Just now, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Whilst I 100% believe Mowbray isn't good enough to get us promoted I think he's operating in an almost impossible situation with our owners in regards to transfers. You simply can't ignore them when blaming people for the state of our recruitment.  

IF, and I think it's a big IF, Mowbray is so restricted then, IMO, any manager with integrity and a degree of self respect would walk instead of continuing to take the dollar and, perhaps, mislead the fans.

9 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Looks like Phillips was a load of tosh according to Sharpe......

No surprise there.

Think it tells you all you need to know about the state of Rovers and our manager.

A PERMANENT number one goalkeeper with some experience and proven ability should be our number one priority.  Instead, it seems we are p1ssing about with novices from PL clubs with neither experience nor proven ability at league level.  IMO, absolutely diabolical - full stop. 

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

why would Rovers offer 35 years old anymore than one year deal? 

Marshall would be nothing short of 1 year possible 2 years stop gap. So basically the same as a loan in reality. 

Muric might have grow into the team and got better with times. Who knows. 

Yet again who got excited about him? no one. read what people posted instead of what you want to say or read. All people did was discuss the player and the prospect of signing him. No one got excited over him. 

Yes I suggested a few names including a keeper from Man Utd and Brighton if I remember correctly when a poster suggested we could be loaning a young Premier League keeper. crime of the century there. Yes I discussed the prospect of signing them both like I do with every link. Yes I said don't judge players of other clubs fans comments like you did last summer when Downing and Adarabioyo signed. complaining about both signings! 

Yes Rovers Chat did a YouTube video on possible keepers and I asked Andy Watson from the show did he have the stats for Muric and Iversen. I also asked for O'Hara stats. is that wrong thing to asked him to do?  He and the other person in that show discuss a number of keeper options. I quite like the look of Muller stats from Bundesliga 2 but without seeing him in a live game I couldn't give a proper opinion on him 

 

 

Stop talking sh1te.

Buffon is 40+ and still playing top class football.

So you are saying you would not have offered a 35 year old Buffon more than a one year contract...........................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just now, LDRover said:

Was sat next to a bloke and his missus enjoying a bottle of red this afternoon there and wondered if it was you!!

Sadly, no.

If you think it's me next time then give the guy a nudge and if it is me, I'll buy you a pint!

7 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

But you failed to answer a very simple question. if he wasn't any good why would he been Man City? Plenty to research but if you dont want to fair enough. 

City want to loan him and after our work with Adarabioyo which City would have like I would think they would offer him on good terms similar terms to previous loan of Adarabioyo. 

Young keeper need to be loan out and playing 1st team football. Look at Fisher who is 22 years and barely played any club football at 1st team level even after a few loans. 

Christian Dailly, Ashley Ward, Kevin Davies. Nathan Blake....etc need I say any more!

7 hours ago, LDRover said:

Tolkien trail Merce? See you at The Shireburn later

Not today!

It's a lovely walk though and done many times.

Like the Shireburn very much.  Great ales, good grub and stunning views at the back! 

How depressing this all is.

What a sad state of affairs our club now is.

IMO, if this is slow build and evolution then God help us.

Think Mowbray has really stuffed us with his player trading mismanagement for three and a half years. 

Hope the last person out the building remembers to turn off the lights.

A lovely Sunday afternoon river walk beckons followed by a pint or two and some decent grub.

17 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Will be City's promotion game. I wonder if they'll show all four times that we hit the post!

A surreal match.

If my memory recalls correctly, it could have been curtains for City at half time.

Think City 'destined' to win the game and probably a good job with all the many thousands of lunatic Mancs in the ground that day.

Remember after one City goal, the goal scorer dancing down the touchline from the Darwen End into Joe Royle's outstretched arms - a cringeworthy and sickening sight for Rovers' fans

2 hours ago, Richard Oakley said:

A release clause puts in a lower floor. Unless there's a bidding war, the club is voluntarily putting itself in a worst position.

Generally, I don't think football contracts are worth the paper they are written on!

It's up to the CEO, in conjunction with the manager,  to ensure its set at a fair level for both parties.  At the end of the day, if it's the only way to get a player to sign an extended contract..................

However, worth bearing in mind these clauses, as all contract clauses, can be cancelled providing all parties to the contract agree!

Again, if a club makes an offer for a player below the release clause and the player throws his toys out of the pram...........!!!  Comes back to my first point, not worth the paper they are written on.

37 minutes ago, Richard Oakley said:

VLL had an influx of £33m to deal with the debt owed Barclays.Barclays had instigated liquidation proceedings. I've never seen a figure as low as £10m quoted. The most common figure I've seen quoted is £19m, but it was a private transaction. Venkys took us private from being a publicly quoted company. Samba did go soon after, but we still needed financing.

Not got a clue where you are getting your numbers from.

