JHRover

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.

After escaping relegation to the 3rd division by the narrowest of margins and stripping the squad bare of talent and depth, and almost certain to sell our remaining asset and only source of goals, you might expect a Championship football club to approach the summer with a safety first approach and bring in a proven operator to lead the operation, rebuild the squad and usher in a new era. Instead we get to the middle of June and then bring in an ex player who has zero experience of any similar role. I'd suggest that they are gambling with our future again. They don't have a clue how good or bad Rudy might be He might be a genius. He might be inept. Might bes aren't really enough at a multi million pound organisation that needs to avoid relegation. I might be a good director of football. I wouldn't expect Rovers to gamble on it. Crucially however he will be cheap, grateful and compliant All essential Venky requirements Keep quiet and take whatever rubbish the Indians hand down and you'll do for us. Actual performance is immaterial.

At least he's a nice lad who will have a chat with everyone. Unlike that nasty Broughton. Capability? Irrelevant. Let's just roll with it and hope for the best. Not as though we've a massive rebuild needed in the next 2 months or owners judging people by performance.

I suggested he'd be Broughton's replacement which was based on a hunch given his presence around the place and being invited along to meetings that you ought only to attend if occupying a senior position at the club. The line was that he was merely shadowing Waggott to try and get a route into a post playing career. Of course more to it than that and we have now, still for the time being a Championship club, appointed a complete novice as head of football. Of course a perfectly logical thing to do after the debacles of recent transfer windows and getting rid of Broughton under the guise of him not being up to the job. Frightening times. It is clear that slippery Steve is in control and bolstering his position with Park and Rudy allies for his support and control. A sick joke when he should be long gone from this club. I'm furious and disgusted. Of course Waggott is banking on the 'popular ex player' card to gain him credit and support. That's how blatant he is but unfortunately some will play right into it. Cheap is the word. Relegation is the inevitable outcome.

It seems there is more intrigue and excitement at Rovers these days regarding sell on fees and bonuses on players previously sold after they go on to thrive elsewhere a la Kaminski and Wharton than there is about anything else. It wouldn't bother me if said extra cash benefited Rovers in any shape or form but it won't, so all it does is make it even more pointless and annoying when the Telegraph and others go on about it.

Early bird should be on sale from January or February until April or May. Then standard pricing after that running through the summer. We can't do that because we are always late putting them on sale, so try to squash an early bird period into a few weeks between late May and late June.

If true that Eustace is a Waggott appointment we can be confident there will be no more 'ask Steve' which became a trademark of JDT's last 12 months. JDT a clever bloke I think and initially he held Broughton accountable, as most normal clubs would with a Director of Football, but then came to realise where the problem and power really rests. Culminating in him including the shadow man in his comments Awkward when all employees are expected to keep him hidden. JDT gone within a week of that outburst. A few more ins and outs to provide a facade of measures and reforms being implemented to change things for the better but fundamentally still the same organ grinders at the top of it and still the same agenda playing out, just this time more compliant and less vocal/ambitious people carrying it out. Plenty will be fooled by it, calmed by the passage of time, silence and transfer window shenanigans to occupy their thoughts. Nothing has really changed though.

Preston and Bolton have ended the myth. They can offer nothing Rovers can't offer. Same or lower level of product. Similar status, geography and demographics (though the usual mob are now trying to rewrite history on that front). What we are overlooking here is the other side to the coin other than price. Product. At Rovers it is shite and has been for a while. Last season well and truly took the biscuit yet the attitude seems to be that everyone will just forgive and forget because it's a new season. I won't and know others won't. Call it a boycott or just being totally fed up with being treated with contempt by a parasite like Waggott and his Indian bosses, result is people won't buy. Compare to other clubs where there is a serious effort to fill the ground, where fans are treated with a drop of respect, and there's your difference Owners who try, communicate, attend. People who can be trusted, not the disgraceful people in the Ewood directors box. Still waiting for Steve's analysis and explanation for last season's debacle or indeed any kind of plan for the future. Maybe what efforts he and other staff he directs have made beyond twitter/website adverts. Approached any lapsed ST holders directly? Approached clubs, neighbourhoods, new groups? We won't get anything until he's comfortable and the in house media team ask some easy questions. Most of us can see straight through it because we know what sort of people we are dealing with here. Other clubs fans can see owners and staff who actually want to do something in this sport beyond just existing and ticking boxes. This accounts for your 6000 deficit, together with prices.

And yet the money we did get was 100% profit on a lad who 18 months earlier had never played professional football and is enough to ensure the lowlife in India need not cough up any cash themselves for another 12 months. That's all they care about. Waggott has a big boost to the balance sheet and can use it to justify the 'plan' and the owners sit back and relax for another year in the hope another one emerges in that time. We fans know that Palace had our pants down and that is now playing out before our eyes, admittedly more quickly than I expected, but barring a career threatening injury £18 million was always going to turn out to be a derisory sum for him I can see that because I can see a medium to long term picture and impact. The people running Rovers don't because they just lurch from one thing to the next each season making it up as they go along. Which is why we are in this mess and why the ground and ticketing, and commercial, and squad, is in such a dire state.

Absolutely delighted for Adam and his family. I think most of us could immediately see a top player in the making but doubt anyone would have seen a Euro 2024 call up. It seems the realisation we had at Rovers 18 months ago is now reaching the PL and top levels. A definite sour taste in the mouth however. His emergence and sale should have either got us to promotion or funded a future promotion push. A once in a generation development. Instead he was ushered out the door at the back end of the window to the first bidders to cover the owner's costs, we've got nothing to show for it and now they are attempting to claim credit for it. They should be ashamed of themselves.

The Telegraph say the same thing every transfer window and will carry on saying the same thing until midnight on deadline day. You don't need a link to the club to assume that 'some' money will be spent at some point this summer. It's only after the window is shut that the true intentions become clear. Until then Nixon, Chaddy and others can spend a couple of months speculating about signings which they seem to enjoy.

Quite an impressive leap even from you. Let's assume the owners have promised £20 million to spend this summer. Does that make any difference or get us any further if the secretary or whoever then forgets how to do their job when completing the transfers?

I'd suggest the most wise approach would be the cautious one and to learn from the past, treating these people with the cynicism and doubt they have earned. The unwise approach would be to hope or assume things are going to be alright because it's a new window with different people working for the same overlords. We all hope it will be fine. Most of us have the wisdom to recognise that it probably won't be under these people. Some repeat the same delusions every transfer window and rarely does it end up well

It's season ticket sale time so of course the music coming out of the club, via the echo chamber Telegraph, is positive. But I'm sure even those remaining at Ewood are under the impression there will be money to spend. There bloody well should be and that's because it is a summer window. Any club in any league should have some ability to spend and that's before we think about the cash raked in already. But we know how this works. Or at least most of us do. The story changes later when the realities of committing hard cash and wages and multi year contracts come clear. The situation changes when we flog Szmodics to cover the outlay tenfold. It changes when ludicrous stories appear about not clicking send on paperwork. So claims of money to spend mean zilch. They've said this before and look where it has got us.

isn't it good news if it drags? More likely that they then run out of assets to sell to pay their bills and more likely they are forced out due to inability to fund the club.