That's the point I was making. If the Club had backed him in January there's a reasonable chance we'd have got promoted and if we did we'd have the power to resist such interest. It didn't back him so now we are in a weak position. There will be plenty out saying the Club is blameless if he leaves. I disagree for the reasons above.

The line being pursued by the interviewer was that life is only going to get harder for Rovers because there are so many 'big clubs' entering the Championship and 'there might be another' which I took to mean if Sheff Wed beat Barnsley in the final. I think it is lazy to approach things on the basis that 'big clubs' are going to make life any harder or that 'it is only going to get more difficult' next year. One look at the top 6 and play-off final sides this season shows that if anything it is more open than ever with so called 'big' clubs Watford, Norwich, West Brom missing out altogether. The comment about playing better against clubs that come and attack us was added by Broughton in response. Anyhow, I just think it offers a glimpse into the attitudes of those employed by the club. Such an inferiority complex it is unbelievable and it seems they are trying to convince themselves and all those watching that we really are a small operator at this level. Won't be many collected more in media revenue than us this season I'd wager.

So what does 'big clubs' refer to then? Big by Championship standards but not by Rovers? I'd suggest watching the first 5-6 minutes of the interview again. It is quite clear what the interviewer is getting at.

He said 'big clubs'. Being an employee of Rovers talking about Rovers' prospects and aims for next season I'd say the comparison to Rovers goes without saying.

Normally I'd agree with this sentiment, especially compared to the dingles who seem to have the ability to avoid any interest at all in their managers who overperform every year. But in this instance the Club has to shoulder a lot of repsonsibility. It is lazy to simply say 'ah Feyenoord/PSV, he's always going to go there' If he'd been backed in January we'd have got in the play-offs. We might well be preparing for a day at Wembley and getting to the PL. I'm not sure he would walk away from a PL job / season to move to the Eredivisie at this stage in his career. But another long hard Championship season with us rummaging around for free transfers from League One and Two and the excuses about finances already in full swing yeah I don't think anyone could expect him to stay. What's the point, he could get us to top 2 or 3 in January and we might just 'forget' to do the paperwork again or claim FFP rules prevented us signing anyone as is the norm.

Only just got around to watching the full 'official' interview with Broughton on the Club website. Must say that it sticks out to me what sort of an attitude and mentality we have around the Club. Within the first 5 minutes of the interview there was reference to just what 'big' clubs are joining the Championship next season (since when did anyone at Rovers consider Southampton, Ipswich or Plymouth to be big clubs?) and how tough that is going to make things and then the interviewer moves on to asking Broughton about tabloid rumours of interest in JDT. That kind of sums up what a defeatist and small time attitude there is here. You might expect those sort of questions from the likes of Radio Lancashire and the Lancashire Telegraph, but to get them on official club media I think is disturbing. For the record Ipswich, Plymouth and Southampton are not big clubs compared to Rovers and I'd suggest anyone employed at Rovers who thinks so are in the wrong job.

Shame about FFP rules

The Russell Martin one doesn't take much dreaming up either. Broughton used to work at Norwich and Martin played there for many years.

Of course IF JDT was to move on to a club like Feyenoord I don't think anyone could reasonably criticise him for doing so. That's without getting into the fact that the club undermined him in January and derailed our season. Yet you can be sure there will be Rovers fans accusing him of 'not being in it' for the long run or 'not committed' to the cause and us needing a 'long term' manager. Of course what they mean and really want is an Uncle Tony type figure, who would never have attracted interest from elsewhere and would have plodded along on the road to nowhere for 7-8 years but would be great to sit and have a brew and biscuits with from time to time. Of course JDT has demonstrated extreme commitment to this club already, moving across Europe, leaving his wife and kids in Holland, clearly drained after the Millwall game. And to think Mowbray used to act like he was doing us a favour by driving down from Teeside.

It always fascinates me the reaction such 'rumours' get and how quickly they gain traction. JDT to Feyenoord is not news. It is one of the most logical and obvious potentials in football. He's a legend there, he's worked in Dutch football before, he lives over there, his lad plays there. It's inevitable that they would consider him as an option if they had a vacancy. They don't have a vacancy. They might do soon. They will also look at other options like they did 2 years ago when appointing Arne Slot. It's been doing the rounds as a possibility on here for the last few weeks because it is obvious. Then along comes Nixon. He needs something to fill his gossip columns so prints it. Then it all kicks off. It becomes 'fact' that Feyenoord are preparing an approach. Buffoons who write in the Telegraph and Lancs Live, with no sources of their own and desperate for something to write about repeat it. Hey presto, what starts off as a few lines in the Sun to fill up space and get people to buy the rag then appears as 'fact' in the local press, then next news is everyone is asking questions about it convinced it is 'fact' that clubs are in for him. Might be, might not. But I don't think it helps when such organisations are fanning the flames of speculation and uncertainty.

He might if he'd got us to the PL. Anyhow it's Sunday morning and what a surprise Alan Nixon is in The Sun linking a Rovers employee with a move elsewhere. Next news is Rich Sharp and Elliott Jackson follow it up in midweek with similar in the Telegraph and 'Lancs Live' and what starts as column filler from Nixon quickly becomes fact simply by being repeated.

