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Its all a bit pointless really isn't it? (No dig at you!)

I'd argue a Danny Graham and Charlie Mulgrew plus a Craig Conway and this squad would look a lot sounder. Too many changes, no leaders and too many Championship mins gone, over night. I don't care who's in the dugout this kind of approach is a road to disaster for any one. Having said that Ismael has shown very little if any nous beyond standard coaching manual predictable stuff. I think the players are playing for him but half of them aren't good enough.

That's incredibly generous. Im sure chaddy will be jumping on at those odds to win back the money he frittered away on the Wharton scorecast.

Fans forum in 2 days any got an idea of who’s going and what the questions will be

150th Anniversary Working Group Wednesday 23rd April 2025 1. Brett Baker, Head of Football Administration, took us through possible pre-season friendlies and those clubs we have been in touch with regarding our 150t Anniversary (Hibernian and Birmingham also celebrating their 150th Anniversary) Athletic Club unable to play this pre-season but could look at pre-season 2026. Queens Park approached but possible dates too early for our pre-season schedule. Brett would also be making a request to the English Football League (EFL) special consideration for a home fixture on or close to the 5th November 2025 as possible. It was proposed we should also contact SKY regarding their scheduling of games for the first half of the 25/26 season 2. Steve Waggott, CEO, had been in contact with Elliott Charles of Old Etonians with a view of staging a re-enactment of their FA Cup Final along with inviting Darwen F C to also be involved in these games that we would be looking to stage in one of the International breaks during the 25/26 season (September, November or March) 3 . An official club letter had now been finalised with the view of sending to various governing bodies (FIFA, UEFA, FA, EFL) and possibly members of the Royal Family ( a copy of which was circulated to all attendees) Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, is also working on a Royal Visit that could include Blackburn Rovers. 4. Steve Waggott had approached the English FA to give permission for us to have a full size replica trophy to commemorate us being the only club to win the competition over three consecutive seasons in 1884, 1885 and 1886. We await further discussion with them on this 5. Just awaiting completing the final piece of the 150th Anniversary Book to enable it to got to print. 6. An 150th Anniversary Club video is nearing completion and the group will be updated once final cut is done. 7. 150th Anniversary Web page / site is now under construction and the club will look to finalise it come the end of the current season to enable events / projects to be posted and promoted. 8. Anna Melia, Head of Marketing, highlighted the 150th logo now being used plus informed the group that she had now sourced Commemorative Caps should they be required. The group felt i t would be beneficial to contact the Former Players Association to get their thoughts on who should receive a cap should we proceed with this initiative. 9. Steve Waggott proposed that the Blackburn Rovers Community Trust be our nominated charity for the 150" Anniversary year which was approved by all the group. 10. Nick Cooney and Mike Jackman advised the group that it had now been agreed with the club that the whole of the second floor of the Darwen End for the 150th Anniversary Exhibition. Work would commence as soon as possible on redecorating the rooms on the second floor with cabinets and design of rooms being discussed with external organisations. Discussions were on-going with the Heritage Lottery Fund for a smaller grant to facilitate certain parts of the larger unsuccessful bid. 11. Lynsey Talbot, Head of Operations, outlined the possible club events including a fireworks display on or around 5 November, a Gala Dinner and a summer 2026 Music Festival. Lots of other planned / themed events will be developed once fixture lists are released. Other potential partners had come on board followng the call to arms at the recent Blackburn with Darwen Partnership Forum including BwD Children Services Department and The Exchange in Blackburn. 12. Yasir Sufi, Head of Commercial, updated the group on a 150thLimited Edition Kit and also possible mural on the Watson Ramsbottom building in Blackburn Centre using local artists. Other sites were also being considered for further murals along with the need for consideration of appropriate 'Blue Plaques' locations. Jamie Holman was also looking at a musical performance in the Blackburn End with a choir of all ages. Darwen Terracotta had also stated an interest in being involved in the 150th Anniversary with Wayne Wild being a good contact t o discuss further. The use of LED Lighting of 150 being projected on to Ewood Park and other appropriate buildings would need to be discussed with the Council. 13. Paul Salmon proposed reaching out with our club letter to the Royal Family to see if there would be an acceptance of either Prince George or Princess Charlotte becoming an Honorary Club President. He also thought that the unveiling of a new piece of artwork could be linked to a visit from FIFA to unveil whatever we thought would be appropriate for our 150 Anniversary. Darwen Terracotta was mentioned again as a possible partner to look at this proposal. A time tunnel around Ewood Park was also suggested subject to funding. 14. Duncan Miller on re-engaging with supporters proposed Supporter Groups championing a player; flags with players and supporter group logos; introduce a limited printed matchday programme for the 25/26 season; develop a Fan Advisory Board (FAB) or Shadow Board 15. Steve Williams, representative of We Are The Rovers (WATR), informed the group that more military personnel had been found who had been former Rovers' players. He felt any exhibition should include a military section. He also said h e was available to help as and when required on heritage initiatives / projects. 16. Anna Melia highlighted the fact of having an inclusive approach on gathering ideas and opinions from younger supporters/ Junior Fans Forum especially around what the club and Town would look like in another 150 years. 17. The meeting ended in a general discussion around seeking appropriate sponsors for various elements of the initiatives being proposed. Date of next meeting - During May The follow up meeting to this was in July, not May. By that time Steve Waggott had left so no minutes were ever circulated but a number of the above ideas were completely taken off the table with no discussion. There has been no follow up meetings or even any email correspondence to the committee since.

