The police need to investigate the ALLEGATIONS, then prosecute if necessary. Until then the Club should provide the police with whatever evidence they have and let them get on with it.

Birmingham have been in free fall the last few weeks. Won 2 of their last 10 and that includes the Cup game against lowly Forest Green.

It doesn't require magic. Just requires the replacement of Waggott with a decent CEO who is going to be allowed to do the job properly. Oh and a Commercial Director for the first time in 7 years might come in useful. Once again the problems we have on turnover and commercial aspects are at least in part created by our own negligent approach. So the Club cannot use that as an excuse on the old turnover/wages calculation. Take it seriously, do something about it, appoint competent people, then you can use it as an excuse.

I suspect by the time kick off comes round we will be looking at similar to the Forest fixture. I would hope with it being a Saturday 3pm game and well priced that there is a healthy number buying on the day.

Thinking a bit more about this. As a season ticket holder and 1875 member, I should have indisputable priority on away tickets. This scheme appears to circumvent that, as there no reference, and given the target audience I suspect no expectation, that anyone buying will be existing ST or 1875 members. So problem number 1 is why random people, who have made no commitment to Rovers previously, are able to jump to the front of the queue. It seems they will have priority for this over say London branch people who don't have STs or for whatever reason didn't buy 1875 membership. That simply cannot be right. Now of course it is one coach, so a relatively small number, and I don't expect we will sell out (albeit the club should be looking at this as a play off 6 pointer and expecting a big following as we usually get in London fixtures, and the tickets are well priced). You seemingly have the possibility here that 50+ non ST holders / non 1875 members can buy their tickets now to the exclusion of ST holders if we reach full allocation, Problem number 2 is the price. If I wanted conventional official away travel and a ticket it would set me back £57. This scheme costs £55, and includes a detour, more mileage, longer travelling and food. So I think I would be asking why it is cheaper to get more. Are the official away travel people being over charged? Or is this scheme being subsidised? If so by whom? Everyone else? The Club? Or external organisations? I think as someone shovelling thousands of pounds a year into the Club and match tickets this information should be made public.

Did they intervene or did they just fail to authorise it? I think the difference is important. An intervention suggests that for right or wrong someone at the top table keeps tabs on performances, positions, results, form, key players and whilst it might not make a lot of sense financially would suggest at least some interest and ambition from the top table. The alternative, and the one which I believe, is simply that the top table are just too far detatched and so completely disinterested in the operation of the Club that nobody could get approval back from them in good enough time to make those deals happen. Of course the Waggotts, Broughtons, Mowbrays of this world will tell us it is the former. They are going to want the paying public to believe the owners are interested and keeping tabs on things. My belief is that short of approving an annual budget in the summer the top owners take no part in the running of the club and instead expect Pasha and Waggott to get on with it and not darken their doorway. But where the 'big' investment is still reserved for the top owners to approve - see purchases of Gallagher, Diaz, Armstrong - they have also reserved the power to sell assets. I don't think Waggott or similar have that authority.

So Blackpool and Wigan change managers just before they play us. We've seen this before. Nevertheless we should be confident at home against them. They are bottom of this rubbish league for a reason.

It's a strange on alright. I hope he provides much needed pace and delivery, two things we are sorely missing, but as others have pointed out, and as I've argued with various players in our squad at times, the issue is less to do with individual qualities/abilities and more to do with our system and tactics in my opinion. So unless that changes and quickly I struggle to see how this will go. I also think it is very strange that Huddersfield, in their precarious position, would be happy to send him here on loan. The only logical conclusion is either that they are in dire straits financially and need to save on his wages/he's had a falling out of sorts there and they don't want him around the place if he isn't going to feature. I can't really comment on the player as I can't remember seeing him play but he deserves the benefit of the doubt. More generally though this is once again at odds with our proclaimed policy of a 'project' and 'journey'. No problem personally with making 'impact' signings in the hope it makes a difference and gets us over the line. But it is the age old problem - a short term fix which come the summer (assuming we don't go up) we are going to need to address, in addition to dealing with the BBD void. This suggests there is little money or plan.

Well after leaving here he had a further 5 Premier League jobs and got the England national team job (on merit, not by being in the right place at the right time like Southgate). So I'm not sure he 'thought he was better than he was'. Quite clearly he is/was a very good manager who had PL clubs lining up for his services.

