43 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I can believe him leaving a bit in the pot because he wanted to keep the trust of the owners although i reckon Waggot was with him on that.

It's on record pre covid they had a million plus available post Jan because they didn't spend it.   Presumably they then blew that on retaining players they weren't using, must've had owners consent though.  

I do agree that no way is Mowbray ignoring a 5 million spending offer though even if he didn't use it all. I think that's a bit far fetched it's probably more like he left 500k in the pot.

There was at least £2m with Dembele rejecting us for Bournemouth.

8 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Where is it from that Mowbray never spent his budget or that he declined a £5m budget? Something which goes against him wanting to sell Rothwell to raise funds.

Easier to judge on what is spent eather than on rumours on what wasnt spent. But surely we can expect a big net spend with all this spare money sloshing around.

Waggott for both. I am pretty sure the transfer spend will be around £8-9m at the end of the window.

You have to remember in Jan, Mowbray was trying to do everything to get a new contract. So trying to raise funds through selling Rothwell was him trying to do that. I also don't think he expected us to finish any lower than 6th from our position in January no matter if he signed anyone or not.

4 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Where’s this talk of Mowbray having £5 Mil of unused budget in January come from? He must be the first manager in history to turn down transfer funds to improve his side! Good grief.

Well he did manage to talk Venky's out of funding a double promotion shot after our league 1 promotion which they wanted to and instead went for a slow a slow build. Also if you chat to Waggott he'll tell you that Mowbray didn't once spend all the transfer budget he was given each window and is one of the reasons why Venky's trusted him.

Venky's gave him the budget in Jan because they want to be Premier League owners again especially after a Indian consortium looked at buying Chelsea as well as another club last year.

6 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

If he keeps playing as he is then that figure may go up in the next few weeks. 

What was the minimum Venky's would have accepted for Rothwell BTW? They scuppered Mowbray's transfer plans in Jan by all accounts by refusing to sell for £3m. 

With Rothwell it is interesting because Venky's provided Mowbray a budget of around £5m for Jan signings which he didn't use. He wanted to sell Rothwell to fund his signings, Venky's said the money is there and didn't want to sell anyone who could get us promotion.

3 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Be interesting if someone bids for BBD and JDT is happy to take the money as he has a few others lined up....and then Venky's do a 'Rothwell' and refuse to sell. 

All at Ewood know what an offer has to be for Venky's to agree to sell BBD and if clubs don't hit that amount he won't be sold.

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

So that 60 mill is basically the 20 mill per season they already put in to cover shortfalls.

We still need a sale to reinvest.

At the moment £13m per season allowed by the rules hence why we no longer own the training ground so Venky's could inject the £20m a season. 

I would just keep BBD, sign 4 more players and go for it this year. We have as good as a shot as anyone this season.

4 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

Do FFP restrictions reset ? I thought they were always on a continual rolling basis and money coming for from player sales will always make a difference to the situation the following year.

New FfP rules come into force next summer with 90% wage budget and owners allowed to inject £60m over 3 years into the club. So a complete reset starting from scratch next summer. We just need to get to 90% by then. 

3 minutes ago, frosty said:

Do you think? I'd be very surprised if he left now. There doesn't seem to be much concrete interest in him. I bet some are monitoring but would prefer to wait until January at a knock-off price or free next summer (which would be a nightmare for us...).

It's not a nightmare, new FFP kickin next summer, so this is the one time it makes no real difference to us if he goes for free or £20m. Venky's don't seem to care as long as they sell at their valuation.

Best to keep him and go for promotion this season.

12 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

 

Even if Brereton is, he is unlikely to be here past the window.

But either way, Dack is a key player if fit and Szmodics prefers to play as a number 10 so even if Dack isn't playing, why sign Szmodics and make do elsewhere?

