It’s starting to sound like rhetoric right now. “Things aren’t quite what we’d like” ”Turn a few more draws into wins and we’d be right in the top 6” ”We are a couple of players away from killing teams off” It’s in his gift to change it and yet I expect we’ll see Evans and Smallwood at the heart of the team again tomorrow. We could sign two new midfielders in January and we’ll still see The Corry and Ritchie Show until the new lads can do the business in training enough to justify 15 minute cameos. One per game, not both.

“Integrity of the game” becomes a meaningless statement when you see stuff like that.

Game selected?? Round, surely? How can different games have different rules? What a nonsense.

Season ticket ‘sales’ or ‘revenue’ because the only thing Waggott has in mind is another price increase. Which will increase revenue providing existing ST holders don’t stop showing their commitment, of course.

You said “a good Smallwood”. I took that to mean the same position/type. Personally I’d sooner play Rothwell alongside Evans or Bennett and start to take the initiative rather than always trying to nullify the opposition. But then I’m not a fan of playing wing backs either.

For Rovers, £7m does not buy potential. At our level it has to mean that another club has invested in their development and we are buying a player ready to go. The risks involved in that kind of signing are also huge. For it to be an investment we need to double our money to call it a success - when you consider wages. Or they have to deliver on the field and maybe leave for a modest increase. The current fan thinking seems to be that we are 3-7 players away from having a squad capable of challenging for promotion. Current fan thinking (as well as the accounts) is that we are skint. Why are Venkys adding to our debt by spending this kind of money on an unproven player? I could see the logic with Rhodes: he was a gamble but had a lot of experience and success, and a great goal record - even if at the division below (and he did what was expected in the Championship). I can’t see the logic in blowing cash we don’t have on such a gamble. Early signs aren’t great either. If he doesn’t start against Newcastle we’ve bought a dud.

Knees Up Mother Brown (a West Ham messageboard).

That’s an excellent post. Handheld computers have become a real problem. The ease of financial transactions and the social media access have great potential for good but have insidious side effects.

“Park the fridge”

Football has absolutely normalised gambling. It has become the culture for young lads to have a flutter. TV matches are filled with lad-targeting betting ads. The more money you have, the more you do it. The bitter irony is when ‘football’ comes down hard (or even disposed of) players and officials when they gamble. Clubs won’t take a stand though because it’s all about money. Even a family club (award winning) like Rovers endorses gambling and smoking (vaping) so what hope is there?

Something needs to be done about young people getting into it. He won’t be the only one. Such a waste.

Shame. Gambling?

Thought that was Wharton?

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/a-z-harrison-reed/ This lad has to stay. “Fridge back”!

Only watched the first episode so far but amateurish it certainly is. Listening to Grayson talk about a positive mental attitude while pointing at a flip chart to a bunch of bored players was Keanesque in the extreme. Utter nonsense. He didn’t even deliver it like he meant it. Peter Reid would be spinning in his pundits chair!!

Where has it gone wrong for Tomlinson do you think?

I’ll ask again, what does Brereton offer that Nuttall can’t?

It wouldn’t be good for your self-esteem, for sure!

As are we.

Bigdoggsteel for manager! Unfortunately there are 7m reasons not to play a fully fit Brereton in the U23s.

We’re talking about Mowbray though. Is he claiming Darragh and Ryan now as well?

I honestly think you are downplaying the precariousness of our situation. Even selling Dack for an unlikely £25m wouldn’t dent our debt - and if at least half wasn’t re-used for players there would be a backlash. Under the Trust the model was as you described. Sell a big player every two years. Under these plonkers that looks like a pipedream. And our attendances are more like 1% up, not 12%. Barely a flicker - and especially disappointing for a club that had some momentum to lead to good sales but Waggott gone down the route of making fans a necessary evil than a customer for the club to go out and win over. Almost every day there is a Facebook ad, or Tweet attacking the commitment of fans. Hardly a great way to increase revenue. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/17305012.venkys-london-results-rovers-losses-double-with-relegation/

It’s impossible to compare us with other clubs. We are currently in a state of suspended reality. Our turnover was only £10m and without increasing our attendances our growth is extremely limited. (Attendances have barely increased despite (relatively speaking) our most successful season in about 15 years). Wages may be comparable to our competitors but they are still unaffordable for BRFC. Promotion remains the only long term hope of salvation without becoming a NewCo.

But even on that basis. This still isn’t what you are paying them. It’s the delta between what they get paid and what the club can afford. We are miles away from being a going concern. We are the Venkys subsidy away from breaking even!

Extremely harsh from what I’ve seen but you will have seen him more than me.