The fans or the club?

It really is a simple job to employ a marketing consultancy firm for a week or two to get some answers. Clearly there is a cost associated to this but surely it would be money well spent for the club to find out and perhaps use the answers positively. When you consider the money wasted on the failed sale of the STC it's another example of the poor leadership down there. Or, more likely Waggott doesn't care and is happy to blame Covid.

Please don't take this personally but what has prompted you to go? I think for fans who are going for the first time this season there should be a follow up call from the club to ask that very question. Then at least there could be proof of why our crowds have dropped alarmingly.

I actually predicted at half time that Carter would come on to make it five at the back. I based that on the previous games when he has done it this season and it has failed. I think that Rooney's changes at half time was something that Mowbray just didn't react to. Derby's change of shape should have been countered with a change in our shape but we seemed content to play a lot deeper and let Derby come at us.

It's another three points but once again with a two goal lead we were nearly Mowbrayed*. The first half was so comfortable as we bossed the game and were better than Derby in every position. A three or four goal lead would have been a fair reflection on the game at half time but the group I go with and many around us spoke about our fragility when being two up. And so it passed that our reservations were right. The game turned on its head, Kazim-Richards got amongst us and, had Derby scored earlier I'm certain we would have drawn or even lost. As it was they nearly got a draw anyway. I don't know what happens when we go into a two goal lead and then go negative and defensive but it's happened too many times and it appears that Mowbray can't fix it and is actually part of the problem. Had we not got three points today it would have been criminal but we were so close to dropping points. I thought Lenihan was terrific today, one of his best performances in a Rovers shirt. For the rest it was another game of two halves ranging from very good in the first half to poor in the second. We got away with one today, in future we might not be so lucky. * Moybrayed is the new term for throwing or nearly throwing a two goal lead away.

Come on Rev, you make it sound like their awful stewardship is something new. They have been doing it for nearly eleven years now and in my view this shows no sign of abating. You seen to have some trust and faith in them and, as your recent posts indicate you think they are on the cusp of major change and, hey presto things are magically back to pre 2011 days. My gut tells me they will never change. I will never forgive and never forget what they have done to our club.

According to this article Rovers are one of the more expensive season tickets in the Championship but that excludes several clubs who hadn't issued prices at the time the article was printed. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/championship-season-tickets-cheapest-expensive-24279478

In a perverse way Covid has been a screen for Waggott to hide behind. It's given him something to blame for his failings although the blessing of furlough must have saved him a significant chunk of money. Rovers are bucking the trend here. The majority of clubs are getting increased or similar gates to pre Covid times. His poor stewardship of our club should really grate with every Rovers fan but somehow I doubt it.

Mowbray confirmed in this interview that Waggott and Venus do the negotiating. I do find the involvement of Venus strange though. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17703772.boss-india-talks-staying-contract-negotiations/

Over a thousand tickets sold yet again. Great effort.

You could well be right but I'm seeing Mowbray with a microphone under his nose and not being able to help himself. After all he has lots of previous in this respect 😁😁

If I was Rothwells agent reading that it would be manna from heaven. Whatever his demands are Mowbray has played right into their hands.

I was under that impression after the fiasco earlier this year that the STC was being sold for development. To support that it was the furore created by residents and supporters (with the excellent letter from Rev) that stopped this.

But Gav spending an incredible amount of money you don't have and P&S are intrinsically linked. Let's just assume we weren't at the ridiculous levels of outgoings and it was at a manageable proportion of say 110% of income. That would equate to around £6m less expenditure season on season by my rough calculation. If the spend was managed better we wouldn't be in the ridiculous situation whereby a new company is set up to purchase the training ground to circumvent the P&S rules. And the responsibility for spending a huge amount season on season lies with the people on the ground at Ewood and the owners. In any other business any manager going over budget would be reeled in but at Rovers the wanton spending has been allowed to continue unabated (although in fairness that could apply to lots of football clubs).

I don't think it's the transfer fees that have caused the main problem. I think it's a lot more to do with spending massively above income, 187% last year. Roughly that equates to around £8m last year and similar amounts for previous seasons. The whole management team of Rovers are culpable here. And a big chunk of that has been spent on dross and needless contract extensions.

Which is exactly why I have no faith or trust in them. It's been nigh on eleven years now and still we have insidious people involved, veils of secrecy and sheer incompetence. Twas ever thus.

Agreed and everyone should under no illusion that, had they got their way the STC would now be a building site and everyone shoehorned into the Academy. They would have taken the money from a developer in a heartbeat. Now, instead of banking a huge amount from a third party it has cost them a fortune to set up a new company and buy the STC themselves. It could well be above board and with good intentions but given their track record frankly I don't believe that. All this speculation could be put to bed in one fell swoop but as ever the silence is deafening and that adds to my mistrust of them.

In April/May the STC was up for sale to property developers. Fast forward a few weeks and they set up a new company to buy the STC. This just doesn't feel right. Had they been half decent owners it might have been accepted. Given their history it's perfectly in order to be suspicious of their motives. Why on earth has there been a complete silence from them or their representatives since it was sold in June? Despite the condescending recent letter from one of them nothing has changed.

It's exactly how the club is run that has out people off going. It's all self inflicted and the indisputable fact they are putting millions in is down to themselves. They bought an established institution and have decimated it and we, the fans have paid a heavy price. The promised to respect Jacks legacy.

That's some moral high ground you have taken for someone who actually boycotted. I don't blame anybody whatsoever for not going. Life under these owners has mostly been a decade of purgatory. To try and pin some of the blame on supporters for players not signing new deals is ridiculous.

The only benefit to them that I can see is that it would be to save the circa £15-20m they are putting in every year. That simply can't go on indefinitely can it? On your second point it makes it even more mysterious to me.

That makes so much sense to me as a layman. If Blackburn Rovers were put into administration then Brockhall would be exempt because Blackburn Rovers don't own it. Maybe the car parks at Ewood will go the same way.

I don't know the ins and outs of this but what I do know is that I treat the owners, Waggott et al with suspicion. That is borne out of over a decade of misery and mistrust.

A really enjoyable listen. Is there a part two?

Tonight's under 23 game is free for season ticket holders. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/october/25/preview--rovers-under-23s-v-liverpool-under-23s/