Miller11

I don’t have an exact number, but it’s in the 400’s up by about 25% in the last year. You are absolutely right. We can spike membership with a critical statement at an appropriate time, I’ve seen it happen plenty of times in the past. However that hasn’t been without its issues.

I believe we were making positive steps on points 1 and 3, but obviously a massive spanner has been thrown in the works lately. We have to try. I’m only speaking for myself here and not the board, but in answer to your question… If they are providing additional funding to us, yes. If they expect the club to be entirely self funding, no.

At various points throughout its inception Rovers Trust/We Are The Rovers has taken a completely hostile stance against the owners. From looking to buy some/all of the shares, to backing other potential investors, to calling for them to sell, to shouting Venky’s Out into the void. None of which achieved anything. From a completely personal point of view, I’ve seen loads of instances over the years, Kean days, Coyle days, now, where individuals call for other groups or individuals to protest on their behalf. Lots of people talk about it but won’t “get their hands dirty”. Similarly, we have a lot of people telling us what we ought to be doing who don’t want to commit a tenner a year (not saying you fall into this category by the way). In terms of long term survival of Rovers, or any club, I’d argue that actions such as having your ground declared an ACV, and the soon to be legislation set out in the MOU around giving fans a greater say in the running of their club is pretty key.

We are a membership organisation. For us to take a public stance like that and effectively set back the progress we have made towards aligning with the Fan Led Review and tear up the MOU we worked extremely hard to have implemented, we’d need a very definite mandate from our membership. At present we have no widespread calls from our members to radically alter our approach. If there comes a point our board believe this to be the best course of action we’d have to set the wheels in motion for some sort of consultation with our members. I’m sure there will be some discussion on our future direction pretty soon after August 21st.

To clarify, no we are not. However, that shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of the way the club is being run. Nor should it be presumed we wouldn’t welcome new owners.

Like I said, triggered by. Looks increasingly like Szmodics and Gallagher are off. One was inevitable, one has been widely called for. What it has done is highlight the threadbare nature of the squad and lack of required quality. The second I get wind of the last bit being true I’ll do everything in my power to expedite their exit. To reiterate, The second they become unwilling or unable to fund us there is nothing positive about their ownership of Rovers. Again, big couple or three weeks coming up. You won’t see a single mention of any marketing prospectus in any of our minutes from the last 12 months. You’ll see a lot of talk about fan engagement and consultation, shadow board formation, regulatory expectations, and calls for clarity and improvement. The scope of our MOU allows us to provide feedback on certain areas, lately it has mostly been around ticket pricing and fan engagement. The fan led review, which we contributed heavily to, outlines a lot of the expectation on clubs to consult with supporters that is already being phased in at EFL level.

No summer holiday for me this year, just having my tea after getting back from Wigan, apologies for the deafening hour silence. To clarify a few things: We have discussed budgets and finances a lot during our MOU meetings. Last time round we were told that Venky’s envisioned no problems in remitting funds when they applied to do so with the ED, albeit under the restrictions (costed and guaranteed). Additionally they were hopeful the requirement for a guarantee would soon be removed and the court issues all resolved. This was followed up with specifics around the wording in the court document where it was reiterated that they believe they could send money over. We were also told that Waggott can only tell us what the owners are telling him. He asks them to send money over when required. when that wasn’t possible he had to make up the shortfall with sales and cost cutting. In my personal opinion, the last 18 months has been about preventing any winding up orders, which has been done successfully, and mitigating fan unrest, which hasn’t. We then asked if any money had been requested from them - we were told it had. We then asked if it had been sent yet, and we were told not yet, but it was expected. Obviously this was some time ago, not sure of levels, or whether it has materialised. We wouldn’t ever be told transfer budgets or any other commercially sensitive or contractually private information. My guess would be that something has occurred in the last week or so as suddenly their appears to be a green light in terms of incomings, to what level remains to be seen. I don’t attend fans forum meetings, but I expect similar discussions were had with them. Presumably the heavy looking activity on here tonight has been triggered by the piss weak lineup we fielded against Wigan? I haven’t read every post. Can’t argue with that, the squad needs major work. Apparently incomings are on the way, and evidently outgoings are too. As a slight aside, I’m not sure everyone on this thread who thinks they are a member are - we can check for you. Also, we are getting calls to take a more confrontational stance, rip up the MOU, cease engagement etc from people who categorically aren’t. We always respond to member emails, we don’t monitor this thread 24/7. We are constantly telling the club that the current situation is not acceptable, and the mass unrest that is permeating the fanbase is being exacerbated by their lack of communication, and obviously their lack of action. We’ve complained loudly that we have been told about projects, and how the likes of Phillips and Wharton were heralded as the future of our club for years to come, and they’ve both been shipped off in their teens and barely a penny spent replacing them. I’m not sure what anyone thinks abusing Steve Waggott would achieve for us. I’ll tell you what us publicly calling for Venky’s to sell the club has done when it’s happened in the past - absolutely nothing. That said, we’ve made it very clear that the one positive thing anyone could possibly say about them as owners over their tenure has been the level of funding. The second they become unwilling or unable to fund us there is nothing positive about their ownership of Rovers. For the moment we need to keep trying to exert influence using the means we have available to us, obviously it’s a pivotal few weeks coming up though.

