Nah he'll be at big Stevie's house, eating the leftovers from that fateful night in January "let's not waste a good biryani John"

Jon: "Hey I like you John, I enjoy these chats, well for sure I drove the car with intensity, with passion, I think that's what we all want don't we?"

I never held JDT solely responsible, he did a lot of things right, he was hamstrung by the owners, he could have done things differently in hindsight, it's a combination of factors like I said, the perfect storm.

Against Forest, out of all our cup games, Forest were the most beatable: newly promoted, struggling and at Ewood - decent crowd due to cheaper tickets if I remember correctly (that never goes well). All other cup games either away, free hits, or against lower league opposition - we played really well in those games. I admit this natural game saying is a load of shit, typical football rhetoric - I just mean what has been repeated ad-infinitum on here, stop expecting wonders from kids and players worth £500k (and I agree with the frustrations to the owners of why that is). Play to your strengths and keep it simple. How many teams have we seen do that against us at Ewood?

Regardless of our manager, there's something happening with this team even stretching back to previous seasons. We never come from behind. It's one of the weirdests stat in our recent history. We did it notably when we came from behind against Millwall, but crucially only when the pressure was off. Why do we do well in the cups under JDT? It's because the pressure is off in those games. The one we struggled with, losing to Forest 4-1, was at home and ironically we were under pressure, as the expectation was on us to beat them at Ewood. Football is all about confidence and dealing with pressure. There's definitely a recurring pattern. I think if you are asking Champ level players in a weakened squad to take the ball on the half turn out from defence, and then heaping the pressure on them to make an inch perfect slide-rule through ball each time (JDT always talked about moving the ball forward withing 3 passes and the "3-second rule"), then the pressure mounts when it goes wrong, plus having no real experience on the pitch to keep a level head, you can see why we've struggled. It came off against Sheff Utd at home, Swansea away etc. It nearly come off in the first 20mins at Sunderland at home, but after that our heads dropped - can't keep playing at that level for 90mins with the players we have. We need to let this team play to their strengths, play a natural game, stop with this inverted nonsense, stop Brittain having to cut inside each time taking an extra touch for example.

Last season was incredibly painful, mainly down to all those sliding doors moments mentioned earlier. But it was a mix of hope and frustration, as you could see green shoots, but then the off-field stuff just trampled on it.

No one is denying that are they? Look at other teams who have sold players, doesn't make you immediately the defence in the league etc. Just purely looking at the games on their own, we've seen us compete with this team, and then throw things away due to bizarre "in-game management" (hate that term but you know what I mean'. We've also seen us compete and then get blown away in the 2nd half due to the opposition actually have a bench, which is down to the ownership and the leadership. It isn't black and white, it's combination of a few factors. i'd say every fan was in agreement of the following: We all admire JDT and his ambition, his charisma and his honesty. We all wished at times JDT would park his frustrations, and deflect and take pressure off the squad. If you asset strip the squad of creativity and leadership, you reap what you sow. You treat the manager and fans without care, you disrupt the dressing room and create a toxic atmosphere. You try and play football not suited to the players you have at your disposal, you get what you deserve. All these things contribute to the perfect storm.

Just discussing the footballing side, everyone is agreement that the Venky's are the root cause. But they didn't tell Hedges to chip it to the North End keeper in this context.

I agree with this, the margins at getting into the playoffs were crazy - even the disallowed goal at Cardiff that led to Hirst's missed pen, that was insane when you look back. But when a team's form is so hit and miss, these moments really stand out and gain extra importance, when really we should have put certain games to bed earlier on. Tyler Morton shouldn't have gone down like a sack of shit against Sheff Utd, Wharton could have done better with the punt down field that led to Hyam's own goal, where do we stop.

Great post Neal 👏 I for one am getting tired of this pound-shop Pep disease that's filtering through the lower leagues. I love watching it when it works, but how many times does it work realistically, and fans want to hope that they can trust the management team to change it to suit the game in front of them happening at that minute, not on the training pitch. Everyone else can see it, why can't they, and it just breeds frustration, and that's why fans boo. I suppose the main concern is that these clubs want to play like this to develop players who can be selected by the Prem clubs to slot into their system, at the expense of the current club's plight. No one wants a right back who just hoofs it 30 yards. Thing is, I'm enjoying Luton, as they mix it up and show everyone else how it could be. I have a lot of admiration for them.

