I understand that the various clubs that currently hold 'Category A' academy status are in the process of being assessed to see whether they comply with the ever changing requirements. The criteria for Category A status has been enhanced making it more difficult for clubs to obtain and retain Category One status.

Wolves have recently been audited and confirmed last week that they had been given Category One status once again and have been given a 3 year licence (the highest possible).

http://www.wolves.co.uk/news/article/news-academy-retains-category-one-status-3144500.aspx

Manchester United have also been audited recently and are expecting to retain their Category One status going forward (so they can play their reserves in the Football League Trophy).

Presumably this means that Rovers have been audited or are being audited at the moment. Does anyone know when we will find out the outcome, or indeed whether Rovers already know the outcome?

I was under the impression that some improvements would need to be made down at the academy at Brockhall, including erecting floodlights and a temporary stand for spectators. Have these been done?

Also, the cost of maintaining a Category One academy is in excess of £2 million per year. Are Venkys going to continue to shovel that amount of money in or can we expect cost-cutting in this department like Bolton did last year?

Rovers were audited at the end of last year and were expecting to hear the result anytime now. I think that the feeling was that with the investment the owners have put into the Academy that they would maintain Category One status. I think the Rovers believe that they may be able to avoid the building of a stand etc, because the of the difficulties with planning regulations in that part of the Ribble Valley.

As someone far from convinced about the appointment I thought he came across very well in this interview. No rash promises but said the sort of things that most fans would want to hear from a new manager. Only time will tell to see if he can deliver.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/14497903.Young_Blackburn_Rovers_defender_announces_he_is_leaving_the_club/?ref=mr&lp=3- was anyone saying this lad was a decent player?

Has been overtaken by Scott Wharton and Matty Platt so no surprise that he is one of a number of youngsters who have been released.

Hearing a rumour u18 football has been scrapped by the slumdogs . All U18 going out on loan .. No idea if it's a true rumour but you know these keaners

I think that's one thing we don't have to worry about. The Under-18's will be continuing as normal next season according to those who should know.

Isn't Stanley a different club anyway?

Yes. The original Accrington club that was in the League from 1888 until the early 1890s is totally different from Accrington Stanley. Indeed, Accrington Stanley were operating at the same time as the original 'Owd Reds' as they were known. Nonetheless, having watched Stanley whenever Rovers don't have a game, I really do hope they win promotion. Saturday's game at Wycombe will be the crunch for them. Win that and I think they will do it. Bristol Rovers have both the relegated clubs to play so should pick up six points so it will be tight. Give it another couple of years and Stanley v Rovers may well be our 'big' games of the season! Who would have thought that just a few years ago.

I remember Roy Vernon playing for Everton, he'd left Rovers when I first got interested. He was a striker and he captained Everton for a few seasons. He was one of the best penalty takers I ever saw. Every one driven with the laces straight into either bottom corner. Practically un stoppable. I never saw him miss one anyway.

I never thought he was a particularly rough player but a former England star whose name I've forgotten had him in his " All Time 11 Dirtiest Players. " list. Terry Paine, Johnny Giles, Peter Osgood and Johnny Morrisey were the other forwards.

He died quite young but by all accounts he was a very heavy smoker.

I too, remember Vernon when at Everton and Stoke and also saw him playing for Great Harwood at the end of his career along with Ronnie and Dougie. He was, as you say, a superb talent and led Everton to the First Division title. Playing at a time when forwards were kicked up in the air on a regular basis, Roy could more than look after himself.

How did Scot Warton play as I see he was the captain.

Apart from a strange own goal, he and Platt did very well against a decent Villa attack. Both seem to read the game well and both are good in the air and can put a foot in when required. There are a number of promising youngsters in this bunch and it will be interesting to see if they can push on to the next level.

Cracking game at Villa Park tonight. The lads thoroughly deserved their win - despite the winning goal coming so late. We could easily have been three up before the unfortunate own goal put Villa in the lead but throughout the game the lads looked capable of scoring at any time. The midfield trio of Hardcastle, Rankin-Costello and Tomlinson all caught the eye whilst Pemberton did a tremendous amount of work down the right flank. Both sides played some excellent football in difficult conditions.

Very sad news. A wonderful player and manager for this club. Two superb seasons with us that will always be etched in my memory. That run of 14 wins and 1 draw from 15 games which took is from the relegation zone of the Third Division to the promotion will surely never be equalled again. Tragic that Howard should be lost to us at such a young age. One of the great midfield players of his era.

A welcome 3 points towards the 53 we need to stay up.

Saying there are X teams worse than us is bubble blowing. There probably aren't 3 managers worse than GB...

I think come the end of the season you'll find there are far more than three managers in a lower position than the Rovers under Bowyer.

