Miller11

Offer them better terms that they might agree to in a timely manner. If they don’t, sell them.

Until spokespeople for the club stop banging on about a project that is based around actually getting fees for our players, no, we can’t.

The two caveats being Ryan Nyambe and the half time pies.

That’s a lot of pieces to fall into place in less than 2 weeks. The longer everything drags on, the more likely a couple of last day uninspiring loans becomes.

Nobody at the club gives the remotest shit about supporters having meltdowns. They shrug off protest, planes, banners, music concerts, pitch invasions… I doubt fan reaction played any factor.

The Rovers Trust have a meeting with Waggott and members of the marketing team in the next few weeks. I’m on it.

I had a spell under Bowyer where I just walked away from it all. Barely paid attention to the results on a Saturday, I wasn’t enjoying games and felt totally detached. The only emotion was sadness at what Rovers had become and it was contributing to the difficult times I was having with my mental health. At that point it was fairly easy to switch off from everything, I walked out at half time one game and gave my season ticket to my Dad. I got interested again when I got angry again. The Lambert/Coyle fiasco did it. It reignited the passion, in a different way though. I’ve enjoyed very little about Rovers over the last 12 years, but I still care and desperately want things to get better, to get that enjoyment back. The other big factor for me is my nephew. I always go to games with my brother, and his son who is nearly 6 is absolutely football mad. He knows every fixture and result, will watch any game that’s on, and always wants to be playing. His Mum’s side are all big Burnley fans and season ticket holders. Amazingly he hasn’t sacked it off and decided to support City, he will tell you he supports Rovers and Burnley, and he does. He became quite famous amongst the staff at the National Football museum for this stance when I took him on a trip there. My brother and our side of the family have it much tougher. Burnley are an undeniably better team and have been since he was born. They also spanked us 3-0 in the first Derby he witnessed. His Christmas list was made up of a Rovers kit, a Burnley kit, and premier league cards… luckily my brother did his shopping early. He’s attended fairly regularly at both Ewood and Turf moor since last Christmas but this season has been asking if he could go to an away game. His first one was Burnley’s league cup game at Old Trafford. Obviously we couldn’t compete with going to a ground like that, but we thought Rotherham would be a good day out and a good chance for 3 points… He’s still convinced we will finish second (to Burnley, obviously). I’ve tried to temper his expectations a bit, but he’s just excited about the prospect of a trip to Wembley and a win in the playoffs. I really hope we can keep him interested once the optimism of youth wears off a bit. We’ll be up against it again next year with them back in the Premier League. The reversal of fortunes of the two clubs would’ve been unthinkable prior to Venky’s. That anger that brought me back still burns, and I’ve told Steve Waggott on several occasions that the angry ones are the people they need to attempt to re-engage with - they still care. If the anger gives way to apathy it’s a tough road back.

The whole “year option in our favour” has been an absolute disaster for us. All it’s done is encourage us to be complacent and penny pinching in our negotiations, not that the powers that be need any encouragement in that front. It’s not conducive to long term planning either. Timing has worked against us to a degree, but there is never any urgency. 2 years ago Brereton would’ve jumped at a 4 year extension on the same terms he was on. All of a sudden he is able to command ten times that. There was no way he was signing a new deal with us, but we opt to keep him round on a wage well below what he could expect elsewhere. While he’s shown no visible signs of resentment it must be at least mildly frustrating. The only way we salvage anything from this is getting a playoff spot - and that’s only a bit of face saving for us fans unless we go up.

Rumour has it that India’s far right prime minister Modi is putting pressure on them to stop pissing away hundreds of millions on their English football team. Might help bring this purgatory to an end.

I think he will be pretty unique in that he’ll be a cult hero with the fans, but a £7 million loss and nothing to show for it he will have to go down as one of our worst ever signings.

