Ewood, Brockhall and the players combined wouldn't remotely approach 147 million. Certainly yes they could call in that debt at any moment and considering their untrustworthy reputation it can't be ruled out. Logically though they aren't likely to get the money back and the best way of recouping anything significant would be via a return to the EPL. Something which they aren't even close to inspiring confidence for. That's why I've said in the summer if they put out a competent budget that they should sack an unconvincing manager. If they don't (and replace him with someone who's achieved multiple EPL promotions OR gamble on an up and comer) then can you really see anything better than a relegation battle or midtable at best? That's if the club even gets promoted this season though my confidence is still good in that regard. Please note I'm not expecting a second consecutive promotion immediately but the sooner the right building blocks are in place the better. There can't be mistakes or hesitation. Of course the other option is to write off the debt and sell the club for a few million at most. You can't predict these people but judging by this season they aren't planning to do that imminently. Of course sometimes there's the likes of Jack who will write off an entire debt with no conditions attached. Can anyone really trust them to do that? The Bank Of India are clearly content with whatever facility (overdraft, etc) is bring provided at the moment and promises made by Venkys. Barclays were not happy hence why they changed to them in the first place. The Bank Of India of course were probably familiar with them already because of their core business. They obviously feel that Venkys can manage the financial situation.

No wrestling at Blackburn Arena next month as the company promoting it has folded. They were supposed to be running Manchester Arena tomorrow night and I was still 50/50 on whether to go last minute. Save the money I suppose. I can't imagine this will encourage Blackburn Arena (or Silver Blades whatever they call it) to put more events besides ice skating/hockey on. Unless WWE ever ask them again they did hold an event there around 93/94. Probably makes far more sense for them to tour the biggest arenas in UK though.

While it seems like there some kind of annual review system could be enforced on new owners some fans just don't understand legal complexities, etc. The comments on Owen Oyston for instance who owned the club prior to 2004 conviction rules, etc. Can you imagine the lawsuit that would have come at them had they tried to ban him? I don't think they were ever popular but at that time they had rebuilt the stadium. etc which was a complete and utter dump beforehand. So they could have brought that up to the Football League. I don't really know why they actually invested that money or how much came from grants, etc. On the other hand such rules could probably be brought up in court by incoming or post 04 owners stating that its unfair and prejudiced against them when older owners don't apply. Criminal acts now though whether by long term, incoming, whatever, etc should be grounds for an imminent ban. For instance what they did to Belokon. Owen Oyston being removed wouldn't have stopped Karl Oyston anyway if they just did some kind of ownership switch. Karl Oyston of course was the chairman though he's recently been replaced and seems to be feuding with his Father now. Of course there's the question of protests with certain owners not working. In this case its obviously down to Belokon (the foreigner GASP!) ultimately. I think Blackpool fans could have done all kinds of things just to make their lifes as inconvenient as possible. Even things like "slipping" on water in the concourse people can fake back injuries pretty easily. Just pile up the litigation on them though of course it depends how many fans would be willing to get involved. Wasn't there a fire or something in the DE a few years ago? Its a shame fans didn't make a big deal of it and file some kind of safety lawsuit against Venkys.

Lets see if that will "Stam" the relegation threat. Get it...stem/stam? Where's my coat?

Speaking of that keeper Rojas he had a liver transplant 3 years ago in a Brazilian hospital of all places. For those unfamiliar with his plot to get Brazil kicked out of Italia 90 for Chile's gain... https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/04/14/the-sensational-plot-of-roberto-condor-rojas-to-eliminate-brazil-from-world-cup-qualification/ From that site I also noticed a link to this story. Wonder if he gave Souness a call after that Ali Dia incident lol? Titled the "most audacious conman" so initially I thought it was an article about Steve Kean or Jason Lowe until catching the rest of the title. Actually this guy was pretty likable and harmless compared to some of the conmen who make a living from football. https://thesefootballtimes.co/2015/05/30/carlos-henrique-raposo-footballs-most-audacious-con-man/

I don't know which game it was from (it was from a video called "Fast Football" years back and there was a clip montage of dives, etc) but one player defending a corner pretended to be elbowed in the face. Then there was that keeper who pretended he had been hit by a firework or something and I don't mean the one on "Dream Team". I guess they aren't dives in the more "traditional" sense but anyhow... Not heard much since but it looks like the PAOK owner will be banned from stadiums for 5 years and hit with a heavy fine. While I can't help liking his crazy act I'm surprised either FIFA or UEFA haven't stepped in with a lifetime ban. Apparently he's also been asked to testify wouldn't want to be his lawyer! Then again some will take a cheque to defend anyone.

