I share all your frustration, it should have turned out better than this. However if you think about it being in business is about making money not losing it. If they had a billion (1,000M) to start with they've already pissed 200M of that up the wall for no benefit. Looks like a pretty poor business decision so not too surprising they're pulling back a bit. Of course Venky's are culpable but for me the real villians in all this are still Anderson and SEM. Venky's punishment is that they've lost a fortune, our punishment is Venkys! Oh for a billionaire with sense.

Venky's are doing exactly what they said at the beginning when they bought us - loan players and an academy pipeline. This crap advice came from the same nefarious advisors who forgot to tell them that relegation was a real thing before sacking Big Sam. They're crazy buggers who know nowt about football, the club or the passion of it's supporters. They keep twyning the handle every year, money in and expecting success to drop out the back of the machine. For as long as they are in charge, as well intentioned or as decent human beings they may be, we will remain in this perpetual groundhog day. I believe in the current management team and DoF but with Crazy Horse Bala in charge nothing will ever change they just don't have it in them to learn. What this means for us is perpetual stasis. This message board will contain the same discussions every window, we will end up with new loanees and kids just as declared at the beginning as being the recipe for success. Dear Bala, IT ISN'T!!!! Bloody depressing.

Agree but it's not going to happen (unfortunately)

100%. I fear a bashing today, teams have worked out that our kryptonite is physicality.

I find this comment from JDT on the BBD saga most illuminating, not because it concerns BBD but because it highlights a necessity in the life of a football club. It is precisely what we didn't do last season. “We should always have done our homework for if something happens, we should be prepared,” he said. “I think we should expect that from the club that if it happens we need to have something prepared.” Amen. Precisely what we were screaming about last season. TM was known to be leaving. His backroom staff also. Three players believed to be key to our success leaving this year. I remember getting agitated that there were zero plans in place and we were all fuming that no succession had been planned for management or players. Yes we got lucky in a DoF and manager turning up out of nowhere. Yes we got lucky that JDT and team are brilliant and whipped the remaining squad into shape. We are currently lucking out results wise (long may it continue) but this whole episode could have been a well deserved disaster. We should have had plans in place, we should have had managers identified and we certainly should have had players lined up to come in. We still haven't got players (CBs) in with days to go before the window closes. Are we surprised? SW and board have got away with murder on this one. Poor performance and one set of lucky, lucky barstewards. Hopefully DoF and new chief scout/recruiter will consign these ridiculous things to the history books. We have to get more professional. The acid test is now how they handle the BBD situation. Hope they're up to it!

Don't Stop Believing' Journey.

West Brom were a good side, one touch give and goes, power, hard running, lots to admire. To beat them today, wow just WOW.

Scrape me off the ceiling!!!!@@

Rock and a hard place with this game. Lose and my win, win and win again bubble gets burst. Win it and I won't believe we will lose a game all season. Both silly points of view but I'm on such a high at the moment I don't want it to stop. WBA will be a TOUGH encounter so I'm a bit pessimistic, but win and you'll have to scrape me off the ceiling. Everything is crossed for a 2:1.

Wow, just wow. Echo all previous comments. The players were immense of course but for me this victory was all about the management team. Genius strategy, top draw execution. Enjoying it whilst it lasts.

Swansea targeting out of left field diagonal balls at our left back. Pretty consistent so obviously a tactic. Must have Pickering down as a weak point. We're letting Swansea have the ball up to the half way line then we're biting them. Solid two rows of 4 behind the ball. Look strong so far but it only takes one good through ball. BBD getting lumps kicked out of him. Need more of that intensity that JDT talks about in the 2nd half.

Not a snowballs chance in Hell will we get him back - unfortunately. A great player but we'll not see him in a Rovers shirt again.

It was a company car and Barry Fry repossessed it in a fit of peak when Szmodics said he wanted the Blackburn move. Dodgy character that Fry!

Was stood close to JDT at the match. He's got a temper. Got really angry and had a shouting match with his #2 who was disagreeing with him on something in the last 5 or 10 minutes. If Dacky and him locked horns in training then there's only one winner, I wouldn't argue with JDT. Dacky is likely being put in his place and being taught a lesson if he got too high and mighty in training. Once that's run it's course he'll be back in the team. Storm in a tea cup and normal player/coach dynamics. Just my interpretation of course. Time will tell. JDT does have a good flare up in him!

Do we actually win season openers?

Y'all know that saying Van Hecke three times won't make him appear. He's not Beetlejuice. Zero chance homies.

Not a hope he's coming back. Sad but true.

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, what have you done.

GB got the poison chalice. Desperate need for players. Tight owners. Glacial speed board. Players walking or about to walk. Not a ton of money available. Oh and the season starts week after next. He needs this pinning to his door "The difficult I do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer". Give the guy a break. If he can work his way though this mess then he can walk on water.

Enjoyed the game. If Celtic played in the Championship with us they'd walk it. Some excellent players, Jota, Japanese guy and others. They took the lead from a deflection. Our attack should have had two more with one on ones with their keeper. We aren't world beaters but be fair that was a good result after only a couple of friendlies, playing in front of a big away crowd, young lads in various positions. All in all not bad. Yes we defo need strengthening but we have the kernel of something good at the Championship level. Good pressing, good one touch movement. Some weak performances but not too shabby overall I'd say.

Is the Celtic game being streamed anywhere?

On May 2nd I posted this: ------------ " ... Whoever gets the gig will be fighting with his hands tied behind his back because the summer will have passed where he could be assessing needs, recruiting etc.. There'll be excuses of having no pre-season for new hires. Players left on the books plus academy canon fodder will need a whole new set of shapes to drill as half the bleeding playing staff will be gone and their established patterns of play gone with them. Totally lame dude, just totally lame. Venkys, if you ever have any hope of owning a successful club you really need to get your arses into gear. Interviewing 6 people, really, wtf." ------------ I'm no oracle but if it was obvious to me surely it must have been obvious to Waggot. No surprises then. Three first teamers gone, pre-season well underway, 26 days until season kicks off, no transfers in! Whoever stumps up, unless they're from Malmo, they won't have a clue about our patterns of play. We're going into the new season with our hands tied behind our back yet again. We need new players yesterday! WTF.

I think you must have forgotten to take the plastic wrapping off 😀

According to the Waggot article in the Telegraph the market is awash with available players right now, just a case of selecting the skills that JDT wants. Also we have cash. Not all doom and gloom then.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec here but it's my view that they were offered deals that reflected their ability. They just didn't have much 'usable' ability. Nyambe was never fit and as I said wasn't going to improve much beyond where he's at now. Always out of position, can't cross, never scores or even threatens to score. Rothwell was a show pony. Exciting, dynamic, once every ten matches, little to no end product, slow thought process and decision making. Could he press? The aim is to score and win matches not look good in little cameos with no end product. He was also as good as he was going to get. Lenihan, well there you have more of an argument, sad to see him go yet he's not a world beater. Looked good going forward and good channel passing this last season, but defensively can we really say he was always in position. Good, one of our own, but brace yourself, it's always tough to tell a mother that her baby's ugly, I have to be honest and say he was just above adequate at best. Just compare him to the young loanees we've had in his position. There's better out there. We've played those guys for three years now and never got above 8th. They were offered what they were worth IMHO. It was their choice not to sign. C´est la vie. Move on. Over to you GB.