TimmyJimmy

The ambition is to tread water and stay afloat. No appearance of flapping around and grabbing straws. Look like we're perpetually setting up for next season without actually having to achieve anything. In this window we bought a lottery ticket. The winning numbers are being read out and so far some of our numbers have come up (Morishita & Alebiosu, possibly Gudjohnsen). Long way to go. RG might get lucky and claim credit but as always with these things it's dumb luck. So, ambition??! mmm, let me think.

Agree. The season will have been defined for us by the time Baradji plays. He can be a worldy from then on but it's not going to elevate us to the top end of the table. Might save us from relegation I guess but stable door and bolted horse springs to mind by then. Like every season we will be weighed down with injuries with the very few quality players we have underperforming due to lack of support in other positions. The clue for Gestede is in the name 'team', the odd bit of star quality will never compensate for a lack of investment in the other positions. Where's the Championship experience and tolerance to heavy waterlogged pitches in our 'team' I wonder.

Agreed. It would be good to be able to understand who owns the club ie who's money it is and where did it come from. We know who's name is on door but how come they have zero interest in football or the club so what's really behind their 'ownership' from afar. If others were involved beyond an advisory capacity they're not going to go away. Any new 'owner' would have to fulfil the same role, whatever that is. Fit and proper rules need a lot of beefing up IMO before we can feel optimistic about any new ownership.

That's something I've been thinking about recently and I'm not sure that matters are as straightforward as that statement assumes. We were all convinced that there was a 'power behind the throne' with Venkys purchase. 'They' haven't gone away just dropped out of sight. Meaning that they'll still be involved in lining up the next bunch of schmucks when the time to change ownership comes around. The rumours from the start were that Venkys were innocent naive patsies with a darker power pulling the levers in the background, if true 'they' won't be going away anytime soon. So a change of ownership is to be wished for? Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose! I think things are far more broken than we assume.

Just got in and read some of the stuff above concerning ownership, Mr "Pasha" the "advisor" and Venkys lack of interest. Is the speculation that he is part owner backed by the Venkys. Would explain a lot. Just asking, I'veno idea.

No idea mate, was just pointing out that Pasha was not his real name. I think it was something to do with his shadow man persona back in day and referring to him as “Pasha” maybe evokes a shadowy figure of influence, no idea really. Possibly something pulled from south asian connotations of authority, but again really no idea. Point I was making was that the guy in charge is not called Pasha. But who cares really. I don't like him.

Non topic. I'm hungry and the cows made of beef, that's the just way it us.

You know is name is Suhail Shaikh right? Pasha is just a name the 'fans' gave him.

So much sense being posted. Suhail Shaikh and RG, the master and his emissary or perhaps the dark lord and Gothmog (chief orc) depending on your taste. After 15 years we know that nothing will change - ever. There's no amount of nashing of teeth or wailing going to change anything - the moving finger writes and having writ moves on. Done. Only the nuclear option remains and that's what I've taken. Rovers will always be my passion but I'm done. I'm not going to any matches, not buying any merch, not subscribing to any channels. It's for you to examine your consciences and decide for yourselves but that's me done - yes even if we got promoted. An empty ground is the only visible evidence to the world that something is rotten at the heart of Rovers. It won't happen of course but at least my conscience is clear, they'll get no more of my money. Perhaps me walking away is an example of what Suhail Shaikh meant when talking about his strategy of 'cutting the head off the snake" - I don't care, I'm no longer associating myself with his destruction of my club (and our club). It will hurt loads but that's what I'm doing. Still passionate, still Rovers through and through but now absentee along with my family.

Since Venkys took over has there ever been one single year when we have had ANYTHING to look foward to? Even bouncing out League 1 was hollow as we shouldn't have been anywhere near it in the first bloody place. We just bang along the bottom from one crisis to another. Every year brings another bucket load of 'fresh start' bollocks, new sets of promises about 'projects' followed by sales of best players and best young prospects. No investment, no direction and no f'ing idea. Constantly hiring the fag end of cheap European 'talent', hopeless, absolutely and completely f'ing hopeless. I've said it before and backtracked but not this time, I'm done until these tossers have gone. I'm not setting foot on Ewood again and that's it full stop period. Total joke of a transfer window, you couldn't make it up, just beyond all f'ing belief. I don't know anyone who's playing for us anymore. Done, gone, finished, enough, even for me with 65 years of support behind me. F'ing joke.

