JHRover

Blackpool under the Oystons and Accy Stanley under their pre-Holt ownership used to basically sign a new squad every summer as their previous group were released/sold off to clubs with ambition/loans returned. Not sustainable and not a plan but they probably signed more players than anyone else, a direct result of the short term approach they selected in a bid to minimise costs. It involves taking an almighty gamble with league status every year in the hope those signed are good enough to avoid relegation. I think Chaddy and others would have loved supporting either of those clubs as they could spend every summer excitedly discussing what signings were coming whilst proven players rushed for the exit door. If you think that 'model' is sustainable or acceptable for this club or division you're wrong. Those most qualified - Mowbray, JDT, Eustace - knew this which is why they aren't here any more.

The Consultation Meetings used to be recorded / broadcast on the radio so that everyone could directly hear what was said by the club. By comparison this nonsense over minutes is absolutely outrageous given it is the only way fans can find out about how the club is being run. If the joke that is the EFL had any interest or backbone they would not be accepting this arrangement as being compliant with their regulations on supporter communication/consultation.

They did that back in 2015 and it relegated us. It was only after relegation in 2017 and sitting down with Mowbray they were persuaded to change track and have a spend again to get us back up. By COVID and 2021 they'd got fed up again and cut Mowbray's funding. Since then it has been cut after cut after cut with a noticeable further cut in summer 2023 after their legal issues emerged.

The owners don't do anything. They don't care, never have, never will. But they don't like it when they and their subordinates attract attention in the media. They think they are gods and expect to be thanked and revered as such. Their underlings want the status quo to continue as it keeps them in cushy and lucrative employment. The best way for them to ensure that their gravy train ride continues is to keep the owners under the impression that all is well and everyone is happy, and the best way of conning the fanbase into believing that is by making out as though the owners are backing the club, investing, wanting it to do better. No evidence for any of it, as they couldn't really care less about what happens at the club, but costs nothing for the stooges to drip exaggerated figures to people like Nixon and Jackson, and in return they get the deluded fans lapping it up, maybe even buying tickets off the back of it to help with their annual figures.

Anything that requires cost, planning, time, or effort forget about it. This the club that couldn't be arsed with programmes any more because it was all just too much effort, and one look around Ewood Park tells us all we need to know about the levels of pride around the place. When basic maintenance and cleanliness are too much effort and cost then celebrating an anniversary forget about it. At best we are going to get the usual twitter videos with a dozen 'legends' and it sounds like they might have commissioned a one-off kit (why you'd do it for a one-off game rather than the whole season I don't know). I'm at the point I'm almost glad that this regime isn't trying to exploit past glories and pride for its own ends. Personally I don't think they should attempt to capitalise on the pre-2010 history of this club when all they've done is disgrace it.

Coming together as one! | rovers.co.uk July 2023 - Waggott boasting about continuing to attend both Fans Forum and Supporter Consultation Meetings, even though the latter he disbanded three years previous during Covid under safety reasons and haven't occurred since. They're laughing at us.

When you look at the despicable way the club has conducted itself in recent transfer windows (McGuire, O'Brien) together with the outrageous departures mid-season of JDT and Eustace, together with the complete and utter inertia on new contracts for key players, joining those few dots together tells me that this is not a club that any self-respecting individual would want to stay at. We are basically a vessel for younger/foreign players who need a route into English football / staff who can't get work elsewhere to come in and use us for a season or two before they move on to the bright lights of places like Derby and Middlesbrough. I expect that this club's reputation and name is in the gutter when it comes to doing deals with other clubs/players after the conduct we have witnessed in recent years. They don't care about that though.

A new feature of the regime is to 'soften the blow' of a popular player departing by throwing together a short video at Brockhall about what great times we've had. I think it began when they were seeing off people like Bennett, Graham and Dack, then there was the Adam Wharton 'always be a Rover' one and now it is common practice to do it with every half popular player. In contrast to the old way of things we had where they just bundled the player out the back door with a couple of sentences on the club website. One thing I'll give credit to the Venky stooge for is that he's learned the ways of manipulating the fanbase during his time in control. It was a bit of a circus back in 2015-16 but over time he's learned that a lot of fans will quickly forgive and forget provided the club does a little bit of PR work to go with it. They can almost make the operation appear normal and make out as though our activity is just all part and parcel of life. That and getting Jackson and Nixon doing the dirty work with 'player imminently signing non-existent contract offer' and 'Rovers backed into a corner by player' drivel.

Venkys' summer costs covered in one deal and to make matters better another pesky player demanding Championship level wages out of the way. Pat on the back for chief Venky stooge Pasha as he earns his corn downgrading the club. And to put the icing on the cake some supporters, admittedly few in number, are falling for the 'unreasonable player' line again in their desperate deluded bid to blame anyone and anything but the utter lowlife owning and destroying BRFC.

I'll ask again - why was the game only announced less than 2 weeks ago after having a blank weekend in the diary for months? And more importantly why are Rovers agreeing to / arranging a game - the final friendly before the season starts in our 150th anniversary season - not behind closed doors but open to home fans and closed to away fans? If I was running Rovers and Nijmegen or their local authorities started coming with that sort of stuff I would have told them to 'do one' and found someone else to play who was willing to accommodate both home and away fans. I went to Holland in 2012 and whatever 'trouble' there was blown out of all proportion and there was very little evidence of any trouble or risk of it. Why that means 13 years later a hundred or so people couldn't go to watch a friendly I'm not sure.

