We were spending 200% of our turnover on a lower mid-table side just a few years ago.

I genuinely don't understand the backlash to this particular transfer window / fuck up. Don't get me wrong, it's bad, but anyone with eyes can see that this club has been on life support for a decade. We had 9 Academy graduates in the starting 11 and on the bench against Birmingham in the FA Cup at Ewood. Find me another Championship club that does that - without the Academy we'd be in League 2 / liquidated already.

I imagine he doesn't have the authority to replace the Club Secretary or the CEO so I'd rather he just stuck to the facts tbh.

Again it's funny how people can interpret things so differently. I see that quote from Broughton and think "thank God, finally there is an adult in the room that is planning the long term future of the club". Money at this club is incredibly tight, BUT the budget is there for promotion if you manage it wisely. You just can't go wasting it on a washed up Downing or an unwarranted extension for Gallagher.

Has Ethan Walker ever played? I can't recall seeing his name on the teamsheet.

I don't know where you've heard that. He was actually in Pune having a sit down meeting with the owners.

I wouldn't criticise Broughton on here, you'd never get a transfer deal done - the EFL wouldn't stand for such tardiness. We were in the Top 6 for more than half the season with a combination of Gallagher / Vale / Dolan / Szmodics (at times) leading the line. It's not a stretch to say that a good Championship CF (which none of those listed above are) would have a very positive impact on our results. Before you ask, no I don't know who that player is because it's not my job to find him - but someone like Cameron Archer or Keinan Davis would have made a world of difference.

Adam Wharton and Jake Batty. Newcastle United and Leeds United both wanted Batty.

If it was a very good one, yes.

If I take away all of your successes you'd be deemed a failure too. Sure he signed this really good Championship CB, but ignore that because it doesn't fit my narrative(!) The permanent signings have been very good and he managed to lock down both a very promising manager (we floundered for 5 weeks without a manager in the summer before Broughton arrived) and 3 highly rated Academy graduates (who had the PL sharks circling) to long-term deals. He's come here to cut his teeth as a Director of Football - he was never going to hit a home run from day 1.

I'd stop looking at the table if I was you - we didn't sign a striker, the season is over.

Or if only the Chilean wonderboy had scored the one-on-one...

At the end of the day I'm what many would call a 'happy clapper' because I have a season ticket and appreciate the professional breath of fresh air that Broughton and JDT have been. That said, as pedantic as it sounds, if boxes on the form haven't been ticked and an agent's name has been misspelt then that's entirely on us and we don't have a leg to stand on. These are deals for hundreds of thousands of pounds - you absolutely have to dot every i and cross every t. It's a basic administrative failure on our behalf.

You mean Waggot, right? Broughton was with O'Brien in Manchester, then Brockhall.

I mean that and it's a more central location than Blackburn - easier to get to. Not to mention it's a better place (sorry lads, I'm a Mancunian).

The question wasn't followed up on by Yardley. It's implied that the deal fell through, rather that it was abandoned.

None of our players are good enough for me to give one single fuck about - that said I'm not the manager of a club throwing stones in a glass house.

No - in the interview he said they had a striker target on deadline day, but it wasn't followed up on by Neil Yardley.

O'Brien didn't get them there - he was a summer signing that they're now desperate to get rid of.

So he's billy-big-ball'd it with the staff (who aren't going to fire back at him), but he's sent Broughton out to face the music with the media? What a slimeball.

Who has forgiven the Venkys?

The interviewer was talking about the immediate future - i.e. there's a good chance both players have been soured on a transfer to Blackburn Rovers now so wouldn't come even if we won the appeal(s).

Shipping him out 6 months after signing him for £9m, but they like him and they'll treat him like a professional, apparently.

Pretty much. What's clearly happened is Broughton and co have done their job - convinced the players to sign, got the sign off from the CEO and then the Club Secretary has messed up the paperwork (I gather he's quite incompetent). The fact that this was such a big transfer suggests that Waggot, one of only two people that can submit the registration documents to the EFL / FA, should have been on hand to oversee the process.

I'm curious how binding that Brierley agreement is. If Sheffield United are really interested they can surely just blow our offer out of the water with their PL riches in 6 months time.