Venky’s and all their waste of space appointments reaping what they sowed.

Bringing in a head of recruitment and failing to recruit any players this window would be absolutely typical of the current incarnation of Blackburn Rovers.

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A lot of centre halves!

Sounds like three kits to me

Of course we don’t need a third kit to prevent any clashes. However, I expect that having a third kit will be seen as an ideal opportunity to squeeze a few more quid out of our dwindling supporter base.

Although we seem to be struggling to get one out, I bet we have a third kit this year.

Clean lines and even stripes and that could’ve been good. Looks like they’ve gone for the confused barcode look though.

What is the role of a director of football? I think it probably differs massively from club to club. When we tried it for 5 minutes with Kenny he did nothing but cast a shadow. Another notably terrible example is Dennis Wise at Newcastle. The set up will only work where clubs are really geared up for it. Historically and culturally in English Football teams employ managers to head up coaching and “football operations”. Whatever titles are bestowed on people, generally in English football the manager is ultimately responsible for all of it. I doubt very much that John Park will be a director. In fact I guarantee he won’t be. We already have a CEO who is a frustrated failed agent who is more bothered about getting involved in player (and property) deals than ensuring the efficient running of the club, and setting ticket prices isn’t even in his remit. It seems to me there is just a lot of obsessing over titles, and the DoF one seems to get people particularly excited. I can’t see many managers of English clubs being happy with players being brought in without them having the final word, let alone not having any day in the matter. That said, I’m sure our lot would put up with whatever the Rao’s decide. I suppose it’s just another way of people getting away with being slopey shouldered. How long before we hear the usual defenders spouting “It’s not Mowbray’s fault X player is crap, John Park signed him!”, when in reality his job is scouting.

I know the idea of a director of football is in vogue at the minute, but nobody in England seems to know exactly what they are and what to do with them. Head of recruitment I think is just a fancy title, the 2021 version of chief scout.

So the rumblings of disagreements on players between Mowbray and the the recruitment team should be a thing of the past… Less Harwood-Bellises and More Ayalas to look forward to.

Sorry about this… Unsure if there were maybe some issues with the platform, but it seems to be working now. https://roversradio.airtime.pro/# Choose “Podcast” from the menu, you can either play directly from there (which can take a few seconds to kick in) or download.

Sorry if you didn’t like it. Perhaps I got a bit carried away, but there is a serious point in there about how our convoluted decision making processes and unclear remits aren’t really conducive to effective transfer business. I think 168 pages with nothing more concrete than a couple of Nixon stories attests to this.

I do wonder what the process is when a bid comes in for one of our players. I imagine it’s something like this… Waggott takes the call and fields the initial bid. Southampton want Armstrong for £15 million. He then gathers the brain trust of Mowbray, Venus, Cheston and himself. Venus talks about potential replacements and the building work he can do on their house, Mowbray talks about the holes in their trousers, Waggott talks about a player they had at Coventry, and Cheston mumbles that he’s not telling them about the finances as it’s a secret. After they’ve eventually come to a majority decision, Waggott goes off to look for Suhail. If he’s lucky he’s somewhere in the Lancashire area. He relays the bid and their thoughts and Suhail tells him to expect a response from Venky’s within 10-14 days. Southampton are ringing every day, but Waggott is ghosting them. It’s only been a week, and Venky’s are busy people so he doesn’t want to bother Suhail or them. They’ll just have to be patient. Three weeks after the initial phone call Suhail has his answer. Venky’s are holding out for £47 million. Their trusted advisors have told them that’s he’s worth 30, but Balaji has been doing some research and he thinks that’s about right. Waggott tells Southampton they can’t accept such a low bid, but his football manager playing instincts kick in and he mentions they may be receptive to a part exchange. Southampton counter, so it’s time to assemble the brain trust again. Mowbray checks the list of players to see if any of them have played for Middlesbrough or at least been on holiday to Redcar, Venus brings up football manager to see if they can play in any other positions, Waggott counts the letters in all the surnames to calculate the projected extra income from shirt printing each player will bring, before providing Suhail with their counter proposal. By the time Venky’s respond via Suhail, there’s 6 hours left of the transfer window. Southampton’s interest has cooled. In 3 and a half hours Waggott will be delegated the power to “just get some cash in” and accept any bid he deems acceptable. Armstrong goes for £6 million, rising to £8 if he wins the Ballon D’or.

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Probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve pretty much always been in the Riverside, but I think it’s so much better in there. I prefer the side on view and the vantage point you get towards the back. I’m used to the pillars which really aren’t a big deal, I like walking along the front as I go in the ground, I like the seats better. I don’t think cost is the main driver behind why people sit there, but I do think Waggott is banking on your predictions being correct though as he is desperate to shut it down.

It’s unbelievable that people are trying to use this as evidence of us being well run. We are well funded because we have to be… because we continue to be run absolutely terribly. Another thing, how much longer can people continue to absolve Venky’s of all blame and pile it all on that wanker Anderson. He’s been out of the picture for at least 9 years. Apparently. Whats the tipping point? Half a billion? We are steadily heading towards that. They’ve wasted more than the GDP of some small countries already. Something simply has to change quickly, but nothing ever does.

It’s what I was told at the time, but not from the man himself… may be speculation on the part of people within the club though, as by all accounts he wasn’t around much or very active. To be honest, @arbitro’s explanation of the wage deferral makes a lot more sense.

I expect this “wage cut” was due to the fact he was on furlough from the time it was introduced until the season restarted

The worrying thing is this scenario is far more likely than them actually employing a good manager.

The amount we get from any Armstrong sale will effectively be the price they put on our Championship survival, cos I can’t see us staying up if/when he leaves.

Based on how slow we are with absolutely everything, I wonder if it’s the same with offers for our players. I have it on good authority that a Prem club have a bid in for one of our players - not one that has been linked with a move. I imagine bids just sit their unanswered at Ewood due to stupidly convoluted communication and decision making processes.

Waggott and Mowbray rightfully coming in for a lot of stick here, but let’s not forget we also have a finance director! Cheston would be the one responsible for submitting the accounts. He’s got previous for steering us into an embargo and seems completely incapable of doing anything to prevent us bleeding money at the alarming and consistent rate we have done for the past decade. And that’s before we get on to the whole Coyle being the outstanding candidate debacle.