Yes the club deserves lots of credit for hastily arranging an overseas game on the basis home fans are allowed in to watch but away fans are banned (for no good reason) but at least Rovers announced 30 minutes before kick off that we could watch it on YouTube. Brilliant that.

True story. And then they seriously think that the passage of a few months, the summer break, a few new cheap signings and a new season makes it all ok and that we should just forget the events of the last couple of years and move on. Some people might be able to close their minds to it and get on with it but I can't, not when the creators of all the above are still in place. Any changes are superficial and cosmetic whilst the owners and their stooge remain.

MO of just about every manager, 'head of', CEO over the last 15 years is to blame the shitshow on the previous bloke and make promises/assurances/wishes that it won't happen again. It isn't a mistake, it has been deliberate policy and I dare say was the biggest single reason why Eustace threw in the towel and left to join a real club, because they weren't letting him do the job he needed to do. It isn't an accident, it isn't a mistake, it isn't misfortune or bad luck. It is deliberate, conscious and purposeful with one aim which is to reduce the cash the owners need to put into the club. They've got away with it until now, but it will catch up with them eventually. I actually think our surprisingly good season last year will only have emboldened the regime more to think that they can easily manage by getting rid of more 'big' earners and going cheaper again. Trouble is I don't think they are as clever or good as they think they are and it will end with the club paying the ultimate price.

They haven't bothered filing Waggott's departure with Companies House, haven't even formally announced the departure of David Low nor have they bothered to find a replacement to lead the organisation. I don't think they will be taking the Forum Minutes too seriously myself

We flew out to Amsterdam this morning, then had to get a coach from the airport to Nijmegen, fit a meal in somewhere, play the game, get washed and changed afterwards, back from Nijmegen to Amsterdam and then fly home tonight. No wonder they looked knackered.

https://www.nec-nijmegen.nl/nieuws/nieuws/bezoekersinformatie-n.e.c.-blackburn-rovers.htm This says it will be shown live on NEC TV. But on inspection I cannot see any mention of it on there, nor details as to cost or whether you need a subscription

It's because despite all the claims, boasts and lies from the club about the importance of communication with fans in practice unless you know someone behind the scenes the only chance the general fanbase have to discover what is going on is by waiting for occasional forum meetings and then waiting for the minutes released weeks later. They've done their best to remove all other forms of communication including consultation and shareholder meetings and I'm sure they'd get rid of forum meetings too if they could. Because what they claim and what they actually do are the opposite. It sounds good to say you value communication. In practice they do the absolute minimum and have the media wrapped around their fingers too.

Just a regular reminder - decisions are not being made for the betterment of Rovers, the squad or with footballing considerations in mind. Decisions are made based on savings and unlocking £££ and nothing else comes into it. If decent cash is on the table for anyone they will be sold, if that ruins our squad and season so be it.

According to Jackson at the Lancashire Venkygraph Rovers have been 'backed into a corner' on the Brittain situation and therefore need to sell him. Maybe he needs reminding of the Venkygraph's own quotes in an article penned by him on 19th April 2025: "I think there are other people that need to have the conversation before me," he laughed when faced with the obvious question. "I'm really enjoying my time here. I've loved every minute. The people around the place are amazing. I love my teammates. Like you said, I've worked with the manager before, so I'm happy. "This manager knows that I've got a lot of energy and up and down and knows that I can cross the ball. So, as long as we're getting in the right areas and I can try and keep my confidence up, then yes, I'm happy. "There have been no talks yet. That's all I can really say about it at the moment. I'm happy here." That's a strange way of a club being backed into a corner. Rather it reads to me as though the player has been backed into a corner by the club, and forced to seek a deal elsewhere after radio silence from Rovers. Surely not? Oh actually yes, we've had the exact same with multiple other important players. Jackson seems to have been played like a fiddle by the Rovers Regime, doing their dirty work espousing a narrative that simply isn't true. He probably doesn't know that he's been played, a bit like Nixon probably doesn't care as long as it continues to get clicks and pays the bills. They're being used by the corrupt atrocious regime that controls BRFC. I pity anyone who believes it.

Gueye to Al Wadha? Venky stooges could be toasting a very good week indeed if they can sell him and Brittain!

How will he sign a new deal if he isn't offered one?

The Travis and Tronstad efforts will increase in the coming weeks once they've dealt with Brittain and got his money banked. Expect to hear more tales of 'unhappiness', wanting to move back to Norway, other clubs offering money we can't compete with etc. They've known for months that Brittain was off and I dare say have wanted this outcome, hence zero serious effort to renew his contract, as confirmed by Brittain in his press interview. The stunt with Nixon and Jackson, both fed by club insiders, claiming that a new deal was imminent another lie to dress it up as though Rovers are reluctant sellers and to keep the fanbase on side.

Thought we'd be the next Derby? Doesn't sound too bad to me.

To me that reads as though you can watch the video of them training ahead of the Nijmegen game in full on Rovers' Youtube, not that the game itself will necessarily be live.

I was told that Waggott's original plan was for this weekend to be a 'showpiece' 'curtain raiser' game against someone to commemorate the 150th anniversary. Of course his departure, coupled with the realities involved in organising such a fixture - costs, logistics, forward planning - meant we very quickly reached a point where we were getting too late to organise one. Nor is there much appetite for a game at Ewood unless they are confident the away club will bring thousands to cover the expense e.g. Everton. I think Nijmegen had been due to play another game this weekend and that was cancelled meaning they became available and were also looking for someone to play. Of course in a position of increasing desperation Rovers were willing to accept whatever terms the host club imposed including not allowing any Rovers fans to attend. Ridiculous really when you might have got 100-200 at most so soon after the Spain trip.