Being a Rovers fan should absolutely come with a health warning. From the despair of Wednesday to the euphoria of today. And I'm delighted to eat a huge slice of humble pie after decrying the five at the back in the days before today. And if I read the game plan correctly it worked really well. We defended our own box pretty much for the entirety of the first half and allowed Leeds plenty of the ball and really the only threat I thought was from set pieces. I overheard some Leeds fans across from the ground talking disparagingly about our defeat on Wednesday and it occurred to me that they thought today was a foregone conclusion. An early goal they said and Blackburn would crumble. As we approached half time I noticed some murmuring from the Leeds fans and a nervousness. We played our three strikers further up in the second half and Eustace did a number tactically on Farke. The Leeds players looked slightly confused when we did this as they couldn't get forward as much. The goal was incredible not from a quality point of view (it was a really good goal though) but from the press and quick forward play. Could we hang on? The clock seemed to be going backwards most of the last twenty minutes but we got over the line, we did it against all odds and the relief was palpable. I particularly liked the time consuming by us today which really added to Leeds frustrations. I actually predicated that Pears would get booked after the 85th minute for time wasting but by then the horse had bolted. We aren't completely safe yet but I feel hugely more comfortable than I did on the drive home from Bristol and the following couple of days. My granddaughter and a friend who came with us actually both predicted a win. I was worried about their sanity when they said that but now after the last few days I'm questioning my own 😃😃

I thought we played very well against an extremely strong team whose subs that came on would probably all get into our first team. I was worried about Hedges going off for his denfensive cover but I thought Markanday was excellent and randomly loved a crunching tackle! Brittain had a great game, he has a very unenviable role of having to hold onto the ball for long periods of time without having a forward out ball. Sammie didn't seem fit at all, I thought he would have been off when he went down early. My daughter loved the day, although she thought the tannoy announcements in the Riverside were too loud. We've gained a new fan!

Wow, where did that come from? I thought we would win today but that exceeded my wildest dreams. It was a terrific team performance and the type of match when you struggle to pick any outstanding players because they were all on their game. After a tentative opening we simply blew them away with some great pressing and transitioning, both done with a great tempo and aggression. To score five after the dearth of recent goals really was something to behold and credit to Eustace who got his tactics right and the game plan worked exceptionally well. The effort put in was another feature epitomised by Dolan and Szmodics. The former has his detractors and can be inconsistent but the last two games have shown he has these performances in his locker. What can you say about Szmodics? I was thinking the drive home that his goals to chances ratio must be really good because he doesn't seem to miss many. In the last couple of minutes of stoppage time at the end he was still chasing and pressing. In truth I would have taken him off after an hour to protect him but with his attitude he would probably have had a meltdown. It's only one win and we have some work to do yet but I'm going to enjoy the next few days. Well done to the fans who travelled today too. They really supported the team today and after recent weeks I'd like to think the win is for them.

When the CEO is going public that his ambition is to stay in the division and develop more players just weeks after missing out on the play offs on goal difference and the manager then spends 6 months taking the mick out of him publicly for those comments then yes, it's certainly a culture of failure.

They’re done. We’ve just forgot to click send.

When you have absent owners doing next to nothing, and when you have the people in charge at Ewood deciding that we’d just take a year out and stay up, this is inevitably where you’ll end up. Someone tell me which of these so called professionals really know anything about football? It’s scandalous.

Days like today are why we travel to every away game - in the hope of seeing a performance like this. It was a real team effort with every player knowing their role and performing it perfectly. Dolan and Szmodics were outstanding and their interplay was something that Sunderland couldn't cope with. However, the whole team excelled in every department. JRC and Tronstad completely dominated the midfield. Much of Tronstad's work goes unnoticed but he has become a key player to this team. He keeps everything ticking over and patrols that area in front of the back four and then prompts attacking moves. I thought Gallagher put in a shift up front and put defenders under physical pressure which they clearly didn't like! Hedges has made a difference since his return from injury and is another who puts in a huge amount of work. Eustace is beginning to make his mark on this squad and after working on the defence he and his coaching staff are now producing an improvement going forward. The football we played today was very easy on the eye and played at speed but also with a physicality when required. This was a huge step towards retaining Championship status.

