Hope and pray that they are just going to see out this ffp cycle then get shut of the trio in summer. Should be able to invest a bit again then and start again.

That's probably giving them far too much credit though we are more than likely at the start of another downward spiral.

1 minute ago, phili said:

We've dumbed down so much in the past 2 seasons, i think the difference is now going to be £1-2m in lost revenue

6 million in media income alone plus loss of more fans attending, corporate, sponsorship and so on.

They'd need another big round of cost cutting otherwise it would still cost them 10 million a season. By then of course the club would resemble the Oyston era Blackpool.

Just now, roversinmyblood said:

So their vanity project might be coming to an end or are we just going to be put on the back burner and be the last in any agenda and forgotten about?

Slash and back burner would be the most likely scenario we've feared this type of thing for years.

They lose interest when things aren't going well but won't give their toy away. So just peel off a few layers then stick it on the shelf and put their heads back in the sand until something catches their interest again.

At the end of the day it's stereotypical behaviour for rich spoilt brats.

The difference in income from being a steady championship club to a middling league 1 club will cost them about 10 million in lost revenue. 

5 minutes ago, phili said:

It's a possibility or a sale. Getting rid of operating costs normally make clubs more attractive to buyers but normally the wrong type of buyers sadly.

I think Venky's have just gone we've spent £70m in the last 3 years and got nothing out of it what so ever. So the club needs to now start operating in a similar manner to Preston and Barnsley who have done a lot more than us over the past 3 seasons. 

And the main reason for that is continuing to employ people who just aren't capable of doing what PNE and Barnsley etc do with less at their disposal.

Surely to god at least one of the realizes this ?

55 minutes ago, phili said:

The owners are no longer comfortable with £20m a season. They are going back to their original funding ideas when they purchased the club of £5-7m only per season. If a good deal comes through they may increase to fund this.

Waggott and Mowbray have been informed in the past couple of weeks and therefore have to cut everything down to that funding requirement. The new operating budget for everything is £16-18m a season.

The analysis team and recruitment team are being downsized as is the u23s and youth teams. Backroom team such as Damien Johnson and Lowe may also be off shortly as well. A cut of all of the none football side is also happening, maintenance, marketing, commercial, catering, club shop, office staff etc.

Moving to one base at brockall will also save close to £1m a season. It maybe exempt from FFP but Venky's are no longer funding an open cheque book approach so has to be cut.

Yet they won't get shut of the ones who've been wasting their backing by getting nowhere near finishing in the top ten.

Surely after last time they tried this approach and it lead to relegation they don't want a repeat of that.  

Is this really the owners plan or the model the Coventrio have been pitching to them ?  Mowbray seemed to be expecting this he alluded to it before the end of last season. Sorry i'm just not having it they've had it thrust upon them it very much seems like something they are more suited to ability wise.

It WILL end in relegation again if not this season then the one after that all it takes to tip it is a few departures. Lack of ambition will see to that once the good players realize what the craic is.

As for Waggot, Mowbray and co they are in it up to their eyeballs.

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Chris Rush left Rovers cos of the demand of football on his family life

They all have their reasons in this remarkable set of coincidences. 

If it meant they could carry on with things the way they are, employ whoever they wanted without any fan interference they'd fund this club if there was nobody in the stands at all.  I'm utterly convinced of that, the fans to them just get in the way of their pals running the show.

Was reading through a load of Bolton fans comments before on the game today.  Many saying how bad Rovers were and how much they felt really connected to their club again. Some saying they were going to sell 10k STs and the club had the feel of how it did a decade or so ago again.

We've finally got our club back said others whilst the general gist is they wouldn't want to swap places with us at any price.

Says it all when some of ours would gladly swap places with them just to feel cleansed of this farcical era.

17 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He won 2 games in 17 and kept his job.

Why would Mowbray feel any pressure to play Ayala? He's literally bulletproof.

I think he's more bothered about external questions on this one than internal stuff.

There was a few rumours last season though that some at the club weren't best pleased with this signing. I reckon hes had those moved out though....

I sense a bit of panic around Ayala now as Mobray will be desperate to justify his signing.

So now he's coming out with the we have to manage him line and talking about him not training as much. Hes absolutely dropped another bollock here and he knows it so i expect nonsense around this guy this season.

He'll be chucked in and out when he feels he's fit enough and of course it's another excuse to rotate. 

Sooner Wharton gets fit again the better.

16 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

I thought we were awful today.  The back five just didn't work with Carter and Magloire looking lost at times.  Magloire seemed to be asked to step into midfield for some reason and then got caught out.  The wing back system didn't work at all with both full-backs having their hands full against a lively Bolton attack. 

Early days but Pickering strikes me as one who enjoys going forward but isn't so hot when it comes to defending and got a bit of a chasing at times today.  Hopefully, it's just teething problems as he gets to know the players around him.

I know Travis has been ill and lost weight but he looked anything but fit and Davenport really struggled.  Again, the system didn't work as we were overwhelmed and outgunned in midfield.

A week away from the start of the League season and we looked a disorganised mess for much of this game.  I can't remember ever going into a new season with such a feeling of dread with regard to the outcome.  

I was impressed with Bolton and former Rover Alex Baptiste seems just the sort of defender we need - experienced, calm under pressure and one who won every ball he went for.  Pity our manager doesn't do proper defenders.

Always like Baptiste when he was here we should have built the center of defence around him. Instead GB had him at right back where apart from lack of pace he was probably better than Henley etc.

