7 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I do get why its a must not lose, but bigger picture, say we draw, probably seals safety, but that would still leave Eustace yet to win at home having played Sheff Wednesday, Plymouth and Millwall. It would be pretty depressing and wouldn't bode well for next season.

Talk of filling the side with as many big players as possible to stop them. We are playing at home to second bottom, a draw and we are still catchable, a win and we are safe. Anything but a win is a huge let down IMO. A draw helps us limp over the line but lets just impose ourselves on them, win a game that we should expect to win and start to plan for next season.

A draw is a let down

A defeat could well be going down

7 hours ago, tomphil said:

They knew this was always going to be an important game weeks ago so weeks ago they could have said Sheff Wed 4.5k max and that's your lot.

Home fans from database only, then everyone knew what's what.

As said above giving them the whole end creates a massive 'got to be there' vibe and so more and more start trying to get tickets in the home sections or say they are turning up in town anyway regardless of no tickets.

Roll out the away fan red carpet again and create a more encouraging atmosphere for them in a vital game, rank stupidity.

I have been on Ewood with 4.5k and 7k fans in the away end.

The noise difference between the two isn't that much.

36 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Entertaining your guesses on the sell on. Is he really going for £90m anytime soon?

I have the transfer deal privately from more than one reliable source plus it has been posted on here by others.

As for 90m. The kid is just 20 and is still learning the PL game and is already a revelation. If Caicedo went for 110m (which he did) then Wharton 12 months from now, new England management etc etc...  

You can be pretty sure Palace will fight to keep him the way Brighton drive their transfer fees up.

Just now, Upside Down said:

But I would leave Dolan and Szmodics up top. Far more useful there and forces the opposition to leave players back.

Just the basics really.

You need one to pick up the Wednesday guy on the D but yes one to give an out ball and keep Wednesday "honest" keeping at least two back to prevent the break.

Michalski has played for the u-21s and been on the bench for the First team on one occasion.

Everyone is forgetting Barnes.

With the new coaching team at Ewood, we need to remember there are three new sets of eyes looking at not only the whole squad of players currently available but the 5 or 6 under 21s whose seasons were written off through long term injury.

I would imagine if we manage to retain Tyjon and Finnernan, it will be with a view to them getting into the first team squad next season plus a likely break through for Duru.

And let's see what we achieve with the loans in and out which frankly have been crippled by the late late non-shows in the last three windows.

I do expect considerable churn. 

On 14/04/2024 at 15:34, Exiled_Rover said:

I hate the term 'on the grass'. Another one that has seeped into the modern game. 

It is legal here in Malta. 

Muric has cost the dingles defeat in the 6 pointer against Everton and the win against Brighton.

Good lad.

Initial fee 18.5m rising by another 5m in add-ons which Adam is well on his way to triggering all of them. 

Assuming we get 23.5m, the sell on is 15% of any Palace profit beyond what they paid to us. 

On current progress that could easily be another 10m and pretty soon.

At Anfield, it was noticeable that Wharton was tackling anything getting close to him and his lack of involvement was quite possibly because they were playing around that space in front of defence he occupies for Palace.

It was a sublime performance from him and not in the lest bit surprised his passing accuracy was almost 90%- I can only remember one pass going astray.

Having seen the "highlights" of Wednesday v Norwich, a back 5 and doing everything we can to avoid corners will be essential.

Norwich were worth more than their two goal lead but Wednesday scored two identical goals from corners with the 6 yard box packed with bodies. We will need all of Hyam, Carter, McFadzean and Gally in there to compete in this version of alehouse football.

I believe Wednesday have sold their 7,000 so the home restriction is to prevent Wednesday infiltration.

That really would kick off with a 27,000 crowd (assuming Blackburn End upper remains closed) with another 7,000 from Sheffield spread around the home areas and some Rovers fans unable to get tickets...

As it is, it will be a rum do if we can't get 15,000 home fans for this one and a crowd of 22,000+.

Back to my boring a MUST NOT LOSE game but a draw pretty well secures Rovers finishing above Wednesday unless they can get a 17 goals swing in their favour in the last two matches...

We will be playing knowing the Huddersfield v Swansea and Rotherham v Birmingham results so we could be playing for a win that makes Championship football in 24/25 a certainty.

8 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

So how many points will be enough Phil ? I think anything other than a loss againt Sheff Wed  would be enough. Even if we lose we have a good home game v Coventry and away at Leicester isn’t what it was a month ago. I we can win at Leeds we can win there too.

If we beat Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield have to have beaten Swansea AND Birmingham need to have drawn at Rotherham to leave us needing just a point to be safe barring a 9 goal swing in the last two rounds. 

If Huddersfield draw or lose, a Rovers win sees us safe. Birmingham also need to avoid defeat at Rotherham for a Rovers win not to seal safety with two to go irrespective of the Huddersfield result.

If Rovers beat Wednesday, we will be in the land of extremely unlikely probabilities to go down because not only do Huddersfield and Birmingham need to win all their three remaining games in effect, ALL of Millwall getting 2 points, Plymouth 4 pts, QPR and Stoke 5pts each AS WELL have to happen in their last 3 games. 

If we draw with Wednesday, Wednesday would need to win remaining games against West Brom and Sunderland, we would need to lose the last two AND Wednesday need to make up a 17 goal difference to finish above us. If Huddersfield lose against Swansea and we draw then they too need to win their last two and us lose our last two to finish above us.

