JHRover

'Around' 7000 almost certainly means 'less than'. Better than expected after the horror of the 'hoping for' close to 6000 announced last week but still weary numbers all things considered. Less than 50% of what Bolton have shifted in League One. With the price now going up you wonder just how many people there are who haven't gone in at the lower price but will then sign up for the higher price.

Buyers will only ever come forward with serious intent if they can see there is a genuine intent from Venkys to sell. Just like buying a house, people don't go around putting offers in for people's houses unless there is a 'for sale' sign up. This doesn't mean that there is no interest and no alternative to the current ownership. Interested parties won't waste their time putting plans together to buy Rovers unless it is made clear Venkys want to sell. I don't think that will change with promotion. It might mean more people are interested in buying the club, but it doesn't mean for one minute Venkys will do anything to encourage a sale. If they wanted to go down that route they'd have acted on our strong January positions of 2022 and 2023 to try and get us promoted. I don't think much would change with a promotion. I think it would take the money men in India by surprise to suddenly have a surplus of cash rather than substantial losses to plug but I think they would carry on as they are at present. Silent, disinterested, doing nothing, club on autopilot, clowns running it on their behalf. At best the transfer kitty and wage bill would be enhanced but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one given the time it takes them to do anything.

Thanks Venkys, as Waggott is always quick to point out that without their support and benevolence none of this would be possible

There will be a lot of sh1t stirring from Radio Lancashire and Lancashire Telegraph in there as well. Quite why they are raising his future as a topic for discussion on the day of the final game of the season I don't know, but can safely say they wouldn't have been asking Kompany about whether he will be staying where he is. In their desperation to find something to talk about they will fan the flames of speculation and rumour. They do it with our better players all the time too.

He's accomplished more in his first season than Mowbray managed in 4 years at this level with less money, less time and less options at his disposal. We can but wonder what this manager might have made with Armstrong, Elliott, Rothwell and others at his disposal. Nevertheless 7th represents our highest league finish in over a decade of Venky created misery coupled with our two best cup runs in a long time, and but for the finest of margins in cup and league it could have been considerably better. The bloke has done very well in my opinion, and I really worry about the future if he departs or if there is no backing in the summer. Leaving the club in the hands of the shysters upstairs and further cuts will leave us looking over our shoulders.

It is obvious what is needed, and if there was a determination at the Club to succeed then confidence could be high ahead of next season. Having missed out by the finest of margins with a young squad experience and learning should take care of a lot of things, but 3-4 additions of course essential. Unfortunately with these rancid owners and the likes of Waggott stinking the place out for another 12 months and raking in his salary/bonus we will see more excuses and frustration. Talk about revenue and woe be us whilst waving off investment Brereton for £0 just a year after losing £10 million of assets for nothing. Any heads rolled for those debacles yet?

These are the questions Waggott won't want people to be asking. Doesn't fit with the 'woe be us' narrative of having no money, low income, completely reliant on Venkys and that justifies screwing the fans for every penny. This TV money isn't a bonus or prize, it's compensation to offset against inevitably lower attendances when people prefer to watch from home rather than buy a ticket. We know it will go straight into the coffers with no mention of it from Waggott, but if he was serious about things they'd be using some of this money to reduce ticket prices and encourage people to still come to Ewood. Instead we still have some of the highest prices. One of the reasons we've been selected so many times might be because, contrary to the party line, we are actually a well known and well followed club by the standards of this division and whilst we don't get droves turning up at Ewood we are actually seen as a better bet on viewing figures compared to most of the dross in this division.

He did the hard part and got a small, young squad into the top 6 heading into the second half of the season having only arrived late in the first place due to ineptitude in replacing Mowbray. The 'powers that be' failed with the easy part, which was to back him during January with a couple of half decent additions that might have made the world of difference and got us over the line. If they failed to back him in January, when exactly are they going to back him? Answer = never. And he knows it. Bowyer and Mowbray put up with it because putting up with it was their only ticket to being a Championship manager. A bloke like JDT, with contacts across Europe and a stellar playing CV behind him will have plenty of other options coming up and he isn't afraid to give up a good number (Malmo) in pursuit of something better. Lesson to learn = these cretins have no intention of changing their ways or making the effort to get promoted. It's autopilot mode with the club doing what it can with whatever Venkys set in the summer and that's your lot.

