Summer transfer window 2021.

[J*B]

8 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

The same source that suggested that Reach would join and that Rothwell would leave this week?

I’m sure you’re taking the piss - but yes. 

[Ulrich]

43 minutes ago, Boroblue said:

I have no foundation for this but I believe the sale of the training ground was Mowbrays preferred solution to cost cutting when his promotion push went tits up . I believe Venkies actually pulled the plug on that. He wanted to sell the training ground to prevent cost cutting option B. That’s is the loss of 11 senior players and their wages without any replacements. The sale of Armstrong and Rothwell with no money released. 

Mowbray as squandered money and opportunity on what appears to be his own personal football philosophy vanity trip. He has a job for the boys mentality mainly because he wants the senior professionals to do his job for him. 

I went yesterday and even though it was a friendly we are on a collision course with relegation. While I love Rovers I can’t deny I’m going to take a lot of pleasure from watching the arrogant boro boy squirm. He’s got exactly what he deserves and I feel no sympathy. This time he’s just got kids no old guys in the dressing room to pull him out unless you count the Spanish sick note.

Hopefully gone by Christmas.

 

Trouble is he survived 2 wins in 17, I will hazard a guess he will be here until it's too late to save us. If they do sack him, they'll appoint yet another 🐒 and we'll be starring down the barrel of another relegation and this time we may not return.

[den]

16 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Evolution not revolution remember.

Now we've been through this before with this ownership so it's no surprise. Yet it all stems from backing the wrong horses again for what they allegedly wanted. 

“Whatever they wanted.”

It beyond time that they re-emerged and told the fans what it is they do want - and how they intend to achieve it, because I doubt there’s any fan left that has a clue what the hell they’re up to.

 

[Waggy76]

9 minutes ago, den said:

“Whatever they wanted.”

It beyond time that they re-emerged and told the fans what it is they do want - and how they intend to achieve it, because I doubt there’s any fan left that has a clue what the hell they’re up to.

 

I don't think they even know , or care !

[47er]

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Perhaps take one at the end of the season.  This next 12 months may finally be an eye opener for some.

WELL I'M IN UTTER DESPAIR! I don't think the reading on this site has ever been as desperate as it is now.

Based on what we can assess at this point I think we'll be in Div2 in 3, maybe 4 years with crowds of 3000 to 4000 and in administration in 5.

If a local buyer/consortium comes along and we start over again from the bottom as AFC Blackburn Rovers, it can't come soon enough for me.

 

[JHRover]

When did Venkys ever have an 'open chequebook' approach? They've neglected failed to invest properly in every facet of the club bar maybe the first team for the last 10 years. A quick look at the state of the operation at Ewood and the condition of the stadium tells us that.

Anyhow, we are in the end game whichever way. 

I think the club is on its last legs. When you erode your match going season ticket base down to 5000 in the Championship and set yourself up for relegation by keeping a poor manager and demolishing the squad then the end is near. League One and there's no coming back not with this mob in place. 

 

[tomphil]

31 minutes ago, den said:

“Whatever they wanted.”

It beyond time that they re-emerged and told the fans what it is they do want - and how they intend to achieve it, because I doubt there’s any fan left that has a clue what the hell they’re up to.

 

Well the back of the fag packet statements always say intent on returning to the Prem.

The one and only time it looked like they might actually go for it they keep Mowbray in charge. Then he tells them to invest in Brereton and Gallagher instead and go for a slow build model.

I suppose we have to assume that the owners remain 'confused' but their intentions are good 🙄

[roverandout]

[EgyptianPete]

55 minutes ago, Ulrich said:

Trouble is he survived 2 wins in 17, I will hazard a guess he will be here until it's too late to save us. If they do sack him, they'll appoint yet another 🐒 and we'll be starring down the barrel of another relegation and this time we may not return.

He only survived because there were no fans in the ground, had there been fans he surely would have been sacked, now we are back its our turn, support the team but give the boro has been pelters.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

What is difficult to really know, are the Venkys withdrawing funding or are we being forced in order to meet FFP rules. What seems certain - the timing of Dacks initial injury prior to a rumoured move to WBA could not have been worse.

[Bethnal]

Some bleak reading in the last few pages, but I find it very easy to believe. Owners aren’t so much asleep at the wheel as curled up on the backseat with a brick on the accelerator.

A genuine tragedy if the legacy of Jack Walker was dismantled to save face of a trio of spoilt, bratty siblings on the other side of the world. I have nothing but ill will towards them. The type of things I wish for them are possibly incriminating to share publicly, but I do hope they get what’s coming to them.