While the racism probably shouldn't be laughed at (though political correctness goes way too far with stuff like editing "only fools and horses" BBC repeats because of an Asian shop joke) its pretty funny that someone tagged this as "citation needed". From Gimhae FC's (South Korea) Wikipedia page. I had a bet on their game and was trying to find out via their site why it hadn't started at the (UK) time listed. "The Gimhae Round Eyes" are the club's hooligan firm consisting of entirely foreign members. The name "round eyes" stems from the spherical appearance of the group's eyes, which they use to see rival fans during skirmishes."

I was planning on finding a stream (yes its being televised) but this postponement has distracted me!

Especially not for the comedy circuit though Bowen's primary recognition of course came as a gameshow host. Actually Stephen Hawking even appeared in a fair number of comedic roles.

Jim Bowen has died aged 80. As most will know he was a supporter of Rovers so posted in this section.

Showdown at the PAOK corral. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43369490 Fixtures suspended too in this case by the Greek government.

Can't really blame the FA in this instance especially considering the amount of lawsuits that would head their way. Why should they be used as a propaganda tool for the government in this manner? Have to say don't Russia have more effective ways of murder than a nerve agent with wider scale risks? I've not read enough about the specifics but surely they must have known others could be caught up in such an attack? What's the point of that is it just sheer arrogance and they didn't care about the additional fallout? Not to mention their target is still alive at least for now. The guy killed a few years ago was killed by polonium wasn't he? It was certainly detected afterwards (on cups, etc) but it didn't kill or incapacitate anybody else. Can't imagine any of the other countries pulling out somehow as some MP's intend to try. I'm sure their answer will be NO even if the country had voted to stay in the EU. Just looked up a bit more on nerve agents and as this points out they are generally not used in assassinations. They are used in warfare. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia-nerveagent/complex-and-dangerous-nerve-agents-are-rarely-used-for-assassinations-idUSKCN1GK2JR Couldn't they have just pinned this on ISIS or someone else? Russia are denying it so what's their reasoning? Someone trying to drive a wedge in relations using a convenient Russian target to pin the blame on? Maybe that's too much conspiracy talking but others have said the timing does not make sense. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/09/europe/salisbury-conspiracy-russia-intl/index.html Maybe this was done in the hope of eliminating Russia's main threat to the World Cup. They can't be that scared of Southgate can they? I don't think even the most outlandish conspiracy theorist would come up with that one!

MARTIN LIPTON: England boycott the World Cup in Russia? What an utterly stupid and ultimately pointless idea

It's All Rover Asia's fault! That being said his general point was accurate.

Goodness knows what you call Wigan's situation if Rovers have a "fixture pile-up". If they wanted to treat it like a training session then have a bloody training session. Not playing in a fixture at the expense of others (players in earlier rounds and the fans who showed up) plus you can invite local opposition to Brockhall and play behind closed doors since it's supposedly so essential. What a load of garbage the official sites report is compared to the "no spin zone" on here. It even referred to the opponents as "the shakers" four times quit giving such acknowledgement to the opposition. I couldn't give a rats posterior what their nickname is refer to the opposition in a formal narrative tone.

Its not often people react with this kind of criticism for a fringe tournament so that speaks volumes. I noted also that it isn't officially a youth tournament (unlike the previous night at Ewood) though my post was removed probably for remarks about our illustrious site founder. As for certain players being dumped how many of those (from the earlier LSC stages) played at Ewood the night before? That could be a major part of the reason. In Cup competitions its only fair to use the same players from start to finish. Look at some leading clubs they might let a generally sub keeper play in a LC final if he's the one who played the earlier rounds. There's a difference between that and my argument about Downing/Lenihan though while the latter was still injured. The business then is simply too serious not to go with the better and certainly more valuable asset.

I wish every bloody club would break FUP rules. JH we discussed this on twitter. How can you not have a gripe with these rules? That's what you're saying here that there's nothing wrong in principle not just alleged inconsistency of any punishments, etc. To use an extreme analogy imagine a lawyer complaining about their defendant being rightly convicted for murder. Reason being because someone else got away (in a virtually identical case) on a court technicality mistake or OJ Simpson style. Like I said "cutting your nose off to spite your face" and where FUP is concerned I refuse to do it.

Watch out Tony Watt! Player almost gets sent off for "backchat" over his name. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/former-arsenal-ace-sanchez-watt-12140356 Watt? WATT? WATT?

