We didn’t mention it at the time - but this feels like the moment to, when Tony’s diagnosis was announced we sent him a card, some blue and white flowers and his favourite chocolates on behalf of BRFCS members…

It's been a long, long time since I loved a Rovers player like I love Sammie Szmodics. The season he has had is up there with the Shearers for me as he has pretty much single handedly kept us up. We should all be eternally grateful to him. In all honesty I didn't think we would get anything today and would have to rely on other teams inadequacies. Our angst was even greater during the game as very few people in the stadium could get a phone signal to keep tabs on the other games. We heard that Wednesday had scored then Plymouth and then Birmingham. This is it now, we all know what is coming and we will drop into the bottom three any time soon for the first time this season. We were quite stunned but the Rovers fans kept at it and I sure were inspirational. Can we hang on, there is a long way to go but we are defending exceptionally well. Then Szmodics gets the ball out wide and keeps going and going, looks up and there is nobody to pass to. He opens up his body and passes the ball into the net. Unbridled job abounded amongst the Rovers fans. His second goal will live long in my memory primarily because if was like slow motion. Did he really celebrate before he put it into the net? That's it, we're safe now and we really enjoyed the moment. For a few minutes we forgot about the Indians, Waggott, Kean, Anderson and all the shysters that have besmirched our great name for 14 years as we bounced about and hugged each other. This is what Rovers means to us and they can't take that away. As at Leeds Eustace got it right with his set up and tactics. Well done to him and the players who showed they care and have some pride. Lots of heroes in yellow today but my last word is for Szmodics. Fanbloodytastic.

The below stats show he's done a great job This season Win/draw/loss JDT 10/3/17 JE 4/8/5 goals conceded per game JDT 1.9 JE 1.1 goals scored per game JDT 1.45 JE 1.05 He took a team that had the worst form and defence in the league, only lost 5 of his 17 games, plugged the leaky defence and made us hard to beat, had bristol not put 5 past us we'd have conceded less than a goal a game under Eustace. He's done his job in keeping us up so he now deserves full backing from fans and the board to kick on with a clean slate next season. It hasn't been pretty, but pretty football was sending us down to league one.

Bollocks. We should have never been anywhere near that situation today.

Not that old chestnut again. The best advice they were given was when Williams, Finn and Goodman wrote to them telling them they were wrong in what they were doing ie letting Anderson have the run of the place. Had they heeded that warning we wouldn't be in the state we are now. Instead of listening to those three they got rid of them and carried on with reckless abandon. I wonder who 'advised' them to do that. Similarly Paul Hunt wrote to them about the poison that was Kean (although Hunt had an ulterior motive) and he was sacked. Please don't come with the 'badly advised' excuse. We could get relegated for the third time in their watch on Saturday and it's all on them, they are totally to blame.

Look, Eustace wasn’t officially in charge for that match, you’re gonna need to get over it.

Wow...shows how dumbed down the ambition and success the scum have reduced us to. Celebrating staying up is outrageous. Did I celebrate, nope , had a sense of relief only. #venkysout

New New New new new new new New new new Szmodics

Hats off to Ipswich. Just shows - a bit of investment and ambition when you get promoted and you ride the momentum. Never forgive Mowbray for that bollocks about needing to stabilise and not go for it.

Thank fuck ...not celebrating just relieved..fuck you waggot and venkyscum

Well done to Pears for that deflection on to the bar. I burst out laughing when Sammie skipped by their keeper and celebrated 30 yards from goal with the ball still at his feet and then thought please don't shoot from that distance. He's got a football brain has Sammie.

We are extremely fortunate that there was one other football club that's shot themselves in the foot repeatedly this season. Ironically that all started for Birmingham when they sacked our current manager. Rovers should never, ever have been in this situation this season. I don't think anyone particularly expected us to be top 6, but to be in the relegation fight with only 6 home wins all season was pathetic...and it all started when the CEO decided to do an interview in pre-season and say 'survival is the aim'. That statement set the tone for everything that proceeded to happen. We should also be grateful that Leicester already had the title wrapped up, as that would've been a very different story today had they still needed a win to secure the trophy.

This is no more Eustace’s fault than it is Ten Hag’s fault at United. Both clubs are rotten. Rovers are in a process of ‘managed decline’. The budget gets cut every year, and it shows…in the stadium, around the ground and on the pitch. I saw a table this week showing that only Rotherham had a smaller wage budget than us this season. Eustace has a good name within football. He’s well regarded by some of the old pros I know and you will struggle to find a fan of Birmingham or Kidderminster who have a bad word to say about him. I’m not advocating him and the jury is still out for me but, Blackburn Rovers make it hard for any manager on the planet to succeed. Look at the January window for example. We had won one game since November and they loan out the club captain, sell the most prestigious talent we’ve had in recent history and then buy no one and ‘forget’ to press send on the American Striker we wanted to sign. Add this to last Summers clusterfuck, the O’brien fuck up the January before then and the Rothwell for Dembele and Jed Wallace the January before that, and you’d be forgiven for thinking someone at the club actually wants us to go down. They haven’t made it easy for any manager…that’s for sure. Im relaxed-ish about today. Because honestly, the curve we’re on means even if we survive, it’s only a matter of time before we go down. Hope change is around the corner.

