What agency represents him?

They have two home games coming up against two of the weakest teams in their group. They need to win both or they might as well forget about Qatar 2022.

...and yet the Venky's STILL didn't sack him!!!

He's also ramped up the fees for overseas fans on MyRovers. Is it a long-term option to push fans away and justify a return to trying to sell off the Academy?

It's like Deal or no Deal, this! Ben could pick up an injury away with Chile, for instance. £5000 for doing little more than placing a bet...I'd have snapped their hands off already.

No, it's a complete myth that they would happily chuck away £20 million a year just for some bizarre attempt to save face with a football team none of their friends are likely to even know about and even fewer care about.

They have tons of businesses like most billionaires. Ditching or selling one of them would be no loss of face. They'd still be worth a lot and the bottom line overall would be all that matters. Can they still afford to play the part of the wealthy Indian plutocrat? It's a myth that they'd "lose face" over getting rid of BRFC. Their "fellow successful business friends and associates" would likely never heard of Rovers and certainly wouldn't care less. Not as if we're some kind of IPL team or anything.

...and none of that makes any sense. None. £180 million?!?!?!? Jesus wept...

Mate, there's literally nobody in India who gives a f about Rovers or the Venky's owning us. None. Trust me, I worked in Mumbai when we still had Bowyer. Football isn't massive there like cricket and, when it is, they're focused on the Prem and Man Utd. It's really not a reason.

There are potential reasons and theories, but you can't necessarily publish them on the internet! So, best not to speculate out loud too much... They're seriously the only ways for the mind to go to make any logic out of this. How can they ENJOY owning Rovers as a football club otherwise?!?!? What pleasure do they get from another year of Mowbray's "journey"?!?!!

Well said. Too many Rovers fans swallow the BS myths that have perpetuated over the past decade or so. £20 million written off each year makes no sense. Throwing money on big contracts for players/staff all from the same agency makes no sense. Appointing crap manager after the other from the same agency makes no sense. Well, it does but... Repeating the mantra of them being badly advised ad infinitum makes no sense...yet we here it year after year from the same posters on here. Billionaires being perpetually badly advised? Yeah, right... Look around you. No, not at Derby, Wigan and a few others who are named EVERY TIME this discussion. Instead, imagine...as John Lennon might have asked you...all the other clubs living life in peace. They're the majority. We know of the basket cases.

The final game against Venezuela is on October the 15th.

Hard to complain too much. It was his call-up to Chile and his performances this summer that have transformed him into this confident striker. Being an international playing against the likes of Brazil is increasing the fee we will eventually get for him massively and is making him the most famous player outside of the Premiership.

I'd take a trip into admin and into the national league if we had to, just to get rid of them. We'd take some time to rise like a Phoenix, but we'd get there. I'd love to have a club to believe in again, owners who want the best for the club and a manager that actually gave a shit.

I stick to the football forum mainly, as that's what we're all here. We all want the best for Rovers, after all.

Apart from Jack, I have to disagree. Did you see the Berg penalty and sending off when we were leading at Ewood? How about the goal at OT disallowed for nothing? The only reason it went down to the wire in the first place was because we were robbed in BOTH games against them.

We'll agree to disagree then about the baiting aspect. Nothing wrong with the first four lines of your post, it was a good argument well made. In fact, I usually like you posts (not that opinions are important at the end of the day, we've all got 'em). I've no idea why you had to then bring Chaddy into it. And no, I don't see Chaddy intentionally riling others. I see him giving his opinion, which most on here routinely disagree with. I generally disagree with his stance, but how does he rile others because he holds that (usually VERY pro-club) stance?

Good post. As soon as something doesn't go our way, Mowbray overreacts. He can't help himself. We'd been generally playing well this season, so why randomly change formation? He changed formation against Luton and it cost us two points. We should have picked up a point at Huddersfield. We'd be near the automatic promotion places now. People have been talking about Venus holding the reins now, well...if that's so, then he's certainly not in charge of in-game substitutions and random formation changes! Let's enjoy the playoffs while we can, who's confident we'll be there for much longer?

This is baiting for the sake of it. No need for that, it wasn't even in a reply to a post of his. Chaddy is a Rovers fan just like everyone else and is entitled to his opinion, I don't see him intentionally riling others. You might find him annoying, but it seems many find your posts annoying too, so why not live and let live?

Completely disagree. The "lucrative" part was placed in there by you and was not mentioned. The simple fact of the matter is that there would have been no need for any lucrative contract six months ago as it was pre-Diaz. However, he had a generally good season last year as a 21 year-old. He was one of our best players, albeit inconsistently. Seeing as we'd invested a lot in him and he was showing improvement, then of course a contract for a 21 year-old was a no-brainer. We seem to forget about his age at times, but Ben is 18 months younger than Lewis Travis. He has plenty of time to improve. Secondly, while I agree that tying down players on long-term contracts needs to be considered beforehand, this should be less concerning if they are young. They can still improve and they still retain their resale value more consistently than, say, 30 year-olds be given long contracts. The long contracts given to the likes of Bennett, Mulgrew, Evans and so on need to be more carefully considered than those given to youngsters showing promise. We now solely have an extra one-year option. So, Ben will likely be touted around next summer as our new Armstrong. With just one year left on his contract, we won't be able to dictate terms so much.

...we're selling in the summer, aren't we? Armstrong mk.2.

It'd be funny if we weren't Rovers fans. Couldn't make it up. It's incompetence taken to the level of a bloody art form!!!

Got to feel sorry for Lowe. He played at the Euro U21s alongside the likes of Morata, Wijnaldum, Thiago, Isco, De Jong. While they've gone onto play for great clubs, he has just worked his way ever down the leagues. Birmingham > Bolton > Salford > on his way to non-league and he's only 30 and now pointed out as the example of a next big thing who never became a big thing. I'm sure he's done alright for himself financially, but his career has been a consistent downward spiral since the promise indicated by his younger days. Some reach their potential, others become Maceo Righters. Ah well, them's the breaks but hard not to feel sorry for the lad.

Don't know if hindered is the right word, but Armstrong certainly took a lot of the chances to developed that all three of our front three needed.

It's been years in the making...but the player in there is starting to blossom. Now, we need to tie him down to a contract...