Bethnal

This is an entirely fair point, but there’s a lot more to sell than just the ownership. We’ve got history and positive community outreach. The brand association is a tough obstacle, but if you can position it in a way that there’s obvious commercial benefit, it’s possible. Sponsorship isn’t charity, there are huge potential upsides. We did donate the sponsorship to Prince’s Trust one year (from an aesthetic standpoint, that was an excellent sponsor), but as above, the point of the commercial department is coming up with the narrative that sells to consumers and partners alike. It’s been clear for a while that there’s no talent in that department, my observation is purely that actual talent in there would make things happen. CEO in a company is usually “Salesperson-in-Chief,” and while I imagine football oversight is also a part of the remit, it should be the first point of reference when assessing performance. It appears we only have a “Costcutter-in-Chief.”

Well, it’s right up there with the worst do commercial decisions not to have sussed this out and pitched for big stuff. Booths (E. H. Booth & Co.) did 20x the revenue of WR, with a bigger total bottom line than WR. With a growing reputation of “Waitrose of the North,” national distribution through Amazon Fresh and the opportunity to club in thousands of Rovers supporters at the ground, nationally and internationally, it’s a fairly easy sell to try and get someone like them on board for a significantly better fee. I’ve made this point before, they’d be an excellent sponsor and they’re just one of many within 30 miles of the stadium.

Well, I guess that’s Waggott’s wage covered. I suspect there was more cash out there for anyone with a bit of ambition. Thinking about it today, I considered that the Totally Wicked deal ending caught them out a bit as they began finalising the kit planning, leaving them little scope to go further afield. I’m at least happy it’s not some horrific betting or crypto firm, but just thinking about the firms in Lancashire alone that could have been pitched for it. Aiming as low as we do only hurts the chances of securing a good sponsor in the future.

Equally certain that Watson Ramsbottom are a good and competent firm of solicitors, but it does just go to show the total lack of imagination down at Ewood and I’ve been banging that drum for ages. I believe (having looked into sponsoring a non-league team ourselves this year) it’s common courtesy to offer a higher level of sponsorship to existing sponsors before seeking new sponsors, so that’s worth considering. Even still, League Two Barrow AFC have unveiled The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (region in Canada) as new front-of-shirt sponsors. I saw a figure of £171k (oddly specific) written somewhere. I look at that, as well as recent filings at Companies House for WR and wonder how far above that are WR paying? £300k? Looking at a best-case, total marketing spend for a business like theirs would be around 10% of revenue (absolute maximum, really) of which, their biggest individual spend shouldn’t be more than 25%. Their total revenue in most recent filing is £12m, leading to £300k. Barrow were in the fifth tier 7 years ago and while they are clearly ambitious and upwardly mobile, what the fuck are commercial playing at not seeking the largest possible sum for the most prominent sponsorship opportunity?

Nailed-on relegation. Gestede was essentially interning last year, but he’ll have witnessed the backstabbing that Waggott is capable of and not bother pushing for anything. John Park - with respect to a man with as long and pedigreed of a career as he has; last year with a bigger budget than he will likely get here, his efforts brought about a squad that got relegated (although that Miyashi looks handy). Suspect he’s not exactly the hire you make if you’re thinking long-term, but it’s clear this administration aren’t doing that.

Same. He’s probably a good few years away from having everything at his disposal, but he’s got a lot of the natural physical attributes to suggest he will go to the top and displayed a lot of the “intangibles” at times. Obviously a kid still and being a centre back is as much about nous as anything else. Went too big, too quick, though. I suspect he gets another championship loan, then a lower premier league loan then moves permanently to a club “below” Spurs in the Sky Sports Pecking Order. A good career ahead for him, but feel his dickhead agent has put him on the back foot by forcing the move, as he’s likely to do again this summer with Ty Dolan.

