Yes, i don't think he was too pleased he had not been briefed, although the person who managed his diary and penciled it in was someone id never met, so maybe Lindsay was caught by surprise too.

I do speak quite a bit with the various supporter groups, and was part of three of them. I asked for a meeting as a last resort, as i really didnt want to, i didn't see the value if it was same shit, different face. I've always been a person who breaks things down in terms of, where we are? Where do we want to get to? How are we going to get there. When we formed the Action Group, one of the main drivers for me was we had to be transparent and had to be democratic, it was always made clear to the club that was the bat we would be playing as thats our unwavering pledge to our membership base. If I'm completely honest, I dont know how I feel? Where these meetings will lead to? . Until i've asked all I feel I need to ask to satisfy my concerns. Of course I have some ideas of how a rebuild could look and steps which can be taken. However, as i stated to Steve yesterday "There is two Steves, the one I've heard via Media for 5 years and the one i'm sat across from today, the one of 5 years comes across as arrogant, out of touch and whose actions have made me find the need to request a meeting. The one in front of me, is full of passion, drive, ideas and is very marketable" I guess over the next few months if i get the opportunity to ask more questions, I will be in a much better position to give my opinion of which Steve we really have, which will either light up the path to what can be done, or trully close it as a waste of time. I'm always up to talking to groups/supporters, hence I arranged the first Ewood WMC meeting to bring supporters together. Its nice to see that is still going and a different cross section of people from different groups attend. I'm mindful that I dont want to commit to anything right now, as i missed too many years of my marriage and kids growing up. However as i have with the Rovers Trust, if I can see the path, end game, and objectives I will always offer my support. I'm fully behind the Rovers Trust, and its board and very pleased that their mandate has been very welcomed by the club

This was never the case under any board until Waggott came. I got the impression this has been in place quite a while.

A lot more questions to come regarding the above. These things are a sore subject with many of us. I had an idea it wouid be a very slow process asking the questions, i'm sure others may have already asked these things too.

Sorry, on point one - He agreed the Phil Jones scenaro is definitely something they need to consider going forwards as part of their lessons learnt, he also stated that around £10 million was made available for transfers last season but it just wasnt spent so will go someway at plugging the FFP deficit, so although disappointing, he felt we was still in a good place. Point 2 - He seemed oblivious to the Kentaro damage, and when I said Honeyman he answered, Craig? These points were not completely closed out, but we literally ran out of time. This will need a good hour discussion in its own right. We have to appreciate, we've lived and breathed the dismantling of the club, he arrived after the damage was done and the bad guys long gone. Not many can tell the full story, and i'm under no doubt he has heard somethings, but without the dots joined up it makes little sense. On the whole it was a promising first chat, but with so much more to discuss, its going to take a little time

I tend to agree, i was told january cash was there, was gobsmacked it wasn't spent. Im also under no doubt if the right player is there at 3, 4 or even £5 million with massive potential, then that will be spent,

100% a question i will ask, I dunno why i've never been one for writing questions down or taking notes. Its probably because i like to keep eye contact and read body language whilst listening if i need to redirect, or reword a question to prevent the answer being lost in riddles

Not got that far with him yet, never mentioned JDT, season tickets or anything like that as i felt it was vital to stay on point and dig right into the root on each question until I was satisfied it had been answered fully

Got to call it how i see it so far, and if anything i feel very sorry for those who have had it double barrelled including from me for how they saw it. We may actually have a tree with a load of branches on it, but have conditioned ourselves to think the worse

Contract discussions have occurred, Ben aint pushing to jump out the door, and the club aint actively trying to sell him. They are realist though and cant stand in the player's way if the valuation is met

I only got through 5% in nearly two hours, a lot more questioning to come and i did make it clear i would circulate the contents of the discussions

Finally, i reiterated i have zero interest in being on the board, being an employee. My only interest is our club to continue to be the pillar of our community long after we've gone so others can enjoy the club and hopefully some good times I stated 1. I was offered a seat on the board to abandon the supporters in our hours of need, our club needed saving and people exposing. 2. I was offered life changing money twice to walk away abandon the supporters who elected me as their action group chairman, enough money to probably retire on On both counts it made me even more determined to see it through to the end and get the club in a position i believed it could be rebuild. I stood down when i achieved that objective. The club sadly has not been rebuilt, but with the right help can certainly return to the better days.

