A chorus of Ole, as we pass it around at the back V Plymouth at 0-0 in a he 89th minute.

The manager has already stated it isn’t a must win, so we will be happy with a draw or a defeat then. 

28 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Well, clearly, we would have already been safe with Kaminski. I just hope the transfer fee compensates for all the lost revenue on relegation..Oh, wait....

If they got 20/1 though it won’t matter so long as the stakes were high enough. 

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Per that Athletic article posted the other day, yes. 

Imagine that. A manager who is trying to get sacked and owners who have a penchant for a bit of a flutter allegedly. What a combination and recipe for disaster that is.

Does anyone realise that we were around 20/1 to go down in December.

39 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

The worst part - JDT wasn't sacked. He resigned (and had to pay to get out of his contract) - that's how desperate he was to get away from this club.

 

Is that true?

Do we know how much he paid?

So we had a manager in situ who was trying his best to get sacked?

Only at Ewood.

59 minutes ago, philipl said:

Apparently the Indian illegal betting market is the biggest with over a billion being wagered in a single day more than 12 years ago.

Staggering figures that and must surely make most sense of what is happening.

Is it a pure coincidence, that the amount you have mentioned was 12 years ago?

Just for a bit of fun, I had a look at what is currently available as a bet for things other than the result of a game. One area that is particularly interesting is the shots on target market for a team and pasted immediately below (following 2 paragraphs) is taken off a website

There are different ways in which bettors can bet on ‘shots on target’. Markets are offered on individual players’ shots on target, such as Harry Kane to have 3+ shots on target during a game, or more, or less; the higher the shots, the higher the odds.

Markets are also offered on the number of shots on target for either team or the total shots on target in the match. For example, how many shots would Arsenal have in their clash with Chelsea, or how many shots Chelsea would have, or how many both sides would have combined. Bettors can even delve deeper by staking money on how many shots will happen in each half.

I suspect that the premier league is of more interest than most when it comes to this particular area of gambling, given how it attracts a world wide audience. Imagine if an illegal market was available and the "rules" were that this market had to be a top division such as the premier league. A syndicate of punters made a real killing one season and the loser was looking to make their money back. If a team involved in some of those games, could somehow avoid staying out of that league, that may be a way of avoiding that from happening.

Given the link below suggest that the Asian markets are pretty hefty, it would not be beyond all realms to think that the owners of a football club, could very easily been drawn into such activity.

Daily Asia Gaming eBrief: The Illegal Betting Market: A Growing Concern in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand | AGB (agbrief.com)

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

Consider not long after Jones was sold for 16 mill before add ons, Kalinic went for 6 mill and Samba eventually for about 12 mill to pay off the Barclays overdraft.

I'm convinced they got their buying price back pretty quickly.

There is very little doubt about that.

As we know, we had sneaky agents, who needed paying for things like transfers and finding a buyer and maybe there was some commission to pay for  Western Unions laundry bill.

A nice little scheme all round for those in the know. A little bit like knowing the result of a game before kick off, or at least how many shots on target a particular team could muster.

13 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

"A touch mysterious"...indeed!

I suppose I could have been a bit more cutting and suggested completely baffling. 

1 hour ago, 47er said:

Seems to me that they will refuse to sell no matter what and "funding is guaranteed".

Which means the inadequate funding will continue to drag us down and down till there's nowhere to go.
 

 What a prospect the diminishing band of our supporters face.

Absolutely no relief in sight.

 

If they are stopped from funding at all, the club will quickly go into administration.

The expenditure at the minute (some of it a touch mysterious) is so high that the £20m hole will need filling somehow. It seems that the Adam Wharton money has gone already, so we would not be very far off, if next week goes against them and they are indeed banned from sending any further funds.

I am sure the accountants will be looking closely, as they know the business is trading in an insolvent manner.

I am still convinced there is more to this than meets the eye. Why are they being forced to put a bond up to the tune of the same amount, they are sending. There is very little trust there and if they are getting under the skin of the equivalent of HMRC in the UK there are serious issues there in my opinion. 

2 hours ago, yellowsubmarine said:

Good feeling about this. 5-1 to Rovers.

Sammi brace, Gally hat trick. Leo OG.

Let's go Rovers!

Is JDT coming back for a guest appearance? If Rovers ever score 5 under this manager, I will eat my hat. 

Just now, broadsword said:

Perhaps he's willing to select him even so. Controversial 

I very much doubt it. He is out for 4 weeks in total and that come direct from the player.

Just now, Wheelton Blue said:

That was the first game I ever went to.

