2 minutes ago, booth said:

The project changing can't have helped can it? Or are you saying that wouldn't affect on-field matters, morale, generally pissing off some players who were settled and thought we were building a promotion chasing squad? Luton didn't have that, nor Sunderland, nor any of the teams in the play offs or promoted.

We finished 7th under one bloke but didn't under his predecessor who had much more time and money. I don't know how that is undermining Mowbray's appointment at the time. It's just what happened.

Good for them.

No one is making it out to be a high achievement, but it's the highest we've had so far in this league. You'd hope that with the same backing that other manager's under the V's have had, it could have turned out better.

Luton had been building for a long time and had two good strikers to get them promoted. They could have sold Adebayo but kept hold of him. Waggott wouldn't have done that.

You like to exaggerate don't you.

God/martyr.
7th is an achievement.
Acceptance and celebration of absolute mediocrity.

Looking forward to the next one, if your mind hasn't blown again.

Booth, genuinely, you don't half talk absolute bollocks and like a few others tonight, 3/4 of your argument is in your head. You've really got carried away with yourself and I don't like the tactic of trying to construct an opinion on my behalf.  My opinion has been clear.  It's gone from me saying Mowbray was a decent appointment for us...to people going full on Top Trumps, playing only with two shit cards.

RE JDT, there is post after post on here of posters saying 7th is a massive achievement.  Loads of them.  These folk completely undervalue us and see past the shite that has been in the play-offs when we have missed out.  It wasn't a strong league from Burnley down. Genuinely, only WE could've messed it up last season.

Other parts of your argument/reply is SO full of nonsense - so I have to reply. I am not defending David Gest's ill-fitting and bog-eyed corpse by any means, but seeing as you brought him up...did he sell OUR valuable striker Brereton at the very same time? No he didn't.  Other parts (re uncertainty). Not my argument but countless teams get promoted with players under clouds of uncertainty. Sheffield Utd had financial difficulties. Watford in the past had about 4 managers and loads of loanees. Even the Dingles have had a team half-full of short-term players.

The rest of what you say is the usual mis-guided smarm mixed with luke-warm wit - which is a shame. There is literally no point batting it back and forth with you when I wanted a grown up debate/chat. Unfortunately, it hasn't happened and now I'm reduced to discussing a limp failure finishing in 7th, over a boring failure finishing in 8th or 9th.  Ultimately, I am happy both moved on and I live in hope of an improvement.

My opinion is failure is failure.  None of it has been good enough and we are on the edge of disaster. We aren't going to agree and that's perfectly fine by me. If you fancy a civilized chat in the future, all good. If not, no problem either.  It's obvious though, I don't fit in with the hive mind on here.

All the best 👍 

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

We were 3 points from safety with 15 games to play when Mowbray took over. That is more than salvageable plenty of clubs have been in that position and stayed up.

Currently we are 5 points clear of the drop with 16/17 left to play. So I assume you think that we are already safe from relegation?

The argument is in your head my friend.  I think we are heading down - hence why I am not a happy bunny and I am glad that through default, someone else will be managing us because this guy has thrown in the towel.

Facts are, we are absolutely toothless and leaderless. We are in freefall. We have been rock bottom of the form table for weeks now and have been beaten (often battered) by Sheffield Wed, Huddersfield, QPR.  We have conceded 3 or more in 5 of the last 10 games and that is because we are so poor at the basics, rather than being unpicked by great play.  It is dire and people seem hypnotised or distracted (on here) by how bad it actually is.

Anyway, goodnight, God bless and fingers crossed we manage to stay up because we won't bounce back this time.

1 minute ago, Ewood Ace said:

Here you are celebrating Tony Mowbray's achievements of getting us promoted from the third tier (after getting us relegated which you fail to mention) and then in 4 seasons in the Championship achieving a highest finish of 8th. And in the same post you talk of an acceptance and celebration of absolute mediocrity.

Seriously, has this site got a direct link to Calderstones these days or something?? 

Owen Coyle, Brockhall Ping Pong Champion, was the catalyst and reason for relegation. Mowbray turned up well into February and a few games too late.  Anyone who thinks other than that isn't worth the conversation. 

26 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Mowbray was competent. But because of that and him succeeding Kean, Berg, Appleton, Bowyer and Coyle he is of course seen as a massive success.

Fundamentally his highest finish in 5 years was 8th.

He had time and he had backing and that was the best he could do. 

