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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.

https://x.com/RoversXtra/status/1990761305591173572 Josh Morris now with the academy working with U15s

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.

It's an interesting discussion. Just following on from the above. I think Mowbray's departure was botched. I don't think it was properly planned for or entirely expected. I don't think Waggott ever really wanted him gone, and the owners are so disengaged that they probably expected him to sit tight and wait for them to get around to renewing. Perhaps even the curtain twitcher was stopping or advising the owners not to deal with the expiring contract until the last minute. Anyway, whatever the reason for it I think there was a late scramble to try and persuade Mowbray to stay but he'd had enough. By that point we were into the summer window and suddenly a manager, assistant and effectively a whole structure down, because Mowbray had been allowed to oversee and control all recruitment and coaching himself (remember Venus being the weird hybrid assistant manager/director of football). So yeah, I agree that once Waggott realised Mowbray was a goner and time was becoming an issue he resolved to address it by going modern with a Director of Football and Head Coach structure. I actually agree with that concept here because with this crazy setup we need to divide the power and responsibility away from one man. So in comes Broughton and he had half an idea what was needed and very quickly went and got JDT. I doubt Waggott or the curtain twitcher had anything at all to do with that appointment. Presumably authorisation had already come from HQ that we could spend a few million of the previous years' Armstrong cash so we sorted the Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics deals out. Realisation of what a shambles the club is only develops over time once you are in through the door, see Paul Lambert and John Eustace. It's easy to talk a good game at the appointment stage and get the contracts signed, but actually sustaining a proper effort is another. I personally don't think - aside from authorising budgets - that the top owners (the gruesome four) have had any input into anything at Rovers since pre-Covid. All the rest is run through the middle men and curtain twitcher, who was shoved to one side for a while during Mowbray's days and with Waggott being here acting on some form of authority from India, but now they are gone he is free and in control again

Lancs live will be getting a ban no doubt from Suhail.

Or was it simply a timely relegation? FA working with Kentaro don't forget, all potentially very embarrassing. "Oh and do yourselves a favour Blackburn Rovers, under your current board room structure, don't hurry back to the Premier League. Neither of us need it."