With Brereton, unless someone makes a £20m bid he will be here for the season. I think we can safely say it's unlikely he'll be sold

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The imminent focus is winning games and doing well this season and Van Den Berg is a really good player, I saw Preston a few times last season and he (aside from when we battered them) stood out and Preston fans are gutted that he could be coming here. He also can fill in on the right which hopefully pushes Rankin Costello further from the team.

I think his calibre is comparable to many of the other centre backs we have wanted this summer and also as an individual (ignoring contracts etc) he comes with IMO a more exciting recent history, 18 months of impressing at this level against a player in Morton who has barely played proper football, an attacking midfielder who has twice struggled at this level and a right back who had mixed reviews off the back of a relegation at this level, although that is not me being critical of those 3 as they have all started well here.

Hopefully if there is truth in the story, we can get it over the line to have him involved at the weekend.

Questions would follow regarding what we do from here, if we are going with a back 4 then is Wharton, Ayala, Van Den Berg and Carter enough or do we need another? For me, a striker and a central midfielder would both be more important than another centre back for the immediate focus. We also supposedly have more money to spend, will that money be available on other positions instead?

I also have seen suggestions that he didn't join Burnley because they wanted a penalty clause if he made less than 30 appearances, I would strongly oppose anything like that.

I think the plan is to bring in 2cb's, one permanently and one on loan.

I think after that we still need a LB, a striker and a right side forward to replace Gallagher.

5 minutes ago, roverstdt said:

Send me the article to this that has his name associated to this, because if I remember at the time it was Waggott leading this not Mowbray. Mowbray is the manager he doesn't have a say in buying and selling of stadium and training ground facilities. So once again not fair to associated that to him. He was quoted saying he didn't believe it was a bad thing but he wasn't the one who put the training ground up for sale. I am luckily through my work have been able to check out academies structure in the UK and Spurs have the set up that everyone is under the same roof so from that perspective it is a set up that work. I am not one for overly defending Mowbray, but i am totally against blaming him for every single downfall this club has had throughout the last 5 years. Some things he takes responsibility for others it was above his pay grade and if you boss says I want to sale the training you are not going to have a rogue employee saying "I think this is a stupid idea" in front of the press. 

That is the merging of both sites which Waggott wanted to do. This is different, Mowbray wanted to close the academy when we were relegated and tried again when we were promoted to inject more funds into the first team. I will send through the articles later when I get in

2 hours ago, roverstdt said:

I feel like there is a division between fans who if they say anything positive about Mowbray are seen as living in the past as things are better with JDT. 

Look by all means JDT does come across a hell of a lot more passionate, and has been a built a better connection with the fans in two months than Mowbray could do in 5 years. However, I do think some people are quick to forget what actually Mowbray inherited and where we are today. A lot of the rewards that JDT is getting with the academy and the squad were built up by Mowbray and the club prior to his arrival. I can name the following just to send shivers down your spine as to what we had in the squad: Stokes, Brown, Greer, Ward, Feeneym Guthrie, and Akpan. 

 

We were far away from having anything of the squad we have today. Should be seen as a god? No, but should be grateful for the job he did for us across the 5 years, he created stability, got us promoted and created a squad with assets. Am i right to be excited about the JDT era yes! But he has only had three games and a season is judged by May not August. So lets enjoy the ride and see where this takes us, without having to run over our previous manager. He wasn't a Kean, Coyle, Berg, or whoever else you wnt me to add to this list! 

Although Mowbray did want to close down the academy and was over ruled by Venky's so I am not to sure how much credit he should get for everything coming through now. I think all credit should go to the academy and academy recruitment team.

10 minutes ago, Gav said:

Norwich had the best squad and most expensive squad in the division, head and shoulders above the rest, awash with Premiership money, Fulham were the same. 

The only way to get out of this league is with a big budget and big wages, its proven year in year out.

As one or two have said above, we can't compete for a full season with the bigger squads and bigger budgets, as we found to our cost last season once injury and international call ups hit.