I don't agree with it. They did something similar for the Bradford Cup game earlier this season. I also think it is a publicity stunt. Notice the question about whether people consent to being filmed and having their photos taken. They don't send photographers on the official away coaches so it's interesting they intend to do so for this. I've no problem with efforts being made to grow the fanbase and get new people into it but this is a drop in the ocean when you are losing hundreds or thousands of ST holders due to onerous price hikes and them feeling disenfranchised.

Speaking of Rovers being proved wrong on ticketing issues I took a photo at Ashton Gate on Saturday of Bristol City advertising members tickets for their home league game against Norwich for £15. For Norwich fans adults are £33 and seniors £30. Rovers have claimed time and time again that we cannot charge away fans more than home fans. That is not true. So Rovers could offer a similar sort of thing for 1875 members (Burnley game for one) and fill Ewood with home fans at £15 a ticket and screw the dingles for £30.

Who do you think has improved? I'd argue that Morton, Trav, Kaminski, BBD, Gallagher and Scott Wharton have all deteriorated as the season has gone on. I think Dack has improved, mainly due to getting himself fit JRC and Buckley perhaps improved but in both cases we don't really know because neither featured at the start of the season. Adam Wharton burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion then left out altogether. Brittain you can put down to fitness but either way he's a long way off being where we hoped he would. Ayala and Hyam pretty consistent but in terms of goals conceded alarmingly high recently. I think a general malaise has crept in whether that is down to management, running out of ideas, confidence or simply running out of steam after such a good start but I'm reluctant to lay the blame for it at any one players' door.

Travis played every game for us last season which got into promotion contention, and played every game this until our downturn in form which he seems to have been made the scapegoat for (substitute for previous CMs - Williamson, Lowe, Evans). If the manager doesn't like him I think that raises concerns about the manager given he made him captain and played him every game until the start of this year. Does it take 20 odd games and 6 months to conclude you don't like a player? Incidentally how many players in this squad would people say have improved as the season goes on? Dack maybe but I suspect that is more down to fitness rebuilding than anything. I'd say virtually everyone else has deteriorated as the season has gone on.

I look at our teams recently and have to question the line about developing young players. Kaminski plays every week - not young Ayala plays every week when fit - not young Hyam plays every week - not young Gallagher when fit - not young BBD about to walk for nothing Dack now playing every week - not young Even people like Scott Wharton, Harry Pickering, Travis, Buckley, Callum Brittain, Szmodics aren't young in football terms - they should be at their peak and are experienced pros now. What we really have is a handful of promising youngsters - Ash Phillips, Adam Wharton, Jake Garrett - who are genuinely young and have made the breakthrough into the first team, yet in recent weeks have appeared less and less or shown they aren't yet up to it.

I'd rather we didn't see the FA Cup as a way of making money. That sort of language should be for the non-league clubs and Accy Stanleys of this world not Blackburn Rovers. We should see progression in the cup for its sporting reasons - a competition we had a long and proud history in until not that long ago. Mowbray's record in this competition was abysmal, so we are due a good run in the competition. But yeah, I get the point about money. If it really is of such critical importance as people like Waggott claim then you might expect to see the Club doing all it can to generate cash from it. But as Mowbray's lamentable efforts in the competitions show, the Club's actions often don't match its words.

I detect a pattern emerging with some of our loan business as well. We seem to be the 'guinea pigs' for young players on loan, often being the first opportunity the players get to go and play in the Championship. It seems to be rare that we bring in players who have played elsewhere on loan at this level previously. They come here, do ok or well for a season or half a season, and then after that we seem to stand no chance of bringing them back for another spell and instead they head off to rival Championship clubs instead. I'm thinking here of Tosin, Harwood-Bellis, Khadra, Poveda, Clarkson, Morton, Branthwaite, JPVH It seems to suggest to me that we are content to take the gamble on these sort of lads, give them their first real opportunity at this level, then once they've come here and done well rival clubs willing to pay more money get them later. So Khadra going to Sheff Utd/Birmingham, Harwood Bellis to Stoke/Dingles, Tosin to Fulham, next one might be JPVH to Mboro. We hardly seem to have a sniff of getting them back yet rival clubs can get them. I assume this is because having had a heavily subsidised initial spell at Rovers the costs go up considerably with parent clubs demanding far greater wage contributions.