For Rovers v Derby for the 150th it'll be Rovers A v Rovers B. Sadly we'll be Rovers B. I've followed Rovers for a long time but I've never seen a window like this. The lunatics really are in charge of the asylum.

It's a great plan from Rudy. No really it is. Sell the guys we all know weren't good enough and buy new guys who we haven't yet learned aren't good enough. Sprinkle with lucky dips from the Academy tombola and tell everyone it's really exciting and we're being backed by the owners for this mega transformation whilst out of sight behind the curtain the incoming transfer fees magically disappear. Splash a few marketing words about, inflate expectations using a bit of hyperbole here and there and we're good to go for another season. What could go wrong? We're so lucky to have this board and ownership. No really.

So: sson = son dottir = daughter Those vikings have a lot to answer for. Thought we spoke mainly Anglo Saxon, obviously the Danelaw had some influence. WillyNilly is another nice one, will he won't he! Etymology rules :-) I love learning new stuff. Thanks.

Never seen them before but now they're there constantly. Understand the need for revenue but highly irritating and as said new to me. Hope they go away.

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No.

Happy to have a different opinion Rev. Clearly we don't know the guy so we judge him off his public persona. You don't care for him, I do, I'm not interested in persuading anyone, just my opinion, though I do tend to think pretty deeply before saying them out loud. Wouldn't argue with 'crafty old goat' line, quite endearing really.

This is just recycling my earlier words but what the heck I still believe it. TM saved our club. Just look at the scum bags, miscreants and crooks that had there fingers in our pie. Things had reached the breaking point, the club and support were being skinned alive. TM stumps up and we turn the corner. There's lots to disagree with on with his approach to some of our matches so on a purely footballing sense I concede he didn't always make the right calls. For me he stands out as a human being and the world is short of decent people. Circumstances present themselves, you make a call, you live by the outcome, it is what it is. As long as you have standards that's all that matters to me. What would life have be like as a Rovers supporter if say we had had a Joey Barton or a Sam Morsy in charge, both equal footballing talents to TM. Perhaps they would have achieved more but it would have been without me on board.

A whole bunch of metaphors leap to mind. VI has his plan. The board have backed him totally. Virtually the whole team have been replaced. So: - No more "square peg round hole" excuses like JDTs possession style and players who couldn't play that way. - He's got his players so "all the wood is behind the arrowhead", he's defo going for it - the board are going to "sink or swim" by this decision (taking us with them) - VI has "no hiding place" now and with this level of bravado risks being "hoist with one’s own petard” You've got to admire this "Billy Big Bollocks" show, or does it "all end in tears". I'll stop, it's really not that funny. We're walking a tightrope without a net (damn it!).

I'm not a stats guy but if memory serves he won 4 of the last 6 last season, didn't he draw the other 2 (?). This season he's had chaos to contend with behind the scenes. We played WBA and got cheated by the ref on a penalty. The cup match was a resy team turnout with many starters rested - doesn't count in my book, Birmingham was tough to take, we lost but that was down to the naivety of the new guys not him so I'm putting that in the should have won column. Hull, yes a nice win. I'm not making things out to be perfect but it's a pretty solid start. New players in the house - we live in interesting times.

Some really good posts on here recently, enjoying the reading. On Hyam, the introvert thing is probably why he plays better with a tough guy next to him. He's defo not a shouter and organiser. I like 'nice' people, good for the dressing room. He's a good CB and I hope he stays. On the Ferrari/Skoda thing (made me howl), I had a conversation with Bill Fox years ago about a player I wanted Rovers to see (they did and he signed but that's another story), my big plus point was that whilst raw he was lightening quick. Bill's comment was and I quote "You can coach a monkey to cross a ball but you can't coach speed, we'll take a look." Ferraris rule I think :-) On VI, I think I'm in a very small minority here but I really like VI. I didn't but I've warmed to him a lot. He's honest - players know where they stand with him and that's important, he's clear about his strategy and is getting the players in that fit with that (no square pegs in round holes), he's winning matches and those that he doesn't he come close to (dodgy refs mostly). Far from perfect but to damn by faint praise he's likely the best we could have got for this mad house and is exceeding my expectations. He also gives the impression that he actually believes that good times are around the corner, which is nice for a change. I know, hope kills you.

Apropos of nothing - watching Hyam on the various videos, he comes across as an extremely cold and detached person. Never came close to meeting him so maybe the camera just doesn't like him but he doesn't really look like he wants to be here. Anyone seen him full of the joys of spring?

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Common, I can't be the first - Ryoya of the Rovers.