If you look at the accounts for VLL up to 31 March 2012 following the acquisition, they show an acquisition cost of £21million (which i think is widely recognised and understood) and bank debt of £4.5million (compared to £16.1million in the last football club accounts <June 2010>) prior to acquisition.

Financing for acquisition, reduction in bank debt and ongoing losses (think football club lost £50million in first 30 months under the Raos) came through issued share capital of £39.2million and a Capital contribution Reserve from PH PVT Limited of £12.5million (which was made interest free with no intention to repay) .

5 minutes ago, Richard Oakley said:

There were other banks involved, at onepoint. Each deal is separate and has its own secured collateral. Of course, SBOI may not treat them so. SBOI would appear to have Venkys by the short and curlies.

All our accounting is done at VH Group,so if the SBOI has called in our overdraft,it wouldn't show anywhere else.

Of course it would.

The overdraft is to The Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic Limited.  The borrower would be the first to know! 

28 minutes ago, Richard Oakley said:

The Raos aren't directors of Blackburn Rovers. Irrelevant.  I have dealt with many instances over the years where '3rd parties' have personally guaranteed (and sometimes secured with land / property)  a lender's facility - most recently, where parents guaranteed a substantial loan facility made to their son's company. I expect that the collateral offered the SBOI was the clubs issued share capital as owned by VLL. It probably looked like a very sweet deal at the start.  Would be very surprised if that happened.  If the lender had to rely upon that it would be in the circumstances of distress / insolvency and such 'security' would be pretty much worthless in those circumstances.

2 hours ago, Richard Oakley said:

That's the rumour that has been posted on this board.

@arbitro If the loan/debt is secured against the land, yes. If not, no.I suspect the SBOI would 'get' the club.

If you look at Companies House, you will see there are no charges registered against either The Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic Limited or Venkys London Limited (holding company).

This would indicate that the Raos have provided secured personal guarantees to BOI for Rovers' overdraft facililities.

In the event of an insolvency, BOI will pursue Rovers for recovery of monies Rovers owe to BOI (very bad news for the club).  If that debt can't be recovered then, as is usual practice with personal guarantees (secured or otherwise), the Raos will be asked to honour their guarantees; if they have the liquid assets to do so, then end of story. if they haven't, then BOI will then turn to their secured assets.    

Sad, sad news.

First saw Stuart playing for Blackburn school boys at Griffin Park and a team mate of his then was an Ian Gillibrand who  was attracting a lot of attention from First Division clubs and eventually went to Arsenal.  Remember my dad saying, forget Gillibrand it's that young Metcalfe who has something about him and he was right (Gillibrand faded into relative obscurity and think he ended up at Wigan).

Think he was only 17 when he made his debut for Rovers and he clearly was a very talented lad and never seemed fazed by anything.

I remember some big, big battles he had with the likes of Trevor Hockey and Willie Carlin (feisty characters) - Metcalfe could certainly mix it!

Formed an awesome partnership with Tony Parkes in Gordon Lee's super unit that won promotion from the old Third Division in the 1970's.

Some great memories.

RIP Stuart.

All angles covered here by Mowbray - think it's clear we will be running a surplus of transfer fees this pre season:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18628620.rovers-summer-plans-wont-revolve-around-losing-key-men/

Sharpe writes:

Tony Mowbray admits his side are in something of a transition phase as they require strengthening in several areas ahead of next season. A new No.1 and central defender are top of the priority list with just 38 days until the 2020/21 season.

Evolution, slow build, transition - IMO, it's all feckin bullsh1t.  Think we have an unbalanced squad, in the main low on quality, with gaping holes in key areas.  IMO, we are way behind where we should be and it's as a result of Mowbray's gross mismanagement in player trading.

IMO, we need a bright, hungry, innovative young manager who has a plan and stamps their identity on their team in the way Arteta, Lampard and Parker have.  All these guys have been in post 12 months or less but their teams clearly have an identity and know what they are doing.  Contrast with Mowbray's three and a half year of evolution, slow build and transition - I think it's a p!ss taker!

6 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

how can you sell Season tickets when we don't know if we even been allowed in stadium all season or even at all.  Other clubs are.  Have we no imagination?  There are attractive options - sadly, I think Ewood is an inspiration and nous free zone.

Why does the manager have to tell us what the budget is?  He doesn't.  At the very least, he (and Waggott) should level with us in general terms ie 'we have a working budget that we believe will enable us to strengthen the team and move the club forward' or, 'there are financial restraints we now have to operate in and our options are limited'.  The fans both deserve and need to know.  Not telling the fans anything, or possibly even misleading them, is crass management.

Another day has passed since the season finished and we are therefore another day closer to pre season and the new season.

Feels like there is nothing to hold on to where Rovers are concerned. 

IMO, no discernible cause for hope and optimism.

