Gestede is planned to be involved, but he is not in the running to be the new DoF.

In the same respect, he doesn't need to come out and say anything of substance on the matter. Sometimes it's better to say nothing than risk sounding like an idiot. He's got a bit of form in the short time he's been here.

I know, right? It's akin to those 'thank the heavenly lord and all of his ever-loving mercy for healing me from this ailment'. It was the surgeon and his theatre staff; thank him. He did the actual work. Anyway, hopefully Duru gives us another option at RB this coming season, God willing.

Sounds like a Manc and, whilst I know it doesn't really matter, I always prefer local(ish) lads coming through. Not sure on this 'work of God' stuff though. It's hard work and good coaching that's got you this far Leo, don't downplay the effort.

He wasn't physically ready when he was first with us - had some raw attributes, but just wasn't ready. However, he looks to have bulked up a bit and has scored a few goals for Ipswich this season. I mean, he'd score more than Gally.

Agreed on that last point in particular. Broughton did his part in getting the players to the doorstep. The admin function (or whoever) then failed to bring them through the door on numerous occasions. Missing out on O'Brien was the big one for me; that would have been a huge signing at the time.

If that is the case, we will 100% be relegated next season. Quite possibly with a record low points tally. We have to spend money this summer and properly strengthen the squad, it's not negotiable.

I genuinely can't remember - whatever I'd have posted on that would have been directly what I'd been told (I'd have to go back and have a look). As I've said before, I'm not a famous ITK-er, nor do I want to be. But I'm passed some info from a source that has been extremely accurate (and not told to keep it under my hat), I like to pass it on. Better than the radio silence we get from the club 👍

No, things in India started in January, but we managed to podge our way through via various means until around that time. Nobody believed that there was a legal issue for quite some time, until the club were forced to acknowledge it.

It has crossed my mind, if I'm honest. But they have been critical of how the club has been run - as well as of the owners - in the past and without taking just tonight's bits into account, I don't get the general feeling that they are feeding propaganda. There are some other things (not on this topic) which have been shared in confidence and I'll respect that confidence - but, if indeed true, it shows me (as somebody who has been very critical of the club since JDT left) that some things are moving in the right direction behind the scenes. We do apparently have some money to spend, though no idea on values at the moment. I guess we'll need to see how things play out in the coming weeks.

Not that I'm aware of (they have a BRFCS account), but they do genuinely know what they're talking about. I kept a lot of what I was told under my hat last season, to see how it played out - and they do know their stuff. Suspect agent or something along those lines, but genuinely not sure.

If you remember some time at the start of this year, I was given some info around the issues in India and a few other bits around the club. Despite taking some grief for being 'cryptic / ITK bollocks' I just purely passed on the info I was given. And, in fairness, it was almost exclusively bob-on. We've not been in contact for a little bit, but I've literally had the below though tonight on both Silvester and Broughton. Feel free to disregard it if you so wish, but I'm told: Silvester sacked. Was sacked straight after the Maguire fiasco. However, club had to follow disciplinary procedure as he is an employee and not like a manager or player you can dismiss. He then went off long term sick and eventually dismissed. Club didn’t want to announce it due to where we were in the league. Broughton sacked. Failed in his signings (Wahlstead bought in on same salary as Kaminski!!) and lots more that have failed. Broughton ran out of Ewood as fast as he could and now trying to throw the club under the bus, similar to the JDT trick.

It's negative news for me. Between GB and JDT we appeared to have a plan, a vision and a mission - with a process of how to get there. Obviously this was hamstrung by the likes of Waggott and the lack of funds / failure to finalise some key deals when they were already over the line. As for Gestede, the nicest thing I can say about him is that he played me in for a shot on target in the 2nd half of the charity game at Ewood last week (when he probably should have shot). As a DoF, who knows. Does it really matter anymore? The end result will almost certainly be the same irrespective of who the Head Coach, or DoF, or Club Secretary is.

Go on Ian, spill the beans...

You'd like to think that we negotiated an additional fee for 'wins first England cap'. But then again, this is current-day Rovers we're talking about...

Speaks absolute volumes for a lot of this current squad. Chance to work for a winner and improve your game? Nah, we'd rather have several days off a week, cheers. Absolute loser mentality. As for SS, he know's he's off this summer but he did a good job of being diplomatic enough. Fair play to him and good luck, he's earned the move.

Was Silvester not the guy who was retiring this summer anyway? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Listened to this today, really enjoyed it. Loved the stories on Big Sam - great man-manager and sounds a genuinely nice bloke. Also interesting to hear Sam's approach to big, pressure games. Big the players up, give them specific instructions and get them fired up to believe they can win any game. As opposed to 'as long as we're competitive / it's not a game we need to win' in a home game against a divisional rival or 'we were outstanding today' after a heavy defeat...

Yeah, I caught that. This is what I mean, he'll already have a good idea of where he's heading, even if the whole club-to-club negotiations haven't been sorted yet. Shame for us, but he completely deserved a big move.

Agreed with this. Before the last few home games, against sides we should be beating, he came out with things like 'just be competitive' and 'we don't really need to win'. It's one thing trying to take pressure off the poor little delicate lambs on the pitch, but it's another spouting obvious bollocks. We've gone from the straight-talking, honest and insightful JDT interviews to generic bullshit. And I can't stomach it.

I'd take the GK and Rathbone from Rotherham. Rathbone is a Rovers lad and almost joined under Mowbray (but the deal fell through for reasons I can't remember). Is he any better than Garrett though? As nice as it would be, there's no chance SS is here next season - his agent will have done all of the leg work already and he'll have a lot of options, even at his age. We might play hardball for a while, but once the agent decides the boy is leaving, it's inevitable - as what happened with A.Wharton. If the club has any ambition at all - and wants to shift any season tickets - we'll get some signings over the line as early as possible, like last season. Waggott has made a public statement that the situation in India won't affect our transfer dealings this summer. It's not like he'd intentionally mislead fans, is it...?

We finished 6th in the '97-'98 season, 5 points off 4th under Roy (qualifying for the UEFA Cup). Relegated the next season. Edit: Just checked, it was the season before where we finished 2 above the drop zone.

We had 3 CBs (Pickering, McFadz, Carter), with Brittain and Chrisene at wing backs. But we defended excellently today. Pears made some good saves, whilst not forgetting the points his errors have cost us this season. Had to be SS, didn't it? If I'm being honest, I didn't feel relief today. Frustration at being in that position and almost an acceptance that we were going down once B'ham had scored. I wish I could be optimistic about a refresh in the summer, but the last 12-13 years have shown that it's going to be the same old.

There is an air of inevitability about this...

He played in the Football Aid In The Community game tonight at Ewood and he was still really good. Derbyshire got a hat trick and Paul Gallagher was a class above. Genuinely think all 3 wouldn't be any worse than what we've currently got in the first team.