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Was it not the last game of the season where Szmodics got a brace?

Yes. You are right. I have an old souvenir print that states "BLACKBURN ROVERS DIVISION 3 CHAMPIONS 1974/75 In their centenary year." I see it is referring the the calendar year 1975 rather than the season 74/75

Our last trip to Leicester was the FA Cup victory under Tomasson - a brilliant night. I'd take that result again. It's an early start and with the dire form (despite last weekend's aberration) I'm not sure we can summon up the enthusiasm. If it's pay on the gate it'll be a late decision

Time to pick up the season now. Leicester away isn't going to be fun but they are a bit down and will be fancying this one to put them back on form, draw or a win nothing less.

Must admit its bizarre how this has taken to splitting fans opinions on the venkys. This is where we fail as a fan base. Total respect for Sheffield Wednesday for uniting and look what they've come to now after their unity. New owners on the brink and pumped 500k into the club from fans alone. There's enough of us left for us to culminate this type of approach but it's just not gonna be everyone

Recruitment was crap full stop but it certainly wasnt part of the plan to build it for the current formation. If you play 3 centre backs, you really need 6 in total. We have Wharton and McLoughlin, 2 who are not great and both left footed. Carter is a waste of time. Miller isnt the best. And that is literally all we have, so not only is there not enough quality but absolutely no depth. 1 injury and we have to change formation. Up front, we have 2 strikers, one comes off and we have to change or stick midfielders up front.

Haven't the Club recently extended his contract? Mental if so.

I just got the latest 4000 Holes in the post today and there is a great article on the ins and outs of this debate in there that I just read on my lunch break. What seems most likely is that a group of mates/associates/etc were playing football together in 1874 and 1875 and that they officially announced/codified their team name, colours and players in November 1875. So when people asked these former players, founders et al, many years later about the history of Rovers, some of them inevitably conflated or misremembered different events. All the evidence for 1874 or early 1875 is anecdotal which I believe makes this the likely explanation. They might even have been calling themselves "Rovers" but it wasn't official or codified anywhere. Would be like having loads of kickarounds with your mates and eventually deciding to enter a 5-a-side league, you might forget exactly when you officially became a team and misreport that years later, assuming you became a famous five-a-side team 😄 I've been doing a load of genealogy research in the last few years, looking at old census records and all sorts of things. You'd be surprised how often people forgot, misremembered or incorrectly recorded pretty important information back then (we're lucky that so much is digital now in some ways).

As bad as we are, see this one as strangely winnable. Leicester have been desperately poor thus far all things considered.

Well judge Rhodes on the job he does here. He has experience of loans during his career. On the job experience there. Is that worth more than coaching experience?

The club have recognised 1875 as the founding date. Thus the 2025-26 season is the 150th Anniversary. The Centenary game was in November 1975 against Bolton Wanderers. (1975-76 was the Centenary season). The 50th Anniversary was celebrated in 1925-26 season and the club produced a book to celebrate that anniversary. The 125th Anniversary was celebrated in 2000-01 with the Anniversary game being against Wolves on 18th November 2000. The newspaper report in January 1876 reported the 1875-76 season as the club's first season. Reproduced minutes of the first meetings are dated November 1875. Anything else is just speculation.

Who says he would be any good at being a loan manager? Rhodes knew how to move and knew how to finish. It was pretty much all he was good at and what he made his career out of. If he doesn't know how to tell people those techniques, he's probably an idiot and shouldn't be employed in any post-playing capacity with us. What experience would I expect...well if you look at Joleon Lescott, he didn't go immediately from playing into being City's Loan Manager. He coached with the England U21s. Sam Hayball likewise didn't just become a Loan Manager. He was a non-player who started as an Academy Analyst then a First Team Analyst. Then he became a Loan Coordinator under his predecessor. All of that builds him up for the role better than someone who used to kick a ball in the net but apparently doesn't know how to tell anybody how to do that. Both your examples worked in youth football for a while. Presumably they also impressed, showed they understood football properly (which you need as a Loan Manager if you're choosing the clubs to navigate the career paths of young players) and developed the ability to integrate with different parts of the club. If you can't coach, you probably aren't a very good Loan Manager. And if you haven't worked with young players I don't see what you bring to the party.

