Your end of season summary

[den]

Views please?

I’ll keep mine short.

I think both managers and players can hold their heads high. They have all done as much as was humanly possible. I couldn’t ask more from them.

Management and owners might think they’ve done as much as they could have done under the circumstances. I disagree. Once more the January transfer window offered the opportunity to back the manager and the squad by “meaningfully” strengthening. Of course that means putting in money. Was that money available? I think it was due simply to the amount of cash brought into the club from big transfer sales. However, the owners “chose” not to. 
 

This has gone on now - apart from the very rare splashing out of transfer fees on the likes of Rhodes, BBD - for 15 years and IMO isnt going to change. So well done to players and managers but you’ve been let down too much, too often.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The season was thrown away in a crazy five game losing streak when sitting fifth,we contrived to lose against the likes of Derby and bloody Cardiff.

Little quality investment in the side in January was just an echo of season's past and did not help,also without doubt the main reason why Eustace buggered off.

A season that promised much but came up short was,if truth be told, probably better than most expected.

We are becoming the nearly men again just like the 80's and I fear nothing will change whilst these horrible owners tenure continues.

Where has the Wharton and Szmodic money gone?

Edited May 3 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[DE.]

I started off the season with a pessimistic mindset, concerned by what was yet another frustrating summer window and lack of investment from the owners. We were going into another season having lost our primary gpalscorer (Armstrong > BBD > Szmodics) and this time there did not appear to be a player who was going to step out of the shadows to take that task on their shoulders. Our purchases in that position were two cheap unknowns.

Ultimately, none of our players got into double figures with goals or assists. Ohashi proved to be a good signing and if he hadn't spent time out with injury would likely have gotten past the 9 he ultimately accrued. Gueye had a very hit and miss season, but his personality helped transform him into a cult hero of sorts.

Scoring wasn't our strong suit this season. We only scored 53, compared to 60 last season. However, defensively we massively improved - conceding 48 compared to 74 last season. John Eustace's philosophy of building from the back provided the foundations of our success for the first half of the season, ensuring that our lack of firepower up top was often mitigated by having a solid backline. We weren't always a joy to watch, but the results were there for all to see. What Eustace was doing was working.

Then, January. As always, things went sour. Eustace left for a Derby side deep in relegation trouble, despite Rovers being 5th. It was an almost unfathomable move - it is unprecedented for a manager to move from a team in the playoffs to a team in the relegation zone mid-season. This is just life under Venky's, though. The only unprecedented incidents are going to be negative and embarrassing ones.

The players initially reacted with defiance, winning our first two games under interim manager David Lowe and arresting what had been a poor run of form leading up to Eustace's surprise departure. A resounding defeat by Swansea in Lowe's last game in charge was an ominous sign of things to come, though. Valerin Ismael was hired amidst the backdrop of renewed protest against the Ewood hierarchy. The new manager desperately needed to get some momentum going, but instead initial performances under him were absolutely dire.

Rovers bombed out of the playoff places, down to 12th at one point, and 7 winless games made it look like all hope was lost. An unexpected second half fightback against Sheffield Wednesday, going from 2-0 down to 2-2, sparked an unlikely revival which saw Rovers win multiple matches on the bounce. The teams above us faltered at the finish line, leaving us with the possibility of sneaking back into the playoffs on the final day of the season. A win would have done it, but it was a bridge too far, and a 1-1 draw left us in the all-too-familiar position of 7th. On the outside looking in, as has always been the case under the current owners.

A combination of John Eustace's practicality and the division being weaker than many predicted meant that we were never in danger of getting sucked into a relegation battle, despite nerves jangling slightly during our initial downturn in form under Ismael. It's another season where top six was eminently attainable, but ultimately seized by clubs who are no better equipped than us. They just have the good fortune of not being saddled with the Venky curse.

Eustace built the foundations for us to succeed this season. Venky's took a sledgehammer to those and it cost us a playoff position yet again. I continue to look forward to the day they leave.

Edited May 3 by DE.

[K-Hod]

Owners and top brass have fucked us, yet again.
So incredibly frustrating to get this close and not make the play offs again, especially with everything going our way.

I do think the players are doing their best, they just aren’t good enough, ultimately. 
What worries me about the board is that they’re seemingly determined to have a slow build, no matter what.
They won’t be bothered about us going one better next season after going so close, this.
We deserve better and they aren’t good enough to be in charge.

[Hasta]

From where we were at the start of the season , success

From Christmas , failure.

[wilsdenrover]

A wasted opportunity.

