Have you seen the population of Huddersfield compared to Blackburn?!

Agreed. The Championship is now a behemoth of a league with massive national and even international coverage. One of the most watched and attended leagues in Europe. It smacks of laziness and taking the easy option turning to an established name in the phone book based up the road, a familiar trait with Waggott - see Totally Wicked, Webbox and the other vaping company he had involved a few years ago. Like with so many other elements this club could, and should, be doing so much better yet there's nobody with the slightest bit of interest in doing so.

There's a game at Morecambe the night before Wigan (so probably the youth team) and also a behind closed doors fixture on the weekend after we play Stanley.

If not Watson Ramsbottom then Leavers Bakers, Ewood WMC, 100 Club or Ewood MOT garage all options.

No shirt with 'Venkys' printed on it is getting bought by me, no matter how nice its design may be.

When we are still 7-8000 ish short of Bolton, Preston and Dingles the club should not be using the word 'smashed'.

We're announcing that we are 'expecting' them to be on sale in July whilst West Brom, new to Macron, have this week unveiled their new shirts.

I don't think sales this summer will make any difference to what we spend. I suspect we are, at best, going to spend £2-3 million, and that is top end. The focus will be on loans and cheap deals of £500k here and there. Ah right, I'm with you now. So the club has made a loss of £6 million since the start of February necessitating the entirety of the £6 million from Wharton to be spent? We are in a mess aren't we? You can believe what you like, have you any basis for this £6 million in 3 instalments stuff or just making it up? Not that it really makes any difference, because if the club has an agreement with Palace to that effect then the owners could loan the money and recoup it later when those additional funds come in. This would not pose a problem under FFP and would allow greater investment in the summer. We aren't making any improvements to training grounds or academy facilities, it is called routine maintenance and shouldn't be funded from the Adam Wharton money. You are just repeating what Waggott has said on the subject because he's desperate at every turn to dilute expectations of the owners investing in the club. Presumably because it's his job to save them money and so he's keen to fund everything from sales instead.

What has the Wharton £18 million been spent on? Running costs? Even if his transfer money has been used towards paying ongoing running costs that money then has to be reinvested by the owners. That's how reinvestment works in football. The owners will have budgeted and had scope within FFP rules to invest a certain amount to meet our costs. If Wharton had got a serious injury or no interest had materialised in January then they would have had to use their own money instead. So they can do that now instead and fund transfers from their own cash. If the Wharton money is being used for that instead it leaves space in the owners' budget to put into transfers instead, not simply disappear. There is no excuse Chaddy yet you are doing Waggott's job for him by firstly believing the nonsense they come out with and secondly repeating it as fact on here refusing to question the narrative. They've had the best part of £30 million since last summer. Fact. They're likely to raise another £15 million this summer from Raya and Szmodics. It will be very surprising indeed if at least one of those deals doesn't happen. The club will never be in a better position to spend, if it has owners with an ounce of ambition for the club. You love to remind us about FFP rules. Well find me another Championship club bringing in that sort of cash on top of what the owners are already permitted to spend. Find me a club with a smaller wage bill to build on. I bet there's about 3-4 at a push.

Round about now the time large blocks of seats in the JW upper suddenly become available as we look set to shift even less than last year despite a price cut. Some achievement that, almost as though there's an awful lot of people sick and fed up to the point a price reduction won't tempt them.

So you think a transfer spend of less than 20% of money brought in is appropriate or acceptable? Where does the other £30 million go?

Coventry spent way more than half on new players. We've brought in £20 million for Wharton, plus much more in other sales and will almost certainly have Szmodics to add to that. £9 million is grossly insufficient given the cash brought in and state of the squad.

Depends what the aim is but even if it just to remain a middling Championship side I'd expect to see upwards of £10 million. There are plenty of areas need investment and quickly, in today's market that isn't big money for a full rebuild. Fortunately given receipts of £30 million+ there is no excuse for not spending at least that sum. If we want to get promoted (haha) then I'd expect to see the vast majority of that cash invested. They've no intention of course. I see Gestede is a quick learner and is already parroting the 'protect the owners' line readying us for little spend. Then it will be FFP and 'loans and frees aren't free you know' excuse.

How does non-attendance hurt the club? Presumably you are referring to lost income but given the mismanagement and squandering of resources at Ewood I doubt a full stadium would make an ounce of difference to our fortunes. It would just make it easier for Venkys to fund every year. Other clubs have poor ownership. None that I am aware of have lasted uninterrupted for 14 years and counting. Most come and go within a few years before a rebirth or rebuild gets underway. That can only happen here under new owners and the longer this regime remains the less there is to salvage.

I can't muster the energy or the interest to even listen to any more of these interviews. Once upon a time I would take a keen interest in what was being said and perhaps believe that things were going to change for the better. I think after the last 10 years you'd be a fool to take any of it seriously. How many times are we going to see a new manager/CEO/director of football turn up, use the media to their advantage, fail to do the job either because they aren't good enough or because the owners won't let them, and then leave again within the space of a couple of years either because they can't work here any longer or they get a better offer from a serious club. Repeat every 2-3 years on an endless cycle whilst the problem and key issues remain in place in India and the boardroom.

The 'project' is to get a team out as cheaply as possible each summer in the limited time period our chaotic planning and organisation allows. The best way to do this is to rely on the academy and kids unproven at this level, avoiding the need to get permission from India to committ to a fee/wage turn to the loan market to turn to over the hill players happy to have another season or two at Championship level before they retire. That's the project. If we had the time and money to recruit established in demand players we'd do that, but these owners prevent it. And there we have it. No plans just responding to whatever circumstances these owners inflict upon us.

