v Millwall (h) - Saturday 19th February

[DeeCee]

3 hours ago, rigger said:

If they are honest decisions, why not ? You are to the English language, what Les Dawson was to piano playing.

😁 Les Dawson was quite good though, he had to be to play those notes

[1864roverite]

33 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Come off it 1864, not had weather like yesterday in 35 years indeed 🙄

That coincides with a Rovers home game is the point I made. I am pretty sure wind speeds are records this stormy weekend add in the driving rain sleet snow and it tells a story of horrid weather remember Rovers are not the only club to have games called off.

[1864roverite]

45 minutes ago, CAPT KAYOS said:

Thanks 1864 ...but this is the moral of the point of having the covers especially given the factors that are matter of fact with regards to the pitch and the drainage .. given that the storm wasn't necessarily out of the blue and enough warning was advised across the country  -  there is  enough  space around the edges for the snow to have been swept back to sides from the covers much as you used to see  in the 'old days'.

The club is not absent without some blame here but the circumstances of what happened is  unexplained at present.

 

Covers mainly protect from ground frost not rainfall and are in the main used by clubs who do not have undersoil heating. Water running off a flat surface has to go somewhere 🌧🌧

[DaveyB]

I watched the second half of Leeds v Man Utd earlier and the pitch at Elland Road seemed to be in a much worse condition than what I saw at Ewood yesterday, with the ball sticking in various parts of the pitch, but there never appeared to be any question of that game being abandoned - I really think that we just had an over-officious / over-cautious ref yesterday (as did Crewe it seems, looking at pictures from Gresty Road)

That said though I’m not overly upset that it was called off (although I wish it had been done before I set off, rather than just after I had paid for a pint in the ground!) - I think that the heavy pitch & conditions would have suited Millwall more than us, plus there’s always a risk of injuries etc ahead of 2 massive games coming up - so, all in all, I really don’t think it’s too bad of an outcome 

Edited February 20, 2022 by DaveyB
Spelling

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, jim mk2 said:

Just because something has always been done a certain way doesn’t mean it is right.  It’s a non argument.

Football needs to communicate better with the public, for example the farce when Rovers fans made an unnecessary journey to Hull which could have been prevented with better communication and Saturdays farce which needed to be explained to a mystified and frustrated public

Saying “that’s the way it’s always been done” is just plain dumb. If that were always the case football would still have 11 a side with no substitutes and a rope instead of crossbars 

Jim, I agree that Referees should speak to the media about their decisions but we know the FA and refereeing body won't let ever happen. 

If you are that bothered by this then email/write a letter to the FA, Premier League, Football league and PGMOL about it Do something about it. take action Jim

[DeeCee]

10 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

That coincides with a Rovers home game is the point I made. I am pretty sure wind speeds are records this stormy weekend add in the driving rain sleet snow and it tells a story of horrid weather remember Rovers are not the only club to have games called off.

Only on in our league 😞

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, had.e.nuff said:

I think you will find there were a few ganmes off on Saturday due to weather so there are other refs that make the same decisions . just wish we could have got all February's games off with our record in feb over the years.

Games off due to snow/rain were ourselves, Salford, Fleetwood and Harrogate in the EFL.

3 clubs recently out of non-league. 

[rigger]

42 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

😁 Les Dawson was quite good though, he had to be to play those notes

Exactly, he was winding people up by purposly playing the wrong notes. 

[chaddyrovers]

Its simple who was responsible for yesterday game being called off and the only person responsible was the referee. The club did everything it should have done, the ground staff make sure the pitch was playable and the managers and players of both side wanted to be play the game. 

The club is not responsible for the game being called out. 

Elland road pitch today was much worst then our but that game was played started and finished. 

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, CAPT KAYOS said:

Thanks 1864 ...but this is the moral of the point of having the covers especially given the factors that are matter of fact with regards to the pitch and the drainage .. given that the storm wasn't necessarily out of the blue and enough warning was advised across the country  -  there is  enough  space around the edges for the snow to have been swept back to sides from the covers much as you used to see  in the 'old days'.

The club is not absent without some blame here but the circumstances of what happened is  unexplained at present.

 

Exactly.

Ultimately it's the match official whose head this is on but as i said in an earlier post maybe his report will say he didn't feel the club had taken the right steps and acted quickly enough.

Still, very little excuse not to at least just delay kick off a while but was that even suggested i wonder ?  Police will have had their say no doubt on that with the prospect of hundreds of Millwall loitering about.

[roversfan99]

The main issue is that the pitch in general is not in the best of states provoked by an unwillingness by the owners to spend 2m on a revamp as promised last summer. Pitch problems always seemed likely from that point.

