Speedie hat-trick against Newcastle:

Jay McEveley and that clearance:

Thanks for sharing, phili. That is a potentially major development and is something for those who think nobody will be interested in buying Rovers to ponder. Do you have any more details on the Middle Eastern consortium? Not asking for names, just curious as we've had interest from over there in the past. The fact they have responded in typical Venky fashion comes as no surprise. They did the same with the Seneca enquiry. That reminds me. Back in 2011 when the Qataris were trying to buy us, wasn't the story that they were considering selling up until a certain individual had a lengthy phone call with Barry, begging him not to sell? Something has felt off about the whole thing from day one. I'm not sure that even a crazy offer for the club would be enough to see them off. I think the only way they leave is by being forced to do so, either by the Indian Authorities (if they find a reason to) or via administration.

Not even blinking at that signing. A League Two defender for £500k. Sounds about right for the recruitment team down there. As a side note, the Crewe lad has the same agent as: Hedges, Brittain, Bloxham, Gilsenan, Jacob Davenport, Dom Samuel and Shane Duffy.

23. David Speedie

That's how I feel too. We have the history, we have the story. There's an even bigger story in waiting for any ambitious owner who fancies it. To restore the former Premier League champions back as a top flight club, after years of misery under bad owners is appealing in itself. People say it is a mad suggestion, but I have long held the view that there will be somebody out there looking at our Premier League title win and wondering if it can be done again. Not saying that is the type of owner in waiting after Venky's or even that I expect such an aim from new owners. Of course not. Just that we have far more pedigree in the game than even a lot of our own fans believe. The way in which some of our fans have seemingly glossed over our time in the Premier League in order to defend these dickheads who have ripped that status away from us, is disgusting and unfathomable to me! Things like "it is what it is", "who's going to buy us", "this is our level", "badly advised", "forgive and forget" is all as a result of 13 years of Venky abuse and conditioning. Conditioning which has led many (outside of this forum) to believe that we are what we see today and are lucky to have these owners. Absolutely not! It just needs a new owner, with even the slightest bit of ambition, to jolt people out of this daze. There will almost certainly come a point where some of the pro Venky crowd will say "Yeah, they did need to go actually, I'm glad they have", when we are doing well under new owners. That day is coming. We have become that accustomed to this shit show, and many have become numb to it, that a proper owner who wants to go up, will cause excitement levels not seen since the Mark Hughes' days. That's when the pro Venky crowd will wake up and realise that they've been had for the last 15 years (or however long). Do Burnley, Wrexham, Birmingham, Hull and the like have more standing in the game than us? Do they bollocks. If they can attract the owners they have, we can certainly attract better than Venky's. The agents who are trying to protect these bastards are doing a blinding job though, especially when Rovers fans want to hit other Rovers fans who are saying "Venky's out". Absolutely unbelievable.

This has definitely become a thing. It's the product of crafty PR and it is working, because I have experienced fans of other clubs making the lazy assumption that £20m per year = £20m for transfers/wages. They see the headline figure, they vaguely recall the fees for BBD/Gallagher and assume those kind of things have been a regular occurrence. 'What are you complaining about, they put in £20m a year' has become a stock phrase in some quarters. That was certainly the view of a few PNE fans that I know. Until one day, when they were complaining about their ownership, I reversed it on them by saying "why can't you be grateful, they pump in £15m a year?". According to them, Hemmings and Ridsdale aren't interested in promotion and they need a change at the top. 'What about the £15m transfer budget though, what more do you want?' "Eh, what budget?". Yeah. Precisely. They understand our situation now after seeing the state of our transfers, how JDT has been treated, hearing about the Court issue, plus seeing Travis being loaned out etc. That £20m yearly 'investment' isn't as is made out, is it? Obviously, there's a difference between pumping £20m in for transfers and what has been happening here. The PR machine sneakily links that figure to ambition though by way of repetition. We've got agents and a financial expert talking about how their financial support has been "phenomenal". So "phenomenal" that they have lost £200m turning a solid Premier League club into this shell? Yeah. Phenomenal. We saw an article not so long ago in the Daily Mail on how "Venky's have finally got it right" after a decade of chaos. That piece, incredibly, described them as the "saviours of Rovers". Sickening! From the same journo who said it would have been madness for Venky's NOT to have sacked Henning Berg. Hold on, what!? Let that sink in. We also had that fluff piece about how they were putting up a £10m promotion bonus. The hack behind that has, over the past week, been spinning a pro Venky line by suggesting they have money to spend, the only issue being getting it sent over. Aargh, that blasted Court hearing getting in the way of things! Next window, sorry folks, the summer, it's a promise! What better way to feed the ever generous Venky narrative than linking us with a striker for £4m. Hmm, let's look at that. Not having a pot to pee in, little wiggle room on wages, bringing in kids on loan - Versus - the owners have money, just need to get it sent over and you want a striker for £4m. If the latter isn't pro Venky spin, I don't know what is. The reality is they have almost killed this club. They have let players walk for nothing, have ignored two promising January windows by doing sod all and have left JDT a mess to deal with. One signing for over £2m since 2019 is also telling. None of that suits the agenda though. Better to just keep on repeating £20m and let the ignorant do the rest of the work. Oh and yes, I remember that post. Reading that, one could be forgiven for thinking that Mowbray had £100m available to him for transfers over a five year period. Maybe he meant that their 'investment' in covering five years worth of bills etc was wasted on Mowbray, who should have 'rewarded' them with promotion. I'm not sure, but still, the original wording took me by surprise. Them losing £100m during that time and Mowbray not getting promotion are two separate things for me, as he did not blow a £100m budget and fail.