Like with many others Ipswich's change in fortunes started with a change in ownership. Everything else has flowed directly from that - new investment, personnel changes, engaged fanbase, good young manager, squad development. Without a change in ownership they'd probably still be stuck in League One and getting gates of 15,000. Until or unless we get a change in ownership we will never get close to doing what they have done. Nothing to do with geography, history, 'small town' stuff. Just fresh ideas and investment and people running the show who know what they are doing. Still so many cannot understand or accept this and persist with the delusion that we need to stick with Venkys or that they will suddenly learn and change.

What a day of emotions and a remainder of why, after 60 odd years of following Rovers, I'll still renew my season ticket and my away travel season ticket for next season. Rovers have never done anything the easy way and this season has been no different. I've always believed we would survive but I must admit there were times when I started to wonder. Today, as at Leeds, Eustace got the tactics spot on and the players stood up to the pressure and delivered when their backs were against the wall. Szmodics had been a revelation this season and has been a joy to watch. At times, when running through on goal, he'sbrought back memories of Andy McEvoy and Tony Field for me and the feeling that he would never miss in those situations. However, I also think that McFadzean has been a key signing and today he was magnificent, a real leader on the pitch who organises and encourages whilst also being a formidable barrier in defence. At times he's looked like a second coming of John McNamee and I can offer no greater praise than that. I hope the owners will provide Eustace with support this summer because I think he has the makings of a decent manager who seems suited to a club like Rovers. How Birmingham must reject getting rid for Rooney. I must admit that I won't miss not going to St. Andrews next season.

Getting the points to survive away to Leeds and Leicester ffs. We really can only play as underdogs. Cheers to Sammie Szmodics. As for the rest, just be thankful there were three teams more deserving of the drop than us this season. Venky's, fuck off. You are a blight on this club and have been since day one.

Venkys out

When you cast your mind back to FA Cup quarter final v Sheff Utd last season and winning at Millwall last game of the season it is crazy we are in this position as a football club We were playing very attractive football and had young talent coming through Now we need Norwich a side we battered at their ground earlier in the season and Sunderland ditto to do us a favour The owners and people at the top should hang their heads in shame I just hope we stay up and bury this season in the confines of history never to be repeated Rao family need to sell up and bring in people who care, know what they are doing and bring back pride

Eustace's Rovers categorically deserve to be relegated, we only have a chance due to the points JDT amassed. If we do stay up, I pray that this positive and togetherness mindset has been pushed so hard due to the weakness of the players mentality. I hope that he is actually critical of how things have gone, with also pointing out things that are out of his control, like having no strikers or having an inability to make attacking changes due to his bench consisting of a Germen 4th tier striker and a Brighton under 23. I want him to be critical of how many points his goalkeeper's have lost him. If he says he is happy with how things have gone, I'm petrified for next season whichever league we are in.

A clear pattern emerging with him his best 3 performances have been Leeds, Newcastle and today. All 3 games we were big underdogs and could set up defending very deep, keep 10-11 men behind the ball, rely on a bit of luck and hope Szmodics could do something on the break (which remarkably he did in all 3 games.) The problem is you can't set up like that on a regular basis in this league. You can't play like that at home to the likes of Millwall, Plymouth, Wednesday and 10 man Coventry. And if we don't want to be facing a similar challenge next season we need to find a way to play against and beat those sort of sides at home.

A relief we’ve stayed up, nothing more. If we don’t sign some new players that are any good, we’re in big trouble next season. We won’t see any more of Sammie in a Rovers shirt, let’s be honest, but he absolutely goes with my blessing, the guy is unbelievable. He plays with the spirit of a fan, his effort, his determination and obviously his goal scoring just set the tone for the team.

Glad you reminded everyone of that, Swag lost our best hope for years by setting JDT up to fail, alienated players, fans and the once again made our club a laughing stock by incompetent administration and incredulous decisions such as closing the BBE. We can’t begin to move forward until this horrible retard is removed.

You don't keep a manager who has a woeful record in place through a critical summer and transfer window just because you can't immediately off the top of your head come up with a better name. That's doing things backwards. Nor do you keep him because it is the easiest, cheapest, simplest, nicest thing to do. You review performances and results, league position. You think long and hard about where you want to go and how you want to get there. Then you make a decision based on that. If the verdict is something different is needed then you axe him and get someone else. If not you back him and own the decision. This is basic management. Here however he will be hailed as a genius for us limping to 50 points playing unconvincing football and with 2 wins in 18 games and his future won't even be considered. He's under contract and that's really all that matters. They have zero interest in results, style, plans, league position. He's employed and will remain so until he walks, his contract ends or he says something that brings Venkys and shadow man into the spotlight.

Just cant take to the bloke.

JDT would have got us promoted if he were backed.

