What came clear from this interview is that any further attempts to interview RG would be a complete waste of time as he spouts absolute nonsense and attempts to answer difficult questions with points that bear no real relation to the question being asked. You really nailed him with the point that it would be sensible to increase investment at strategic points, e.g. when you're sat 5th in the table in January. That point is incontrovertible really but all he could say in response was come out with some lame excuse about how he knew what his annual budget was and that it would remain unchanged no matter what position we found ourselves in. Sums up the hopelessness of our current situation but good work by you guys nonetheless.

I voted "yes" on the assumption that the majority view of the Coalition will be that the end objective is to remove the owners and their hired goons from the Club. I don't think you need to be too sheepish about your objectives, you should be clear and precise about them from the outset, and if you are right then people should come on board in great numbers. Similarly if other people or groups want to take a slightly different approach then that's entirely their prerogative as well, as long as you have a clear and compelling message you don't have to speak for every single member of the fanbase. For many years I thought thought the best way forward would be to combine Venky's financial clout with top class management. Sadly, we never got to a point where we saw the two combined, we either had money spunked up against the wall by a succession of charlatans or the unambitious Mowbray, or finally when a couple of great and ambitious Coaches in JDT and Eustace did eventually arrive, the money had run out. At Senior management and Boardroom level the level of incompetence has continued unchecked and unabated throughout and as far as the owners are concerned they became neither use nor ornament the minute they ceased funding the Club as previously. Good luck with all you're doing. When Eustace was here I used to express the view that we were one poor manager or Coach away from oblivion and I'm not convinced VI isn't it.

Again great post, the situation perfectly summed up in six lines or so. It is difficult to imagine something like this happening ANYWHERE else. It seems pretty obvious the play off attempt was deliberately sabotaged by bringing in players who generally weren't match fit and then refusing to pacify Eustace or allay any of his his concerns. Compounded by then bringing in a new Head Coach with a completely different approach and style of play. BUT - to then publicly more or less admit as such simply beggars belief. They really are taking people's loyalty for granted.

I didn't think Broughton was sincere in the slightest. He knew exactly what the score was from day one - sell everything that moved - BUT he was a Grade A bullshitter and somehow managed to wrap a pink bow on a great big steaming turd by actually managing to convince some people that this strategy was conducive with becoming "a sustainable Premier League Club". Gestede isn't even attempting to put the pink bow on or make the process sound half way palatable and has more or less admitted we're not interested in things that are the be all and end all at most Clubs like trying to make the play offs or be successful. Exciting times. Do we think we're the only Professional Club in the League whose aim is not to succeed on the pitch?

Great post.

Yes, until the end of Mowbray's last season.

The situation changed completely around the time of the Court case when they were no longer prepared to fund the Club as they had done previously. You're an intelligent poster and know that full well of course but you'd rather choose to ignore that obvious fact in favour of scoring cheap points off me.

I'm considering the longer term future of the Club. If you want to stick your head in the sand and are happy to merely go along to games and support the team and enjoy the day out whilst ignoring the wider context that's absolutely fine. A lot of supporters I'm sure feel the same. I applaud your dedication in trailing up to Sunderand for a dead rubber, I couldn't do it. Mowbray finished me off the first time we imploded. Let alone the second (and now third) times.

If you cant afford to offer them what they want, that's not ideal but at least own up to it, what sticks in my craw is Gestede trying to dress it up as an "exciting" opportunity

The irony...... Have always stood up for you in the past as well.

I've absolutely no idea how you can give manager and players alike so much credit for playing themselves out of play off contention then rallying slightly when it doesn't matter. If a mathematical miracle does occur then I will doff my hat to you before eating it but if not my comment stands. If everyone is happy with mediocrity and this annual charade of being In with a chance of doing something before imploding, absolutely nothing will ever change.

He didn't do a good job overall. He did a very good job until the end of the League one promotion campaign. With the benefit of hindsight that would have been the best time to shake hands and part Company. His Championship tenure was imo pretty disastrous culminating in the fairly desperate long term situation we find ourselves in now. There has understandably been a recent groundswell of sympathy for him due to his recent health issues which were unfortunate but that doesn't mean people should rewrite history and make out he did a better job here or anywhere else he tanked than he actually did.

Ah OK. So instead of being on say £2k p.w. we'll have offered him £2001 p.w. or similar.

Not that it has any bearing on whether he's likely to sign a new deal, but out f curiosity how do you know what Dolan's agent looks like?

How are we going to get them to re-sign if we haven't even opened negotiations with them yet? Also how can you say "it matters not a jot" if we don't offer them the going rate? It's absolutely vital. No player worth his salt is going to sign for less than he's worth simply because he's quite enjoyed his time here previously. Only players with no other option who no other Club would want (Hedges?) would do that.

Do we even know if he's been offered a new deal.

Yes.

I detest Mowbray. For me he's a major reason why we're in as much of a mess as we are today. When the owners did still retain a modicum of interest following promotion from Div 1 and were prepared to put some money in he had no interest at all in pushing the Club forward and even publicly admitted he tried to dampen their expectations! Just think what we might have achieved had we had a JDT or a Eustace in charge at that time. Following that there was an interview during Covid which a lot of people thought portrayed him as "good old Uncle Tone" but it gave his game away completely. Only interested in prolonging the gig for himself as long as possible until he'd met his financial objectives, only really interested in looking after his existing group of players as opposed to doing what was necessary to succeed and replacing where necessary, yet conversely seemingly not bothered about pressurising the owners to tie down the Club's more valuable assets on new deals. "We don't want to upset the others" etc. Not surprised at all he's tanked at West Brom. Under their new owner they seem to be a proper Club with genuine direction so extinguishing any hope excitement and expectation in favour of going on another four or five year "journey" to nowhere was never going to fly there - they've sussed him out fairly quickly.

Just noticed this. Terrific article Ian. Well done.

Agents, of which Waggott was once one as Andy Cole would readily testify.

I mean who'd have thought a player who hadn't kicked a ball for 9 or 10 months might spend more time out injured than available or at least not be match fit? Thank God we have football "professionals" earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year running the Club.

From the recent interviews it sounds like the non renewals are being dressed up as an "exciting" opportunity for VI to mould his own squad with his own type of (cheaper) players.

"Communicating to stakeholders" This is the sort of flowery tosh that is made a big song and dance about when really all that matters is doing the right thing. As supporters we don't need to know absolutely everything that's going on behind the scenes. In the contract situation all that actually matters is that our better players are signed up to new deals. If we had had no idea at all that talks had been taking place and suddenly new deals were announced for the likes of Brittain and Travis, that would be absolutely fine. The trouble at this Club is we never tie our better players down in timely fashion. The fact we're also kept in the dark about what is or isn't happening is merely an added irritant.

Don't even mention those two in the same breath! Tronstad's a slightly better version of Corry Evans.

Why should anyone give him credit for eight points from nine games and blowing our play off chances?