That was then and this is now. How much have they put in over the last couple of years as opposed to monies brought in.?

I bet it isn't the owners telling Waggott to put deals at risk and cut corners by haggling over a couple of hundred thousand Euros or so.

You wouldn't put it past them. His "replacement" is already in the building and is clearly far worse so it's just the sort of bat shit crazy move they'd make just in case our chances haven't been destabilised enough already.

That's the top and bottom of it. Our recruitment SHOULD centre around identifying which players we think would really improve the team or squad roughly within our budget and go out and get them. Pay a little bit extra if necessary if we think he's the right one. Instead the search seems to centre around not going beyond a certain price rather than the specific suitability of the player for us, as a result of which we always miss out on our initial targets and nearly always end up on our C or D list (at best) towards the end of the window. And even then we never seem willing to pay the asking price which more often than not leads to a Mexican standoff and us missing out leaving us in last chance saloon scatting about for anyone left on loan in the last day or two. Been going on for years but particularly noticeable this window given our dire need to recruit at the start of the .month and the fact any funding shouldn't have been a problem in light of the recent sales.

Why would anything be close? We haven't matched the asking price.

Yeah, was going to say you can bring a keeper in an emergency anyhow can't you?

I think you're letting your imagination run away with you a bit, I can't see any possible advantage to "John" arising out of that scenario.

As was Toth on Wednesday but plenty of posters tried to absolve him of blame for that as well.

He already has last summer according to Paul Mani. Very much hoping Eustace doesn't walk out or get another job because that puts us one step away from oblivion imo but IF he did, surely not even Waggott or the LT would be able to put a positive or even normal spin on two highly regarded coaches walking out in 12 months.

Still not following you. Are you alleging they're borrowing money to get their hands on liquid cash and then simply not bothering to repay it or are not somehow meeting the conditions of any loans? They attracted the attention of the Authorities for using Rovers holding Company to purchase non Rovers related things. Something completely different.

Grabbi was terrible, we got absolutely shafted on that one. Someone I know visited Ternana and said you could more or less have bought the entire town for £7m, let alone the Club, let alone Grabbi. Allegedly Souness asked for the top scorer in whatever Division they were playing in at the time and thought he was getting a centre forward.

Not sure what point you think I was trying to make but I never said any different? I was railing against the suggestion he's not entitled to feel hard done by because he knew or should have known what they were like in the past.

You'd have thought so. Unless Levy doesn't want to pay him off.

Might be missing the point but even if thats true,why would you want to 'launder' legitimate SBI funds?

I was in full agreement until the bit about Gallagher!

Not sure about that really, anyhow the current head coach is more interested in Championship experience and less interested in developing players for show and future value than the last one so there's a complete difference in emphasis there.

Imo The coach and DOF model might have worked had we appointed a half decent DOF. Unfortunately we appointed a great coach but an absolute duck egg in Broughton who wasted most of the limited money we had and who was instrumental in a couple of monumental deadline day fuck ups. Had we appointed an experienced DOF with a good eye for a player alongside JDT it might just have got us over the line despite the relative lack of backing. As we seem to have bizarrely changed tack completely and swiftly abandoned the model we might never know if it will work here or not.

Trouble is, and very sadly given the timing of the Anniversary, any initiatives like these or flags or the Fans Forum or Rovers Trust even agreeing to sit down with the Club on an amicable basis, legitimise the current actions of the owners, Waggott and Pasha. Fiddling while Rome burns.

He might have known there was a chance that the same thing might happen but if you're told something different upon your appointment and then obviously again in advance of the January transfer window then to an extent you're entitled to rely on it. What happened before he got to the Club is indicative of what might happen but largely irrelevant. He can only judge it on how he himself is treated. I'm sick of this "He knew what he was getting into before he came" narrative.

Have checked and it appears so.

Tbf and Graham and the midfielder who everyone initially rated and raved about whose name escapes me.

It seemed to me that Lambert came in with a very lofty reputation but was a very poor man manager. All went swimmingly for the first five games, after that he seemed to lose the players and it was all downhill after that. From his point of view I think he viewed it purely as a short term stepping stone, if he got us promoted all well and good, looks like a genius, if he didn't, doesn't really affect his reputation and he can quickly switch to another Club rather than having to apply for jobs from a position of having been out of work for a while. I don't doubt he may have been brought in as someone with gravitas to cushion the blow of a Rhodes sale but I doubt he gave two shiny shites about whether any of the money was reinvested or not. Incidentally I was told at the time that Lambert never met or even spoke to the owners, all negotiations etc were handed by Suhail. I thought at the time it was a one off brainwave of his to try and bring in a higher profile manager to try and achieve promotion but knowing what we know know it tends to confirm he's always been the power behind the scenes.

They both need both barrels but agreed.

Yep upon leaving. Didn't want to earn a reputation within the game as a troublemaker I guess.

Yes but by refusing to say anything out of turn in his main job he's perpetuating the myth that all is well to the wider world at large and the majority of the Rovers fan base who either can't be bothered or simply don't want to poke slightly below the surface. Obviously I know why that's the case and on one level you can't blame him but it's really unhelpful.