They sold Cairney to Fulham for approximately £3 million and Cairney is/was a better player than Dack, proven at Championship level. You don't seem to have learned from experience. I agree that in today's mad world £3 million for someone of Dack's importance would be below expectations, and I agree that if we had any sense a contract extension and simple not for sale to a Championship rival stance would do the trick, but again, we've seen from experience that might not happen. Once you get a reputation as a selling club keen to do business with anyone (including smaller clubs in the same league like Fulham and Brighton in recent seasons) then more and more rivals will take the mick with cheeky offers and stunts to try and nab our best players. Firm rejections put an end to that but here they keep on cropping up because we don't tell them to clear off.

It appears so although I was under the impression he was out of contract. He and Conway signed new deals when Lambert took over and it turns out Evans signed until 2019 but Conway only until 2018.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16218560.Corry_Evans_disappointed_with_season_ending_but_eager_to_kick_on_with_Rovers/?ref=mr&lp=14

We need to be bolstering the squad with permanent signings to begin with whilst retaining all those we want to keep. So get rid of Feeney, Ward, Gladwin, possibly Whittingham make a decision on Evans and Conway, sign 4 or 5 Championship standard players to replace them, new contracts for Dack and Graham along with others if needed, bid for Armstrong, then sign a couple of quality loans later on if needed. If you have ambitions as a club you don't sell your best players to rivals. So if someone wants Dack it should be the Premier League or nothing. I'm tired of sob stories about FFP and parachute money. If we're serious about moving forward we fight and we keep who we want to keep unless the player has a step up to a higher division.

So we've WBA, Swansea, possibly Stoke, Ipswich, QPR, possibly Charlton, possibly Scunthorpe all in the Championship next season under new managers. Throw into the mix the rumblings at Leeds, Bolton and Sheffield United, and the consequences of Villa not going up, and you've almost half the division could be under new management come next season.

Comes back to my theory from last week. I suspect that the plan moving forward is to close both upper tiers unless essential and to allocate all away clubs the entire Darwen End lower e.g. 5000 seats with more on demand if needed. Therefore if WBA and Bolton etc. only bring 3000 or so that area will still look reasonably full without needing to go upstairs. Someone in India wants to see full stands on camera so this is another step on that path.

I'm sure if they'd have been clear from the outset that the rationale behind it was to save a few quid whilst condensing the home support then even those being moved would have understood the decision. I'm also sure that if they ran a scheme of relocation to a suitable designated block elsewhere it could work quite smoothly without upsetting existing season ticket holders. To now try and make out as though it is being done to help supporters because we're going into the big boys league and will get massive away followings is quite insulting. Last time we were here only PNE, Leeds and Villa filled the Darwen End (or got close to doing so). For those games the Darwen End people were moved into side stands, no problems. I also find it quite insulting that the club suddenly claim to be concerned about supporters convenience and yet you can bet when Leeds or Preston come to town with a full Darwen End the club will agree to move kick off times to 12noon to significant inconvenience to a lot of supporters.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/may/darwen-end-statement/ So Waggott says the decision was purely to avoid inconveniencing home fans. He's expecting Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Leeds, Preston, Bolton, Wigan, Stoke and West Brom to all bring sufficient numbers to require more seats than the 4,000 that can be allocated in half of the Darwen End without needing to move home fans from the Darwen End. I think he might be disappointed on that front. Leeds will fill it and PNE might fancy a big day out again but other than that unless one of those are going well for promotion I don't see them bringing that many. Agreeing to noon kick offs for those games will also guarantee smaller travelling support.

Marcus Maddison transfer listed by Peterborough.

He seems to either do very well or be a complete disaster. Very good record at Middlesbrough, Twente and Derby but dreadful with England, Wolfsburg and Newcastle.

Think McClaren gets a bit of unfair stick. Yes he failed horrifically at Newcastle but more relevant to his potential QPR appointment is his record at Derby County over two spells. In his first he took them to the play-off final in his first season, very unfortunate to lose to a last minute goal against 10 men, and in his second he had them going well for promotion until the wheels came off as he was being lined up to go to Newcastle. In his second spell he turned them around after a dreadful start to the season under Pearson where they were bottom of the league. Win %s of 53 and 44 in his two spells. Not saying he's a brilliant manager but his record in the Championship at Derby is good, add on top of that he's worked at QPR before and can fit the 'head coach' structure and it strikes me as a half decent appointment. Trouble with QPR is that they still haven't learned lessons and still think changing manager every season is the way to success. Holloway was a strange appointment seemingly based more on his history with the club than his recent results.

Hope that is true but very difficult to quantify it. Would be better if they said it was x% greater than the first day last year etc.

Clearly someone orchestrating the whole thing, wanting Venkys to appear to be open, accessible and involved in club affairs. No surprise that Balaji embraced the publicity side of it and was happy to throw his doors open to Sky Sports to show them his luxury car collection, but more surprising that the puppet master of the scheme managed to get Mrs Desai on speed dial. Of course as Venkys continued to put their foot in it through their ridiculous comments and statements it added to the public belief that these were merely well intentioned but clueless owners, rather than the alternative, which was that they had minimal involvement in it at all other than providing a front and the capital whilst other people ran the club and made the decisions.

I've always found it odd how in the immediate aftermath of the takeover and during the Kean days all of the Venky clan were easily accessible, particularly to our friends at Sky Sports. Not just the chuckle brothers from the moment they were paraded on the pitch at Ewood before the Villa game but also Madame who provided numerous interviews and was on hand to provide her opinion on all things Rovers even though she had previously admitted not understanding the game. Then the shutters came down and it is rare for even the manager or staff of the club to get chance to speak to her, only happening face to face once a year at her behest in India. Probably more difficult to speak to her without an invite than the Queen. Curious how for such supposedly private people someone managed to persuade Madame to find space in her diary to provide interviews and how when things went horrifically wrong that she suddenly becomes an intensely private and busy person who can no longer speak.