We’ve significantly reduced those figures. That wage bill includes what we were paying Bell, Bennett, Evans, Downing, Holtby, Mulgrew, Armstrong, Nyambe, Lenihan, Rothwell, Johnson, Chapman, Stergiakis, Fisher, Davenport, and a load of youth players. The back fill has been done with a few signings on way lower salaries and the promotion of youth players. We’ve reduced the squad size significantly too. Our wage to turnover ratio is now on a downward curve.

Warhurst was a bit of a one off. Before we signed him he has a crazy goal scoring run as a striker and got called up to the England squad off the back of it. Proper utility player.

A couple of million would go a long way with players on that list. Loads of players there would immediately improve our first team. Sadly “the project” is more important.

Exactly what we need at the moment, unfortunately I can’t see it happening. If he goes to Watford maybe they can send Choudhury back to Leicester, who in turn can loan him to Rovers by way of an apology for inflicting Hirst on us.

Me too. They have done a bit of business already and certainly aren’t hanging around. It still seems too early for us to pull our finger out on any signings unfortunately.

Looks as though there is something in the Gelhardt talk. Looks great on YouTube videos - don’t they all! But he does appear to be very technically proficient. His goal scoring stats don’t make for great reading, but I’m presuming a lot of his appearances are going to have come off the bench, plus no team is going to loan out a player who is scoring regularly. Hopeful optimism rather than hysteria, although the fact other clubs appear to be in for him puts us at a disadvantage… we always dither.

Because we will lose our most effective player and only source of regular goals. This entire “project” is based around the idea of selling our best players as soon as they start to peak. If it happens as they intend it’ll be reset after reset. Obviously selling our better players is better than losing them for nothing, but it’s hardly a blueprint for being successful on the pitch.

Let’s look at Venky’s master plan so far shall we… “We plan to focus on leveraging the global influence in establishing Blackburn Rovers as a truly global brand," - complete failure. The only thing global has been our embarrassment. "We will absolutely respect the Jack Walker legacy and will be actively supporting the organisation to ensure that Blackburn Rovers remain one of the best-run clubs within the Premier League." - Continue to piss all over his legacy. Turned us into one of of the worst run clubs in premier league history within a matter of weeks. “We will make £5 million available to Sam Allardyce for transfers in January. We won’t need to buy expensive players, we can always lease them. We don’t expect to be in the top 5 of the premier league. We will be happy to be in the top 10 or 12.” - Sacked Allardyce before well before then. Millions went on agents fees rather than transfer fees. “Leasing” was accurate. No need to comment on the league position. "Initially there will be 5 million pounds put in straightaway to buy players but of course if we have to do more then we will. There will then be much more investment and we have devised a spending strategy already for the next three years that will see the manager given significant funds to buy players," - Obviously Rochina and Formica were already earmarked, hence the 5 million. That last 3 year plan went well didn’t it? "I am not promising that we will be a top four team but I can promise we will try. And that is what we will aim for. We are committed to improving the performance of the team and when the situation is right there will be investment," - How much stock can anyone with a functioning mind put in their promises and assurances? All utter bollocks. "There is a new generation of boys aged between 10 and 17 in India that are football mad but lots of them support Chelsea. I believe at this time we can make the market for football in India grow. Having Indian owners in EPL will create a lot of interest and I think we can try to create a whole nation of Blackburn Rovers fans," - Not sure how that nation is coming along, but they’ve turned off local supporters in their droves. "The takeover has made the front pages of all of the newspapers (in India). That shows the interest that is there. My dream is to make Blackburn Rovers an even bigger brand in India than Venky's," - seem to only want to distance themselves now. "We will be taking a very hands-on role in the way that the club is run because we are passionate about making this a big success. My brothers will be very much involved in the running of the club. I will be coming over soon with my family. - turned up a few times acting like royalty. Haven’t been seen in years though. Should be ashamed to show their faces but are too arrogant to feel any guilt. "Please tell the fans that we are totally committed to them and to the club. We are fully committed to Blackburn Rovers. This is not just another investment to us. We are fully committed to the success of the club. That is how my family is with every venture we take on," - Bollocks. So yeah, I’m not holding out too much hope for any of their plans coming to fruition.

