I've been going on about this for a while, but when was the last time Ewood saw any INVESTMENT? I'm not talking about cleaners, the groundsman or someone going round with a brush sweeping up litter (though that gets missed by the looks of things). I'm talking about above and beyond bare minimum essential maintenance. Trying to make the place better than it is. The pitch in pre-Venky days was one of the best in the Premier League. From what I hear we've now got one of the smallest budgets around for the pitch and to be honest it shows. Other Championship clubs have spent big installing Desso pitches etc. Accrington Stanley have just announced they'll be spending £300,000 this summer on their pitch to replace it. I bet Rovers won't spend that on Ewood PLUS Brockhall. Ultimately you need people on the ground on a daily basis who have the pride and determination to make the place better, as well as the authority to get it done. Seems any non-essential expenditure ends up falling by the wayside in India and nothing gets done. The place looks tatty and a mess

Perhaps there'll be a massive late surge in sales as Bolton fans celebrate the end of the Anderson era and welcome in their saviour Bassini?

Other way round then, which of the 71 other owners in the Football League would you describe as worse?

On what basis are Venkys any better than most Championship owners? With the exception of Ken Anderson which other owners have failed to honour contracts and pay bills? Gibson at Middlesbrough, Morris at Derby, Marinakis at Forest, Chansiri at Wednesday, Lansdown at Bristol City - just a few examples of owners who pour similar if not greater amounts of cash into their clubs each year and have made their clubs better than when they took over. Those people also take some pride in their clubs and invest their time and money into things like improving their club's image, facilities, profile - none of which Venkys have ever invested in - you only have to look at the state of Ewood these days to see how little pride there is.

Their starting point was a debt ridden 2nd division club with no stadium. 12 years on they are a debt ridden 3rd division club with no stadium, having had 1 season in the 4th division. Our starting point was an established top half 1st division club who represented the benchmark for being well managed and astute. 8 years on we're a debt ridden 2nd division club completely and utterly reliant on them continuing to plug the gap between horrific losses and pitiful revenues (both a result of their inept management). Not saying for one minute I'd prefer SISU, because I wouldn't, but they started from a much lower level and have made them worse. Venkys started from a far better and more comfortable position. And Venkys completely sold off our squad, a few times actually. Net transfer receipts over their 8 years would be interesting to see.

I can see where you are coming from but there are different approaches to consider. Yes, fair enough, at the moment I'd certainly take our position over that of Bolton, Coventry or Blackpool. But then you've to consider where those clubs were when Venkys arrived compared to where we were. Coventry, for example, were in pretty dire staits before the reviled SISU turned up - debt ridden and struggling in the Championship with no home of their own - SISU have just taken it one step further with their legal disputes and impending homelessness, Blackpool were also skint and playing in a dilapidated dump of a ground before Oyston went in so as hated as he is he did do some good. Charlton were also in League One BEFORE Duchatelet got hold of them. Difference here is that Venkys have taken us backwards arguably more than any of those owners. For all of the above's faults in terms of scale of deterioration Venkys take some beating given where we were when they arrived. Also worth throwing into the mix clubs like Burnley, Preston, Bournemouth, Watford, Palace, Huddersfield etc. who have caught us up and now established years of leads over us in the last few years almost entirely because they have sensible owners whilst we have had Venkys calling the shots. The fact they are loaded and appear to be prepared to pour money in every year just makes the whole thing more annoying, as if they were skint like Anderson at Bolton I could accept what has happened.

But 'how could Ipswich do that when they didn't know what league they were going to be in'? Failure to prepare is preparation to fail. We've already failed at the first hurdle by not having season tickets on sale. Why do we need a smaller window than other clubs to sell tickets? Are we so much better than everyone else that we can relax until late April or May and do all our sales in a short window and then go to bed content we've done everything possible to shift as many as possible?

Apparently Bassini, on his own steam, is going to come in and wipe out all their debts, and then fund them to get back to the Premier League in 3 years. Given the length of time this has taken to get done, the desperation with which Anderson must have been trying to offload the club, and Bassini's background (bankrupt as recently as 2014) I'd say it's time for the alarm bells to go off. All that stands in his way is EFL approval as Fit and Proper. No problem.

Lets see what happens. My money is on him joining a different Championship club and playing CM every week whilst we play the usual plodders.

It could easily come down to a choice for him between various Championship clubs next season. He aint going to play in the Premier League next season. Presumably he'll want to go somewhere he can play in his favoured position in the team on a regular basis, not be shunted around various positions every week. The shame is that it is highly probable we'll be kicking off next season with Evans and Smallwood in midfield and unlikely we'll be seeing Reed there, who is vastly superior IMO.

Sounds like Reed has gone back to Southampton to assess his 'injury' and there's uncertainty as to whether he'll be back with us before the end of the season. I can't help but think something is amiss there with him and his absences over the last month or so. A real shame as he's been one of the few signings to improve us but can't see him wanting to spend any more of his time out wide whilst Richie Smallwood occupies his favoured position.

One thing Ken Anderson is right on - to exist at this level you need a very rich investor pumping money in every year. Talk of self-sufficiency is dreamland stuff. Begs the question then why did Anderson take over at Bolton?

If my understanding is correct the Oystons aren't even gone yet. Whilst the club remains in the hands of the court receiver Oyston can pay off his debts to Belokon and re-take control of the club. Unlikely as it seems he can't get his hands on that amount of cash. But could happen.

Forest have sold 15,000 for next season with their early bird period closing. Only a couple of weeks before we get to find out how much ours will be and then with a bit of luck people will be able to buy one before the season finishes. Looking forward to Waggott spending all summer complaining about our low gates, below target sales and how tough it is to compete with these other clubs who get more people watching than we do.

