JHRover

He's better than anything we've had under Venkys and I reckon we'd struggle to get better if he left. Of course you're right, nobody could really blame him for wanting out after an utterly disgraceful January transfer window that still hasn't been explained and as yet still no heads have rolled.

Still got the potential problem of Leeds and Leicester looking for new managers, especially if relegated. I hope that the India trip happens and he can convince Venkys to spend.

Hopefully this latest Spurs failure means they turn to Kompany as their next option For some reason these sort of Clubs never go after the dingle manager.

Doubt it, there's a few who have managed both including Koeman and Advocaat although it would almost certainly rule out a direct move from one to the other.

Rooney has won a measly 32 of his 114 games as a manager (28%). At Derby people were quick to point to their off the pitch issues but not sure what the excuse is at DC United. Anyway definitely not for me. I don't want him at this Club and his record doesn't suggest he's good enough.

Maybe those that they don't want to sell because they fall behind the pillars and have an obstructed view of the goals?

I did mention in my original post that it was the full interview on the official page I had watched. I'm also not taking any issue with anything Broughton had to say, my annoyance was with the approach taken by the interviewer

Interviewer "I guess we have to find a different way of working to compete with some of those sides who have the bigger budgets, we don't have that available" Broughton "That's fine, but we can't use that as an excuse, that is where it is, unless the Premier League, driven obviously by the work that is happening with the government white paper and the possible reforms reconfigures the parachute payments in the future, we know what we are in and we know how we have to do things differently. We've got a really good plan in place to do that, and hopefully we've made good steps this year towards fulfilling that" Interviewer "How important do you think that white paper is for football clubs like this?" Broughton "Yeah absolutely vital, not just for football clubs like us but for football as a whole, even if I go down to the Football Conference, if you look at Notts County this year, over 100 points, over 100 goals and then still rely on a play-off system to get promoted to the Football League when really now the National League is such a competitive league and has so many former Football League clubs in it that it has to progress...." Interviewer "How competitive do you think the Championship is going to be next year, because by the looks of things there are going to be three big clubs coming down from the Premier League, there are two big clubs and potentially a third coming up as well from League One as well, how difficult a division do you think it might be?" Broughton "Yeah I mean for all of those clubs to come in and have huge crowds and really drive up the attendances in the Championship" That's the part I was referring to, it can be found around 4-5 minutes into his interview on the official Rovers TV page. It clearly references both those clubs coming down and those coming up. Fair enough if you think that is an overreaction but I just think it shows what dumbing down and small time attitude there is around this club.

We only become a 'stepping stone' at the point it becomes clear we cannot or will not match the manager's ambitions. If the manager believes in what we are doing and is confident he can achieve his aims with us then we aren't really a stepping stone E.g. if we'd have got promoted this season, which we could have done, nobody would be talking about stepping stones because we'd be gearing up for a place in the richest and most high profile league in the world. But, because we messed it up and are a club with zero ambition and charlatans throughout it will be quite clear to JDT by now that he will have to treat this as a stepping stone.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy in exchange with PSV?

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.