They hooked them with cheap season tickets years ago and have managed to keep them but it was a change of ownership that sparked it off. The attitude here is we have 8/9 who will buy every year and 3 or 4k who'll turn up match by match so we'll squeeze them as much as possible sod the rest.

So they'll limp to 8k then sell about 200 more before the season starts and land somewhere near last seasons summer figure. Again all they've done is stopped an exodus and covered their arses to hit their min sales target and guarantee the usual income that keeps them in a job. No wonder this club never really moves forwards.

Whoever is conducting this pantomime is earning their coin. A friendly court clerk .......

I'm still seeing people say Venkys are paying all the bills and we still have transfer income to spend !!! Where in gods name do these people stick their heads ? We have the most ill informed brainwashed fanbase in England and the subject of transfer links when do we ever 'buy' the early ones we are linked to ? Very rare if ever, we are just a name always chucked in because we are always desperate to sign someone half decent.

Pushed back again till after the transfer window by any chance ?

That old hippy at Forest Green has a few quid a club like that might take a punt if they get through the play offs surely there has to be someone capable of paying a small fee for a good player at that level with a bit of potential to sell on.

Markanday will be brought back and be in and around the squad but it looks like he's another who will just see his contract out, get his loyalty bonus and walk for nothing. That means that even if he hits some form finally in this league he'll be off for nowt eventually. Be very good if someone offered a fee in summer and they took it at least it's a few quid back and frees up a minimal wage.

Can see it now on the horizon..... 'V's cleared from providing bonds and guarantees but the war between India and Pakistan means no funds can be sent as they're needed at home' - Steve Waggot - June 2025 But the good news is the sales of Callum and Dom and the wage bill cuts mean we can fund ourselves till Jan 2026, the war should be concluded by then !

War chest....

They probably won't set a budget until this is resolved and if not it'll be whatever budget the club can provide itself so strap in folks an interesting summer ahead.....

Sod all they'll just get about 5k pwk of his reported 8k to reinvest in a loan or something then the beancounters will chalk it don as a result. A small fee received and a wage saving.

Release him and possibly waving goodbye to 1 million compensation isn't the right way to go he's 100% leaving anyway and his contract will run till end of June probably so nothing will happen before then i don't think.

I doubt very much hes been dropped when playing well although it could be tactics but if he was doing so well and was a good player at that level he'd have been back in. Same thing has happened twice now so there's a reason for it although never rule out it could be to do with money and possible appearance fees. Either way it's character building which is 50% the reason why young players get loaned down the leagues in the first place.

If you're a young player you just want to play and prove a point there's a career to be had wherever you end up so iv'e no sympathy. He's either not up to much in reality or thee is an attitude problem for which case a kick up the arse does no harm. Strikes me as a fiesty character from what we've seen on the pitch so doesn't look like a head down type but the clubs that took up obviously just did so for back up.

Jury is out but yeah strong lad maybe Nyambe style who physically was ready for the first team way before he got in it. Doesn't say much for some of the others though.

Really surprised Garret hasn't shone in the lower leagues which is not a good sign he should have been capable of doing well. I like him for his tenacity but he's also a liability and desperately needed games to find some sort of rhythm but that loan has been pointless. The next crop of academy lads out in loan have in general looked to be nowhere near ready for even lower levels of first team football. I hope goofball Gestede isn't thinking of pushing 3 or 4 of these onto Ismael this summer.

Getting a tune out of Cantwell is a good challenge for Ismael. If he can get him in a system more that allows him to be in and around the box more and not leaving any gaping holes that could be a real bonus.

Weimann has to prove himself fit before anything else and i assume the contract they offer him would reflect that. It's a tricky one with him and will probably be a late decision but i don't see hes much option either although Swaghail specialise in signing unfit players short term.

Impossible to predict because absolutely anything can happen in summer and i think we got away with one this season in terms of bettering expectations. We had Eustaces hard to beat mentality and still a touch of JDT's flair sprinkled in there but sooner or later that'll begin to leave us as it's coached and and players change. We also will not keep getting away with selling every player of value whilst filling the squad with kids and freebies. Going into next season as we are now i'd say 11-15th place, which those drawing their big wages in head office would be delighted with. As always home form will be key, pity the club and owners don't help their head coaches and team by trying to fill the ground up.

Well it's the 3rd time its happened so it's never been part of any plan all they've ever done i buff the squad out they've never gone for instant impact. I do suspect someone somewhere thought Dennis might deliver that this time to be fair but whoever it was needs keeping away from bringing people in in the future. Amazing how they got that over the line despite the cost but somehow totally screwed up TWO previous big signings....

Of course they are but the starting point here was lower and the impact higher than a lot of other places. Historically outside of certain big city boroughs smaller places like Blackburn suffer more in hard times.

I just don't understand how and why a club that watches the pennies so much and constantly bemoans lack of income goes out and plays russian roulette signing the likes of Fleck and Dennis. Easily a million quid wasted on those 2 for absolutely nothing and their recent resumes screamed the chances of getting games out of them was 50/50 at best. Utter stupidity but yes someone somewhere will be doing alright out of it.

But the main point here surely is Blackburn Rovers are in Blackburn with Darwen, not Norwich, not Stoke or Swansea. The tickets simply have to be cheaper to get more in regularly, ok Bolton are a league below and have less running costs so we'll ignore them but Preston have shown the way. If we did the same deal they did a few years ago we'd pull in more than them we did before they cut their prices.

Not really a catchment area now though and hasn't been for a long time, yes there are fans still there but this regime doesn't care about lapsed fans. When Jack started building Rovers up back then outside of the Manchester and Merseyside giants there hadn't been another north west club in top flight for decades never mind a successful one. Hence the rebuilding of Ewood to such a size, hence the hiring of John Williams and just as importantly well priced tickets. The area was huge and it worked for a while then plateaued out before this lot ruined it. Now though they are right to concentrate on a more realistic market but many locals are priced out or put off ST by kick off times and cack handed running of the club. If you can't offer Prem football them you have to offer tempting and affordable Championship football and a bit of ambition. No reason why we can't average 15k home supporters they are out there but nobody seems arsed we'll just host them a few times a season and get match by match prices off them.

Limited catchment area, vastly altered demographic from when we were drawing big crowds, constant worsening cost of living and poverty crisis within the borough, many Rovers regulars, former regulars and casual fans now live a few miles away, low wage economy and of course constantly disillusioned fans. You simply have to price to your market and ours is slightly different than a lot in this division or indeed England. Never the mind the fact we have at least 15k empty seats most of the time but we do actually have potential for more attendees even at this level.