It's just another bland statement written presumably by one of the acolytes at Ewood. It tells us nothing at all apart from the usual diatribe about their 'full support'. Well that worked well in the Summer when they slashed the budgets when an opportunity to build on our best season in fourteen years was missed. We lost the best manager we have had in years and sold our crown jewel. And mentioning Covid again is embarrassing. Every club in the EFL came through it and emerged stronger but we regressed. They can stick their 'full support' and patronising statements up their arses.

I don't think Hedges will ever be constantly available, Nor Gally. Nor JRC. That was the problem for Tomasson, a thread -bare squad. Forced to send out boys to do a man's job. Eustace has been fortunate in that his arrival coincided with the return of valuable players. Let's never forget how Tomasson was let down time and time again. In the end he'd had enough but they wouldn't let him go and held on to his contract until the situation was impossible. That's the truth of it. He was the best appointment since Big Sam but he was conned into believing there was a project for him to lead. That doesn't excuse his treatment of Wharton over the Burnley game or his stubbornness in insisting on a style of play his squad wasn't up to. But look at the performances in the Cups--a sense of pride and optimism. We hadn't see anything like that for years. A razor-blade width from reaching the play-offs in his first season with us.We were an exciting team, other fans than Rover's purred over our performances. I'll look back on his tenure with great fondness. Reminded us what a great Club we are. In the end, like everything they touch, it was brought to an end by Venkys.

As designed by those in control the 'anti JDT' stuff has gone down a treat on the Venkygraph, Facebook and twitter. Legions of fans now using this as 'evidence' that the problem here was JDT, that he had lost the dressing room, that the players weren't happy under him and that things should be fine now we've got Eustace in charge. It really is that simple to pull the wool over the eyes of so many so quickly. All I know as a supporter who has seen an awful lot of crap in the last 12 years is that JDT delivered more in less time than anyone else, that we went nearer to cracking the play-offs than under anyone else, that we went nearer to Wembley than under anyone else and this was despite being given zero backing during January and working with extreme limitations. Obviously as a humble supporter and not a 'pro' I'm not privy to what goes on in private but whatever did go on clearly didn't do us much harm last season or the first half of this season as we sat in or close to the top 6 despite slashing and burning the squad, deliberately. I don't personally care what individuals thought about the manager. What matters is results. Give me last season under JDT above any other season we've had under relentless mediocrity and failure under these wretched people. Anyhow, happy camp back on. Content to plod along in the bottom half of the Championship for the next 4-5 years if we are lucky, Keeping pondlife like Waggott in well paid employment as he continues to gut the club, cutting costs and quality until its retirement day and there's nothing left but 6000 fans rattling around Ewood reminiscing about the 80s. At least the senior pros will enjoy themselves and not get upset at a winner demanding more of them. Maybe one day St Tony will come home and tell them more about what wonderful human beings they all are.

On attendances, the average when Venkys took over was 25000 with Allardyce as manager. Top half prem side as well. Anyone remember the “I’d rather watch rovers in the lower leagues than watch this crap”? I do.

