Sorry folks, while DE is speaking truth here, I added a word filter into the forum about 2 years ago when @chaddyrovers kept turbo posting we should sign "Jay $tansfield" so that every time he said "Jay $tansfield", it automatically changed his post to "Luca Toni". I found it very funny.

Sad news re Scott Wharton…a bad knee injury ( ACL plus other issues ) a long term recovery. I wish him all the best. He often thinks he’s Bobby Moore ..but he’s an honest lad who plays for the shirt…he will be missed .

More likely they only predicted / budgeted Coventry would bring 4000 and have only made arrangements for that number including police, stewarding and catering, and at 2 days' notice and with cheap tickets it isn't worth the hassle of getting more on just so they can sell another 500 or whatever.

The Grand old Riverside..

We go into every game trying not to lose as opposed to trying to win. Evidently that's what Eustace believes is the best approach to keeping us up, but he must rate our squad extremely poorly if he won't even deviate from that strategy at home to teams below us in the league.

Fella who talks of nothing more of dinner parties with Dingles, turns his nose up at the oiks in the stands, and was too scared to attend the derby last season, now bemoaning Ewood and its fans as ‘docile’ and un-hostile. 😅

The most depressing bit for me is that we will likely have a few quid to play with, but who is JE realistically going to attract? JDT was a legendary international-class player and he clearly knew what he wanted - we just couldn't afford them (or sabotaged the deals). It would be the most Rovers thing ever if we spent £10m-£15m this summer and wasted it on a load of dross.

We never change the content of a user's posts, so please don't accuse the admin or moderation team of that. We're generally limited to changing a thread title or hiding posts. If Luca Toni appeared in a quoted post, either it was in the original post or the poster quoting you made the amendment themselves.

It's the worst place in the UK I've ever been so it's fitting to me for such a nob should live there.

Even if clubs agree to subsidise season ticket prices, which is a nice idea but will not happen. The number of games that Sky will be showing and allowed to be showed by the EFL is a disgrace. And even with cheaper tickets, season tickets will become less and less appealing when such disregard is shown by Sky and the EFL to match going fans making it impossible for many to attend so many fixtures when in the past, most would be 3pm on Saturday and only a fraction would be moved at the inconvience of the supporter. Football is nothing without fans? Dont make me laugh.

It took Mowbray 5 years of 'development' to get us to 69 points. That includes 10 transfer windows during which he was only forced to sell Adam Armstrong and had, comparatively speaking, a massive budget. JDT came in 2 weeks before pre-season started having just lost Lenihan, Nyambe and Rothwell The way to do this is simple and obvious. It doesn't need someone to reinvent the wheel with clever strategies. It needs price reductions across the board, it needs people to see value in the product and it needs serious sustained efforts at selling. When it comes to value in the product there are many aspects to this. Selling all your quality players, spending no money, throwing in the academy kids - this is not going to persuade anyone that you have any ambitions or serious intentions. With half the games being midweek, red button, Sky, dodgy sticks, lunchtime kick offs then the price of a season ticket has to reflect this as a large number of people will be unwilling or unable to get to those matches. So you have to have a price whereby it is still worth being a season ticket holder even if you miss all those games. Preston and Bolton - £250 per adult. So even if you missed 50% of all the games you are still getting the other 50% for a reasonable price that's still good value despite the Sky tv and kick off nonsense. But at £400 per adult if you miss 50% of the games you are looking at a price which is hardly worth it when the club often offers matchday tickets at £15-25. People will just pick and choose and not be any worse off. There is also an onus on the club to drive sales. Putting a few tweets out and tacky straplines about commitment or similar isn't enough. You need to engage clubs, schools, previous buyers, get people buying in groups. This takes time and effort. You can't do it overnight. Too much effort here. Waggott has got away with his low hanging fruit policy for 5-6 years milking the results of Mowbray getting us back up and protected by Covid and then JDTs good season. I think he's going to get the results of his ruinous policies very soon. May need to bring forward that retirement date.

