Tomphil2

The fact they've all been steered towards the door doesn't help either.

Absolute croc of crap but fully expected as they've taken a team that finished 7th, moulded by Eustace, smashed it up and replaced it with a squad of individuals. The first 11 will take time to gel but tonights back up players showed what they are, a combination of weak, nowhere near ready and quality lacking...squad of individuals coached by someone who doesn't seem to concerned with the lack of balance his tactics serve up. Out of that cup early is dire when all you exist for as a club is to develop kids and cheap talent as it's great for giving them mins but going out now might do us a favour. It's going to be a real tough one this season and it's all been created by the lords and their masters in the corridors yet again.

He'll end up going for about 1.8 million with a load of add ons that will be dressed up as 'a deal up to 2.5m' similar to what you say. How much of those extra add ons we'll actually see is another debate but my point here is Rovers are desperate to get rid because they've already spent on replacements. So there'll be no holding out for good money however it'll be dressed up as otherwise to fend of the critics.

If it's any 'thing' it's an arrogance thing. We'll do what we want, we are rich and powerful and can afford to chuck millions away keeping a famous old English football club afloat, just because we can. We own those Brit mofo's and they will dance to our tune as long as we like' That sort of thing.

So the countdown to Travis leaving has begun and no surprises its started at 1.5 million and won't get anywhere near some of the numbers expected on here in reallity. Under the cloak of 'undisclosed' and 'add ons up to' etc

Even if they find him another position in the club it's a fair old 'unsackable' statement again. He must have some gigantic pay off written into his contract or something.

Just numbers on a screen to them and will have had little to no impact on their business empire and personal wealth. In fact the 200 million plus is probably in counted as being in the portfolio rather than the debt column. So when some say hey these lot are worth 1.2 billion that .2 is little old Rovers by way of the VLL spread sheet....

Lowe must be very well in with someone who has the ears of Pune. Looked like Eustace tried to get rid but he was just sent on other duties then reappeared. Very odd stuff for a low level coach maybe Suhail himself is trying to get him reinstated after he was pushed out by VI and Gestede ?

Revolutionary. Did they not put a ten quid surcharge on for your nerve of just walking up and asking to buy !

Every club within 100 miles radius now has its big day out at Ewood.

Rather quiet recently.

It's almost a carbon copy of the last big fire sale that lead to relegation when you stand back and look at it and of course the younger Venky apologists in the fanbase won't have seen that or won't really remember it and how it all started. Add in the revolving head coach and staff door and directors and staff leaving or being shoved out whilst inside the club a novice from nowhere suddenly seems to be running everything. Only difference this time is players sold aren't being replaced by old men on tens of thousands per week. End result will probably turn out the same sooner or later though.

Then people will wonder why despite cutbacks the running costs don't come down. How many others are they still paying i wonder.

They run Rovers via the VH group profits though that is clearly how it's done and must provide some handy accounting benefits back in India. It's 15 years now since they bought Rovers so allowing for inflation, expansion, borrowings and the cost base explosion of raw materials needed to run that business profits are bound to be hit. It doesn't matter what it or they are worth they don't use their personal wealth unfortunately it is imo all about the profit from the core company and this isn't defending them it's just the reality of how things are done. Would be interesting seeing if there is any real correlation between share price/profit of VH group and the money they've chucked into Rovers. I'm sure i recall share prices at historical highs when they were allowing the Armstrong's and Gallagher's to be bought but i may be wrong. They have seemed to like funding a mass loss making overseas entity for some reason until recently though.

Another massive coincidence then that it comes just at the same time there's a can kicking down the road court contest going on. If there was no court case this last couple of years funding would STILL be severely reduced it's chicken business profit that runs Rovers and when there is non, there is no cash we've seen this before.

Millwall bid about 900k for him when he had plenty contract left and Ipswich took him, barely used him and didn't follow it up. It's been known over a year he wants his next contract as security be it here or anywhere else yet no concrete bids we know about. So yes we'll see in the next few weeks although we are unlikely to see 2 or 3 million but strange things occasionally happen.

