I like him already based on that. Talking us up, and focusing on winning. What a refreshing change!

Much better appointment than I expected. The HSH hoodoo is broken! Optimistic at the moment. With adequate backing and autonomy this could be exciting!

Someone did that last week. According to Wikipedia he’s our 4th manager this month. They never learn!

I’ll be back to normal by the time we announce Tony Pulis a week on Thursday!

Don’t tell people off on here who haven’t renewed their season tickets for whatever reason. The fact they are still coming on BRFCS and getting angry shows they still give a toss. It’s much more productive having a word with someone you know who has totally disengaged. I’m sure we all know people who fall into that bracket. These are the people it’s really difficult to get back. Maybe it’s the comparatively high single ticket prices compared to a season ticket, maybe they realise they don’t miss it that much, but when people say they are giving up their season tickets and they will pick and choose their games, they generally just stop going. My Dad is a prime example of this. Despite hitting pensioner age last season he’d had enough. The only games he went to were 4 on my ticket I couldn’t attend due to a holiday, work commitments and Covid, plus one tenner deal around Christmas. It’d have been zero if I’d been able to make them all and it hadn’t been his Grandson’s first ever game. Whingeing at someone you only know from a messageboard will only get their back up. Have a chat with someone you know on a personal level, see what is keeping them from coming back - if you want to let me know I’ll report it on to the club as part of some ongoing work I’m doing with the Trust. I’ve heard from fans who’ve given up Rovers for golf, caravans, fishing, sessions in the pub. Many of these wouldn’t have a clue what our first 11 looks like anymore… people who have clocked up thousands of miles over years and years have stopped caring. Trying to get them to care again would be really useful, criticising and sermonising to people on here does no good at all.

Are you really reading that post as a glowing endorsement of Steve Waggott? Re-read that first paragraph objectively. I completely share your opinions on the failings and have voiced similar (although I think the Brockhall scheme was a lot more nuanced than you do). Where we disagree though is the idea that simply replacing Waggott would bring about any sort of meaningful change. He’s kept his job longer than any other person they have appointed in a similar position because he doubtless knows which side his bread is buttered. While we aren’t happy with him, Venky’s clearly are.

As a point of clarity on my earlier post, I should have used google… The comments I attributed to a Matketing Employee were actually from our Head of Commercial, Paul Fielder, who is still in situ.

Definitely had a hand in it, but any suggestion he was trying to do it without Venky’s knowledge, as has been suggested, is ludicrous.

@1864roverite here’s my thoughts following my interactions with those at the club. Despite some ill tempered run ins in the past, I find Steve Waggott is approachable and attentive. He asks the right questions and seems to want to improve things. Whether his hands are tied, or he’s just giving lip service, the improvements don’t come and very little materialises. He clearly has very specific financial targets. Making minimal savings seem to be far more of a priority than league position, commercial growth, or fan engagement. It’s pennywise, pound foolish, just like our wage structure… more on that later. A prime example is our differing views on the catering at Ewood. To me, Sodexo offer crap service and crap products, I’d like to see a much more imaginative offering. To him it’s cost effective and easy to tender it out, he sees the long term deal with them as good business. In my opinion, Waggott spreads himself too thin. He seems to spend more time at his Brockhall office than his Ewood office. Maybe he likes the whole back and forth with agents better than the day to day running of operations. Perhaps this will be remedied somewhat by the appointment of Broughton, but that leads us on to another issue… I’ve long since thought the structure at the club is an absolute mess. It’s completely convoluted and unclear. We do know that Venky’s have the final say, and I strongly suspect they are micro-managing via Pasha. This leads to things being done at a glacial pace, or not at all. Mowbray’s parting comments all but confirmed this. As soon as he is no longer interested in self preservation, we got the truth of the matter. He was desperate to tell us Waggott has no real power, rather than banging on about Venky’s being knowledgeable, humble and supportive. The club have finally started to make strides in engaging with the local Asian community. It’s long overdue and the efforts of Yasir have been fantastic. It’s seeing more tangible benefit than I thought it would. Kudos. Enticing new fans and re-engaging with lost ones are two very different things that require very different strategies. Unfortunately they are doing nothing to mitigate the drop off of long-standing fans. I’ve discussed this at great length with people in the club. It’s always acknowledged and I’m asked for solutions, which I’ve made suggestions on. So far nothing has happened. I’ll be interesting to see if there are strides made over the coming months though. Nobody at the club understands the fanbase. We’ve made a real effort to remedy this, from history lessons of 1960 to presentations about lapsed season ticket holders. I’m hopeful this will change, but not at all confident. Here are some things a senior employee in a confusing marketing role told me: - There’s nothing special or unique about Blackburn Rovers - Kids aren’t interested in going to football matches, we’d be better off selling them NFTs - Why should a child or senior ticket be cheaper than an adult one? A seat is a seat. - Pretty soon nobody will go to matches, they will watch interactive things in their phones instead There is little wonder there is such disconnect between the fanbase and club! Onto our current situation… the jury is very much out on the managerial appointment. I’ll wait til it has actually played out, because I’ve gone over this in depth. If we get a good appointment, I think it’s props to Waggott. If we get a HSH pick, he needs to resign. In my opinion the process has become so drawn out it’s farcical. I can’t say for sure why that is, but I am not in the least bit surprised it’s happened. All this talk of implementing a vision and long term strategy is trying to run before we are even crawling. Those idiots in Pune get no credit for not liquidating our academy, it’s been a money spinner for them, not an expense… but they are ballsing that up before our very eyes. Our supposed sustainable long term strategy is not working as evidenced by Lenihan and Nyambe going for nothing. Our wage structure is inflexible and nonsensical. We absolutely should have a wage cap, but the current approach is not fit for purpose. The can kicking approach we seem to favour of triggering year options rather than properly negotiating in a timely manner was always going to come back to haunt us. Pennywise, pound foolish again. What I will say is Waggott acknowledged the importance of this appointment and that the club is at a pivotal juncture. How much he can actually influence things though is questionable… and he’s supposed to be our CEO. As out of touch as those on the ground at Ewood undoubtably are, they still have a far better handle than 3 billionaires on a different continent who surround themselves with people who slavishly obey. Venky’s do not delegate effectively, and we remain at the mercy of their whims. They never learn and continue to be “badly advised”. It’s their own fault of course, they generally sack anyone who tells them anything they don’t want to hear. Thats my opening gambit. Happy for you to tell me how and why I’m misguided.