I then started to discuss what the set up of the club was before the latest appointments, I stated that we'd spent years ridding the club of the parasites who were sucking the life out of the club. This journey had seen me attend the FA to meet Newton, The premier league to meet Scudamore, The football league to meet their board, and to Parliament flanked by our our local MP's to speak under Parliamentary privilege to call for an inquiry into football governance. Steve was speechless, he did not know this had occured and asked what sort of things did we present? The main points I pointed out, was despite the club denying there was third party interference with Kentaro, there was a legally binding agreement between Rovers and Kentaro, for them to run the club and for them to make decisions in the best interest of the club including retainment and recruitment of staff. I stated the FA had told the club to get their ship in order as the embarrassment this brought to the top governance of the english game with Kentaro being one of the national teams largest corporate partners would have a detrimental affect on the integrity of the national game. The FA Issued a number of gagging orders to prevent the truth, hence I went to Parliament to speak and instigate an independent review and questions from the sports minister to both the premier league and F.A Regarding independence governance. This was also the first step for the bill of the independent review which is now known as "Fan lead" which has been presented to club by the Rovers trust recently, So based on the above I then asked 4. Could you explain the current structure of how the club is run? what autonomy you have? who is running the ship? Who is making the operational decisions? and what part does the current administration play given those previously had as much power as a broken light bulb, and used there time more to profit personally from the clubs demise? Steve stated that there is a board of Directors which he is head off as the CEO, Which includes the likes of Cheston etc, and also Suhail who is the owners representative on the ground here in Blackburn I then stated - Suhail was part of the negotiating team with Kentaro when the club was bought, his links have been a constant, i'm concerned he is still here given the likes of Honeyman are still getting clients into the club, did you know Honeyman was the former MD Of SEM Kentaro? Steve Stated having Suhail around really works well, he is very supportive of the board and his relationship with the the staff and board is very healthy. He is also good at helping the board in terms of how best to communicate certain things to owners in a respectful way, given the culture differences I then re-directed the question and brought Lindsay into the conversation. I stated to Lindsay that she had been at the club a long time and had worked under the Jack Walker regime too, abeit in a different capacity. Given she has also worked under ever board since the Raos bought the club, I asked in your opinion do we now have a similar reporting line as the one we had when Jack owned the club? Lindsay was not hesitent and immediately stated yes, she said Suhail is like Brown was for Jack, his man on the ground whilst he was in Jersey (just like the Rao's in india). She stated the board now operates like the pre walkers trust days where the board run the club, do their annual reporting, make decisions on recruitment, marketing, strategies and just like the board under jack, if more money is needed or a significant purchase is needed, its relayed to the owners and they sign it off This is all we got through in this meeting with another meeting scheduled for September Main points to note and these are vital: 1. The board structure is exactly what we have all championed for 10 years plus, a board that makes the decisions, is accountable for those decisions. 2.The owners continue to say yes, and always make the money available be that for players or to service debt. 3. A point I have not fitted in the questions, is that its very clear Steve Waggott talks directly to the owners on a regular basis, and more importantly those discussions are heavily with Madam and Mr Venky, It had long been thought that this was Bala's toy and the wider families interest and wavered. However this is not true, the head of the family is very much the driving force in supporting the board both financially but also in all they do by giving them the trust and autonomy to act in the clubs best interest. 4. Steve Waggott in person is not the same Steve Waggott we've heard in interviews, his passion, knowledge and general persona is probably the best I've seen from anyone within the club in my time, and that includes the Williams Regime. Although I'm only 5% through my questions for him, which I will pick up again in September, I can tell from my first meeting that my position/opinion on him prior to meeting him, has changed somewhat. I have been involved in lots of these type of meetings, and I don't go easy on people. I actually told him, this Steve Waggott is actually quite marketable. I can understand why many after meeting him are jumping to his defence, because I actually think with the right approach, he could become one of the most influential people the club ever has. 5. There is evidently lots of work to do to rebuild, and a lot more questions I need to ask, but early signs I think are good for all of us, Finally I apologise for any spellings, missed words etc, It was a lot to write to get it out to you all. I appreciate the nice comments and efforts people have gone to, to read these post

