Miller11

Is he just taking the piss now?

His latest line is telling us to “look at St George’s Park” OK Steve, this is from the “about” section on the FA website... Built in 2012 and set in 330-acres of stunning Staffordshire countryside, St. George's Park is the home of England’s national football teams. With 13 outdoor pitches, including a replica of the Wembley surface, a full-size indoor 3G pitch, a suite of rehabilitation and sports science areas, and an indoor futsal arena, St. George’s Park provides world-class facilities for the England teams ahead of international fixtures. I’d add about another 8 storeys to your proposed training Centre Steve. And I await your proposals detailing how you intend to defy the laws of physics to give us enough pitches with baited breath. The higher ups at Gillingham and Southend got rid of Waggott very quickly from roles where he was supposedly overseeing ground moves (neither of which have come to fruition I might add). Hopefully this will just be another in the long list of his failed redevelopment schemes, and he goes away soon.

Some clarity on the expiring contracts would be nice. Nyambe’s in particular. Do we have an option, and how has it been allowed to get to this stage.

I did forget Coyle. I’m certainly not planning on sitting idly by while Waggott sells of the training ground, but I don’t think a boycott is the right way for so many reasons. It would be extremely poorly received in my opinion. There people who are keen to get back in Ewood after the pandemic won’t be put off by anything. I’d also expect a significant number just to drift away. As I’ve mentioned, plenty of vocal support for Waggott’s hair brained scheme away from this board. I’ve been trying to point out the glaring issues with the proposal on social media and on Rovers Radio. I think the best way that supporters can try and combat it is to work with local Brockhall residents.

If only! The words “state of the art” have got a lot excited. Plenty of fans now happily trotting out rubbish about our facilities being “30 years old”, “tired”, “not fit for purpose”, “outdated”, “behind the times”. In the eyes of many, Venky’s can do no wrong. Apparently, “Their only mistake was trusting the wrong person”. By extension, Waggott is viewed as a savvy operator, doing an excellent job in trying circumstances rather than the disingenuous serial failure who is in way over his head that he is in reality. To be fair to him and Mowbray, they did a great PR job on Friday. There are only 5 people who have had anything to do with Rovers in the last decade who deserve anything other than blind praise in the eyes of these people. Steve Kean, Jerome Anderson, Danny Murphy, Jason Lowe and Paul Lambert. Shebby Singh gets a bit of an eye roll, but that’s it. It’s astonishing.

Link to the plans here

I really don’t think there is any valid reason to stick with Mowbray at this point. Poor, disjointed performances lacking any proper game plan or idea are the rule rather than the exception, and in reality that’s been the case since at least the return from the first lockdown at the back end of last season. We are now regressing rapidly, and with our upcoming fixtures a relegation battle could well be on the cards. There are two main arguments you see in favour of keeping him. By far the most popular is celebrating his limited successes and the stability he has brought. Even if you take all that at face value (which we shouldn’t), how does that equate to him being the right man going forward? The more time goes on, the further in the past these achievements are. Little mention of the present, because it’s shit. Then there’s the whole “Do you trust Venky’s to find anyone better?” No, of course I don’t. I’m unwavering in my criticisms of them. I fully expect them to dip back in to the HSH scrap heap and see who else comes out. I doubt I’ll be overly inspired by who they do choose, but that doesn’t mean someone underperforming at the level Mowbray currently is should stay here indefinitely. It’s odd that many of the people using this argument are the same people who are really critical of anyone who dares suggest Venky’s are anything more than benevolent saviours, duped by the evil Jerome. There’s not even so much an acceptance of mediocrity anymore than an embracing of it. The dumbing down looks to continue for some time to come. On of the main reasons I personally want Mowbray gone is that the serial failure that is Waggott will hopefully piss off too before he flogs swathes of our training ground and drives away any more supporters. I accept we are stuck with Venky’s for the foreseeable, but we shouldn’t ever stop asking questions of them, or demanding better.

Milk the hardcore and make no attempts to reengage or grow the fanbase has been Waggott’s tactic from day one.

I’ve bitten today at “The worst thing we ever did was win the Prem.” Disgusting.

