open up all of W01, don't allow standing outside of W01, and if necessary put some sort of division in place, and warn those already in W01 that this is happening. If not they run the risk of upsetting a large number of season ticket holders come August as these are people who won't want to stand up or sing for 90 minutes and the club will get itself into a mess. It is ludicrous that these concerns are even being raised given the size of Ewood and number of ticket holders but I know from experience what the club are likely to do. When Leeds roll into town and Cheston sees 7,000+ at £25 a head they won't limit the away crowd for segregation. Segregation will be in the home ends instead and that means people with different preferences in the JW lower will be condensed into what isn't a particularly large area. The gradient of that lower tier is quite shallow meaning people standing infront of people even at an angle can easily restrict views.

Parachute cash used to be spread over 4 years when we got it. On that basis Fulham might have been in their final season of it this year, but in the 3 years before that they'd had one play-off campaign and 2 bottom half campaigns. Likewise Cardiff were relegated 4 years ago this summer so potentially were in receipt of some money but their spending dried up years ago. But yeah, in this seasons top 12 only Villa, Middlesbrough and possibly Fulham/Cardiff had parachute income. Wolves, Derby, PNE, Millwall, Sheff Utd, Brentford and Bristol City didn't get any. Bottom half Sunderland, Hull, Norwich and possibly Reading/QPR all got parachute dosh and it got them nowhere.

If the club are going to be promoting this have they said what they are planning on doing for those season ticket holders in W01 who will be affected? Will these people be warned before buying that they are going to be in the new singing/flag waving area or will they just find that out at 2:50pm on the first game of the season? Are they going to enforce seating allocations or just allow people to go wherever they want? What happens for the bigger games vs Preston and Bolton etc. when the club choses to net off large areas of W01 meaning the inevitable result will be spill-over into W02?

I can understand him perhaps wanting to put the breaks on expectations somewhat and slow things down a bit and make sure people realise that things will be much tougher in this league but I think he's going too far here. We all understand the situation with clubs with significant resources and that plenty of clubs have bigger fanbases but it is going too far. Middlesbrough supporter or not he should be more respectful to Rovers. Perhaps he should spend some time reading up on history before classing Middlesbrough as 'huge'.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16254413.A__huge_challenge__awaits_Rovers_in_the_Championship__says_Mowbray/#comments-anchor A bit too much bigging up other clubs here for my liking. I accept it is a formidable looking league for all concerned given the amount of 'big names' in there and a lack of 'small clubs'. I'm not really comfortable with Mowbray referring to the likes of Middlesbrough as a huge club or Sheffield United with huge expectations. Neither of those are huge clubs compared to Rovers, in any measure. Middlesbrough have been throwing the cash around and that's about it.

All relative though isn't it? At the moment they get more people watching than us because they've been an established Premier League club whilst we've been struggling in the 2nd division. If they level out or struggle in the Championship their gates won't be much bigger than ours. In terms of trophies won they're behind us. Middlesbrough another example. I can remember when we came out of the Premier League they were in mid-table and bottom half under Strachan and Mowbray and were getting 15,000 and less on at home. Then they started challenging for promotion under Karanka and they put nearly 10,000 on their gates. All relative. Last 4-5 years they've had 3 or 4 promotion pushes and 1 Premier League season so bound to get more people on. If they'd been lolloping around in the bottom 3rd whilst we'd been in the top 6 the story would be very different.

Can't help but think Villa's best chance is to keep Bruce. It might not be pretty but his record in the Championship is second to none and even on a limited budget I think he'll have them up there. Of course we all want to see things unravel there as they are punished for extreme spending and not going up but I'll believe it when I see it. I expect they'll cash in on one or two and release a couple of big earners and that will be enough to keep them clear of FFP trouble.

I want them to yes, but I don't think it will happen no. This thing about the parachute payments is getting on my nerves a bit too. I keep hearing it from Mowbray and Waggott saying 'half' the division are receiving parachute cash which puts them on a different level to us. Is that really the case? Who will be getting parachute cash next season? Swansea, Stoke and WBA, though they will all have Premier League wages to sustain from that which will eat a large chunk of it up. I expect Stoke to be a force as they have acted decisively in getting an experienced manager with a decent track record but Swansea and WBA will be unknown entities under inexperienced managers. Villa and Middlesbrough spent obscene amounts in the last couple of seasons but surely that will have to stop with promotion being missed. Rumours of massive changes at Villa as they adjust to a 3rd season at this level. Hull, Sunderland, Norwich all get parachute cash. Sunderland relegated, Hull nearly, Norwich a bottom half side. Who else gets parachute money? QPR possibly though they have made massive cutbacks, not sure on any others? So the 3 relegated clubs, Villa, Boro, Norwich, Hull - that's 7 clubs out of 24 and 2 of those spent all last season in the bottom half.