Venkys have never recognised or accepted the need for a competent, driven, capable and empowered chairman, CEO or board at the Club. That has been one of the constants of their reign of terror, from forcing out Williams, Finn and Goodman, never replacing them, then a series of micky mouse candidates with micky mouse job titles, then ending up with Mike Cheston (Financial Director) effectively the only remaining board member having to handle Fan Consultation meetings (Whatever happened to those?), wheeling out Bob Coar to provide some semblance of a functioning structure. Eventually it seemed the penny had dropped with appointing an actual CEO in Waggott (notwithstanding his obvious links to Mowbray from their Coventry days which raised serious questions about how the arrangement had come about). But it seems not. It appears to me that Waggott is a CEO in name only. Not judged or tasked by the owners to perform any function beyond limiting expenditure, cutting costs and extracting as much as possible from the fans. It seems to me they agreed to appoint him but only if he saved them money in the process. No interest in the growth, development, improvement, advancement of the Club, its fanbase, facilities, reputation, status. Capable only of nominal stunts like running a bus round Blackburn primary schools to win positive publicity but actually achieve very little, all the while paying support numbers drop in the face of hefty price increases during a pandemic and recession. He's so brazen and unapologetic about it. Nothing else matters in his quest to hit his targets. The impact and consequences of his policies won't be immediately felt and he'll be long gone by the time they are felt.

He'll be along pointing to 10% inflation and will dress a price rise up as necessary but 'inflation beating' or something similar.

Nothing has changed and the reason for that is because nothing at the top has changed. You can make changes to who does what, shuffle things around but it's all cosmetic. Fundamentally the core issue remains - disinterested clueless owners and their underlings wanting to cut costs. Very conveniently though when business doesn't get done or questions get asked Mr Broughton is the go to man - he's the one paid to front the operation, deal with the media and turn up to games. Meanwhile the others get to carry on as they were with no scrutiny or pressure. Almost as though that was the plan all along - add more layers and put more distance between those upstairs and the outcome of their policies.

He really needs to expand his repertoire. The 'good old Uncle Tony' routine got boring at Rovers with the lemon drizzle cake, history lessons about 'when I was a lad' and will do at Sunderland when they see through it. It's all to make himself out to be a normal man of the people, honest as they come. Personally I'd rather have a nasty piece of work and ruthless gaffer who learns from mistakes and drags the club forward, which he was clearly incapable of doing. He's not totally stupid though. He knows how to ingratiate himself with those around him so they all eat out of his hands and hang on his every word.

A quick glance at the table tonight. We share a play-off position with Watford, Middlesbrough and WBA. Now fair enough you can put forward an argument that on paper and on spending we have no right at this moment in time to be expecting to finish above them 3 (that isn't to say I accept being inferior on quality or spending to those clubs, but the reality is that's where Venkys have taken us). But go beneath the top 6 and look at the 'chasing pack' and it is nothing at all to fear. We have Norwich (arguably a decent side on paper but a shadow of what they were in years gone by and we've beat them twice recently). We have Millwall and Luton (two organised solid sides but not blessed with quality). Swansea (very inconsistent). Sunderland (fresh out of Lge 1 and managed by muddled Mowbray) and QPR (look like sliding away under new management). I suppose what I'm getting at here is that other than possibly Norwich there should be nothing and nobody in the pack behind us that we should be fearing or expecting to do better than us over the course of the rest of this season. I'm tired of this 'poor little Rovers' routine. We should be expecting to match or better Millwall, Luton, Sunderland, QPR, Swansea and the like over the next 19 games or whatever it is. None of that lot have the parachute cash excuse to hide behind. Do that and it becomes 4 from 5 between us, Norwich, WBA, Mboro and Watford for the play-offs. The other way of looking at it is if the season finished with us where we are, or a place or two lower, the argument could be made that we had done about as well as could be expected and that all the sides above us should be on depth, spending and quality. But drop much further than 2 more places and sides are there that shouldn't be above us on depth, spending and quality. If we are finishing below Luton, Millwall, Sunderland, QPR it isn't because they are bigger, richer, or coming out of the PL. The way I'd be approaching the rest of the season is on that basis. We need to match or better those clubs below us of which only 1-2 should really concern us. The rest are much of a muchness and if we aren't confident of doing better than them from where we are we might as well give up

