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!

Who knows. I think we can bumble along for the rest of the season now and hopefully see out a top half finish. Regardless, it's going to be a summer of change and as usual there's no ability to build and improve. As with this season, it's just "keep away from the trap door and anything else is a bonus". We *did* have the killer instinct with Szmodics, but, alas, our "Groundhog Day Model" meant he had to go.

Agreed, does feel rather flat and pointless - what could've been if the ownership had led from the front. It's been clear for a few years, though, that the club has a knack for recruiting grafting lads who'll put a shift in and pull together. I don't think there's been much to complain about with the application and attitude of the players since the start of the Mowbray era. That's seen us through on multiple occasions. Shocking really for Luton to be where they are - surely their aim for the next 3/4 years should've been to establish themselves in the top half, get the new stadium built and try and bounce back. Idk where it's all gone wrong - keeping Rob Edwards too long?

It's apathy. Sheer apathy and the slow death of the club. It's the "salami slice" technique of advancing an inch at a time. The whole BRFC community needs to engage now to get rid of the regime. No matter how disengaged they've grown over the years.

If you're an optimist you'll think an excellent, historic brand like Rovers would attract a caring, benevolent owner who'd pump millions in every year. However, given the Venkys record and the experience of other, similar sized clubs (Coventry, Reading, Charlton, Hull) we'd be out of the frying pan and into the fire with a new bunch of charlatans. The reality is BRFC in its current state is likely only to be desirable to asset strippers.

No one will want to buy a League One/Two club with an oversized, ageing, expensive stadium. In a region saturated with successful football clubs, suffering from economic hardship, with a small, apathetic fanbase. Then you have to put £20m+ a year in to stay solvent, and service an unsustainable debt. Blackburn Rovers FC really do be f****d.

Abso-f*****g-lutely shite. Politically, Ismael has to go. I'm not usually one to leap to proclamations like this but there's nothing even the most deluded person could cling to here to defend him. His position is totally untenable - keeping him in post now would be tinpot. I feel this is just the start of the club's troubles too, next season will be an utter farce and 24th will flatter us. Then how far the decline goes idk. The club is dying. There's been no real exciting reason to go to Ewood Park and watch Rovers for 15 years.

Exactly. Any talk of being "thorough" is to cover for the fact they don't know what to do. They're trying desperately to find a candidate who won't totally embarrass them whilst being relatively cheap.

It's so far up their sleeve, at a point where continuity and time is of the essence, it's taken them nearly two weeks to extract from said sleeve? The silence and shifting odds indicate they're running around like headless chickens (if you'll pardon the pun!)

Absolutely, as good as Lowe may be, you also have to consider the politics of his situation. Will he be there next week? Who's got authority to tell a player who's contract's running down he'll be there next season? Does he have the experience at this level for a PO run in? Will he get the job if he wins another game? These questions would eat away at even the best coach's position.

Ah, so another day is done, no manager appointed. 10 days since the Wolves game when news broke. No Time for a new manager to establish himself with two full days training before Swansea. Oh what a circus! Unity and cohesion was needed to galvanise after Eustace's departure, get a new guy in efficiently and go again. That window is now passed. Instead the club appears to be falling apart from the top down - will the rot hit the players by Saturday?

I thought I'd just sum up a few themes on this thread... 1. The club should have a shortlist, be able to update it in half a day (given we've been left in the lurch). Then, it's 3-4 days to interview 6 candidates and/or sound out agents. No excuses beyond 5-7 working days (where we're at now. 2. We need a quick appointment - we're seeing discord in our ranks already, other clubs like Boro are mobilising and prospective managers are starting to see the dysfunction. 3. We need an impact manager/ motivator on a contract to the summer. There's no long term thinking at the club and the summer will be a sh!tshow. We're unlikely to get a top candidate of this mould but will probably get a 'passable' B-grade substitute. 4. All this is traceable back to the regime. This episode *must* be the catalyst for a new Venkys Out campaign.

Starting to think a Karanka type figure is on the cards. Anyone with kudos in the English game has woken up to how fragile the clubs situation is.

This seems to be justifying why I was arguing the club needed to move quickly. We've now got direct competition from Boro for managers and the fans are starting to get restless at the lack of concrete news. The candidates are starting to see from all this how BRFC are dysfunctional and getting cold feet.

Yup, there's probably a 10% chance we go up. We're not getting a good manager long term now, nor are we getting one in the summer if we stay in the division. Without breaking the bank, it's time for a short term shot in the arm to try our best to get promoted, then re-evaluate. Otherwise, it could be a long time before the club's given a position like this again.

That, and for a modest outlay, we could get in someone with skills and experience who could have an immediate impact and motivation. Lowe is perfectly capable mind.

Season's done of they appoint him. Hopefully the fans would write the remaining fixtures off and coalesce around a new Venkys Out campaign. Ridiculous appointment.

This is true... for now. The players need to know what the board's decision is, otherwise doubts will be sown that "They're going to scupper this and put Manager X in with 8 games to go. Will X or Y's style suit us?" All that uncertainty and those nagging questions that will arise the longer the club stay silent. Equally, the fans will get restless at the continuing incompetence of the management. Maybe we could go longer with Lowe as caretaker - the board just need to say so and tell us when they're going to appoint! Certainty and unity is needed for this run-in. An issue as central as the Head Coach can't be let slide. An effective team in this situation needs to take a decision and move on.

Hmm, I don't think it excuses taking over two weeks for an appointment. Days, maybe, but you should spend a day narrowing down to a shortlist (say 6 people), being ruthless and getting the lowdown off a few agents. A lot of your shortlist will ultimately be who you were thinking of anyway. Two days to interview the shortlist - appointment. Maybe some politics delays things to ensure the appointment doesn't disturb the players and the fixture schedule. It's been seven days since we knew Eustace was gone, and we've got six clear days without a game - so we should be within spitting distance of an appointment. *Should* being the operative phrase!

The club has been blindsided by Eustace and hasn't been as well prepared as it should've been - agreed. However, when a manager departs suddenly it sometimes does take a few days to work things out with the top candidates. You can't have a new manager on speed dial all the time, when the trigger is actually pulled the appointment might not work in practice. If we get a decent appointment by midweek, I think the club will have done OK- that's 10 days which seems reasonable.