Compare and contrast to what others have done in a fraction of the time elsewhere.

A big +ve in the Mowbray analysis is the players he brought in and developed. Of course the Armstrongs, Rothwells, Diaz's all good. But I'm sure if the owners and board had actually applied pressure and demands on league position and results rather than just leave him be for 5 years we might have had less player projects and perhaps some higher finishes.

The cynic in me suggests he knew his route to longevity here was to convince the owners he was protecting and developing their 'investments' and once he was out of the way it was 'cashing in' time leading to today's mess.

That some people still pine for him 18 months on after his frankly disgraceful public comments and admissions sums up for me the depths and low standards the Indians have dragged this club to. Anywhere else and he'd just be consigned to the drawers of mediocrity.

Do people pine for him? I haven't looked on here for years so it is a genuine question.

15 minutes ago, booth said:

What has January got to do with it? The project changed post-transfer window.

Let's stick with solid facts though, he finished 7th, which is higher than the guy you were praising.

You said about players going and the project changing were reasons for them dropping off a cliff. If you didn't mean that, be clearer.

Also, stop with the nonsense of trying to undermine the fact that Mowbray was a very decent appointment for us at the time. So with the greatest respect, stick to the solid facts yourself. The guy got us promoted and we were securely in the Championship off the back of it.  He'd took us as far as he was capable of but strangely, took his next team higher than JDT managed.

...But talk about mind-blowing, someone else making 7th out to be an achievement - when the mighty Luton got promoted on a shoestring and Mowbray's Sunderland made the play-offs.  It's no wonder this club is fucked from top to bottom. Apart from the failures of the owners and board, it blows my mind the acceptance and celebration of absolute mediocrity on here and how passive we have been with underachievement, disorganisation, mistakes, missed-opportunities and toothless displays. 

We get the product we deserve I suppose - but I believe we can do better and we should be demanding better.

21 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

Szmodics knows what's going on, he's just a normal passionate fan like the rest of us, think he feels it and he wears his heart on his sleeve. I wonder what his relationship with JDT was like and whether he agrees with the tactics.

When he went off against QPR I was expecting him to snub JDT on the touchline but they seemed to have an amicable if animated discussion. 

JDT's tactics have been good for Szmodics on a personal sense (goals) but that lad is a winner and facts are, we don't win anymore. He looked absolutely fed up on Saturday for quite a while.  I do feel as though his head had gone and he downed-tools the other day.  We are too much of a soft touch and there was a lot of overplaying with the ball. Almost no urgency, again.

4 minutes ago, booth said:

It didn't help that morale was rocked amongst the players as some of them already knew they were on their way, and that the project had changed, well before it was reported.

As I said earlier, the wheels are always going to fall off a club in turmoil.

Who went last January exactly??

I am the one accused of re-writing history by a JDT fan boy (sorry, I didn't notice the name)...but I seem to recollect us wobbling around the Burnley game, then Preston...being really indifferent for a couple of months...then not winning for 9 games at the end of the season and finally winning on the last game when it was out of our hands.

That has been rewritten as a success by some on here. Not winning in 9 games and missing out on the playoffs on goal difference after being in the top 6 for months. 

We failed. He failed. He achieved nothing more than Gary Bowyer. He is a sulky bottler who has himself, rather than us, at heart.  

14 minutes ago, booth said:

That blows my mind.

Why??  The guy who got us promoted from League One straight away wasn't a good appointment all of a sudden? Him who gave the club a lot of heart, signed some very capable players who, had we not let them run their contracts down, would've generated millions (yes...and some crap!) but levelled off.   

It blows my mind how blinkered or distracted fans are on here that they can't see that JDT isn't actually doing a great job...yet he is some sort of God/mmartyr purely because he has a whinge about the absolute numpties above him.

1 minute ago, Andy said:

You're rewriting history, tainted by recent poor form.

JDT did an objectively good job for us - you can't argue with the facts (finishing 7th with a shit squad and no backing).
The cup run was a bonus, but a very welcome one.
You're only trying to fool yourself if you think he was shite here and he'll go on to much bigger things than Rovers.

However, more importantly, we have Gareth Ainsworth to look forward to, senior players who get a bit scared when the nasty crowd boo them (after failing to beat teams like QPR and Huddersfield at home...) and Waggott successfully deflecting attention away from his own severe deficiencies.

