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I would imagine they will reduce the catering staff requirement if they're doing so for stewards regardless of that post on twitter being wrong. Stewards are there for safety, so the club has an obligation to staff for the reasonable maximum crowd. Obviously it's not as important to have enough bar staff etc. And they already understaff the kiosks anyway, have you ever tried to buy a pint at HT? We'll know soon enough anyway.

I think we will somehow win this one, bizarre error at back for Watford or an own goal or red card to go in our favour and somehow win 1-0 in a turgid game. No rationale or reason for that, just think the football gods will chuck in a coupon buster at our long term expense as it will keep operation Ismael rolling a bit longer. The manager, board and Venkyclappers will go into smug overdrive and then we'll go on another abysmal run.

I don't think they're closing bars and kiosks I think they will just be on a skeleton staff. If they did start closing stuff, Venkyclappers on social media would just blame boycotters, not the owners. "So negative, get behind the lads, we should be grateful they're putting the money in, boycotters will kill the club" etc etc etc

I very much doubt Gestede has the authority to sack Ismael. At the very least he will need the approval of Pasha, and I'm not even sure Pasha has that authority, he'd probably need approval from India or the money men in Pune to terminate such a contract. Too many cooks spoiling the broth again and too much of a long chain back to a decision, too many arses to protect and jobs on the gravy train to maintain. Too many boats risk being rocked and nobody wants to draw attention onto the comfy setup they've got going for themselves down at Ewood. Oh no, they want to keep things as they are. If anything the increasing pressure and focus on results and Ismael's performance helps divert attention away from their mismanagement and destruction from the boardroom. They'll probably be enjoying everyone talking about 1 win in 13 and abysmal performances rather than them. Even if a decision was made to sack him, we aren't capable of sourcing a replacement in a week, and any competent manager would rightly expect latitude to operate in the January window to address this squad as a precondition to joining. All sounds like a lot of hard work, hassle and cost to me. Let's just leave Ismael to it and hope we have enough to preserve the gravy train for another year. If we go down? Oh well, make a few excuses about referees, injuries and the weather, and then look forward to another revolving door summer and %%%s on trading.

It'd be good to know the truth of it. I can't see how the Club could arbitrarily partially reduce staff numbers across the stadium without knowing exactly how many are going to be missing and what parts of the stadium they're going to be missing from. If they did take food and drink completely off the menu for this fixture, it gives the Coalition an angle that they're punishing the fans who ignored the boycott.

Definitely couldn't live without it 👌

This was received because he’s a steward. I’m not sure about other roles such as bar staff.

lol that’s the pic I put on here. Feel sorry for my mate because he won’t be getting paid. I told him why’d u join rovers as a steward, awfully run club and sometimes they don’t even get paid on time. Get taxed when they are not eligible. From top to bottom, it’s finished.

That's not true though, or at least that screenshot isn't proof. It's the same one from 2 pages ago referring to a steward.

If the previous widow is anything to go by, they are more likely to offload one or more of Alebiosu, Toth, Tronstad or Cantwell in the final minutes of the window without a replacement & voila, plenty of room in tie squad

Dec Neve gets my vote. He's less effective than Powell.

Im a bit confused by these messages. Does that mean concessionary outlets will be closed altogether because they're worried about the possibility of a really low crowd? Other than walk on sales I've still no idea how the Club can have any real clue in advance about how effective the boycott is going to be. Surely from their point of view they SHOULD staff as normal in case the boycott call has little effect - and if it is a really low crowd, well then, c'est la vie. That's what you'd imagine would happen at a normally run Club anyway.

No, Miller is not back for Watford.

I wonder how the money saved on bar staff compares to one day of Gestede’s salary.

This makes me angry and is nothing more than emotional black mail. Rovers could bring them into work. They chose not to cos they are on zero hour contracts. No one wants to see individuals suffer, but Venkys have caused unemployment by getting rid of over half club staff in their tenure. By getting rid of them jobs would no doubt be created in ground and local community if crowds return.

Andy Kim - Rock Me Gently

Great article. All these definitely seem to be turning the tide on the boycott in my opinion.

They will never sack Ismael. For one, it would mean Rudy Gestede has to admit he has made a mistake. Nothing about Rudy's character tells you that is possible. By all accounts he is a bit of a bully and is the direct cause of plenty of long standing staff members leaving. His interactions on social media and his interviews with other media really do portray a man weak of confidence - unable to be criticised, learn a lesson or be questioned. It is the very worst type of person to be in management. You often find with these type of managers that nothing is dealt with proactively as confronting the possibility of their own mistakes is more uncomfortable than being judged by others. Rudy is a symptom of a disease, for sure, but he is a killer. He will take this club down with him and be paid all the way. His character has been questioned many times. Neil Warnock being one of them, after Gestede refused to play and commit for Boro. He had his attitude questioned here and at Villa. Rudy will go down as one of the worst things to happen to this club during the Venky reign. First, fans will point to his less than impressive success ratio in the transfer market - a man who is wedded to a data driven approach, constrained by a model of low wages, low spend but ultimately completely unable to generate a successful and functional team. More importantly the fans will point to his divisiveness - Rudy has followed a period of relative success for Rovers and has been the 'director' (loosely) responsible for dismantling a competitive Championship side. More than any that has come before him, he has had room within the FFP window to develop a squad capable of that extra mile. Instead it appears Rudy has sought revenge - first, with the sale of players who have supported staff members over himself, and then with the effective freezing out of other players, such as Pickering or Tyjon. To me, Rudy comes across as resentful. He has then hired a head coach which completely went against the style of play our squad has developed since Mowbray, delivered that head coach a series of players not good enough and now shows an unwillingness to act, instead pointing to data and perceived future success which comes across arrogant and stupid in equal measure. All of this is divisive in nature and his contempt for the fans has been very clear. Rudy Gestede is not, and has never been, here for the success of Blackburn Rovers; Rudy Gestede is here for the success of Rudy Gestede. He has been told that if he absorbs the pressure and is a good boy who does not try too hard to be ambitious then he will continue to earn a 6 figure salary here. All of the above is why Ismael will not be sacked. And if he is, it will be too late. Gestede will not accept he has made a mistake; the mistake will be the fault of the fans, the pitch, the weather. It will not be and never will be Rudy Gestede's mistake to make.

As much as I don't rate Pears, history is telling us the replacement will be even worse!

On the one hand, I'd like us to sell Pears, on the other hand any team that sends scouts to look at signing Pears and is in desperate need of a keeper will surely make a bid for Toth instead.

Is Miller back for this one? TGH at RWB is pure nightmare fuel.

No chance the club bounces back straight away with how it is run these days. Recruitment will continue to be mostly miss rather than hit, Suhail and Gestede will continue to dig themselves a bigger hole, and if Ismael is still in charge then I imagine the players he's left with will have been gutted of all confidence by him. Club needs a mass overhaul, like what Ipswich got when they got new ownership and brought in McKenna.

Normally I'd agree, but it's a bit difficult to get these occasional pressure cooker type wins when you're generally not even registering a shot on target!

Oh yeah it went swimmingly of course 😂. Cap in hand back to Chris Wilder. just wouldn't be at all surprised is all.