Mashed Potatoes

As I recall, Williams' policy of having "a raft of players in their 30's on ludicrous contracts" had us in top half of the Premier League year after year plus many excellent cup runs. We certainly did get out of that cycle when the idiots who now own us took over.

It is at times of adversity that you find out about people. Today after the horrors of Wednesday and the concession of an early goal we found out about Tony Mowbray and our players. They responded magnificently and we can look ahead to a season that promises much.

But better than nothing.

Yes they did own the training centre. If the club had gone in to administration the centre would have been one of the assets of the club. Now it's gone - and the club will probably be paying rent for it.

Accounts as at June 2020 showed £141m owed to the owners and a bank overdraft of £14m. You are correct in what you say about the circumstances surrounding other clubs going in to administration which is why until today I didn't think there was any prospect of it happening to us. But if they did just get fed up funding us they could now do it and have something to show for their money.

I don't think it is being done for the reason of selling - not yet anyway. Until now Venkys have funded the club via loans from the UK holding company which in turn is funded by share issues to India. Because the value of the club is well below the outstanding loans continuing down that route means that they get nothing back for their money . Doing it this way means that they, rather than the club, now have the asset of the training centre. In the event of the club going in to administration, which I think is more likely now than it was before this had happened, they lose the club but still have the training centre on which they may or may not be charging rent which the club would still be liable to pay to them for the duration of the lease.

It certainly isn't a good thing. Previously when the club initiated a process of obtaining possible planning permission for a redevelopment of the centre there were suggestions on here that certain named employees of the club stood to benefit if that redevelopment took place - although there was not a shred of evidence to support that argument. Given that those running this new owner of the centre appear to have no connection with the club that nonsense can now be put to bed. But going forward this is a very disturbing development. Effectively rather than funding the club via loans the owners have now acquired the club's most valuable asset. The first obvious question is will the club be charged rent on the centre. It makes a future sale of the club much more messy . Those who talk blithely of the club being put in to administration as a way out of the club's current mess need to understand that an obligation to pay rent to the owners of the centre will continue .

This means the club no longer own the training centre. The conspiracy theorists on here might care to note that the listed directors of the company that now own the centre appear to be Indian nationals and do not include the likes of Tony Mowbray and Steve Waggott .

Great result and the team looks to be really well balanced which is a tribute to the management team.

Yes, a factual analysis of results to date point to a significant improvement on last season so we can be optimistic for the future.

Why would our following get smaller when things are going well ? Surely more fans will want to get behind our promotion push ?

Derby have been brought down by a British owner, not foreigners. It's a story of excessive spending, "creative" accounting in the misguided belief that this will be successful in evading FFP rules, and high turnover of managers. It astonishes me that some people on here advocate that we follow the same approach at Rovers.

Go on the twitter account and you will see regular updates - down 3-2 at halftime.

Excellent substitutions. Injuries have held Butterworth back but if he can be fit he can make a big difference for us.

The evidence I provided shows that so far they have been successful.

I'm not sure we have to directly replace a striker if the team as a whole are more likely to score goals. So far this season we have scored 9 goals from 6 games which is a slightly better rate than last season ( 65 in 46 games)

You must be the only person to think that Rooney had a decent squad to work with. When he took over in November they were bottom of the table with 6 points from 11 games. Despite being in his first management job, having to sell players in the transfer window and players sometimes not getting paid because of the mess at the club he kept them up. A very good effort.

Pleased to see Derby winning. I've seen Rooney described on here as a "poor manager" which I do not agree with. Given that it is his first job and the very difficult circumstances in which he has to work I think he's doing well.

Brilliant work by the Ewood Park management team.

Excellent start against a team who have been in the playoffs for the last 2 years. Bodes well for the season ahead and puts the silly doom and gloom of the last 3 months in to perspective.

I think you would have a better chance of a reply if you gave us your husband's name but there is a photo of the squad for that season on sale on ebay for £3.50.

Surely by now you've found a reason why Tony Mowbray is to blame.

You should check your facts. They both played, not least Reid coming on as a sub to shore up the defence in the play off final. Not a good try by you. I suggest you retire to save yourself further embarrassment.

I think we were ahead of both those clubs on the commercial income front. Match day revenue is below them but we should remember that 2 of the games we missed crowds were home to Leeds and West Brom which would probably have been the 2 highest gates of the season.

Your statement to which I responded was factually incorrect.