Pretty much agree with that. I doubt that will materialise though. IF the budget is the same as last year, then £8-10 million can go a very long way in this league, even spread across 6+ players, provided the homework is done properly. It seems as time goes by the dealings last summer were poorly thought out. Whether that be because the original targets didn't come to fruition or because Venkys mucked around with funds and only coughed up at the 11th hour. Either way we made a mess of it considering the cash spent. I'm not writing Brereton off yet and I hope for his and our sakes he develops but his return this season has been poor and given the cost a waste of money. No other club spends that much money on players to develop. I don't think 6 new players or more is drastic. We're almost sure to see the back of that number due to contract expiry and loans ending so in theory the same number but better quality should be brought in.

Sorry yes that's right. Can't be used on tickets or travel though.

I saw the statement Rovers put on the website 'clarifying' concerns from supporters about the Norwich game which I suspect was caused by concerns such as those you have raised. Rovers are no doubt correct - they can't reduce prices on away tickets - as those are set by the home club. I don't think anyone seriously expects Steve Waggott to ring up Norwich and force them to reduce their prices. But I fail to see why they cannot subsidise those prices, by diverting the money they have set aside for extra coaches into a fund. Why would Norwich care about that if they are getting the same money? My suspicion is that Norwich have an agenda here - they will be keen to see as few Rovers fans there as possible - so they can allocate the extra seats to home fans for their promotion party. Rovers have taken their entitlement of 1,000 tickets, whereas Norwich will have one eye on 400-500 Rovers fans going so they can hand the rest to their fans who will be selling out. As a result Norwich will take issue with anything that sees considerably more Rovers fans want to go. Off the top of my head Burnley have done it recently with their 'Chairmans pledge' subsidising their Everton and Chelsea away games, and Reading did it at Man Utd in the FA Cup this season when faced with hefty ticket prices. Barcelona/Man Utd have been doing it in the Champions League. So it clearly can be done. For one reason or another Rovers don't want to go down that route. Whether they're afraid of Norwich complaining, or have worked out it will be cheaper to fund a few buses instead. Not sure. Suppose it is similar to gift cards and club cash which can only be used for merchandise in the club shop and not on tickets, programmes or travel. Seems strange when it should all come out of the same pot but there must be a financial motivation at Rovers end.

If the club were serious about rewarding or thanking supporters for their loyal support over the season then they would be looking at something for those with season tickets or a database record of buying away tickets and giving something back to those people. I don't enjoy being critical, particularly not when the club is offering cheap tickets for games in an attempt to increase the gate, but this just annoys me. I'm p**sed off that a Swansea fan will benefit from this more than me, yet when I take 2 days off work to go to Swansea on a Tuesday night it's £30 a ticket. Where's my 'thank you' for that? The only 'thank you' I've seen has been a price increase on season tickets, being forced to join the 1875 membership scheme to guarantee I get away tickets and the option of free coach travel to Norwich which I won't be taking up. Meanwhile someone who has no 1875 membership, no season ticket and has been to no games all season can get on for free v Stoke, get free travel to Norwich and a cheap ticket for Swansea at less than season ticket price. The club needs to have a long hard think about what it is doing here. Annoying your regular core support. If they wanted a bumper crowd the Bolton game at cheap tickets would have been more appropriate but instead has been selected at Category A pricing and may not even be 1000 coming from Bolton.

'As a thank you for your fantastic support' How does cheap Swansea tickets reward fans who have been to most games this season e.g. away games and season ticket holders? The only ones to benefit are those who buy on an individual basis. Fair enough the club is trying to boost numbers and I hope it's a success. Early Sunday kick off on TV for a dead rubber will put a stop to that. Also irritates me that Swansea fans will benefit from this more than me by getting cheap away tickets when I had to pay £30 to go to the reverse fixture on a Tuesday night.

O'Neill in his pre-Sunderland days was a top top manager and I'd have been delighted with him at Rovers. Sunderland was a poor choice really as the rot had already set in there and has continued since. Also no coincidence that his career has gone downhill since John Robertson retired from being his assistant. Think Forest got him in to try and bounce them into the play-offs this season with momentum. Hasn't happened, will be interesting to see if they back him this summer given he's only there until 2020 anyway.

But we're copying Sheffield United's blueprint, so looking forward to next season.

Once again it comes back to my suspicion that Mowbray is going to have some difficulties in India in May if he turns up and requests a substantial budget to replace existing players. Turning up and telling them that they need to replace most of those they gave new deals to this time last year perhaps won't go down very well. A much easier sell to tell them that we only need extra depth and back-up. I still have memories of Lambert expecting 'big hitters' to arrive in the summer and then it becoming clear that they wouldn't allow that to happen.

In view of the fact that our status is now mathematically secure and that we are the only club in the Championship to be in that position, we now have an opportunity to establish a head start over rivals going into the summer and next season. We need to be full steam ahead this week onwards with planning, recruitment, pre-season etc. so we can use this window of time to our advantage. Whilst the play-off chasing sides are preoccupied with trying to get promoted and those below us are still threatened with relegation we are able to focus all our efforts on preparation, in some cases we can have 3-4 weeks head start on other clubs. Whilst the next 4 games should be enjoyed and should be put to use by the manager to 'experiment' (if that's what he wants to do), the focus should really be on getting ourselves into perfect shape to start next season with confidence and momentum. I'm afraid sitting around doing nothing until June or July and then coming out with excuses about it being a tough market or how much of a struggle it is because other clubs have more money is not acceptable. We have an advantage, perhaps small, but we should be using it.

Us and Grimsby are the only clubs in the leagues who are guaranteed to still be in the same league next year.