10 years ago gates at Ewood were averaging over 14,000 and that was a reasonable figure at the time by Championship levels. Certainly similar ball park to most. For example - 2014/15 our average gate was 14,900 or so, which over the season was more than Huddersfield, Wigan, Blackpool, Millwall, Brentford, Bournemouth and Rotherham, it was also similar to Bolton (15,400), Birmingham (16,100), Watford (16,600), Charlton (16,700) and Reading (17,000) Not game changing numbers behind Fulham (18,000), Middlesbrough (19,000) and Ipswich (19,600) So basically 2/3 of the league was at or similar numbers to ourselves. Of course that's inconvenient to the doom mongers and self-pity brigade of which that bloke in California is one, doesn't fit the narrative of little old Rovers struggling to compete. Fortunately now the numbers are looking better for them because there has been an explosion in gates across the EFL which Rovers have managed through suicidal policies to do the complete opposite to, leaving us down at the very bottom of the League and with numbers that are perfect ammunition for the pro-Venky mob to use to their advantage. Another reason for us slipping down that table is that two of those clubs have gone on to get promoted - Brentford, Bournemouth - to the Premier League, despite having significantly lower numbers than us turning up to watch. Amazing that. Almost as though having tiny grounds and hardly any fans is irrelevant to success. It actually comes down to competent management and investment, neither of which have been seen here for a very long time. BTW, investment isn't paying your bills on time. Investment is actually going above and beyond the essential bare minimum.

Our travelling fans deserve that

It's my daughters first game tomorrow, taking my Dad along too. He has been a season ticket holder for 40+ years of his 67 year life but broken by Venkys ... jumped at the chance as he "had a granddaughter excuse" to go to the game. The fans are still there and desperate for Venkys to go!

It’s quite simple really, if you get rid of players like: Rothwell Lenihan Dack Philips Diaz Wharton Kaminsky If you tell lies to the manager and he leaves too, you end up in relegation trouble. Nobody should be surprised. VENKYS OUT, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS

He's beyond clueless that fella.

Well he definitely wasn’t on speed during his time here!

Great to see MGP back at Ewood Park today

We’re fucking sick of doing Waggott’s job for him, quite frankly.

We actually will, thanks. Well, I certainly will. I’m as fed up as anyone with all the nonsense involving the owners.

A really good performance today in my opinion, probably the best league showing of Eustace's tenure. We defended really well and if they were going to score it was going to be from one of our errors rather than then creating it for themselves. For me the key was going back to a four man midfield as we didn't allow them to dominate as teams have done to us in recent weeks. It helped having Tronstad back and he was his usual tidy self. We have to keep him fit at all costs. If I was going to be critical I thought our final ball in attacking positions left a bit to be desired or even the lack of shooting when I thought we had chances to do so. A special mention today from me for Brittain and Hyam. I have been really critical of them recently but today they were both really good. I thought though that Hedges was our stand out player. Considering his fitness levels must be way off he really put a shift in. The clean sheet is really welcome and if we set up with the same system from now on we won't concede too many. A special word for the fans today. The 'I don't care about Venky's' song was quite innovate and simplistic but it contained the sentiments most of us feel. And there weren't too many fans not singing it around where I was. That should be echoing around Ewood on Good Friday.

On another point. - inspite of the press rumours linking him with Celtic, Luton, Brentford etc Sammi has never slacked off for a minute. He’s always given 110%. Not like another recent striker we had when his head was turned.

Thrilled and delighted with today win. We defended as a team and everyone of those players played for the fans and Eustace. Our shape was very good. The defenders were excellent today and Hyam was back to his good self. Carter did excellent after his booking in the first half. Brittain and Pickering did excellent against their wingers/full backs We had the best 2 chances today and Leeds ended up diving and trying to win a penalty which none were. Eustace got his tactics spot on. Excellent finish by Szmodics by great play by Dolan after Gallagher wins the header. I think I never shouted so much after that when in. The Rovers fans at Elland Road were loud and proud. Delighted for the fans, the players and Eustace. Great 3 points. Rovers till I die 🔵⚪ Eustace's Blue and White Army 🔵⚪

Without doubt, better to have tasted the riches. For me personally Venkys changed the way I saw Rovers. It shouldn’t have done, but it did. Things they can never do though. They can’t take away those memories of Ronnie Clayton running out of the tunnel with the ball under his arm. They won’t ever take away the memories of the class of Bryan Douglas. Nor can they take away Jack Walker taking on the biggest and best clubs in the country and beating them. That was some team at Man Utd at that time, but for a short time, we were better. When I get totally pissed off with the turmoils that we are currently going through, I’ll console myself with those memories. Even if the club went to the wall, Venkys and this crew could never take that away. Cherish the club as you best remember it.

