Given Chapman and Smallwood's representative I wouldn't be surprised if they've had pay offs on their mind.

Let's be honest we were pretty similar before this glut of injuries so we aren't not in the top 6 because of injuries. It does however severely hamper any outside chance we had and we wouldn't know until about April how it was panning out anyway with a full squad. Best aim for 10th place ish now and all things considered that wouldn't be a bad finish. The lack of doing anything at all in this window ( i don't buy the sob stories ) has virtually thrown the towel in on any real ambitions this season. Poor but not surprising so the interest now is seeing how they make the best of what we have and how he uses the kids. I don't want to see it petering out pandering to senior pros who shouldn't be here next season. Plan for the future now - without them.

A benefit match next pre season would be a good idea if they could get a side to come for nowt. Won't be many on but a tenner a ticket if they got 5k on it all helps.

Lets hope father gives him a very big cheque book and he takes some proper advice otherwise expect more Ben Breretons.

This is what those not in favour of it neatly swerve surely just having that 3/400 hundred home fans down that end helps a bit when the ball is in that corner. Sitting in the JW upper it looks and sounds absolutely awful glancing at that end with no one in it i'm totally amazed anyone would think different. Even a few hundred either side of the fence gives it more of a football match feel, then again too many of our lot just love to sit in silence at the football and don't want anything interupting that !

Agree but they are probably easier to sell if you need a few quid quick. A wrong way to go about it better just offing a load of non contributers off the wage bill.

Don't think it would need to be a massive amount just to keep ticking over. Raya went last time for about 3 mill so I'd expect something similar this time.

Not sure he was that highly regarded as a coach Big Sam took him off the rock and roll didn't he ? Then again the snake was probably waiting knowing that opportunity was coming, i wonder who really got him into Ewood !

He'd have been sacked long before if that was the case i think the general feeling was they couldn't sack him. I reckon it took a lot of internal heaving to unseat that parasite. Also i reckon he'd have only jumped when he'd gathered enough bullets to try and fire off the old 'forced to resign' line. More cunning than a manky old fox him.

Dalglish won the league here but pretty much flunked at Newcastle, Hodgson didn't really get to grips with it here and was a disaster in the transfer market but ended up managing England. I don't hold celtic against Mowbray knowing how he works he probably tried to hard in the overthinking dept assuming it would be easier than it was with his methods. It's everywhere else i look at and it kind of tells the story.

Last time FFP was hovering we got told Shaw wanted to increase ticket prices and it was the owners who in fact thought that was a bad idea. Think Stevo might be adlibing a tad there. He's the one who over projected ST sales based on nothing but mere hope and he's the one who admitted looking for ways to cover the shortfall. Besides didn't prices go up a bit anyway ?

Lets hope he's learned something at Reading Uni otherwise it's from frying pan to fire. I really wouldn't be surprised if he's not already had some sort of input such are the odd things that go on here.

I come out of reading these things not for the first time more convinced in Waggot than the manager. I suppose it's just because we've heard it all before from TM whose just defending his position. He has somewhat made it difficult for himself so not sure why the faux anger from him when he's pulled up on it. He's there to explain himself and take the heat away from the rest of them so he's bound to be in the firing line. As i always say that middleman whose more than a low level employee should be at everyone of these. He's the owners man he speaks to them and obviously its been alluded now to that he's an important man around the club. Step out of the shadows and face the music or forever remain under suspicion you coward.

Any football club needs a structure that allows managerial changes they are part and parcel of the game. They don't always get sacked there can be any number of reasons they leave. THe Venky model all along doesn't allow for that that's why there have been so many issues. They either want a set of clowns inbetween running it for them like a franchise or they want the football manager/head coach to literally run all four corners of the club and report to them. That's probably why Mowbray got his mate Waggot to come and work for him to take something of his and Chestons shoulders. Understandable but all little bit cosy in the grand scheme of things when it appears he's very little say in much over TM. This is why you need proper boards of directors and a chairman or chief exec who isn't pissing in the same pot as the manager etc. I think we could end up being the modern version of the Dario Gradi's Crewe Alexandra without the nice on the deck football and costing ten times as much per year to run.

And what of shadowman with similar links ? He's the common denominator in all this, does he get his bosses to throw his old pals a bone still or does their influence remain something more ? Either way anybody who got Owen Coyle through the door shouldn't be trusted.

It must be the stand or a statue or something that fans attending Ewood can see forever not a patch of grass out in the sticks with a little plaque at the side out it. That's frankly ###### insulting after all he's done for this club especially in its times of need then quietly and professionally stepped back into the shadows.

1.3 million should get a decent loan player or pay the wages of a decent freebie. Scenes when he uses that to re - sign Samuel and Bell !

That went over my head but it seems you're not alone in picking up on it. Maybe when they had their audits they decided to give it full funding for a few years to see how it panned out. I suppose the goalposts keep getting moved and it costs more year on year. Then there's the grants, do they get less as time goes on perhaps ?

From the mins it looked like a rehash of the last one. Same questions same answers or excuses if you look at it like that.

He's another who should be out on loan now getting games back in him and there were supposed to be several lower lge and Scottish second tier in for him. Odd that he's not gone so unless it's a wage issue or loan fee then i'm assuming he's been tipped the nod there'll be a chance here if he sticks around. Pointless keeping him imo when there is Gallagher and Brereton who fill the same roll and we are supposed to be after a right winger, then there's Chapman. Samuel is no worse than those other two but he's no better either and arguably of less potential, he's a league 1'er and that's where he should head.

Samuel, several good games and new contract i'm calling it now. Then revert to type, yes i know he's been injured and i'm glad he's fit and playing again but he needs moving on in summer. It's about progress for the club and we've seen enough to know he doesn't offer enough but he's a TM player so i'm expecting him being kept around. Other two yes agree and hope they get some chances and take them they are the future.

They've basically gone halfway to recreating the mess they'd made such an effort to fix. Ridiculous, yes FFP is a nonsense but it's there they knew damn well about it. I'm not sure they hinged everything on selling Dack as anything can happen in football they knew that. I think it was either just winging it along as usual or plans for a fire sale again after front loading a bit on the 3 strikers. All this 'building football clubs' behind the scenes that they claim to be experts in costs money, a lot of money. Then the famous 'flex' mixture of big fees lower wages and no fee low fee, higher wages malarky. You end up again with a Prem infrastructure ( after pulling one to bits ) wage bill growing again with little on the pitch in return and pushing back towards sanctions. All this on a town club that'll never pull money in through the gates in the middle of the 2nd tier. If there ever was a plan i'm pretty sure year 3 or 4 of it was earmarked for significant financial returns to cover years 1-3. I don't reckon the play offs or having a team challenging for promotion has even entered their heads it's all balance sheet stuff run by number crunchers. A business plan rather than a football one.

Maybe they are just expecting us to shift 1400 only ? Some calls by their fans to spilt the away end back up again for this. Sounds more like it to be honest.

When....we play the pressing game. Quite looking forward to this one it has the makings of a good lively championship game. Goals and a bit of drama so let's hope he has them up for it.

All depends on the fee if there is one. I suspect it wouldn't be cheap.