He literally wasn’t

We owe everything to Sammie Szmodics. The most talismanic player in a Rovers side since Alan Shearer IMO.

Bloody hell that just puts a tin hat on it. I don't know and Rovers fan who will be celebrating if we stay up on Saturday. We are where we are for a reason, because we haven't been good enough since early December and Eustace and the players have had a big part to play in that. Maybe Waggott has shown him his interview from August where he says the goal is to avoid relegation so crack on John, break out the champagne. Small minded people and an insult to Jack Walkers memory. Irrespective of how Saturday goes my overriding feeling will be of the missed opportunity to build on last season. It's just another reason to detest the errant ones.

Sounds like a sensible plan. Perhaps we should have kept him in case we had injuries or suspensions 🤦‍♂️

Has he? We are closer to relegation now in terms of points and position than when he took over. And he has the same number of points from his first 15 league games as JDT did from his last 15. I'd say an example of and manager going in a steadying the ship is Neil Harris at Millwall who were 21st when he went in there and they are now sitting comfortably and how has Harris done that he's won 5 home games whilst our clown still hasn't managed one.

Thought I'd go through each of the Championship clubs's manager(s) this season and assess whether they've seen a reputation increase, decrease or no change. Appreciate playoffs are still to come. Birmingham City (Final Position: 22nd) John Eustace: (slight increase) I think JE's time at Brum this season enhanced his reputation somewhat. He had them in a very respectable 6th place before being sacked in a decision that was considered by most to be farcical. Since being removed in October, Birmingham have gone on a massive downward spiral, only making the job Eustace was doing there look more impressive. Wayne Rooney: (large decrease) Rooney was never accepted by Brum fans, who were pretty much on his back from day one, unconvinced that he deserved the job. It was generally accepted that Rooney got the job due to his connections with Birmingham CEO Garry Cook, along with the new owners' desire for a 'big name' in the dugout, as opposed to earning the position on merit. Rooney had previously done reasonably well at beleagured, financially ruined Derby in 2021/22, before going to the US and enduring a disappointing spell at DC United which ultimately saw him and the club part ways by mutual agreement on October 8th, allowing him to be appointed as Big Club manager on 11th October. This proved to be a catastrophic error on the part of Birmingham's board. Two wins from the next fifteen matches plunged Birmingham into a relegation scrap, dropping from 6th to 20th during Rooney's torrid tenure. There is little doubt that Rooney's turbulent stint in charge of Birmingham, combined with his poor performance as manager of DC United, will have significantly dented his reputation as a manager. Tony Mowbray: (no change): Mowbray came into the Birmingham job with a decent reputation as a solid Championship manager, and after just over a month in charge had managed 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats. However, on February 19th Mowbray was forced to take leave due to illness. I don't think there is any significant change to Mowbray's reputation during this time. Mark Venus: (decrease) I'm not sure this one matters too much as I haven't seen anything to suggest Venus wants to be anything more than an assistant (with an eye on property, allegedly), but nonetheless he picked up the reigns from Mowbray and presided over five defeats and a draw before the Birmingham board realised a change needed to be made ASAP. Gary Rowett: (no change) Rowett came in to a difficult situation, and picked up a respectable 3 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses from the 8 games he was in charge for. Ultimately Birmingham did go down, but I don't think this spell as interim manager did Rowett's reputation any damage. Blackburn Rovers (Final Position: 19th) Jon Dahl Tomasson: (no change) Despite a second half of the season collapse in 22/23 which saw Rovers drop from second place in the table to being out of the playoffs by the end of the season, JDT's first season at the club was considered by most to be successful. A summer transfer window which can politely be described as a shambles followed, and actually led to JDT offering to resign due to Venky's being unable to fund any kind of worthwhile transfer budget. This resignation was not accepted, because our owners are incompetent morons, and so we went into the season with a pissed off manager who took delight in sniping at a CEO who gave a pre-season interview in which he described the club as a developmental team with no ambitions beyond staying in the league. He also made sure to point out we own a legendary bus, which it turns out was actually leased, but nonetheless. Amazingly despite this turmoil we spent the first few months doing quite okay, in and around the playoff position. Injuries then hit and, combined with the manager's growing frustrations at the club and a loss of trust between himself and a fair few of the players, our form completely collapsed. An embarrassing transfer window, which concluded with our recruitment team supposedly forgetting to hit the 'submit' button on the registration software, ultimately led to JDT finally being allowed to quit the club - lest he go scorched earth on everyone. JDT departed with the club on a run of 8 defeats in 11 games, including damaging defeats to Sheffield Wednesday (3-1), Huddersfield (3-0) and QPR (2-1). Nonetheless, JDT walked straight into ajob as Swedish national team manager and his successor only managed 3 wins from 16 matches, so, fair to say there were and are bigger problems than JDT at this club. Ultimately I think his reputation remained largely in tact despite how things ended, as most would accept he was fighting an uphill battle with a weak-minded squad, an unambitious CEO and idiotic owners. John Eustace: (no change) As noted above, Eustace has managed 3 wins in 16. No home victories. We've also been trounced by Bristol City (5-0) and beaten 3-1, again, by fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday. We also lost 1-0 to Eustace's former club Birmingham. Draws against Millwall, Plymouth and Coventry were disappointing results. A totally random 5-1 away win at Sunderland, combined with unexpected victories away to Leeds (1-0) and Leicester (2-0) implausably saved us from going down. Eustace ultimately did what he was brought in to do and keep us in the division, but it would be difficult to argue it was done in an impressive way. I don't think Eustace's reputation changes much either way from the last couple of months. Bristol City (Final Position: 11th) Nigel Pearson: (no change) Bristol City were 15th when Pearon was sacked on 29th October, having lost five of their last seven games. Nonetheless it did seem like a harsh decision. Pearon was at the time the second longest serving manager in the