I think the Kompany situation is bonkers, out of this world stuff, Burnley to Bayern is a ridiculous leap, but I weirdly think he’ll do alright there. He was playing champagne football with alehouse players, in essence and I reckon he’ll get backed heavily. Even still, Russell Martin in charge of a professional football club is like putting David Brent in charge of Salesforce or something. The definition of all mouth no trousers. He’s achieved basically nothing in management, aside from that one pretty goal that MK Dons scored. He got plucked from them after a 13th place finish in League One, was utter garbage at Swansea and has now fumbled automatic promotion playing the Championship on easy mode. I actually want them to get promoted, as I reckon he’ll beat the Derby lowest points total record if left in charge the full season. Reckon they lose their opening 5 games in the league above.

This kit prediction is not one you would pull out of thin air, so if it gets that right, I might give it a bit of weight.

As fans, transfers are probably what cause the most excitement/consternation, but a DoF isn’t solely judged on them, so he’s right to put his record down in a public forum, because I believe it stacks up. Equally, as fans, we’re entitled to our opinions and I know some disagree with mine. After a point, we’re all working with the same information, so it’s fully subjective. Interesting, though, that a club employee had their say in the comments below his post (see image attached). There’s something in this that strikes a bit of fear into me, when combined with the retained list announced today (John Fleck earning probably £450k for 17 mins of football simply cannot justify an extension). I believe we’re much worse off with Waggott and Pasha tasked with the day-to-day footballing operations. Absolutely nobody fighting for a budget, trying to build a long-term strategy on the pitch/in the academy or nurturing the footballing side. Waggott has had all the time in the world to develop the commercial strategy (his main remit) over the past two seasons and it’s now somehow worse. Nobody should be celebrating this sacking, really, at the very least because of what it means: Waggott telling the owners that a DoF isn’t necessary/didn’t work and handing out contracts to The Boys. We’re not far from him trying to flog Brockhall again.

I understand that WATR are basically a fan consultancy group on fan-related matters (match day experience, consumer experience, etc) but as the only forum with a direct link to the club and one that should represent fans, I think it needs a radical shakeup. Regularly see the chair posting in support of the administration and photos of himself in the hospitality. Never comfortable with seeing that kind of thing when the club is at such a low ebb. WATR needs to be doing a lot better than it’s managed over the last few years or those in senior positions need to step aside.

Agreed, needs £10m+ for mid-table, on the face of it. We might get lucky with some historically under-performing players stepping up, but I currently struggle to believe that. Would be very Rovers for Sigurdsson (with a year left on his deal) to have a mega season next season.

Devastated for him. Such an unlucky period with injuries.

I think McGuire could do a job here, as I’ve posted earlier. I think it’s telling that he’s as forthcoming about the experience and it’s notable to be stating publicly that you would need a lot of convincing to complete the deal. I am confident the higher ups will be demanding alternatives with a lower outlay, lower wages etc. I do not think he’ll be a Rovers player come 1st September, which is a shame. Im going to give Waggott two months to appoint a DoF and make interim transfer moves. If he doesn’t impress to a level that I currently think is beyond his capabilities (and I expect he won’t) then I’m going to be in his inbox every week outlining criticisms and asking when he plans to resign/what the circumstances have to be before he resigns.

I’ve taken - as a few Rovers fans probably have - an interest in McGuire, keeping up to speed on games he’s played in. He is scoring from the bench and starts. MLS has come a long way and while it’s definitely not top five European league standard, I don’t think it’s totally dissimilar to Eredivisie or Portuguese league. Doesn’t really have the stand-out clubs like those two leagues have (Porto, Benfica, Ajax, Feyenoord, although LAFC have the feel of those clubs), but the general standard is similar, albeit slightly less technical. After the world class players on a victory lap, there’s a tranche of players that are of a good standard. The thing that tracks nicely to the Championship is that it appears to be a physically demanding league, in the main. Generally, his forward play is of a traditional number 9. Intelligent runs, good finishing, good positional awareness. He has the desirable trait of finding himself in the right place at the right time and for things to be consistently coming off for him. Not overly quick, though. He’s a gamble, no doubt, but either we gamble on someone like him, with a good amount of statistical data behind that, a more experienced pro from a league below or a kid on loan from the big boys. We’re not going to drop the £7-10m that a proven goalscorer probably costs in this league. In comparison to what we’ve got - I don’t think Semir scores goals in MLS, I don’t think Gally scores very many at all in MLS, I think Harry Leonard eventually scores a fair few in MLS, but Duncan McGuire is currently scoring more than any of them would (in my opinion) over there. EDIT: to expand on the above, here’s a really quick clip of his play and it’s a good one because the angle is wide and you see his movement clearly: https://youtu.be/rNUEaS-wMqo He challenges for the first ball up top, although gets beaten quite easily in the air. When the interception happens, though, he’s immediately up to speed, spots the gap in the middle and gambles on the ball either making its way directly to him or via a cutback from the flank. Whether it’s learned or instinctive, it’s well-employed and if we’re all agreed that we need a number 9 like that, I think this is a goal that shows he’s in that mould.