It also looked like we did zero prep on the opposition, whereas the other teams had us sussed. It wasn't hard though, we were/are one of the easiest teams to suss out and play against, the stats prove that too. Coming out for second halves, it always felt like the opposing team's manager had got his squad riled up, telling them to get amongst us, put us under pressure and play through our midfield like a hot knife through butter, we never seemed to have any comeback. What I struggle with "modern" football is how professional it has become, players seem to stick to a system/game plan regardless of what is happening in front of them - I never saw a JDT team with a leader on the pitch, when under pressure we still played the same way, committing men forward and trying to play lovely lay offs - whether that's a consequence of inexperience, loanees etc I don't know. I've forgotten what it's like to watch a team almost managing itself on the pitch, if that makes any sense.

yeah that is a sad read

Absolutely, Zac needs a run in the side, even if just for 65mins. Looks strong, athletic and skilful to boot.

There's no way Waggott is going anywhere, especially if Eustace joins. Steve seems to be pulling all the strings at Ewood.

Right manager for us at the right time in both his career and the club's history - unlike JDT who was the right manager at the wrong time. A lot of City fans still have respect for Hughes I think, only going off what I read online and my one City mate.

Dunno, just a tweet, have I done summat wrong?

The mysterious Remy Reijnierse... let's not forget he was assistant to Luhukay at Sheffield Wednesday, according to wiki: "sacked after a run of only 1 win and 7 defeats in 10 games with the team sitting 18th in the table"

Yes it's really upsetting seeing the grief they are all getting off certain fans on social - I see Roverschat have been accused of financially benefitting from it and had to put a tweet out to explain it, it's just sad. I get fans are divided, but what do you expect these lads to do? Best to have engage at some point than nothing at all, regardless of what the intention was.

FULL HOUSE! What do I win? A season ticket for 24/25? What's second prize? 2 season tickets for 24/25?

JDT leaves and McGuire is allowed to sign OR JDT leaves and McGuire denied by the EFL Both are just plain mad when you think about it, so many questions regardless of the outcome

I can't listen to that mad bloke any more, dread to think what he is saying, luckily at work and can't listen I can only ever listen to Bob Mortimer's impression of him, which is amazing

Even after his recent twitter spat with our admin, can we 100% rule out Joey Barton? That is my main concern...😂 Or, if this all ends with a launch promo showing Wayne tucking into a family size box of wings, I'm done, we're all done.

In a perfect world, say Venky's leave and take Waggott with them, what would the ideal CEO for Rovers look like at this time? Forgetting for the minute someone who has perhaps a spare £20m down the back of the sofa or Elon on speed-dial. I'm presume the fanbase is in agreement that we have to get the operating costs down, but just communicated in a better way, with more transparency, show some care for the fans, a more pragmatic approach to the playing side i.e no pound-shop Peps please. What would you do first?

Some recent ones for me, outside of overseeing the transfer fiascos: the stupid brag about the chuffing coach we don't even own closing the BBE and the lack of dialogue about creative ticketing (even after players and fans have mentioned it) admitting, it's in the minutes, that he didn't know about the liverpool legends night the lack of fucks given about the fans' day being at birmingham during the January transfer window 2023 actually being at Rovers in the first place - that's more than 5, oh well

Getting off Mowbray and back on the thread subject. Does anyone feel JDT and team did any pre-match research on the opposition? I don't. I feel like it was: Playing a big club with lots of expensive players: pass it about at the back, draw them onto us and play 3 perfect forward passes to get the odd break. Playing a mid table club with a star man: pass it about at the back, draw them onto us and get the odd break, let the star man have the lots of the ball in as much space as possible Playing a lower league side: pass it about at the back, draw them onto us and get the odd break, but do it reaaaaaally slowly, just chill yeah? Playing in the cup: do what you want, pressure's off, let's have it! Playing a local rival: do what we normally do, the fact they're 100x times more up for it will be their downfall, they'll over commit and we can draw them onto us and get the odd break. No pressure lads, there's more fans here to scare you shitless, but don't worry about that. I'm tired and I want to have a laugh, sorry, it's grim out there.