RevidgeBlue

"In private" - who to? Had him round to dinner did you? 🙂

Think you're miles wide of the mark there Gav it obviously wasn't Waggott that shelved it was it?

Spot on. As I've posted previously I'm completely torn this time round. On the one hand I don't want to endorse the Coventrio. On the other the less people renew the more it gives Waggott carte blanche to run the Club even further into the ground. On balance I'm leaning towards renew and oppose.

If you take the time and trouble to develop a relationship with the owners then seemingly, yes, the world's your oyster. If you don't, you don't seem to get much change out of them.

I think the point Stuart is making is that whilst many fans will understandably Boycott the Club whilst the Coventrio remains one, some fans have said that despite it all they still wouldn't be able to bring themselves not to attend. This would be a novel way for them to signify their dissatisfaction and we could do with a lot more ideas like it imo.

There's no proof of that, Lambert has never even tried to claim that himself has he? I did acknowledge opinions on him are mixed, for me he inserted the get out clause in his contract was never fully committed and had one foot out of the door before he started. His record post BRFC also speaks for itself imo.

Great Post and I think it's a brilliant idea Stuart. If the idea is publicised so enough people know the reasoning behind it and enough people took it up it then it could be really visually effective - turning up in the burnt orange monstrosity from the mid 90's for example. The only downside to this particular idea would be if we had some exceptionally bad weather and the shirts were only likely to be visible for a few weeks. Nevertheless I think this is the sort of thinking outside the box we need and we need plenty more clever ideas like this to keep piling the pressure on if nothing changes over the summer.

It's entirely up to you whether you don't buy stories of a U turn, no-one can be 100% sure the information they are relaying is correct. However, if a u turn has occurred this sort of thing has seemingly happened before, no-one seems to dispute that Warnock was more or less signed, sealed and delivered at one point and the next minute Coyle was unveiled. If a U turn has occurred here as well I fear it will have similarly disastrous consequences to the Coyle situation.

Theoretically Lambert looked a cracking appointment when he got the gig. He turned out to be an absolute disaster imo (I know opinions on him vary) but we weren't to know that at the time. Extremely strong back room team as well. Irvine and Kelly was it.

All I can say is that as at mid April it was apparently common knowledge amongst the players that Mowbray would be being replaced but not until the end of the season. They were certainly playing like it and that was quite a risky strategy at the time given the run we were in the middle of but seemingly the aim was to allow Mowbray a reasonably dignified exit. Whether something subsequently changed to scupper that plan I don't know. If a particular manager was being targeted but subsequently ducked out I'd hope the overall plan is still in place once a different target can be identified. I don't think we're quite past the stage where my original scenario can be completely ruled out but admittedly we seem to be getting pretty close to it.

Ugh! Not even for Charity.

Bit of a trend developing here isn't there: "Sorry an Eagle eyed fan unearthed the planning application before we had a chance to announce the plans, it went in sooner than we thought" "Sorry we have a new kit supplier but we haven't got around to announcing it. The deal started sooner than we expected." And why can't we announce Season ticket details now we have crawled to safety and now know what division we're in? Should have been finalised ages ago: "If we're in the Championship prices are X, if we're in League 1 they're Y".

Devil's advocate mode on: Arguably it's a disadvantage if 1) You're scared to upset anybody too much because you want a seat on the Board 2) You can't formulate a strong position on anything because you have to canvas the views of thousands of members first. and 3) You're stymied if the views of those members come back split.

Someone needs to start jumping all over Reg and his ilk every time they start spouting shite. A recent example was his contribution that it was a "minor miracle" we were in the 2nd tier of English football. That needed instantly rubbishing by pointing out we've only spent seven (?) years out of our 146 year history in the third tier. Haven't read that thread so whether someone actually did I don't know. I'd do it myself but for some reason I can't log into the LT site to comment, it never sends me the confirmatory e-mail to register.

I could believe: "We'll let you off this season due to it's one off nature but next season when the schedule is back to normal and there are no extenuating circumstances we expect a genuine challenge for the top 6". I don't believe: "Because you completely messed up last season we'll write off the coming one as well." I think Sharpe is making stuff up to fit the ludicrous narrative Mowbray has been peddling in recent weeks. The next few weeks will tell I suppose. If you're right it doesn't bear thinking about.

