He probably walked into this club seeing from the outside a big old traditional club a few good decisions away from promotion to the PL. It seems things were already teed up before his arrival in terms of budgets allocated to Broughton to sign a few. Although in the end we missed out by a hairs breadth he was probably enthusiastic about making a few changes this summer and going one better. But now he will know without any doubt that the plan here is not, was not and will never be to get promoted asap. The plan here is to limp along from one year to the next with whatever funds our infallible owners decide they are going to send our way whilst the middle men get paid hefty salaries to keep things ticking over on the road to nowhere. They don't even try to hide it. Waggott quite brazen and unapologetic about his agenda and that he's quite content to see us survive each season. Not one decision made at this club by the owners or their CEO in the last 5 years suggests promotion is the aim, ambition or expectation. So I think JDT and Broughton have learned this lesson the hard way, coming in expecting to arrive at a club with ambition to go up and grow/improve then learning that this is a nonsense and that there is no plan except to keep people in well paid jobs and collecting their bonuses whilst not rocking the boat with India. That is incompatible with footballing ambition which JDT has, so I think he long ago reasoned that his career prospects are better served sticking at it and waiting for someone to come in for him than walking away and becoming unemployed.

Norwich's troubles see them 17th in the table and 5 places below us. It seems the heat is increasing on an unconvincing David Wagner. Having said that a look at their home results paints a different picture: Lost 2-1 to Middlesbrough Lost 3-2 to Leeds Won 2-0 v Birmingham Lost 2-0 to Leicester Won 1-0 v Stoke Won 3-1 v Millwall Won 2-1 v Hull Their 3 home defeats have been relatively tight on the scorelines and have all been against top / in form teams. Those against mid-table opposition they have won. Tough game but I'll never accept an inferiority complex when travelling to a side below us in this rubbish league.

The Sheffield Wednesday owner is a bit of an idiot and seems to enjoy acting like a petulant child with his outbursts on their website. On one side very embarrassing but on the other at least it shows some degree of emotional engagement with them and some degree of reaction to their results and fans. But fundamentally he's no worse than Venkys. He bought a Championship club and they are more or less where they were when he started, having had 2 near misses with promotion to the PL whilst spending silly money. Venkys bought a top 10 PL club and dragged it down to League One. This club is vastly inferior in virtually every department to the one they bought. They do have a lot in common with each other though. Both from backgrounds in Asian food production (Chickens, Seafood), both seem to have inherited their wealth from established family businesses that dominate their respective markets. Both seem to enjoy or at least content to absorb significant multi-million annual losses. Both have had suspect links to shadowy advisors and agents. Both have overseen seemingly endless FFP problems whilst smaller clubs navigate their way around any issues. Together with the Reading owner they all have quite a lot in common, and suspect ourselves and Wednesday are both nearer to Reading than the current tables would suggest.

Surprised at the timing with Pearson. They've spent the last 2 years under him floating around mid-table and the bottom half and never really threatened so to get rid now claiming to want promotion seems odd. Suspect they've got someone lined up - perhaps now that Rowett or Beale have recently come available - and are moving in response.

I find it interesting how Ipswich have got up from League One and there's no mention of them 'taking it steady' or 'building' or development projects or multi-year plans or 'not being ready' to go up or talk about 'how difficult' the Championship is. No losers mentality there, just building on the momentum of last season in impressive fashion. Compare and contrast to what we've witnessed here since 2018...

It's the only defence to Venkys there is left - the baseless and illogical claim that there is no alternative. Nobody can argue that they have been in any way good for the club at any stage in the last 13 years, nobody can argue they have the club's best interests at heart, nobody can claim they are doing their utmost to improve the club, nobody can claim they have an interest in the club, and it appears now that their financial input is ending for one reason or another, so the last and only defence to Venkys continued existence here is that there is no alternative and no buyers out there. It is baseless and illogical because dozens of clubs in a similar or worse position to Rovers have been taken over in the last decade. Of course there is no guarantee that new owners would be better than Venkys, they somehow might be worse, but that is a bridge we are likely to have to cross at some stage or another regardless. Last time around we got rid of disinterested invisible owners who weren't putting money in and got Venkys, so hopefully next time around we get people with an ounce of interest in the Club, which will go a long way towards improving things IMO.

