JHRover

League One bound behemoths Huddersfield past the 10,000 mark puts our boasts into context. Only one figure matters really and that's the final sales total. Any less than 12,000 I'd be embarrassed considering what our near neighbours are selling yet Waggott will be patting himself on the back if we sell 100 more than last year but 5000 less than Bolton.

So well down the road of completely dismantling one setup within the space of 2 years of starting it despite putting no resources forward to allow it to work and now predictably turning to old contacts as the solution to fill the void. I'd ask what the point of the last 2 years has been as it has got us nowhere whatsoever other than coming out of it with a far weaker squad of players but for the owners it has probably cost them nothing, for the slimeballs in the boardroom they've had another few hassle free years of well paid employment and they're now milking Adam Wharton's rise for everything they can get but of course won't be doing the key part and spending his money. Absolutely shameless.

Unfortunately I doubt anyone in the UK knows what our transfer budget or plan is. Essentially it will either be what % of the cash brought in recently will the owners allow to be spent on new players, or whether the owners are going to tip some more in from India (probably unable and unwilling to do so). Also unfortunately I think we will only come to realise that it is the same old story after season ticket renewal deadline by which time the majority of season ticket renewals have committed their money and signed up to it. Then the shenanigans start again and people realise that nothing has actually changed - same owners, same board, same agenda, same rubbish, new season.

You can see it any way you like. But reality is that all season ticket money goes into the club to pay the wages of employees. And at the top of that tree sits Waggott and the other shadowy individuals like Pasha and the others who I doubt have ever even been to Ewood Park. Its nothing to do with the club being bigger than individuals. Its simple business. Money brought in pays wages and then in our case the owners (or increasingly sales of assets) top up the difference. Your love of the club or otherwise doesn't change how that works. I'm not criticising you, I'll probably be in the same boat come deadline day. But I won't delude myself that the money is doing good or that it proves what a good supporter I am. I feel very uncomfortable doing it.

Oh yeah, they say it is £349, but then when you go through to pay they add a £2 surcharge, which as far as I can see there is absolutely no way of avoiding. They claim that this is to fee due to Ticketmaster for the website facility which may be correct, but they shouldn't be advertising at £349 if it is impossible to buy one for that. Ordinarily I'd expect them to not impose the £2 admin fee if buying directly from the club but inexplicably they go one better and charge an extra £10 to buy direct from the club They'd be better advertising it at £351 and absorbing the admin fee within it

Not really correct though is it. He's paid £300,000 a year by Rovers so at least some people or some part of your ST money will be going to him. Not to mention the other people in the 'senior management' structure who are on god knows how much a year.

Has anyone found a way to actually buy a season ticket for the price advertised? I'm not sure there is any way of actually getting one for £349. The cheapest being £351 if you can do it online, failing which it is £359 if you go into the shop. Pretty sure it is impossible to get one for the price advertised. So false advertising.

Some fans are just fed up of 13 years of lies, let downs, being ripped off, misled, and having the piss taken by people who are actively destroying and undermining the club. I'm one of them. Handing money over to the likes of Venkys and Waggott doesn't give me any satisfaction or 'I'm a proper fan' feeling. Infact I feel dirty and conflicted when I do it. Knowing full well that these people at best don't care and just take us as an irrelevance and more likely are laughing at us behind closed doors. Any other club you can think of had 13 years in a row of this rubbish?

"Good news" and Venkys depends on which side of the table you sit on. For me good news would be active steps to leave the club, nothing more or less, and that's all there is to it. I suspect for most others still clinging to hope or even worse are of the view that these repulsive people are good for Rovers then "good news" probably means something trivial like the potential for a few quid to possibly get put into the transfer kitty (until someone conveniently makes a hash of it anyway) Personally I've no interest in such stuff because I think we are past that stage now and as above even if there is a possibility of money being spent it will no doubt be torpedoed by some bizarre series of nonsensical events at Brockhall.

