8 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Where's this come from? Is this for everyone in all four divisions?

Most managers under Venky's especially Mowbray and our alleged insider at the Club Paul Mani who pops up every transfer window have always said the owners never refuse funding when asked.

If FFP is to be completely abolished for 12 months with no future comeback or strings attached then if the funding and the willingness really was there the thing to do would be to spend massively now and get everyone in you need for the forseeable future, and make sure hardly anyone was needed when the rules did come back into effect.

We shall see. Not really holding my breath.

TM's obviously put Mani of furlough.  A winning streak and sure enough he'l be back.

On another note Smallwood - Plays well for a season two years ago and is now entitled to pick up wages here as long as he wants.  No money for refunds though but the opportunity to cut deadwood might be passed over again in favour of 12 month deals once the green light is given.

If a long overdue salary cap comes in we'll make a f up of it guaranteed.  

15 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Youd think the first thing the owners "always happy to sign a cheque" will do is reimburse those not satisfied by a link to the BCD football for whatever reason.

FFP I think was only ever an excuse and of course the pandemic will have affected our absent owners too so to expect a transfer budget of any significance still seems naive to me.

Most things they do or have done fly right in the face of FFP.  Yes cutting the wage bill would affect the team but on ther side of the coin money still gets wasted and bills run up left right and center.  Then there is the signing off of 5/6/7 million pound tranfers on players who are real gambles not final jigsaw promotion push types.

THe old FFP line only gets trotted out when the buzzards are circling over something or other, or as last time when a big round of sales is beginning to loom on the horizon.

Would be handy if Brereton reveled in the crowdless fixtures and started banging them in.  He might be worth flogging then before he melts again once the fans are back.

Oh i forgot, he'll be on the bench or right wing for ten mins.  This lay off does strange things to the mind and the tinkerman has had nothing to tinker for months.  God knows what's coming !

1 hour ago, Riversider28 said:

I have quite enjoyed reading the threads across the board during lockdown, it’s been easy reading because nobody has really been whingeing or arguing about the posts. However, now that the league is about to start we are seeing lots of doom and gloom even before a ball has been kicked.

The responses from a number of people posting seem to suggest that our players are lacking professionalism and will approach these games in a lackadaisical manner. These two warm up games were exactly what they say. No one is going to go 100mph and risk injury, they are building themselves up for the real thing, starting on Saturday. 

Come 5pm on Saturday, then we can have a more balanced debate on the match and players. As Oddball would say “What’s with the negative vibes”. COYB

Obviously avoided all the political threads then ?

I expect the players will be really up for this beforehand after having nothing competitive for months.  Whether that lasts or indeed transmits itself beyond the first 15 mins on Sat who knows.

Rovers   3    City   2

27 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Definitely. When I was younger the local ABC was ran by "Mad Frank". MMA was up and coming back then and most of us went to Frank's to box. Some of the roadmen lads at school would come down occasionally and Frank was perfect at bringing them down to 'normality'. He'd put them in the ring to spar with one of the better lads and they'd walk out with a different mindset. Mad Frank died when we were 15 sadly, and unfortunately a few of the roadmen lads who boxed with us are either dead or in jail now. I can't help but think if Frank had stayed around a few of them might have stayed out of trouble. One of the best boxers I've seen is doing a 10 year stretch for armed robbery right now. There's certainly a dozen or so success cases from the gym. I think it has since shut down. 

Personally speaking I was always a bit of a tearaway as a youth. I always lacked mental discipline and it got me in a bit of trouble. I started wing-chun and Brazilian ju-jitsu after hitting it off at Dark Circle MMA gym in Wolves when I was 17. Without blowing my own trumpet them two martial arts have instilled a discipline I never thought possible. Whether it was solely the art or a mixture of that and maturing I'm uncertain but, without it, I wouldn't be the person I am now.

From Birmingham there are two big success stories: Leon and Fabian Edwards. I saw Leon train at the Erdington UTC (now a washing machine wholesalers!!!) and he's a whole different animal physically. The level of fitness them pro fighters have is breathtaking. Fabian is a bit different: he recently done time and has come out the other side. He's now in the Bellator and smashing it so will no doubt see him in the UFC at some point. As a final note, both of them have said in the past without MMA they'd probably be in and out of jail all their lives.

 

Good story mate ?

Yep there's definitely an important place in society for those local back street gyms i'd even make these sports an option at school. For the older kids obviously although this present attitude in society would never allow it.  

The story of the Ingle gym in Sheffield highlights all that perfectly along the lines of your Mad Franks.  The rules he implemented there were amazing.  The Brendan version obviously not the latter day PEDS tainted Dominic one.

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Another old boxing saying - " The only thing square in boxing is the ring ".

I boxed at school. Three x three minute rounds. I was a fit as fiddle and it was still by far the most tiring sport I ever took part in Half way through the third round you had a hard time keeping your guard up.

The thing about boxing is when you meet up against somebody better than you it can go South pretty quickly. In football if you meet up against a team better than you then you get beat 6 or 7 nil and it's embarrassing but it's not the end of the world. In boxing you can get physically hurt.

It's great leveler though you can have one person who'd win in a street fight 9 times out of ten. Put gloves on and abide by some rules and the balance might go the other way. 

No better way to sort out differences.

You're right about fitness though the top guys take it to another level.

17 hours ago, Darrenbot said:

I may be showing my age  here but Wasn't there an early 80's private eye tv programme called Shoestring set in Bristol ,maybe he could have helped lol

Eddie Shoestring !   I don't know why i know that as it's all i know of it.

Even he couldn't solve some of Rovers team selections and tactics.

Fury for PM ?