These are categorically not licensed by either ASICS or Rovers. They will likely also be of very poor quality.

One of the strangest performances I’ve ever seen from an opposition player. He absolutely terrorised us that day, but his finishing was woeful. If he’d banged in 10 goals last season he’d no doubt be getting a move to the Premier League considering his physical profile, the fact he’s only 21 and a full international.

Just heard Southgate saying our ball retention needed to be better. While Adam Wharton never got out of his tracksuit and bib. Definitely time for a change. Anything other than a Spain victory would’ve been scandalous really. Without even taking into account how poor and boring England have been, Spain were by far the best team in the tournament. I particularly enjoyed seeing a side bucking the modern trend and playing some genuinely exciting stuff - I think the standard throughout has been generally really dull. The winning goal tonight was glorious.

It’s definitely something we can look to introduce. We need to find ways to better engage with the membership and this could be an effective way of doing so.

No criticism aimed at you Carl, just making the point that if people want the Supporters Trust to act in a certain way they need to be a member.

I missed the post(s) that are hidden, but in response to Carl’s quoted above: Josh has made really valid and accurate points regarding space on the board, but it goes even further than that. We are a democratic membership organisation. Anyone who feels WATR should be taking a different approach/implementing ideas raised on this message board - it costs £10 a year to join.

Got to agree, it looks amazing on. Definitely 95 vibes. That shade of blue is it!

Jury is still out. Difficult to judge accurately in all honesty but didn’t stand out either way.

Interesting how we lined up today. 4-4-2 and a 4-1-4-1. It would certainly support Eustace’s comments that he likes out and out wingers… let’s hope we sign some. First half we saw a lot of the ball in wide areas. JRC was drifting in and Dolan cutting in, both fullbacks were getting up and supporting. Brittain saw a lot more of the ball, but Pickering was the more useful of the two with it. Gallagher won a couple of flick ons to nobody in particular. Szmodic made some really good runs in behind but the ball was either missed or too late. Sammy going off injured is a major concern. Second half really demonstrated our frightening lack of depth. I can only think Saadi was thrown in at the last minute as the planned strike partner for Vale was unavailable. Gent was lively and Duru impressive. Buckley streets ahead of the vast majority of players in the pitch. Despite their involvement in the goal I thought Markanday’s decision making remained very poor and Vale looked miles off it. Ref robbed us of a bit of excitement in seeing Tyjon. Ridiculous considering he let their keeper (who made Wahlstedt look as composed as prime Friedel) stay on after a ridiculous challenge near the half way line!

Pretty certain. The ex players speaking out has all stemmed from the Mail article, but most of their complaints appear to be around the way they were treated rather than the amount they were paid. Which articles Carl? Would be good to have this info to discuss. The only one I can see is the Mail one and it doesn’t mention any reduction. Also I haven’t seen any club statement, so rather than being muddied I think it’s just a complete lack of any info.

Asked and answered on dozens of occasions. Its always been “they have no intention of selling” so far.

Plenty to work with there. I’ll keep you posted!

Specifically what questions do people want asking regarding the Women’s team? If anyone wants to post them on here I’ll get them asked and answered. To reiterate again the current budget for the women’s playing squad hasn’t been reduced, it’s been kept at the same level as last season. Obviously some of the comments regarding use of facilities etc are concerning and I’ll make sure those form part of the discussion.

Apologies, I’ve got this wrong. There were concerns that with the restructure last year the Women’s team would be viewed as its own entity and the accounting procedures around it changed. I seemed to have lumped this in with Covid costs being removed from the PSR calculation in my head and notes. As it stands they can still have an add back for any losses for the PSR calculation. @arbitro

I’m not willing to shout “Venky’s Out” into the void any more. They haven’t been moved by 2 really sustained periods of supporter pressure, and if and when they do go it’ll be because of circumstances beyond any of our control. The criticisms coming in from the ex players are a completely different story to the player exodus that happens at semi-pro level, including Rovers Women, every summer. I think I need to be accurate in my criticism of the club for them to pay any attention to it.

I was but I’m not any more… I’ll go back through my meeting notes from when we spoke about p&s

I’m trying to find out exactly when it was, but it was either this year or last, I think. Agree, it’s complete madness! Particularly when in the other hand they are calling for parity… no chance of it getting anywhere near catching up

As posted on another thread… Regarding the ongoing discussions around the Women’s team… I don’t think there has been any reduction to the women’s team budget. It’s exactly the same as it has been for the last 2 years. I do need to clarify this 100% though. **clarified, no reduction** There’s big pressure in the fan led review to improve the focus on the women’s teams, the phrasing mentions parity between Men’s and Women’s teams, hence they playing at Ewood far more regularly last season, and the pressure is on to get them moved over to a full time model. It’s obviously a money losing venture, and to go full time would cost probably £1-2 million per year so that’s a way off at present. The club also now have to include losses of the women’s team in FFP/P&S calculations, previously they were exempt. At present there is a complete reluctance to add another significant expense on to the balance sheet. I’m not sure how big a story the players leaving is. It’s similar to non-league in that there is an exodus of players every year, it’s just the reality of the situation. Saffron Jordan packed it in last year to concentrate on her full time career. Having said that some good ones have moved on, but some of the more profile ones have remained. Several of those who have left have apparently done so as they’ve got the opportunity to go full time.