Oh yeah, and that's on top of the transfer debacle, which in all reality was internal politics and sabotage, potential financial ruin and owners seemingly unwilling to do the right thing and piss off.

I'm pretty much done. Certainly not spending another quid until this shitshow is addressed.
Literally no leadership at the club. No-one who actually cares about Blackburn Rovers Football Club, just whatever benefits the individuals.

Sorry, only read the first few lines. I am not re-writing history.  We had a damn good start to last season and dropped off the cliff. After weeks, we sorted ourselves out a bit but failed.  We amassed less points than Gary Bowyer achieved.

This season, we were good on and off for a few months. Then absolutely shit since before the Christmas decorations were put up, then taken down...then we completed Dry January and now getting ready to order a dozen roses.

There's only one person re-writing history. It ain't me.

25 minutes ago, phili said:

Have you forgotten Mowbrays runs which were much worse than this. 

He just couldn't mould our kids since December. I am not sure what you expect, we have no experience through out the side, no fight and no forwards. Mowbray was always allowed to sign experience, the season we just haven't been able to sign that due to budget cuts.

No, JDT's run is worse but both managers have had multiple crap runs of results.  But that make me think that we (the fans) are part of the problem. Being so abject and accepting of such low standards. 

Those of us who still bother going barely make a peep at the utter dross that has been served up at Ewood this season.  I've lost count of the defeats at home. I've lost count of the goals conceded. I know when we face relegation fodder, we make the look like world beaters and I have NEVER seen such abolutely dogshit defending in forty-odd years of going to Ewood.  Apparently, we now have players who can't cope with a few boos in the midst of a run of 1 win in 11. How weak-minded can they be?  

Genuine question - at what point does JDT shoulder any of the blame for that (to some of you on here)?  

2 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Do better? Since when have venkys appointed any decent managers apart from jdt himself? Do u really think their next appointment will be up to scratch?

Mowbray was a very good appointment. He just ran his course.

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

You can hardly lay all that at the door of JDT, he's been manager for just the last 18 months.

Yes you can. Have a look back through the results from last January...it's his job to pick the team, coach the team, drive the team on...surely he is culpable for the horrendous run of results, abject performances, cock-ups, missed opportunities etc?

I know Steve Kean would've been. (Excuse my language).

5 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

You said you wanted someone who represented Blackburn.  Granted its Whalley but moving there and your wife starting a shop is going someway towards that.  

 

You said his football is sterile and none threatening but we missed out on playoffs on goal difference.  

 

I'm not his agent so will save his plaudits but I am sure that he's the best Venkys recruit so far, and the next one won't get close to what he's managed.  

 

(I also agree we are toothless at times and horrendous when backs up against the wall though) 

You are good at scraping the positives...whereas I see the negatives and failures.  I don't want to clog up the feed debating it but I do value your opinion. I am glad he is going because I have been certain for weeks that what is unfolding was always coming. 

We can do better than him and one win in eleven is pitiful when you have a guy with twenty-odd goals.

Sort the defending, we stay up. If we don't, down we'll go.

3 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

We never had a 2 goal lead.

If we didn't, my bad. Apathy makes the mind ebb away.

That is splitting hairs though. The rest is true.  As we stand, since 2001, we haven't been in a promotion position for the league that matters. He led us to more failure and it blows my mind why there is so much love for a manager who is almost incapable of getting points from anything but a winning position.  Only we could have messed up that last season and it followed suit from the previous couple of seasons. Nearly men who bottled it.

12 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

Youd never guess the manager relocated from Scandinavia bringing his family in his 50s, led us to our highest finish in 13 years (?) And our best FA cup run in the same time 

Whoopee.  Multi-millionaire relocates for massively-paid job. 

So with a level-head - he was a bit of a cup run better than Bowyer and Mowbray?  Surrendered a two goal lead in the Quarter Finals, then capitulated in the league from there on in.

Being the Devil's Advocate - he is the 'achiever' of our worst run in ddecades.He is at the helm of the team with our worst goals conceded in years and years...and the only manager (alongside Mowbray) to have a team in the promotion spots for X amount of weeks and fail to get the play-offs.  The atmosphere is stale, our home form is abysmal...

Not great.

11 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Szmodics, Tronstad, JRC, Garrett, McFadzean and Fleck are winners. 

I hope so. We need some.

Sorry, I forgot about JRC - although he is very much off the pace yet and other that Tronstad, the others mentioned haven't or barely featured. I am hopeful though, Garrett has some bite - the others have the experience.

