Then why have a head of recruitment? I presume the thinking on splitting the DoF role into two was to make the recruitment and player development/coaching more specialist roles.

A technical director oversees player development and coaching. The head of recruitment is self-explanatory. apparently that is Sean Kimberley. So what is John Park coming in to do?

Yep, will be the first CL game I’ve watched all season due to not having TNT. It’s on Discovery tonight, seems they’ve moved it from YouTube where it’s been free-to-air in the last few years. The build up seems to be all about RM. I think I’ll support the underdog.

Presumably TD is responsible for player development at all levels of the club, whereas RD is responsible for transfers at all levels of the club. As DoF Broughton was responsible for both.

It must be players who’ve already been released by their previous clubs. I notice Jonson Clarke-Harris is one of the players they’ve signed. Didn’t realise Steve Evan’s was back in charge there.

I’m still hanging on to the hope that there’s a small war chest! Hopefully we’ve got a few quality freebies lined up for when the window opens on the 14th June (I think)

No, never bought any of those, pretty ugly looking things to be fair! I noticed some Adidas Garwen on sale as part of the recent Spezial drop. I’ve never seen them before, thought it was a typo! as for the Blackburn ones. Just going to wear them on Rovers when the sun is out. So twice a year in September and May!

I’d imagine the head of recruitment will be in charge of recruitment.

Agree on the latest reboot, the club appears dysfunctional so a measured plan involving a DoF and a technically gifted head coach who knew his worth was never going to last. So they’re going to try a new ‘model’ and split the DoF into 2 roles. That will probably last another couple of years and then rinse and repeat…. I actually think Eustace has shown enough to suggest he can get results. I think if he’s backed with a few £m on attacking areas we might be in for a better season than many think. It’s the hope that kills you etc!

I’m not sure £5m is that far fetched. We spent £4.5m two summers ago. If the funding issue is sorted as the club have said, allied to the fact we are owed money for Wharton and Raya, then £5m seems a reasonable guess.

Over 3k according to the link the guy above me posted

A really positive first week of sales considering the shit show of the last 12 months. It’s 3000 more than the owners/Board deserve.

With a new head of recruitment coming in, it’s just as plausible to suggest the staff leaving are going where they are wanted. The new head of recruitment might want his own scouts in place. It’s not really an issue unless they aren’t replaced, which none of us know isn’t going to happen.

Totally agree. Our Academy, over the past few years, has become very good at producing players for the level of first team football we are at. You’d probably need to go back to the 50s or 60s to see a greater % of homegrown players in the first team squad, and probably not even then. As for cost, I read a couple of years ago that it costs £3m a year to run the Academy, but that the club also gets a grant that covers more than half of it. So, to answer your question, Wharton has paid for the Academy for at least the next 10 years.

2600 sold so far.

The article in LT says he’s being signed for the Academy and there is a budget for Academy signings.

It’s encouraging that there is a budget to spend money on Academy signings this summer. It suggests there is also a budget for the first team.

You couldn’t help me from the start to be honest. Try to brush up on your comprehension skills.

Indeed it has

Back on sale now as part of the decade of Spezial series. £100

Just bought some Adidas Spezial Blackburn. Very nice they are too.

Well, it’s going to be a miserable summer then! Let’s hope you’re wrong.

They don’t need to request funds at the moment because they’ve got the Wharton money. The issue is whether day-to-day funding going forward will come from Wharton/Raya/szmodics money until it runs out, or whether some of that will be spent on transfers with additional external funding coming from Venkys.

I’m just offering balance because it is being taken as fact that they can’t send funds until the court case is resolved. FWIW I trust very little that comes out of the club, especially from Waggott.