division. I don't think the club's position and performance would have done enough to hurt Pearson's reputation, and his sacking was generally considered surprising. Liam Manning: (slight increase) Manning was a relative unknown, having managed in Belgium and League 1 before being hired by Bristol City. At 38 he's a young manager and a bit of a gamble. In the end he led Bristol City to a respectable 11th place finish, and as this is his first season at Championship level, I'd say this was a successful season for him and enhances his reputation. He didn't pull up any trees, but nor did he drag the team into any trouble. Cardiff City (Final Position: 12th) Erol Bulut: (no change) Bulut's first season at Cardiff ends with the club in a fairly solid 12th place, and his win percentage at a respectable 40%. Cardiff were at one point in and around the playoffs, but in the end weren't able to make a serious challenge. Bulut did start bemoaning squad depth around the Christmas period and was threatening to leave if he wasn't backed with signings. Evidently that was all smoothed over, for now at least. Coming from the Turkish Super Lig, I don't think Bulut's first season has done his reputation any harm, but neither would I say it's really increased. He's done okay. Coventry City (Final Position: 9th) Mark Robins: (no change) Coventry were one game away from the Premier League last season, having finished 5th before losing out to Luton in the playoff final. This was considered a bit of an overachievment, though, so I think a 9th placed finish this season is still reasonable enough. They also had a fantastic FA Cup run which saw them take Man Utd to a penalty shoot out before being eliminated. The Sky Blues had a poor start to the season, a strong mid-season and then a faltering end. Robins reputation was hugely enhanced last season by Coventry's performance, and I think taking them to 9th - and an FA Cup semi final where they matched PL opposition - keeps his current rep in tact. Huddersfield Town (Final Position: 23rd) Neil Warnock: (no change) Warnock had gotten the Terriers out of trouble in the 22/23 season, but for clandestine reasons left the club after only eight games of the 23/24 season, despite only signing a contract extension in the summer. Huddersfield were 16th on 8 points when he left the club. Darren Moore: (large decrease) Moore had been let go from Sheffield Wednesday on June 19th, despite leading them back to the Championship from League 1. Huddersfield's decision to appoint from on September 19th seemed like it could be a shrewd decision, but his spell at the club was a massive disappointment. He only won 3 out of 23 games, and was sacked as manager on January 29th, with the club in 21st and three points from the relegation places. He would then be appointed manager of Port Vale in league 1, and 11 defeats from 16 games sealed their relegation. So, technically, Moore has played a big part in two clubs being relegated this season - after getting a team promoted the season before. That's some reversal of fortunes, and his reputation will surely have taken a significant hit as a result. André Breitenreiter (decrease) Breitenreiter had mainly managed in Germany, with a brief stint in Switzerland, before replacing Moore at Huddersfield. His appointment did not improve things, with 2 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats in 13 games ultimately relegating Huddersfield. Breitenreiter had only managed 22 games before getting the boot at his last club, Hoffenheim, and his time with Huddersfield - after over a year out of the game - won't have repaired his reputation. Hull City (Final Position: 7th) Liam Rosenior: (increase) Despite narrowly missing out on the playoffs by just three points (essentially four if you factor in GD), it's been a decent season for Hull. Rosenior was appointed last season in November and stablised the club to finish in 15th place. This season has seen a big improvement to 7th position. Rosenior comes across as a well-spoken, decent bloke and his reputation as a young manager, at 39 years old, will have been bolstered by a very good season in 23/24. Ipswich Town (Final Position: 2nd) Kieran McKenna (huge increase) Having lifted Ipswich out of the doldrums of a multi-year spell in League 1 in 22/23, Championship stability would have been the goal for this season. Instead, Ipswich have achieved the unthinkable and clinched automatic promotion, leaving Leeds and Southampton - teams with much larger budgets - in the dust. Despite assertions from all quarters that Ipswich would eventually fall away, after a very strong start to the season, they defied the odds and stayed the course until the very end. Even during the periods when they were struggling, they would immediatelty bounce back from a bad result or at the very least draw rather than lose. Ipswich's never-say-die attitude combined with crucial backing from their owners in January (Venky's, take note, you idiots) meant that they ended up achieving something truly unbelievable. I don't think you'd have found one sane person tipping Ipswich to go up automatically at the start of the season. It goes without saying that McKenna's reputation will have skyrocketed off the back of this season. At 37 years old he has led Ipswich to back-to-back promotions - above 90 points in both campaigns - in his first senior managerial role. Leeds United (Final Position: 3rd) Daniel Farke: (slight decrease) With their budget, Leeds would have been aiming for automatic promotion, and they didn't achieve it. They didn't achieve it because they dropped points to Coventry (2-1), Rovers (1-0), QPR (4-0) and Sunderland (0-0) right when it mattered most. 90 points is nothing to sniff at, and in many seasons would admittedly have secured automatic promotion, but Farke's expensive team collapsing at the end of the season isn't a good look. If they go up in the playoffs, however, I would amend this to a 'no change'. Farke would have achieved the bare minimum expected and he's got promotion from the division before with a big budget team. As it stands though, Leeds failing to go up automatically slightly decreases Farke's reputation for me should they not get promoted via the playoffs. Leicester City (Final Position: 1st) Enzo Maresca: (increase) Despite a sizable wobble towards the end, Leicester ultimately went up as champions in Maresca's first proper stint as a club manager, with only a brief four month spell at Serie B Palma in 21/22 to speak of as first-team managerial experience before this season. Taking Leicester up as champions obviously boosts his reputation, although the mighty Rovers stopped the Foxes from achieving the 100 point milestone. Middlesbrough (Final Position: 8th) Michael Carrick: (increase) 8th isn't inherently a bad position for Boro to finish in, but the reason they aren't in the playoffs is because they had an appalling start to the season. They took just 2 points from their first 8 matches, not winning their first match until September 23rd. Granted, after that they went on a run of 6 wins in a row, but inconsistency followed. A strong end to the season (a 