We’ve also got a show today at 1pm https://roversradio.co.uk/listen-live Plenty of talk about Waggott. It was recorded before Mowbray’s Coventry address, which seems to have overtaken “I have a dream” but narrowly trails to “we shall fight on the beaches” in the list of greatest ever speeches... so not as “positive” as some would like. Right, I’m off back to Twitter to argue with people who believe winning the Premier League was the worst thing the club ever did. Honestly.

The below from Rich Sharpe suggests that there is an acceptance of this state of purgatory for a long time to come. Surely the best way to address the day to day costs is to increase revenue into the club. Obviously having a proper crack at promotion would be the best way, but increasing commercial activity would also help... another part of Waggott’s remit he’s completely failed to deliver on.

Let’s not forget his other crackpot scheme... ”Knock the Riverside down so we can build a hotel like we had at Coventry” He’s completely and utterly out of his depth.

Waggott also touched on a grant application for work at the BRIC. Plans were approved by BWDC for floodlit Astro pitches there back in 2015. This will obviously have to be a community facility, but I could see them trying to move the younger academy age groups up there... making a mockery of the all under one roof claim, jeapordising our cat 1 status, and failing to meet the terms on which any grant would be awarded.

Two quotes from Waggott just over a year ago at the last consultation meeting.

2027 when Rovers are training at the new Waggott and Mowbray inspired training ground... ”Steve, you said we’d be maintaining our Category 1 status? What happened? We are now Category 3?” ”We’ve done all that we can.”

For a start it’s got 10 full-size grass pitches, one of which is floodlit, an additional floodlit synthetic pitch, training areas for fitness work and goalkeepers, as well as an exact recreation of the pitch at Goodison Park.

Watched it. No fears allayed. Just talk of “state of the art”, “fully integrated”, “football models” etc. None of the very valid logistical issues addressed. He did say Cat 1 was vital, but it just doesn’t seem in any way plausible after basic scrutiny of the plans. a couple of points worth noting... - Rob Coar has clearly given him a brief history lesson on the Brockhall set up after the disingenuous and dismissive comments last weekend. - He mentioned similar projects he’d been involved in at other clubs... not sure I’d be celebrating my track record if it read like his. - Don’t worry Brockhall residents, there will be a community centre that can also be used as a health and wellness facility... possibly providing the services offered by 21st Solutions LTD eh Steve? Propaganda piece.

Interesting to see the Fans Forum have repeatedly brought up the possibility of having a consultation meeting. We are well overdue one, and the club were behind before the pandemic. Presumably the EFL requirements have been relaxed somewhat, however, there would obviously be appetite for a consultation at the present time. Perhaps a meeting using zoom or teams etc would allow the owners to attend too, as owner engagement is the primary reason for these meetings. Usually they reel out Mowbray to regale us with tales of his youth to eat into 60% of the allotted time. Might not have the usual pacifying effect at the moment.

Some interesting bits about ACVs as well.

https://roversradio.airtime.pro/#

Mine too.

This is good to hear. Probably the best hope we have of it not going ahead.

It’s definite sarcasm... but it’s a scarily accurate parody of the reaction a lot of our fans will voice.

To address a couple of those points Joe... This message board is fairly unique in that it’s members have gone out of their way to set up an account and come here specifically to discuss Rovers. Some of the accounts on Twitter/Facebook who pass comments on Rovers related things won’t be as interested. Reacting in passing, etc. There’s also an age thing. Again, this isn’t a dig, but a number of the fans on Social media mightn’t understand what we mean by Jack Walkers legacy. They’ve only known Venky’s and don’t share the cynicism that many of us have developed. Also, voicing a “negative” opinion on Twitter (I don’t do Facebook, but imagine it’s worse) gets you piled on pretty quickly... so maybe people who frequent this board have similar experiences to the one you have had here when they air their views on social media. I’ll acknowledge I’m one of the most critical and sceptical of our fans towards the owners and the board, and my initial reaction to this news breaking was negative. I’ve spent the last couple of days digging, reading up, and admittedly speculating, and I’ve seen nothing to alter my initial reaction. So I don’t think my pessimism, or the pessimism of the people commenting on this thread is blind. A lot of the optimism I’m seeing though, I think it is. To kind of summarise, I read a tweet today saying “The club literally only exists because of Venky’s”. This person needs to put down their phone, pick up a book, and read about John Lewis and Arthur Constantine (this one is absolutely a dig).