Waggy had a wand of a left foot to go with his football intelligence - just a bit of a mystery why he never played for one of the 'big boys'. To think Jim Iley jettisoned him for a washed-up Johnny Aston. Great pity Harrison didn't have Fergie's heart and aggression otherwise he would have been a world beater - what a penalty taker!!! Hope this is not the kiss of death - Iley was an honest lad but totally incompetent (in the Ince / Kean 'class'). Never forgave him for losing Waggy. Nothing would surprise me with our, IMO, shambolic club and management. Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many egos and legends in their own minds.

Good luck Valerien! I wish you well and hope you can miraculously get us to the PL this season. Wouldn't have been my choice - just hope it proves to be an inspired appointment but not holding my breath.

I was challenged about how many folk I'd hired with the strong inference being I knew naff all about recruitment. In response, I merely outlined what I had done with some success. My response was not 'falling over myself boasting about recruitment'. If I had wanted to boast, there are a lot more success stories I could have added.

Really, really really!?!? A journalist told me he even applied for the Plymouth job when Rooney left! Given the journalist who told me, I have little doubt that it is not correct. That's how desperate Eustace seemed to be to get away so you can also forget all the 'closer to family' guff. It can't have been any clearer to Waggott, Gestede and Suhail than if someone had slapped a custard pie in their face that Eustace wanted out. There can can be no excuses for what, IMO, has been an absolutely shambolic process to replace Eustace and you should stop making them.

Dozens across a 40+ years' professional career across industry, commerce and private practice. Yep, I made a handful of mistakes but also appointed a lot of good guys and gals, 3 of whom made it 'big' and are presently directors (2 senior and 1 board) in FTSE 100 companies. And you?

It's quite clear there is much frustration amongst the fan base on the length of time this process is taking. Eustace has been gone for over 2 weeks now (maybe 6 weeks or more in the heads of our exec. management). Astounded by this bit from Jackson's article yesterday: "Rovers interviewed candidates last week before narrowing down their options to a shortlist of around six". So the week opens with a shortlist of 6 - God strewth! Never in my career have I first interviewed in order to get to a shortlist of 6. Just where the feck is the planning both medium and short term (there has to be some sort of contingency planning should you lose your manager/head coach - this is football and it happens regularly). It all smacks, IMO, of a highly incompetent and dysfunctional excecutive management even frightened of their own shadows hence the inability to make a decision. It is a total shambles. Whoever is appointed, I wish them well but sadly, I think it is all going to end in disaster and tears.

Sacked by Watford 354 days ago on 9 March 2024 - if that is not "almost 12 months" then I don't know what is!

Absolutely right. This is a guy who has been out of work for almost 12 months. A 3 year contract is not necessary - 'this is the deal, take it or leave it' should have been our stance. Sadly, IMO, Ewood is a nous free zone where the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

and even Coyle!!!

Not really. You don't like it when folk challenge you - you want it all your own way.

I've offered to meet up in the past with @chaddyroversfor a beer to 'chew the cud' but it's always been a resounding no!

So I take it you would let a 'Dingle' surgeon save your life? Just how hypocritical can you get!? If having a play off place or promotion from this league on your cv is key criteria then we perhaps should give Coyle the gig again as he lives less than 10 minutes from Brockhall and would do the job for less than £600k!

You are lying in a hospital bed and the surgeon who can save your life is a 'Dingle' whose idiosyncrasy is to wear claret and blue scrub caps. Would you allow this Dingle to save your life or would you choose to die?

Totally underwhelmed. As many have posted, Ismael or Wagner, is that really the best we can do? Wagner slightly more palatable than Ismael who is almost as distasteful as Karanka, If these are the 'final two', what does it say about the job criteria and selection process when you have two such contrasting football philosophies and styles - chalk and cheese. It's no surprise - as the common saying goes, pay peanuts and get monkeys. I think either will fail. Both have had their managerial moments but so to did the 'outstanding candidate' Coyle and we know how that ended!!!. Sadly, I think the final nails are now being prepared to hammer into the Rovers' coffin.

So you have changed your stance from first positioning your statement about the salaries as FACT to one where you are positioning your statement as "MY OPINIONS". Totally laughable - you have been called out and found wanting.