Having said that, Jack himself would say that no one person (or group of people) defines the club. Players, managers, owners - even fans! - all come and go. The colours, the crest, the history, the town are what last, what defines us.

I think a part of me has always held onto the shred of possibility that we could be a top-flight team again, that we could go up, grind out and stay up.

Before the 90s, we hadn’t been one for a while, so I suppose older posters on here can point to that as the norm for us. Is it so bad? Well, it’d be awful while these owners and the litany of chancers they’ve employed were still involved with us, no doubt.

I don’t spend money with the club anymore, where I can help it. Occasionally I’ll buy a match pass to watch when I’ve the time to sit down and watch. The new kits have definitely piqued my interest. But the thing I understand about business is that - while the average consumer has very little bearing on management’s KPI’s - mass desertion (while maybe not a huge effect on top/bottom line) - works. When you have absolutely no customer base, it’s impossible to ignore.

One way or another - whether the owners are still at the helm or whether they drop us in some way - it feels like administration is pretty nailed-on. There’s no way anyone buys us outright in our existing state and the owners have been unresponsive to offers, if memory serves me right.

Tragic, genuinely awful. It will be absolutely heartbreaking, it will feel like a bereavement.

Part of the reason I don’t spend money with the club where I can help it is I’m essentially ashamed. I love every pre-Venky’s memory, I absolutely cherish it. But I’m embarrassed to be a fan of a plaything of some of the most two-bit amateur-hour morons that have ever been involved in football, Waggott included.

When it comes, administration will be mercy, essentially. And with that, comes the opportunity to move on. Agency. An opportunity to learn, an opportunity to reminisce, to bond, to share. If there are enough of us feeling that way, there will be a way to build out of it, there will be something to be proud of again.

We’re all masochists for still following the club, maybe out of duty, compulsion, compassion or delusion. It’s going to be a painful watch, at times, but at least we’re all still watching, at least we all still care (to whatever extent!) and maybe we’ll one day have something to be proud of, of our own making.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Bethnal

[RoversClitheroe]

9 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

What is difficult to really know, are the Venkys withdrawing funding or are we being forced in order to meet FFP rules. What seems certain - the timing of Dacks initial injury prior to a rumoured move to WBA could not have been worse.

Wrong - the purchase of Brereton, Gallagher, extension of Downings contract, Mulgrews contract, Smallwood's contract, Evans contract, endless list of awful signings.

The above is what caused the problem.

[tomphil]

32 minutes ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

What is difficult to really know, are the Venkys withdrawing funding or are we being forced in order to meet FFP rules. What seems certain - the timing of Dacks initial injury prior to a rumoured move to WBA could not have been worse.

I'm clinging to the faint hope this is what might be driving it but to be honest it's probably more of a convenient excuse to slash and burn.

They've thrown money away again over the last FFP cycle backing Mowbrays muddled attempts at getting up the league.  They don't appear to want to bring in fresh management and directors so they are going along with this lot again. Just now asking them to work at a level they are more capable of. It will lead to relegation but they are still stupid enough to think we'll have another repeat of last time.

Personally i think the trio are behind this as much as the owners and it will lead to them getting contract extensions whilst they oversee the changes.  It is downright depressing for all but the most deluded of Mowbray/Venky fanboys.

The main issue is the continuing rumours around the training ground. If those are true there is a desperate need for quick money from somewhere. Or, again it's being driven from inside the club to fit their new low cost, easy to manage model they are pitching.

[bluebruce]

13 hours ago, phili said:

The analysis team and recruitment team are being downsized as is the u23s and youth teams. Backroom team such as Damien Johnson and Lowe may also be off shortly as well. A cut of all of the none football side is also happening, maintenance, marketing, commercial, catering, club shop, office staff etc.

We only just got done upsizing the recruitment team! I'm sure the new head of recruitment is delighted with that. Such things are minimal costs in the scheme of a football club, and yet if we are as fucked as we look, clever recruitment is now more important than ever.

[Crimpshrine]

37 minutes ago, Bethnal said:

Some bleak reading in the last few pages, but I find it very easy to believe. Owners aren’t so much asleep at the wheel as curled up on the backseat with a brick on the accelerator.

A genuine tragedy if the legacy of Jack Walker was dismantled to save face of a trio of spoilt, bratty siblings on the other side of the world. I have nothing but ill will towards them. The type of things I wish for them are possibly incriminating to share publicly, but I do hope they get what’s coming to them.

Having said that, Jack himself would say that no one person (or group of people) defines the club. Players, managers, owners - even fans! - all come and go. The colours, the crest, the history, the town are what last, what defines us.