Who or how is it decided that Brentford get home advantage in the final? Already got train booked back from Millwall

So the Premier League Cup final v Brentford has been confirmed as taking place at their ground on Tuesday 9th May, 7:45pm kick off Annoying for a few reasons. One is that we seem to have agreed to surrender any home advantage by playing a 1 legged final at their ground - in the past these have been 2 legged finals. It is also annoying that it comes the day after our trip to Millwall, making it a nightmare to get to and it will be hard to get a train back from there at night. I'd have liked to have gone to the final and also to Brentford's new ground but seems Rovers are happy to just go with the flow.

A 2500 capacity Riverside would look absolutely stupid sat opposite the other stands. It looks small and lop-sided as it is and that's with a 4500+ capacity.

Agree, but I think a lot of it stems from not having enough experience and nasty players around the place. This goes back to Mowbray - who seemed to only want to recruit 'nice lads' even when he went after experience, and then in the last 2 years the Club has embarked on a 'project' where they only seem interested in younger players whether that be from our academy or on loan from PL clubs. Going down such a route of nice young lads brings drawbacks as well as positives, one of which is that when the chips are down you tend not to have the know-how or doggedness to drag a way back into a game. Sometimes in the last 20 minute of Championship games when the chips are down you have to find a different way to do it - that might involve peppering the opposition box and hoping for a fluke like Preston got against us the other week, or throwing everyone at it and getting a lucky handball goal like Coventry. We just don't do enough of it and the results of it are there for all to see. We don't go direct or throw men forward into the opposition box. Even yesterday chasing a winner Hyam still preferred to go back to Pears rather than launch it forwards. It definitely comes back to recruitment and 'project' talk but I can't help but think if we dropped a Warnock into the mix things would immediately be very different on that front.

Not sure how that one will work unless they've come up with something unusual as the away stand has one concourse for both tiers

Presumably they advise booking online as they are charging an extra £2 to anyone who does. That and it saves them having to do it at the Club shop.

Lots of criticism of Leeds chopping and changing in a desperate bid to survive / achieve their objectives Sooner that than do nothing and let the inevitable occur as we've done under Kean, Coyle and Mowbray.

We just have to hope that lot at Deepdale do us a favour, though sounds like Lowe has thrown a wobbler after their Sheff Utd beating so they'll probably not turn up for it now.

Has Waggott or Broughton ever explained why, even if we are to accept the deadline day cock and bull stuff, we did nothing after that to bring in a free agent or two to bolster our options?

A couple of things that ring alarm bells with me One is the claim in the Fans Forum that budgets have already been set for next season. At a normal club you might celebrate forward planning but here it means that Venkys (or more likely their financial gurus) have already determined that the Club is getting very little if anything beyond essential funding. That means we are stuck with the academy and loan routine again. I don't think the talk about a 'project' comes from anything more grand or idealistic than simply realising that the only way we are going to assemble a side to compete in this league is going to be turning to our kids and hoping enough make the grade. One look at sides to make the play-offs recently - Middlesbrough, Luton x2, Huddersfield, Forest - not many academy grads knocking around their sides. Somewhere along the line you have to recruit experience and know how. Talk of letting Ayala, Dack and Kaminski leave fills me with dread TBH, not because we necessarily need them for the first XI, but you have to have some older heads around the place somewhere. A lot of people bemoaning recent form and slip ups, but that's what happens when you rely on inexperience. The other thing that worries me is that with arses to protect the henchman in the shadows / Waggott / Broughton may be tempted to 'cash in' on a few or be forced to do so by upstairs. After the debacle of losing last summer's players and now Brereton for nothing there's something of a gap in transfer income. To gain favour with India certain people may be tempted to cash in.