9 game unbeaten run between 6th March and 13th April in particular) saw them get into the playoff hunt, but in the end they fell short. Not a bad season for Carrick, but nothing to write home about in the end either. With that said, I think being able to revive Boro from their early season slump and nearly get them into the playoffs speaks well of Carrick as a young manager (42 years old) in his first senior position. Millwall (Final Position: 13th) Gary Rowett: (no change) Rowett left Millwall by mutual consent on October 18th after fiour years in charge. The club were 15th in the table, had won 4 of their first 11 matches and were 3 points off the playoffs at the time. Seemed like a harsh sacking and was arguably quite pointless considering they only finished 13th in the end anyway. The fans had turned on Rowett but you have to wonder what they were realistically expecting? Anyway, the sacking was harsh and Rowett had done fine up until that point, so I don't think this hurt his reputation. Joe Edwards: (decrease) 37 year old Edwards was a bit of a left-field appointment, having no senior managerial experience. He'd been tempted to the Den from an interim position as England U20's manager. Things looked bright after his first game, a 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday, but that was as good as it got. 4 wins from 19 games left Millwall concerned for their status in the division, and a win percentage of just 21% led to Edwards getting the chop on 21st February, roughly 3 and a half months after being appointed. Obviously not a good start to his senior management career. Neil Harris: (increase) Having resigned as Millwall manager in 2019, Harris returned to the club on the same day Joe Edwards was shown the door. He had been managing Cambridge in League 1. Arriving with the club in 21st and a point from the relegation places, Harris lifted Milwall to an eventual 13th place finish, 9 points clear of the relegation zone and ending the season with five straight wins. Good job. Norwich City (Final Position: 6th) David Wagner: (no change) David Wagner had struggled somewhat after leaving Huddersfield in 2019. A disappointing spell at Schalke in Germany ended after just over a year, and he was dismissed from Swiss side Young Boys after a year. Norwich started the season fairly well, but poor form between September and November caused them to drop down the league. A solid second half of the season, however, meant that they finished in 6th place. Should they go up in the playoffs, I'd change this to an increased reputation, but otherwise I'd say no real change for Wagner. Plymouth Argyle (Final Position: 21st) Steven Schumacher: (increase) a 101 point season in L1 saw Plymouth coming up to the Championship with plenty of momentum. Despite that, many had tipped them for the drop. Strong home form kept Argyle in a decent position though, and beating Rotherham 3-2 at home lifted Plymouth to 16th place in 26 points, six clear of the relegation zone. This start to the season had clearly done enough to impress Stoke, who appointed Schumacher as their new manager on December 19th. Ian Foster: (decrease) Remember how Millwall appointed England U20 interim manager Joe Edwards, and it didn't go so well? Plymouth hired former England U20 manager Ian Foster (who had been working as Steven Gerrard's assistant in Saudi Arabia, because money I guess?) and... it didn't go well. 4 wins, 4 draws and 9 defeats in 17 games was enough for Argyle to pull the trigger on 1st April, less than three months later. 5 straight home defeats without scoring was pretty grim, in fairness. Neil Dewsnip: (no change) Led Argyle to 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats in their final five games - enough to just about save them. An interim standing in whilst Argyle look for a successor to Foster (with his usual role being DoF), his reputation won't really see any serious change from this short spell - fair play to him though, he came in and did a good job all things considered. Preston (Final Position: 10th) Ryan Lowe (no change): Started well, had a terrible run of form, then inconsistent for the rest of the season. Respectable finish in the end. Don't think anything changes for Lowe as far as his reputation is concerned. QPR (Final Position: 18th) Gareth Ainsworth (large decrease) What can you say? Absolutely abysmal. We got that David Brent-esque video of Ainsworth trying to build team spirit with a Haka chanting session - and I'll always be grateful for that - but what a disaster this appointment was for QPR. Rangers were beaten 10 times in their first 14 matches and won just twice. A sixth defeat on the spin was enough for the QPR board to give Gareth his marching orders, leaving the club in 23rd place with 8 points from their first 14 games, 6 points from safety. Martí Cifuentes (large increase) The relatively unknown Spaniard turned out to be an inspired appointment for QPR. Having managed primarily in Nordic countries, Cifuentes was a gamble which ended up paying off handsomely. 13 wins, 9 draws and 11 defeats from 33 matches was enough to comfortably keep QPR in the division. They finished 18th, six points clear of the drop, and you can only applaud the job Cifuentes has done there - as under Ainsworth they looked hopeless. Rotherham United (Final Position: 24th) Matt Taylor: (decrease) 9 defeats in 16 to begin the season, with a 5-0 drubbing by Watford sealing Taylor's fate. Rotherham would have been favourites to go down this season anyway, as they are any season they're in the Championship, but they never had a chance with this start to the season. They did get some strangely respectable results during this period - a 2-1 win over Norwich, a 1-1 draw with Southampton, a 2-2 draw with Ipswich and a 2-0 victory over Coventry - but Taylor was nonetheless jettisoned with the club in 22nd. Leam Richardson: (decrease) Appointed after roughly a month of Rotherham searrching, Richardson started with three defeats on the bounce which wasn't ideal. Granted two of those games were against WBA and Leicester, which was also not ideal. Things didn't really improve under Richardson at all - in fact they mostly got worse. A perversely impressive streak of 10 defeats in 11 matches somehow wasn't enough to get Richardson the boot, but a triple whammy of defeats to Plymouth, WBA and Swansea was finally enough for the Rotherham board to put Leam out of his misery. A brutal win % of 8.33% over 24 games (two wins, four defeats and eighteen losses) says it all. Horrendous. Steve Evans: (no change) Not been there long enough to make any judgement. Sheffield Wednesday (Final Position: 20th) Xisco Munoz: (decrease) After the surprise departure of promotion-winning manager Darren Moore, Spaniard Munoz was hired on July 4th. Best known on these shores as Watford manager between December 2020 and October 2021. His last job had been in Cyprus where he'd been sacked by a club called Anorthosis, which didn't really bode well. Indeed, Munoz ended up leading Sheffield Wednesday to their worst ever start to a season, picking up a measly two points from their first ten