4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

We'll have to agree to disagree.

Credibility? Say what you like about the owners/Waggott etc (and rightly so) but these high profile transfer cock ups have only happened since he's been at the Club.

That's in addition to signing crocks like Ennis and Fleck and other duds like Hirst, Telalovic, Wahlstedt etc. Someone posted  a while back that in their view Waggott wasn't fit to sweep the car park and I'd put Broughton firmly in the same bracket.

You're absolutely spot on about the CEO though. I've long said that he is an extremely dangerous man to have around the Club. He is obviously determined to cling onto his £300k p.a. for as long as possible and I just worry there'll be nothing left to salvage by the time he is eventually wheeled out of Ewood in a wooden box.

 

When I listened to Elliott Jackson's podcast with GB I thought he made it very clear - without actually saying it - that he felt someone has failed at their job for the McGuire case and the repercussions for that where still ongoing. It wouldn't surprise me if someone was serving their notice or there was an internal HR case underway. He also took accountability for the Brierley and LOB transfers and talked through the changes made to ensure it didn't happen again. 

Ennis didn't end up costing us much after a sale to Stoke - it was a risk free transfer. 
Fleck was a Waggott transfer - he told me that himself. He knew him from previous clubs, rung Sheff Utd and said would they release him on a free as he wasn't getting a game, they agreed and we took over his 6 month contract. Thats 20K / week until the end of the season we won't see anything out of. 

Hirst has shown he can play at this level, he's Ipswich's main striker (pre injury and Hirst being signed). Telalovic - well, what do you expect when we can't pay a fee and have hardly any money for wages? Wahlsted being the stand out failure so far, but he's young and still adapting. 

5 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Imo the more you hear from Broughton the more obvious it becomes he's only in it for the ride.

No guarantees given whatsoever regarding transfers going forward but "I've submitted my report". (Roughly translates as "I couldnt care less what happens after that - as long as I continue to get paid Im all right Jack")

And who in their right mind would retain some of their transfer budget? If you have a budget (subject to FFP) then you spend it all in the hope of doing as well as you possibly can NOW.  If things dont then work out you'd have to work on your wits and wheel and deal and tweak things about until they do work.

Hopefully Eustace won't want this guy hanging around for long - then at least it would be one less to worry about.

I think the absolute polar opposite. He's one of the few down there with any credibility IMO and has been dealt an impossible job by the incompetence of the people above him and our ownerships legal issues. 

We need a young and ambitious CEO who's willing to tear the script up and do things differently, because what we're doing now does not work. Not enough fans in the stadium, not enough excitement about the team, not enough ambition full stop and constant short term thinking. 

4 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Already being linked with Celtic.

Would be a tremendous signing for them and a good move for Sammy. Can't see him making a PL player, especially at 28, so top flight Scotland is a safe step up. Don't know how much money they have, suspect it would take 10-12M to get him. 

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Having seen Ipswich several times I think their central midfield two of Luongo and Morsy are so important to the way they play and their success so far this season. We simply have to match them up here or risk being outnumbered and overrun. To do that we have to play a back four and keep two banks of four as our main shape. Scoring first will be key in this match I think and I would set up to play on the counter attack with our emphasis on keeping them out and limiting the number of chances they create.

I don't think our midfield can compete - i'd be tempted to go back to the 3412 / 5212 from before Middlesborough personally.

3412 when attacking:

Pears

Carter Hyam Wharton

Brittain JRC Tronstad Christene

Szmodics

Gally Dolan

5212 when defending:

Pears
Brittain Carter Hyam Wharton Christene

JRC Tronstad

Szmodics
Gally Dolan

42 minutes ago, philipl said:

We had the option to block Phillips move by playing him in the first team according to his contract and the club decision was not to and we ended up with the worst of both worlds - no Play off and no Phillips 

This isn’t the case. Each time we played him his buyout figure increased. But we where coming to the end of a season where a top six finish was possible, so JDT told Waggott he wasn’t willing to play a 17 year old over his established centre backs. 

34 minutes ago, neophox said:

Think we will start:

 

Pears

Brittain, Hyam, Wharton/Carter, Pickering

Ayari, Tronstad

Hedges, Szmodics, Dolan

Gallagher

 

This really evidences how utterly shite we have been at loans. The majority of successful clubs in this league has 2/3 really quality loan players on their first teams. 

