Iv'e long said they could be the exception to the rule on this certainly for a short while at least. I genuinely believe if all but 1 thousand or so fans fell away or totally boycotted they'd just plough on as they do to make a point. 'Look we can afford to do this as long as we want it makes no odds to us if you stay away, it's OUR club'. They way they just blank supporters and their feelings and have done for a decade. To the point of always taking Keans side to then actually appointing Owen Coyle ! They don't give a stuff it's their way or the highway. That includes fans.

It would actually be possible to make some sensible cut backs and still tread water the way we are now. There are numerous examples in this division. The problem that fans like yourself need to acknowledge is the way they run things, the people they employ are part of the reason for the continued gargantuan losses. Look how much the wage bill and directors pay has increased in the last accounts. Before any covid is taken into account. Then look at the gates and other income dwindling before that. All for what ? mid/lower midtable finishes. You get what you pay for but it's not peanuts for monkeys in their case. It's gold sovereigns for city and guilds ability.

It's already happening. Not through lack of funding though but keeping faith with people who only know how to downscale. No idea how to go the other way even step by step despite the preaching. Marginal gains are bull shit because as we've seen it slips back overnight once you've been sussed.

And 18 months too much of Mowbray with possession stats crap and claptrap.

There are other variables involved but even without covid the fanbase has been decimating again for a few years. A sure sign the present management has been seen through and reached and breached its shelf life. Probably get to around 5k by the end of summer and with walk on prices and taxes we are finally looking at pre 1991 crowds. This is the price you pay for treating fans like mugs whilst looking after yourselves first. Sad state of affairs and Rovers is a fanbase that has always needed stimulating now and again. Needs something to believe in and just stability when we've so much more to offer doesn't cut it. Have a go and see where we land is acceptable, shrugging shoulders and waffling out stuff that belongs on the football equivalent of Fawlty Towers year after year isn't.

Especially when its a conglomerate with things in many different countries anyway. Truth i reckon is priorities and we aren't usually one them, then those over here on such a cushy number they are happy to wait in line. Don't rock the boat just pick up your wages.

Last time we had all these similar issues we had no proper CEO and no long term steady manager. So the real question is why is all this happening again ? Probably because India has lost interest again aside from leaving instruction to set the budget. Last time half of it was blamed on the slow nature of the wheels turning between there and here. Yet all these people and procedures have been put in place over the years at big cost to smooth all that out. So what's going on ? Proper tinpot outfit yet costing 20 million a season in losses. Pathetic.

Seems for the first time ever they took some good advice about 4 years ago. It took relegation to the 3rd tier for the first time in about 40 years and 2 sets of audits to wake them up though. You have to presume a lot of that advice came from Mowbray and co who in truth are suited to that level. Seems they've been advising mostly ever since and the long and short of it is we've gone nowhere. Spaffed another load of money and are facing the same dilemmas we did that lead to that mess in the first place. Seems one bit of good advice to them that actually works and you are set for life.

Everything Waggot has done since hes been here, all the little tweeks and bits and bats has resulted in losing a few more fans on each thing. It all adds up and on top of everything else it's no wonder we'll be on course for under 10k hardcore for the first time since about 1991. The guy is absolutely pointless who in their right mind bungs him 300k a year ? Absolute piss taker and a very very lucky man to have fallen on this gig.

We don't resemble Watford they are ambitious and have a punch above their weight mentality. We used to resemble Watford. Now we resemble a foreign funded ever expanding old boys pension scheme.

He did once say he preferred a smaller squad as there was less people to leave out. Less hassle, less disappointment etc. He's all for the easy ride and being nice to everyone first and foremost. Points and targets - if there are any - come second. A smaller squad as long as it was strong and stayed fit would probably suit him better. Less chance to piss about with it all the time and more chance of gelling properly. I won't hold my breath though.