[chaddyrovers]

We lost too many games to lower end teams like Stoke twice, Hull at home, Cardiff at home, Plymouth away, Derby away. 

Had we pick up another 6 points from these games. We get a playoffs.

 

[davulsukur]

It depends on how you view things generally. There will be more than enough Rovers fans happy with the season. At the start of it, most people would have predicted that we were in for a difficult season. We’ve defied that expectation and finished 7th, so on the one hand, it's a good season.

Others, like me, see it more that finishing 7th, 2 points outside of the playoffs is fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. As a club, we should be striving for success and that means getting into the playoffs (or better).

The season was totally derailed by the ownership/senior management at the club. Absolutely unacceptable getting the club into a situation where Eustace wanted to leave for relegation threatened Derby.

We've had no stand out players this season, by that i mean in the division overall. No Armstrong, BBD or Szmodics type player tearing up the league for us.

Ultimately, the club is now at a familiar crossroads and last time they went the wrong way. Instead of building on what we had, they pulled the rug from under the us and we struggled enormously.

They can't do the same again and they need to get player contracts sorted and need to improve on our recent patchy transfer activity.

The biggest positive for the whole season has been the formation of the coalition.

[wilsdenrover]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

We lost too many games to lower end teams like Stoke twice, Hull at home, Cardiff at home, Plymouth away, Derby away. 

Had we pick up another 6 points from these games. We get a playoffs.

 

2 points.

[M_B]

It's been a bit of a contradiction. 

We've finished higher than probably everyone expected, yet we've ended up falling short when we should really have had a play off spot.

Glass half full or half empty? Probably both are true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OllieNO]

A boardroom shit show from start to finish. As all previous seasons under Venky’s. But probably even more so - the No.1 shit show (so far) - given the turn of events in February.

[MB Rover]

14 minutes ago, M_B said:

It's been a bit of a contradiction. 

We've finished higher than probably everyone expected, yet we've ended up falling short when we should really have had a play off spot.

Glass half full or half empty? Probably both are true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, M_B said:

It's been a bit of a contradiction. 

We've finished higher than probably everyone expected, yet we've ended up falling short when we should really have had a play off spot.

Glass half full or half empty? Probably both are true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Record lowest points to finish in the playoffs, massive opportunity pissed away. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Another wasted season.

 

[joey_big_nose]

Definitely did a lot better this season than expected... If you told me 7th in August I would have been happy to take it. But frustrating when we threw away so many games, just 2 points needed as others have said.

Overall my sense is we dont really have a plan on how to move forward as a club, and are quite vulnerable to a poor manager coming in and taking us down. Thought Ismael was that manager, but hes done well since Sheffield Wednesday.

[roverblue]

Expected relegation, so think the players and two managers have both done a fantastic job with the team.

The boardroom and recruitment teams have been abysmal though in backing them in summer and January. If we had just bought 2-3 more quality players we would be looking forward to a playoff game.

[Waggy76]

All we needed in January was 'significant investment' we began February 'significantly weakened'

Not an unusual occurrence , unfortunately !

Venkys time to go !

[Paul Mellelieu]

Euastace trauma cost us a play-off place.

[aletheia]

As per the last 15 years, the football and performance on the pitch is subordinate if not irrelevant in relation to a core of non-footballing self-interested agencies and personnel more interested in maintaining power, control and personal profit.

[AspRover]

I went into this season expecting to be relegated. Our form last season was terrible, Eustace hadn't looked convincing at all and I thought we had in all likelihood weakened the team significantly, particularly with the loss of the player who kept us in the division. From that perspective, just barely missing the playoffs on the final day of the season seems amazing.

However, considering the position that we found ourselves in at the start of January, we blew it. Both the lack of investment in January, but also the shocking management of the Eustace situation and the manner in which it played out absolutely cost us a play off place. 

To echo the sentiments of many here, I think that the playing staff and both managers did a phenomenal job. As ever, the club was hamstrung from the word go by the incompetent chancers at boardroom level.

I am increasingly hopeful that Ismael is a competent manager - projected over a whole season his results are slightly worse than Eustace, but he also I think increasingly clearly inherited a squad absolutely reeling.

Special shoutouts to Ohashi, Gueye, Brittain, Tronstad and Batth, all of whom have been genuine highlights and provided moments of great joy.

From a personal perspective, this was also the season my dad died. 

I have never lived in Blackburn, or Lancashire for that matter. Neither did dad - my grandad was from the town - but he was my connection to this football club. When it came to Rovers he was a relentless optimist, to the extent that he didn't really want to believe that anyone connected to the club really and truly didn't have the clubs best interests at heart, and strongly believed that the club would rise again. I kept him away from this forum for his own safety. He loved the club.