I did not write notes or take any questions in with me, Photographic memory

Moving on 3. We are currently marketing "one of our own" however in the last few weeks "two of our own" have been allowed to walk away for free, in addition to Joe Rothwell. How do we get ourselves in a position where we lose players off our bottom line? There is a belief in some quarters that you played poker by low balling with offers, which has ultimately seen three players just disappear and create a hole in the squad which could/should of been avoided and thus has created a need to spend which could put significant pressure on our FFP Position? Steve said discussions with Lenihan and Nyambe went on for 12 months, with the agents driving the best deals possible for the players. Both players are nice lads and both had quite different situations. In lenihan's case the club acknowledged its the most important contract he will ever sign because of his age, and understood the need for him to secure his long term financial position. The club was very clear to Lenihan how important he was to us, was the captain of our club and needed a wage to reflect his loyalty and importance. The wage budget is different to special transfers, its agreed based on income forecast and can not be exceeded under any circumstances due to our wage budget being the main driver towards sanctions. Steve personally spoke with Lenihan on a number times pointing out other things in particular the support network within the club which he enjoys, and if we had it to give we seriously would give it. In the end Steve Acknowledged that he was powerless to stop a player earning in excess of a couple of million pounds more elsewhere. Our ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship and other activities we make Ewood available for just do not generate enough funds to make these things happen. I asked was the offer on the table enough to make him one of the clubs best paid? Steve said he cannot talk about the specifics in peoples contracts but can confirm it would of put him as one of the clubs biggest earners. He then went on to discuss Ryan, he stated throughout discussions the club made it clear that Ryans situation is not similar to Lenihans and this is not his defining contract, the club offered a really good rise which was comparable to others in similar position at the club. The agents were convinced Premier league clubs would pay more, and those enquiries never came although if they did, rovers would not be able to compete with those riches in any case. I stated its been mentioned widely that Ryan was on less than £4k a week and the offer on the table was around £6k and not reflective when we have players on £20k? Steve said again I cannot discuss individual contracts, but can assure you that Ryan was on far more than the £6k I was suggesting and the money the club put on the table was a big lift on his current salary, and he cannot believe he has achieved that elsewhere, given we had only received one derisory offer for him over the last 12 months. I stated that I have been told from the Wigan end that his one year deal exceeds that of what we were offering per year with various clauses in place based around contract extensions dependent on Wigan's ability to retain their championship status Steve Stated he would find that very hard to believe given the limited funds that Wigan have available and who must work under the same guidelines for FFP, He was really disappointed Ryan left and reiterated that he is such a nice lad, and rovers have put a very generous offer on the table which they were confident would get him signed back up for four more years, sadly it has not happened and we move on. I asked, how do you get to position where three players end up out of contract who are clearly assets, when its not happened before at our club under other boards? why were these deals not negotiated 2 years earlier, or the players sold when in contract? or why did the club not do what we did with Phil Jones and give the deal in January with the intention of selling in the summer, as things stand that's money coming off our book value and potential transfer budget, and indirectly if we have to buy players puts a further strain on the FFP? Steve stated we cannot pressure players with the threat of selling them to agree new deals 2 years in advance, we had the covid situation which further hindered our hand in terms of having the finances or ability to negotiate earlier as it was just unknown what affect the covid would have short, medium and long term in the P & L. TBC after a brew

Lol, not with my grammar. Was going to get someone to write this lot, gonna take all night 😞