Spot on but it's galling when it gets throw around that the manager is some kind of god for doing this. Don't get me wrong it's obviously a strength of his but he doesn't make best use of it because it's covering some of his frequent other failings. That's why we are forever anchored in mid/lower mid. His bad use of transfer funds and wages and lack of real forward planning have landed us in this potential mess. His use of the loan market and Armstrongs goals are keeping us above water. Probably better to retain both if we are retaining him.

Interesting how Smallwood flags up there, the man allowed to sit out his contract. Even getting a few months 'covid' extension. It's a cosy little set up make no mistake.

The same guy blowing smoke up Venkys on his twitter feed ? Feed being the operative word...... hmm.

The reality is we are capable of doing far better than we are, not just last season. Promotion is a pipe dream and always has been but being more competitive isn't.

They explain it really well on there it's a great account. Comments in regards to it are a bit hard to take at times though. We are reliant on the ownership yet at the same time they have dragged us into this position. It might not be great under another set of owners but i't would have to go some to be worse than what it is. Only consolation is many in the Championship are in the same boat to varying degrees. We are just ahead of the pack, in a way we don't want to be. One, just one season back in the Prem would've made things a little more acceptable as it shows on a few other clubs accounts. Yet these lot just throw good money after bad on managers from the same agency who are only capable of wasting half their money. With what we have here and the amount the ownership is willing to write off annually it is very galling to be out performed continually by those with far less. That sits at the door of those they employ as much as it sits with themselves.

The use of these young loans from high end clubs has helped us maintain midtable in recent seasons. Where would we have been without them ? That's how lightweight we really are after years of waiting for the defenders that are coming.

Budgets already set, wages and bills are guaranteed to be paid for next 12 months so why should those in situ give a toss. Their excuses are ready made for this coming season. Push STs then sell Arma and maybe a few more and the shit hits the fan. Team starts badly, fans get straight onto the managers case. Less there the better. It would certainly help the team and the income the more in there but when have they ever bothered about that when the cheques always get signed in India. Easy street isn't the word.

And he's been doing so ever since to suit himself. He's also told them to invest in Brereton and Gallagher, experienced loans and freebies on good wages, high end young loanees. And then transition to possession, all in the aim of bothering the top end. Then after all that proves to be bollux he turns around and says ah well you need 100 million to spend these days. That's before we start on the 'models' of Sheff Utd, Norwich, Swansea, Brentford and more recently Barnsley. We've even had the training complex needing halving and the pitch chucked in there as bonus features. Yet some STILL don't see through him and lump all the blame elsewhere. Christ only knows what he's going to come out with this season but it certainly won't be anything that holds him remotely accountable.

The Riverside didn't boo Wilcox when he was trying to win the Premier league. That was when he was a skinny kid trying to earn his mark in a poor struggling side. Scapegoat i think they call it, the merciless t#ats. Sherwood though, well he did flick the Vs and he did say some daft stuff at times taking aim at fans. Or lack of them, didn't quite understand the Blackburn backwaters being a flash southern gob. Not really very good examples of shithousery there, try Jimmy Quinn instead.

That's exactly the way it should be done but i reckon the thing here is both ends are keen to do some kind of deal. Not the owners but those attempting to run the show.

'Yeah but when Rhodes goes we'll be able to sign 3 or 4 with the fee and his wages' I seem to remember this kind of fantasy talk back then. Funnily enough we were in the death throws of an FFP cycle then as well. Or so we were told.

A bit mad in this heat they'll be complaining about sunstroke next.

That's what i'm saying it's pointless just looking for any sort of player exchange to cut down the sell on. You fear that kind of thing though with these lot now, shrugging shoulders and saying yes. We'll get him fit with our downgraded medical dept, then we'll get 10 games a season in the Championship out of him. Meanwhile he's on a 3-4 yr 10 grand a week deal or something stupid. Pointless as it costs more in the long run so lets just stick to only bringing in what we need and want.

Sounds like another Gladwin to me but they love a project here. I'd leave it alone and just say if you want him then pay the money. We don't want any make weights they are just trying to get rid of. It's desperate and lazy unless they are fit and genuinely any good for our level. We especially don't want these types under this manager !