The 'lack of plan B' didn't seem to cause a problem in the first 18 months, it was only after 3 diabolical transfer windows and dismantling of his squad, including selling Adam Wharton and then pulling the plug on McGuire, that he lost the plot with them. He knew by that point it was game over and he was saying 'f*** you' to them. Of course at a normal club we'd never have reached that stage but he'd realised they weren't going to sack him or deal with the issues. He was the type of operator that could catapult a club like this into the big time despite financial limitations. Obviously the big time isn't and wasn't the aim here.

Results nosedived under JDT because he didn't want to be here any more and the club should have resolved the situation much earlier. It was abundantly obvious months before he went that he wasn't happy (who could blame him?) Despite that he still managed to have us in play-off contention heading into Xmas. It was only after the latest January fiasco that he threw in the towel as, I believe, they had lied to him again. I strongly suspect he was told in the summer to hang around because the funding issues from India were temporary, short term, technical issues (the same thing Waggott has been telling supporters for the last 6+ months, and probably the same thing he told Eustace when offering him the job). JDT tolerated a dismal summer 2023 on the basis that it would soon get resolved and he'd get backed in future windows. He did the hard part and somehow dragged that squad into top 6 contention, ripe for an assault in the second half of the season with some reasonable backing in January. And what did he get in January? Less than nothing. Lies and let downs, no way back from that. When you've a manager or player with their heart set on the exit door results will nosedive. Of course a club, board, owners with their finger on the pulse would have immediately acted to deal with this situation and arranged a mutual parting of the ways much earlier, but here they'd rather plod along with an unhappy camp if it means saving a few quid on a pay-off and this inertia wasted another few games and very nearly took us to League One. It was almost identical under Coyle, keeping him in place far too long and doing nothing to help him in January (difference of course on managerial quality). The re-writing of history continues apace though, almost at the point now where the problem was JDT and Broughton and not the reptiles above them.

Always on the 'never never' with this lot when it comes to spending money. When they are talking to the fans (rare I know) it's always excuses about FFP, geopolitical issues, poor old Rovers, poor Venkys, admin errors, unreasonable players / agents all making life ever so hard work but not to worry next time around it will be better (tomorrow, not today). It seems when they are going around trying to sign players they also do so on a similar basis, one of the favourites being the 'loan with option to buy' routine which has emerged in the last few years as a popular choice. 'Give us your player now and we might give you some money in the future'. Typical Waggott and Venkys. Unsurprisingly there aren't many selling clubs playing this game as they want money up front not on the 'never never'. I think Broughton realised he was never getting any real money out of these people and so turned to the 'loan with option' route in a desperate bid to be able to recruit reasonable quality, but again, easier said than done. When you're sat on receipts of over £40,000,000,00 and have spent a paltry million or so on Ohashi and Gueye it is hard to believe, but thanks to our billionaire owners we appear to be totally skint despite selling off the family silver.

It was a simple question and one which you have failed to answer. Can you find me a single example of an occasion where a club employee, be that manager, player, tea lady, has publicly criticised owners or 'higher ups'? This isn't just a Rovers thing. It isn't a 'conspiracy'. It's not a football thing. It is a fact of life. You don't bite the hand that feeds you. So no, I don't take any interview with anyone seriously because they are going to say what suits them and their employers. Again, not a phenomenon limited to Rovers or Travis, it's a fact of life, but doesn't mean every word has to be treated as gospel truth. Just like the legions of people who were out in force 12 months ago praising Waggott for his 'honesty' after he gave an interview to club media despite him being a proven liar and despite half the things he came out with not stacking up. Just because he said it didn't make it right.

Would you expect an employee of the club to say it was Venkys / Shadow Man / Waggott to blame?

Not a peep. Headlines on there today are part of Dolan's interview about 'stepping up', Peterborough chairman's response to us selling Szmodics, Paul Heckingbottom's thoughts on joining PNE, Markanday's thoughts on joining Chesterfield and Buckley's personal aims for the season. A total joke and they are complicit in the Venky operation and cover-up. I bet Waggott cannot believe his luck at having such a weak local media approach.

If outgoings are still £20 million after the latest round of cost cuts there need to be serious questions as to why. It should be more like half of that, which is the sort of figure most competitive Championship clubs lose.

Not ended up too well for Critchley or Ainsworth who were repeatedly promoted on here as people we should be turning to as future Rovers managers.

Exactly. Convenient this story appears the same day as the Indian court case and with only a few days of the window remaining. Operation deflect in full swing. Convince them that there's nothing wrong in India and it's all to do with issues at Brockhall. Seen that one many times before.

Waggott should be nowhere near the football club after the events of the last few years He certainly shouldn't be determining which transfers are acceptable and which aren't What on earth qualifies him to decide that?

It won't be anything to do with Eustace. This is just another deflection exercise like we had with the rogue secretary and AWOL CEO on deadline day. Transfers are being held up because of Venkys. Always have been always will be. The request for permission is probably sat at the bottom of a tray on a desk somewhere in India waiting for one of them to get around to thinking about whether to grant it or not.

