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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

Rudy definitely doesn't know better. I just think we are signing those players because that's what our budget provides. When the data analysts and scouts come up with the target list, no doubt they'll have a column which shows value. We'll be straight down towards Option C - D with the value of <500k. Unfortunately Rev - pay peanuts, get monkeys.

It was our pal Souness who brought George Weah's cousin in temporarily at Southampton I think. 🤣 I've seen Moneyball - very interesting and fairly ingenious. Problem imo is it worked once with certain individuals in a specific set of circumstances and people think they can use the idea of it to reproduce something similarly miraculousin a completely different setting again and again. You can't imo or at least your chances of success are exceptionally limited. I've mentioned several times before that we seem to be using a Moneyball type of approach by targeting several players who've recently been relegated from some obscure European League. Which presumably means they're extremely cheap Doomed to failure imo but who knows, maybe Rudy knows better than I.

Always seems to be 5.5 or 5.7 classed as a sell out over there so i suppose it depends if they leave that little corner empty. I always thought 5700 was every seat in that end but a nobber collegue claims the full end is 5900 but we've never had that.

I've called him out for years there was always something off about someone hiding in the shadows pretending to do nothing. Then you have Mowbray calling him just the owners conduit and as you know to a lot of fans if TM said the earth was flat they wouldn't argue. Now he's out into the bright lights so HE is accountable for everything now, no one else and no more skulking in the shadows. I agree it needs to be constant gentle pressure not this pick it up every time we start losing then put it down again when we are winning. Also not all out war that can be spun back onto the fans as reasons the team is struggling just gentle sustained 'We know who you are, we are watching and holding you personally accountable for everything at Blackburn Rovers from now on' If you don't like it then there's the door and to be fair if you turn it round and start getting things right and pushing the club AND owners to progress the club then you'll get the credit. Sitting there being unaccountable taking your money, calling the shots with the sole aim of staying in position treading water, no the games up.

The raw form of statistics do not have context. It is the interpretation of those statistics which provide meaning. Interpretation will include providing context. Behind the data analysts of every club there will be someone who works on that - sets the data limitations, the methodology, the trends or real world factors. When Sky Sports present data on a midfielder, they don't include the amount of times that player caught the ball. That is because it is not relevant in the context of the discussion. Some of the data has inherent context anyway - "through balls" for example will be a player who will take risk. He is likely to pass into space more meaning he suits a team with pace. All context but requires human thought It is very easy to sit here in the modern world and blame data for the bad decisions the club made. What was at fault for the bad signings before? Did we sign Grabbi because the data got it wrong? Statistics in sport - not just football - are used to inform, not necessarily decide. It won't make the decision making perfect. Using them to provide an informed opinion is just clever thinking. There have been some examples where data-driven recruitment has proved fruitful. Watch Moneyball if you have some time Rev. It is not a recipe to guaranteed success but clearly professional people paid very highly have decided the inclusion of data analysts provide for a more informed and successful decision making process Do you remember some of the stories that happened "pre-data"? Was it Southampton who signed a player who had never kicked a ball before 😄 It has definitely helped productivity!!

There's around 400 seats in each of those end blocks. If we've been given 5,900 (on the basis both those end sections become available), that's over 5,000 sold as of today.

He certainly didn't have any bad luck with the squads he had at his disposal.

Reading the above, as an old timer I have to say I agree with RF 99. Most stats have no context and are virtually meaningless imo. So what if a player completes his passes more often than not? He probably will do if he isn't taking a risk and might not do if he is trying to be creative and make something happen. Also agree with RF about the amount of shite we've brought in in recent years presumably with the help of data. It's convenient because it's easier and massively reduces the amount of leg work initially in identifying potential targets but there's no way anyone is telling me that the end result is any better or more consistent than in years gone by pre the use of data. e.g. We want a winger with pace - computer spits out Kargbo.

I don't think it's a lack of funding, the problem is who's going to be the person to collect the money or fundraise?

I’ve long thought our best bet of ridding ourselves of this lot is to have a sustained campaign against Suhail. Whenever the spotlight has been on him he’s absolutely detested it. I’m guessing it’s come down to a lack of funding from the few Rovers’ brave enough to fight the cause, but unless it’s consistent and persistent, it’s not going to be enough.

The surname is wrong - it’s Samet Wecantafford.