I like Tronstadt though, he gives the ball away in dangerous positions sometimes but his positives outweigh the mistakes and ultimately, he is a solid Championship player.

2 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Well said. In-fighting is uneccessary. Let us have different opinions. Accept that some fans don't know the history and tow the SW/Venky's line more than others, and focus our energy on what's important. C O Y R

Irregardless of what has transpired over the past year, we might have come to a point where we need a change of head coach reglardless. Such a mental game and sometimes a different voice is all it takes to get some much needed conviction back. I'm a JDT fan though, so hurts to type this.

I certainly don't hate him - I just struggle with the sulkiness, lack of energy and with ridiculous  consistently, he cannot get a team to pick up points when we fall behind, or even get them to do the basics of defending.

It must be difficult working with such an inept board and owners who are full of false promises...but he lacks fight and he is tactically very weak.  I enjoyed his football when we pressed with energy, closed down and hit teams on the break..but we stopped doing that for some reason. We didn't give teams a chance to think but now we lack energy, make far too many passes and the opposition  know a very simple long ball aimed towards the right side of our defence, or a corner will undo us.  It's not good enough at all.

1 minute ago, Torgeir said:

Who's up for the fight in the current squad?

Genuinely? I see Szmodics as the only winner in the team. All maturity and physicality has been phased out of our team. That is 90% JDT's doing.  It is men against boys most weeks and that is why we have won 1 in 11.

Just now, Torgeir said:

Chrisene was man of the match. Dolan and Moran was shocking in the first half so can't have affected them much. It's all a smokescreen to avoid a hostile environment. Stop fucking up and there won't be boos. Weird that the youngest of the five present tonight was Pears at almost 26. 

It's just a blame-shifting tactic.  The supporters, although very quiet, have been extremely patient and kind. It is pathetic - but very telling, if these players can't cope with booing.  Absolute yellow-bellies. No wonder we crumble under the slightest pressure.

I will be pleased if JDT has managed his last game at Rovers. We have only ever been a stepping stone for him - which I would've been fine with, had he been successful here. Facts are, like his football, he has flattered to deceive and we have gone sideways and backwards.

I've struggled to watch his brand of football. It is extremely sterile. It is passionless.  We have zero fight and physicality.  I think we have scored some brilliant goals but have churned out some abject, weak and inept performances.

Please let the next manager have some serious fight about him. Someone who reflects the town - like how Hughes had us. Unfashionable, passionate and hard-working...not fancy-Dan pussy cats.  We are in a perilous position, the off-field farce has been embarassing and disruptive. Let's get someone keep us in this league first and foremost and then channel our energy at getting rid of those not worthy of 'running' our club.

17 hours ago, Mike E said:

Have to say, however, speaking as a deaf man, this series has been one of the most significant events in the Deaf community this century if not ever.

A Deaf woman being unable to hear ANYTHING keeps in time to music and dances so well that she wins a significant nationally televised dancing competition judged by world dancing champions and choreographers.

I've rarely been so happy about something I wasn't personally involved in. It's up there with Rovers winning the league for me. Absolutely elated.

It really is a massive achievement.  I love it when people strive to overcome the odds.

10 minutes ago, JacknOry said:

Now Barry Bannan, on the other hand. A million release clause, older, but wanted by  clubs including Brentford (bit odd considering their traditional recruitment model). Should be in for him.

He's the kind of player we need. A busy, annoying little sod who gives his all.

On 27/07/2021 at 19:58, roversfan99 said:

If we do sign Reach, he should be played as a left winger, thats where he is best.

That's him as a fullback under Mowbray then.

On 27/07/2021 at 00:50, neophox said:

Rothwell haven't seen eye to eye with Rovers manager team.. 

This is the same with Travis, isn't it?

I don't blame them. I've had enough of their tinkering, gutless attitude, poor defensive set up and pratting about in their own half style.  Last season was the biggest missed opportunity since we had Bowyer in charge of a very decent squad.  Now, we are eleven players down.

We desperately need height, strength and experience.  (I'm surprised we gave Johnson another year, he looked leggy in most games.) With Armstrong going and Elliot gone, that's a lot of goals and creativity for a team with a soft belly to muster up. 

I'm not a Mowbray fan and I totally expect a relegation battle this season. With 40% profit going to St James' Park, I hope we can get as many decent players in as part-ex for Armstrong.