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. 

18 hours ago, DE. said:

Good effort. Reminds me of the Kean Out days when it was appearing everywhere.

...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?

3 hours ago, Claytons Left Boot said:

You’re right. I’d take it as well.

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.

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

They've wound up numerous businesses and have quite a few under their banner that are dormant. Not much face saving gone on in the past. 

Plenty form for acting on whims and throwing money into daft projects only to quickly lose interest.  Anyone know how the 3 million they invested in Akon via VLL is getting on ?

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. 

5 hours ago, roversinmyblood said:

It’s not the general public they would be concerned about, it’s their fellow successful business friends and associates. They are the ones who they don’t want to lose face with. They won’t want to be seen as failures. 

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. 

9 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

While it’s a mystery why they continue to find a chronically loss-making enterprise brought about entirely by their idiocy, there’s no mystery financial shenanigans behind it all IMO. These aren’t paper losses, this is cold hard negative cash flow - £180 million and counting has been sent over, given to BRFC mostly in exchange for worthless share certificates, and paid out to a massive cast of not good enoughs.

...and none of that makes any sense. None.

£180 million?!?!?!? Jesus wept...

13 hours ago, bluebruce said:

I understand letting us go to the wall would reflect terribly on them back home

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.

6 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

It's genuinely one of the most obscure mysteries I've ever encountered. I can't think of anything similar.

They should have left ages ago. I guess maybe they think about walking away every year but then - kind of like a gambling addict - they think if we can fluke it into the prem they get all their money back? Who knows.

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"?!?!!

8 hours ago, JHRover said:

Here's another valid and important point - how come most other Championship sides, many of them smaller clubs than Rovers, can accomplish the same mid table mediocrity that we can on a fraction of the losses?

This is an important point because it comes back to how the club is run and how quickly and relatively easily that huge figure of £20 million could be substantially reduced whilst still sustaining the same as we have now.

It is one of the biggest myths going that the only way we can survive at this level is by having owners willing and able to pump in £20 million each and every year. The reason these owners are doing that is because of their ongoing negligence and mismanagement. If employing Steve Waggott and Tony Mowbray for nearly 5 years is the sum total of your interest and investment in the club then you deserve everything you get. These two no-hopers left Coventry City in ruins and walked into this job after being overlooked at clubs like Chesterfield, Southend and Gillingham. 

Employ better and get better results. Not just on the pitch but off it also. 

Anyone tell me how much the Blackpool owner is set to lose this year on his club? Or Hemmings at Preston? Or Berylson at Millwall, or whoever owns Luton?

Halve that £20 million and then knock another chunk off. Why can't we do that and still finish mid-table?

And no - the answer isn't facilities or the academy. At most the Category A academy costs us an extra million or two a year to run and it more than covers its outlay on the players we've developed through it. As far as I can tell all those other clubs also have grounds and training pitches most of which are better maintained than Ewood. 

If anyone can explain the above then maybe I'll accept that we need £20 million a year benefactors. Until then I simply don't accept it.

And the debt figure is another myth. That figure isn't debt - it is their tab for their 'management' of the club over the last decade. They've chosen to do it that way which is entirely their right but it isn't debt and they aren't having it back. Nobody is paying it and the Club certainly can't.

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. 

8 minutes ago, rigger said:

The article on the Rovers site says that Chiles final game is on the 10th Oct, The Coventry game is on the 16th. Why could he not play ?

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.

11 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

It's a daily occurance. You shouldn't go on the politics thread mate.......

Robins doing a good job.

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

On 26/09/2021 at 21:26, Paul Mellelieu said:

We got lucky - Jack, Shearer, Cantana, Cole.     

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. 

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

This is not " baiting for the sake of it".

There are some, including Chaddy, who I think change their opinions about Mowbray like the wind.  Chaddy was immensely pro Mowbray until the latter games of last season and then thought Mowbray had to go, now he seems happy with Mowbray  mainly, it would seem, due to a decent start (result wise) to the season. You don't see Chaddy intentionally riling others.......................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The main purpose of my post was to point out what a half decent manager can do to a club in a fraction of the time Mowbray has had.  After less than two years there, O'Neill has Stoke on the move in the right direction and I would bet the house on Stoke finishing far higher than Rovers in the Championship.  IMO, this is in stark contrast to what I consider is Mowbray's five wasted years in charge.

If you or others find me annoying then simply put me on ignore.

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?

On 30/09/2021 at 15:11, JHRover said:

Because I think Tuesday was shambolic and it annoys me the number of people putting it down to luck, misfortune or not getting the rub of the green. We got an injury to our RB. Unfortunate but not unexpected given his history. To not have a replacement available and to then have to change the entire team around after 20 minutes to cover for it is just typical Mowbray Rovers. Self inflicted problems and making something that should be simple into confusion and something elaborate.

Nowt to do with luck. Its poor recruitment and management biting us in the backside.

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?

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

Good win for Stoke tonight.

Up to third just a point behind first and second.

O'Neill joined Stoke less than 2 years ago when bottom of Championship.

Oh for a manager who knows what the feck he's doing.

5 years of Mowbray @chaddyrovers and where the feck are we on his 'journey'?!

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?

On 29/09/2021 at 17:11, Ben Frost said:

This is criticism for the sake of criticising. Because if the Ben Brereton of 6 months ago had been given a lucrative and lengthy contract extension by Rovers, there would have been uproar on here, probably led by yourself. 

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. 

1 hour ago, Bad Boy said:

BB has just had his 1 year contract extension triggered by Rovers.

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

Armstrong mk.2. 

6 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

So we sign a 7m player, barely play him for 18 months, then when he finally starts coming good, we haven't kept an eye on his contract and he ends up walking out for next to nothing.

Only in Mowbray and Waggott land  

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!!!

7 hours ago, LDRover said:

On the subject of J-Lo, I see the misery magnet is working the oracle at Salford. Always said he was non league standard and it looks like he's dragging Salford down there with him.

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.

15 hours ago, neophox said:

We looked fit and we can now see how Armstrong had hindered Brereton and Gally.. 

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.

On 19/06/2021 at 10:44, TheRoversReturn said:

Wonderful story. Barely 22 years old and scoring the winner in the Copa America while playing for Rovers. There's a player in there...it's taking a while to come out, but it's happening.

Chile's own Big Ben!

 

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...