The thing is at the end of last season we knew that if the manager stayed it would be a repeat again the next season and the season after that. He'd proven he couldn't and wouldn't learn or adapt and would keep on making the same mistakes every year. With JDT he's inherited the Mowbray mentality here and we've outperformed Mowbray's best this season (tail off play-off push but at least with 2 good cup runs on the side). I've seen enough to believe JDT deserves a chance to see if he can better it moving forwards. Unfortunately the Club has done its level best to torpedo our chance at promotion and this will probably see us looking for a new manager in the near future. I'd certainly rather have Broughton, having appointed JDT, leading that search rather than Waggott or the same people who gave us Owen Coyle.

If there's 5 minutes to go at Millwall and Sunderland are winning at Preston by a couple of goals I'd want us to let one in just to knock Sunderland out of it. Couldn't cope with treacherous Tony sneaking into the top 6.

So 16,000 home fans on Ewood today. Together with the dingles and Norwich fixtures recently we've had very healthy home numbers turning up at Ewood (granted 2 Bank Holidays and a derby game but two were on tv / evening games to boot) I wonder what efforts the Club will be making to try and ensure as many of the 7000+ non-season ticket holders today sign up for a full season?

Games like today with fine margins you need a strong and competent referee. Unfortunately we once again saw a weak performance from the officials. The only thing more annoying to me than a referee unwilling to clamp down on timewasting from the opposition is one who repeatedly signals as though he is aware of it and as though he is planning on adding time on for it, and then when it comes to the crunch he fails to add any time on for it. A triple whammy of not only failing to nip it in the bud during the game, not giving the required time on at the end but also paying lip service by pointing at his watch all afternoon for no reason. Maybe one day we'll get the time we deserve when we are on top and chasing a winner at home. Too many times this season we just get the bog standard 4 minutes and weak officials letting the game drift away.

Wish I had Waggott's job. He must be the only CEO in the world that isn't responsible for the performance of the organisation he leads. Calamitous failure of a January window and yet nothing to do with him. Could be Broughton, could be Silvester, could be Gus Williams, yet Slippery Steve's not to blame. If he is indeed CEO, and continues to rake in a six figure salary for the privilege, then he takes ultimate responsibility for ALL elements of the operation. If he isn't responsible for all departments or doesn't have the power to do anything about it, then he isn't CEO, and should resign or adopt a different job title. I said the moment Broughton was appointed the motive behind his appointment was to delegate blame for the inevitable mess that unfolded. So far it is working perfectly to plan. So long as anger and blame doesn't end up directed at Venkys or their henchman in the shadows they are happy.

Or the alternative explanation is that the budget was so tight that the likes of Hirst and Mola,cheap loans that their parent clubs were more than happy to sanction so we took them off their hands, were seen as the best/only option for us. The cheaper and more desperate you go the less likely it is you hit the jackpot. That's why a rival in Middlesbrough went and got Archer and Ramsey in the window and we spent all month 'chasing' Undav before he supposedly changed his mind. This summer will be more of the same. Of course they want and need a striker, anyone with any interest in Rovers will want one. But getting one of any quality with no backing from India and a strictly capped wage bill - difficult if not impossible. So that's when the PL loans come into the equation (again). Avoids a capital outlay and commitment to decent wages. If in doubt just blame FFP rules, moving goalposts from the selling club/player/agent, the weather or the tea lady forgetting to put milk in his brew, whatever pops into the head.

Correct. The buck stops at the top. As chief Waggott takes that role. Whether or not Broughton cocked up is almost immaterial. Waggott is the boss. At least that's what his job title and salary shows. There is nobody above him (officially) in the chain of command. Waggott presumably appointed these people to their positions and if there was a season-derailing failure then he should take responsibility for that and either admit he got it wrong by appointing them and resign or alternatively ring the changes to ensure it doesn't happen again. Instead the show rolls on. Nothing has happened. Waggott hides away whilst people lower down the chain take the blame and the same people remain in place. Tells me they aren't too bothered with how January went.