JHRover

There's no evidence, of course there isn't, just as there isn't hard evidence for many other things including claims we've bid for players or offered players certain terms. This probably all exists in the heads of 2-3 people, mainly the shadow man and his assistant who are ultimately making these sort of day to day decisions. But I'm not one for believing in coincidences where this mob are concerned and don't think it is any sort of coincidence that a previously indispensable component of our team, and captain, suddenly finds himself frozen out of even substitute appearances despite the team looking in a state of disarray and leaderless. I think if you look at incomings and outgoings there's plenty of reason to suspect that these are motivated by financial concerns - wages, transfer value, age - generally those on bigger money, on the wrong side of 26/27 and those who might attract interest from elsewhere - are ushered out of the exit door.

The last few years i have been concerned by the apparent relentless march towards the 'academy model' and the obsession the Club and many fans seem to have with always relying on the academy lads to step up to the plate and perform consistently to Championship standards. We've certainly had our fair share of good academy graduates these last few years and those involved deserve some credit for their work. But I think it is a risky and dangerous game. So far we've done well with it because we've had a perfect blend of experience and youth. Even last seaosn you had Championship experience in Ayala, Hyam, Kaminski, Travis, Dack, BBD, Gallagher. Enough there to provide a solid base and platform for the younger end to rely on and be guided through difficult times and keep the spirit up, or make a couple of changes later on in games. This has now all but been completely eroded. We are left with Hyam who has been in and out of the team and form (and who actually only has a couple of seasons behind him at this level), Travis who has been exiled for what I believe to be financial reasons, Gallagher who has had his traditional spell on the sidelines. Other than that there's hardly anything resembling years of experience at this level or above. This experience isn't getting replaced, it is only going one way and I think we are soon to enter the end game with it. As I say they've got away with it the last 3 years because there has always been that base still beneath it but they've gone too far with it now and it is going to cost us big time eventually.

Too late now. The message is out and 2 weeks have passed by with the club stubbornly sticking to their daft idea. Even if they were to announce on Thursday that paper tickets are available it leaves all of 24 hours or so for the message to get out and people to change their minds and go.

At the moment no, assuming that we continue with the same formation or that Wharton and Tronstad remain fit and available for the rest of the season. Does he fit our style? What is our style? Our diabolical run of results has occurred with him out of the team, so perhaps his absence is causing more of an issue than people think. On the flip side he played almost every minute of most games last season and the season before when we were entrenched in the top 6. So perhaps we need to think more about cold hard results than this mythical 'style' which I am becoming less and less convinced is a route to success and more convinced it is a route to winning plaudits and putting £££s on values. Can we replace him with better? Possibly, but with no money and alleged government restrictions I'd wager that we won't replace him at all, or at best with a loan and that doesn't really get us anywhere. For the record I am not suggesting that Travis is a great player. But I am suggesting that he offers important attributes that few others in our squad offer. I look at the young lads shoulders slumped as Huddersfield and Hull are banging in goals against us and want someone in there with some fire in his belly, which Travis offers. Too many 'nice lads nice footballers' in there not enough warriors already. I think JDT would be insane to stay here beyond this season unless something drastic changes with the owners and the budgets. He will know by now if he didn't last summer that they only way is down whilst the club remains fixated on cutting corners and costs every window.

I've heard this a few times and it seems they hide behind a 'rule' that you aren't allowed to encroach on another league club's patch. I'm not aware that such a rule exists and I'd love to see how they plan on enforcing it or indeed determine what counts as 'patch' particularly in places like London and Greater Manchester but hey if it saves them at Rovers a job what's not to like? Let's just focus our already limited efforts on a small area with a dwindling number of supporters and make no efforts in heartlands including Rossendale, South Ribble and the Ribble Valley. Makes my blood boil especially when numpties come along explaining how we are a 'small town' ignoring the realities of the region and support base.

He's got a funny way of showing it having had him in the team as captain pretty much every game until a month or so ago. Perhaps JDT has been told that more sales are required in January and that Travis is in their crosshairs on the basis his 'development' is complete. 200 career games. Known around the Championship. Captain / leadership experience. Time to cash in and find another "project" and get his wages out. JDT has made it clear these things aren't his remit and he'll be gone too in a few months so needn't worry about it.