Not wanting to shoot the messenger but if true that would be absolutely insane. Who gives an employee at work lower standards and expectations because they've already made a colossal mess of things? That would be bizarre and erratic even by Venky's previous standards. Not sure if I believe any of that at all.

For himself and his mates.......not for the Club.

Ouch!, bit harsh, how often do I post what you could class "inside information?" Furthermore I am not "an ITK" nor have I ever claimed to be. Bit of an odd one this, I still haven't given up all hope that something will happen this month but as Paul Mani says the longer it goes on the less likely it is it will happen. It does seem though that at least three different people heard basically the same thing from three separate and seemingly entirely credible sources. What are the chances of that if there was nothing in it in the first place? It would be entirely typical of the confused decision making at the Club that the Rovers Trust highlighted if a certain course of action had been decided on and then the Coventrio had managed to talk their way out of it on the basis of results in a couple of dead rubbers. Irrespective of all of the above, even if there was never anything in it, (which I don't agree with) tomorrow is always another day and that doesn't preclude a change of heart if a particular point of view or set of facts suddenly resonates with the owners. So I won't be letting up with efforts to see off the Coventrio.

I don't think it was Mike, never mentioned by Waggott. Plus, maybe more tellingly, it was exactly the same modus operandi at Coventry. Reasonably detailed plans for a housing development and promises of a new training ground but absolutely no detail thereof. In fact at Coventry they didn't even have a site to build a new training ground on which was the reason why Sport England blocked it. I think I'm correct in saying they then tried to wangle it through for a second time by acquiring an OPTION to purchase some land as opposed to the land itself but were blocked for a second time by Sport England.

I respectfully disagree. Whilst he may not mention being away from his family every week, his overall demeanour is that of someone who finds managing the Club an absolute chore. When we started playing again after the first lockdown he made it pretty obvious he thought we shouldn't be playing at all and that therefore he wanted paying for doing nothing. At that time when the season started we were in an outside chance of the play offs but tailed off dramatically. Unsurprising given the manager's lack of enthusiasm. This season he has mentioned being away from his family on several occasions. I don't want him to do anything now as I want him gone but the solution would have been either for him to move them down here or resign. I can't imagine he needs the money and family comes first at the end of the day. There will be numerous managers out there who would consider managing this Club to be an absolute privilege and who wouldn't talk the Club down at every possible opportunity.

As at mid April the understanding was that he was leaving, no two ways about it, but not until the end of the season. I personally thought that was one of the main reasons why we were in the midst of a death spiral of one win in 14 at the time and the players were performing so badly. They weren't responding to him because they knew he was a dead man walking. (At that point)

Thanks for that reply, a far more informative and well thought out response than the open letter itself. Thank you also for your kind remarks about the Brockhall letter. I have to say though that if that is the way you have to operate you should have waited and canvassed your members views well in advance before penning a far more forthright letter for the owners' consideration. I suspect though there's a reason you didn't want to wait which has nothing to do with the Club or strictly footballing matters.

Exactly Stuart, people are trying to trivialise criticism of the letter by making out critics are being pedantic about minor grammatical errors. "Poorly thought out plans to redevelop Brockhall" etc - that kind of implies that if the plans had been slightly better thought out they'd have been in favour. And as you say to squeeze it in between the pandemic and the European Super League as an issue makes no sense at all. The three things have no correlation whatsoever and it completely trivialised Brockhall as an issue. The main problem with the letter though is that it doesn't have any overall point or message. I want the RoversTrust to stand up for OUR Club. I couldn't care less where they stand on issues affecting the National game or what National groups they are affiliated to if I'm being honest.

Exactly. If the pitch were that much of a deal to him he would have insisted it was done from scratch.

My own personal view is that the next three or four weeks are absolutely pivotal to the future of the Club. I don't think we survive another summer and season of Mowbray, Waggott and Venus and may never ever come back from it. If the owners or their representatives are reading this then you still have it in your power to change the Club's future for the better but time is running short, certainly in respect to next season.