But we'll give it a good go.

Norwich generated the cash though. Just after Farke was appointed they were on the verge of administration and they have had to trade their way to this position through their Academy. They only had the cash to go straight back up as they didn't spend on their first season back and developed their youngsters unlike when they were promoted under Lambert.

Remember Deliah is not rolling in it, Stuart Webbe has been very smart as their DOF and built the club and their cash pile slowly.

Fulham I do agree with.

2 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Yes, fans are being unrealistic to expect our small squad to play consistently well over 40 plus games. It's just not going to happen. Loss of form, injuries, etc will all take their toll, which is when the clubs with big squads will outperform. 

Our small squad also prevents the manager changing things around from a tactical point of view. 

We need more players

Although if you look at the last time Burnley got promoted they used 17 players all season. Norwich used 19 players for their previous promotion.

It can be done and sometimes is beneficial to have a small squad.

We need another 3 players but then it's all down to their conditioning and training.

16 minutes ago, BigUts said:

This is a bloody good shout!

As a subscription you could also contact all local companies to offer it as a salary sacrifice benefit to their employees saving a little on tax (this bit would need to be checked with a tax advisor).

4 hours ago, damo100 said:

Many fans are not willing to fork out £429 etc in the current climate, instead choosing to pick and choose games.

Many fans can't commit to 23 home matches in particular midweek games so purchasing a match ticket is a sensible option. 

4 5k did so for the QPR match.

Last seasons opening fixture against Swansea just 1k did. 

Let's see what the next few games bring and more importantly if we drop off. 

If we got rid of season tickets and turned it into a £30 a month subscription instead we would get a higher take up. Paying each month of the year instead of in one go or over 8 months would ease cash flow as well.

5 hours ago, Mike E said:

We wouldn't need the PL cash anyway for this. Even if we only add up to 12,000 STs at half this year's price, we only lose a relatively small amount in cash, probably made up by extra food and drink sales.

Above that we're making more money.

As food and drink is outsourced, we wouldn't get any additional income from more fans through the turnstiles. It's one of the reasons I think we should bring everything back in-house and run it ourselves.

Only thing we would benefit is more footfall through Rovers Store potentially.

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Dead rubber games winning promotion and winning 6 games in December? 

No doubting his cup history here was very poor but just dismissing the "no excitement in 5 years" line which clearly wasnt true.

The problem being the 6 wins followed our worst ever home loss. Also you just knew in January we'd collapse again and we did every year under him.

Promotion excitement was tempered by not going for the title and just settling for things. There was just no ambition there and any fans had were just drained by mediocrity.

1 hour ago, Paul Mani said:

My feeling is JPvH on a perm plus 1 cb loaned. Then Bowler and we’re done. If we can get BBD to sign a new contract then great! If not then inevitably, he’ll be sold and I’d expect Birmancevic plus 1 (hopefully a number 9, to replace.

Unless the BBD offer hits Venky's £20m valuation, he won't be sold. The likely hood is he will leave for free next summer.

58 minutes ago, islander200 said:

We wouldn't be paying his contract up.Transfers wouldn't happen if that was the case 

So when we sold Rhodes we had to pay off the remaining years left on his contract at 35k per week?And he walks into another 4 year contract at Boro on the same money or better than he was on here?

Payoffs only happen if the player leaving is joining a club on a less lucrative contract which Brererton wouldn't.

Do you think Barca had to pay Neymars contract off when he joined PSG?

Barca have to or the Spanish FA do not release him to play. All Spanish registered players have release clauses in their contracts that have to be met. All funds have to go through La Liga/Spanish FA to ensure that everything is paid 

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Literally anyone.

Vale was quiet but showed up far better than Gallagher last week imo.

One's been dropped after a game because he's young and the other has retained his spot because he's "experienced".

IAlternatively put Dack in. I'd rather the side was picked on merit and players who aren't up to it didn't retain their place regardless.

