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.

They can't be trusted to tell the truth on pricing anyway. Last season they promised that midweek fixtures at Ewood would be capped at £20 for adults under Category C. Then Sheffield Wednesday came along so they put it at £25. Lesson to learn is they will just make it up as they go along, pointless planning anything with this lot.

Yes we are skint. That should be obvious to anyone with a passing interest in what goes on at Rovers. Look at the stadium, look at the cost cutting, look at the fact that there has been zero investment in anything beyond limited small transfer fees on the squad, look at the state of Ewood Park, Look at the fact that JDT and Eustace both threw the towel in after a few months of trying and failing to work under the restrictions imposed by the owners and their stooges. Look at the fact that there has been an exodus - some voluntary and some redundancies - of numerous staff behind the scenes, be that coaching, backroom staff, Waggott, the ladies at Brockhall, now David Lowe, this doesn't happen at a club that doesn't have major operational or financial issues. This isn't, despite your attempts to convince yourself it is, a situation where everything is normal and hunky dory and the only issue is that the money being spent isn't as much as we'd prefer. The club is in total and utter crisis, caused by these owners, their legal issues and their decisions. Expecting credit for us signing a couple of cheap players from Portugal and Belgium after bringing in millions from sales, sell on fees and compensation money is laughable. We all know those sort of deals are low cost punts on wages more akin to League One than the Championship. I bet that Eustace's compensation cash has comfortably covered whatever we've paid out. 'Problems in India' - a bit more serious than that Chaddy. This isn't just some minor technical issue that should all get sorted and then everything is fine. The radical cost cutting began before the Indian legal issues emerged so that particular excuse doesn't really stack up. But even if it did we are now 2 years into the 'problems' coming to light and they still haven't been resolved. The owners have to go to Court or comply with various onerous requirements just to be able to send enough cash to cover their obligations. Not investment, or a transfer kitty, but just to meet the wage and tax bill each month. If the owners wake up one day and decide they can't be arsed or perhaps if their issues don't go away for another few years or perhaps they get found guilty of whatever it is they are being investigated for, then the entire operation is in danger of collapse. So serious stuff. I'm also intrigued as to what the Venky apologists would think or have to say if they do get found guilty of financial misdemeanours / crimes in India whether these people are content / comfortable with their club being entangled in such activity and potentially used as a vehicle for some of this activity. Presumably all ok as well because at least they've paid the bills on time and the lads are still there to cheer on every fortnight?

I don't know whether it is deliberate or just the way you write but I get the impression from this that you are happy with how things are at Rovers and don't think there is anything wrong with how we operate? John Textor the bloke whose club has just won the FA Cup and qualified for Europe?

Dear me Chaddy, deary deary me.

Go and read about their finances. Their owner is not wealthy in footballing terms and he has been desperately searching for new investment for the last 12 months to help them. He's been putting in circa £13 million a year for 3 years to keep them ticking over (oh look, another club that loses an 8 figure sum every year even when they get better gates than we do and have managed to find a new owner prepared to fund it - one for the negative Venkys in people to keep in mind). You've answered half of your own question - they are going around trying to sign free agents - a clear sign of a club working to a limited budget yet still able to sign up our players. How are we skint when we've brought in £40 million from sales and spent very little of it?

I'm a little unsure how to feel about the Sheffield Wednesday mess. Of course at its most basic there should be sympathy for their employees/suppliers and genuine supporters who must be deeply concerned about the state they are in, and you hope their situations are resolved. It seems some want to use it as a 'be careful what you wish for' tool as to why things are actually ok at Rovers under Venkys because, look, it could easily be worse. Personally however there's an element of jealously. That might sound crazy / ridiculous but at least with them there's an end to their misery in sight. Light at the end of the tunnel. Their situation cannot continue, it is only a matter of time before they either change ownership or the authorities intervene like they did with Reading. It might not be quick, easy or smooth but ultimately they'll break the grip of Chansiri whereas we will just continue to rot under Venkys for years more. They'll have a new future to look forward to. What have we got to look forward to under this regime?

Maybe these players fancy going to Derby because they loved working under Eustace last season, were gutted when he left and are keen to get back working with him? That would mean more serious and longer term consequences and implications to him moving to Derby but hey, at least we've now got 'alignment' between head coach and work experience head of football and some compo banked for Eustace and his staff Happy days indeed.

Just for money? Derby are skint. The difference is their owner still wants them to progress and backs his manager as much as he can. There's no evidence other than the words of liars on the Venky payroll that any serious efforts have been made to keep any of our players. Most of the players have admitted this in public in the last few months. If we had really tried the odds suggest that at least one of them would have signed up. The fact that 0 have signed tells me that we aren't trying.

It won't disappear. Nobody has disappeared. They might have a couple of horrible years and might go down to League One but at the end of it will be rid of Chansiri and will get bought by someone better. They'll then be able to rebuild just like so many others have done under new engaged ownership.

A lot of people seem to think it would be a good thing for Rovers if we got £1 million+ as a sell on fee for Phillips I'm struggling to see any positive. It certainly won't provide a material benefit to Rovers.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25055813.blackburn-contract-talks-futures-three-key-players/ This was Gestede quoted on 1st April. Nearly 3 months on and total and utter failure to do any of what he was talking about. Giving Forshaw another year all he has managed.

