Greg "Bullshit" Broughton.

So playing devil's advocate, do you think £900k in wages plus no doubt a hefty loan fee for O'Brien for 5 months would have been "managing it wisely" either?

I genuinely don't understand why anyone WOULDN'T be incensed by what's happened. For me personally it's an all time low in the tenure of the current ownership to rank alongside the aborted attempt to flog off the training ground on a false premise. It's the fact that once again we are so obviously being lied to and taken for absolute mugs. In this case it obviously has serious adverse consequences for 3rd parties as well not just for our own football Club.

I'll believe you, thousands wouldn't! Personally I find the constant singling out of said poster rather uncomfortable as I think he is extremely sincere in his views and love for the Club even if I don't agree with him a lot of the time.

Absolutely. 100% agree. If there was anything whatsoever to do with the deal that they were unsure about or hadn't come across before, then they should have checked with the EFL earlier in the day. Unless of course they didn't really want the deal to go through, but at the same time wanted to create the illusion they were doing something.

What if Rochdale went under because they were relying on that money for the young lad to tide them over until the end of the season? And what agent is going to want his player to come to the Club after this? Still, at least Greg has "put the recruitment department back to the state it was in before" according to several posters. Happy Days.

Nothing about the Club's version of events surrounding this sorry episode adds up. I got taken to task by m'learned friend Atko for suggesting the failures might have been deliberate but even if he had been directly ordered to sanction this deal by the owners I can't imagine any scenario in which Waggott would have been happy with authorising that kind of expenditure given the importance he has always recently placed on not breaking the wage structure and the implications it might have had for him personally in meeting any costs targets etc.

I presume you think I was being too harsh on GB given your post above. Care to reassess that view in light of the January window?

It's a good question. It's becoming increasingly difficult to argue against the proposition that they don't care. But if they don't, why do they bankroll us to such a massive extent instead of just cutting their losses and walking away?

I wouldn't get yourself too bogged down in technicalities - you're falling into exactly the trap the Club want you to of thinking this was an immensely complex deal that was practically impossible to pull off. At the end of the day this was a loan until the end of the season with an option to purchase for £10m if we got promoted. How difficult or unusual can that be? IF the EFL wanted to know what the script was if we were promoted then immediately relegated then I can't see why that would have been so difficult for Rovers to deal with either. You'd imagine that they'd have been through all that with O Brien's agent, it's difficult to imagine he would have allowed his client to join without knowing what sort of money he'd be on if we were promoted and what the financial implications would be for him if we were relegated.

Pretty much. It's amazing that some people can't see it after we went through exactly the same thing under Mowbray for years.

The guy is so obviously a complete and utter fraud. It's highly unlikely that spending a couple of million would send the Club over the edge and that's even if that couple of million were completely wasted. Of course with a competent recruitment team you'd actually hope that that couple of million would be well spent and be a good investment for the future rather than a millstone round the Club's neck.

He's saying exactly the opposite.

*BREAKING NEWS* Secret transcript obtained of meeting at Ewood following January transfer window: GB: (Rushes into SW's office looking flustered) "Steve, Steve- the fans are revolting! SW: I know, and they're not very happy either! The bloody lengths you have to go to to earn £300k p.a. these days. It's almost like they expect us to comply with the regulations or something. I might have to tempt Andy Cole out of retirement and go back to being an agent. GB: "I've never seen them like this before. They didn't even bat an eyelid when I paid £1.8m plus add ons for Sammy Szmodics and £10kp.w. for George Hirst on loan! SW: " Looks like they didn't buy our sob story about it being the EFL's fault for being pedantic. I knew I should never have asked the dinner lady to draft the official Club statement - she didn't strike the right note at all and couldn't even get it to read properly in plain English. GB: "Whatever shall we do Steve?" SW: "Hmmm......this isnt good, for once there's been such a commotion about it the owners might even notice. I'll tell you what, one of us will have to go in front of the cameras, look suitably apologetic and pretend to take the blame for it. Most of the supporters will believe it and it'll be next week's chip paper. I'll toss you for it." (Produces double headed coin) GB:"Tails" SW: Bad luck Greg. Off you go. Don't forget to mention the word "process" in every other sentence. If you mention it often enough it'll fool people into thinking we have an actual plan and know what we're doing. I'll also leak a few select details to Nixon. Won't make a blind bit of difference to err....the "appeal" of course (both chuckle heartily) but at least he can publish to make it look like we've been hard done by. Of course I won't tell him the full tale. GB: "Genius Steve! BTW how does this look?." (Undo's a few buttons in an attempt to look dishevelled and puts on distraught expression. SW: "Brilliant Greg! Oscar worthy! You should have been an actor. GB: "Maybe I should Steve. After all we've just seen I can't conduct transfer business! (Both laugh uproariously as Greg exits) The next day........ (GB's mobile rings) SW: "See, I told you it would work!"