I wonder if the reason for this is that they would not be able to justify 'non essential' transfers. It is clear that a big part of their case and justification for wanting to send money over last year was that without this money the club would face financial armageddon with winding up petitions mentioned and the collapse of the business. I suspect this was a factor as to why the court ultimately allowed the money to be paid over. But if they are turning around asking to send money over so that we can go out and have a (relative) splurge in the transfer window and spend non-essential sums on new players this may be harder to justify before a court.

Purgatory for me would have been that the case was dealt with, Venkys were released from restrictions and they were free to go about doing whatever it is they do without any need to go back to Court. The only hope we have of being rid of them is the government or Courts forcing them out. If the matter has gone off again it leaves some hope this could still happen (slim I agree).

Interesting that in the notice of adjournment on the last occasion the Court said something like 'this matter will take some time' and put it back to today for a final hearing but then it seems to have been listed before a Judge with dozens of other matters with clearly not a lot of time to look at it (if any).

To all the Venky supporters out there who insist that they are great nice people who we couldn't cope without and to whom we owe a great deal of thanks I wonder at what point they start to reconcile that with the future of our club potentially hinging on the verdict of a Judge on the other side of the world, just after he's finished dealing with all manner of unpleasant matters. Is this really acceptable for a 150 year old sporting institution?

We used to be in the business of such deals, Armstrong, Brereton, Gallagher. But that required Mowbray to sit around in India for a week before convincing them to do it. Those days are long gone.

He's got a distinctly mediocre record other than 12-18 months at Sheffield United when he had one of the strongest squads in the division at his disposal. Average to poor at Barnsley, Leeds and Hibs and his PL spell at Sheff Utd. Preston don't have anywhere near the resources Sheff Utd had. Could be interesting because they could be dark horses for a relegation battle.

'The Sanjeev Narula Riverside Stand' if he helps us get rid of them.

Of this I have no doubts. It is clear that throughout the summer there have been forces at work behind the scenes trying to make that move come about. Same in January. Same with Gallagher and Szmodics. The club is in fire sale mode and it seems the limited business done to date has convinced some that things aren't as bad as they really are. We are a club in financial crisis, all the evidence other than Waggott's BS points towards this. Bringing in over £40 million in 12 months and spending less than £1.5 million is nothing short of a total disgrace and yet they are quickly moving on to the next sale project and hoping to bring in a few more million for the captain who Eustace has made clear he wants to stick around. Anyone and everyone who can attract a reasonable fee or who commands a decent wage is being systematically removed from the club, regardless of what Eustace, team, player or fans want.

Or alternatively we've had goalkeepers with good attributes that have failed to realise their potential here and so have sought moves elsewhere, and have quickly thrived under different coaching. We will probably never know the answer. What I do know is that the current situation isn't good enough, and one or both of Pears and the coach need replacing pronto.

I believe that Benson, like Lowe and probably Johnson, is irreplaceable. We can only speculate as to the reasons why but the first two have been here for years and through 3-4 different managers. Of course the decision as to the makeup of his coaching staff should be one for Eustace but I think he will have had to accept working with that lot before getting the job.

Realistically what are the different potential outcomes? a) Another adjournment, possible but unlikely IMO given it is listed for 'final' hearing, but one which probably won't cause us too many major problems for the time being given the pile of cash they've brought in from player sales. b) A 'final' outcome and no more Court proceedings - in Venkys favour and they are permitted to send whatever funds they want over and we are back to 'normal' albeit with disinterested unfit owners who don't want to spend anyway c) A final outcome not in Venkys favour - they are refused permission to send any more funds over and therefore the club has to continue funding itself using player sales until it inevitably slides into admin when those run out. Judge tells them to find a new owner because they won't be getting permission to fund us any more (Ideal outcome). d) A middle ground where they are allowed to continue as they have been to date which is they can put in the essential funds to meet the clubs obligations subject to them putting an equivalent bond down in India Have I missed any?

I wish I could also 'dream' but am more grounded in my expectations. The saddest part is that we should be spending that sort of money on those sort of players and there's nothing that should be stopping us with £40 million+ banked recently. These owners and this CEO are not going to allow that, but they will allow the likes of Nixon to filter it out to the fans as it suits them for people to believe we are trying to do this sort of business. I totally agree that it would be 100% counter productive to offload Travis or indeed any others of our 1st team given the lack of depth we have and performances so far this season. I don't think Eustace would want to. But the manager is only one small part of the equation here and if the Indians or charlatan CEO / shadow have a 'project' of selling someone it will happen regardless of impact on manager or team. They'll probably sweeten it by telling Eustace he'll get a load of money to reinvest afterwards, he won't. 2 weeks ago he said he wanted 3 or 4 additions. Since then none have come in and Szmodics has gone for another £10 million and freeing up yet more wages. People are deluded IMO if they think further sales are necessary or going to make and positive difference now.

Indeed. I've long believed they are working their way through a list of the top earners and are forcing them out.

He didn't make it to a week, moving quickly on and now it's Travis to Hull. It seems they are desperate to continue the cutbacks and sales, not content with the £16 million+ this summer. We all know that multimillion purchases ain't happening here (though they could and should be with the money brought in) but of course it is free to try and con people into believing it and keeps the fans occupied for a couple of weeks.