Surely you don't want us back there.

We are currently on the trajectory that we were on before Jack saved us. We need a similar saviour now. FFP has dictated that it can't be a new owner's money so our only option is to try to stop the malaise that has set in by bringing in fresh ideas.

If Bowyer is recruiting and picking the team then it must be him. If it isn't him then he should walk because it's his reputation that's at stake, and he is meant to be a dignified chap.

But I do have a beef with these people who say 'ah well, I've seen us in the third tier and I'm prepared to do it again'. This is defeatist and is taking to a place WORSE than last time. It's like jumping out of a plane without a parachute! If Jack had done what Venkys are doing we may not even have a club now, let alone 20,000 plus Rovers fans in their 30s (absent or otherwise).

Nobody wants to drop into League One (or three as it was) but sometimes clubs fall for a variety of reasons. Man City, Southampton, Norwich and Leicester are just four examples of clubs who slipped that far not that long ago but who have bounced back. These clubs, and so many more, have proved that you can come back if the infrastructure at the club is put right and sensible investment is made. At the moment the owners are backing the management they have put in place but only time will tell if that is the correct decision or not. Clearly if results don't improve quickly then someone, somewhere is going to need to have a re-think.

And with a shrug of the shoulders we accept this? I could agree with you if it hadn't been for wholly avoidable situation we find ourselves in through gross mismanagement.

And I have watched the club at the bottom of the old Division Three and I certainly don't want to go back there.

Unless you have the cash to make the Indians an offer they can't refuse I don't see how you change it. The bottom line is that we need someone with wealth to prop the club up because of the infrastructure that Jack built up. If we didn't we simply couldn't maintain what Jack left us, let alone try to move forward. However, I totally agree that they have brought about our downfall through gross mismanagement. At the moment we are between a rock and a hard place and whatever we do from here one suspects that the outcome isn't going to be great.

At least Bowyers defendants may now stop saying 'well it could be worse'.

Let's be honest Gavlar, when you've watched the club when it was bottom of Division Three, you know that it could always be worse! There are many ways it could always be worse.

I wouldn't say people were being fickle in this case. In fact, most that feel that way have been consistent, like yourself with a completely contrasting POV.

When I referred to fickle I meant at the game yesterday.

Parson Blue---still confident that GB is the man to keep us in this League?

Not that that is the summit of achievement for me by the way.

Why should I panic and change my beliefs in the first week or so of September? I remember some wanting Gordon Lee out during his first few months in charge and the same with Kendall when we were floundering near the bottom of the Third. If we are in the bottom three by the end of October/early November and becoming adrift then is the time I would look to assess things but even then, you have to look at who is available, who might improve it and who would want to work under the restrictions of the embargo and, of course, who is going to be in charge of such a process. Personally, I believe that this is very much a mid-table Championship squad that, with a following wind might just mount a challenge for sixth but equally could easily be dragged into a relegation battle. The embargo means you are restricted to signing players that other teams don't want and there is clearly a reason why they don't want them. Clearly the results at the moment are not good enough and they need to improve over the next few weeks or a change is inevitable.

When the players and manager came out at Craven Cottage yesterday the fans were singing "Gary Bowyer's Blue & White Army", it then became "Bowyer, Bowyer sort it out," and when he did in the second half the fans applauded manager and players as they left the pitch - fickle doesn't come close to describing it.

Are you happy with mediocre? Are you happy with bowlers progress ? Are you happy at life under venkys (yes or no ) ?

I don't see things in black and white Abbey. Am I happy with the way things of gone since Venky's took over - clearly not. However, I'm enough of a pragmatist to realise that at the moment we need their financial support. Without it I honestly believe the club goes under. Others don't believe that which is fair enough but I do. Am I happy with mediocrity - again no. However, I also realise that at the moment we have to play the cards we are dealt and that means looking for free transfers and loans and making the best of it. Am I happy with the manager I would say in general yes. He has made mistakes and got things wrong but I firmly believe he has the best interests of the club at heart and until I see evidence to the contrary then I will continue to support him. However, what I feel or think has no bearing on anything as all supporters have differing views on most things surrounding the club at the moment. I still enjoy my football, I still enjoy following the Rovers up and down the country, I still enjoy the comradeship of going to games with friends and discussing the pros and cons afterwards.

The last couple of seasons we were a top half side who, given a good run, might make the play-offs. This campaign we are a mid to lower table team who could, with a poor run, be involved in a relegation battle. Personally, I think there is still enough quality to finish in the lower half well above the relegation places.

you can't seriously wallow in the marginal success of a bunch of kids in a competition that the tops teams didn't enter and we got a bye to the quarters....