That interview about "no pressure on Jon to get in the top 6"; "it is just about staying in the league" It was a car crash moment. Steve Waggott's "I don't sweat" moment The level of ambition at any business is determined by those at the top of it. They are happy to wallow and so we wallow

Genuinely the worst result and performance in recent memory, with Hyam probably the worst individual performance I can ever remember seeing. In a game we needed not to lose, against Bristol Fucking City. If Eustace's first words after this game aren't 'we apologise to the fans', he is absolutely clueless. If we stay up this season, it's purely down to how bad teams below us are.

This is what you tend to find with the better managers with burning ambition to succeed and quickly. JDT was never here to plod along for years on end (unlike his predecessor). He was here to be successful, and quickly, and had the club supported him in his quest he would have got us into the play-offs and who knows where we'd be now. I think it is inevitable that when such a character goes into a club and injects a winning mentality into a group accustomed to the old uncle Tony 'arm around the shoulder' routine it will end up upsetting a few. You hear about this sort of stuff with Mourinho, Van Gaal and other world class coaches - they go in somewhere, immediately and ruthlessly deliver improvement and usually success, and then afterwards you get some players grumbling about them or not happy with how things went. Too much of a happy camp down there and has been for years. From the 'right good go' days of Bowyer to the 'we don't want a double promotion we want to stabilise in the Championship' uncle Tony.

A fairly pointless and uninspiring interview whereby just about everything Broughton says is caveated. "We already have clear plans of what we are trying to do" - that doesn't mean those plans will be followed or accepted by upstairs "I have been told that it won't impact our transfer business going into the summer" - being told something doesn't mean shit especially at Ewood Park "A geopolitical challenge" aka being investigated by authorities for illegal activities "Hopefully have the squad to come out of the summer in a better position", hopefully isn't good enough for me. What we can see here is a clear divergence between Broughton and the 'others'. Like JDT before him he is using the media to show those who can read between the lines where the real responsibility and decision making lies and it isn't with him. He can do all he can but it is meaningless if the board and owners don't follow it, which they won't because they don't care what the underlings think, they'll just do whatever it is they fancy doing from one window to the next. If they're in a tight spot or short on cash they'll reduce the squad to rubble without a second's thought. If they're interested or having fun they'll ignore huge bids for out of contract players. I don't blame Broughton, it seems to me he has been brought here to do a job that is now impossible to perform, working for liars and charlatans who have made it mission impossible. Think back to last season, a hair's breadth from the playoffs and FA Cup semi final, bright ambitious young manager, bright good young squad. Could that have been more comprehensively demolished, wrecked, undermined and undone in the space of 6-9 months? I doubt a dingle paid to deliberately ruin the club could have done more to wreck us than our great 'well meaning' owners and board.

Luton and Brentford got promoted on those gates, Burnley used to get those gates, PNE get similar and there are other examples. Yet 230 million down the shitter, two top 2 positions blown because of not even a million quids worth of backing. Every decent player being cashed to pay the bills and Rovers fans have to be grateful to their billionaire overlords because we have a good community trust. If that hooray attitude comes from the inner sanctum of the club and i suspect it does then no wonder we are in a mess - again.

What confirmed this even more, was that months of JDT calling out Waggot and taking the piss out of him about various things including the bus saw nothing happen, but the first time he mentions Suhail he was gone within a week.

I thought we were excellent today in terms of the game plan. The Championship is an insane League - after Wednesday night's debacle we get this tremendous display. Although I've always felt we would survive, I must admit to breathing easier tonight. Not totally out of the woods but a good way there now I think. I really do believe that Eustace will turn out to be a very good manager for this club in the long run. There's a touch of Mowbray about him but also reminds me of Bob Saxton - gets a good response from players and just gets everyone working for each other.

