2 hours ago, Colt Seavers said:

Did anyone else think Elliott was far more dangerous when he switched to the left late on? It gave us the added dimension of crosses from the byline. This would ultimately suit a player like Gallagher centrally, whereas Brereton cutting inside everytime profits Armstrong. 

If we ever get them all fit, there are huge battles for a starting place. 

I struggle to see a start for Bell, Evans, Dolan, Buckley, Chapman, Davenport and others due to really terrific recruitment.

We could have a massive chance this year if Mowbray can muster a mean, tight back four. The rest takes care of itself. 

 

 

That's the difficult bit for the young lads like Buckley, Dolan and Davenport etc. They need football time which they aren't getting now. Poor Buckley and Davenport have hardly played any competitive football since March. No good for their development to be bench warmers at their age. I say give them match time in u23s  We seem to be wasting Buckley who is a huge talent but needs game time so he can step up when needed ( and he will this season) and be a strong squad member ( same for Davenport and Dolan)

10 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I was contributing to a pre-existing conversation and I never suggested that we should sign him now, I am aware that his career has badly declined.

I just think that re-writing history by being dismissive or implying that a striker should have been dropped who got 83 goals in 159 games, so better than 1 in 2 and consistent over a few years was anything other than superb for us, in both strong and malfunctioning sides with different managers and in different formations and styles, is absolutely senseless.

I would bet that the Rhodes of 2013 would score at least 30 goals a season in this team assuming that TM didnt pop him on the wing for his heading ability??

2 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Waiting for or wanting a move so he can play more like he wants to play.  Game time with the shackles taken off, perhaps he is just not liking the way he is asked to play.

Or maybe it's just pre season friendlies and like most sensible footballers he doesn't see the need to be too competitive?

Used to love watching Mecky in the 70s. He was such an important part of those Rovers teams. If Mecky played well so did Rovers. RIP Stuart

Hardly any wonder Chapman supposedly "mopes" is it. It must be soul destroying sat on the bench and then seeing a dolloper like Bennett get the nod to go on. What did Harry do wrong between creating the winning goal on Saturday and Wednesday. Mowbray needs to resign now. That's me done with season ticket till he fucks off

14 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Argh...that’s so out of context. Buckley is the chosen one. But yes, JRC was the big mover by the end of the summer because he’d gone from long term injury to potential first team in such a short space of time. TM and Jonty were pleasantly surprised. He’d travelled the furthest at that point...from obscurity to forefront 

Ah thanks for explaining that Paul. Take it JRC is still at the forefront of their minds still?

12 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Never. I specifically called out Buckley at the same time as I spoke about the introduction of Jonty and the technology. 

Buckley was a surprise to me too at the time as everything had been about Magloire before. At the time I also mentioned Butterworth and JRC as being around the squad but Buckley is ‘the one’ in their eyes. 
 

On 23 July you quoted " JRC is the big mover of the summer. He is the one that has really put himself in the first team squad picture" ?????

4 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

I think you (and a few others) are being very harsh Joe. No one has seen enough of Buckley to make that type of judgement. The “wow” was because I cannot believe how quickly our supporters are to write off their own. I rarely see that level of criticism for academy stars at other clubs.

I said in the summer exactly what the club thought of Buckley. That has stood up as he is the only one close to breaking through in spite of chatter around Magloire, JRC and Butterworth etc...

The club 100% see Buckley as the next big thing. He hasn’t got into his stride yet but they believe he will. At 19 or whatever I’m willing to give him another year or two and trust the professionals before I write the poor lads career off ??

 

That is not quite true Paul is it? You specifically were doing the "chatter" about JRC and predicted he would be in the fist 11 on a regular basis and how he was/is the best of the promising young lads at the club.

Just now, USABlue said:

Just why did young Travis get dropped today?  This man is infuriating.  I managed to sleep through the game so did not even hear it but reading here it sounds like Mowbary found a way to make it more difficult than it could have been.  To me if you are going to drop one of our middle men it has to be Johnson not Travis.

Aye but Travis has come through the academy so easier for Tony to drop him for no reason. I get the feeling that our brightest talents aka Travis, Rothwell, JRC etc will soon be pissed off and look to move on to better things. Rothwell gets about 25 mins every bloody week and must be under so much pressure to produce the goods from the bench. Armstrong is a footballer without a footballers brain and gets all the game time. Why oh why does Mowbray make the game so bloody complicated?

Jevans was pathetic in the TV interview with Tony Morris on Granada Reports. All she had to say was "We will learn lessons from this" over and over.  What about the town, fans and local economy that you have wilfully neglected with your deafening silence? How many lessons do you need to fcking learn before you do something? Another 2 or 6 before you have learnt anything? When the whole bloody lot collapses and nowt left then you will come out and say we have now learnt all our lessons and it will never happen again. So then Sky will say top of the table Championsip clash tonight between Sandbanks owned by Harry Redknapp and Bournemouth and Boscombe owned by Sheikh Ali Baba. Please free to bring your picnic and champagne as half time entertainment will be provided by the English Chamber Orchestra. Please respect our very wealthy neighbours and use your sails to depart the harbour rather than turning on your engines after the game

Johnson don't half give the ball away a lot

Jesus H Christ. There we go saying there is no atmosphere at Ewood. We are at the Bernabau compared to the K Com!

Just now, OnePhilT said:

Yes - that's how I understood it. Which is why I pointed out that the two centre backs today performed superbly in comparison to the two last week. So it can't just be down to defensive tactics.. can it? Mulgrew was a converted centre back and designated leader. Today, without him, we were far better, and I think that's a positive to take from the game. Today's failings weren't at the back for me.