After this I can see a Gallagher hat trick and you coming on at 5 to eat humble pie.

1 hour ago, SuperBrfc said:

As soon as I see somebody hesitate to bring in quality because they 'don't want to block the pathways', that's when I know we are on to a loser. That is what Broughton displayed a few days ago, in my view.

An extreme example, as he was a top class manager, but remember when Wenger refused to properly replace Vieira, Henry and Co because he "didn't want to block the pathway of the youngsters"? They persisted with those youngsters and went to shit (relative to their ambitions) and have been floundering for 18 years without a league title.

In our case, we've been floundering for 12 years and look set to add a few more to that as Broughton feeds us some guff about a youth project and "measures of success".

I'm not convinced that any of this lot (aside from JDT, maybe) are serious about promotion. It looks like it is all about developing kids, getting them minutes and hoping to sell them on for big fees further down the line.

You only have to read/listen to Broughton's spiel to understand what he sees as success.

One of the first things he said when he arrived was that Rovers would have to overachieve to make it to the Premier League. Inspirational stuff and exactly what you want to hear.

Next, he talked about how almost 40 percent of the minutes played by the Rovers squad last season were from Academy players, and how that needed to be maintained this season. Why? Is the aim to win football matches and try and go up or to give minutes to youngsters and crow about how many first teamers are from the Academy?

On a podcast about his time at Bodo, he talks about how one of the ways of measuring success was by looking at the 'R number' of the Football Club. That is done at any stage, over a five year average, by looking at how many young players from the Academy are in the first team. The more, the better, for the 'R number'. What a load of bollocks! I thought football was about trying to be the best, though? I've obviously had it wrong for all of these years.

Just like the 40 percent quote about the Rovers first team, he proudly mentioned how Bodo had 35 percent of their first team made up of North Norwegians from their Academy. This guy will do stuff all, IMO, and won't help us to get promoted. As long as the youngsters are getting game time, it's all good.

Bear in mind, he turned up at Luton when they had just finished outside the play offs in the Championship. They went on to suffer three successive relegations whilst he was there. Not saying it was all on him, clearly. However, in his own words, he had the autonomy to implement the vision of the Academy. Three relegations. Yet he takes the fact that youngsters got first team football and brought increased financial value to the club as plusses. Three relegations, but the above are positives. That should serve as a warning sign, in my opinion.

We missed out on Anel, Davies, many of us are after Van Hecke and another quality defender. Will he want to 'block the pathway' for Carter and Phillips by bringing in a couple of quality defenders? I highly doubt it. I'm expecting another cheap loan back there.

Our DoF would do well to remember what Alan Hansen said, and it still applies today 27 years on:

"You can't win anything with kids".

Wenger couldn't replace as he was having to balance the books and fund the building of the stadium at the time and he had very strict allowances. 

If they had stayed at Highbury you will find he would have spent the funds on quality replacements. Also the board told him he had to qualify for the Champions League each season which he duly did with those kids you talk about.

6 minutes ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Thanks for the reassurance gang.  (Still a bit worried though).

Every appointment is a gamble. Look at Wilder, he was a lower league specialist before he got Sheffield United promoted.

Also Cooper, Wagner and Fark had never managed a side, just worked as coaches before their appointments. JDT has managed and had success, we'll find out soon if he will be able to adapt. I think playing the high pressing game for 2 games a week will be a struggle on the players later in the season.

1 hour ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

Anyone else worried about lack of Championship nous of our top two?

Most managers who have been promoted recently haven't had any championship experience. All of Watford managers, Wagner, Fark, Parker etc. It seems to have been the experienced championship managers who have struggled Pulis, Warnock etc

48 minutes ago, Neal said:

With all due respect, how do you know this? 

A friend who also told me about the sale and lease back of the training ground which I said early last summer.  It's a pretty solid tip but as always as I haven't seen the contract soI can't say it's a 100% accurate