Different scenario for Brittain he is a specialist in his position and was outstanding in his position last season so i assume interest went much further than just Boro and Derby but they were the only ones to try and force Rovers hand. Trav is a bread and butter defensive mid a type more akin to fighting fires than giving you a possible nudge towards promotion through assists and goals. I know Eustace is a big admirer they are cut from the same cloth but he won't pay silly money and beyond that who will ? What you say about the owners was correct up to a point but times have changed now and the needs are different. I don't believe for one min we'll be seeing 3.5 mill for Brittain either unless he has a long successful career at Boro that triggers all the add ons etc. I think a fee of around 2 million plus some realistic add on triggers will be nearer the true deal.

Doesn't make much sense forcing a relegation unless you want a complete reset of the whole operation and your owners can only or are only prepared to meet half the costs they previously have.........

At the end of the day right now he's only worth what a team will pay and i really don't see anyone stumping up 2 million or more and a good contract when they can get him for free in summer and maybe offer him two years on big money. As for us it would be really stupid to entertain anything less than around 2 million with add ons but i assume they are getting desperate now having brought a few in. So i'll stick to my guns and say if he does go it'll be undisclosed to save the blushes and probably be about 1.5 million.

Put into context most regular fans have signed up for or paid for season tickets and there is an expensive first home league match on Saturday. They should throw this in for free the price they are disgracefully asking for an adult BBE ticket on Saturday against a club that was in league 1 last season.

Agreed and the one thing that sets Rovers apart from those was the fact V's had a better line of liquidity due to their successful operation in India. It's only that money flowing through the pipes that has kept this club from a complete disaster of their and their friends making but why would you keep on doing it unless you either have no choice or there are benefits somewhere along the chain and all is not as it seems. However the Indian govts involvement - If it's actually genuine and not another smoke and mirrors job - now threatens to eventually send us the way of those other clubs. Because the only thing that's kept it going the last couple of years is player sales liquidity and that is almost at an end.

It stood out to me how pedestrian they all were in that first half it's what you might expect if they'd played 90 mins Saturday/Weds previously. Loosened up a lot second half but first half they were wooden, beasted too hard in training perhaps or coached it down in the morning and didn't leave enough time to relax before the game ?

Well we know they had more influence here than was even legally allowed within football and imo it never went away it just got buried from view. Going nowhere in the Championship is handy for that. If i had to stake my last quid on it just my personal opinion i'd say they stitched it up with an impossible to break legal bind right at the beginning OR possibly tipped up a stake towards the purchase, maybe both. All agreed offshore obviously so in effect someone could be a hidden significant stakeholder, that word we often hear here. Come to think of it remember Keans contract drawn up by himself and JA where had written in extra bonus payments for seemingly nothing, almost like a dividend payment or something ? If every manager/player or whatever has that kind of thing written into their contracts to various degrees by the clubs representative then that's how you get your money out without too much questing because it never shows up it's just on the overall wage bill. Not millions just ten grand here, five grand there. So many players seeing out their contracts now, someone is advising them and it is to some benefit to do so, it must be. Loyalty bonuses written in is my guess, by who though.

Again the suspicion of agent(s) representing the club is something iv'e banged on about for years. If you have a third party who has some sort of agreement to be involved in ALL incomings and goings at this club since 2010 then even at a tiny % just imagine how much money that has earned in the last 15 years. It's something i believe has happened here but that's just my opinion but there are pointers and we know the same lot seem to recruit the managers/head coaches/CEO's etc. I also believe this has been tried to be navigated around at certain times by certain different regimes in the club and it's what leads to infighting, power struggles and very odd transfer breakdowns.

Just 5 mins of listening to that man leaves you in no doubt where the problems. lack of vision, plans and ambition have really been this last decade. He knows nothing except cost cutting, penny pinching and arse covering.