Yes I agree the two centre backs were far better today than last weeks pairing and we could be ok going forward once Cunningham comes in. Lenihan has always looked better without Mulgrew alongside him as well. Not blaming Mulgrew as he had never been a centre half before he came here. Charlie should have been sitting in front of the back 4 IMO and Mowbray is too bloody stubborn to see or change it when it's staring him in the face. BB left wing sub? Come on that's bloody nonsense. No wonder the lad will have no confidence

Just now, OnePhilT said:

You said that our defensive frailties aren't down to the personnel, yet the two centre backs today were good - far better than last week's two. Are some wires getting crossed on my part?

I meant to say Williams and Adarabioyo in my last sentence in the original reply.

Think RV means more down to manager than personnel. How I read it anyway and is sensible!

15 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Whether it is wages, a fall our or a planned ruthless move by TM on one level it doesn't look good at all. 

If it's wages we're really stuffed as there's no room to bring anyone in. The budget must be appalling especially given we sold Raya (allegedly on top of the Gally budget). This suggests there's no opportunity to take advantage of the market or to get cover in any emergencies that may occur. 

Perhaps it's a falling out. In which case I wonder if there's any of the dressing room behind TM. The young players who are slated probably won't be too keen on TM and if he annoys his inner circle as well it could be awkward. 

Or it was planned. In which case that makes the Charlton game and the captaincy a very odd situation and isn't that planned. Who doesn't replace the leadership and central defender slot when they know it's going?

Any way if happened it was a mess. The positive is Mulgrew is finished at this level so it's not a loss on the playing side. Just a sad indictment of how Rovers do things these days...

Or what if Charlie, as club captain, was playing the card of the big I am in the dressing room and the new additions and younger element of the "group" witnessed that display last week and thought sod this he's past it and were chewing the managers ear off? Just a thought. None of us know yet.

I think you need to look at the Brazil side of 1970 before you say that todays footballers are technically superior. IMO todays footballers are not more technically gifted at all. Fitter? yes.  Better diets? Yes. Previous generations of footballers would have been brought up on the same if they were around today. You can't coach that level of skill. You either have it or you dont

Best footballer I have seen live in Lancashire was Best closely followed by Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. All different types I know. England have been shite since Charlton was subbed at half time against W Germany Mexico 70 to save him for the semi final! That went swimmingly well ??. He was that important to us at age 32. He was my hero though as a kid so could do no wrong in my eyes

3 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

First competitive game against them since our relegation in 1966, 11 years of them lording it over us swept away in the best first 45 mins I ever saw. Followed by a collapse to beat anything we saw last season and the longest five minutes of injury time in history.

We played against them the previous season 76/77 where we were 2-0 up at Ewood on Boxing Day only to draw that one 2-2. Seem to recollect John Byrom scoring one of our goals. Can't remember the score at their place on Easter Monday 77.

On 16/05/2019 at 22:06, bluebruce said:

OK, so the club does pay for it, not the player. That's what I'd have thought.

I don't know tons about how player insurance works...but every type of insurance I've had is yearly. I would assume football is either the same, or over the length of the contract. The contract just ended, so if we sign him on another the premium will need to be worked out again right? I can't imagine the premium is unchanged on a player who has spent the last two years injured.

Unless you can tell me how I'm misunderstanding the above, I'm not sure where your claim that this won't cost the club a penny is coming from.

I imagine the insurance doesn't cover the period where he isn't technically injured but is on the comeback trail (when we get no benefit from him), and therefore we'll be paying his wages then at the least. Insurance isn't some big free giveaway, it costs. The more likely you are to claim, the more it costs.

It's a pre season friendly for goodness sake. No one is going to overly  push themselves. It's always been the way and always will be. Bit concerning though if Mowbray can't (or refuses) to see that Rothwell must start the season as first choice a/m and both Nyambe and JRC are far superior to Bennett wherever they play. Ben looks lively and confident. So he won't start. DG and BD looked off the pace but that may just be the pre season mindset as they are guaranteed a start. There's no way Gallagher is a winger so he is a shoehorn in for wide left and Arma wide right whilst the wingers we do have will not get anywhere near the starting 11. Then the rest of the defence .....

Just now, arbitro said:

I don't understand then why a player would voluntarily pay for an insurance policy that they wouldn't benefit from. The club have to pay them even when they are injured so surely it should be incumbent on the club to pay the premium. I know that all players are insured by the PFA but that is only if they have to retire through injury, it doesn't cover wages because that is the clubs responsibility.

Its not voluntary. Its mandatory

Just now, LDRover said:

So how do you deal with , say, a dead leg that keeps someone out for a week, or a back strain? You must be inundated with claims?

The club pays and then claims as in any other insurance policy. Done monthly usually

Just now, LDRover said:

And you know that for sure?

So why did the club not get paid out in the well documented court case years ago when Martin Dahlin hardly kicked a ball for us and subsequently retired?

If arbitro (who has worked in the game for years) has not heard of this arrangement your statement sounds a bit sketchy to me.

Not totally sure on the Dahlin case but think there was a long standing problem when he joined and not picked up /reported correctly (in his contract) hence insurance void

Just now, arbitro said:

I've never heard of that before. To be clear does the player have to pay out of his own wages or does the club pay for the insurance you mention.

A portion of players wages are deducted to pay into the policy

I have worked in insurance for 30 years dealing with this amongst many other trades and businesses. So no I beg to differ. It is not sketchy at all