AvRover

Is it just me who's increasingly cynical of the game? You've got the PL shelling out more and more money with the big boys dominating every competition with their inexhaustible pockets. Meanwhile, most club Championship and below are in permacrisis and financially struggling. Do we really want to tough it out for the next 20 years for the privilege of being PL whipping boys for 12 months?

We are where we are. It's been coming for probably 5 or 6 years. Maybe a prolonged spell in the pits of League 1 or 2 could be a good thing and rid us of these owners. We've had 10+ years of purgatory in the Championship threatening nothing. At this point another season in the Championship = more Venkys

My feelings exactly. The club is being killed by stealth. We've managed to stave it off somehow but the spectre of ending up where Bolton and Wigan are (but worse) has loomed large for years. The business model of football just doesn't care about clubs like ours. We're an inconvenience as much as anything as we take support away from the City, United and Liverpool.

It's been evident this season was going nowhere for some time. At least Hull showed we have some fight and we're capable of winning six pointers. We're on for a weaker season (eg Preston last season) rather than a season with an off chance of the Play Offs. Will it change - not until the ownership changes. Even then, football finance is f****d so it's an uphill battle. Nor do I see an ownership change in the next couple of years. They don't want to sell nor is anyone likely to want to spend over the odds buying a tired club in a deprived region.

I've said before, our relative success in recent seasons is based on the players being grafting lads pulling together. If there's disquiet in the dressing room that's a major red flag. ⛳

It's dull nonsense. Most Championship clubs have had a PO campaign or something in the last 10 years to shout about. We've had no POs, we're the biggest club in the EFL never to have played at New Wembley and the highlight of the last 10 years is runners up in League One. With all due respect even that achievement wasn't built upon nor that exciting as a fan. We're in purgatory waiting for whenever the Venkys have had enough and let us collapse. Bury, Macclesfield and Wimbledon may have been playing minnows, but it was a fun ride and the fans felt engaged and part of something. It's the community asset ethos the game is all about. The hopes of a revival wither with every year of purgatory as people drift away.

There's a lot of dross in this division and crisis ridden clubs - that's our saving grace. Even at this stage of the season, Hull next week is a big "do not lose, should be winning" fixture.

Beating the better clubs isn't necessarily needed realistically where the club is at atm. We just need to be better than three other teams and beat teams in the bottom half. That's the model we're running on until the ownership changes - stay in the division. Rovers is fundamentally a house of cards. We just have to hope we get a good new owner one day, rather than go down the "Morecambe route".

We've been living on borrowed time for probably 7 years. Unless something changed, it was inevitable reality caught up with the club.

Given our spending levels and the calibre of the administration all that's really been proven today is that we're not utter chaotic dross destined to go down. Unless we get a bit of luck, once again we'll be nowhere near those Play Offs! Let's just be grateful given the situation behind the scenes that we're still solvent and able to field a competent, serviceable squad.

Agreed. Imagine if what had happened to Rovers happened to Newcastle! The decline of Rovers was allowed to happen 'salami slice style', surrendering an inch at a time. The frog has now well and truly been boiled, yet many still have their heads in the sand.

The question needs answering as to why the owners don't bail... 1. Can't admit they failed - well, they've dug themselves a deeper hole and the shame grows daily. 2. Recoup investment - seems poor business sense when they're clearly competent with the chicken business. They've poured money in for over a decade. Would £100m from a promotion to the PL really make up for it? 3. Fun - they're absentee so I doubt they're just enjoying the football! If they really wanted to wash their hands of Rovers, there'd be someone willing to buy. Even if the new owners were worse than the current regime. You do have to remember, too, that even after the best part of 10 years in the PL culminating from over a decade of exceptionally competent management, Burnley only managed to sell a bit of equity to some exciting American investors. I want good owners for Rovers as much as the next fan. But chances are, we'd end up like Hull, Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday or Reading. Rovers aren't investable. No parachute money, relatively small fanbase, infrastructure in need of an overhaul, small declined town in a saturated region 100s and miles from the South East. There's a reason Palace, Brentford and Brighton have been able to do it yet we haven't! The proposition isn't there for Rovers.

From a Rovers perspective, I think another 'standard season' of mediocrity is the best we can hope for. Just stay away from the drop zone! Let's be honest, short of a change in ownership (which isn't foreseeable), the absolute realistic ceiling for ambition is to scrape sixth and lose to a parachute payment, moneybags club in the PO semis. Plenty of clubs, eg Cardiff and Hull, thought they had enough to stay up but didn't. That has to be the key concern. I'm just too ground down and fed up by 15 years of this s**t to hope for any better! As much as we the fans deserve a competitive side after all these years and (finally) a trip to new Wembley, the owners DON'T.

It's the same old same old. If we find a real gem - we get Play Offs. If the signings are duds and we get injuries - we go down. The likely scenario is recruitment is ok and we finish about 10th. This has been the recipe largely for 7 years. With PSR and parachute payments automatic promotion is not attainable for a club in our position. The club's best shot of getting back to the PL is to get a bit of luck and sneak into the Play Offs like Huddersfield or Blackpool did. With the poor ownership and current climate, buying another season in the Championship with our recruitment model year after year isn't actually that bad. Yes it's frustrating, yes I want to see more vision and development of the club. However, it's better than being where Wigan and Reading are atm. It's unambitious - but let's just just get a squad together for next season that's capable of comfortably staying up.

In a strange way its consistency - which is keeping us in the Championship!