Valérien Ismaël: Blackburn Rovers Head Coach

[KentExile]

9 hours ago, arbitro said:

Adam Murray isn't coming to us.

https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/murray-the-man-for-kidderminster-as-new-boss-named-83634

Are we getting Andy Murray instead?

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

[Andy]

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

[chaddyrovers]

7 minutes ago, Andy said:

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

Did he say what his preferred style is? 

Did Ismael answer every question asked of him? Did the people there happy with Ismael? 

Who else was there from the club Andy? 

 

[Hasta]

26 minutes ago, Andy said:

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

Lol. Groundbreaking.

 

Edited Friday at 20:56 by Hasta

[Andy]

25 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Did he say what his preferred style is? 

Did Ismael answer every question asked of him? Did the people there happy with Ismael? 

Who else was there from the club Andy? 

 

There was the Yasir guy, the new Marketing Sales Manager (Zach) and a few people involved in the design of the new kits.
What was (mildly) interesting was learning that the current kit designs were commenced back in January 2024 - that's how long the process is.

VI pointed to his Barnsley team, where they might have had the smallest budget in the league, but they were hard working, organised and worked as a team.
Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them.

Made a point of saying 'also set pieces' as a key part of the strategy, which would make a nice difference to recent seasons, I guess.

There was more that's slipping my mind right now - and yes, a lot of it was generic manager speak - but I felt that he was being pretty open and honest.
I quite like him. And the final several games of last season has bought him enough credit for a fresh start this season, imo.

[chaddyrovers]

5 minutes ago, Andy said:

There was the Yasir guy, the new Marketing Sales Manager (Zach) and a few people involved in the design of the new kits.
What was (mildly) interesting was learning that the current kit designs were commenced back in January 2024 - that's how long the process is.

VI pointed to his Barnsley team, where they might have had the smallest budget in the league, but they were hard working, organised and worked as a team.
Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them.

Made a point of saying 'also set pieces' as a key part of the strategy, which would make a nice difference to recent seasons, I guess.

There was more that's slipping my mind right now - and yes, a lot of it was generic manager speak - but I felt that he was being pretty open and honest.
I quite like him. And the final several games of last season has bought him enough credit for a fresh start this season, imo.

Thanks for reply Andy 👍. 

 

[Upside Down]

4 hours ago, Andy said:

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

At the end of the day this job is just a stepping stone for him to get a job at a real club. 

Everyone throughout the game will know what a joke the place is so even if he's only moderately competent here then people will know that he's a miracle worker and can handle the jandal in tough circumstances.

As soon as he's had enough or gets a better offer he'll be off and there's absolutely no way anyone can hold it against him. 

As I said when he arrived, it doesn't matter who's in that position, they are completely irrelevant.

[RevidgeBlue]

12 hours ago, Andy said:

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

It'll be a cold day in hell before anyone from the Club will ever announce that the aim is promotion!

[RevidgeBlue]

11 hours ago, Andy said:

Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them.

They didn't buy into whatever he was asking of them for his first six and a half games and ultimately that cost us any chance of the play offs.

[M_B]

13 hours ago, Andy said:

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

I did like the interview directly after the Stanley game,it felt right to me. I quite like him, let's hope we can start the way we finished last season. 

[Tomphil2]

The strong starts are now absolutely vital for this club to prevent us fighting at the wrong end all second half of the season.

Forget play offs if we hadn't had such good first halves to the last few years it's almost guaranteed we'd have dropped, promotion doesn't come into it.

This is Venky Rovers, we need to be 3rd at Christmas just to make sure we don't go down by May !!!!

Edited yesterday at 10:40 by Tomphil2

[Exiled_Rover]

14 hours ago, Andy said:

There was the Yasir guy, the new Marketing Sales Manager (Zach) and a few people involved in the design of the new kits.
What was (mildly) interesting was learning that the current kit designs were commenced back in January 2024 - that's how long the process is.

VI pointed to his Barnsley team, where they might have had the smallest budget in the league, but they were hard working, organised and worked as a team.
Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them.

Made a point of saying 'also set pieces' as a key part of the strategy, which would make a nice difference to recent seasons, I guess.

There was more that's slipping my mind right now - and yes, a lot of it was generic manager speak - but I felt that he was being pretty open and honest.
I quite like him. And the final several games of last season has bought him enough credit for a fresh start this season, imo.

Could you point out which one decided not to have reversed halves for the home kit? I'd like to slap them. 

[BankEnd Rover]

I'm really warming to Val, out of the last 3 managers, for some reason, I enjoy listening to him the most.
 

No bullshit, just straight to the point, abit like JDT but I felt he could sometimes come across quite arrogant. 

I like the idea of how we are trying to play but if teams do their homework we could be quite easy to play against. One thing, Watford and West Brom fans have all said is that Val can be quite stubborn with his tactics, tends to always make subs at the same time etc...We will come unstuck a lot if he doesn't change his ways.

Bring in a few more exciting players with pace and at least we will be exciting to watch this year.

[alex l]

12 hours ago, BankEnd Rover said:

I'm really warming to Val, out of the last 3 managers, for some reason, I enjoy listening to him the most.
 

No bullshit, just straight to the point, abit like JDT but I felt he could sometimes come across quite arrogant. 

During the poor start he had, he came across to me as not really being bothered but it's actually that he's very level headed, doesn't get too high or low. The way he has addressed the Brittain situation is spot on, a lot of players have indicated JE was a great man-manager, but it's come to light he covered up the Szmodics situation. Like others, I'm warming to VI - unlike JE he's willing to be honest with the fan base 

[Mattyblue]

Another JDT (bit without his charisma, of course), I’d be happy with that.

[Tomphil2]

Good thing about Val is for me he brings something a bit different, a bit like JDT did but a more grounded lower risk style yet brighter than the generic TM/Eustace stuff.

Early days in his first full season obviously but the end of last season was encouraging.

[rigger]

25 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

Good thing about Val is for me he brings something a bit different, a bit like JDT did but a more grounded lower risk style yet brighter than the generic TM/Eustace stuff.

Early days in his first full season obviously but the end of last season was encouraging.

VI must be doing something right, by the way people are starting to like him. Similar to Gordon Lee, he knows how to speak to the fans.

[Leonard Venkhater]

5 minutes ago, rigger said:

VI must be doing something right, by the way people are starting to like him. Similar to Gordon Lee, he knows how to speak to the fans.

"Behave yourselves. Go back to Blackburn and celebrate".. ( Burslem 1975)

[rigger]

1 minute ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

"Behave yourselves. Go back to Blackburn and celebrate".. ( Burslem 1975)

What a day.

[Leonard Venkhater]

3 hours ago, rigger said:

What a day.

We used to keep saying the Gordon Lee quote in a mock Staffs accent for longer than is sensible or even funny!

[Forever Blue]

On 17/07/2025 at 21:14, chaddyrovers said:

 

 

As soon as he leaves you’ll be slagging him off.  You have form.

[Mattyblue]

He did want him sacked after a month after all…

[chaddyrovers]

13 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

He did want him sacked after a month after all…

Just like plenty on here did but for some reason you can't stop mentioning it s why not mention other people who had similar opinion to my at the time? 

[Mattyblue]

Hmm, I wonder. Maybe because you like to jump on fans that ‘don’t trust the process’, ‘to just give time and patience’… and you will be doing the same again if we go on a bad run this time.

Nobody likes hypocrisy.

Edited 8 hours ago by Mattyblue