Possibly not, but that was why I said we'll need investment. The same however applies to a lot of clubs in the Championship. If they don't strengthen this summer or if they lose a key player or two they will expect to struggle. All the indications are that we will strengthen. As it happens I believe this current squad (including loans) is better than the one that achieved 51 points last time round and went down on goal difference despite having Owen Coyle in the dugout for 7 months of the season. If nothing else the camaraderie, fitness and pride in the side are superior to what they were.

For once Chaddy I agree with you. There is nothing to fear in this league. I hope Mowbray takes that approach as typified by Wilder at Sheffield Utd and Harris at Millwall. We have just as much right to be in this league and to push for promotion from it than anyone. Just because Swansea City were in the Premier League and they'll be getting a fat cheque from Sky doesn't make them bigger or better than Blackburn Rovers. I think people's expectations are being distorted by our season in League One. Lets remember that prior to the Coyle shambles we were a competitive mid-table side that most felt was underachieving. We need to invest as every club does but I'm not having it that we're some plucky underdog destined to struggle in some league full of bigger and richer clubs. Really that just isn't true.

Highly unlikely that any of those bar Leeds, Villa and Boro will bring more than 5,000, despite what Rovers are hoping for. Out of all of them probably only Leeds can be relied upon to bring 5,000+ whatever the weather. Villa and Boro will bring that much as long as they are in the promotion picture, same goes for Stoke and Sheffield clubs, but if they are sat in mid-table then no chance. PNE have had their big family day out at Ewood with their selfies etc. as they pinch themselves that they play at Ewood in a league fixture so I don't think we'll be seeing as many of them again in future. Notlob and Forest no chance. No more talk about big fish from now on. We can accept that Villa, Leeds, Wednesday and conceivably Derby and Forest are beyond us in terms of gates but other than that nobody in this division is 'bigger' than Blackburn Rovers. Of course plenty will get bigger gates for a variety of reasons from ticket prices through to form and recent trajectories but there's more to club size than a few thousand here or there through the turnstiles. PNE, Notlob, Wigan, Rotherham, Sheff Utd, Hull, Boro, Swansea, Stoke, WBA, QPR, Brentford, Millwall, Reading, Ipswich, Norwich bigger fish than Rovers? Not for me. Sky Sports parachute cash doesn't change that either.

Not an appointment that I would be particularly excited by if I were a Sunderland fan. Ross seems to be another one like Paul Heckingbottom - getting linked to every job going despite not having really done anything of significance. I think it is good that a young British manager is getting a job higher up the levels but it is one heck of a gamble for Sunderland on a bloke who has never managed above the Scottish 2nd tier at small clubs. Don't think things are as rosy at Sunderland as some would believe.

Conway shouldn't be a starter any more. But as a last 20-30 minute senior player to come on and use his experience in games it could be valuable. I'd be in favour if it was a reasonable wage on a 12 month deal with him being a sub not a starter.

I'd like us to move to a different manufacturer. Adidas, Puma, Kappa, Macron all superior to Umbro in quality in my opinion.

Which makes the regular complaints about FFP and a lack of income/revenue all the more laughable. Selling a few more season tickets or handing over the full DE to away fans pales into insignificance compared to attracting a well paying shirt sponsor, yet as you say with the exception of Dafabet whatever efforts they have made on that front have been futile. Still never got to the bottom of that deal with Zebra Claims but something didn't add up there.

Surely billionaires with 40 years of being one of the biggest poultry/pharmaceutical firms on the Indian subcontinent could use their vast network of contacts to find a large global company interested in having some exposure?

How does £149 million become £250 million just by adding the debt they've had with the Bank of India?

The Dafabet deal was apparently quite lucrative as they have been on an expansion programme in recent years adding Sunderland and Dingles along with some at Everton. It was signed back in the day when we had Dave Biggar in place as Commercial Director before he left to go abroad. I wonder who is responsible for trying to lure in new sponsors. Given complaints about our revenue streams I would hope this is an area that is going to bring the club a lot of money. It really wouldn't surprise me to see us end up with something like the Community Trust as shirt sponsors. They seem to be heavily involved in almost everything that happens these days (even taking over the matchday lottery and family stand). Not expecting a major well known company. Of course Venkys could do what Chansiri at Wednesday or Evans at Ipswich have done and sponsor it themselves as a back door to additional funding without FFP issues.