matches. He had a win percentage of 0%. Can't say his reputation suffered a huge decrease as he was managing a largely unknown Cypriot team before this job, but his stint at Wednesday won't have encouraged any other English clubs to give him a chance. Danny Rohl: (large increase) At 34 years old, Rohl became the youngest manager in the football league when appointed by Wednesday in October. He also had no senior managerial experience at all. A huge risk, to say the least, but one that paid off massively. Despite five defeats in his first six games, Rohl was able to galvanise the Owls from the beginning of December. Five wins from six matches between February and March, as well as four victories from their last six matches, was enough to secure unlikely survival for Wednesday at Birmingham and Huddersfield's expense. An incredible turnaround and Rohl would be my second choice behind Kieran McKenna as manager of the season. Southampton (Final Position: 4th) Russell Martin: (no change) I think Martin has, similar to Farke, ultimately failed by not getting an expensive Southampton team full of talent promoted automatically. With that said, I don't think he had a great reputation to begin with outside of a certain section of football boffins who focus on things that don't have anything to do with winning matches or being successful. He hadn't done anything special at Swansea and his appointment at Southampton seems a bit strange when taking into account his lack of any real success anywhere. His implementation of an ultra possession-based style continually receives plaudits in certain quarters despite delivering nothing tangible in terms of achieving anything of note. As with the other playoff teams, if Southampton go up then this will change to increased, of course. Stoke City (Final Position: 17th) Alex Neil: (decrease) Seen as a steady pair of hands, this wasn't a good season for Neil. Stoke are perennial underachievers and Neil was unable to change their fortunes. 6 wins from 20 games, leaving Stoke in 20th place and just two points from the relegation zone, proved to be the point where Stoke's board felt it necessary to relieve Neil of his duties. Steven Schumacher: (no change) He's kept Stoke in the division, but that's really a minimum expectation. At this point I wouldn't say there's been any significant change in SS's reputation - next season will be an interesting one for him. Sunderland (Final Position: 16th) Tony Mowbray: (no change) Mowbray was only really brought in as a stopgap pair of safe hands for Sunderland. That became obvious in the summer when it was an open secret that the club were speaking to other managers. In the end, Mowbray stayed on to start the season, but it already felt like an untenable situation. Mowbray was sacked with Sunderland in 9th, which seemed pretty unreasonable even if they had only won two of their last nine matches. Mowbray had performed above expectations with the Black Cats and his sacking was considered a surprise. I think it was more of a black mark on Sunderland's board than Mowbray. Michael Beale (decrease) A unanimously unpopular appointment from the moment he was announced, Beale's time at Sunderland was never going to end well. Mowbray was popular with the Sunderland faithful, and they would only have accepted his sacking on the basis of a genuinely better candidate being brought in. Beale didn't really fit that description in any way. One does wonder what logic was employed when the decision was made to replace Mowbray with Beale, and that question was not answered during Beale's brief tenure at the Stadium of Light. Beale was sacked within two months, having managed just 12 games. He became the shortest serving manager in Sunderland's history. 4 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats doesn't seem like a record so bad it deserves such a swift sacking, but Beale was so intensely unpopular with the supporters that any dropped points were magnified. After his sacking, it was revealed that Beale was likely operating a Twitter/X burner account defending himself during his time as Sunderland boss, which is obviously pretty weird as well. Mike Dodds: (decrease) Sunderland have been pretty rubbish under Dodds, but he's an interim who has no chance of getting the job full time, so it doesn't really matter. Swansea City (Final Position: 14th) Michael Duff (decrease) Duff was chosen to replace Russell Martin, who had left for Southampton before the 23/24 season began. Duff had most recently managed Barnsley to a losing effort in the L1 22/23 playoff final. The season started extremely poorly, with Swansea failing to win any of their first 7 games, and only getting 3 points. After this they went on a run of 5 wins in 7, suggesting Duff was getting to grips with the job. This turned out to be a false dawn though, as Swansea went another five games without a win, and a last gasp goal from Charlie Patino to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Huddersfield on 2nd December was not enough to save Duff's job. He was dismissed on 4th December with the club in 18th, 5 points above the relegation zone. Luke Williams (slight increase) Whilst finishing 14th isn't exactly a magnificent achievement for a club like Swansea, Williams had only managed at League 1 level before being appointed by Swansea. In that sense, I'd say his first half-season in charge at Championship level has been decent enough, especially as he came in from a club in League 2. Notts County were 5th when he left, and finished 14th, which suggests his departure had a highly negative impact on his former club. Watford (Final Position: 15th) Valérien Ismaël: (decrease) Ismael's tenure at Watford was generally forgettable and underwhelming. After a poor start to the season, Watford had a fantastic spell of form between 7th October - 9th December where they only lost once in 10 matches. Their form, however, fell off a cliff from February and they proceeded to lose six out of ten matches, drawing three and only winning once against lowly Rotherham. Defeat to Coventry was the final straw for the Watford board, and Ismael was sacked with Watford 13th in the table - unlikely to be relegated but without any real chance of even getting into the playoffs after such a dismal run. Tom Cleverley: (no change) Originally appointed as an interim, Cleverley has presided over 7 matches and only lost once against Southampton. It should be noted he's also only won once - a 1-0 victory over Birmingham. The other 5 matches have all been draws. This was seen as impressive enough by Watford's owners to give TC the job permanently, so we'll see how he does next season. West Brom (Final Position: 5th) Carlos Corberan (slight increase) WBA have been in 5th for what seems like 90% of the season, and I think playoffs was the expectation for them, so I'd say overall Corberan has done exactly what he was expected to do. With that said, CC had come in from being sacked by Greek giants Olympiacos having left them in 5th, so I'd say this season at WBA has restored his stock somewhat. If they get promoted then a slight increase will become a big increase.

