I'm in the Directors Box tomorrow evening so it will be interesting to see if he attend's although I'm pretty sure that he lives locally as I saw him walking through Mellor during lockdown 1.0

I'd have him out the door tomorrow - totally out of touch with fans on virtually every level and IMO wholly unsuitable for the position of CEO of our football club.

this was the departure I alluded to in the Billy Barr thread... will be interesting to see how the recruitment department is downsized restructured over the coming months.

I'm afraid your information is incorrect 1864roverite. It's 4500 tickets for the Darwen End plus 250 (max.) in Legends Lounge... there might be a few scattered around the home stands, but that's it. If my information is wrong, I'd be VERY surprised but not as surprised as the person who told me. 😁

Simon Copper is/was Head of Recruitment at the Academy - identifying players to be into Brockhall for the different age groups right upto and including the u23's.

before people start getting carried away and needlessly speculating, its NOT Damien Johnson.

like Tom and Simon I used to be on the FF and the original premise of it wasn't to be an overly critical friend to the club, more of a sounding board for idea's floated by the club in terms of improving the general match day experience of fans - it certainly wasn't set-up to hold this car crash of a club to account run by people who choose not to listen or are intent of feathering their own nest at the expense of the club. There were (and still are) good people who work for the football club and it must be soul destroying watching the club mismanaged and shrunk to a point where their jobs are either combined with other roles, or become altogether obsolete. Likewise the forum was made up of people who had the best interest of the club at heart and although sometimes we needed to ask difficult questions, we either got an 'off the record' reply or an honest answer - I can very rarely recall a time in my years on the FF when the answer was 'we'll get back to you' The only thing I'd be critical of about the forum then and now is that the majority of the people on it, although fans, offer very little in terms of input - go through the minutes as far back as you can and you'll only ever see the same few people asking questions or making a point. There are too many passive people on it who don't wish to rock the boat for whatever reason and given the current people in charge, that is absolutely perfect for the club who can pay lip service. It is a tough balancing act for the FF as some people have invested a lot of years into it and wouldn't want the plug pulling because someone gets carried away trying to make a point/name for themselves, however they are at the point of appearing to be an invisible set of supporters who just go to have their tummy tickled.

I very much doubt - the football industry is quite a small circle of people and any prospective new employer wouldn't look to kindly on them going public on their previous club. It's not a good look publicly berating your previous employer, if you want to get a similar job within the same industry whether that be football or any other industry for that matter. 🙂

In isolation, I'd be inclined to agree with you however when 3 senior members of staff from the Academy and STC are leaving and set to leave within the next couple of weeks, maybe there is something more to it than initially meets the eye. There may of course be a perfectly reasonable explanation for them all, however with the club in the bit of a negative tailspin it is human nature that people will look for the worst, or an angle at least.

thanks for letting me know about the typo... alas no, although they have all been very quiet of late. Btw, I'm not getting into the guessing game and won't be making any further comment although know of at least one other person on here know's their identity ... if my information is wrong (which I very much doubt) I'm going to have some egg on my face.

Not that I'm aware of... if it was the manager, I'm sure far more eminent and well connected members than me, would be aware 🙂

I'm hearing that there will also be a relatively significant (or insignificant, depending on your view of their role) departure within the next few weeks. Yes they are leaving, however their words paint a troubled picture both at Ewood and the STC 🤨

or they could now be asking one person to do the job of two... depends on FACT and not guesswork. Was just putting information out there, that I'd been told 🙂

from somebody very well connected within the club "There are two ladies at the training ground who have worked at the club for 49 years between them. They have been told to reapply for their jobs, but there is only one job"

the Accounts where approved by the club on 11th December 2020 yet were somehow submitted late to Companies House - the deadline being 30th June 2021, however were actually submitted on 6th July 2021. Absolute basics 🤯

I was in the stand today, along the pitch and the one thing I did notice (that hasn't been mentioned) is how some players seemed to be subtly negative toward the coaching methods of David Lowe - messers Rothwell & Travis in particular had body language which was less than ideal. I was impressed with the backline in the first half - Pike, Barnes, Cater and Pickering who seemed organised, communicated well with the full backs offering an attacking threat. In the second half, I thought that Butterworth and McBride showed glimpses of promise with the later taking his goal very well. Overall it was the sort of game you'd expect first up in pre-season.