Unfortunately even if JDT and his team manage to haul us into promotion contention by mid-season the chances of staying in contention until the summer are remote. As these owners have proven in the last two January's they have no intention of backing the club mid-season to try and get us up and over the line. Their negligence in the last two January's has directly led to poor runs of form through February-April and with it cost us a play-off position. If they are unwilling or unable to back the manager when sat in the top 2 or top 6 in a transfer window then we are going to struggle to ever get promoted. Rivals will do business to strengthen, our lot will undermine us.

1 Hillside and 2 Hillside are a couple of large houses that directly overlook the academy site. They used to house academy players and had resident staff there to look after them. Last I heard they no longer had players staying there and might have been occupied by staff members. Not sure what Ribbleview is but assume it is another house they own down there.

I'm not too sure of impending armaggedon myself. Whilst it clearly cannot be in any way a positive development I don't think it is the first time we've had to resort to this sort of thing. I suppose the key question is whether this is a temporary stopgap whilst issues are resolved or whether it is a desperate step along a new road where the owners can't or more likely won't put any more cash in. I remember stories previously about short term loans being taken out to meet overheads, but we came through it. I've long suspected that the owners have effectively separated 'the club' e.g. the day to day operation of Ewood and Brockhall, from other funding e.g. the wage bill and playing squad. One thing they've always seemed fine doing is paying wages on time and that includes carrying a hefty playing wage bill together with all the club staff. You're talking millions and millions a year. I seem to recall, not sure if it has changed, that people were paid from the Bank of India. There have never been any rumours or suggestions of people not being paid on full or on time. Yet at the same time I've heard countless stories of no money in the kitty to do anything, even relatively minor tasks down at Ewood and Brockhall, even down to very minor and inexpensive things. The lack of investment in Ewood Park is testament to that. It appears to me that the owners won't or can't put in the cash for things such as maintenance, infrastructure, routine outgoings but have always been fine to carry their wage commitments. It's an odd situation but I don't think anything new. In the midst of all this you've the likes of Waggott and Cheston having to find the cash from elsewhere to keep the lights on and the show on the road and then stunts like this. Clearly we need new owners and soon but I'm not convinced this suggests a major issue. I expect a year from now it will be the same old story.

Not to worry, I'm sure the 'great communicator' honest Steve will be along shortly to explain what this is all about and allay any fears or concerns among the fanbase. After all, this is the Club that claims to value communication with its supporters and the CEO who was being hailed by many fans for his 'honesty' in sitting down for a comfortable interview with in-house media a couple of months ago.

The conclusion to reach is that they don't want a big crowd. It has been clear for some time that Waggott would rather have 15,000 on paying £30 a head than 30,000 on paying £15 a head. In his little world it's the same financial return for much less work and stress. I don't think this is entirely Rovers created. I do think that if they put on a proper offer - say £15 per adult - they'd get complaints from the police and local 'authorities' who would be concerned about every Tom, Dick and Harry turning up running riot, but of course a proper club CEO would dismiss such and remind those people that it is our business what we charge. We've seen their attitude and mentality - the level of panic and inability to cope when a crowd even approaching 20,000 is expected. Anything beyond that or getting towards 25,000 would show them up as they are simply incapable and frankly lazy. No, Waggott's policy since Day 1 has been to squeeze smaller numbers for more, not increase numbers for less. So a Friday night TV game, £30 a head, there will be about 17,000 on. 5000 or so from Preston and a couple of thousand walk ons for Rovers. Waggott will be delighted with that at those prices, plus the 'event' passes by with minimal issue or hassle.