In many ways, aye. But I do also think, those with an axe to grind with JDT deliberately overlook just how badly JE has done on the whole tbf.

No good blaming Eustace or JDT .. It is all on the owners . They have to go asap , bring on adminstration.. If ,, we stay up this season, we will be relegated next ... The club is set up to fail ....

How did Brittain not get MOTM? He was outstanding. Also special mention for Markanday who showed real physicality. Not seen that from him before.

Whilst I was hugely disappointed to lose I actually thought we were good tonight and on another day would have had three points. But the stark reality is that we did lose and that is the most important thing. Our situation is becoming precarious and this drawing and losing sequence will see us relegated. In truth Ipswich got lucky tonight in my view. In the second half of was pretty much one-way stuff although we didn't create as much as we would have liked. I haven't seen the goal back but Pears looked horribly at fault. We were chatting and reckoned poor goalkeeping has cost us at least twelve points this season. Relying on just one man to score isn't too good either. We simply have to start winning games but really were are these going to come from. As good and important as Szmodicsas been this season I wish he would do more to try and stay onside. My real ire tonight is aimed at the referee who gave by far the worst performance I have seen in a Rovers game for some time. He really tried to give the impression that the game was beneath him as he strutted about with an aura of arrogance. . I saw the disallowed goal back pretty much straight away and to penalise Scott Wharton for a foul on the keeper is shockingly bad. What made it worse was that he waited until we put the ball in the net before blowing. The decision lacked conviction and summed him up. Luongo and Morsy got away with persistent infringement as they broke play up and committed general shithousery to stem the flow of the game whenever we were gaining momentum.

Tried this on Twitter yesterday. All you get back is fans explaining how Ipswich get 28,000 fans, have a much bigger catchment area and are a much more exciting proposition to investors. When you try and rationalise that with: They had ~15K fans prior to their turnaround in fortunes due to good management and ownership A lot of the land around them is farm land, it’s not full of houses with families. The North West is the hot bed for the countries football. They can’t give you any rationale explanation and end up insulting you. Our fan base is completely brainwashed into thinking this is all normal and there’s no other way out. Which is exactly why any protests will fail, sadly.

I said after O'Brien that it was deliberately sabotaged. I'm totally convinced that all three were deliberately sabotaged. They never seem to make these mistakes when bringing in shit players for no money or when they are selling off the best player we've had for 15 years.

As is now the usual way of it Waggott is prompted into releasing a hasty and poorly drafted 'statement' purporting to be from/on behalf of the Owners only after a major development occurs and confusion and speculation runs rampant for 5-6 days. If this genuinely came from the owners and they genuinely wanted to communicate they would have released a statement setting out exactly what the issue in India is and would have released it promptly rather than doing nothing for days on end then coming up with this drivel. If you believe the owners have had any input into this beyond their dogsbody giving it the once over before it went onto the website I think you are deluded. This is just the latest attempt by Waggott to portray this as business as usual. I'm not buying it. I find it frankly disgusting that the 'statement' is used once again by Waggott as an attempt to thank the owners for their input, bizarrely referencing Covid, now 4 years ago, as an issue or excuse. Strikes me as a desperate bid by a lackey to take action to divert building anger away from India. Probably caused by him hearing the Venkys song at MIddlesbrough on Saturday.

Current mood.

Always gets written off every time his form dips but that lad for nothing on a modest wage has been one of the best finds this club has made. Yes he is inconsistent but most of them are and as long as his running stats stay high we know he's at least trying.

Today is a perfect example of why you keep going when all your natural instincts suggest staying at home eating chocolate is a much better option. 😆 No idea where it came from but my word, that was absolutely terrific entertainment. 🤍💙 Really enjoyed the rapidly emptying stadium…👌

Tronstad has barely got a mention on here, he’s excellent.

That’s this season, that wasn’t the tactic last season which SW is largely moaning about. We were a very decent side last season as league and cup showed. Pathetic, loser talk. Which is what most of them are.