I dont get why people are making out as if the referee is solely to blame, as if they know to the contrary that the pitch was playable. None of us went onto the pitch and tested it.

[tomphil]

It's been coming ever since the billionaire - multi million wasting with one hand but penny pinching with the other - mob turned up.

I'm sure the pitch had to be completely re done with turf every few seasons as part of Prem rules at the time ?  Might be wrong but i do recall it being done properly around Allardyce time i think.  That was probably the last time it was and since then it just gets an annual reseeding instead.

Of course there was Prem income paying for it then but with the money these lot have spaffed ! A few million extra for the most vital thing you need to play football on would hardly have broke the bank. So this has been coming for a decade and now it is increasingly becoming a problem. It won't go away it will just get worse they have been covering a growing wound with sticking plasters yet again.

The stadium itself will be next to suffer.

Edited February 20, 2022 by tomphil

[AllRoverAsia]

41 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Its simple who was responsible for yesterday game being called off and the only person responsible was the referee. The club did everything it should have done, the ground staff make sure the pitch was playable and the managers and players of both side wanted to be play the game. 

The club is not responsible for the game being called out. 

Elland road pitch today was much worst then our but that game was played started and finished. 

Elland Road was fine at KO.

There was rain and the huge downpour came at about HT which produced some standing water.

The pitch actually coped ok ..... because of the new drainage system Leeds invested in quite recently.

Infrastructure has to be well maintained, if not it becomes an Ewood Park situation.

Lack of such investment is what led to yesterdays postponement. The inability of the pitch to cope with the weather thrown at it.

That is the bottom line as difficult as it is for some of you ever to admit the club messed up.

 

[speedies gonna get ya.]

59 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Its simple who was responsible for yesterday game being called off and the only person responsible was the referee. The club did everything it should have done, the ground staff make sure the pitch was playable and the managers and players of both side wanted to be play the game. 

The club is not responsible for the game being called out. 

Elland road pitch today was much worst then our but that game was played started and finished. 

I promised myself I'd stop commenting regarding the postponement now but I cannot agree with the above Chaddy. 

Firstly, the pitch at Elland Road today was holding water. But to the naked eye it looked fine, until a ball was kicked on it. The PNE game at Ewood was far worse as we know, and to the naked eye I couldnt see standing water but as soon as play began we all saw the issue. 

You are judging yesterday's pitch by looking at how green it looked  no obvious puddles.

The club is responsible for the game being called off because of the neglect of the pitch. Others in the northwest coped. Ours didn't. It's very easy to blame the ref but ultimately its on him if someone breaks a leg because of the state of the pitch. Ofcourse we have all played on worse but that's totally irrelevant. As I have previously said, with proper investment and care given to the pitch  the ref should not have had a decision to make. I also don't buy all this freak weather rubbish. I asked question about possible postponement on Thursday cos I looked at the forecast. The pitch is an issue and that's totally on the club.

Edited February 20, 2022 by speedies gonna get ya.
Predictive text

[AllRoverAsia]

5 minutes ago, tomphil said:

It's been coming ever since the billionaire - multi million wasting with one hand but penny pinching with the other - mob turned up.

I'm sure the pitch had to be completely re done with turf every few seasons as part of Prem rules at the time ?  Might be wrong but i do recall it being done properly around Allardyce time i think.  That was probably the last time it was and since then it just gets an annual reseeding instead.

Of course there was Prem income paying for it then but with the money these lot have spaffed ! A few million extra for the most vital thing you need to play football on would hardly have broke the bank. So this has been coming for a decade and now it is increasingly becoming a problem. It won't go away it will just get worse they have been covering a growing wound with sticking plasters yet again.

The stadium itself will be next to suffer.

They have only been putting sticking plasters, non waterproof variety, on Ewood all through the Venky dark ages.

Its an odd business model where the owners allow the clubs most visible asset to fall into disrepair.

Makes me wonder what their chicken extermination factories are like.

[tomphil]

8 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

They have only been putting sticking plasters, non waterproof variety, on Ewood all through the Venky dark ages.

Its an odd business model where the owners allow the clubs most visible asset to fall into disrepair.

Makes me wonder what their chicken extermination factories are like.

The thing is i doubt anybody at the club in the last ten years has mentioned about the pitch to them. Until now obviously when it's too late and all the money has been used getting through the pandemic etc.

Past regimes have been too busy looking for ways to fill their own pockets and that is easier done via players and agents.  Nowt in it for anyone when it comes to spending big on a pitch. Now if any ex SEM or Kentaro were involved in turfing it'd have been done now, probably twice over.

Minus the usual % of course.