I deal in realism and not an agenda where I agree with everything that comes out of Rovers. You don't know what salary Mowbray, JDT and Eustace were on. How can you come out with such nonsense? I told you where I got my figures from and it's not from where you say. You think you can take liberties with people and just trash the facts in order to back up your fallacious arguments. You really Iive a weird life

You are unbelievable. If Rovers declared black was white then you would endorse it. I honestly do not think you have a mind of your own. Firstly, £600k is not a decent salary to offer a head coach when you are sitting in the top six and looking to get into the PL. £600k WILL NOT attract credible candidates with a track record of some success. You are "Not interested in average salary for managers at this level as the parachute clubs will offer bigger salaries". Well you should be interested - how on earth do you think you can snare a suitable candidate if you are so far off the pace with your remuneration package!? What parachute clubs pay is irrelevant - if you want a quality appointment then you pay what you need to and fund it by not handing out ludicrously expensive contacts to players of the ilk of Siggy, Cantwell and Dennis. A manager makes or breaks a club and that is where you should channel your investment. Finally, you say the article I mention is from 4 and a half years ago - I assume the article you are referring to was from East Anglia which stated the average Championship managers' salary was almost £900k!!! Well you are wrong, wrong, wrong! It was an article I read just after THIS season started and was in a non sporting niche publication looking at salaries across a number of vocational fields.

You simply don't get it do you? If you want to rise out of mediocrity you invest in a quality manager/head coach which you will not get for £600k. I have already posted that the average Championship manager's salary was £800k 3 YEARS AGO. What is the point in paying the likes of Siggy, Cantwell and Dennis £18/20k a week (£3millionish per annum) when you are scuttling round to find a manager on relatively a Home Bargains' budget!!! Absolute madness and incompetence.

and therein may lie another problem - what credible manager/head coach with some track record would want to work with Gestede and Owen who clearly are now so influential despite their lack of a credible track record and any evidence of success? Would you work for a muppet? When Brum appointed Rooney, I read a couple of reports stating Rooney would be on £1.5m which dwarfed Eustace's £450k. I would think Eustace would be in the £500k to £600k range with Rovers.

I read a report a few months ago which stated the average salary for a Championship manager/head coach 3 years ago was £800,000! Your manager/head coach makes or breaks a club and when you have underperforming players, or players simply not up to scratch, earning significantly more than the manager/head coach therein lies an issue. In an earlier post, I advocated making a relatively 'stellar' appointment on a 3 month contract for £300k with a £1million promotion bonus in order to try and reach the promised land because let's face it, I think the club is fecked if we don't get up this season. IMO, all the evidence just doubly underlines how useless and incompetent Waggott, Suhail and Gestede are.

Epitomises just why the club is a shambles. Just can't see what Owen has achieved in his career as either a player or coach. In 20 years in a 'coaching' capacity he's had almost as many clubs as in a full golf set - think it tells you all you need to know!!!

You are a naive eternal optimist. I think our club is a complete shambles run by an incompetent executive management, the likes of which I have rarely come across and I've seen some dross! Can you not see this?

What's happened today is no surprise to me. The buck stops with Lowe. Diabolical selections. Think the guy is lucky still to be at the club - always thought he was an uninspirational figure with little about him. He is no Tony Parkes - Tony has forgotten more about football than Lowe ever knew. There is a reason why Eustace seemingly sidelined Lowe. No surprises from the players - IMO, the performance merely confirms - Pears is a liability, there are reasons Brum binned Sanderson, Forshaw should be playing at Pleasington and as for Weimann, Hedges and Dolan, words continue to fail me. Buckley has been half decent recently and Kargbo has shown he is capable of ripping it up, yet don't start! As for Dennis what a waste of a huge wage - one can only assume he's very rusty having played so little football so why the feck sign him~?1 Looks like we are about to spurn another glorious opportunity to get out of this league. Waggott, Pasha, Gestede, I think you are utterly incompetent disgraces and Jack Walker wouldn't have given you the time of day.

Think Karanka would be a disaster for Rovers - there can be few worse appointments we could have made. I think he is a 'disruptor' whose teams don't play good football (think back to his time with Middlesbrough). If the stuff about Karanka celebrating at The Savoy with family and agent is correct then it would be no surprise to me as, IMO, he would be one lucky person to have landed a job like ours given his managerial track record over recent years and subsequent managerial career decline. I bet he can't believe his luck.

Then you must live in a surreal unfettered world!!!!