JHRover

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.

Lets stop with the suggestion that our problems are created externally by Sky tv and fixture changes (along with other factors beyond our control). Such talk is just playing right into Waggott's hands. He would love nothing more than to convince everyone that he's done all he can and that our problems are the result of external issues. Poor us, it's Sky's fault. Our biggest issue is that we are too expensive. That isn't Sky's fault, it isn't caused by games being moved. If anything having such a large number of games moved due to TV should see our prices drop further as we get more income from TV to offset it. Our issues are caused by a short sighted attitude and approach installed by absentee owners with no interest or understanding of the fanbase or its long term health. In a little over a decade they have reduced our ST base by over half, down from 18,000+ in 2011 to limping our way to 7000 in 2023. Like most other problems at this club that is ultimately the fault and responsibility of Venkys. Not the big bad FA/EFL/FFP/Sky. The other problem we have is complete and utter laziness and lack of imagination on sales. Other than occasional tweets and website posts I've seen zero promotional material for season tickets. Looks like they've completely given up on the idea of sending renewal packs or even advertisements out to people, and I live but a few miles from Ewood and there's no posters, banners, nothing. They can't be arsed because they know ultimately that their jobs are secure come whatever happens. Why bother making more effort?

Luton have got where they are through pure hard graft, overcoming financial disparity to get into the top 6 two years running which signals they are doing something right. I don't like them at all but I can recognise a club doing things properly and getting their rewards for it. Coventry manipulated the fixture list and got away with it, allowed to postpone games left right and centre early on this season and I said at the time they should have been sanctioned for it but the weak EFL imposed a suspended sanction, so it is clear they broke rules but the authorities ineffective in enforcing them. Middlesbrough have broken FFP each and every year and got away with it so whilst it might be in our interests to get rid of a big spending rival for next year I still hope that one day the EFL grows a backbone and imposes sanctions on them for their losses. Ordinarily I would prefer Sunderland to go up of the four but obviously with what I consider significant disrespect from Mowbray together with them pipping us on goal difference it would be the stuff of nightmares for them to do it. So Luton it is please.

Or alternatively he's delighted to be offered a new deal at Rovers having looked destined for the exit for 90% of his time at the club here and facing a move to League One or Two.

It would be a massively disappointing start to the summer to see them flog Kaminski and promoted Pears to No 1 but that's the inevitable suspicion here. I've no particular arguments with Pears getting a new deal. He's a good age, popular around the place and showed enough in the second half of the season to suggest he can do the job to a good level when needed. But last season also showed that you need more than one option in each position, because an injury, suspension or problem is never far away. Of course it would be typical of this regime to spot an opportunity here, promote Pears then flog Kaminski (who is better) probably for a couple of million to a grateful rival and pocket the cash. Come the new season I hope to see Kaminski over his injury and starting, Pears as a capable deputy.

The walking talking contradiction strikes again. Presumably if they miss out it will be handbrake on again telling them all about what a young squad they have and the 'we can't compete' mantra. Through a fortunate combination of negligent ownership and a fanbase beaten into submission he got away with that for years at Ewood. He won't get the same with a switched on owner and vociferous fanbase.

I'm struggling to understand this price rise at the end of May but we aren't going to tell you how much routine. Has any other club adopted such a haphazard approach to season tickets? It neatly sums up the fact that they are making it up as they go along. It seems to me that they have reserved the right to slap a hefty price increase on at the end of the month in the event we managed to make the play-offs and got through them. Obviously with play-off final day being end of the month they wanted to wait until then and then if we pulled off the miracle and got up Waggott could then celebrate that achievement by charging everyone a load more off the back of promotion. Of course totally cynical and exploitative, not the sort of behaviour you would expect to see from a club desperate to grow attendances and once awash with PL cash ticket revenue becomes even less useful. I remember Dave Whelan saying a few years ago that such was the insignificance of Wigans ticket revenues whilst in the PL that he was contemplating a time when they could give STs away and it would barely make a difference to their operation. That's the view of a successful bloke who loved the game and his club and wanted more people watching. Meanwhile Waggott, with no track record in business or football worth shouting about, would prefer to use PL promotion as a way to cash in. He just makes it up as he goes along. I predict that if we get to late June and sales aren't as high as he expected or budgeted for he will come up with some other off the hoof scheme to try and bolster income. He tried the 'jackpot' stunt where buying a ST entered you into a prize draw and his other one is to concoct the 1875 membership to rake in a few quid more from the most loyal fans. What a repulsive individual he is.

