He’s asked to run the club in a way that reduces their contribution. Ergo he needs to raise revenue and keep the club going. How he does that is up to him - he takes the easy option every time.

Of course we know where the real problem is, we’ve known that for 13 years, that doesn’t mean the CEO is absolved of all responsibility.

He’s content to keep it ticking over. 8/9k ST holders (though they are happy with c7k), a few thousand walk ons, usual few hundred folk in hospitality, Sky games for additional income, a few low level sponsors. Rinse and repeat year in year out. Absolutely no thinking outside the box.

‘Never any pressure on the manager from me or the owners’. Obviously that’s been the case for years, but good to hear it actually confirmed, the only club around where results don’t particular matter… some set up this.

‘An unbelievable new coach’ (no not the Head Coach, one of those with wheels). It’s what you’d expect the chief of a non-league club to come out with.

Great us east Lancs lot, aren’t we Phil!

‘We are heading for 9,000 season ticket sales… which is 1,500 up on what we were hoping for’. So 7,500 ST holders is seen as more than good enough for a club that’s spent two years around the top 6 of the Championship… some real high standards and expectations for Blackburn Rovers down there, obviously.

‘The club’s here to support them’… heard it all now 🤦‍♂️

Until I see some balls of paper being chucked about I’ll remain 😩

1 Aynsley Pears 😩

Yep, there was a real buzz this time last year. Though it’s a results business, get a win and all is right with the world… but of course the opposite is also true!

It’s all seemed odd at Wolves for a few years, just a bit soulless.

Not sure what they’ve sold, you’d think c2k? Ground looks ok on the planner, BEnd lower will be pretty much full by KO, JW looks fairly well populated. We had around 13k home fans on for the first game last season, so considering we’ve sold similar STs this time, I imagine we’ll see something similar (though there was a bit of a buzz in the run up last summer, that seemed to dissipate this summer around a month ago for some reason). Though it’s the usual story, it’s hard to get ‘big crowds’ with only 8.5/9k ST holders as your base to work from.

Pears is not a ‘top goalkeeper’. A lot of speculation and ‘could be’’s , not sure how a couple of friendlies can make you ‘totally convinced’ of anything. Fair play for your bullishness, but to see this squad with its unsettled manager significantly improve its position on last season is quite a prediction.

Fixture release day I was buzzing, really felt we were on the verge of putting together a very good side at this level, more than happy with the manager and DoF (obviously the commercial side was as shambolic as ever, but hey ho). Look at it now, but then more fool me for thinking we can actually operate like a normal club with such a dysfunctional ownership. But I suppose it is VenkyWorld, so who the feck knows what will have happened by the start of September…

Very touchy is 1864. 😁 Hopefully learnt a lesson before playing the big man on here in future.

All the noises are that it will be gone fairly soon (certainly the men’s competition). The only fly in the ointment is that the TV deal lasts another five years, but I imagine they’ll do some kind of fudge to save face, I.e ‘merging’ the T20 Blast and this abomination. Let’s invent yet another format that no other countries play, hardly any top overseas players come over for and even a load of England players don’t play much of either. A nadir for a board that has a habit of making bone headed decisions.

Only re-opened on the 12th May.

Am I or a cricket fan from Liverpool supposed to be supporting some made up team called the ‘Manchester Originals’? Somebody from Bristol or Somerset getting behind ‘Welsh Fire’? Ridiculous competition brought in by a ridiculous organisation attempting a power grab, but at least it sounds like it will be scrapped sooner or later.

Unfortunately those of British-Caribbean descent have largely drifted away from the game.

I don’t oppose it. As the series has gone on they have started to get the balance right after being overly reckless and getting carried away early on . But it will need a new generation to take it on as they will shortly lose a host of quality players. The bowling looks worryingly weak going forward.

Well I haven’t, have I. This team aren’t a work in progress as they’ll mostly be retired in two years, never mind four. Ergo they’ll never be an all time great side as this was the only Ashes series they could ever win, and they won’t even win that. Now a different style of play as a legacy of Stokes and McCullum with a new generation of players and coaches is a different matter entirely. But we’ve no idea if they’ll be champion players like Broad, Anderson, Stokes. (Oh and the attempted patronising sign off wasn’t cute first time).

Watford certainly haven’t spent like a parachute club.

It isn’t a ‘work in progress’ as this side will be broken up over the next two years, a lot of players are obviously enjoying this environment, but it is at the tail end of their careers - Broad a prime example. Now the principles of BazBall could well be here to stay and this team could well be seen in the future as the founders of a brave new world. But it will be a new captain, pretty much a whole new team (and probably coach) by the next time the Ashes is being here, so this team will never be the best ever. Oh thanks for the invitation.

Fair enough, must have misread it. But to be remotely a hall of fame England Test team let’s see them win a home ashes series first, never mind an away one. And of course ‘they’ won’t, as by the next home one there will be no Anderson, Broad, Woakes, Wood, Ali, Bairstow or Stokes for starters. And Baz himself is a quintessential gun for hire and could be anywhere by then. (Oh and I’ve posted on this thread for years, not like those that just come out the woodwork for the Ashes).