We tried to sign a striker but sadly the fans didn’t reach our target on Just Giving

I’m surprised to see the club even mention the possibility of crowd funding for safe standing What next, crowd funding for a jet washing of the flags?

When their GK blatantly handled the ball into our net in injury time, ultimately costing us a play off place. The same reason why I was laughing my arse off when their extra time goal against Man U was wiped off. Coventry can fuck right off. And their fans are weird.

To the purse-string holders at Ewood, there is no such thing as a must.

Symptomatic of the owners.

Probably the next one we buy will be !

The striker pool below Gallagher now consists of Telalovic, Vale and Leonard. That says everything you need to know about operation downgrade.

No doubt about it, we need something in this game, I am going to keep myself busy with other stuff, I think if I watched it I would seriously trouble my heart

Cov sold out their allocation yesterday (4,339) and have been told they can’t have more. Yet, for the previous relegation six pointer they rolled the red carpet out, 7k, then a few hundred more as if that wasn’t enough. They make it up as they go along down there 🤷‍♂️

The Three Caps - Cool Jerk

I was hoping he was found dead in Luton with a cactus up his arse and a copy of Mein Kampf in his hand. That would destroy any sympathy idiots like Moyes would still have for him.

No other Championship club has had to sell £25 million worth of players (+ substantial wage reductions) just to keep the lights on Why have Rovers? They will try to normalise our situation making reference to annual losses and FFP but it isn't normal. Its unique.

I doubt Carter will have a queue round the block of clubs after a season where in a struggling team his performances have dipped and he has also only just recovered from a serious injury. But we cant afford to even consider letting him go especially with Wharton out. Nor should we be considering giving a new deal to a defender who turns 38 next season and is clearly over the hill. Plus, we shouldnt be in a financial position whereby we need to sell anyone considering the owners have been unaffected, weve just generated 22m for Wharton and another 5m will come in for Raya. Unless that is...a lie?

To be fair to Telalovic, Farke gave him his Bundesliga debut not too long before we bought him. And he clearly has a knack for scoring goals at a lower level. He's not the non-league waste of space some would have you believe. I can't believe he'd have done any worse than Gallagher over the last several games.

Tough ask but could really do with Hull beating Ipswich this weekend to keep pressure on baggies and especially Norwich. You know what there manager did whist in charge of Huddersfield in our relegation to league 1 season. They play big club on the last day.

I have been hearing these comments for months, yet we still haven't won at home since Stoke (seems light years away). If these slackers don't want to play league 1 football next season, they had better stay focused and give it 100%.

Its not about carrying negativity though. The point is I dont think its a realistic expectation to totally wipe clean and forget any opinion we hold about the manager. Doesnt mean it seaps into booing him and chanting him out or anything silly. You could say the same about players, we have opinions on players. You dont go into a new season without an opinion on players good or bad because its a new season thus a clean slate.

But that's the thing with the championship. Apart from perhaps the top 3 or 4 teams and maybe the bottom 1 or 2, we are all completely unpredictable. QPR fans said we were the best team they have played at this level for years after we won at their place, but I doubt that Bristol City fans would recognise that description.

You'd like to think they understand what a grave error it was gifting Wednesday the whole away end and this is a reaction to that but who knows. One thing's for sure, a smaller away allocation and £15 home tickets is coming one game too late.

Non league standard or youth football standard.... But the owners are not to blame !!

Our pool of goalkeepers make that look workable.

Man it's depressing going back reading the first few pages of this thread. There was some real optimism at the club that hasn't been around since Hughes' days I'd say. Wharton signed a new contract, everyone was on board with JDT, we had other youngsters like Phillips, Carter and Leonard. There's also some funny stuff like the 'gaming until 2am', 'walked out of training as someone put a hard tackle on him', 'personally threatened Broughton'. I think there was plenty of moaning about him being at the Etihad for a match one evening too when injured

No other keeper is as as bad as our two clowns.

Any manager that doesn't try to win or get level in a massive game deserves any pelters that come his way.

Fuckin what cunt!