We don't need to sell anyone and shouldn't sell anyone unless it allows for reinvestment. That's the first issue that needs addressing. If its going the same way as the last few windows we won't see money from sales so there's little benefit to be had to the team. Good news for the financial guys though....

I was always under the impression that Blues Bar was separate to the other hospitality facilities - Premier Suite, Red Rose Suite, Jack's Kitchen - in that it was still under the control and management of the Club whereas Sodexo control the rest and also the catering kiosks around the ground. I think this is why there is a fee to get into the Blues Bar, why their choice of beverages is wider than the other bars and why certain promotions apply in the Sodexo ones but not Blues Bar I might be wrong on that or it might have changed more recently. Either way of course it is another example of the club washing its hands of any responsibility and farming it out to a third party like they've done with everything else, or if it is still under the club's control it shows just how little pride there is down there, they'd sooner the place be a bland neutral venue than one that reflects our great history that this rabble are wrecking.

Since the day they sacked Allardyce and appointed Kean it has always been not what you know but who you know down there. See also Coyle over Warnock and the retention of certain people whilst those with ambition who won't put up with such nonsense don't last long. When you prioritise being 'nice' and telling you what you want to hear over getting the best people for the job decline is inevitable.

There isn't a problem with it if done in moderation to supplement and bolster your squad. When it is the cornerstone of your recruitment it is a problem. Anyway, you said there was 'nothing Rovers can do' about Bournemouth recalling him. Whilst that might be correct if we'd have signed our own CB to replace the outgoing Ayala then we wouldn't need to worry about such things.

Too far for him to travel surely? How would he ever cope managing that lot whilst commuting from Teesside after we were such an inconvenience for him?

Could just sign our own players rather than rely on loans every year?

It seems to me that there are only 3 ways things change and we become free of Venkys: 1) That their business interests / personal fortunes take such a battering that they can no longer afford to keep us going. 2) Something dodgy / corrupt / criminal / humiliating comes out of the woodwork forcing legal action or sanctions and they are forced out this way 3) They suddenly decide to give it up as it isn't worth it - probably only going to happen when the gang of four either die or pass on their power to a new generation who might have more sense Given what we have witnessed here in the last 13 years I suspect option 2 is the most likely, but still unlikely.

It wouldn't take a couple of hundred million to repay the bank loans. The vast majority of the 'debt' is owed to Venkys, which they could write off if they wanted. The money owed to the Bank of India is a different matter altogether but fortunately this is a very small percentage of the total.

I assume Sheffield Wednesday have been quick to send him back knowing he's not going to be available for a couple of months. They need immediate bodies for their survival scrap and won't want to pay him to sit around for 2 months using up a squad space. So we can do that instead. This might cause additional problems. I believe his exit on loan was a prerequisite to us getting Hill and Moran in late on during the window and if that is correct there will need to be another outgoing to free up the cash for Buckley

Yes they have, soon after being taken over by a new ambitious owner who has immediately made positive changes and pumped money in and hasn't hidden behind every excuse going as to why he can't. Some people would have us believe that there is no such possibility of that here and instead we've to soldier on as a zombie club with a pointless existence.

Not that long ago we were winning the League at Anfield, we were a better side than them, and even in the early years of this rotten regime we were playing them with regularity and beating them at Ewood. Fast forward a decade and I'm trying to imagine just how little pride or care there is rattling around down there to accept, support, welcome, even just tolerate hosting an event celebrating the 'legends' of what was until recently a rival. Even if we were a perennial League Two club it is simply something you 'don't do' in the world of English football and such a historic footballing region as this. It really is sickening.

This would be unthinkable at any other Football League club. I include Accy Stanley in that who I can't believe would plunge to such depths.

There's clearly a move to ship Travis out, and it seems with the defensive targets that logically Carter is also being offloaded. That will get them £5 million or so, a chunk of it immediately. Sign a kid from Crewe and a loan to replace and on it goes. Not exactly the Brentford model and will only end one way sooner or later.