Preston always seem to be ok. They've little money or creativity in their ranks but manage to bring in enough to finish mid-table every year so expect them to do similar again next year. Will Leicester be allowed to enter the EFL? Another lot who contravened FFP rules on their way to the PL and allowed to get away with it. West Brom also seem to live a charmed life so wouldn't surprise me if they gambled, managed to keep most of their squad together under Corberan and were in a promotion push next season. Every year I tip Stoke to do well with seemingly most of the ingredients in place for a good push and every year they end up struggling.

What the Head of Marketing really needs is a unique selling point to try to push forward and use to broadcast the club around the world. Something like having a Chile international playing for the Club. Marketing response? A couple of t-shirts on sale in the club shop a year or two ago.

I'd bet my bottom dollar on Accy being one given the money Stanley must have made from Rovers fans on tickets and bar sales last year. Wouldn't surprise me if Port Vale was one with the Dunn/Flitcroft/Dan Butterworth connection.

What sort of operation starts selling season tickets without deciding/announcing the full pricing structure?

The thing with Mowbray is that because he has the media lot hanging on his every word and thinking he's great with the old tea and biscuit routine reminiscing about life in 70s Middlesbrough he thinks that makes him clever and able to outwit all before him with his comments in the press. Unfortunately applying any scrutiny to his comments quickly reveals that he isn't as clever as he thinks, he's at best completely contradictory, and on other occasions rather insulting. Anyhow, thankfully he's gone and history around here, yet it seems he and others cannot let it go, still bitter that he was let go. It was clear at the time that he harboured a desire to stay on but that the offer wasn't forthcoming in a timely manner. In all likelihood another disgraceful performance from Venkys and the buffoons they employ but I do find it a bit funny that having had over 5 years of well paid employment and being able to run the operation as his own kingdom with little to no pressure or scrutiny from upstairs or the fanbase that he's now got 'pundits' spouting off about how hard done to he was here. He had it made at Rovers, and when the inevitable dip comes at Sunderland when they run out of momentum they'll offer him nowhere near the patience he got here.

It's clear he can hit his targets off 8000 ish ST sales at these high prices. We will probably limp our way there over the rest of the summer, but given the price increase even lower sales will likely see him hit his financial target. And that's all there is to it. Job done, arse covered, wage justified, bonus paid, box ticked and another year in the job until we do it again.

We can usually pick any 4 from Stanley, Rochdale, Oldham, Fleetwood, Morecambe, Barrow, Carlisle, or occasionally we have gone slightly further afield to Hartlepool, York, Grimsby, Lincoln, Port Vale, Mansfield etc. Suppose the interesting ones will be whether we bother with a home friendly, which I think is unlikely unless we manage to persuade a 'big' club to come to Ewood otherwise it won't be worthwhile for Waggott And whether we are playing a game overseas, which hasn't happened for the last 6 summers since we played in Salzburg v Sparta Prague ahead of the League One season. It would be nice to do something abroad again but expect as is the tradition Rovers will keep any such plans a closely guarded state secret until a few days beforehand making it difficult or impossible for any supporters to be involved.

Must have low operational costs 10 miles down the road, or maybe billionaire owners generously funding the club every year. One thing they won't do is spend £300k a year employing a spiv

The 'super saver' period not exactly delivered the results that you might expect from 'super savings' then has it? Another failed policy from Waggott....yet on he continues. Not a very good track record has he? Of course it wasn't a 'super saver' at all. It was a 5% reduction IF you bought early (before the end of the season) and in doing so you lose the £15 club cash that has been added over the last few years. I also note the usual silence from the Club on 1875 membership for 2023-24. Last year they made no reference to a membership scheme when releasing season tickets, only suddenly announcing 1875 membership at the 11th hour after most people had signed up for their season tickets. This then had the effect of forcing anyone who wanted priority on away tickets to cough up additional money. A cynical underhand money grabbing stunt. No news on whether the same will happen again this summer but I think it is important to know when buying a season ticket whether that purchase is going to put me in a position of priority on away tickets or whether that is going to be taken away from me by the late introduction of a membership scheme.