We are a small town club who happen to be about the tenth most successful club ever in English football. And we were regularly getting in the playoffs before Jack put his money in - something we’ve never managed under these cretins. Our bad crowds are a result of 12 years of terrible ownership. Jack didn’t just “buy us history” - really disrespectful to him and all that went before him that, by the way - he put us on a really good footing. He built they academy we are now so reliant on for starters. He also allowed us to be a sustainable Premier League team for a decade after he passed away. They don’t spend all they can at all. They can’t even be arsed keeping the stadium in good order. They aren’t interested enough to sack underperforming employees, and despite being completely disinterested it appears they also interfere on footballing matters which they don’t have the first clue about.

If we do get promoted it will be in spite of the owners, not because of any “plan” they have come up with. We need to try and capitalise on fortuitous positions we find ourselves in, it was ballsed up last year, looks like it will be again. We shouldn’t just shrug our shoulders and say “project” when our chances of success are pissed away before our eyes.

It didn’t take them long to destroy a sustainable premier league club. I wouldn’t get too excited about any supposed plans they have to achieve it again over a decade later. I’d be amazed if there is anything resembling a plan. It’s just empty words. I’d be astounded if those words had originated from any of those three morons in Pune.

What could possibly go wrong with that eh?

Absolutely we do, but the worry is he’d be played on the wing or instructed to come short all the time. Our squad is nowhere near as bad as people are making out in the aftermath of another shambolic defeat. The big problem remains that they are all being asked to do things they are bad at and to ignore the things they want to instinctively. The system is far more of an issue than the personnel. Kaminski sees the ball at his feet far too often. Ayala and Hyam saw more of the ball than anyone again yesterday, picking up goal kicks in our box and passing it about when they are both much better suited to heading the ball away and smashing clearances down the park. All our midfielders are expected to play intricate little one and two touch stuff around the opposition midfield. The fullbacks are now expected to come inside and get involved in the pointless midfield tippy tappy crap. Forwards must only enter the box after the ball does, primarily with their back to goal, they also appear to be under instruction to only shoot as a last resort. Dolan and Markanday have been told to stop dribbling and pass it backwards to the centre backs. Dack may be stood in the right spot, but he has to come so deep to get on the ball, yet still there’s rarely anyone in front of him. Brereton is the one exception as the only player whose strengths we play to.

We could have Wilcox and Ripley in their prime but they’d be useless with how we play currently. There is absolutely no point in crossing the ball when there is nobody in the box. The only crosses that will ever happen on the training ground will be corners. Our forwards have a tendency to run towards the ball rather than towards the goal because crossing isn’t on the agenda. The only thing this system needs is throwing in the bin.

The big flaw in the project is the current transfer market, and it’s not going to change any time soon. Every footballer now basically has a set value based on their technical ability - there might as well be a big book or spreadsheet with their value next to a name. And it’s all based around how well they can do the tippy tappy shite we are trying and failing to implement. Bidding wars are a thing of the past, players aren’t valued on how effective they are, their stats on scouting databases are what matters. And it’s one extreme or the other - they are generally massively overpriced or have next to no or no value. Nobody will pay a decent fee for Brereton despite him being good for 20 goals because he is clumsy and far from technically good. It’s why we got a good offer for Rothwell 12 months ago, despite him being largely ineffective for huge periods of his Rovers career. It’s why Nyambe was worthless in terms of a fee. Of our current prospects - Travis, Garrett, S. Wharton, Vale, JRC, Carter - none will command anything over a nominal fee. Buckley, A. Wharton, Phillips, Dolan, Markanday all will to varying degrees. With this idea of “adding value” we are trying to make too many players into something they are not, and never will be. We could pick up some really useful players on the cheap that would immediately improve our starting 11, but that doesn’t fit the project.