It isn't about going after the Rovers. It is about dependable, local journalism. The LT have to make sure they aren't seen to fight a war but there could still be a better form of journalism on offer now that their ability to report and enter the home facilities has been taken from them. Can the LT begin to highlight the facility management? I bet they could. Look at Ewood now and think back to 2005. I bet you will struggle to notice any betterment. The general state of Ewood's grounds has been unappreciated If I was in the LT circles I would begin to compose items of Club promises which have been broken - fan engagement being one. A good article could be now holding Madam to account. On our 150th anniversary we can celebrate the life of the greatest owner the Club ever had - the Venkys, upon acquisition, promised honour his legacy. It would not be a difficult write up to suggest the legacy has not only not been honoured, it has been trodden on. That would be such an easy article to write. From the top of my head - we have had to sell the training ground, we attempted to sell the training ground land in order to build houses, we have suffered relegation, SEM, Kentaro, the state of Ewood, the dwindling fan base, the condition of Brockhall, community cohesion & staff relationships broken, Shebby Singh, Steve Kean, the Coyle appointment....the list goes on Overall I think the LT have done a terrible job in holding the Venkys to account. This is what it should be about - accountability. It may mean absolutely nothing to the Venkys themselves, they obviously don't care, but to supporters of Rovers some honest and well-researched journalism would go a long way to maintaining engagement with the Club

Our entire game plan is very dependant on players having marathon engines. We are left so exposed out wide that unless they have legs like Alebiouso they are sitting ducks The manager has form for this. During his time at Baggies he came unstuck because he often just circumvents the need for a midfield. Some of the games, particularly during the later moments, become tennis like. I don't think he will ever get to the solid state Eustace had us; mainly because he doesn't look like he has a clue on how to restrict teams. We can be passed through with ease. We can be countered even easier. Ismael's defensive coaching seems to be to rely on the ability of the defenders to simply defend. I very much doubt there is a plan in place on how to not leave Wharton, McLoughlin or Miller as exposed as we have seen them this season

what experience would you expect for a loan manager? Man City's loan manager is Joleon Lescott or Arsenal's loan manager is Sam Hayball who says Rhodes would be any good at coaching?

It still boggles my mind that probably the most instinctive goalscorer we have had since Shearer (Rhodes had no physical attributes of note, silky skills etc, he just know where to move in the box and could finish) has been employed here...but as a loan manager which he has no relevant experience for, rather than as a, ya know, striker coach where I would have absolutely welcomed him. God our lads could do with some of his nous.

Yes it is ironic that those that call us ‘negative’ are the ones with such a negative view of Blackburn Rovers and what it could be.

It's a real shame that people have such a downbeat and pessimistic approach to life. Never wanting or demanding better for the Club because of a baseless belief that there is no better option than Venkys. I say it is baseless because all the evidence we have available is what has happened at other comparable clubs, and the clear pattern is that all comparable clubs have changed hands to new ownership without collapsing into oblivion. I often get called negative and pessimistic - I admit I am due to the unrelenting misery we've had during the last 15 years - but I still believe in a better future for this club and won't accept the disgrace that it has become. Whereas those who are quite content to accept this situation and even go further than that and criticise / rubbish those who do want better. With such attitudes permeating the place its hardly a surprise that the town and club have ended up in the appalling state they both are.

On Hedges I would say is we are quite a radically different system now where he is playing a very different role (as a wing back with two strikers up top) so not sure how useful referring back to previous seasons performances is really. I quite like Hedges offensively in the new system, it suits him. He's better combining with players than trying to beat someone on his own, and the way we are setup hes got a lot to work with. But defensively we do need the wing backs to get back quickly when we lose possession which De Neve and Alebiouso are brilliant at. Hedges i dont think really has the engine for it.

Even with chants ringing there were many with zipped mouths upper jack. But I did notice it to be more vocal than normal.

Not to say that this makes Jordan Rhodes a good (or bad) choice as Rovers loan manager, but shows that even at well run clubs (who do not penny pinch), recently retired former players (with no experience) are often the go to choice for this role That being said, the loans which have been sanctioned this season, both before and after Rhodes took charge, have been underwhelming in the main

We could all bring our watering cans!!

He is a club plant - The things he spouts is what you'd expect SP or RG to say.

Still a very sizeable number within Ewood too of that mindset, don’t let the chants fool anybody.

I never go on X. However I went on for 5 minutes yesterday, I saw a Rovers 'fan' stoic something or other telling people nobody's ever bid for us and we aren't a club people would buy. I nearly broke my phone. With fans like that who needs enemies. Up there with "nothing special about Blackburn Rovers". Wouldn't even accept that people may have bid as it wasn't in public domain. I was a bit naive to the scale of Venkys euphoria on social media.