Running a small squad intentionally in order to allow for youth development? I remember when I was lucky enough to meet with John Williams. He met many fans on a one to one basis at that time. It was after Jack Walker had died, while we were still in the PL but owned by the Walker trustees. He explained that finances were much tighter and that the wage budget had been reduced. He said there were two options open to him. Either run a larger squad which would have been with a likely reduced player quality, or run a smaller squad that allowed him to potentially bring better quality players in. He had opted for the smaller squad because he believed without top players the club would struggle. I thought he’d made the right decision. No mention of Academy players at all. Compare that with the way the club is currently going. “Intentionally” going with a smaller squad - not with the intention of bringing in better players. It’s very, very obvious we aren’t bringing in better players. We’re either selling them, or watching them walk away for nothing. Academy players would make the first team in a championship side anyway, if they were good enough. We’ve seen it happening now for lots of years. That’s a plan? It’s a plan for disaster IMO. It’s a defeatist plan. It’s a plan based on just HOPING some of the youngsters come through. If they don’t come through, what then?

Fully agree. This is Venkys in action. All the work and preparation is done and sorted by those on the ground at Ewood / Brockhall. Final sign off / approval needed from India - either doesn't come or comes too late and they don't have authority to press 'go'. Deal collapses, everyone looks rather stupid, fans in uproar, media asking questions, laughing stock of the game. What to do? Tell the truth - that Venkys are to blame and can't be contacted? No chance, that's a sackable offence at Rovers, and a sure fire way to ensure you are unemployable in football So instead make up some cock and bull nonsense about admin errors and the rest. All a clear ploy to confuse and lay the blame anywhere but India.

I was concerned about this game. Bristol City move the ball quick and they are quite direct. Our team have struggled with that all season. The way Eustace sets up, he wants the opposition to try and control the game from their back line, so that the team can set up their shape and look to win the ball back We just weren't good enough. Probably one of the worst performances this season. It goes without saying, Dom Hyam had a stinker. I don't think anyone covered themselves in glory. The substitutions seemed a bit odd to me. I don't actually think we were terrible in the first half, but were just undone by some rank awful defending. I have to say, Callum Brittain has really irritated me this season, and I am starting to lose patience with him. We've heard from Hyam and Brittain how the fans weren't helping them in their bad run under JDT. Sorry to say lads, but no club in the world will accept performances like that for long The subs ruined the 2nd half. I actually don't know what Eustace was thinking. Maybe a degree of panic? We looked well off the pace, and the opening 15 minutes of the 2nd half went by without much happening. The change of shape and number of changes produced a disjointed and defeated side. Bristol running away with it was predictable This squad is not good enough to sustain a Championship season. We need more depth. McFadzean was never, ever the answer to the lack of experience - in football terms, he's a relegation candidate, and has been relegated 3 times. He's 37 and really, this isn't the fight for him. It should have been Carter every day of the week, who is more likely to have to suffer a League One season if we don't fix up When you look at this squad it is very reminiscent of that Coyle season. Past it centre halves, disappointing loans, no real endeavour or shape. We have lost a fantastic dressing room that Mowbray put together, and those big figures have not been replaced. It is really showing

I’d like to consider myself quite fair and reasonable. Maybe it because I really liked JDT , maybe my heads just fell off after years of this BS but I’m just not having JE. The day he was appointed I never got the vibes he was the right man for us and however many games in he hasn’t showed anything to prove me wrong . Being fair he he hasn’t had a pre season, his players etc etc but some people fit certain clubs and from day one he never fit this one and that’s coming from someone who believes no one will make this shit show any better . JDT Reallt was working miracles with this squad

It was the same when Sven was in charge of England. Avoided picking anyone from Rovers like the plague and how much different might Matt Jansen's life been different had he been selected that summer?

Proof if needed that being recognised at international level is really a load of bollocks. The difference in ability between Morton and Wharton really is night and day yet the former gets a regular spot at that level purely because of his parent club.