I've no doubt whatsoever that had they not appointed Broughton and gone with his recommendation of JDT then they would have landed us with another clown last summer like they did with Coyle and Kean. I don't think we are quite down to 'life support' stage with them but it is clear that their financial commitment has significantly reduced since Covid and they aren't putting the money in they were. If you believe that this is all down to big bad FFP then good for you, but I don't and I think it is clear that we could spend more, as evidenced by what we did from 2018-2020 under Mowbray which we have since drastically cut back on. Last summer showed that they will allow some funds into the squad, but this seems to only be available to certain types of players e.g. if there is a good business argument behind getting them or if the funds are generated first e.g. by selling Armstrong for a big fee. I am worried about Broughton's comment in the press because if there's no money it doesn't take much to end up in serious trouble in this league if a decent manager walks as shown by Huddersfield. I hope that the India trip changes things.

I hope Luton do it. I think Coventry are more likely to fall to pieces if they miss out, especially if Robins moves on, plus I'm not aware of Luton breaking any league rules this season, whereas Coventry have.

Bad news for Waggott and the rest of the 'poor little Rovers' brigade. Can't point to crowds, money, parachute payments.

Correct. No Desso pitch and just the usual minimum effort of removing the top layer and replacing. He'll come with some flannel about how much it is costing and how kind the owners have been but it is pretty much the bare minimum to expect of any professional football club.

Mowbray was the ideal man to take over when Neil ditched them. Available, local, keeps a happy camp, a father figure for a young squad, tells the fans what they like to hear and a steady record of avoiding any relegation trouble. Sunderland were sensible, they knew an off the wall appointment after Neil could send them back to where they came. They needed a safe pair of hands to get them through and they surpassed expectations sneaking into the playoffs It is clear though that their owner and Director of Football have a plan and ambition, so it may seem odd to us after listening to Mowbray's tripe for 5 years about a journey that they make such a decision but that's what engaged, ambitious owners do, we just aren't used to it here. I must say if they do sack him off it is going to be interesting to witness the reaction of his acolytes in the Rovers fanbase. There are still plenty who reckon he was hard done to here and that we should have given him more time (to do what exactly?). So it will be hilarious to see those same people if Sunderland sack him after 9 months having got them into the play-offs. Goes to show that the Club is bigger than one man and the direction and ambitions of the Club come first, not the wishes and feelings of one man. It was the wrong way around here, no more so evident than the giant flag of him that Waggott had commissioned and flown before home games.

Ifs, buts, maybes again. Simple fact is it didn't happen. You don't win prizes or get credit in the bank for trying but failing. You need to make it happen. The window was a disaster. The squad was weakened, or at the very best stood still when it needed strengthening. This directly undermined our promotion push and cost us at least a play-off position. 4 months on and Waggott has said nothing, Broughton has taken responsibility but failed to explain what actually happened (only that it definitely wasn't anything at all to do with the owners, careful to make sure they aren't blamed for anything), there have been no changes made to personnel and I anticipate that we face a long few weeks waiting to see if JDT fancies another crack at it or finds employment elsewhere rather than stay with these timewasters. 'If Swag gets the allocation of responsibilities for paperwork right' - good grief, this is a bloke who has been CEO for over 5 years and is paid a 6 figure salary and we are wondering if he'll learn from January and get the paperwork right? Isn't that the reason we've paid him for the last 5 years, to ensure the operation runs smoothly?

Is that another 'can't' from the club that can't? We're a professional football club, employing hundreds of people with a payroll of millions of pounds a year and had a place in the most valuable and lucrative league in the world within reach and you're seriously buying the 'we don't have enough time to do the paperwork' excuse? The window was open for a month, and we had months to prepare for it. What a losing mentality we have around this Club.

Ifs buts and maybes. We're good at those. Why couldn't we get someone else instead after he was no longer an option?

And they can't employ people like Waggott to blame that on cash, fanbases or FFP rules, all of which even after their havoc we still have an advantage over Luton on... for now.

Sunderland's entire second half 'onslaught' limited to 2-3 shots off target from outside of the area. A familiar story. Watching the footage there are some very strange / unpleasant people involved at Luton. But there's no doubt they've earned a shot at Wembley after last season and this.

Leicester will want promotion next season and will do whatever they can do do that. Rovers I'm not sure do want promotion and if they do they've a funny way of showing it. That's really all there is to it for an ambitious manager. Where will their ambitions be best met?

I don't think he needs a long term contract. He has a deal for the next two years and ultimately unless we get promoted I don't see much point in that running any longer. He is unlikely to want to sit around here for 4-5 years going nowhere like Mowbray was willing to do. He wants to be successful as a manager and the only way of doing that here is to get promoted. We had a chance in his debut season and the owners/underlings undermined it by refusing/failing to back him in January. If we manage to keep hold of him this summer then next season I suspect is last chance saloon. He'll either get us up in which case happy days or we fail in which case I think he will look to pastures new.

Perfect opportunity to join forces with a lucrative big name sponsor who will be able to pay a hefty sum for shirt sponsorship particularly after our frequent live broadcasts increasing exposure. Should help with FFP issues. Then I woke up.

Those people who are not getting one or considering not getting one because of the Sky deluge and fixture changes would presumably be much more willing if they were being asked to pay £219 rather than £379-429. That's the point here - if we adopted pricing say the same as at Bolton then even if you were to miss half the games you'd still be getting admission for less than £20 a game which most people would consider excellent value. It comes back to price. What we are charging is too much, with or without Sky games, but obviously exacerbated further by the fact we have been on so much in the second half of the last 2 seasons. A proactive CEO would recognise this and do something about it. Ours hasn't, instead carting on with the same policy that has set us back years and reduced numbers every year.