I think that farce follows the farce that we weren’t able to get better performances and results with him in the team. He should’ve been our Dewsbury-Hall, albeit he is still very inexperienced. It’s something of a pattern as we see Branthwaite having another good game for Everton. We’ve had talents at the club but rarely been able to put together a coherent team. I’ve been cautious about overstating Wharton’s performances but I think one thing he is doing for Palace is simplifying their game. He plays clever passes but he also plays with minimal touches. Palace’s lauded individualists probably need a player like Wharton. He also seems to have helped Will Hughes improve past few games.

Obviously he has no faith beyond the first 11. As with every position, the budget cuts have left us with absolutely no depth.

I did have a reply ready for this but I deemed it inappropriate for a football forum! 😄😬

As JHRover said earlier, we should be seeing incomings before anyone else leaves. The squad is threadbare enough as it is. We'll have 5 players in the previous match day squad return to their parent clubs or have their contracts expire. Then whatever happens with Dolan & Gally on top of that. Get rid of anymore before we add to it and we'll have the admin staff on the bench before long.

er,probably because he`ll earn a ****load of money😁

He made the right choice to come, absolutely. But he then made the wrong choice in heading it to Hyam (instead of getting it as far away as possible). More importantly, he stops then saunters back to his goal, rather than sprinting back to his line - as you'd expect in that situation. He definitely played his part in the first goal. The 3rd is just bizarre how we didn't stop the ball from going over the line. The very worst case is an indirect free kick, which they're never scoring from.

Rovers have to lower the prices this coming season with the new TV deal coming which the EFL wanted more money from TV revenue. Games will be moved to a number of different kick offs from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Rovers should charged £199 for Riverside, £249 for BBE and lower JW, £280 for JW upper wing and £330 for JW upper centre I think Rovers also need to look at match day prices policy where you need to make attractive for walk on fans to attend also. £10 for midweek games, £15 to £20 for weekend games I hope Rovers actually serious think about this cos some people won't be attend to every game due to work or family commitments was kick offs changing.

We just rest them during the 90 minutes.

Maybe its just me, but I have a real sense this season, that the club have gone back 12yrs on and off the pitch. I haven't been to a game since Wharton was sold and JDT walked and I have no intention of attending anytime soon, they can shove the season tickets where the sun doesn't shine to be frank. In my opinion we made JDT's position untenable, after what can only be described as a superb first season. He came in during the summer, after many managers had turned us down, and seemingly pulled rabbits out of hats week in week out. We hit last summer with a real sense of optimism, the club able to push on, the football excellent at times and then the bombshell that our bent owners are in court and funds are pulled, the taps turned off, coincidence? or just criminality? Either way the club suffers, the fans suffer and its back to 2012 all over again. Selling Adam Wharton this season was absolutely criminal, they couldn't wait to get the lad out of the door. Here we have a Rovers fan playing for his boyhood club, a future England star, sold from under the managers nose as soon as a bid came in. I don't care about administration, I don't care if we needed the money, they sold at the first opportunity that arose, that is the point here. Then JDT walks, lied to again by owners who promise so much, yet deliver so little and its back to square one, the best manager in 12yrs and they've bolloxed it up. Then on the back of that we have the players, our wonderful players who put us in the position, telling the fans they need more backing, more people coming through the gates, talk about no bloody accountability of self-awareness! Needless to say, our season ticket money will be staying in the bank, I doubt I'll go again until these owners leave, but when they do, we have 5 season tickets waiting to be bought, the clock is ticking for these abhorrent owners.