Funny how when its a figure the Club wants people to hear about - 1200 in the first day and 2000 after the first weekend - they are quite happy to broadcast it to all and sundry, Yet usually what we get is all sorts of mixed messages, confusion and silence about sales totals. I'd suggest this is because they can't wait to try and take advantage of numbers that they think reflect positively on them, whereas the usual way of things is they are silent on such things because the figures are nothing at all to be proud of. This is likely to be the case come window closing day so I expect to see these sales updates shudder to a halt once the initial surge has passed. We will once again end up well under 10,000 sales yet enough for slippery Steve to massage some positives out of, yet miles behind rival clubs of the same / lower leagues.

I do find the majority of these play-off finals to be dismal affairs. I don't blame the teams as once a lead is established its just a game killing exercise but I find it tedious as a viewer. This one here I reckon the ball has been in play for at most 20 minutes of the second half, 9 minutes added on

Nothing new or imaginative here. It has all the hallmarks of a Waggott scheme - several relatively small gimmicks to make some people feel like the offer is a decent one but in practice actually there's not much happening differently to previous years. On the plus side there's some sort of reduction which beats the usual freeze or increase, but really not enough to drive a turnaround or serious growth in numbers. It will probably be enough to persuade the majority of those from last season to renew which will be good enough for old Steve to get by for another year with the extra tv cash to more than cover the difference. Even if 8000 all benefit from a £30 reduction that is a nominal cost to the club when it is collecting £3 million extra for the new tv deal. Of course absolutely no mention of the impact of this deal on fixtures and the inconvenience it may well cause to those who go to games. Just sign up ignorant to that is how they want it. I'm baffled by the Riverside scheme. It seems to be some sort of acceptance on the part of the club that they should do something to try and increase numbers there and offer a cheaper option for the worst facilities in the ground, but as ever with this CEO it's half baked and with strings attached. Instead of just making it £300 for everyone, or £300 for the first 1000, or 2000 or 3000 it's limited to just 300 'new' supporters and 300 existing supporters with some ballot system in operation. Unless I've missed it they don't qualify what a 'new' supporter is. Is it someone with no history of going to games? Someone who is a former ST holder? Someone who didn't have one last season? I really wish they'd stop with the gimmicks like £30 off for 30 years since we won the league. I'm tiring of this regime attempting to exploit past glories when they should be ashamed to even mention it given the disgrace of this ownership. I'd have a lot more respect if they just acknowledged that fans deserve a reduction after their outrageous conduct of the last few years and the rapidly decreasing quality of the product and that they need to take action to stop decline.

Delighted for Adam and his family as his meteoric rise continues. Sadly witnessing that rise gives me little pleasure as a Rovers fan. The sheer idiocy and short sightedness of the owners and the 'management' once again ends in failure and embarrassment as we are left with nothing but regret and disappointment having pocketed a low sum of money for such a talent. Sadly the worst part of this is knowing that the primary beneficiaries are Venkys who can simply use that cash to fund their ruinous regime and Waggott whose life is made easier and position vindicated. Those who deserve credit- Adam, JDT, long gone to better things living us stuck with the pond life.

Revenue has just gone up £3 million overnight thanks to the new TV deal. Budgets allegedly being reduced. All a choice of the owners, not FFP.

Mowbray had power and freedom that nobody else has had. I believe that started and ended with the fact that he jetted off to India and sat around in Pune waiting for the ghastly madame to grant him an audience. His willingness to do this secured him power and finance. Waggott has done the same - he's had jollies out to India over the years and such steps secure you bullet proof status in Venky world. Forget about getting sacked, it isn't happening once you have that personal link with the top dogs. They might had turned the taps down to a trickle in the last few windows of Mowbray's reign but he was still blessed with relative fortunes compared to what Lambert and Coyle had before him and what JDT and likely Eustace have had after him. No coincidence at all that none of those other four ever (to my knowledge) went out to India and played the 'wonderful kind people' routine. There was a suggestion early on last summer that Broughton and JDT were being lined up for an India trip. I was encouraged by that because I believe had it happened both would have had considerably greater financial backing and our fortunes could have been very different. it didn't happen in the end and we can only speculate why. Maybe their legal issues in India or maybe a stooge in the shadows operating to ensure they didn't secure such power direct from India and instead had to continue through the 'conduit'. Matters not the reason, but the outcome is a familiar one. Mowbray wouldn't have been able to do a fraction of what he did with the resources of the last 2 years. He knew this, which is why he ultimately threw a wobbler and left even though I'm sure had he been patient enough in summer 2022 then they'd have offered him another contract. JDT, Broughton, Eustace, never stood a chance. Nobody here will under these owners unless they can go straight to the top and get agreement for financial backing from there. Kean knew this. Bowyer knew this. Mowbray knew this. Waggott knows this. That's why they all spent god knows how long sat in airports, planes and hotels in Pune waiting for them to see him. It wasn't for a holiday it was to secure power and money.