Bang on the money.

A scabby win at Leeds and a win at a pissed up Leicester have kept us in this division. 19th place and three points above relegation. Fucking dynamite. I've seen nothing from this manager to encourage for next season. I'm not bothered if he and the vast majority of the squad departs. I wasn't nervous today. We deserved to go down. The only reason we haven't is because of one player. Sammie Szmodics. The only thing worth celebrating this season is his work-rate, endeavour, attitude, application, effort, belief, confidence, strength, stamina, composure, skillset and ability. Take a bow Sammie Szmodics. Fair fucking play to you son. A proper professional. You are one ballsy mother fucker, who has single handedly stepped up time and time again. I wish you the very best of luck wherever you end up. All of us will follow your career now going forward. Bravo and thank you.

RPReplay_Final1714830750.mov from rovers official twitter. It’ll be taken down soon enough, sadly (wait for the end):

Could be one of the most priceless goals in recent decades. Szmodics has single handedly saved the clubs bacon this year. It would be a disgusting kick in the face If he gets sold to another championship club at any price. Just give the man a giant arse salary increase, he deserves it.

Just waiting for the inevitable 'we can't compete with Bolton' with reference to them getting double our gates next season. Mark my words it will be the very same people who used Bolton as an example of where we'd be without Venky's involvement.