Stoke and WBA would only need remotely near 5,000 if they were going well for promotion or if it was a special occasion - e.g. bank holiday or cheap tickets. If they were mid-table or bottom half they wouldn't bring anywhere near. Likewise as you say the big North End day out whereby they bring almost as many to Ewood as they get on at Deepdale is unlikely to be a regular event. Leeds will always bring 5000+ unless obstacles are put in place to prevent them. Villa and Boro - again - capable of filling it when the going is good but I'd be interested to see how many turned up if they were 15th in the League. Easy when you're sat top 6 and going for promotion. My concern is that Rovers are mistakenly thinking that 5,000 away followings are going to be frequent and are hoping to milk that by charging £30 a ticket like Bolton and Leeds do, which will ensure next to no walk on fans at home. Nothing stopping Rovers from charging away fans £30 for tickets but then offering Rovers fans a 30%+ discount on those prices for 1875 members. We've been done in the past with the old membership trick at Old Trafford with away fans charged more than home fans who are 'members'.

I've received a text message from Rovers this morning advertising season tickets. For some reason it explains that seniors start from £199, under 21s from £179 and juniors from £90, but doesn't provide a price for adults, except to say that it is less than £14 a game. When does the early bird period end? Edit - just looked it up and it is 16th June.

As far as I'm aware there's no precedent for doing it. Unless I've missed it no riots or unrest which have occurred at 3pm. I think some Leeds fans made a mess in Wetherspoons the other year but I'm not sure why a couple of hundred idiots in town should impact upon 20,000 others. I'm firmly of the belief that Rovers have become a soft touch over the last few years as the downgrade has been in full swing. Especially ludicrous when only a few weeks ago both Rovers and Burnley played home league games on a Thursday night with a combined 35,000 crowd watching. Hopefully Waggott 'gets it' and intervenes in such things.

I accept and understand that it is important that the club makes as much money as possible through gate receipts etc. However I am concerned that we're heading towards the 'we can't compete' sob story that has been regularly pushed from within the club. Bucket loads of evidence around that the lesser supported clubs can and do compete - Brentford, Preston, Millwall, Cardiff - ahead of the bigger supported clubs - Wednesday, Leeds, Forest. Its about having a structure, plan and organisation - all of which have been lacking here in recent years. Leeds and Forest for example have the benefit of 20,000+ crowds every week, but they are both basket cases and so aren't successful - ridiculous turnovers in directors, managers and players see to that.

Earlier home times for those who have the power to influence decisions. 3pm kick off means staff at Ewood not getting home until 7pm on a Saturday. Noon kick off = home in time for tea to enjoy the rest of the weekend. In the power vacuum of the last few years it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it boiled down to something as silly as that. Hopefully now we have a CEO such things won't be allowed to happen without very good reason.

Sheffield Wednesday - Chansiri shirt sponsor and stand sponsor QPR - Air Asia shirt sponsors Fulham - Visit Florida shirt sponsors (just so happens their owner is based in Florida) Cardiff - Visit Malaysia shirt sponsors (their owner is based in Malaysia) Ipswich - Marcus Evans shirt sponsor Nothing stopping Venkys themselves or one of their friends in India signing up to a highly lucrative shirt, stand or stadium sponsorship package worth millions of pounds. Always a mystery why such wealthy and well connected businessmen have never delivered any tie ins with India apart from the odd few Venkys boards around Ewood.

The fun and games starting in earnest for the busy summer ahead. My bet for next weekends gossip is a Championship club is preparing a bid for Dack. This stuff will go on all summer long and it is usually the same culprits in the press responsible for it. Doesn't help when those people have a small army of followers hanging on every word giving them a bigger audience than they should have.

I know that, yet repeatedly the club has decided to shut off areas in the home ends instead of or as well as areas in the away end. I'll never forget them kicking season ticket holders out of their seats to put netting over areas for when Burnley came to town. Disgraceful. I'm a JW Lower season ticket holder. I don't want to spend home games stood up, moving seats, having 'banter' with away fans. I want to sit in my seat and watch the game and having had that seat for several years and now being handed a £50 price hike I expect to be able to A few years ago I was nearer to the Darwen End, when we played Leeds/Preston etc. the Darwen End people were moved into the area where my season ticket was. I arrived ten minutes before kick off and my seat was occupied and the area was stood up throughout the game. There is sufficient room to allocate the end 2 blocks nearest the Darwen End as a singing section and keep the middle 2 for established season ticket holders. Sadly I can't see that happening as the club will shut the end 2 blocks for most games. Whatever way it is done it needs to be managed. There needs to be some sort of divide by way of a barrier between blocks to make it clear that the standing/singing area is at one side and non-standing at the other. Of course one sensible alternative would be to put away fans in the corner of the DE and Riverside, and then whatever segregation is needed can be put in place in the DE at the JW stand corner.

Certainly sets the bar low with regards to expected financial outlay this summer just as people might be getting carried away....

Our income this season was vast compared to other League One teams.

There's some vindictive individuals around, who cannot stomach any sort of success for Blackburn Rovers and have to try to dampen the atmosphere by winding people up about transfer embargos. Last week Mowbray said our wage bill is around £8.5 million. Even with promotion rises it won't go up massively from that. If we are falling foul of FFP then heads need to roll as it would represent colossal ineptitude for a promoted League One side with our personnel to be breaching those limits.