Great post - but I just worry, and sorry to be so pessimistic and potentially piss on any optimism you may have, that I feel this is a step too far for most. It's all about hope, and lack of it. When we went down under Mowbray, there was a core of players you could get behind, and Mowbray seemed a steady hand and offered a glimmer of normality, both on and off the pitch. We signed Dack, and the team regained an identity. The League One season was fantastic for many people under 30 who missed the glory days in the 90s - and it did what most relegations do, the cliche of galvanising a club. There were still issues but it felt like a small reset and things could start to improve, especially the relationship between board and fans, not just the usual case of success sweeping issues under the carpet, but a real chance to rebuild. When we went down under Brian Kidd there was trust in the board and the owners that they'd guide us through it and make sensible footballing decisions, which they did. I actual miss the days, when for example, we were losing at home to Stockport in the league cup in 1996, stood in the BBE chanting "we want Harford out" that the board would go away and listen to the fans and do the right thing, that fans and board were on the same level. This is what is getting to supporters at the minute - that whatever they do, it doesn't matter, there's not that connection any more. The only way to move onwards, and to be honest a total pipe dream, is for the Venkys to leave, magically write the debt off, and we get new, sensible owners who are sympathetic to the area, and who can put a pro-active board in place, whatever division we are in. It pains me that the Wanderers are doing an amazing job, and getting 15,000 season tickets, it's madness. Of course I don't want administration, I don't want job losses, and the more we struggle the harder and harder it will get, but even in League Two with a small fanbase, with the right owners and some clear messaging and direction, you'd get that siege mentality that would make matchdays a passionate affair again. I get we need to reduce expenditure, and I get we need to become a selling club to survive in the current climate - but it seems whatever new model or scenario we set ourselves up for, there's issues, and it just wears away at us fans, wherever we turn we just can't seem to make anything work: - we try and be proactive, hire a DoF, sign an ambitious coach and start to develop a model (JDT, Lambert) - but the owners turn the taps off and there's a clear divide behind the scenes. Fans see an identity and a plan and get behind it, but there's that nagging feeling it'll be short-lived, so what's the point? - we, as supporters, get our heads round that our youth is our "identity", and except that the team might struggle but we'll be watching our "own" play week in and week out, and we can get behind that and support them, but we then sell them off before we have a chance to actually watch them grow in our side, the money goes into general admin, we don't see it reinvested. I get it - but it's still sad to see, it's something else you can't get excited about. - we hire a steady hand in Mowbray, but let a number of transfer windows come to nothing even when the team are riding high, and let a bad situation drag on and fester for too long causing the club to stagnate. - we go from a "solid" if old-fashioned recruitment setup under TM, a network of mates basically, but it worked, seemingly using his connections to sign great loans and gems from the lower leagues, giving the fans trust and excitement in any new signings, to now seemingly scraping the barrel of Europe. And if we do get the basics done, the i's dotted, and get the forms sent off in time, if we do actually sign players, they are literally the bottom of the list - whilst other teams seem to steadily strengthen and sign lads who can out-fight us and who are better at a rough and tumble scrap in the Championship. So now the fans immediately doubt any new signings. When was the last time we got excited about a sub coming on and changing the game? When was the last time you saw a new signing on the bench and couldn't wait to see him get a run out, that roar from the BBE when he comes on the pitch? I've totally forgotten that feeling. The way the ground fell silent and emptied after the Pears calamity on Sunday, that's the feeling I get - it's total apathy, because we just can't see a way out, or a way to turn. There was time in the game to lift the team and a "normal" scenario would see team and fans as one trying to claw back some respect, but because of this gradual dumbing down of the squad, you know what's coming - we don't have the players to perform under pressure. Couple with everything off the pitch, it's like we've been neutered as a fan base. We never come from behind, we never score late goals, this stuff is so telling, it really means something - there's a reason why Utd in the 90s kept scoring late goals, the whole "Fergie time" aspect, the whole place had belief. As someone else put it better than I could, we've got billionaire owners yet need to sell the crown jewels to keep the lights on. We're at a point of complete stagnation. So what's the model under Eustace, I presume treading water from one season to the next? Bringing on youth and selling for a profit I presume, while the mysterious 20m leaves each year. Normally I would give him the benefit of the doubt, based on a normal scenario of him being allowed to sign his own players, just to see if he can pick a player and build a team - but who knows what our transfer policy is now, it's all up in the air. Apologies for the long winded rant.

It's not that complicated - the owners have simply turned off the taps. They did it to Lambert, they did it to Mowbray at the end of his tenure and they've done it to JDT. The squad cost two buttons and a piece of string to put together and it's showing.