That £20m angle might just be one of the biggest PR jobs done on a fanbase in recent times. Almost certainly agent inspired and agent driven. It's true we are losing that amount, but the way it has been framed and continues to be, has all the hallmarks of a PR stitch up. £20m constantly being repeated to condition fans into believing that: a) These owners have been so generous to us and continue to be so out of the kindness of their hearts. How can you criticise them? (Anybody who does is spoilt, ungrateful, not a real fan, living in the 90s, or worse...remember who planted the latter seed) b) The club would be finished without their money. Who else is going to come in and cover such losses? As if there is no alternative to these tossers. Somebody forgot to send the memo to Hull, Birmingham and others who found better owners and who haven't gone to the wall. Put the club up for sale and let's see who comes forward. Basic logic tells us that half of the Championship would be 'finished' if their owners decided to stop covering their losses. Why is that made into a focus point regarding Rovers and Rovers only? Why aren't other fans in the Championship citing paying the bills as a reason why their owners have to remain in place? Nowhere else in the top two Divisions are owners being lauded for paying the bills. It comes with the territory. £20m or £200m. It should not buy silence. When Hull fans wanted their previous owner out, were they being told "look at how much he has invested, be grateful", in return? I often read the PNE forum and have never seen their fans put forward "but they put in x amount every year" as a defence of their ownership, that is despite their losses being not too far off ours. From what I have seen, there hasn't been one mention of Bury from the PNE fans who are pro Hemmings family. No mention of doing a Bury, no mention of slashing budgets or facing catastrophe, no mention of their owners putting in £12m-15m a year. I wonder why that is? Similar with Norwich fans. I've been watching a fan channel of theirs for years. A lot of their fans want new owners, but nobody has come out with "but look at how much Delia puts in" as a counter. Nah, we're being played. It's almost as though it suits some people to have these owners remain in place here. I don't mean any of our fans when I say that.

We were fortunate to get a point as Huddersfield missed a couple of great chances. We huffed and puffed but never looked like winning it, as we did not create a real chance. What is alarming is how open we look at the back when our attacks break down. It's wild football at times, piling too many forward and not being able to get back in sufficient numbers. I couldn't believe what I was seeing as a Huddersfield forward went rampaging down our left on the counter, free as you like, a completely free run into the box! He was played in on goal but luckily for us, skewed it wide. We look extremely vulnerable to counter attacks. Look at the Huddersfield chance in the first half. One ball puts their striker through just inside the halfway line and he runs clear into our box! Any half decent team in the Championship will take advantage of this bad setup. JDT has to walk, imo. It's just not working out. The whole environment from the top down is wrong. A toxic, aimless, gutless setup. An agents playground, where winning means little. JDT arrived here in the wrong era and under the wrong people. Not his fault on that front. The club is not what he probably remembers it as being from his playing days in England. I don't know if he is reluctant to walk away because he walked away at a previous club. Maybe he doesn't want to gain a reputation for quitting? I wouldn't blame him for walking. It's probably best all round that he does. Well, it's not, because we will still have the same shit owners and yes men in the Boardroom, but something has to give to try and change these poor results.

I have no idea who is meant to be at left back. There's just an empty space there. If Siggy is meant to be covering that area we are asking for trouble.

Massive let off. Huddersfield should have scored. They had acres of space down our left on the break. This doesn't look promising.

I don't think Chrisene has managed to put a cross in yet. Every attempt has hit a Huddersfield defender. Not impressed, but we really can't expect much from such loan signings, imo. Pickering's game is over. Hamstring.