Advising a club isn't owning a club. The accusations with Venkys is they were a front for others, etc because of how clueless they were. Fosun International on the other hand are an investment company. There's nothing wrong with any company investing to boost their profile, etc (certainly not something Venkys did for anything good on their part) but that's what Fosun are specifically. The other clubs are complaining because Wolves are top. That's the difference whereas Rovers were (and maybe still are) a complete basketcase. I don't think Mendes is doing anything wrong who's top of the League? Yeah he gets financial rewards but bloody hell its not like nobody else in football does. Fosun know what they are doing with Mendes compared to Venkys putting their trust in a spiv from Barnet. As for anyone complaining about clubs such as Leicester over another matter (FUP) I can't bring myself to call for anyone to be punished over that. I know Rovers had a transfer ban but I'm not cutting off my nose to spite my face over FUP. Its just wrong and those who support it are wrong. Those who disagreed with my remarks on Whelan and liked Meadows post in response can shove them you know where. Some things I'll never "agree to disagree" on and FUP is one of them. The only thing I'm less likely to soften my view on would be the Walkers.

Should point out it seems routine. Or at least as routine as it can be for someone his age (same as mine actually) but I imagine autopsies, etc might be more extensive than a 90 year old would have. Depends on how obvious the cause is too being in an accident for instance would have different investigating prosecution procedures to a suspected heart attack. Not that heart attacks can't be triggered by nefarious means but this outlines Italian legal procedures noting its likely nobody is accountable. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/05/davide-astori-death-prosecutor-investigates-manslaughter-possibility

Assuming you mean Cellino and not the Italian who owns them now it was actually 2 days after the takeover! So it sure as hell wasn't because of Cellino! My comment about Leeds fans from Monk were supposed to be the perspective of a particularly demanding fanbase. As they should be but they certainly have faults too. They wanted Cellino but soon despised him. Question is though what did they expect? The man was evidently a nutcase he had 36 managers in 22 years at Cagilari according to Wikipedia (which as we know can sometimes have a few factual inconsistencies but its probably accurate here or close enough)

Well I still think he ranks ahead of Mowbray this time last year. Leeds fans seem to like Monk (strange he felt their owners couldn't live up to his demands yet Birmingham can?) and while he's been sacked since still think "damaged goods" is a little bit of an exaggeration. Monk will need divine intervention though if his first move isn't kicking misery magnet out the door. Lowe should follow his managers around wearing a black hood and a scythe.

At least one person was badly injured (think a few had minor injuries) but I'm talking more about security measures. If that happened today there's no way that game at Wembley would have gone ahead. I suppose there are differences now. Say what you like about the IRA they were not medieval lunatics. Nor were they particularly violent by 1996 compared to earlier bombings with no advance warning. They managed to evacuate the city centre because of a call beforehand. Irony is some people even think they did Manchester city centre a favor tracing a revival to the incident but maybe that's going overboard. As I've said nothing against Astori but where do people draw the line? Fans die young and nobody calls anything off for them. Astori's one guy and just because he's a footballer its an over the top reaction to me. Seriously what's disrespectful its just so the Italian football authorities can score a PR win. What if he wasn't an Italian international would they still have called every game off? I wouldn't really use the term "killed" and nobody called games off when Gary Speed committed suicide did they? I remember Hughes was doing punditry at a televised game about 2 days later might have been Arsenal v Man City. I don't think that was disrespectful though Hughes still came across as petty about City firing him when it paled in perspective on a personal level. Even as a non cynical 10 year old I thought the whole stuff with Diana Windsor was over the top and so did others. A fixture between Liverpool and Newcastle was even postponed because of that and she wasn't even a football person. I think its unfair on fans, etc who travelled including one Rovers fan on twitter (not Kamy who for the record supported the decision to call games off) who was abused just for asking when (the Milan v Inter game) would be rescheduled. Is it really selfish to say its an inconvenience for them and an overreaction? I'm sure some of Astori's closest teammates in Italian squad may not have felt like playing (and obviously Fiorentina) but why should it effect the majority? What are people supposed to do sit and stare at the wall for hours?

Birmingham have just appointed Garry Monk. Certainly argument to be made he's better than the standard I thought they might go for. Needs to make sure he does not continue on a downhill path though never really come across to me as an utter disaster anywhere he's been.

That wasn't nonsense. It was the truth and yeah that was calculated to provoke a reaction given advance notice of Rovers playing Wigan. At least if you consider it "provocative" to point out what a disgrace FUP is. I was hoping to provoke a negative outpouring of remarks towards Whelan but clearly that was too ambitious despite simply pointing out facts. Should be used to that by now don't know why I bother trying. Remember FUP is European wide so perfectly relevant to bring up on this thread. In 1996 didn't they play a Euros game at Old Trafford day after IRA bomb? I guess today they would have sent everyone home (regardless of travel arrangements, costs, etc) and played it an empty stadium a week later.