It has been very difficult through his illness to reconcile that he was never going to see the club become the thing he loved again, his last memories were of the club as it is now, the Rovers of Venkys and Waggot and the con artists and scumbags and disinterested millionaire chicken chasers. Towards the end he came to realise it too. It's increasingly hard not to resent the club for it. This summer will probably involve a fair bit of soul searching as to whether I can continue to support Rovers more meaningfully than checking the results every week, when I remember to.

 

[JCRovers]

Managers / head coaches

Eustace 9 - overachieved with a limited squad and budget. Would've gotten us into playoffs if not for the lack of investment and commitment from board/ owners in January. 

Ismael 6 - horrible start but has saved his face somewhat in the last 5-6 matches. Still have my doubts whether he's the right man for the job.

Board / owners 

0 - no further comment needed other than they need to get out of the club.

Players

Overall rating: 8 - tipped for relegation at the start of the season but finished 7th in the end. Proved to be hard to break down when working together as a unit defensively. The chaos that unfolded in January with the lack of investment and Eustace leaving derailed the season.

Individual player ratings:

GK: Pears - 5, Toth - 6

DR: Brittain - 9, JRC - 4

CD: Hyam - 5, Batth - 8, Carter - 5, Wharton N/A, Sanderson - 4*

DL: Pickering - 6, Ribeiro - 5*, Beck - 9

DM: Tronstad - 9, Travis - 8, Forshaw - 5*, Baker - 6

AM: Cantwell - 6, Weimann 6, Buckley - 4

LW: Hedges - 5, Kargbo - 4*

RW: Dolan - 6, Dennis - 3*, Cozier-Duberry - 4

ST: Ohashi - 6, Gueye - 6, Woodrow - 4*

* = January signings; some have had limited game time so hard to give a fair rating

Best Rovers players of the season: Brittain, Tronstad, Batth, Travis and Beck. 

Underperformers of the season: Dennis, JRC and Buckley. Feels like JRC and Buckley have both taken a step back this year; perhaps time for them to move on. 

 

 

 

[roversfan99]

This season has again proved that the general standard of the league is not very good. The top 2 or 3 are always fairly predictable due to the mess that is the distribution of TV money leaving a huge gap, but getting into the top 6 is very doable. Those inside the club like to dumb down expectations though. Don't allow them to lower your standards and think this season is positive because "we expected a relegation battle."

It also proved that we will never thrive under these owners. In 3 of the last 4 seasons, we have had managers to get the team performing beyond the sum of its parts. When they needed help, things collapsed because the owners didnt care.

[Exiled_Rover]

Before the summer started I thought we'd get relegated this season - we scraped survival by the skin of our teeth and clearly needed serious investment in the playing squad. We knew Szmodics was going and we had more than an inkling that the transfer fees for him, Raya and Wharton wouldn't be reinvested into the squad.

Credit to John Park, he did an excellent job with an incredibly limited budget, and provided Eustace with JUST enough options to craft a functioning team:

• Gueye
• Ohashi
• Cantwell
• Weimann
• Batth (my player of the season)
• Beck

Hopes were raised heading into January, however, once again the powers that be (whether that's the three stooges or the Rao family) refused to back the manager who, by that point, had absolutely flogged the squad. The inevitable injuries to key players left us in terrible form at the start of the year.

Roll on the January window and the predictable disaster it turned out to be which, coupled with a refusal to extend the contracts of key players and the manager himself, ultimately led to the story of the season - Eustace walking out the door to join a smaller, relegation threatened club. 

Both managers did a credible job (as much as I dislike Ismael, 5 wins on the bounce and 7 undefeated is nothing to be sniffed at) and the players (mostly) played to the best of their abilities. I think they have to take some blame for clearly sulking after Eustace left, but ultimately the squad isn't good enough to challenge for the Playoffs. 

 

So looking forward to next season, I'm back in the same boat I was last summer - we need serious investment in the playing squad. We've got to do it this time without Park who left Rovers in November. If the January transfer window is anything to go by I'm not hopeful. 

[Upside Down]

All our efforts need to be directed towards removing the venky virus.

Nothing more, nothing less.

[...]

Clusterfuck of emotions. 

[sammie]

overall, a decent season but another season sabotaged by a horrific January transfer window and at this point it’s almost like we don’t want promotion cause whenever we’re around the playoffs something (that doesn’t happen at any other clubs) just seems to happen, like our manager leaving for a relegation battle.