Mashed Potatoes

Being a member of the Flat Earth Society is a remarkable act of faith - but the members are still potty.

You have this naive trust in Venky's which I find both touching and tragic in equal measures.Nobody with a choice would ever choose them.

There aren't any pennies left to count after £2million plus is spent on moving on the present management team.

Got his coaching badges has he ?

So now we are playing with 10 men

Yes - and he left almost immediately after.

Clearly it won't help although I think I am right in saying that where players like Dack and Evans have injuries their wages may be covered by insurance so the net hit to budgeted numbers for wages may not be anything like as bad as feared.

But there were rumours of a bust up between him and Mowbray ?

Unfortunately Scotland is out because the 3 club rule applies across Europe. A move to the MLS might be ok if their next season starting around the end of February counts as a different season - don't know.

You might be right but I think there were also suggestions of a bust-up between him and Mowbray.

I agree with you but unfortunately managers here have had to deal with this sort of thing before, Jason Roberts for example.

Last season there was talk that Graham got a contract extension once he had played a certain number of games. Do you think that clause has rolled over to this season and he is not playing as much so it doesn't get triggered ?

Gladwin had a serious injury and Samuel did his ACL and wasn't fit until about October time so neither of those two could realistically be moved on. Bell still seems to have some level of involvement.

If a player is at the end of their contract what choice does the club have ?

Different situation because Walker could attract good managers and was reasonably likely to then appoint one. Same with Williams.

Irrelevant now.

Warburton has got QPR below us in the League. Apart from Rowett the other 3 names would have been complete fantasy - I have never said there are not better managers out there just that (1) you have only to look at the owners' track record in manager recruitment to see what sort of manager would actually be hired, (2) the owners' toxic reputation in the game and the way the club is run is a serious deterrent to attracting a good manager (3) and the potential FFP position compounds that.

The manager here at the moment can't be afforded any more money - because if FFP kicks in no manager can. With a contract until June 2022 how much would getting rid of the manager and his support staff cost ? At least a couple of million I would suggest, making the FFP position even more difficult. Who is this someone better who will be attracted to a club with FFP constraints, if they are there ?

I doubt very much that Mike Ashley has got to where he is in life by being the pushover in negotiations that you are assuming.

Apparently Newcastle expect the club he is loaned to will pay his £60,000 a week wages.

Unfortunately the days of getting round FFP are at an end. There is a report that I have just read in today's Daily Telegraph that last week 5 unnamed Championship clubs visited the EFL for a meeting to demand that a date be set for the hearing in to the Sheffield Wednesday situation be set and to complain about Wednesday still bringing in new players. I am afraid that there are now an increasing number of clubs who are bringing in lawyers to consider action to ensure that the EFL enforce the rules and we are going to have to live with that.

Agreed - but an indication of how the owners have set the club up.

Have the various CEOs actually had the powers and authority that would normally be associated with that position ? The impression I get is that these people are really just administrators.

What on earth is the connection between FFP and a mental health campaign ?

If true,disturbing news, if not unexpected. Personally, I would rather see FFP bite with a points deduction than see Ewood Park sold off. You only have to look at Coventry City's problems to see how inadvisable it is for a club's ground to be owned by someone other than the club. As I have mentioned before, the EFL look to be getting much tougher with regard to the enforcement of the FFP rules, not least because Steve Gibson and Middlesbrough have got lawyers on the case to see that they do, and the blithe remarks above about what other clubs have done in the past do not address the reality that the club now faces.