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Well no, he didn't have any bad luck, just the good stuff, ask Upside Down and his rabbits foot.

Embarrassing.

"Take those tinted glasses off" is the next phrase in line for the echo chamber.

The relegation was deliberate imo, maybe they had to relegate us to avoid a can of worms opening up. It is possible, they have never seriously tried to get to the club back up!!

“Finally, our football secretary has, this morning, been instructed by SEM to issue a mandate to a third party without any reference or approval from the board. We are not familiar with the player concerned nor is he one that has been mentioned to us by the manager. Could you please, therefore, clarify the role of SEM in our transfer policy” Venkys aren’t having the final say. The agency there are instructing the Blackburn Rovers board to issue the transfer mandate to a third party on SEM’s say so. (They can’t do it themselves because, well, it’s against regulations and they don’t have the authority). So that is against regulations.

Zinedine Zidane described Paul Scholes as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, the "complete midfielder," and his toughest opponent, as reported Zidane reveals Scholes regrets | FourFourTwo https://share.google/mr870LX7mscjyTGHr

Farkas', Boggans & Sergeants games this evening have been called off. Macclesfield do have a game in the Cheshire Seniors Cup, I wouldn't think Edmonson will be involved in that, but will keep an eye on their timesheet

None but still nominated 5 times for him so your first point was factual incorrect He was great player. Take those tinted glass off

Was it in breach? I genuinely don't know, but was there any difference between what Venkys did with Kentaro, and what Fosun International (Wolves) did with super agent, Jorge Mendes. I believe he operated in an advisory role, although in that case, it was more successful. My instinct is Kentaro (and indirectly SEM/Anderson) knew exactly how far they could go in their 'consultancy' capacity, and probably stayed on the right side of legal. Venkys were horrendously naive, ostracised good football people who genuinely cared for BRFC, and got themselves very quickly in to a hot, toxic mess. Ultimately though, they signed off on everything Kentaro recommended. If JA (or Kentaro) were invited by Venkys to control football matters on their behalf, is that illegal? They didn't seemingly have any ownership stakes... By the way, this all unfolded at least 13 years ago. The Rao's have had plenty of time to recover the situation and run the club in an acceptable way. Whether they were badly advised, stupid, naive, spooked or whatever else, they've had a hell of a long time to right any wrongs. Personally, I don't think they have ever got close to repairing the damage. EDIT: I asked AI whether there was any difference between Rovers and Wolves... Yes, there is a significant difference. The Blackburn/Kentaro situation involved explicit contractual agreements giving an agency material influence over club operations and transfers, which breached specific Football Association (FA) and Premier League rules at the time. The Wolves/Jorge Mendes situation was determined by the English Football League (EFL) and FA to be a consultancy and a close working relationship, but without Mendes holding an official role or contractual power to influence club policies, thus complying with regulations. In essence, the Blackburn case involved a formal, legally binding agreement that gave an agent control, which is explicitly banned, while the Wolves case involved a close but informal working relationship that, while raising concerns from rival clubs, was deemed to fall within the bounds of the rules.

Yeah sorted, ta

To where? The pub?

You got a video? Or is it just a made up quote on a black & white photo?

Sounds like Ismael's pressers when we lose 2-0, at least that's in alignment with the men's team.

Too much trouble? They were compromised by their own relationship with Kentaro....

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25630051.blackburn-rovers-transfer-battle-vs-premier-league-vultures/ Blackburn Rovers are continuing to face a fight to retain their hottest Academy talents with admiring glances from the Premier League. Rovers' youth set up is famed in English football, with Adam Wharton the most recent high-profile player to emerge from the Brockhall Senior Training Centre. Retaining talent to ensure they can graduate to the first-team has been a tough challenge. Igor Tyjon is currently stalling on his first professional deal whilst the club recently lost Rory Finneran. Tottenham eventually got Ash Phillips after years of interest. Head of Academy, Paul Gray, has conceded that remains the club's toughest challenge. "It's a huge challenge. You've seen recently that we've managed to keep players like Adam Wharton for a good few years," Gray told RoversTV. "I think he signed two or three contracts before leaving to go to Crystal Palace and obviously the club got the rewards with the transfer fee that they got for Adam and the future payments that we could also get. "But then on the flip side, we lost Rory (Finneran) at the age of 16 to Newcastle, which was a real tough one to take after he'd been with us since the age of eight. But it's hard. We've got huge Premier League clubs with huge, huge budgets. "It's tough and it's starting to go younger down. The scout lists for our games are extremely long. We're getting offers of compensation for players as young as 11. "We managed to keep some of them. There are others that we don't manage to keep and some that move on. But we've just got to keep doing what we're doing, selling our environment, showing people that there's a pathway at this football club. "You're then hoping that the parents and the players can see the light at the end of the tunnel here rather than maybe going for the bright lights elsewhere."Igor Tyjon battles for possession (Image: CameraSport - Lee Parker) The arrival of Jordan Rhodes as Loan Manager has seen a shift in approach. Rovers are now pushing to field younger Under-21 teams and allow those at the top of the age range to find move in the pyramid for experience. "The most important thing is getting players into the first team," Gray said. "It's about the individual development of the players. So I think we're now seeing Kristi have his breakthrough season, so that's really good for us. "In the last few games, he's come on as a substitute. He's had a real impact in a few games now. "In terms of the 21s and the 18s, you'll notice that we're quite young. With Jordan Rhodes coming in now, we've got a loan strategy, so we don't want 20, 21-year-olds playing in the under-21s, really. "We'd rather be playing 16, 17, 18-year-olds in the Under-21s. That's the strategy. We want to be quite young in the under-21s." Ex-Rovers player Josh Morris has spent some time working in the Academy recently. He is working with the Under-15 group, as Matt Derbyshire did previously having come through the ranks at Ewood Park. "Josh has just come back in and he is working with our Under-15s now and again," he explained. "So he's just another one who's been here as a young player. He's seen it, he's done it. He's then moved away and he's had a really good career in football. "So, yes, he's back and he's at the start of his coaching journey. But, yes, he's done a really good job so far."

It doesn't matter what I think all these years later but I can't see that that matters as long as Venky's had the final say on anything if push came to shove. It's not that different to employing a Board of Directors to run the Club on your behalf and just letting them get on with it.

I agree with some of what you said, my issue is with how people use data, over rely on data, dont question data enough or purposely manipulate data. Take the Anderson example. One of the 2 sources came from a Nottingham Forest twitter account. So natural questions would be, why those specific stats? Why compare 15 minutes at the end when winning against a tired team to 75 minutes prior? And I think some of my questions about the other data are fair. If its about England, are those specific stats the most important? If its passing, if completion is high, is it safe and backwards/sideways? If its forward, does a 1 yard and 30 yard pass equal the same? Are the chances created reasonable ones? I dont think my opinion is any more credible or real than anyone elses. Judging players is still as subjective as it has ever been. Some teams use data and find good players, some find poor players. Same as before without data, it can help and it can hinder.

Yes undoubtedly. I still dont think the recruitment is any better than before data was used so heavily though. Id say its significantly worse.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/november/17/-it-s-a-very-attractive-club-and-the-pathway-is-there-/

Any joy mate?

Rovers app mate

Link won't work for me

The JW letter clearly confirmed that JA was controlling footballing matters and therefore it was in breach of guidelines. Allardyce and Dunn’s comments in the last week just seem to confirm it from their perspectives. My guess is it was too much trouble for the FA to get involved with people they were associated with as it would have caused them numerous knock-on issues.

The great Zidane called him the best midfielder in the world

I'd still take rice over Lampard though