Looks like Rovers have got it wrong again on the tickets. Could have had more, yet took the low allocation, promptly sold out and now leave fans disappointed. Of course it is always a gamble, could have taken a bigger allocation and not sold out but it just reflects to me the 'play it safe' mentality of those making these decisions, rather than aim high and try to sell a big allocation instead they aim low and then leave people disappointed at missing out. Sold out with nearly 2 weeks to go before the game tells me there will be a lot of people missing out here.

I'm amazed that Sky Sports haven't selected it for live broadcast but lets be honest if they did and they wanted it on a Saturday tea time it would be on then. They have no issue in making it a lunchtime kick off to the detriment of most supporters when it makes life easier for them but when Sky come along with their wedge of cash they find a way to move it to fit Sky's requirements. We've been there and seen that with their antics with the Preston game. The Club were caught lying about this issue pretending that they had no option on this when it transpired the game could take place at other times.

Surprised to see that Millwall have got rid of Gary Rowett, especially at the back end of the international break. Don't think he'll ever win awards for his style of play but think it works in the Championship especially at sides like Millwall and Birmingham where resources are limited.

Never ceases to amaze me how as a business we keep on finding new ways to make it hard / impossible for people to hand their money over to the club. We've already gone 'cashless' and refuse to take money from people on matchdays unless it is via card. We've had the fiasco with the Cardiff game, shutting the home end and then having no website for 48 hours. We've had the fiasco with replica kits not being available or running out before Xmas every year. You'd think for a club so hard up we'd unearth every possible option to enable people to pay their money over, yet it seems to happen with alarming regularity that we have IT issues or some other problem supposedly out of our control that stops us.

These sort of 'deals' achieve nothing. They know this down there, or if they don't they've had their heads in the sand for years. Yet like with the Swansea/Cardiff bundle they keep on doing the same old routine seemingly expecting a different result. All they do is dilute even further the benefits and purpose behind committing to a season ticket in the summer.

Why would people waste their time and money bidding for something that isn't for sale? Not only that but the people who matter are uncontactable sat in their bunker in India. Manure have advertised publicly that the Glazers are exploring their options and are considering selling or at least a minority shareholding. Prior to that there was no serious rumour of interest in a takeover, since then it has been in the newspapers every day with Radcliffe and the Qataris interested. 'Pretty bloody sure' suggests that normal considerations apply where Venkys are concerned. They don't. If they were normal and reasonable people they'd have cleared off long ago, for one reason or another they won't speak, even to their own manager / fans, let alone entertain bids for the club. People know from past conduct that it is a waste of time trying to deal with them. That isn't the same as 'no interest' just that there's no point in acting on it until they move.

How many houses have you put offers in for that aren't being advertised as for sale? I suspect none. It's the same principle here. Nobody is going to waste their time trying to talk to people who don't want to talk, and nobody is going to go public with interest until they know there is a deal to be done. So until or unless the scum in India decide they are leaving then nobody will make noises about taking over. It doesn't mean there isn't anyone.

In this day and age having a functioning, easy to use and navigate and up-to-date website is the absolute bare minimum basics of a business. Ours is out of date, not just with what you point out but frequently I find that Ts & Cs are out of date along with other important information. Then we had the shambles of the Cardiff game where we went about 48 hours with zero website. One thing I'd like to see done on the website which I've noticed other clubs having is a profile of prominent people from the Club's history on there. One thing some clubs do is have a list of all the club's managers and a profile about them.

A non-exhaustive list of clubs that have been taken over since Venkys arrived here: Newcastle, Sunderland, Leeds (twice), Hull, Huddersfield (twice), Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Sheffield United, Derby (twice), Nottingham Forest (twice), Birmingham, Wolves, Aston Villa (twice), West Brom, Coventry, Ipswich, Southend, Watford, Reading (twice), Swansea, Bournemouth (twice), Southampton (twice), Portsmouth, QPR, Fulham, Charlton (twice), Crystal Palace, Blackpool, Burnley, Everton, Wycombe, Oxford, Peterborough, Bolton (twice), Wigan (twice), Salford, Stockport, Swindon. An exhaustive list of clubs that have gone bust due to financial troubles during that time: Bury (still exist albeit after a few years' hiatus and much lower down the pyramid).

