JHRover

Portsmouth, Derby, Luton too. Sooner we get rid the sooner we can rebuild. The longer they are here the harder it gets.

So we bring in a 'specialist' in academy / youth football in Broughton to oversee and orchestrate an 'academy model' of developing kids through our academy, progressing them to the first team, selling them off for a profit, supposedly with the intention then to reinvest the proceeds of those sales to go again and strengthen the club. Sounds good and relatively sensible. Less than 2 years later we've just raked in over £20 million by selling the two crown jewels of the academy in Ash Phillips and Adam Wharton to Premier League clubs. If anything I think we should be disappointed with that amount of money as I think someone had our pants down on Ash Phillips and Adam Wharton is very soon going to be worth a hell of a lot more than we hurriedly flogged him for. But anyway, £20 odd million it is. Still a good chunk of money. Not bad at all from 12-18 months of the 'project' given neither of those lads had featured at senior level prior to Broughton's arrival. We know there was never any real intention of reinvesting the cash, there never has been, but at least it sounds good talking about the Brentford model and sustainability and FFP. All the while in season 1 of the 'project' we went within a hair's breadth of Wembley and the play-offs playing some terrific football and integrating numerous youngsters into the XI (or at least giving plenty of opportunities to do so). Looks to me like the project has actually worked to absolute perfection. Could anyone have expected a better rate of return? So why is it being changed again? Answer - they're just making it up as they go along and reacting to the latest noises coming out of India. Essentially they have 'used' people like Broughton and JDT to get them through another couple of years without any scrutiny whilst the owners continue to slash costs and pocked the transfer receipts yet both the above bought into a longer term project and ideals of getting to the PL and developing as a club. Never any intention of doing any of it.

Just imagine if that is actually true. Ridiculous. I've been wondering for a while just how the charlatan will attempt to justify or sell season tickets at the same or higher price than last year after everything that has gone on. I'm sure that a large part of it will focus on resuming fixtures against the dingles and Bolton. That's basically all he has. He can't use anything else because he knows people will see right through it after what has gone on. I suspect that they are still waiting for the Indians to approve pricing and a budget for next year. It is usually about now that they are summoned out to India so we're probably on the agenda for review within the next few weeks. No rush.

I do find it astonishing after everything that has gone on at this Club over the last decade that anyone would even consider giving them the benefit of the doubt and accept 'human error' as an excuse. If you had dropped me or anyone on here into the position of club secretary on deadline day and asked us to complete a complex transfer then 'human error' might be fair enough. But when you've had a vastly experienced club secretary in place, and very similar/the same things have happened two years running (if not more that haven't got into the public domain), and those deals affected happen to be restricted to those requiring the vile Venkys to put their hands in their pockets to fund them, well it's just too good to be true. All the stuff about Broughton, Silvester, forgetting to click submit, has, in my opinion, all the hallmarks of desperate arse covering by people petrified of their overlords in India getting the blame. The only thing they are interested in is making sure their cushy numbers aren't affected and that starts and ends with keeping the owners happy and free from any criticism. Everything else flows from that. Of course they will lie. They're quite good at it and it works with a lot of people.

He should have been asked which owner. There are (at least) four of them.

They're not totally daft Then it will be about how this summer is too soon to judge the Broughton replacement as he arrived too late and we will see the benefits of it in windows to come.

If Waggott was fired for missing his financial targets he would be the first Venky Rovers employee in 14 years to suffer such a fate. They've been quite happy to allow failing ineptitude at every level of the operation throughout their tenure. I very much doubt Waggott would be any different.