I think you might find that we beat Aston Villa in the round of 16 to get to the quarters rather than a bye - but then any excuse to knock the club even if it's factually incorrect.

A good effort from the lads against older and more experienced players. This has often been the case this season because we have looked to push lads through earlier than in the past. A number of players have done really well over the course of the season and it was good to see Sam Joel come on after his excellent hat-trick on Saturday morning against Norwich. The future looks quite promising if we can get one or two of these lads into the senior team.

I hope it isn't.

But I'm not seeing Bowyer learn, and if he is the ultimate decision maker at Ewood he needs to start doing a lot better. I can't help but think, for instance, that Brown and (P) Taylor are now Bowyer's choices for our attack and it's actually Desai who is preventing him (and Shaw) from moving Gestede and Rhodes on to generate funds.

I don't want to write off an alleged bad egg before he's kicked a ball (under a manager who can't handle bad eggs) but if they are the kinds of players he is placing stock in, I fear that we are going to go backwards even further before we can think about moving forwards.

Being honest, give me a mercenary like Souness, Hughes or Allardyce any day - rather than a fan who does his best.

Under normal circumstances I would agree that a Souness, Hughes or Allardyce would be great. Sadly, these aren't normal circumstances. The transfer embargo makes it extremely difficult to operate as a normal club and, as such, it's appeal to other managers would be limited. If you can't bring players in and with several contracts up in the summer and the likes of Rhodes and Gestede likely to move on, the future is going to rest with trying to get the best out of the youngsters.

ParsonBlue, is there any of the current under 21's players who you think will be ready to the first team either the rest of this season or next season?

Have players like Tanner, Green or Mahoney improve this season compare to last season?

One would hope that the likes of Henley and Olsson could occupy the full-back positions, that O'Sullivan and Lenihan could step up into contention for the midfield. Mahoney and Green may - and as yet they are unproven - challenge for the wide midfield berths. Carson is a grafter who, personally, I quite like but I'm not sure if he is staying as he is only a one year contract. Nyambe looks a prospect but is still very young and is only just getting a regular spot with the Under-21's. Tanner has blown hot and cold to be honest whilst Cham hasn't really kicked on as one might have hoped. Raya remains an outstanding prospect in goal but with Eastwood and Steele ahead of him, one would expect him to be loaned out next season.

I have to admire your faith in the likes of Bowyer, Kinder, Filan et al. (Although I don't think I've read much from you complementing Short).

I genuinely hope you are right, Parson, and that Rovers future is bright under some long term rebuilding process; backed by owners who really care about the club. The conspiracy theorists who see mounting debt, novice management - at every level - will no doubt be delighted to be proven as worrying for nothing over the need for (PL) income as soon as possible.

Therein, Stuart, is where I believe the problem rests. No club can guarantee Premier League football and therefore no club can count of Premier League income. Jack wanted the club to become self sufficient which is why is developed the Academy so that it could turn out players who, even if they didn't make it at Ewood, could be sold for a profit. Sadly, that hasn't worked due to the changing times within the Football League. At the end of the day, in our present position, I would rather have a management team at Ewood and the Academy who have some feeling for the club rather than some hired mercenary who comes solely for the cash, has no affinity to club and moves on when a better offer comes along. Only time will tell if my faith is misplaced.

Looks like I gave you too much credit.

I was merely laughing at the cliché, which your newest fan club member aptly continued.

It's pretty obvious that Filan will be given the gig the best possible candidate.

The point is Stuart, it wouldn't be a bad appointment. I know that appointing Filan would merely add more fuel to the lunatic fringe, not including your good self here, who see everything as part of a huge conspiracy - what did happen to the dodgy dossier?

The Under-21's have shown a real improvement this season under Kinder and Filan, despite being a very young side in comparison with many of their opponents. It would seem to me that in terms of developing lads from the Academy and bringing them through it makes sense to have continuity in terms of Kinder-Filan-Bowyer. However, until we start bringing in the right raw material to begin with at Academy level we will always struggle to produce decent players. I believe Kinder will make changes at the Academy which will be of benefit to the club in the long run.

So, perhaps you could enlighten us as to what you perceive to be Filan's strengths and weaknesses as a coach and why he hasn't brought anything to the Under-21 squad this season?

There will be a thorough recruitment, sifting and interview process to ensure the best options are available.

And then they'll decide that John Filan was the stand-out candidate.

Wouldn't be a bad appointment Stuart. He's done a decent job thus far this season.

That's fine if it's your opinion.

To some of us the football club is much more than the first team.

Couldn't agree more Aggy. If they are representing Blackburn Rovers and they get to a final then it's an achievement to be welcomed. These lads have played some decent stuff at times this season and are to be congratulated on their achievement.