As promised, I said I would report back on my meeting today with Steve Waggott, which lasted just under a couple of hours. Firstly the important bit, I chose to not have the coffee and biscuits and explained I did not want to leave the room as Mowgli after his encounter with Karr!!! I went to the meeting as an individual and not as a supporter representative, of any group(s), I made it very clear that I was not representative of anyone. Steve was very welcoming when introducing himself and offered me a seat. Steve began the meeting explaining how he liked to meet supporters, and that he has previously met with various groups including the Action Group, Ewood WMC Group, The Rovers Trust, The Fans Forum, QEGS Group and individual supporters, At this point I stopped him before he got into full flow to ask him if he knew why I had come and if he knew anything about me, my history surrounding my involvement in previous supporter groups. At this point we was joined by Lyndsay Talbot. I told him I was most disappointed that I have found the need to even ask for a meeting, as I felt my work was done 5 years ago, but was very appreciative that he had given his time at a busy time for the club to meet with me, and listen to my concerns I gave him a brief overview of my involvement in three of the groups he had previously mentioned, my role within those groups and also the protest movement. At this point he looked at Lyndsay as it was very evident he had not done any research or asked any questions about me, so was caught a little off guard. I said to him that no doubt in most of the meetings, he has been asked the same questions which he acknowledged was usually the case. I pointed out that my line of questioning would in many respects form a different line, given the direct contact I have with the Rao's and associates, showing him the owners telephone numbers to support what I was saying. I was getting quite a warm vibe from Steve who was very welcoming, very passionate, very humble and obviously very focused on the job he had. My first question was the following - 1. How does someone get a role as the CEO of Blackburn Rovers, when even the Queen waited 6 weeks for a response from India regarding her appearance/meeting with the Rao's, how did his name get thrown in the ring? He explained that within the game their is an agency who communicate quite regular with individuals who work at board level at possible opportunities and he asked to be considered for the Rovers role as it seemed a good project, at a big club and he felt he could potentially bring something to the party. He was one of four candidates and was interviewed in India by the Rao Family. They sold their vision to him, and and asked what his previous working relationship was with our Manager Tony Mowbray? He said he had a great working relationship with him, and this was certainly something the Rao's wanted, a CEO Who could work hand in hand with the Manager for the betterment of the club. I then re-directed the question, stating that in some quarters it was the belief Mowbray got him the job and when things dropped off this season he had backstabbed the Manager and offered no support in a) getting clarity on his future and b) Negotiating or starting the ball rolling with Raos for a possible contract extension. I stated that many of my questions will be to dispel what's fact and what's fiction, and this will given him an opportunity to state the facts, in which I will share to a wider audience He was quite taken aback that people would think he backstabbed or did not give the manager his full support or indeed that he only got the job as part of the Coventry jobs for the boys. He categorically stated Mowbray being at rovers was just a coincidence, and the plan was always for TM to have a discussion at the end of the season with the owners as a mutual agreement which was always the case. He stated he has worked with TM now for half his own football career, and has always had a great relationship with him, where each could talk open and frank regarding how the club is taken forward. He stated he was a big supporter of the Academy, as he was at Coventry who had produced players like Maddison etc. He suggested early on in his tenure to TM The need to explore the talent we have coming through, and try and bring these players through, whilst sprinkling some established players through transfers. He explained in depth the funding of the CAT 1 Academy from the Rao's and the grants. 2. I then asked him if it was the owners objective/remit to him to produce our own players instead of funding transfers? Or if this was his view and vision? Steve said the owners have never once turned the tap off and mutually they had agreed that we need to continue to attract the best young talent and if good enough give them the opportunity within the first team, however that would always have the financial support to buy players should the players not be ready or good enough, he reiterated the owners have never said no to cash investment when a business case is put forwards I probed further into what he was saying, and asked if it was this seasons intention to replace our outgoing players with academy players and zero cash injection for transfers, I quantified this by stating that there has been suggestions that the Tap has been turned off and we are literally paddling with no money, are penny pinching where we can, and are being totally unrealistic in terms of both fees and wages needed to secure players as good as what have left? I reiterated this was an opportunity for him to dispel the rumours/myth if this was not the case Steve stated that although the club feels we have a decent crop of young players, they also know they need to spend money to bring in players who can compete and take the club forward and help support the transition of our own academy. I redirected, and asked are we talking a decent budget or one which will buy very little given the previous couple of seasons where transfer fees seem to have been next to nothing, frees or loans Although he would not be drawn on numbers he stated a budget has been agreed to buy players to replace those who have gone, whilst special cases which require more and fall under the Brereton style purchase, would be authorised by the Rao's which has occurred already this summer on a player who we missed out on due to wages which would be an over budget spend in terms of forecast and balance sheet. I asked how the Brereton deal come about He said the club had a great scouting network, and BBD Had been suggested to the board and management team following some impressive performances against some top clubs during the cups, and other snippets. There was enough data, analysis to suggest BBD Was a bit special, This was suggested as a business case to the Raos, who asked if he could be the one to really become a future star? Steve said based on the data he had no doubt, and the owners sanctioned the special spend, (Like they did with Rhodes) which was above and beyond the budget, but was given as additional funds I probed further, regarding budgets, and asked if he could confirm that the board and in particular himself and MIke Cheston sit down prior their visits to India and draft the P & L and put a number on the table to the Rao's of how much is needed to plug the gaps in the P & L, Whilst requesting the following seasons transfer budget. He confirmed that is pretty much what happens, he has a duty to the club and the owners to not be irresponsible with spending or expectations. He said the Rao's are very wealthy, very supportive but understand the FFP Rules which we are governed by and spending more than what FFP Dictates would put us straight into embargo. He stated the parachute payments of others is making the transfer market even trickier and one wrong move could put us under embargo. I stated that players are like widgets, and do we do an annual valuation report which is used to support additional spending, with the knowledge we'd need to sell an asset to balance the books later down the line? He stated there has never been the pressure to sell players from the owners, or find additional revenue by selling players, as with Rothwell, they'd rather lose the player for free that hinder on the pitch progress, and this will be the same with BBD. There is a valuation and if this is not met, which to date is nowhere near to being so. Then with the full support of the Rao's BBD Will remain a rovers player. He was a big investment at the time, is happy at Rovers and we wont be bullied in the transfer market. We want to build a team around our better players, and although there is a time when we have to balance the books, this is very much driven by the board and accepted by the Raos. I will write some more later on, when I've a bit more time as there is quite a bit of content