I think there's a middle ground to be had. Naturally more and more tv is going to prevent or deter a lot of people from going to as many games as they might have done previously. If it is cheaper and easier to not attend then that's what a lot of people will do. Clubs can try to keep ahead of this by adjusting their offering to compensate for the inconvenience. The most obvious one of those being on price. Charge a price that people are still willing to pay even if it means they miss a few due to tv and the rest. This is where the Bolton and Preston level pricing comes in, because at £250 for the season it is an amount that many people will be able to absorb without too much to ponder and when they do they can happily miss quite a few and still feel as though they are getting a reasonable price and return for their season ticket. Those clubs that have limited supply to demand - the likes of QPR, Norwich, Plymouth, Luton - will also be able to exploit that by fans risking not being able to get to any games if they don't commit in the summer. I think it is inevitable that numbers will drop off due to increased tv but some clubs will be able to cope with that better than others. Some will use increasing revenues to try to head issues off in advance, others can do nothing and assume all will be fine.

Waggott knows what he's working for and knows that as long as he can produce figures that show numbers holding steady or slightly increasing then that will be box ticked at the summit meeting and off he goes for another 12 months on the gravy train. Maybe I'm being kind to the owners here and suggesting that they are ultimately judging their employees on performance, which would be a first. I imagine the truth is Waggott could not sell a single season ticket and do whatever he wanted short of demolishing the stadium and they wouldn't get rid of him. Not unless he started turning the spotlight on them. As it stands he's the perfect administrator for them. Does a job, keeps things ticking over, presents a facade of normality whilst overseeing an operation that is anything but normal. Not going anywhere until he decides he's had enough. But when you're paid that sort of money to effectively be your own boss and rule over a little fiefdom thinking you're something special it can be a tough gig to give up voluntarily.

'Endeavour' suggests effort has been made. These owners certainly haven't applied any of that in the last 14 years, whatever tab they might have picked up for it.

They've already proven they can't or won't do. If rumours of Watson Ramsbottom replacing Totally Wicked as main sponsor it only further highlights the very very limited thinking that goes on down there, basically speed dial one of the existing ones and see if they'll increase their deal.

We've brought in £25 million in the last 12 months and spent less than £1 million. We are going to bring in another £15 million this summer. Our wage bill is now at the bottom end of the Championship. Yet we will spend less than most clubs in this league this summer and not many of our rivals will get close to that sort of money coming in from sales Please please please can we drop the FFP excuses at least just for this summer. A lack of spending will be entirely a decision of the owners and will probably relegate us next season given the state of the squad.

We've done all we can though. When you've owners and a club comfortable with a situation whereby Burnley, PNE and Bolton are all shifting 15000+ season tickets before we've even sold 1, and where we will do well to hit 50% of their sales totals, you might as well give up. And the worst part of it is there are fools defending it.

All those things are possibles. None are guaranteed. It would depend on what state Venkys left us in and whether they'd want all/part of 'their debt' paying back. I keep being told they are nice wonderful billionaires so assume they won't call it in and bankrupt the club. Don't you think we've already got rid of many of these people e.g. ticket office staff, media staff, groundstaff, under the current ownership?

How many people do we employ today compared to in 2010?

I ask again, who is currently working at Rovers under thrifty Waggott and Venkys that you think could be simply cast onto the scrapheap by an administrator? Are you suggesting there are non-essential staff members at Rovers? Or are you suggesting an administrator would get rid of essential staff including essential admin and facility staff thus presumably stopping the club from functioning? I'm pretty sure the first casualties of administration would be members of the 'senior management' team - particularly Waggott, Pasha, maybe the other two who I doubt have even visited Ewood Park before. That bunch are likely on astronomical money between them and would be a far more appropriate place to start if job losses are needed.

Relegation and sticking in League One would probably cause more job losses than a period in administration. These owners are hell bent on taking us to League One and an inevitable consequence of that will be cuts and job losses. Why is that preferable to administration?

Which people do you think would lose their jobs in administration? The club operates on a bare minimum basis as it is. An administrator would struggle to cut that department otherwise we couldn't continue to function. I'm pretty sure anyone non-essential will have already have been removed under the current regime in a bid to save money.

