Just nowhere near as intelligent of a player, which is fair enough.

Big chance missed for Chrisene, on his weaker foot.

Seems suspiciously chipper…

List of them here: https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/february/02/watch-rovers-against-rangers-live-/

It’s bleak, but you can only lead a horse to water. I suppose they’ll be happy to ride the coattails of any hypothetical fan action that leads to improved ownership and forget all about their support of the Venky’s. Was he all misty-eyed about Saint Tony, as well?

“Season 13?! Really?! You think people are going to buy this? You think people are going to get invested in missing out on a transfer that could turn into a club record fee, if they get promoted, because the Club Secretary is incompetent? You think they’ll suspend disbelief as this team misses out on a playoff spot to an injury-time handball goal by the opposition’s goalkeeper?!” If we don’t laugh, we’ll cry.

This. A lot of naivety on the board around exactly what the majority of footballers do with their money. Especially at the level he played at. “The rich don’t work for money,” as they say.

Was a cracking day out!

I rate Lee Carsley as a shout, but he must be eyeing up the main England job after Southgate leaves. Their policy seems to be keeping it internal.

Absolutely not getting ahead of myself (, he lied) but if I were to be: How many times have you just left a job, on the spot? I get that football is generally different, but on the eve of a game is a bit extreme and if it’s a genuinely mutual decision, he could be mindful of leaving a squad without a bit of guidance for an important match (it’s important in its context). He can wave to the fans on the way off and nobody can criticise him for a moment. It’s a classy move, honestly. I am reluctant to commit to any particular line of thinking after the abject chaos of yesterday, but the kind of scenario that should seem unthinkable anywhere else is now par for the Ewood/Brockhall course.

Extremely difficult not to read WAY too far into today’s events. Absolutely fascinating few days coming up. Either he goes and then chaos or he doesn’t go and it probably never gets addressed, leading to utter confusion.

This has Pasha’s grubby mitts all over it. Storming in to issue the “no transfers with fees, no contracts past the end of the season” edict, then getting wind of the likelihood that the club gets bashed for the policy. The guy is rotten, clearly.

Don’t threaten me with a good time.

Impressive, although - again - another only to the end of the season. Has to be something in the lack of commitment past the end of the season. Something has to be driving it.

One more incoming?!!! edit: Elliott Jackson previously said that was the final one, so he’s kind of exposed himself with that.

Not that it matters, but has anyone got an indication of a fee?

Teasing is a big part of foreplay, I’ve heard.

I will state the obvious for anyone biting their tongue from saying, “get behind the lads, FFS, Venky’s are keeping the club afloat,” or similar: if Venky’s sanction the Wharton money for spending in the summer, then fair enough and I shall toast each of them at my wedding to Margot Robbie in the Autumn. Buy a hat, gang, you’ve been warned.

I’ll be thankful of being excited by a player, so long as “excitement” isn’t a euphemism for heart palpitations when he passes to an opposition player while playing out from the back and punching my own head when we concede from it. Not that I expect that, of course.

What debt? The debt to Venky’s? We lose £20m/year, they cover it and add it to the tab. What debt are you referring to? Not to be rude, but if you don’t understand the mechanics behind this, it’s not a big deal, you need experience with it to understand and not everybody has had it. It’s like a credit card. If you get laid off from a job and use your credit card for groceries while you don’t have a job, that’s alright, except if when you do get a job, you don’t make enough money to not continue buying groceries on it. The debt increases and you can’t eat into it because you don’t make enough. Would you then sell the tools you do the job with, or your car, in the hope you can pay some of it off? its not like a loan or finance on an object and where you make payments on it. We lose money just by existing, covering those costs doesn’t stop the inevitable and continuing to sell assets without buying new ones that can appreciate in value means you end up less like to ever overcome the burden.

I think those in charge congratulate themselves on their progress and continue on their course. Sell Szmodics on 1st September and explain how difficult it has been to get deals over the line, but that October’s Indian court hearing should free up some funds for January, unless it gets delayed again…

It’s the right question for him to ask! Paying down debt when you run at a loss means anything you pay off (which we don’t have to do, generally because our illustrious owners pay our bills for us) will rack up again.

This is an inane take. Paying down debt by selling assets which you then don’t replace, when you run at a loss means you’re just delaying the inevitable. The point I assume mattyblue is making - correctly - is it’s not a good deal for the club because the funds aren’t being reinvested to try and create more saleable assets. The owners have created the conditions for this cycle and are visibly so inept that they cannot recognise the futility of their actions.

Yeah, it’s really bad when you lay it all out like this

Strikes me that loans over permanent is related to contract length/“loyalty bonuses”/long-term outgoings. You can’t execute the model they’ve claimed they’re following without permanent transfers to replace your outgoings. I think Venky’s are genuinely shitting themselves about the court case outcome or the interminable rounds of hearings. They have looked at £22m as two tranches of cash they aren’t on the hook for, but that’s contingent on a budget remaining steady. If they isolate costs associated with loans as one-offs, almost like capex, they can find it, but they can’t allow actual running costs to go up. I suppose they haven’t factored in the downturn in match day, ticket and other fan-derived revenue that will come as time goes on, but all of that will be the responsibility of those at the club, in their eyes. We all know how bad it looks, but it feels like we might not yet know exactly how bad it is, “it” being the current status of the club.