Morning Paul. I'm glad you're happy with the situation and content that the Club have done all they can. However I'm afraid I have some really bad news for you. You can't just sign anyone whenever you want any more, they introduced something called "a transfer window" about twenty years ago now in 2002-3. As the name suggests it's called a "window" because at some point it shuts so that Clubs have a degree of certainty for large parts of the season and aren't looking over their shoulders worried that their best players are going to get poached twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. As such you have to meet a deadline for your transfer business before the window shuts and it seems they even expect you to file your paperwork correctly as well! I know. Crazy eh? Who'd have ever thought it? Still there you go!

Evening Gav, sounds like you've been on the sauce tonight, what "written testimony" have I ever ignored? I've also only ever defended the owners on their commitment to the Club in terms of their financial input not their overall record. As regards the latest debacle, it's nothing whatsoever to do with the owners it's entirely the fault of the people entrusted and paid handsomely to run the Club on their behalf. However it will be inexcusable if the lot of them aren't sacked after this just as it's inexcusable that the useless and devious Waggott continues in employment year after year drawing a huge salary for running the Club into the ground. It's becoming increasingly wearisome tbh, I'm getting a bit old for this shit. However if it's a choice between chancers like Waggott/Mowbray/Venus and Broughton seeing me off after 52 years of watching the Club or me seeing Waggott off I'd far rather it was the latter. Just about the only thing keeping me going at the moment.

Failed to secure Nyambe after he arrived Seemingly has failed to secure BBD as well. Failed to bring in a (decent) striker in 2 windows Hirst main target in summer Mola /Morton poor Szmodics massively overpriced and even worse. Brittain has turned out to be a crock. Goes on about pathways for our youth then signs Morton on loan which keeps Adam Wharton out of the side and chases and fails to land a CB who would have further pushed Phillips down the pecking order. When neither can get many first team minutes anyway. Disastrous January window, scratching about at the last minute resulting ultimately in us being embroiled in a hugely embarrassing failure to get either of 2 deals over the line on deadline day. Knock on effects for the players concerned and parent Clubs. Never happened before prior to his arrival. If you don't think all that's a disaster, I'd love a job working for you!

It's frightening how much people seem to take at face value anything they read without stopping to work out if it's likely to be true. There are a number of problems with what Nixon says. 1) Is he claiming the EFL wanted to know what would happen if we were relegated from the Championship this season? That seems unlikely in the extreme as a clause requiring us to pay £10m in the event of promotion is not triggered by relegation. Or does he mean if we were promoted then relegated again? 2) Either way: if this is true, no matter how trivial the request seemed, why could we not have just answered it before the deadline anyway? Especially if as claimed elsewhere there was "a 27 minute delay caused by a moot point?" Did they just sit around for 26 minutes going "That's a bloody silly point, I don't think I'll bother answering it". 3) His claim that one deal failed because an agent's name had an "e" missing and/or a box was left unchecked would seem to directly contradict the Club's official statement that the problem was a document was unsigned. As incompetent as the Club are you'd assume they would know the reason why the Registration was rejected in the first place.

Why does GB generate such enthusiasm with certain posters? He's been an unmitigated disaster since he joined the Club. (Sure someone will mention "Hyam" in a minute but even Owen Coyle managed to unearth and sign Charlie Mulgrew. And we managed to get the paperwork for that done correctly and in time.) However that's done.

Yeah, a search for a low level patsy to take the blame. Either that or a closing of ranks and an Executive oder to everyone not to breathe a word of what REALLY happened.

Bravo Sir. Nail, hammer, head.

No.

Christ, how easily some people are duped. If Waggott is fired and replaced by Broughton in the immediate aftermath of this once the appeal is rejected then I will apologise as I've will obviously have read it wrong. But I highly doubt he will be. It'll be business as usual, happy days.

What a load of absolute and utter bollux. "Takes full responsibility" - but doesn't walk I notice. "What went wrong" - "I can't tell you" "What do you think the chances of winning an appeal are?" "Not very good" (but we're doing it anyway because we're the good guys in this scenario) FUCK OFF!!!! Christ they're even trying to take the moral high ground and extract some credit out of the entire debacle. The most hollow of hollow apologies after the furore caused by the original Club Statement was so great that it must have dawned on even those knobheads that they had to try and do something. There wasn't a hint of contrition before everyone kicked off! Absolutely clear listening to that that no heads whatsoever will roll unless there's a very token sacrifice much lower down the food chain. They're collectively trying to save their arses and highly paid jobs. I wouldn't mind betting that they've drawn straws over who's going to front it upand he's been assured his job won't be in jeopardy if he goes out and pretends to take responsibility. They're obviously hoping that by coming out with this late apology of sorts the whole thing will quickly blow over and then it'll be back to business as "normal". (For us) Funny how this "process" he keeps referring to, and hinting was at fault, and which by his own admission has been in place ten years, has never let us down previously on transfer deadline day isn't it? And an outward transaction also went through without a hitch on the same evening. Funny that! Having listened to that I'm more convinced than ever that Broughton needs extracting from the Club as urgently as Waggott.

x1000.