We have a manager who seemingly says, at best, he's unclear about his budget for player trading.                              

Other clubs are selling ST's by the thousand and, seemingly, we haven't a feckin clue what to do.

I think it's a total shambles and the fans are being treated like muppets.  

I think the fans deserve much, much better.

If these are your best endeavours Waggott and Mowbray then I think it's time you both left the building.

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Patience Mercer 

still 2 weeks before pre season starts

Don't talk nonsense.

Mowbray says his priority is a goalie, he has a pot of money and, presumably, a list of options.  There is absolutely no excuse.  So Mowbray, IMO, fiddles as Rome burns.  Wont make any other signings and nothing seems to be moving.  To me, it doesn't add up. 

10 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

Whiteman update, met Tony last Wednesday....they want him but not before they've bought a goalie and a left back.  Midfield is the 3rd priority. If there is 2m left over we will put a bid in.  We have a pot of money.  Derby are very interested too.  The player wants the championship,  not necessarily Rovers. 2m gets the player.

So, our season finished 12 days ago and a goalie is the priority.  Why haven't we signed one!?!?

Just now, RV Blue said:

Narrator: Ben Whiteman signed for Derby County

Cocu and Rooney selling their managerial / coaching abilities and Derby County versus bumbling Uncle Tony.

Think it's a no brainer!

On 01/08/2020 at 22:57, Parsonblue said:

Not sure how they could sell season tickets at the moment - aren't most of the staff still on furlough?

With the uncertainty with regard to when supporters will actually be allowed into grounds - and that may be impacted throughout the season with local lockdowns - I can understand why they are reluctant to start selling at this moment in time.  

Are you being serious!?!?

I don't know Rovers' staffing structure but I wouldn't have thought they have more than six devoted to ST sales at the appropriate time of year.  That would be a wages' bill of less than £10k per month for the process of say 4,000 ST's yielding a minimum of £1million.  It's a feckin no brainer!

There are 'options' as RevidgeBlue has written below.  Is there no one at Ewood capable of thinking!?!?

22 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

A couple of weeks ago I thought it was possibly fair enough for the Club to sit back and see which way the wind was blowing but the problem as I see it is that with the Government now bottling it on a daily basis and reversing the easing of lockdown restrictions at the drop of a hat on a fairly random and arbitrary basis, it might not become clear what the situation is until a few days before the season starts.

By that point, it will be far too late to start selling packages from scratch imo. What we should have done is made a proactive decision and offered cheaper renewals priced on the basis either the entire season would  be BCD and available on I player again or on the basis that a percentage would be BCD. So for example if the price of a "normal" season  ticket is £45 p.m. then the price of an I follow ST could be  £22.50 p.m. and renewals could be taken at the lower rate initially and amended upwards once ST holders are allowed back in grounds.

At least this way the Club would have had some cashflow, and the majority of the people who wanted to renew would have been signed up in good time and we wouldn't have been scrabbling about potentially having to sign up 8500 people in a few days. It would surely be the easiest thing in the world to amend people's direct debits whenever fans were going to be allowed in and to increase the monthly payments accordingly.

It's at times like this that you see what people are made of and not surprisingly I think with Waggott  we're being left feeling extremely underwhelmed. Anyone could do nothing and not make a decision, and not need to be paid £300k p.a. not to do it!

I think the problem we have is the club is severely under-managed.  I see neither nous nor initiative.  IMO, there are too many at Ewood on the Venky's Express gravy train and they are far too comfortable.  I think the club needs ripping apart from top to bottom on both the non playing and playing sides.  We need bright, sparky people with a 'can do attitude'.   

7 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Game of opinions. The manager obviously doesn’t think some of those are crap and that Wharton is...? 

and that's why, IMO, Mowbray needs firing.

Bottom six.

IMO, you can sense we haven't a pot to p1ss in and our player trading will reflect this.  Can anyone provide a slither of positive evidence that we are going to be even a half decent player in the transfer market!?!?

Furthermore, IMO, we have a manager and coaching time who are well, well below par and that's being kind!

I think Uncle Tony will have retired, with a big fat wallet,  to his beloved Teeside before Christmas.

22 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

The main issue, is that he’s crap. Comes back every year. Every year they’re filled with hope. Then they realise he isn’t quite good enough...

IMO, as are Walton, Bennett, Bell, Williams, Smallwood, Johnson, Samuel etc and then we have the really expensive cr@p in Brerton and Gallagher.  

I am not at all convinced by Wharton but it's time for Mowbray to either sh1t or get off the pot and give the lad a chance or two or three!!!  Surely, surely with the experience he got out on loan he can be no worse than Carter.  In fact I'd put money on Wharton, over Carter,  being able to earn a decent crust out of football.

IMO, Mowbray only played Travis when he was desperate for numbers and had precious few other options and look what happened!