I dunno if he can, but I’m confident neither of them would help us get promoted. Good to know what’s important, though.

Similar scoring record, just looking at them. What’s the metric you’re looking at?

Christ.

Genuinely just going off your profile. One below the last one in this screencap is from 2013. Not at all knocking not posting and just reading or similar, but coming forward with a lot of information out of the blue is - as I’ve said before now - suspicious to me.

Is that a five-year MBO or are you all now enjoying the luxury of free time at the executive level? (Congrats, incidentally!) Even still, 5 years… I’ve met three exes’ parents in that time and I hated every minute, but I found the time. I’ll remain suspicious until I see a reason not to.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, not a single word of my previous reply was levelled at you, just what I would be asking myself if an unknown forum member who (I assume) isn’t posting very much decided to give me snippets of information without any context for where it’s coming from. Enjoyed their use of the word “trick,” in what they said. The thing about a trick is misdirection, the magician wants you to believe something has happened, in spite of your better logic, so they make sure you’re looking at what they want you to look at and that you see what they want you to see. Proceed with caution, I’d say.

Respectfully, you’ve not posted in five years, then you’ve come in hot and heavy when there’s some boardroom fuckery at play and cover is needed. Not sure what’s changed on your end, but forgive me for being suspicious.

Appreciate you’re just passing this on, but just to pick at a few points from your source’s assertions: “club didn’t want to announce it due to where we were in the league” means what exactly? Fan uproar around “club legend, Ian Silvester” being ousted? They’d have probably sold more tickets announcing someone was losing their job over Maguire. ”throwing the club under the bus, similar to the JDT trick” - firstly, is that the bus we paid to be tricked out and loaned out by the real owner when we weren’t using it? Second; have either thrown the club under the bus or is Waggott so spineless that he can’t convince his paymasters to invest in the club he’s supposed to be stewarding? Only you can answer this - what motive has your source got to make it seem like Waggott and Suhail are earnestly keeping the club on course and make it seem like it’s everyone else at fault? Because there’s only so many times that you can blame everyone else before the real common denominator becomes apparent. I think you’re receiving club spin, honestly.

Yeah, this has nothing to do with Waggott’s boardroom chicanery. I cannot tell you how untalented you have to be to run a company with up to £20m in annnual funding and still get your arse handed to you, over and over again. The man hasn’t achieved anything of note since his days at Charlton, as community trust CEO (or similar). A nothing person, entirely proven by his record here. He’s achieved nothing. If I had to guess from what’s been banded about and written in more reputable journals; the summer budget has finally been set by Venky’s at “the square root of fuck all and we expect a please and thanks,” while GB has correctly decided to “fuck this for a game of soldiers.” Why would he catch more heat for having nothing to spend while selling our best players? Our previous “problem” manager now manages the national team ranked 28 in the world. Broughton won’t struggle to find similar employment. You have to wonder why they have/will move on positively and we’re left in the shit. Some would do well to wake up to what’s going on.

Unfortunately, you don’t get as clear of an indication of someone leaving as their teammate putting you on the spot, in an interview, unexpectedly. Hope it’s a dream move to West Ham and some sort of trophy there for him, but with five or six others bidding so we’re looking at £15m. Go well, lad.

Think he’s had some shockers this year, but he’s had a lot going on, I think someone has mentioned personal issues, off-field. I don’t think he’s someone we should be getting rid of, but he has ti hit the ground running and improve back to last season’s level, early doors.