Must admit, it is a struggle to think of another two we might finish ahead of ☹️

Will there be a call to sack Pasha, Gestede and Valerian given results and transfer window?

Can't see us getting anything at home to Sheffield U making us swap places and being bottom

Just need another two places to be taken now. Any ideas on who might fill those other two slots ahead of us because I can't think of anyone!

Including Callum Brittain who previously loved him at Barnsley but couldn’t wait to leave in the summer. Awful manager

Cant say this is the Rovers i started to support in 1992. Sad to see how they have destroyed our club since 2012. Pasha Gestede Ismael OUT

On PaddyPower right now, we're 5/1 to go down. Other favourites include: Wednesday 1/33 Oxford EVENS Derby 5/2 Pompey 4/1 I think also think these are the teams we'll have to scrap it out to the death with. Other shortish prices which I'm less convinced of: Watford 9/2 Norwich & QPR 6/1 PNE & Wrexham 7/1

Indeed there are, and we got one of those in JDT (but only after Broughton delivered the curveball, before then we were looking at Duncan Ferguson). But finding one of the leftfield appointments and it working well is only half the story - you've then got to harness it and build on it to try and let it blossom into something successful. At the good ship Rovers the agenda was never to be successful or for it to get anywhere, so all efforts were geared towards undermining it and ensuring it fell to pieces. Again, results a minor trivial issue in the equation. What was important was a willingness to tolerate the Venky shenanigans and not complain. Now they've got their ideal man 'aligned' to their project: Won't complain or call them out in public Won't attract interest or offers from elsewhere Won't object to them offloading whichever players they fancy cashing in on Will agree to work with whatever randomers Gestede unearths Such a man is worth his weight in gold to this regime, hence the 3 year contract. Again, results inconsequential to all this, so as long as he carries on doing as he's told and behaving himself he'll get to collect his wage and continue.

I'd actually forgotten about Morishita today until you mentioned him just then. Like you say, he was the big one, the priority signing we worked on all summer apparently.

I can't believe I didn't lump on three games ago at that 7/1. Won't be much better then Evens now I wouldnt have thought.

After his failings at West Brom and Watford and with his CV he wouldn't have got such a job (or close to it) at any other club in the same division. So we can add him to the list together with Kean, Berg, Singh, Agnew, Bowyer, Coyle, Mowbray, Waggott, Suhail and Gestede - none of whom would have got jobs elsewhere in the Championship and haven't since us (save for Mowbray having a few very short stints elsewhere after being here). The trio at the top can reflect on having that in common - do they call this 'alignment'?

7 goals from 9 matches is a big concern: Morishita - seen as a marquee signing yet didn't play a single minute today for whatever reason. Gueye - fallen out of favour Ohashi - hasn't improved/ stepped up since last season Gudjohnsen - his quality can be questioned at this point. Need a goal to get going. Cantwell - only one who has shown quality attacking-wise and are behind most of our goals (3 goals, 2 assists). Him getting injured at this stage with big matches coming up is a huge blow. Playing three at the back today worked decently up until around the 60-minute mark. However, it was a risky move knowing that we didn't have Carter as backup on the bench and Miller ended up getting injured. Funny how we played with Tronstad as a sitting midfielder in front of the back three yet failed to close down opposition players twice from shooting right outside the box? In both instances, you have 6-7 of our own players getting back defending the box vs 2 or 3 Coventry players? Why? What are our midfielders doing at that point? We're in trouble if we can't even do basic defending. And please, someone tell Rhodes to get down to the training ground and teach our strikers how to score goals just like what JDT did with Szmodics...

Im as keen to see Remembrance Day properly observed as the next person, but it would be a massive stretch to interpret any protests against the Club as a mark of disrespect to those departed. You're merely doing what you always do though in taking the contrary and view so no real surprise there.

Don't know why anyone would argue that we played well first half to be honest.

Looks like Sheffield Wednesday are heading for administration - that’s one relegation spot gone if it happens. Could be a big help to us in relation to staying up.

The Owen Coyle team would beat this mob. Christ, Tavares makes hope Akpan look like Viera

I said it after a couple of games that this season stinks of Owen Coyle season and I think I was wrong, this will get worse. Lots of positives, played well, etc. bollocks. Good teams win more matches than they lose, we lose considerably more than we win so draw your own conclusions

I think if we had appointed pretty much anyone else last season after Eustace walked, we would have got into the playoffs. When you look back at the position we were in, the favorable run of fixtures we had, the fact that some of the other usual suspects for the playoffs had 'off' seasons, it's quite incredible that we managed to not finish in the playoff places. It really took some doing to not finish in them, because so many other teams stumbled and faltered. I'm not saying we would have won the playoffs, I don't think the team was good enough for that. But if we had finished 5th or 6th, that would have been our best ever season under the Venkys, without question. But instead we went for someone who historically barely lasts a year at a club, with a very questionable record of success. We went from someone who put man-management front and centre of his approach to someone who doesn't seem to give a toss about the players and will throw them under the bus at the first opportunity. His approach to last season was so awful that all our senior and experienced players left the club as quickly as they could, I'm convinced he is one of the reasons they were so keen to leave.

Who said it to you?

Gallacher said on Radio Lancs he twisted his back badly in the first half and that that could cause all sorts of problems elsewhere. Then he went off in the second half.