JHRover

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.

Lambert is coming out with all the same sort of stuff that he was doing here. This is a great club. Fantastic. The supporters have been great. This summer will be a big rebuild. Too many mistakes have been made before I arrived. Supporters love to hear it and he knows it. O'Neill is coming out with all the same stuff at Forest only expectations there are higher and the fans harder to please. it will only wash for so long. Lambert is getting away with it because blame for their demise is heaped on Evans, McCarthy and Hurst rather than Lambert. They all expect him to come good. He'll get some stick if they're struggling in League One next season. Lambert's at a crossroads now. Having gone down with Stoke and Ipswich in consecutive seasons and only been in each of his last four jobs for about 6 months, he simply has to do a good job somewhere. Don't know whether his ego will be able to take being in League One but that's probably as good as it will get.

Think Wigan will be ok. Their home form is decent and they don't lose often so they should scrape the win that will probably do it. Rotherham's fixture list is tough. Wigan have PNE and Millwall at home to come, i expect they'll win one of those.

'Looking' to 'launch' 'information' in mid to late April does not mean people will be able to go and buy season tickets. To me that is a vague comment that may or may not result in some information being released before the end of the month. Meanwhile many other clubs have had them on sale since February with proper early bird incentives in place. If that's the way they want to do it then that's up to them but I wish they'd stop with the self-pity about income and low crowds. Do something proactive about it if you're that concerned!

I'd say in this day and age Armstrong at less than £2 million is a bargain. It's only because Venkys have been so tight on funds over the last 5 years that one or two are raising eyebrows at it. Normally someone of his age with his background would be well worth spending that sort of money on. All it takes is a decent season in the Championship and he'll be worth much more than that. His background and price range are the sort we should be going for as a club - experience of where we are at with plenty of scope to improve and develop.

Been linked with that job on and off for ages. Could be a spectacular success or horrible failure. He did quite well initially at both Spurs and Villa but then things unravelled. Helps when his mates Ferdinand and Ramsey are running things behind the scenes at QPR.

I think we'll be lucky if the club has even announced prices and selling periods by then, and yes I think actually getting them on sale is too much to ask. To me it is utter madness to not have them on sale by the day of the Swansea game at the absolute latest. No doubt we'll wait until that is out of the way and the season is over and then release them when many people won't be back at Ewood until August. I noticed on the Fans Forum minutes that Waggott said he expected prices to be announced later in April. That isn't the same as getting tickets on sale. For me there should be an early bird window which expires about now or late April, and then general sale is opened by the day of the Swansea game so that anyone attending that match has the opportunity to sign up whilst they are at Ewood, especially if that game is being treated as a cheap ticket day and there could well be people there who don't usually go.

That really hurts.

That's on the basis they expect to go down and be challenging for promotion and bounce back immediately. Give it a few years of stagnation in League One and they'll soon change their tune.

Doubt Venkys would want or have the sense to sell even if they were after buying us.

Coventry have said that they won't be staying at the Ricoh next season and are in discussions with two clubs about groundsharing next season. The League are due to have an EGM in 2 weeks where expulsion from the league could be an outcome if they don't have something sorted. Interesting that when the news about the EGM came out a few weeks ago it was rumoured that the League were insisting that they stay in the Coventry boundaries and played no more than 6 miles from the city centre, yet it now seems they are prepared to compromise on that and allow them to groundshare further away. Presumably another 'arrangement' like at Bolton where the league are terrified of cracking down and making an example of these clubs due to uproar from fans and the media so they'll bend over backwards to accommodate them even if it means their fans can't or won't go watching them. Meanwhile down the pyramid in non-league the small fish get landed under a tonne of bricks when they do something wrong.