I think all of the following are most at risk than us as things stand, but that might change...

Rotherham - as good as done

Sheff Weds - pretty much certain

Birmingham - in free fall but I think will make it

Plymouth - most at risk

QPR - have enough about them to avoid it 

Stoke - will get out of it

So I reckon the table finishes something like:

QPR
Stoke
Rovers

Big Club

Plymouth

Sheff Weds

Rotherham 

36 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Ipswich would beat us 99 times out of a hundred at Ewood?

Get out of it.

Sadly, I watched their performance against QPR and thought they where streets ahead of us. They where absolutely brilliant, especially in attack and everyone knew exactly what was expected.

22 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

The club secretary is very experience as is the finance director and the CEO of the club. 

Has they been any consequences from the Failed transfer of Duncan McGuire of any staff member losing their job? 

You can be the most experienced in the world - but if you're stretched, you're stretched, and thats where mistakes happen. 

6 minutes ago, martonrover said:

So why leave them in post?

They either never learn or just don’t care.

My 50P is on the latter.
 

 

I think they're in post because Suhail Pasha is effectively a non-official Director for the football club, making the majority of the strategic decisions and has a good relationship with the CEO. I think Suhail is convinced and his approval to the owners means that they don't spend more than a few minutes every few months thinking about us. All very much in my opinion and not factual, of course. 

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Havent you always been disturbed by a potential season in the Prem due to a potential lack of competitiveness? Yet in the Championship you are happy to lose to Southampton and Ipswich at home (2 of only 8 games left and of only 4 at home) as long as we dont get hammered.

Yes to both - the idea of going up, being sold AND having to effectively buy a full squad (as I'm not sure any of ours would be good enough) - absolutely terrifies me and stinks of "straight back down". If that was to happen I don't think I'd find much fun getting tonked most weeks by the worlds best players. 

At this stage of the season I would be setting targets for each game - Ipswich, Southampton and Leeds in my opinion, will beat us 99/100 times at the moment. So I would prioritise goal difference in those games and instead would target getting a minimum of 6 points from Sunderland, Bristol and Sheff Weds. Which I think would be enough to keep us up. 

5 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Is the serial f*cking up / sabotaging of transfers part of the plan to get the club back to the Prem?

The only Prem we might get to under Venkys / Pasha / Waggott is the Northern Premier League.
 

 

I think thats gross negligence from employees and/or the people in charge of running the club employing inexperienced people into key positions to keep the running costs low.

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

Ticketing details have been announced for the Southampton game and once again there is a vagueness about them. It's free for under 12's (I applaud them for that) but only with an adult ticket but does this include season ticket holders or is it just if you buy only for this specific match. I think that is the case but it's not made clear. Similarly it says they are only free if you have an adult ticket, no mention of seniors.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/march/18/ticket-news--rovers-v-southampton/

I'm guessing - because as you say, its not clear - but I would say an U12 can get a free ticket with a full-priced Adult ticket. 

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Them being committed to investing the maximum they can under FFP is an absolute myth. Example, their repeated refusal to relay the pitch fully and to adequately maintain the ground, neither of which falls under FFP.

In my opinion Waggott has told them it won't cost more than X (whatever the maximum FFP allowance is) and is spending that entire budget player side as he sees that as the best chance to do his brief i.e. get the club to the Prem so they can sell. That way Venkys are committed to one number. 

1 hour ago, martonrover said:

If not, the only form of protest that will eventually have consequences is to stop attending home games.

To that end, I will not be renewing my season ticket.

I'm not sure it actually does. They're committed (or where, prior to the investigation) to investing the maximum amount under FFP rules. If we lose 5K ST holders, I can't see any reason why that would change. All that would happen is the funding would go towards the loss of ST income rather than transfer/wages. 

50 minutes ago, tomphil said:

One of the country's most powerful families ?

In India ?

Bollox

They're often involved in politics within the Maharashtra region and are one of the biggest land owners in Pune, of which Mumbai is expanding closer and closer towards. Times of India won't rock the boat. 