Edited February 20, 2022 by tomphil

[AllRoverAsia]

1 minute ago, tomphil said:

The thing is i doubt anybody at the club in the last ten years has mentioned about the pitch to them. Until now obviously when it's too late and all the money has been used getting through the pandemic etc.

Past regimes have been too busy looking for ways to fill their own pockets and that is easier done via players and agents.  Nowt in it for anyone when it comes to spending big on a pitch. No if any ex SEM or Kentaro were involved in turfing it'd have been done now, probably twice over.

Minus the usual % of course.

I am surprised that there wasn't a push on for a pitch upgrade when Mowbray decided to go on the failed Barcelona experiment.

The owners sign all cheques that they are asked to..........

So, if that is true, then logically the owners were not asked ... that is actually not too far a stretch but can't be accepted, one reason being it means someone at Ewood it dealing in pork pies....

[Claytons Left Boot]

Buxton FC, highest pitch in the UK. Pitch cleared of snow, one hour before kick off and game played.

[JHRover]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Its simple who was responsible for yesterday game being called off and the only person responsible was the referee. The club did everything it should have done, the ground staff make sure the pitch was playable and the managers and players of both side wanted to be play the game. 

The club is not responsible for the game being called out. 

Elland road pitch today was much worst then our but that game was played started and finished. 

Does the referee set the budget for the stadium and pitch, authorise annual repair/replacement works, monitor the drainage at Ewood?

Its quite obvious the managers and players wanted the game on, along with the supporters. It is quite obvious the decision to postpone the game belongs to the referee.

Once again you are focusing on the smaller picture - the events of yesterday lunchtime/afternoon and the decision making that led to the call off - and not the bigger picture which is why we are the only club in the top 2 divisions unable to get the game on. 

[USABlue]

4 hours ago, 1864roverite said:

Because at 1230 the ref said it was good to go, then later the ref changed his view! Pretty simple to me

Then at 1:45 while getting ready ref discovers he left his wooly knickers home, not fancying chilly nuts at 2:15 he calls the game off.

Sad for the fans who have wasted travel time and money, and at no small risk to themselves according to weather reports.

[chaddyrovers]

9 hours ago, speedies gonna get ya. said:

The club is responsible for the game being called off because of the neglect of the pitch. Others in the northwest coped. Ours didn't. It's very easy to blame the ref but ultimately its on him if someone breaks a leg because of the state of the pitch. Ofcourse we have all played on worse but that's totally irrelevant. As I have previously said, with proper investment and care given to the pitch the ref should not have had a decision to make. I also don't buy all this freak weather rubbish. I asked question about possible postponement on Thursday cos I looked at the forecast. The pitch is an issue and that's totally on the club.

The pitch was more than playable. All back up by the ground staff, Both clubs CEO, managers and players all said the game should have gone ahead. We have seen worst pitches than the Saturday one at Ewood Park over this season and the last 30 years. 

The only person to blame is the ref to be honest. 

9 hours ago, JHRover said:

Does the referee set the budget for the stadium and pitch, authorise annual repair/replacement works, monitor the drainage at Ewood?

Its quite obvious the managers and players wanted the game on, along with the supporters. It is quite obvious the decision to postpone the game belongs to the referee.

Once again you are focusing on the smaller picture - the events of yesterday lunchtime/afternoon and the decision making that led to the call off - and not the bigger picture which is why we are the only club in the top 2 divisions unable to get the game on. 

No JH, you want to keep blame the club for the pitch not being playable when every body wanted to play it and thought the pitch was more than playable. Look at Scott Wharton's comments that Darrenrovers posted. 

That pitch was not unplayable and it was then how did the PNE game go ahead. 

I've not bother about other teams getting their games on and who didn't. I am bother about Rovers. 

You are obsess with blaming Rovers staff and the owners at every time you can. I don't and won't unlike its necessary 

[Mattyblue]

What’s the Deepdale pitch got to do with anything?

[oldjamfan1]

15 hours ago, JHRover said:

Come off it. 

These call offs are becoming more frequent. Up until 2010 I can't remember games being called off due to the weather, or perhaps on very rare occasions, yet now it is becoming at least a once a year event.

It won't get better - only worse. 

 

True. It’s called global warming and climate change.

[tomphil]

50 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

True. It’s called global warming and climate change.

Used to be called Autumn and Winter.

Edited February 21, 2022 by tomphil

[had.e.nuff]

why are people comparing conditions with Preston etc when other ground or in different location with different weather conditions and at different altitudes, before now i have driven through Preston with no snow and there has been a few inches in Blackburn,people just looking for someone to blame, if it had been played and we had lost they would be complaining that it shoud not have been played . It was postponed get over it.