Bet there won't be any fax machine issues with this cheap signing.

I’m an outsider to the English game, growing up in Texas. I grew up thinking football began and ended with the University of Texas Longhorns (collegiate), and the Dallas Cowboys (pro). I only came into Rovers’ fandom in the last 11 years. This was well-written, objective, and one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had on a long time. Not to mention, learning a great deal about Rovers & English footy history. You have made me an even bigger fan of both! Well-done, sir!

Nixon's response on Twitter as to why they won't sell is "they want the Premier League" (i.e they want to leave us in the state they found us in). Absolutely nothing they do remotely backs this statement up.

The only people to be lauded IF we manage to stay up are JDT for the points accrued at the start of the season and of course Sami for his goals. Without either, we would already be down by now.

What antics?

I’d have Chrisene back next season.

He’s gone fully John Terry there…

One home win since mid December, only one on a Saturday between October and the end - must be one of our worst ever home campaigns… looking forward for when they eventually decide to put STs on sale; ‘forget about our neighbours doing them for £200-£300, roll up roll up for more of the same for £400-£500+!’

FFS, stop trying to grasp at straws - think everyone but you, INCLUDING ROVERS, recognises Eusless WAS NOT in charge for the Stoke game. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/february/09/eustace-appointed-rovers-head-coach/ Rovers’ first team coaches David Lowe and Damien Johnson will take charge of tomorrow’s home game against Stoke City, with new Head Coach John Eustace in close attendance. He has won 2 league games - simple as, full stop.

The man talked the owners out of bouncing up the leagues. The man claimed he wasn't interested in the table and that possession was more important than results. The man then reinvented himself as a development coach. I'll stop there, it still irritates me but as a parting shot he signed Paul Caddis FFS and set up a rehap clinic for others.

If we go down its 100 % Venkys fault just as it is their fault the club is in this sorry state. If the club was run like a normal club Eustace would never have entered the door to begin with.

That's the biggest problem. Even when things are going "well", I can't really enjoy it because I know our owners will find a way to nuke everything through incompetence and neglect (at best). Even when we seem on course for something finally going right - Mowbray and JDT both having us in fantastic positions midway through the season - the owners and the club contrive to find a way to destroy it with near-instant results. We don't just fall away, we collapse to the point where we achieve nothing, not even a playoff spot. Literally the only exception to this is the one season we spent in L1, and that was simply because we had a squad that was far, far too good for that league and should never have been relegated in the first place. If we'd hadn't self-destructed by appointing Owen Coyle and keeping him in place for 7 months we wouldn't have gone down in 2016/17. I think even if we'd gotten rid in December rather than February it would have been enough time to save us. But anyway, yeah, Venky Rovers, not a fan. I desperately hope that one day the club will be freed from this prison of Venky ownership and we can revive the real Blackburn Rovers. What we've witnessed since November 2010 has been little more than a cheap imitation of what we once were.

Only just read the latest Fans Forum minutes and it's made my blood boil. There isn't a single acceptable response from anyone at the Club! In its current format the FF is a complete waste of time and the members are complicit in listening to the Club come out with absolute bollux and letting them completely off the hook. The latest gems "Operational matters unaffected by the Court case and owners see no issues in sending funds in sending funds over as and when required". Clearly not true - we still have to go to Court to secure release of funding, a manager walked out because "the project" had changed and if there's no issue in sending funding over why was Wharton ushered ot of the door for such a pitiful amount? (Did anyone ask if we have a sell on clause btw?) Alternatively if there is no issue, what is it that has changed from 12 months ago when Waggott clearly acknowledged there was a problem? "What went wrong with the January 24 transfer deadline?," "We can't say it's subject to an investigation" 3 MONTHS later! "Will there be a summer transfer budget?" No information given. "We're discussing with owners etc." I.e. "We're looking into it. Will another offer be made for Mcguire? No information given "under consideration" I.e. "We're looking into it" (But if it doesn't happen it's down to his nasty parent Club refusing to sell despite us making a clear pledge to go back in for him in the immediate aftermath of the original debacle) Season ticket prices - no information given "We 're looking into it etc " Why cant they say "If we're in League 1 we're proposing prices should be X and if they're in the Championship we think they should be Y" What do you think?" Any chance of safe standing? "We can't get a grant for it so you'll have to pay for it yourselves" "Mildew in the stands?" We didnt know about it. We only work here full time. Send us a photo and "We'll look into it" Upgrade of Ewood: Great to see the Adam Wharton money will be going towards the purchase of various new lifts in the Executive Areas. As a general point they can't be crying crocodile tears about a load of items needing replacing at once as the current owners have been in charge 14 years and maintenance to the ground should have been kept on top of on an annual basis so that it didn't become a major issue all at once. Please - stop letting them get away with this nonsense! As stated previously I personally couldnt sit there and let my intelligence be insulted meeting after meeting, I'd refuse to meet with them until they start taking things seriously and come up with some meaningful answers.