Happy to lose to Ipswich and Southampton as long as we don't get thumped and take 3 points from Sunderland. It'll be vital for moral we don't have a set of results like:

Ipswich 4 -1 Rovers
Sunderland 1 - 0 Rovers
Southampton 3 - 0 Rovers

17 hours ago, miqaayil said:

Guys .... they can't sell because 

1) Books will be open 

2) They can't write off the losses as they gotta pay SBI back..unless SBI writes it off as bad debt ,which RBI(Reserve Bank of INDIA) will come with pitch forks together with Finance Ministry and it's election year...

 

if only ROVERs trust or BRFCS takes out a one page in "TIMES OF INDIA" or start a twitter or facebook campaign ...

"MADE IN UK, DESTROYED IN INDIA"

"RESCUE ROVERs" 

"BLACKBURN ROVERS FANS looking for owners" 

 

The Times of India want absolutely nothing to do with discrediting one of the countries most powerful families, the regions biggest employers and huge investor in advertising. Many people have tried many times.  

3 minutes ago, RoverDom said:

I've only seen in passing on Facebook and haven't read in detail as I'm out and about but nixon has done a story saying venkys have been approached buy potential buyers but won't sell unless we get to the PL. As frustrating as that is as we'll never get promotion under the venkys, it might at least shut up the crowd who always spout "who is going to buy us" 

It’s on BRFCS front page. 

Just now, JamieUK said:

It's not simple though - it just lets them off the hook. The Venkys and Waggot Out chants stop and the pressure goes. We plod along, unravelling as a club until they decide to leave.

Right now, to progress it does feel like a group needs to take a lead - either an existing one or through a new one springing up. To do so requires effort and commitment and despite the unrest I don't think there is a willing by anyone to do so. I suspect as the season goes on this will change - relegation and a summer of selling more players will probably tip more people over and it will ramp up.

This isn't having a pop at anyone - hats off to those trying to do things. I wrote something up intended for a poster to be handed out ahead of the Newcastle game but it didn't go anywhere. Maybe it can be adapted to use somewhere down the line.

Something like the march Morecambe fans did ahead of their recent home game would be positive but without a lead organising it won't get off the ground.

I couldn’t agree more. I only see two ways out:

1) The Indian government somehow make it impossible for Venkys to own the club - probably risking administration.

2) The fan base unites and makes it completely impossible for anyone from Venkys to be here. The only way this works is if someone is willing to put their career, home life and health at risk by fronting it all.

Sadly the second option risks unrest, which the majority of the fan base will not get behind. So we’ll continue plodding along on a negative trajectory until we’re a shell of a football club. 

8 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

I’m not insinuating anything of the sort. If they didn’t want to carry on owning and funding us they would’ve stopped a long time ago.

I’m considering ways they will still be able to keep doing so despite the court case being delayed again, just as I expect they are.

Hopefully they don't bother. 

4 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

I disagree. I don't think they can send money at all without permission. Even then it must be secured by the same amount held in India

One for Duncan I suspect, its very hard to be clear. I promised myself after the last time I wouldn't become obsessed with trying to understand indian law, but here I am again. 

7 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

 

Apologies, I think I may have jumped the gun on the above. Didn’t read Josh’s posts in full.

For every pound they have sent so far, they have had to guarantee with equivalent. But they can’t send money without permission. 

The case that is ongoing is not directly linked to Rovers or VLL, which probably goes a long way to explaining the silence from the club. If anyone at Rovers was even aware of how the case had gone (or hadn’t) before it became public record, I expect they’d have been forbidden from commenting on it.

I suppose now we will see what Venky’s appetite to keep funding is, as there will no doubt be ways around it. Without a No Objection Certificate, or a one off exemption, VENKATESHWARA HATCHERIES PRIVATE LIMITED can’t send remittance overseas. The purpose of this hearing wasn’t just to get that agreed, but it would’ve been one desired outcome.

I’m speculating here, but I don’t see why they couldn’t get money over from elsewhere, or apply for the certificate directly to the enforcement agency away from the ongoing court proceedings.

Thanks for the clarification. Feel like this should be pinned so we can all refer back to it. 

1 minute ago, Crimpshrine said:

I seem to remember from the previous court documents that they can only send cash over if approved by the court.  Even this money must be matched by a security of the same value held in india.

I don't think they are allowed to send any money not approved by the court even if they do provide security. So, they can't fund as normal.

Thats not correct mate.

To send the money WITHOUT having to duplicate it as a bond they have to go through the court.

They can send as much money as they want right now if they want, but have to match it as a bond to the Government.