I think it is abundantly obvious from his last interview that Broughton knew his days were numbered here and he was using the interview to make it clear what his views were. His departure probably means the owners and their stooges have zero intention of following Broughton's recommendations and if they aren't going to do that when they've got £30 million+ sloshing around following sales then they never will. "I have been told the Court case won't impact on our transfer business going into the summer" "We already have clear plans of what we are trying to do" "The way the club is structured is the decision making process always goes through the Board of Directors back to the owners" "The board are completely clear on what my feelings are about what we need to do going forward" "As I'm not a director of the club I am not able to sign transfers off, so they have to be present when that challenge is going to be hit. But you have to ask to make sure the Club gives you the absolute support to get the simple part of the transfer over the line" "My recommendation to the board is there are four areas to invest in. First of all transfer fees, then wages, third to invest back into the academy and the infrastructure and don't try and blow it all at once" Park to one side your views on Broughton's capabilities and whether his business to date has been good enough. I cannot see any logical reason why he would not want us to reinvest and try to get better as a club. It would be the making of him if he somehow found a way to navigate this club to promotion or unearthed some more Szmodics'. He'd be on his way to a PL job one way or the other. There's certainly no reason on his side of the equation to support financial cutbacks, downsizing, and all the rest of it. We know that since he arrived he has put in place a considerable setup. He hasn't done that for the fun of it or because he wants to waste money. He's done it to try and get the club somewhere. Now that might work or might not but on the other side of the equation we have Venkys and Waggott. The architects of our demise who it suits very much indeed to downsize, downscale, cut back and reduce. They'd love nothing more than a cornershop style operation if it was easier to handle and cost them less. Waggott's remit is heavily based on financial cuts and savings, so why would he want ambition, spending, growth?

All this just adds further fuel to my belief that the CEO cannot make decisions without first securing approval from one of those in India. There's no other logical explanation for why we are continually late. He will be waiting for sign off on his pricing and they will deal with it when they are ready. Just like setting our annual budget. All in good time. The fact this is contrary to almost every other club and puts us on the back foot with competition matters not one jot. If correct I then ask myself what else the owners have to approve and take an eternity on, costing the club big time. Spending money on new players one I expect.

As I said, depends on the policy in place and seriousness of the offence.

I know there will be loads of arse covering and history re-writing going on over the next few months but I'd like to know who decided to employ Broughton. If it is true that they have now concluded that he wasn't up to it, and are holding him responsible for the last couple of January fiascos, then who decided to give him the job? If Waggott then why is there a power struggle when he sanctioned the appointment? Or are we back into the good old days of persons unknown parachuting people into the club with remits and powers at odds with those already there and a power struggle ensues? Think this must be the 4th or 5th time we've apparently had a similar 'power struggle' imposed on us by these owners.

Depends on the offence, organisation and disciplinary procedures. But there's nothing stopping an instant sacking if the offence is deemed serious enough and due process is followed. Of course if he was instructed by above not to press submit then there's no offence, which might be another reason for a 4 month long severance process

And where did Glen get his account from? You can sack an employee for gross misconduct immediately. You don't have to wait 4 months.

It's been in the papers because people at the club have been telling the papers that. Hardly faking the moon landings. People like Waggott and co. whisper tidbits to Rich Sharpe, Fans Forum and over a brew with supporters and it gets repeated ad infinitum and becomes fact. In the days of twitter and forums it really doesn't take much for one account to become the established truth with very little effort. I might be wrong, of course, as might anyone else. But remarkably convenient that for the second January deadline day IN A ROW we have an expensive signing just about to sign and lo and behold this time around a vastly experienced staff member 'doesn't press send' Also conveniently he didn't forget to press send on the paperwork for Adam Wharton ensuring £20 million flowed into the coffers, but he did forget on the one and only deal that would require the owners to cough up cash, something they have shown clearly over the last few years they aren't happy to do. And if I was owning an organisation where (if true) two potentially season defining transfers were cocked up by Broughton / Silvester ineptitude then BOTH would have been down the road right away, and I'd also be expecting to see the people that employed them paying the price too.