Fans Forum minutes of 15th April 2024 - Steve Waggott states that discussions on budgets are ongoing with the owners and plans are being developed. Lancashire Telegraph 15th June 2024 Steve Waggott quoted as saying a request has been made to Venkys for funding for operational costs and a playing budget. Rumours that the invisible man has jetted out to India recently to discuss this So what have they actually accomplished in the last 2 months other than torpedoing our summer transfer window?

Dolan and Gallagher were always going to be on the sales list this summer. Even if you ignore Gallagher's hefty wage which the money men will have earmarked as a saving there's the contract situation. Both could get deals at other Championship clubs which means they will be able to ask for a wage that we are unwilling to offer under our current austerity measures. No new contract, big wage and both likely to attract interest from elsewhere = they will be sold Travis was put in the shop window and will now have had a taste of playing at a proper football club with a dollop of ambition. Will be some come down returning to Brockhall under the latest incarnation of Venky Rovers watching all quality sold and no investment. He's on his last realistic chance of a good long term deal elsewhere and other Championship clubs will be interested. Also on a decent wage so likely to be sold. Carter less pressure to sell but an easy way to raise a few million and they will think it is easy to replace with a McFadzean or season long loan coming in. Szmodics, enough said already, though I'd rather they didn't continue to insult our intelligence by suggesting a new deal could happen. They really do think we are stupid.

His base is in Sevenoaks area in Kent I believe, happy to be corrected on that if it isn't true. Maybe he has a place up here to stay when he needs to but his base is down south and has been since his Charlton days.

Agreed, the only hope and chance to be rid of these people is for the assets to run out and funding options to dry up. Fans congratulating them on the sale of Adam Wharton for £20 million I think need to realise that this is only helping Venkys keep control for a good while longer. Szmodics will be the same. The cash helps the Indians, not Blackburn Rovers.

Personally I think you are well wide of the mark here. I doubt Venkys are doing anything. If they wanted a full overhaul they'd have binned Waggott off weeks ago and immediately appointed a competent replacement. Waggott is already well past retirement age and it makes me wonder why a bloke hitting 70 in the next few weeks and based down in Kent would want to bother himself with the apparently difficult task of running Blackburn Rovers. Surely at that age and after 6.5 years of such 'high pressure' work you'd be ready to sail off into the sunset and put your feet up and let a younger bloke have the aggro? But no, continue he does. It's the same with politicians. We are led to believe that it is such a high pressure demanding job yet they carry on doing it well past the normal retirement age into late 60s and 70s. I wonder why. Perhaps because it isn't actually the high pressure environment they make out, it is actually a very cushy number and the pay and glory of continuing are too good to give up voluntarily? Just a theory. I agree with Tomphil's theories here which is that the Indians (at least those that matter) have effectively washed their hands of it again, content to leave shadow man and slippery Steve to tinker with whatever cash they can raise themselves. Having brought in pushing £30 million since last year and with another £10 million+ ready to 'press send' on this summer in Szmodics they've got favour with the Indians as they have been vindicated in their approach. A near £30 million net profit on trading in the space of 18 months or so mainly from academy developed players. No trouble for the Indians. Win win. So for now they are keen to keep that going and happy to let slippery Steve and shadow man 'rebuild' in their own image. Of course this rebuild has to come cheap, and Waggott has proven in his time here to not have any gumption or ambition on expanding the operation, so instead he delves into his phone book for past connections in John Park and cheap but very keen in Gestede with the added bonus of 'fans favourite' from his playing days. Meanwhile he can lay the blame for last season neatly at the door of Broughton and JDT who are now long gone. Talk about a perfect solution. Yet fundamentally he remains in favour with India, still sat in a position of power and prestige, still on the prawn sandwich run on matchday, still the public face of Blackburn Rovers, still on £300k a year plus bonuses. Nothing changed but the signage on the shop front.

Thought Waggott declared at a meeting many weeks ago that budgets had already been set for the summer?

Waggott has been looking for a 'fans favourite' to shield himself from further fan furore. The plan last season for JDT to take all the blame for our ills backfired as many quite rightly saw through it and recognised the true cause of our problems. They're still trying to paddle that myth though with subtle references to Eustace rescuing the sinking ship etc. He's no idiot and heard the crowd turn on him last season during games. He's trying to head that off now by installing a 'favourite' to distract, deflect and silence further anger. Paint a picture of a fresh start and new era and consign the events of the last few years to the dustbin of history. If only it were so simple. Well it is in many cases 'what's done is done', 'no use going on about the past' etc. Well there is if the architects of that situation remain in situ. Tugay will have been on his radar but we are operating to a minute budget and looking for puppets to play the Venky game. Tugay probably not interested in such nonsense or wanted to actually get things done which isn't on the agenda here.

Who appointed Broughton and who appointed Gestede? If the same person / people why do you think there will be an improvement? They've already proven they can't make the right decision if Broughton was indeed a dud and since then the budget has been slashed and we've a weaker squad to start with.

If you did a poll among the 100 most recently retired players who featured for Rovers at some point in their career I reckon the majority would be keen on becoming a 'Head of' at a club the size and stature of Rovers. Most of those people wouldn't get anywhere near to ever doing so for a range of reasons, yet their credentials would be as good as if not better than Gestede's. The people appointing him are the same as those who appointed Broughton, so seems odd to me to support Broughton's departure and simultaneously have such confidence and optimism that this time around the same individuals have found an even less experienced alternative and expect him to perform better (with no money). If you thought Broughton was a dud perhaps the people who gave him the job and 2 years at it might not be the best people to pick a new one? Nothing separates him from any other former player looking for a future job in football other than he's based locally and has been prepared to play the Venky game of being patient and agreeing to do the job with whatever pathetic terms these people impose I.e. no money, no expectations, no real power.