Hopefully not but getting that money for a 3 million signing and wiping out the hole in the books in one swoop. The one you've helped create but basically you've paid for it and covered your own arse. Strong bargaining chips when dealing with the clueless. I think in their eyes it might be akin to Anderson & Kean getting 16 to 19 million for Phil Jones. Basically getting the purchase money for the club back.

This x100 What we now see it the end product of his so called building the club to challenge the top 6. I can't understand why his groupies can't accept these facts but his old boys look after everybody mentality has left the club having to slash back anything with a pulse. Even worse he's had a 300k a year Chief Exec overseeing it all. Yes we know management isn't easy.No guarantees it wouldn't be similar if someone else had been here. However the complete lack of accountability is a disgrace. The covid situation has clearly pushed it over the edge and exposed how flawed it's all been.....again. We know the ownership is at the tip of everything wrong but in the last FFP cycle they've paid so called competent people to manage it differently than before. Those people have blown their own trumpet enough.

Knowing this was coming going way back then i could be forgiven for thinking they might have had their eye on 1 or 2 as a long term replacement. Obviously if you don't know what might or might not be made available to spend it makes it hard. It doesn't stop you identifying and scouting what might be suitable affordable targets though. That is where planning comes in and communication with the ownership. We have now a CEO and manager who have been here years and got continual backing. We also have a go between from the owners to here, allegedly. So the chain is there and if you don't get answers then demand them. I suspect that is where it all falls down, everybody just shrugs the shoulders at each other and carries on picking wages up. Dilemmas like this only get dealt with if and when they actually happen so that's why there is so much short termism. Most transfers are done with a deposit and stage payments. We've signed plenty before under Vs so it really isn't as difficult as it's made out to be. The whole football industry revolves around it. You are right though we need quality from somewhere just to guarantee championship football again.

If this goes through i can actually see Rovers pulling off another Elliot style loan or 2 on the back of it. The masses on social media will lap it up again (masses who are somehow absent from Ewood on matchday). Yet they will be missing the point that even these things probably cost the club a million or two. Dead money straight through the tubes that once its gone - like the STC- it can't be spent again. Yet on the face of it it glosses over long standing problems again with short termism solutions. Something Mowbray seems to specialize in over the last few seasons. Talk of signings in January given our track record around then even if there was money is futile at best. We know the drill 'no business being done' 'not much about so stupid prices' 'asking for crazy wages' 'wait till summer, stay up then explore the freebie market' and so on.

Within about 12 months of selling Rhodes we were well on course for league 1. Yet at the time of his sale some were convincing themselves the team was about to play better. The money was getting re-invested in all sorts and this was the catalyst to kick on. How many kicks in nuts do some need before they guard them next time.

Where we once used to be distraught and wear black when our star player was being sold we now have twitter where people are 'getting excited'. That sums everything up about the club now, not sure what there is to be excited about the lads going. Just what do they think is going to follow this now in all seriousness ?

How can it be revisionist when it's actually the truth !!! Doesn't really matter if it was in a lower league it showed he knew were the net is he'd scored 20 goals in 40 games. We were in league 1 anyway so it was never going to be a massive step but he carried it on easy enough and he was what, 20/21 ? He'd already proven himself decent at that level. Like i said he's workmanlike but all the foundation was there plus he could be shoved wide left because he was quick and direct. Those are the kind of players we need to be looking for even if they come with contract clauses etc. It's very much the Brentford model. Compared to Brereton and Gallagher it was a superb signing and there's nowt revisionist about that.

One of the reasons Armstrong worked was because he already had experience and scoring pedigree at a young age. He's a workman like striker and no doubt they have put a lot of work into him but mainly it's down to him putting in the graft. As a signing though it wasn't a massive gamble so the lesson is there. They need to replace him in similar fashion.

Probably not although i'd give him a try but god knows what he'd be left with to work with. He'd be a brave man to take it on, what we don't want though is him having to work with the same backroom staff. Lowe and Venus must be gone as well otherwise it's pointless.

Imagine if Mowbray and Waggot are only hanging on so they can oversee one of their major assets move on for money. Get their % if there are any and get their payoff then leg it. We can but dream, of course that would leave us further in the mire but with a genuine chance of a fresh rebuild.

It's as if half the things Mowbray recommended be spent on and built up behind the scenes are now being cut back. Or does it just look like that way whilst really he's wielding his own axe via Waggot leaving only allies and friends ? Either way the last 3 years are looking even more like a waste of time and money with each passing day and departure. What a set of imcompetent tossers they all really are. Everybody who supports the team and gets behind the players now i applaud you. Anyone who still clings onto this regimes words and actions and puts them on a stupid pedestal they fell off years ago, you need help.

So it'll be an undisclosed fee of around 9/10 million of which 40% of about 7 million in profit will go to Toon. Leaving us with next to feck all, a percentage of which will then be chucked away on loan fees.

Moving closer to his family......

The attitude coming out of the club towards fans now seems to be one of 'fine if you wanna come then come, if not no skin off our nose'. God knows what it's like on the inside now.

Yes well there is that.

Both of those signings were talked up as young investment signings which is what he was advising the owners. According to him anyway, all his top 6 talk and don't want to sit in the middle of the division talk tended to come in summer when STs were on sale. By October the goal posts were being moved, not just last season but season before that. By end of season they've been moved to the other end of the pitch and he's a development coach. All about stability and individuals etc. A manager set single mindedly on the top 6 doesn't make those kind of signings when his team is screaming out for something else. It very much more fits the slow build 'investment' mould hoping they come good in time and are worth a few more quid. Aside from introducing our own youth most of the other stuff along the way has just been gap filling. Not building just keeping a squad big and strong enough to keep our heads above water. If last season was supposed to be the big push in the final year of FFP - and a few believe it was. Then he's blown it in the usual mundane fashion. Covid didn't help but it was probably the difference between 15th and 11th in the end. All most fans wanted to see was us having a real go and see where we landed. That has never ever happened in the last 3 seasons despite his talk.

I think that stems from the way it seems to be gathering pace in recent years. In terms of being linked it could just be the usual lazy journalism knowing it gets a bit of attention because it 'might' be plausible.

I think what we are trying to say is it should not happen in 2021 for the first away game of the season.

Can Mowbray shape him or will he wilt in the heat of Ewood.

The last thing we want is boom and bust i recall him saying......

I really hope it's as straightforwards as that but it really isn't a healthy way to run for a season. Unless those two are happy to go along with it there are a lot of things that could sour. Besides when did these owners ever actually have a real plan ?

I think it's swings and roundabouts you tend to get the same old ones jump onto posts with the same old strawman arguments. Saw an LT tweet the other day in regards to Ayala and at time of me looking there was about 30 replies. 80% of them were realistic that this was a terrible signing to say the least, so i just think it depends mostly on what people are replying to. Some harmless tweets or posts get negative reactions and that triggers the types who'll not hear a bad word. Then they tend to quickly turn to insults or disappear when they can't back up their offence against realistic arguments.

They will because the famous 'flex' line Waggot fed everybody in terms of high fee lower wages will be redundant. He'll want a significant wage rise and long contract and that isn't looking likely at the moment.

Nothing he's ever done on the pitch has pointed that way at all. There are numerous examples. He's talked things up and down to suit his narrative at will, probably just to suit the owners. They have certainly been under the impression top 6 was the aim but this guy has strung them along imo. There's rarely been any balance between what he says and how he actually does things. That's obvious.

That's the feeling i get whilst there is much petty squabbling back in India.