He wasn't going to get to the ball, but their defender was all over him. There's little tempo to our play. The frustrating thing is we are going from side to side across the final third, without having any idea how to break through. Our players are looking to give the ball to Adam Wharton at every opportunity. Huddersfield have that 'one chance, one goal', look about them here so far. They are happy to let us have the ball as we aren't troubling them.

Carter gone off with an injury. Scott Wharton on.

Ending Man Utd's record run of clean sheets:

Could have listened to an hour of that on Rovers. Felt a shame to move on to PNE so quickly. Good to hear the measured thoughts of a professional...and Kevin Gallacher 😁.

I'm not sure what I have said that is wrong. There are only a select few clubs that would result in Wrexham fans scrambling like mad to get a ticket for. You would NOT be scrambling like mad to get a ticket at Bolton, Preston, Wigan, Plymouth, Barnsley, as there is no glamour in those ties. You would not sell out those away ends. Which of the following do you disagree with? Wrexham get drawn away against any of the below: 1) Man Utd at Old Trafford - 9,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 2) Man City at the Etihad - 4,500 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 3) Liverpool at Anfield - 6,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 4) Chelsea at Stamford Bridge - 6,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 5) Arsenal at The Emirates - 7,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 6) Tottenham at the new White Hart Lane - 9,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 7) Newcastle at St. James Park - 6,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 8. Leeds at Elland Road - 5,000 allocation. You sell out in a flash. 9. Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park - 7,000 allocation. 6,800 sold in just over a day. That's a fact. You sell out in a flash. What does that tell you? Are any of the above suggestions wrong, in your view? You're coming in droves to see the former champions, still a respected name in the game, despite the dickheads running the club. Fair play to you, but you will be shocked by how we look today. I'm not knocking Wrexham or your owners. No problem with the netflix doc or your new fans either. Our nightmare with the worst owners in England goes on, but I'm genuinely pleased Wrexham now have ambitious owners and their dark days are a distant memory. We would all love to say that about Rovers, but it might get a lot worse before it gets better for us. Good luck for the rest of the season, apart from at Ewood, of course.

Hey, Rafa! Can we have a couple of your kids on loan? Carving Liverpool apart:

Morten had a throw on him! An excellent assist:

That reads like JDT's subtle way of saying "he's not my signing, guys". Questions need to be put to the Academy man.

It always pleases me to see the minnows looking forward to their big day out at Ewood Park. We see it often with PNE. While it is impressive that Wrexham have sold that many in such a short space of time, would there be such a fanfare and following if they were drawn away at Luton, Plymouth, Barnsley, Burnley and the like? If the Wrexham fans are honest with themselves, they know the answer to that. They have only sold this many because it's Blackburn Rovers they are up against. Only six or seven other clubs in England would cause Wrexham fans to snap up tickets this quick, and they know it. Unfortunately, they are in for a major shock when they see for themselves the damage that has been done by 13 years of Venky's. That doesn't change the truth though regarding their fans: 🎵 Come to see the Rovers, You've only come to see the Rovers, Come to see the Rovers... 🎵

Former Boro and current big club striker. Fantastic. I wonder how he has come on to our radar. Have the scouts recommended him, just like they supposedly recommended Leo and Semir? Somehow, I don't think age is going to be an issue here, as it was with Batth.

Yet this is the same journo who wrote an article last week saying 'Rovers need five more signings this January to make it a perfect window'. Whilst also adding that the return of Hedges, Gallagher and JRC would make the squad much stronger. Talk about spin. What world is he living in, thinking that a club that hasn't got a pot to pee in, with dickhead owners like these, is going to make five such signings? That article is selling positivity based on nothing but dreams and wishful thinking. That's not sensationalist though, oh no, but factual information about a threat of winding up order is? How many times have we heard fans say 'the young lads have a year's more experience under their belts, and we have x, y and z returning from injury, so the squad is actually stronger' when the club has just had a pathetic transfer window? Utter crap that is. Nothing but spin to drum up false positivity. Not from everybody who says that, I should add, but there has certainly been a few plants across social media coming out with that one over the last few years. The twitter sheep will jump on that Jackson article and repeat 'we need five signings, we've already made two, be patient' until they are blue in the face. When those signings don't happen, as is inevitable, it will be a case of: A:'"We've got no money" B: "Why have you got no money?" A:'"Because of the shit fans that don't turn up". Start saying it as it is, Elliot! PR crap does nothing but keep the charade rolling on.

Sutton scores a cracker, followed by chants of "we are top of the League" from the away end. Oh and that orange kit 😁.

It's a case of hoping something crops up during this investigation which forces a change of tack from the Court. Unlikely, but we never know what could happen. It's the only out we have right now, if the Court was to refuse them permission.