I’ll have to break it to my Rovers-mad nephew that having 3 ‘Wharton’ shirts (Rovers, England, and Palace) that he’s ‘tinpot’, ‘a bit cringe’, ‘not a real fan’, and whatever other nonsense is being said. There is nothing wrong with following a player’s career and wishing them every success. Idolising a local lad and fellow fan, is just fine. In fact, I would argue it’s something admirable that has been lost from real football fandom, rather than something to be derided. Hellfire, we had a decent circle jerk about Raya performing superbly against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi only a couple of weeks ago and nobody started lashing out at other fans for that. And Raya’s neither a local nor a fan. I’d be interested to know that long list of talented academy products who were alleged Rovers fans that went on to do better than Rovers. I can think of Phil Jones, and… Well maybe Dunny, but he was established and moved sideways. Derbyshire? Gally? Who else? Nobody on Wharton’s level, that’s for sure, and nobody that went up the ladder so easily.

I don’t know but it wouldn’t surprise me.

I'll never forget Courtney's face when he came out the next time he reffed us at Bradford.

The Police - Walking On The Moon

He was 18 in March

Michalski is the best young keeper we got. England under 18's international keeper

Willie Tee - Walking Up A One Way Sreet

They are looking into it.

The Who - Out In The Street

That's the nature of the Academy - you have to play with the hand you are dealt. Michalski is meant to be talented, but he's 17.

You can't teach talent. You can however teach your goalkeeper that when a cross comes into the six yard box you fucking catch it!

Ahhh thankyou, Brilliant well done to all involved! Was wearing my Rovers shirt today anyway and give them a few hooks all down Livesey Branch road

There seems to be just as much overreaction from those saying it’s an overreaction. This thread has largely been bemoaning the disgraceful behaviour of the regime (so like most threads on here) over the sale. There has then been a sprinkling of posts discussing him as a player. I’m really struggling to see what’s ‘tinpot’ about it.

Agree with this 100%. It's small time and tinpot. Embarrassing really. I don't give two fucks about Crystal Palace, they're a complete non entity. I can understand a very minor interest in how Wharton is getting on but this whole thread is just completely embarrassing. We are Blackburn Rovers. Former Premier League champions and the tenth most successful club in England. Wharton should have stayed and forced the club to run out of money to bring on administration, that would have been a great thing for him to do. He ain't a Rovers player anymore so I couldn't give a toss. What are you all going to do if he scores against us? Start cheering, waving your Palace or whatever other shit club he's playing for, scarves over your heads? As I said before, a real Rovers fan wouldn't have allowed themselves to be shoved out the door like that. And one more thing, a tea cake doesn't have fucking currants in it!

Didn't someone from WATR say that Venky's quite literally told them they don't need or want to hear what the fans think?

The context was a club that had failed to make the final step in 1981 on goal difference and one that had faded away from promotion positions to 5th more than once afterwards, including the previous season's huge ,final stage collapse from automatic promotion position with Archibald, Ardiles et al. This was an awful, awful weekend. The weekend of Tiananmen Square massacre too. Rovers arrived with a 3-1 advantage from the first leg with the frustration of Howard Gayle's missed penalty. The Rovers fans were crammed in a tiny corner. It felt much more restricted than my previous visits to Selhurst. The Palace crowd were already wound up and their stadium managers were clever at placing speakers to blast out the way contingent, so we could hardly hear ourselves speak in the 20 minutes before kick off. The team bloody froze. Nothing went right from the first kick of the ball....and yet, we still could have done it. We only needed to score once. Courtney allowed Wright and Bright to get away with fouling over physicality from the start...Think of it, as a cross between Old Trafford and Escape to Victory! Then, the penalty that never was -in the 2nd half at 0-0. None of us knew why it had been given. Even Ian Wright agreed, albeit 25 years later. From memory, the Palace attack was actually finished and the ball was moving out of our area at the time. Finally, the last few minutes were a joke when Courtney allowed play to continue while hundreds of Palace fans, spilled onto the side of the pitch along the touchline.. The final whistle and the Dave Clark fcking Five...

When do we find out the retained list?

Isn't she Frank Fielding's mum?

Doesn't that last part justify my argument here?

Especially given their record of reasonably serviceable keepers prior to Rays, with Jake Keane and Frankie Fielding.

Actually some more...the O'Brien debacle. The Maguire debacle. The Brierley debacle. The every January transfer window debacle, even when poised for promotion. I can't imagine them not being well ahead in anybody's list no matter how they feel about this.

That's the strangest thing that's been said in here yet. There are absolutely loads. The dwindling fanbase. The fact we can protest extensively but know that nothing will likely be done. The fact managers don't get sacked here due to fan pressure like they would everywhere else. The embarrassingly long stay in this league. The total lack of ambition from the club. The lack of communication from our own owners. The fans at each others throats, with one half infected with some kind of weird Stockholm syndrome about our blatantly poisonous owners. The inability to get anybody to renew their contract for more than a snickers as a pay rise. The decaying state of Ewood. The charlatans we've let have a big say in running us. The fact Waggott is still here. Just off the top of my head. The fact some fans are still following the exploits of a local lad and fan who we built is really neither here nor there.

They aren't going to pay a younger less experienced person the same as an expert who has been doing it for 30 years it stands to reason. All depends who they recruit for that role but i'm saying they seem to run the backroom staff similar to how they run the team and if there is a chance of saving a few quid they will do.

Hi just w9ndered if anyone knew what the walk was coming from feniscowles down livesey branch road toward Ewood predominantly women in r0vers shirts has flags etc Just wonderes