JHRover

The other 'board members'?

So you'll be annoyed / angry if by Sunday next week we haven't signed a striker?

This will just be a standard January in the land of Venky Rovers. Despite all the bravado back in the summer about not going down the loan route any more due to value blah blah blah that is precisely what we will do, because the summer's activity and wage commitments have cleared out the cupboards which are now close to being bare. We will not go to the owners and request additional funds for decent signings because that isn't allowed here. Cast your minds back to Mowbray's days when he and Waggott were publicly thanking the owners for allowing us to add to the budget to bring in the loans of Harwood Bellis and Branthwaite. That's where we are at. Pasha will be allowed to commit to a manageable transfer fee or two on an investment signing, like the Barnsley lad, but only if for some reason they agree to let him go for a knock down fee. If they stick to their valuation we ain't getting him. So with no/very little cash left and a maxed out wage bill, it will be loans and try to move out people like Pickering and Gueye to save on wages. The league table won't be a factor here.

The only interesting thing about this window will be whether Ismael walks in the days after it when he realises he's been conned like his three predecessors. My bet is not as he won't have other options lined up like JDT and Eustace.

Presumably these same people would have turned Jack Walker and his plans away and stuck with the status quo of being a perennial 2nd or lower division club with no money. Quite a sad state of affairs but as I've said previously it's not hard to see why the club and town have both ended up in the state they are when plenty are content to accept rubbish and never seek change or improvement. And I've been called negative...yet I'm not the one making excuses for an inexcusable situation or wanting us to stay in this state.

Same old. Probably trying to persuade them to agree to a 'loan with an option to buy' trick with no intention of ever actually buying.

'No takers' for the job of CEO of Blackburn Rovers Football Club If that doesn't tell you something I don't think anything will.

The last time they relegated us, back in 2017, they used the January window not to deliver significant improvements to a weak squad or to get rid of the failing manager and give the new guy chance to rectify the mess, instead they offered a token gesture of parachuting in Paul Senior on a consultancy deal. You see this is how these owners and this regime operate. They know all too well that using the January window to address our issues (tick tock) requires solid cash commitment, as does firing a manager with a terrible record. So they'll do neither of those things, instead offering a few short term loans that other clubs don't want. It wouldn't surprise me to see a Paul Senior part II arrive if results don't pick up and quickly. Not a serious, long term appointment but a short term emergency window-dressing appointment of someone good with the media and fans, who can do the routine of walking around the corridors of Ewood before games and listen to concerns/promise milk and honey at an undefined point in the future and calm people down. Sadly plenty will fall for this stunt as they did the last time around but really all it is designed to do is pass time without them addressing the main issues and keeping the culprits protected in the background.

As a minimum I'd expect: Chairman/CEO Director of Football/Sporting Director Commercial Director Finance Director Secretary I'd probably also expect a non executive director or two perhaps to represent the distant owners. This is the industry standard. I'm not really interested in what setup Accy Stanley have, as whilst it probably puts ours to shame it isn't really relevant to an institution the size of Blackburn Rovers that *should* be aspiring to reach the Premier League and stay there. You don't do that with absentee landlords, faceless people, work experience guys and fossils like Silent Bob.

So has Rudy ditched the 'no loans' policy he was boasting about now he's realised the squad isn't up to it and there's no money left for permanents?

They've taken it off twitter but it is still on their Instagram reels from earlier, so I've saved it. Can't do anything right can they?

So a multi-million pound organisation has to drift along without anyone leading it for months and months and months because he has a notice period to serve? Ridiculous. Again, doesn't happen anywhere else. And even if that was a reason, why couldn't they have had a new one ready to start in October or November so they were ready to get to work ahead of the January transfer window. The answer Chaddy, as I suspect you know deep down, is that these owners have never wanted a CEO and don't believe we need one. That's why aside from Waggott we haven't had one for most of the last 15 years, and I would bet we don't appoint one at least until the summer. They only agreed to bring in Waggott after Mowbray persuaded them in India because they 'trusted' Mowbray. Like with every other element of their ownership they try to get away with the bare minimum and the club rots in the process.

Well the vast majority of clubs have them, so probably a good move, if you want to act like a proper club which we clearly don't. But on the topic of a CEO....now 8 months and counting since Slippery Steve sailed off into retirement. What's taking so long? This all comes back to my original point. They just don't take this seriously and never will. End of story.

I do ultimately blame them yes. Doesn't make the current lot any more acceptable or mean they should stay. The suggestion that we have a functioning board of directors is laughable and has been since they removed Williams, Finn and Goodman and never replaced any of them with competent and crucially empowered people. Please do explain to me who is on the 'board' and what these 'board' members do on a day to day basis for the betterment of Blackburn Rovers.

I'm convinced that one of the main reasons for Gestede getting the job he has is that he has sold himself to the Indians / goon in the shadows as someone who has extensive knowledge and contacts and that by avoiding the loan market we will develop assets on the cheap which will make them more money. Or alternatively that they have given him the job and instructed him to do this rather than the past approach of going to Brighton/Liverpool etc. and begging for players. All comes back to them trying to impress the higher ups and keep their jobs on the gravy train - Alebiosu working out well and Gudjohnsen too so a sale of one or both for a good profit keeps the money men happy