Old saying in boxing that always rings true -- Nothing signed, nothing agreed 

This is just verbal publicity just wait till they get around to trying to thrash out the finer details.  The Fury mob and Warren won't sell their soul to Hearn no chance. Meanwhile Hearn won't fancy a load of gangsters setting it up no doubt this fella has links to the same underworld as Fury's family.

Don't hold your breath for this one all they've done so far is agree it's a 50/50 purse split. That could soon change again.

4 hours ago, rigger said:

I still think a proper training session would have been more sensible. 

They'll probably have another more even friendly before it gets going again. Even if you are competitive and ship a few less against a side like Liverpool you're still never going to be able to play your own brand of football. 

All about getting some mins in the lets again i think.

Don't worry if we start shipping goals when it starts again the non contact social distance training will be to blame. The boys have forgotten how to get close to people or are even a bit afraid too.

Chasing the best current team in the land around though is a good workout to be fair, better than strolling past a non league side at walking pace.

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

@only2garners

Did the FF make it clear to Waggott, not withstanding the obvious cash flow issues the club has, the potential cataclysmic drop in ST sales if the club brushes off the need for any kind of discounted price for next season? 

(Apologies if you didn’t attend)
 

 

Well we can rely on 12000   10000  8000 so we'll set the prices accordingly.....

They do seem to find the money to carry favourites and spew on big money investments easily enough.

Tony will put players first it's why he's so popular with them in fact some seem to please themselves what they do. Smallwood falls into that category he's been allowed to just sit on his contract and collect his wages. Disgusting really, i expect TM will instruct Waggot to hand out short term deals to anyone who wants one so they don't go short whilst getting 'fixed up'.

I understand the clubs situation there's a monumental hole in the cash flow now. Next seasons budget probably doesn't kick in until July after their summer traipse to India to get it signed off. 

However it's still bonkers when you consider how much V's pour in to VLL every year, puzzling in fact.

The Not Proper Prem Champions With an * Forever   6    The 1995 Proper Prem Champions  0

About right given the difference these days..... ?

2 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

Must be a nice one....?

It is but he'll never get his money back.

Not a bad screw when you think crowds have fallen further, the stadium is dirty on the outside, he's over estimated ST sales leaving a 300k hole in his budget. Oh and they've blown 12 million on his watch.

As i say every time and will till i'm blue in the face, i'd love to see who is actually on the BRFC/VLL payroll in fine detail. 

With the amount they take in money in the Prem no established club should carry much real debt. Until they fix the complete cash drain that is players wages / agents and other parasites fees and astronomical transfer fees it'll never change.

All people in suits do is figure out ways to get money out of clubs, those at the top should be figuring out ways to keep money in the game and keep it solvent.

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

After reading about the Charlton players yesterday I got thinking about Rovers situation as the start date of June 20th now seems cast in stone. We have two loan players who arguably have been amongst the mainstays of our team whose loan deals are due to expire ten days after the restart. Without them we are severely weakened and I don't believe we would really has say in whether they play beyond June 30th. The decision would lie with their parent club and the players themselves. Uppermost in the clubs and players minds must be fear of injury. Similarly we have several out of contract players who it seems will not offered deals as nothing has happened yet. These include Graham, Bell and Leutwiler who are all part of the first team squad. I saw Graham interviewed yesterday and he mentioned being out of contract but so far no offer of a new deal. He did however mention the possibility of monthly contracts. If Leutwiler and Walton are not available it leaves a massive void in the keeper area. Similarly Bell and Tosin would leave us exposed defensively.

It will clearly be something Mowbray is aware of but something he doesn't have control over.

 

That fine line between letting go those that need replacing or keeping them because you're in no position to do anything else. In a normal world i'd be brave and let all 3 go and use the funds elsewhere but in present circumstances and knowing TM i can see all 3 getting new deals of some sort.

All depends what's in next seasons budget and as we know that doesn't usually get set till late summer.

It may well all but burn itself out in the next few months nobody really knows not even the experts, internet or otherwise.

Prepare for worst case scenario though but we might see some real daylight in the next 2/3 months although the frail and elderly or those with other issues will always have to be extra careful or stay out of harms way a good while longer.

Lower down the scale, namely our level and beyond football without fans has been on the cards for ages even before this crisis.

Of course it's important to the clubs - when they want it to be, i.e when the tv companies aren't calling the shots - but to the suits and paymasters they aren't that bothered.  The often stupid ticket prices, daft kick off times and rearranged fixtures all contribute that's before the police get involved yet it's been allowed to go that way because of the income and all the snouts in the trough.

I remember years ago on a Sat dinner whist waiting to go to Ewood and on the box was Coventry at home to Millwall, championship fixture. We were in the Prem so it was that long ago, anyway the ground was virtually empty and most of who were there must have been at the back of the stands or in the one underneath the cameras. I recall thinking that's awful it was hard to watch with so many empty seats and an eerie atmosphere aside from about 150 Millwall fans in a huddle. Obviously the home side wasn't doing well but there were no protests i knew of it was just mainly down to the stupid kick off time.

It's about time the game had a complete rethink but armchair experts and advertising pay rules the roost now.

Alarm bells were there as far back as then but no one gave a toss and i'm convinced we'll eventually see games kicking off on a Sunday or Saturday morning or a Weds tea time.  Anything to fill tv slots will end up fair game fans outside of the traditional TV media favs will be an afterthought.

Waggot will probably set his target at 10k again, put prices up again then trot out the old we've done all we can line. 

24 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

It does, bennetts interview confirmed he's virtually only been Tesco a couple of times. Just imagine the numbers that got it at gatherings like Chadtenam and Anfield etc.....

People are still in denial to this day, but now benno's got it certain attitudes might change. ...virus bad now.?

That's the pull of football, more sway than politicians.