You might well be right, I really don't know the bloke or think it is fair to judge him on 3.5 windows mostly of fiasco and drastic cuts.

It's not a popularity contest. I couldn't care less if someone is aloof if they are good at their job. Too much of this down there. It's why Mowbray was worshipped with his tea and biscuits routine reminiscing about growing up in 70s Middlesbrough and presumably why Waggott has got his feet under the table so comfortably.

Waggott and Suhail do not have backgrounds worthy of running a Championship football club. Waggott appears to have been an agent, and a questionable one at that, before a series of short lived roles at failing clubs including Charlton, Coventry, Southend and Gillingham. Hardly an impressive resume. Shadow man we know very little about other than he's popular with the worst owners in English football history and appears to have had links to a certain agency. True or not I doubt either would get looked at twice for the equivalent positions elsewhere, which is why Waggott was doing 'consultancy' work for Ron Martin and Paul Scally before landing the job here. In 6.5 years 'leading' the organisation I'm struggling to think of a single positive achievement on or off the pitch, unless you consider surviving in the second division and achievement or that he gets any credit for the work of the team and manager. Dubious backgrounds and not in my view people who should be directing this club

Whether you rate Broughton or not there's a way of doing things. If you're going to go to the trouble of making a statement you at least try to attach a degree of professionalism and respect to it. Just further highlights the type of people we have running the show. Unprofessional, disrespectful, unpleasant and unfit to hold senior office at a club of this stature.

Shameful 'statement' but only to be expected here. Looks grammatically incorrect with too many commas. Suppose they've at least got all the spelling right on this one unlike yesterday's emails

Waggott is the sort of person who thought people would rush to buy a season ticket so they would potentially be included in a prize draw that he dreamt up half way through the summer when he realised he was on track to miss his target. So of course he'll be shallow enough to think there are people out there who will be willing to pay more just because there's Leeds/Bolton/Burnley included. As it happens I doubt he's responsible for the current delay. Even he will want to get money coming in quickly, it serves him no benefit to keep delaying. We're just seeing once again the impact of Venkys as owners and some people should bear this in mind when transfers are collapsing and they are trying to blame rogue secretaries and all manner of other excuses. The problem is with India.

It's just a ruse to make it appear to the League and others that we are engaging supporters and meeting our customer charter in asking for feedback.

I think its a mixture. For some price is everything. If it costs too much or they don't see value for money in the product they won't buy one. Venkys or no Venkys, PL football or League One football. This becomes especially important where large numbers of games are moved to inconvenient or impossible kick off times. We have a lot of fans who live quite a distance from Ewood who can't or don't want to travel in early doors or evenings. Simply speaking there isn't value in the product. I doubt some of those people care less about Venkys or Waggott, they'll simply weigh up their budgets and act on that. Here we have the perfect storm. A very poor product / atmosphere, abysmal marketing and sales policies and in the last few years expensive prices. When you apply all that to a relatively small home fanbase it's a recipe for disaster. Others will have their eyes on other matters above and beyond merely price. I'm one of those. If new owners took over tomorrow and announced they were charging an extra £100 on last season I'd pay it and give them the benefit of the doubt, whereas even at £300 a season I feel uncomfortable handing my money to this regime. I'm sure if there was a change of ownership there would be a surge in numbers of some degree. Probably not 5000+ but maybe a couple of thousand of people wanting to enjoy a fresh start and support the new regime. The key of course is whether the new people would harness that positivity and build on it, or waste it like this lot have several times.

Nobody of repute is going to come here. So it will either be a desperado or someone entirely new to the job just delighted to be in the 'top position' at a Championship club. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would be dropping a line to Broughton before accepting any job here and asking him for his off the record view on things, and why he's on his way out after less than 2 years in the 'project'.

Rudy Gestede