I’ve done this. Several times. I’ve shared a fair bit of the output of those meetings on here. The reality I took away is very far removed from the one you appear to have.

I’m not sure how happy his memories of his time over here can be. He absolutely flopped at Newcastle. The only blot on an otherwise really impressive career. Seem to remember a lot of talk at the time about him struggling to adapt to the English game.

Don’t count your chickens (sorry). Tomasson hasn’t been appointed yet. Rich Sharpe is only reporting that we have finished the interview process, which suggests there is still a long way to go with our dysfunctional setup. Negotiating terms could still be a stumbling block for any appointment, and I’m positive Honeyman and Horner will have a last throw of the dice. Coming up with songs for a new manager has already blown up in some faces. There were people making Farke their profile picture. At least Simon Grayson is out of the running now, but let’s not be getting too giddy until anything is official. I’m now just hoping for someone better than I feared. Underwhelmed is better than apoplectic.

The real deadwood are our disinterested owners

You can’t have kept a straight face while you typed that, surely? Nearly a quarter of a billion in, and counting… and all Venky’s have to show for it is a shit TV advert, a snowball to the head, and irreparable damage to their reputation in the UK.

Well we’d better get used to losing players for nothing as they reach their peak in terms of performance and value then.

Both Johnson and Davenport are now off the wage bill. Both were also on significantly bigger wages than Nyambe and Rothwell. They both contributed sod all last season and could easily be replaced by first year pros coming through the academy on peanuts. If we can’t use those savings in wages to offer good, regular first team players something near the going rate, all the plans and long term visions we heard about yesterday are doomed to fail from the off.

The crackpots on the Lancashire Telegraph comments are excelling themselves with this one! A few gems… - Its good that he’s going because no player should stay at a club too long - Not to worry, we have Annesley - Lenihan is greedy - He’s not a big loss - Not to worry, Gregg B and the as yet unappointed manager will sort it out - It allows Carter to develop - Travis will get less yellow cards - It’s not all doom and gloom, it’s money off the wage bill - The prospect of new signings is interesting - If you are unhappy about this you are negative and need to back the club

So, 2 down, 1 to go.

12 months ago I thought Lenihan had long since peaked, but he really kicked on last season. He definitely suited being part of that back 5 and linked up really well with Nyambe and the other two centre backs. To lose our home grown captain, an international with 250 games for us under his belt to bloody Middlesbrough is pathetic. He can frustrate at times, but we are certainly a better side when he plays. We won’t replace him with a better centre half, and we don’t have a natural replacement as captain either. If he was going to a Prem team, or a team with genuine ambitions of getting there, then fair enough. But we are seeing our careless and shortsighted approach to contract renewals coming back to bite us.

The same Bradley Orr who cited the Magna Carta as his reason for breaching lockdown rules. Claims he tried to be an ethical agent, because he was so principled. Signed a 4 year deal immediately after relegation and got it paid up. The guy is a deluded prick. Plenty of untruths in this story, though I don’t doubt what he says about N’Zonzi and Givet. Happy to acknowledge the toxic bits that suit his agenda, but lots of glossing over going on.

Deila is very much Waggott’s cup of tea. A coach rather than a manager, well versed in the methods UEFA approve of. Would fit Mowbray’s parting wish for a development coach too. I think Waggott’s vision is to continue on the near circular journey Mowbray used to drone on about. Tread water, keep ticking over while only losing a small fortune each year, sell the odd player, league position is an afterthought. Basically a 21st Century Crewe Alexandra, operating at a slightly higher level. I doubt those above him have any vision for the club any more. They’ll just go with whatever chancer or agent charms them most.

I like the way he just casually drops in how he signed a lucrative 4 year deal immediately after we were relegated, as if it’s in anyway normal but also acknowledging it’s completely ludicrous.

We sent a newsletter out to members on Wednesday. It’s also on our website. We met with Steve Waggott last month and have our AGM in three weeks. Would be good to see you there!

The entire debacle is looking ready made for Honeyman, Sheron or Horner to swoop in and drop a massive shit on our doorstep last minute. Either that or Judan Ali finally taking the job he has long been primed for.

I think the snobbery around Ainsworth’s presumed playing style is really unfair. Personally, the last thing I want is somebody continuing Mowbray’s journey, trying to get us playing like a shit tribute to Liverpool, or possession valued above goals, no risks taken, and players trying to be made into something they aren’t. Ainsworth has got more than the sum of its parts out of that Wycombe team for years. Be interesting to see what he could do with some better parts. He might not subscribe to the way football is apparently supposed to be played these days, but I think that’s a good thing. We would need a complete squad overhaul for the long ball game to be an option, so I think there are more reasons to be hopeful than fearful with Ainsworth.