Shame they didn't keep him but i suppose hes more suited to a level or two below now.

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Today was classic Mowbray for over complicating things. The three in possession and five out of possession just didn't work and the centre backs looked lost at times but the fact he had Magloire stepping up into midfield capped Mowbrays nonsense. It was pretty awful up until we changed to a back four and got some midfield possession. Buckley was our best player for me and he only played half an hour. Rothwell wasn't too far behind him and Garrett gave the back four a really good screen. Davenport and Travis were woeful as Bolton dominated them. If we are going to go with youngsters then there has to be an acceptance that there will be errors. Carter was culpable at times but he looked far better in a four. Armstrong's body language once again spoke volumes. It was quite an entertaining game though but Mowbray should have learned from the past when he has cost us by being too clever. Keep it simple you simpleton.

I still think it's going to be a long hard season and a real scrap.

The thing that will undo us is the inevitable death spirals that we have every season with this manager. 

We tend to just play through them as he keeps chopping and changing and doing bizarre things. Eventually the law of averages kicks in and something clicks and we win a few then settle down again. All that has been with a strong squad so with a bunch of kids and loans under his methods it'll be harder to bounce back out of these periods.

A good start and pounding a few teams as we also often do is more vital than ever. That little period kept out heads above water last season. Can't rely on end of season dead rubbers every year.

Yet again that formation at the start doesn't work against workman like teams.

Yet again team only gets going when we are losing and it takes conceding goals before he gets attacking subs on.

Good come back, good effort from BB this really is going to be his season if he's allowed to get on with it.

We are an attacking side, we have decent attack minded players and we've nothing to lose so get them attacking from the off. Sick of keep saying this season after season.

Stuff the possession stats tactics.

11 minutes ago, JHRover said:

This. There's minimal benefit to the owners of this. Running cost wise the savings would be insignificant out of £20 million a year. This is also something that they could have explored and progressed many year ago if they were interested in such 'projects' yet nothing has happened.

No the drivers of this are the middle men between Ewood Park and India. As you say why so desperate to get this done? Is this for the owners benefit, the club's benefit or others benefit? This is the key question that needs investigating. Much can happen in the chasm between here and Pune.

Personally I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could throw them.

Can't help but think someone has befriended or been befriended by some council spiv who wants the training ground within the towns boundaries. Someone who happens to have another friend who can obtain cheap land for the project.

Suddenly it becomes a nice little idea if they can get it past the owners under the cost cutting banner. The idea of revolutionizing the training set up just becomes the strap line to sell the idea.

Then factor in a management set up who don't really fancy the academy system. A set up who have been busy building up and bringing in their own allies for player recruitment. It's all pointing one way.

At the heart of it all though will be a nice drink for a few people.

2 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

Yeah probably, Carter is close though I think, he got turned for the second Bradford goal pretty badly but done nothing else wrong.

Hoping we see a 3-5-2 again.

Learning on the job, there'll be a lot of that this season i think.

So no Ayala again but what's the betting he walks straight into the team for Swansea.

If he's fit of course which will be a long shot.

9 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Just that the place is so stale, no money and the training ground is being sold.

I can see a Bowyer / Akpan type scenario upcoming 🙈

Something i thought might happen after the breaking it up and selling off half fell through.

A sell the lot and rent a bit back scenario probably.

Yes - He's here till retirement.

Yes - Unless his fragile ego breaks and he walks. His comfort zone is over though so he better pull his finger out.

Brereton - If it's not this season then it's never. A lot depends on how the manager ferks him about though.

14th - Marginal gains.

Fulham

An Owen Coyle type summer has been predicted for a while but it'll probably turn out more like Bowyers last stint.

Signed a load of cheap crap for bodies sake whilst the good players began to depart one by one.

If history repeats itself that'll be another few thousand fans lost. The Bolton scenario that some like to chuck about in defense of the owners pockets will be staring us right in the face anyway.

Blame the fans though, they make all the decisions after all 🙄

3 hours ago, RoverKyle said:

I massively agree with this. He was reportedly on £23k per week. We wouldn't have been offering those wages, whereas West Brom may have done. We could use that money better.

Yep, i think we'd have offered him a decent one for our payroll but not that much. WBA can probably chuck him 25k per week so leave them to it.

We are supposed to be moving away from this kind of thing. Also like i said it's another worry that we only seem to offer these kind of wages to ex boro who Mowbray knows.

If they'd have signed him on 10k pwk for 2 years then fair enough but really we aren't going to get much for that in terms of established championship players.

2 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

Be very worried, corridors thought they had reach, he was given to today to make his decision and we didn’t get there. Blown out the water on wages, we are only getting loans if anything. Utterly bleak for rovers with current regime 

Missing out on him at top end wages is a bullet dodged imo.

22 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

 I see Jack Rodwell is available again after making 2 appearances in 2 years at Sheff Utd...

Oh god no !

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Good enough for a Premier League team with an excellent up and coming manager 😉

So was the other fella we lost out to them on but i don't think hes done much since he signed there.

Thing is clubs in that position can play around with signings like this, if they've given him 15k pwk like he was probably on it's still cheap to them. It doesn't automatically stamp him as a good player. He's just filling out the squad to them.

I'm more concerned yet again that we we've only been linked with him given the money he was on. Indicates yet again that TMs crew will pay big wages if it's a guy he knows and likes personally.

Yet there isn't money for what we really really need.