If Rovers beat Wednesday, we will be in the land of extremely unlikely probabilities to go down because Millwall will need 2 points, Plymouth 4 pts, QPR and Stoke 5pts each AS WELL from their last 3 games. A draw is probably enough.

Only defeat to Wednesday puts us back in the soup but even then all except one of Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Stoke, QPR and Plymouth still would need to collect more points than us across the last three games for us to go down.

The first current form extrapolation I did with 12 games left had Rovers finishing on 45 points in 23rd then extrapolating current form with 8 left took us to 49 points in 20th. We are now on 49 points with 3 to play.

Current form over the last 5 games:

Swansea, Millwall, Rovers, Plymouth and QPR 1st= with 7 points

Birmingham, Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday 6 points

Huddersfield 5 points

Watford 4 points has left them just about safe at 52 points

Games involving teams at the bottom still to come are next weekend:

Rovers v Wednesday - anything better than a defeat seals Rovers finishing above Wednesday

Stoke v Plymouth  

Swansea v Huddersfield

Penultimate weekend:

Millwall v Plymouth

Huddersfield v Birmingham - relegation decider (Brum play Norwich and Huddersfield go to Ipswich on the last day)?

Last day:

Swansea v Millwall

At this stage, the games of struggler v struggler mean one if not both will drop points in trying to get to 50 points which with only 3 games left is the realistic target to move ahead of Rovers. 

The u-21s are on a storming run- up to 12th with three winnable looking fixtures to come meaning play-offs and European football beckon.

Injuries clearing up throughout the squad are obviously helping.

The pass setting up Szmodics was superb.

Still giving Eustace the benefit of the doubt but the doubts are a bit less.

That performance at Leeds needed the players to perform supremely professionally after the collection of horror errors at Bristol but it also needed excellent coaching. 

The travel time and psychological support needed post Bristol would have meant the coaching time would have been very limited. So that organisation came from work done before this week.

It is also clear Eustace has a plan B with both a fully functioning 4 at the back and 3/5 at the back.

We pull off one of the most significant, unexpected, deserved and probably memorable wins for a few seasons and I come on here to read whingers whingeing.

What I was going to post.

That performance was as close to flawless as Bristol City was flawed. We got the gift wrapped cock-ups (all 8 of them at Ashton Gate- they only scored from 5) out of our system and were magnificent at the back. Discipline, organisation, heading, blocking, tackling all sensational. Defending brilliantly from the front so Leeds were never comfortable anywhere on the pitch.

At Ashton Gate, Gally didn't win anything whereas at Eland Road he dominated their defenders winning every headed ball which was there to be headed.

The one bugbear was our repeated failures to find the right ball when in their half but by the law of averages it was going to come together at some point and it did so gloriously with as good a four touches from keeper to goal move as anyone will be producing this season. Dolan's pass was utterly sublime and the more I see it the better it gets.

Yes we shouldn't ever have got into these desperate straits but that win was essential given the other results at the bottom. 

Sheffield Wednesday is a MUST NOT LOSE so I would keep the back 3. Avoid defeat and the survival job will be almost done. Win and it will be done.  

Five horror shows and this the worst.

Huddersfield, Birmingham, Cardiff, Swansea and now this.

Hyam should be taking home the match ball for his mistakes....

I hadn't been expecting us to self -destruct like this.

Wells who always scores against us is out for City as is the dangerous Mehmeti. Conway starts and the young Scot can be a handful.

I am sticking with Rovers staying up. 

Beyond that I don't care who is in 22nd and 23rd when the music stops.

9 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Finance bod who somehow ended up running the club in the Lambert/Coyle era.

Standard Venky madhouse antics.

Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to run it though.

If he had, we wouyld have had Warnock and not Coyle.

5 hours ago, Mercer said:

No surprises to me with these accounts.  IMO, they just confirm what a shambolically run business we are.

If, and it's a bloody big if, the Raos sold the club (outside an insolvency situation), I would love to be part of the due diligence  process on behalf of a buyer - God knows what may be hidden away.  It is for this reason that I very much doubt the Raos will sell and only an insolvency situation will see us free from their clutches.

I take Waggot's words on the Raos' funding guarantee with a pinch of salt - IMO, he has neither integrity nor credibility.

I think August will see Rovers and the Raos meet their Waterloo as I suspect there is very likely more to the Indian court business than meets the eye.

 

The problem of due diligence is probably a big part of the reason they still own us.

Starting with proof of ownership on acquisition...

Hardly any club were giving any players new contracts in that COVID season.

Other clubs have been hit harder by player walk aways at contract end than us.

Plus we effectively picked up the likes of Hedges and Tronstad at or close to the end of their contracts.

41 minutes ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

That and keeping the main squad with a few freebies with Premier League experience (e.g. Townsend and Barkley). Then if they go down, there  is no need to panic. The 1 season money will be in the bank.

The one season is building Luton a new stadium.

As it is, unlike the Dingles, Luton are fighting for survival.

32 minutes ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

Won't happen if it's away. I've never seen us beat them. And that includes the 5-0 when we were champions. Most other times I've seen Coventry play, they are awful, even if they are on a massive winning streak. I only see them play well against us.

Home.

I have seen us win at Coventry as well as that 5-0 humiliation.

Remember that chocolate strip they wore when we knocked them out of the FA Cup at Ewood?