Reliably informed from Barnsley side (agent) that Styles is rovers bound, seen as a Smith-Rowe type player. Some fine details re sell on clauses, but this is likely to happen. This is not related to my meeting today, which i will report on later

I'm going to have some tea, gather my thoughts and will post regarding the meeting later on.

Yeh reading their fans response they seem very pleased, accusing him of downing tools and sulking last season and not being up for the survival fight. That being said, many of our fans are saying similar negative things about Nyambe, so i tend to take departure reactions with a pinch of salt

An excellent signing on the face of it, good age, lots of championship expereience and a real engine. We may lose on the defensive front, but his end product in the final third will add much more than we've had since Emerton departed. Think this is great business

Given Brittain has been a long term target, perhaps we are not as far behind on recruitment than it has appeared. Good players do get relegated, so not overly worried. He is a good age, very mobile and is one who would be first team ready from the off. The fee is a massive positive if reports are true, in the fact we are going to spend some money. I think recruiting late if we are making every penny count and being as sure as we can its value is not a bad thing. Had Barnsley not gone down, perhaps the fee may have been more? There is still much work to be done, but come September 1st, we maybe in a decent place in terms of who we've recruited. The loans out will be interesting too, as i'd like to think we are targeting clubs to loan to who are going to be challenging for league 1 promotion, as this would be a greater indicator of if our players can step up. I often think league 2 and non league which we have previously sent players to, gives them expereience but not at the level they will face in the championship

I tend to agree, was never overly convinced either. Given we aint moved for Khadra i'd be surprised if we moved for Poveda. No doubt GB n JDT have their own targets in mind

8k is my understanding

I believe he wanted 6.5k was a figure mentioned to me a few months back, Considering Gallagher is on an alleged near £20k i dont think what he wanted was silly money Not sure what he's settled on, just know its more than what we offered. Seems we played poker, and in fairness to Nyambe he stuck to his guns and wasnt buying it.