Then you sell an asset or two to plug the gap. An Armstrong or a Diaz under proper contracts fetch £15 million a piece. If you do it properly and ensure your assets are under solid contracts you can command big money, which can be used to offset losses and go again. Once again the 'can't do' attitude prevails. Brentford managed it, as did Bournemouth, Leicester, Palace, Brighton.

a few bits to add. a lot of the frustration and anger, certainly on my part, is the clubs those players have and will go to. Only Diaz looks like taking a major step up. Lenihan (Middlesbrough), Nyambe (Wigan), Rothwell (Bournemouth) and Raya (Brentford) are have not left here to go to bigger or better clubs or indeed clubs that should be able to offer them considerably more than us. Whatever the truth is it doesn't reflect well on Rovers. You might be right - we've 'done all we can' and nothing more can be expected. If so aren't you just a little bit alarmed that those players would rather move to such clubs than stay at Rovers? I know I am. Rather than shrug shoulders, convince ourselves that's just the way it is and nothing more can be said or done let's just accept it and move on the best way of preventing it happening again in future is to identify what has gone wrong and deal with it - including removing those responsible from positions of power (Pasha, Waggott). The fact they are still on the gravy train albeit with an added cushion between themselves and accountability (Broughton) concerns me. I think we all know you can't force players to sign new deals. But I think we are all entitled to feel a little bit concerned and aggrieved when so many are leaving, for so little, mainly to tin pot Championship rivals. You can hide behind the 'money' excuse in Bournemouths case but it really shouldn't be happening with the others. I'm entitled to ask how this has happened and keep on bringing it up when I am being told my ticket prices need to be some of the most expensive in this league to boost income.

Any points deduction or sanction that causes any serious issue will simply be suspended or implemented at a later date. Only have to look at the 'punishment' of Wigan for failing to pay their players on multiple occasions, and the laughable 'punishment' dished out to Coventry for being incapable of hosting fixtures for the first month of the season. The League will wriggle their way around to avoid any controversy, so will be desperately hoping Sheff U get promoted thus taking the issue out of their hands. They've shown zero appetite or stomach for clamping down on such things.

There's two sides to it for me. On the one side is Rovers - its owners, management and actions, on the other side is football and life in general. On the Rovers side I don't think there's much I need to say that hasn't already been said. I can cope with a lack of success, I can cope with not spending money, I can cope with struggling, I can cope with being in the Championship or below. What I can't cope with is negligent owners, who think their responsibility extends simply as far as signing the cheques every year and nothing more, I can't cope with a CEO who treats supporters with contempt, intent on milking them for every penny he can not to benefit the club, but simply to meet his own targets and justify his continued employment and massive renumeration. There's nothing that angers me more than knowing some fly by night shyster(s) on a 6 figure salary is taking the complete p1ss out of me and everyone else who spends their hard earned money going to Ewood. The whole Club is in a rut, leaderless and pointless, going nowhere and going through the motions, anyone who wants or expects better greeted with the usual 'can't do' attitude. Matchday is a dismal experience created by a couldn't care less attitude from those working there. The people below the owners are happy just to remain in situ, collecting their huge wages keeping things ticking over whilst the Club treads water. There's no plan beyond the next 6-12 months other than arse covering and justifying continued positions. A lot of it is on the other side and not really anything to do with Rovers, but it all contributes to feeling fed up and sick of it all. Sky TV, ridiculous kick off times, scandalous ticket prices, never ending rule changes, VAR, virtue signalling. All I want to be able to do is go and watch my team play and enjoy my Saturday yet it seems they are hell bent on depriving me of that by putting obstacles and barriers in place at every turn. The experience of Covid brought things more clearly into focus. I realised that I didn't really miss not going to games and that I was quite content to sit at home and watch on TV, saving myself vast amounts of money and hassle. Since Covid I've got back into the routine of going but unlike before I really don't care if I miss a game or two. Likewise Rotherham last week I left after an hour, the earliest I have ever left a game. Bored witless and fed up so I'll spend my time in the pub instead. Off to Bristol tomorrow but it is more about the day out, trip and a few drinks than it is about watching the match.