I suspect things are going to get worse before they get better. I look at the teams we are now mixing it with in the bottom third and I suspect upward improvement is more likely at many of those than at Rovers. Middlesbrough have a solid team and have turned a corner after a poor start. Stoke are better than their position suggests and I suspect will fire Neil if they continue to struggle. Their owners won't entertain a relegation battle. Same can be said for Watford. Better than their position suggests and their owners won't hang about if it looks like they aren't going to turn it around. Both of these clubs will spend to strengthen in January if they need to. They won't make excuses they will do what is needed. Then there's the bottom 3. Wednesday have made a change and if they get a proven operator like Warnock they'll probably stay up even from their current position. On the flip side they could easily make another poor decision and stay stuck down there. I don't think QPR will sit back and do nothing. Suspect Ainsworth is on borrowed time and they'll try something different soon if they don't pick up. I'm not at all advocating getting rid of JDT. I think he is one of the few assets we have here and his departure might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, just pointing out that other clubs will take action to save themselves. We won't. The only chance we are going to have is to hope JDT can sort it out. Forget about January being used to our advantage, I wouldn't waste any time discussing potential signings as we've made our intentions on such fronts perfectly clear in recent years.

He seems to have an air of Venky arrogance about him too. It seems Moore expected a new contract and a healthy pay rise. Not exactly unreasonable given he had a good record over 2 years and won them promotion back to the Championship. But it seems having the audacity to ask for this saw the back of him, but as you say over the medium to long term all it does is end up costing more, both by paying off all the Spaniards, presumably having to pay more than the going rate for a firefighter to come in (with a healthy survival bonus) and if they go down they'll be millions out of pocket. It's got familiar rings to it to what we've had. Could have given Lambert some resources to play with, but because he had the audacity to expect backing and reinvestment they hung him out to dry. Could have got Warnock in when it was a no-brainer but the clowns thought they'd be clever and save a few quid. In the end it cost them £10 million+ as we plunged into League One under Coyle. Could have backed JDT with a couple of million but that isn't the 'project' so end result is we slide down the league and he leaves. Idiots who think they are more intelligent than they really are. What dictators don't like is subordinates making demands of them. They also don't like powerful people beneath them who are respected and admired by the masses. Hence we get yes men and sycophants plodding along doing the dirty work and not rocking the boat whilst telling them how great they are, even if it ends up costing much much more than it would just keeping what works.

Be interesting to see whether Warnock rocks up at Hillsborough or not. Seems that many Sheff Wed fans would have him now knowing he's their best chance of surviving. I'm sure he'd love it and all the fanfare it would bring, winding people up on both sides of Sheffield. Would be a no-brainer in their position but their owner is only one step up from Venkys in the clueless stakes so could do anything.

What is it now, 10 league games since that Millwall away win when we were GD off finishing in the play-offs? The fact that such a short period later we are discussing relegation potential and some people are stating they are confident 'we will be fine' this season speaks volumes. This was of course an opportunity to improve and better last season, and instead due to criminal mismanagement expectations have dropped through the floor. The lowlife owning and running the club are determined to drag it back to League One, i can only presume because life will be easier and cheaper for them there. I'm trying to think of another professional organisation where the budgets would be slashed overnight. It doesn't happen at my amateur cricket club - once a budget is agreed and set it stays.

Some people would insist that it is Venkys or bust for Rovers. The same people cast envious glances at sides like Ipswich, Brentford, Luton, Sunderland, Forest, Hull, Wolves etc. etc. They don't seem to realise that the main reason all the above have shot up the leagues is because they got rid of crap previous owners and got better people in running them.