So we "refurb" Blues Bar several years ago now, but can't be arsed getting rid of the old decor and instead just leave it piled up to rot in a corner of Ewood Park? Sounds about right. When you can't even be bothered or don't have enough pride to dispose of your waste properly is it any wonder this Club is in the state it is?

It already did end up there after they tried it the last time around. For some reason it was delayed by a few years at that point - I strongly believe that this was purely down to Mowbray going to India in the summer of 2017, talking them round and persuading them to 'back him' which to be fair they did to a degree for 2-3 years until they either gave up, ran out of cash or realised he wasn't good enough to finish the job. Since then it's been back to shadow man playing the project on a vastly reduced budget. He's behind it all, it's a bit more structured and thought out than last time around with the academy and D of F running it but fundamentally it is the same purpose - cut, cut, cut, reduce, reduce, reduce and unless you are very, very good, which our lot are not, it usually takes you one way and one way only. It is possible to be successful on a limited budget - Luton, Coventry, Brentford, Huddersfield - though they'll have us believe it isn't possible - but I don't think any of that lot prioritised cost cutting and individual development. It was all about making the team better and making shrewd additions where needed.

100% agree. When it was eventually decided that Mowbray and Venus were off there was a void that needed filling. Them two had controlled recruitment for 5 years and they wanted someone to take over that job BUT also work under tighter constraints both on costs and on input from upstairs. Someone who could take whatever scraps the owners decide to send (if any) and use it to cobble together a competitive side in line with the 'project' i.e. young, cheap, 'good' football. But then when things start to go wrong, which they will inevitably do if the budgets are cut every year sometimes more than once Waggott and his mate can plonk GB in front of the cameras to explain it all. Not daft when it comes to protecting themselves and their positions this lot.

All going swimmingly well this season for the owners, their representative and the bloke masquerading as a chief executive: Another summer gone by with a negative net transfer spend and several 'big' earners off the books - Dack, Diaz, Kaminski Manager has tolerated their latest nonsense and not (yet) resigned saving them aggravation Results inconsistent but good enough to (so far) avoid any serious relegation discussion, which is when things start getting uncomfortable upstairs. Nice and steady down the middle of the road is how we like it. Saves expectations of any serious additions in January if not in a promotion push like the last couple of years. Another decent league cup run leading to a money spinner at Chelsea Academy lads' values and stats improving all the time, not to mention a potential jackpot with Szmodics scoring every other week Now that things are inevitably coming off the rails, thanks to the owners and their henchmen, all eyes and blame goes to Broughton and JDT either for not recruiting well enough or for not using the players well enough. Almost no blame from what I read and hear (other than a few on this website) directed towards the people in control. Happy days for the boys upstairs. Should have enough to limp along until May, a couple of big sales this window or next will keep the owners (or their bankers) happy and best of all they get no grief or hassle for any of it. JDT unlikely to be here much beyond May at the latest so they can then string us along through the summer 'give the new man a chance FFS' and rinse and repeat.

Agreed. Whoever is in the dugout it's just window dressing but it amazes me anyone would entertain Mowbray back here after his conduct the last time around.

What is also real is that from circa 2020 to 2023 (before there was any mention of Indian government involvement or restrictions) the club embarked on a substantial cost cutting process. This meant little to no cash for transfers, large scale reduction in squad size and wages and a borderline obsession with dipping into the academy at every turn rather than sourcing players externally. I know what is in the accounts. I've read them. That doesn't mean signing a few players for cash would immediately put us in danger of a points deduction or embargo, just as it hasn't for all those other Championship clubs who have posted far greater losses than we have in recent years. I find it odd you mentioned Boro reinvesting sale proceeds into new players. In recent times we've sold Armstrong, Raya and Kaminski and reinvested a grand total of about 15% of the money on Szmodics, Hyam, Brittain and Pickering, the rest they are 'unable' to reinvest due to an array of excuses which now includes FFP, Indian government and the best of the lot the club secretary (still employed) getting temporary amnesia and forgetting how to register a loan signing on deadline day. End result the same - reductions across the board.