You don't give up a secure job when sat in the top 6 in February, in with a shot of becoming a Premier League manager, and gamble your career and reputation on an uphill struggle to avoid League One at skint Derby unless you are desperate to get away. Somehow I don't believe that the hours drive it saved was the crucial factor. Something deeply, deeply wrong behind the scenes and has been for a while and 'alignment' isn't the word for it Funny how travel keeps cropping up here as a reason for people leaving. Convenient because location is one thing the wretches cannot affect or control yet doesn't appear to be the issue at any other North West club. They make out like we are Plymouth, Norwich or some other distant backwater.

And it works. Because it had us and Birmingham on track for the play offs on a limited budget and shambles behind the scenes. Simple question, requiring one word answer: Would you prefer it if decisions were being made by Eustace or the current lot (Gestede)?

I think the 135 / 15 years distinction is a good one. Also because it was only a week or so after our 135th anniversary that these awful people completed their takeover and their regime took the club hostage. So not only is November important as the anniversary of the clubs' founding 150 years ago but also the anniversary of its' darkest day 15 years ago.

The fact that Eustace at Derby is shopping in virtually identical markets to what he was doing here last year is not to be taken as a positive. It shows that Derby are not in any great shape, and financially are hamstrung, so much so that he is having to turn to free agents and people he knows in a bid to solidify them. He hasn't gone there to throw millions around on quality. He's working under tough financial constraints. Yet despite those constraints, despite shopping for free agents and despite gambling his reputation on what appeared to be a probable relegation to League One, he still couldn't get out of the Brockhall exit quickly enough. What does that tell the head in sand brigade about the state of things at Rovers?

The reason we have done 'well' over the last 3-4 years is because we've had good managers and more importantly the left overs of a very good Championship squad. The biggest credit I can give Tony Mowbray, and I believe it came at the expense of immediate results, is that he had a good eye for a player, patience and was able over 3-4 years to build a very good Championship squad. He was of course given time and resources to do that (way beyond the constraints the owners have imposed over the last few years) but he certainly left a legacy of a good Championship side capable of doing well in this league, Despite a reckless and negligent approach to contracts and reinvestment, resulting in the departures of important players like Rothwell, Lenihan, Diaz and others on free transfers, we have managed to keep going with the others that have been left over together with good recruitment under Broughton with Brittain, Tronstad, Hyam and Szmodics, again when they were actually allowing some reinvestment in the club. That is going to come to an end soon as the last of Mowbray's and Broughton's signings are offloaded to rivals on the cheap, leaving us will little remaining in quality or experience. The reason we've done 'well' (is finishing 7th in the second tier doing well?) is because of the legacy of previous staff and players from a bygone era when the owners were of some use to the club by spending some money on it. Now that's all changed.

Yeah but look on the bright side. This guy has reported it on twitter, so it will soon be in the Telegraph, half the fanbase believes overnight that we are going around making bids like this and the best part of it is it doesn't cost us a penny. Free positive publicity. What's not to like.

These are the teams confirmed to be using the Pinatar Arena over the course of this summer: Al Ain (Abu Dhabi), Elche (Spain), Murcia (Spain), NEOM (Saudi), Al Rayyan (Qatar), Melilla (Spain), Albacete (Spain), Bournemouth, Swansea, Bristol Rovers, Cardiff, Millwall, Everton, Hearts, Stevenage, Stockport, Crawley, St Mirren, Southend, Curzon Ashton, Rovers There will probably be more using it but these are the clubs featured on their 2025 poster

Best time to play the likes of Soton, Ipswich and Leicester away is either at the very start or very end of the season IMO. More chance of catching them off guard either before they've got settled down or after there's nothing left to play for. I'd rather play one of them first game than a Charlton, Birmingham or Wrexham bouncing from promotion.

Circa 15 goals walking out the door for nothing in Dolan and Weimann. Who's filling that void?

They're going to do this summer what they planned on doing last summer until Eustace put his foot down and threatened to walk out after only 4 months in the job. After that wobble they backed down and allowed him to bring in McFadzean, Batth, Weimann and Cantwell, some much needed British based experience. He also brought Travis back into centre place and vital importance to the team after the Regime had got him out the door to Ipswich and were looking to sell him. Eustace had correctly identified an issue with inexperience when he arrived at the club, they'd been going hell for leather down the track of untried and inexperienced under JDT, and it was going to catch up with us eventually. They'll be happy that they got Eustace out of the way and got compensation for him and his staff (is that our transfer kitty money for the summer?). Now they've got someone in place who is more likely to tolerate 'the plan' (and I use that term loosely for what this lot are doing) they can resume the operation with gusto. So bye bye to those expecting Championship level wages or contracts longer than 2 years, get shut of Eustace's favourites and it's back to the European bargain aisle.

QPR have confirmed that Cifuentes has left and are expected to appoint Julien Stephan, former Rennes and Strasbourg manager

I see efforts to sell the captain are escalating. Looks like Wrexham and Derby 'interest' not come to anything yet so let's try and get Coventry in on the act Wages and a couple of million fee long ago earmarked for savings and running costs.

Still no news on who we are playing on the weekend of 2nd August? Only 4 friendlies announced to date with no clarity as to the opponents in our two Spanish matches. Waggo was claiming he'd been arranging showpiece fixtures against sides in commemoration of the 150th anniversary so I'm intrigued as to who they have lined up here.