100% agree, but what if Ben and his advisors currently have no decent offers on the table for him? Maybe at £30k we’re 25% above anything he’s got on the table? He’s not loyal to the club, he’s shown that by refusing to sign a contract for nearly two years….but he does have a new baby at home, so maybe a million quid and another year in the Ribble Valley playing every minute of every game is appealing now, in context…🤷🏽‍♂️

He’s been after a move for a long time mate. We just haven’t accepted those lower bids so far. He’d get a lot more than £30kpwk in Spain or France….my guess, assuming we don’t go up (when no doubt he’d want another raise) he’d be off like a shot in the summer we’re we to extend his contract and then accept a bid…

I think you’ve missed my point. We were discussing this new contract they’ve supposedly offered him. Which IF he were to sign then any team wanting him would have to pay a fee for him this summer. Which is a dream scenario for Rovers.

If we sold him in the summer, even for £5m, after agreeing an extension this month then we’d have a bit of cash to go and get a couple of players, surely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to offload Gally either. Doesn’t look like JDT rates him.

We turned down £8m didn’t we, last year? It wasn’t enough then….what I’m saying is, I’d let him sign the new contract and then invite bids. Sell him to the highest bidder, whatever the amount and we’ve had a dream vs currently losing him for free.

It’s true, 100%

I think Ben might have worked out that in spite of his ‘global rise’ and the three subsequent transfer windows since he became Diaz, no one has stumped up the cash for him in spite of record spending levels in the top leagues. It would seem, if the rumours are true of us offering him another contract, that he has nothing sorted im Spain either. Honestly, speaking objectively, if I were Ben, I’d ask Rovers to extend that year to 2yrs and do the deal. If I were Rovers, I’d agree the £30k, 1yr deal now and sell him to the highest bidder in the summer. £3m, £5m, £8m…is all better than nowt!!!

Pears. Brittan Carter Hyam Pickering Travis. Buckley Thomas. Dack. Brereton-Diaz Dolan Hilton, JRC, Ayala, Morton, Szmodics, Hedges, Gallagher *ive only put JRC on the bench because he’s touch and go. Think he’ll give a rest and a bit more time to heal. Rovers 2 - 0 Swansea - Goals from BBD and Dolan

They don’t want to see us struggle. They just want to be ‘right’

I know the manager is getting flak here and I understand it…but honestly the players he was left with in the summer are absolutely dross. Mowbray never had a squad as bad as this, including the year we went down. It’s an absolute miracle that we’re safe from relegation.

Finally someone who has removed their emotion. If BBD or Gally were in anything better than diabolical form we’d have beaten Wigan by 3 or 4 playing the same way tonight. Goals change games and we / the manager are getting badly let down by the forwards at the minute. Which is the reason JDT is fuming with GB etc.

Did enough to beat them comfortably. Most did ‘ok’, the standouts were Sorba, Trav and JRC. Vale (non-entity) Brereton (might not get a club at this rate) and Gally (Stump) absolutely dog shit…we’re just waiting for them to turn up again before we can win a game. JDT musr be going out of his mind!

The biggest compliment I can pay JDT in how he’s heightened our expectations is that we start tonight’s match expecting to win, with JRC, Carter, Pears and Vale playing!!

Hope you’re right. I’m not saying JDT will resign but it wouldn’t surprise me. I’m gutted it’s turned out this way….had we signed Undav and O’brien on deadline day on top of Thomas and progressing in the cup, the feel good factor would be huge now. As it is, the clubs reputation is in tatters internally and externally.

That interview of JDT on the Rovers website is interesting. He’s obviously pissed off but he goes a bit further for me…he completely (and rightly so) ‘outs’ the other side (GB’s side) of the club. Which is risky. But the most salient point for me is the one he makes about ‘his side’ overachieving. It feels like, for the first time, he’s peacocking which is what you do when you’re looking around for other options? Ive said before, it’s my belief that JDT will go LONNGG before he’s pushed. He’s a born winner, incompetence like this does not exist in his world! I would not be surprised at all if he resigned.