I think a part of me has always held onto the shred of possibility that we could be a top-flight team again, that we could go up, grind out and stay up.

Before the 90s, we hadn’t been one for a while, so I suppose older posters on here can point to that as the norm for us. Is it so bad? Well, it’d be awful while these owners and the litany of chancers they’ve employed were still involved with us, no doubt.

I don’t spend money with the club anymore, where I can help it. Occasionally I’ll buy a match pass to watch when I’ve the time to sit down and watch. The new kits have definitely piqued my interest. But the thing I understand about business is that - while the average consumer has very little bearing on management’s KPI’s - mass desertion (while maybe not a huge effect on top/bottom line) - works. When you have absolutely no customer base, it’s impossible to ignore.

One way or another - whether the owners are still at the helm or whether they drop us in some way - it feels like administration is pretty nailed-on. There’s no way anyone buys us outright in our existing state and the owners have been unresponsive to offers, if memory serves me right.

Tragic, genuinely awful. It will be absolutely heartbreaking, it will feel like a bereavement.

Part of the reason I don’t spend money with the club where I can help it is I’m essentially ashamed. I love every pre-Venky’s memory, I absolutely cherish it. But I’m embarrassed to be a fan of a plaything of some of the most two-bit amateur-hour morons that have ever been involved in football, Waggott included.

When it comes, administration will be mercy, essentially. And with that, comes the opportunity to move on. Agency. An opportunity to learn, an opportunity to reminisce, to bond, to share. If there are enough of us feeling that way, there will be a way to build out of it, there will be something to be proud of again.

We’re all masochists for still following the club, maybe out of duty, compulsion, compassion or delusion. It’s going to be a painful watch, at times, but at least we’re all still watching, at least we all still care (to whatever extent!) and maybe we’ll one day have something to be proud of, of our own making.

My feelings exactly.

I know a lot of people think boycotting is a cop out and not constructive in any way but it's our only weapon against the Venky regime. as you say -"When you have absolutely no customer base, it’s impossible to ignore". If we could organise a single game where everybody boycotted it would have a big impact.

We have to act if we want things to change. It will be beneficial in the long run and we will eventually get our Rovers back.

[Mercer]

2 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Who knows? Never any Comms out of India and now the trio are noses out of joint. ‘Could’ get Kean-esque If they’re not careful. Urgh 🙈

If anyone ever talks to me about Mowbray being humble, honest, man of integrity etc then I will metaphorically smash them in the face.

It gives me no pleasure in being proven right about Waggott and Mowbray almost from the day they first set foot in Ewood.  If you've 'been around the block a few times' in life then you can smell 'em and I've always thought Waggott and Mowbray stink.

[Roverthechimp]

20 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I'm clinging to the faint hope this is what might be driving it but to be honest it's probably more of a convenient excuse to slash and burn.

They've thrown money away again over the last FFP cycle backing Mowbrays muddled attempts at getting up the league.  They don't appear to want to bring in fresh management and directors so they are going along with this lot again. Just now asking them to work at a level they are more capable of. It will lead to relegation but they are still stupid enough to think we'll have another repeat of last time.

Personally i think the trio are behind this as much as the owners and it will lead to them getting contract extensions whilst they oversee the changes.  It is downright depressing for all but the most deluded of Mowbray/Venky fanboys.

The main issue is the continuing rumours around the training ground. If those are true there is a desperate need for quick money from somewhere. Or, again it's being driven from inside the club to fit their new low cost, easy to manage model they are pitching.

I can Imagine that the "coventrio" (for want of a better name) and whoever it is that actually deals directly with V's have quite simply been told to cut operating costs by X amount or and reduce staffing by X percent 

That would be pretty standard in an organisation where the owners don't know much and the decision made in about 20 minutes as the V's went through their portfolio. 

Been in a similar situation where big, pointless expenses were approved only to asked to remove 40 % of the "essential staff" a few weeks later...

Needless to say i chose to break my contract and leave.

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

[Roverthechimp]

3 minutes ago, Mercer said:

If anyone ever talks to me about Mowbray being humble, honest, man of integrity etc then I will metaphorically smash them in the face.

It gives me no pleasure in being proven right about Waggott and Mowbray almost from the day they first set foot in Ewood.  If you've 'been around the block a few times' in life then you can smell 'em and I've always thought Waggott and Mowbray stink.

I was wrong and would let you have a free shot 🙈

[Butty]

2 minutes ago, Mercer said:

If anyone ever talks to me about Mowbray being humble, honest, man of integrity etc then I will metaphorically smash them in the face.

