Not sure on the state of play with that but i presume they are much smaller self sufficient operations. I do know something bit the dust over there and i don't think the big Swiss vaccine plant plans they had ever got off the ground.

Hmmm knowing how things work over there i think they've every right to be worried they'd never see their money again regardless of the outcome. Main danger though is it could just go on year after year and tie up tens of millions although their alleged mega generosity due to being double billionaires seems to have disappeared these last few years.

It just means they were desperate to get him off the payroll so probably took a small fee in return for adding a big sell on.

Well if mine's correct i think it was our mate Nixon putting it about so how true it might have been is up for debate 😁

But giving a govt who are actively trying to nail you for something they presumably haven't yet found is a massive risk for anyone. Again not defending them it's just the harsh reality every time they hand some over or provide guarantees they might be waving goodbye to it if they govt turns something else up or comes up with an excuse to pilfer it. It is to my mind an impossible situation that could go on and on, there is only ONE realistic outcome unless it all gets canned quickly and that is Rovers go bust. There is only two realistic ways to counter that under their watch pay up when needed or SELL !

Aye wasn't that Derek Shaw's thing last time to taps were off, running around offering a big discount on future add on's paid up front ?

They got rumbled for the House and Akon misuse of funds listed as football investment but how ? Surely they had to be being looked at for suspicion of something else for that to flag up after all these years. Something else kicked all this off and what we are seeing now is collateral damage and iv'e often wondered if there's ever been a request over there for the British equivalent to comb the books over here. I presume they'd have to present some strong evidence or suspicion though but seething as Starmer has allowed himself to be penetrated by the Indian govt you never know if doors could open.

I expect V's finance people will say ok we'll send half the 4.9 because we still have to bond some of it so you will have to find the rest. I predicted a Tom Cairney style cut price emergency sale this summer and i still reckon it'll happen, anyone who can stump up an instant up front 1.5/2m can take their pick. Highest earners only though.

They always avert disaster it's the one thing they seem good at so i expect that bloke from Bolton will be getting another call for one of his high interest short term special offer jobbies.

Well yes but if he was being offered a significant rise then he wouldn't have done that unless he has a cast iron big offer from somewhere else. 3.5k to 7k for arguments sake is a hell of a lot of money over 2 years for anyone let alone a young player who'll be nowhere near millionaire status yet. So in my mind he just wouldn't turn that down he'd sign but have it negotiated in a buy out clause or something or other. So i think he was either lowballed or offered the same but with a rolling extra year option or - a long shot - he was on enough to not bother when he was only offered a modest rise. As you say 'who knows' but the pointers aren't particularly good on the clubs side knowing what we know and i don't think for one min they took a kid from £325 pwk onto a ten grand a week contract knowing the way they do things here. And i'm not saying that's wrong i believe kids should have to prove consistency and improvement to jump up the pay grade but once they've shown it and future potential sales income they should be tied down accordingly. I mean they threw a 5 year contract at Buckley after a few decent games and the difference between him and Dolan has always been night and day.

From their point of view in terms of clinging onto the club the best thing they ever did was ditch Barclays and move the banking to India. From our point of view that probably wasn't a good thing.

And the departure of Waggot ! I expect his role to now be shared out between the shadow ruler, his lacky and whomever else in order to save money. Expect more costly cock ups it's inevitable.

Me also when you consider the very low starting point.

So he was on £325 per week when he was playing in the first team, no doubt with bonuses but it gives an idea of why they want the squad full of academy players. How much do we honestly think they offered him to sign again two years ago ? £3250.00 pwk, which is ten times his initial wage ? But would still be peanuts in Championship terms. Now think back to Lenihen, Nyambe etc.....

Or Swag finally gave his notice in because there isn't one.

We can't re-invest because of the latest mess the ownership has created or concocted. If they were willing and able to fund as they were then over the last few years there would have been no excuse not to use any sale proceeds or at least a nice big chunk of them towards investing in building a promotion seeking team. It is the only way to do it without parachute money and of course the better the team the more the players are worth anyway so it ticks that box as well. Conveniently though there is the excuse that somehow manifested itself a few years so they've even managed to balls up the best opportunity we've had since we actually had parachute money.

The model that this club has to run on now you simply cannot keep letting it happen then shrugging the shoulders. You also cannot keep telling fans one thing about the 'project' grow/buy low increase value then sell, whilst doing the complete opposite in several cases every year.

Being linked to everyone under the sun as usual but the actual strike rate of one, if any, actually dropping ?

And yet again it's 2 of last seasons best players going and the back up player most likely to score. So the replacements brought in for little or no money will have big holes to fill.

But we need to remember why we were desperate for a Danny Batth in the first place. Ideally we'd keep him AND get this lad in but people thinking it's a good idea to lose one and get the other i don't think are looking at the bigger picture. The 'project' line is being swallowed again a bit too much for my liking.

You'll only truly know that this time next year whereas we know Batth is a good solid reliable player. Why gamble a fee and longer contract on something we don't know when it's easier and cheaper to get another season out of Batth and see where we are next summer, ie a whole 12 months to plan.

I'd call it playing Russian roulette with those running the club risking relegation just to try and squeeze some value out of project signings. See the season before last and all that was what lead to recruiting Eustace and his more experience model in the first place. Now it's a couple of new characters maybe about to repeat history still under the stewardship of the long standing shadow ruler.

If you could make a million quid a year wheeling and dealing at a mid sized mid table championship club whilst also playing the big i am and benefiting from hospitality and perks etc why would you risk that in pursuit of a golden ticket. I am and always have been utterly convinced there are other irons in the fire at this club and those irons have been more than happy with the last decade.

I'd much prefer it and it'd be much better if 15k home fans turned up every home game so we'd average 18k over a season then it would remove a lot of ready made excuses by those inside the club.

At 20k per week Cantwell has been a luxury signing and a lot more is needed from him. On a 2 year contract that sadly isn't low expense and i'd get rid immediately if it meant that money could go to keeping Dolan and Batth.