Tbf he’s publicly taken responsibility there…but I can see some fire in his eyes. He’s seething and I reckon he’s on the fuckin warpath behind the scenes. A good leader would never demolish a colleague publicly….you do that behind closed doors. The LOB thing is really sad for all parties. Including GB and his administration, because this signing would’ve signalled a ‘stepping up’ in quality.

The facts. Go and look for yourself.

Read my first post and this is REALLY really simple. There WAS a drop off in attendance between 96 and Venkys landing from 26k to an average of 22/23k with a couple of 25k’s. It certainly wasn’t improving. Fact. The drop off accelerated once Venkys got in with the critical point being relegation, where we lost 7k supporters overnight. Then a mixture of terrible leadership and not winning dwindles that 15k down to the 10-12k we have now of hard core fans. Which is historically where we were until Jack Walkers intervention.

Zzzz look at the numbers. There is drop off if you draw a line from 1996 until Venkys turned up. Venkys seasons in the PL were actually similar to the messiah, Hughes average attendances! Going down creates the most noticeable drop. Which is exactly my point.

Jesus man, what agenda!? The point I made was based on attendances that in fact started to tale off from 1996, steadily (barring a couple of years) until Venkys came in which accelerated the drop off, such is how utterly shit they are at owning a football club!!! The attendance drop off before Venkys isn’t a criticism. It was a symptom of our population, socio economic situation which was leading us back to our previously steady 8-10k gates. Do I think we’d have retained another 10-12k supporters by staying in the PL? Yes, lots of people are enamoured by elite level sport. Are Venkys culpable for that subsequent drop? Yes. So, it leaves us with 10-12k of die hard fans attending games now, much like the 8-10k’s we had in the 70’s.

Nah, just saying it as it is. I liked the Hughes era too. Vs what we’ve had since it feels better than it was. Vs us at peak…it was just, ok. As for “superb” Mark Hughes managed us 04-08. During that time, our average crowds started at 24k, DIPPED to 22k then 21k before a little resurgence to 23k at the point where Hughes left. Awkward. SO, going back to my point….the drop off in attendances started from 96, having won the league in 95..if you pull the timeline out it’s a fairly consistent, shallow drop until we fall out of the PL when it drops off a cliff, For the reasons I stated. 👍🏼

Kinel, this is getting tiring….I’m not saying I wasn’t entertained during sporadic parts those years. I even pointed out the Early Souness and Hughes teams. The context of my initial post was around fan attraction and falling attendances. There’s a difference .

I’m talking from a fan attraction pov. Maybe the term should be…we haven’t been sexy enough for 25+ years!

Just opinions, my point was that attendances were on a downward trajectory from peak (1995), albeit small drop offs, crowds were lessening. In respect of being good I meant a top team. We’d had flashes of good teams (Early Souness and Hughes era) but most of the rest was average. From a fab attraction and entertainment pov we’ve been weak for 25+ years imo. Especially when considering the success of Northern teams during that period.

I think you’re mistaken. If you look across the board, fan attendance for any club is dependant on several factors. Including, primarily - population size, economic profile, fan/club culture and success. The standard ‘8000’s’ in the 70’s & 80’s were artificially modified by Jack Walker in the 90’s through winning, creating aspiration and improved culture (I’m 41, it was without doubt the greatest time to be alive). 25-28k supporters at Ewood was Uncle Jack wringing every bit of feel good factor out of a working class town. Incidentally, the last time we had 25k+ at Ewood was final day of League 1 season we won promotion because that is our potential when things are going well. It is true that Venkys have decimated that feel good factor but in truth the decline on attendances started long before they turned because it was unsustainable unless Jack kept pumping millions in and we kept winning! Money and success is the magic sauce. So it doesn’t surprise me that we’re down to 10-12k fans. Imo that is our base level based on the above. The job of Waggott and co is to inspire the area to want to watch us play. I think the clubs focus on the Youth lads and high profile work in engaging ethnic minorities is them trying to create a buzz and open up new markets because they have no money. The problem (aside from the money) is that leaders must inspire, they must be great orators and be trusted. Waggott is none of those things… For me, the 10-12k is our base level including population growth since 70’s & 80’s. The biggest problem is that the leadership is poor and we haven’t been any good for 25+ years.