It gives me no pleasure in being proven right about Waggott and Mowbray almost from the day they first set foot in Ewood.  If you've 'been around the block a few times' in life then you can smell 'em and I've always thought Waggott and Mowbray stink.

The only saving grace is if the fans can force Mowbray to leave when we inevitably start this season terribly, the likelihood is that Waggott will also follow. 

[chaddyrovers]

10 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Specifically the age, of course not. But our squad lacks leadership, character and experience. Our squad was already young and most of the remaining experience is seemingly about to be replaced by kids with presumably little if any senior experience. When a bad run comes around, where are the characters to look to to drag us out? I also dont think we have that much quality but I was specifically pointing out how young our squad will be.

I know its the owners fault. Whilst its hard to be too sympathetic to a manager who under normal circumstances would have long since been sacked, and one who has left us with a very poor squad. It is the owners that I have consistently criticised this summer, I can accept trying to make a profit in the transfer market, but we have lost a big chunk of the wage budget and are about to lose Armstrong and you have to allow at least a small proportion of that budget to be reinvested, otherwise it will end in inevitable relegation, chuck in an unnecessary embargo and it looks grim.

 

Yes we now some players with Leadership and experience but if the funds aren't there for different reasons whether its the owners who want cutbacks and not willing to keep funding the club at the past 3 seasons level or FFP rules that need to meet then what can be done? Mowbray has been financially backed for the past 3 seasons whether its wages or transfer fees that he should have lost his job or at least change his staff instead. 

Yes I was pleased that we released the players we did. Would have prefer Johnson and Chapman to join that list aswell. 

Would you have been happy if we have signed a Adam Reach then who is experience?

I agree that some of the Armstrong money should be invested in a suitable replacement and couple of low cost permanent signings

2 hours ago, Boroblue said:

I have no foundation for this but I believe the sale of the training ground was Mowbrays preferred solution to cost cutting when his promotion push went tits up . I believe Venkies actually pulled the plug on that. He wanted to sell the training ground to prevent cost cutting option B. That’s is the loss of 11 senior players and their wages without any replacements. The sale of Armstrong and Rothwell with no money released. 

I think you are correct to a point but I think its was Mowbray and Waggott decision to sell the training ground and when the owners found out about these plans and to downgraded the academy then stopped these plans. 

I do wonder why the owners have kept Mowbray and Waggott in place

2 hours ago, Paul Mellelieu said:

And then who will Venkys recruit?

in what role?

[tomphil]

7 minutes ago, Roverthechimp said:

I can Imagine that the "coventrio" (for want of a better name) and whoever it is that actually deals directly with V's have quite simply been told to cut operating costs by X amount or and reduce staffing by X percent 

That would be pretty standard in an organisation where the owners don't know much and the decision made in about 20 minutes as the V's went through their portfolio. 

Been in a similar situation where big, pointless expenses were approved only to asked to remove 40 % of the "essential staff" a few weeks later...

Needless to say i chose to break my contract and leave.

The only issue i have with that is the pointers given last season by Mowbray himself. He knew what was coming and i think it's a plan pitched from inside the club.

Downsizing is what Waggot is the man for having been at Charlton and Coventry when they were both on the slide.  There were rumours of a root and branch clear out and cost cutting on here last season. Then the manager starts dropping hints about a change of direction in summer and wait and see etc.

I said at the time when a few were getting excited it meant changes in the dugout and directors box that i thought they might be driving it not casualties of it. It's looking more and more likely that is the case although it might be more severe than they planned.

As you say the owners have decided on a whim to go that extra bit in the squeeze. 

I'd assume that when these lot draw up their next budget/signing requirements to put to the owners in summer they do a few different versions to present. This is probably plan C but if it keeps them in a job and pay packet they won't give a stuff.

[roversinmyblood]

1 hour ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Wrong - the purchase of Brereton, Gallagher, extension of Downings contract, Mulgrews contract, Smallwood's contract, Evans contract, endless list of awful signings.

The above is what caused the problem.

By being “kind and considerate” by rewarding loyalty so that his players love him, the painful downside to this wasting of money is the behind the scenes staff losing their jobs!!

[roversinmyblood]

52 minutes ago, tomphil said:

The main issue is the continuing rumours around the training ground. If those are true there is a desperate need for quick money from somewhere. Or, again it's being driven from inside the club to fit their new low cost, easy to manage model they are pitching.

If money is needed quickly I would rather lose AA for less money than expected rather than lose the training ground forever. 

[47er]

48 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

If we could organise a single game where everybody boycotted it would have a big impact.

I can't calculate how many times I wrote that a decade or so ago!!

Its time has come!