Wishful thinking, but as you say, oh for some of that effort and desire this coming Saturday.

What a belter for your first game.

It can only ever go downhill from there.

10 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

We cannot cannot cannot go into this game and just do the same. Let's try and show something different. With Leo in goal we have to remain three at the back, anything else is suicidal. But at least we can try and do something to better link up defence and midfield. Team for me : 

                                Leo

              Hyam     McFadz     Wharton 

Brittain   Tronstad  Buckley   Ayeri    Pickering

               Sigurdsson    Szmodics 

Try and get the ball through midfield and pick passes. Hopefully dropping Gallagher will help our link up play. Get the wide players further up the pitch. At least having the option to bring on Dolan and Gallagher late in the game will give us more legs when the opposition is tiring.

If we start Gallagher, Szmodics and Dolan all again as a three I give up.

Does anyone know if Tronstad will be fit and when JRC and Carter are back?

Tronstad will not be fit, I am afraid.

3 hours ago, Mercer said:

Pity we are unable to rekindle the spirit of 1975 when Lee's aces came back from 2-0 down to beat Argyle in a 5-2 thriller at Ewood.  Hickman (£10,000 signing from Grimsby) who netted a brace wasn't a great player but feck me, he was 100 times more effective than Gallagher.

Sounds like Brittain wont be playing and neither will Tronstad according to one of our posters whose brother is a Tronstad neighbour (sorry, can't recall who) and isn't @arbitroalso saying Pears out (what's wrong with him?).  Must say, surprised SS got through the match last night as at one stage seemed like he needed to come off (looked like groin to me).

Think we will see on Saturday whether Eusless has any nous and spunk.  Not holding my breath. 

It was me Mercer who posted about Tronstad.

I was there by the way for the 5-2 in 1975. It remains the best game I have ever seen, live or on TV and what would I give for effort and passion like that, this weekend.

46 minutes ago, DaveyB said:

Not saying he’s wrong, but, according to the club’s official twitter, Pears missed out with illness rather than injury, so surely it’s too soon to know whether he will be back or not (unless it’s something much more serious than a fever/vomiting bug)

I saw that but Arbitro posted yesterday that it was concussion.

I believe it was also stated that Tronstad was in contention last night and possibly Saturday and I know for a fact that is not correct.

19 minutes ago, toogs said:

What's their email?

I don't know.

Probably an after match interview from the manager, lauding another well earned point.

He stated after last night, if you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose.

There was no reason why we couldn’t win last night, other than the mentality, so hopefully he has learned some lessons and will make us more offensive.

Plymouth will be happy with a point, so let’s do all we can to make them unhappy.

My prediction is 0-0 with 2 shots on target from us. 

43 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

We were in front against Preston and threw away a two goal lead.

Yes, I had conveniently forgotten about that one. Thanks for the reminder. 

Not only have we not won a game under Eustace yet, we have never been in front. If he is prepared to state in his press conferences that last night was a good point and the players believe it, then perhaps he needs to man up and say it like it is.

Last night was two points dropped and we all know that. 

29 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

It was slow and unimaginative performance by Rovers. Slow and safety in possession all game. It's another point and we came back to draw the game. Its 7 points in the lasy 7 games. Only positives in dull and boring game

Only highlighted of the game was Szmodics's finish. 

I wouldn't have put Pickering at right wing back but change to a back 4 at half bring on O'Riordan at right back and taken McFadzean for Sigurdsson or Chrisene to play left wing in 4-4-1-1 formation. 

I hope Briitain, Tronstad and Pears are all fit for Saturday game. My team would be Pears; Brittain, Hyam, Wharton? Pickering; Dolan, Buckley, Tronstad, Sigurdsson; Szmodics; Gallagher 

BTW, Gregg Broughton was in the Director box last night

Arbitro has posted that Pears is out on Saturday too. We should still beat Plymouth without him, although I won’t be putting any money on that. 

4 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Does anyone know if we are still going to Court on March 12th as things stand?

As things stand it is still happening. The outcome could be interesting though, especially if anyone making the decision, is aware of the article that surfaced yesterday. 

19 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

No Tronstad either, potentially confirming the news one poster said about him being out for 3/4 weeks.

It was me. He lives across the road from my brother and told him, he is out for 4 weeks with an ankle injury. 

52 minutes ago, garner1971 said:

This is a fantastic article. How do we get this out to a wider audience? We really need to ramp up the pressure on the Rao family. As a fan of 40 years, they are even starting to kill my spirit now. 

It is known by the wider audience so to speak. I got the full article E Maile me today, by a journalist who is a sports reporter for one of the regular red tops. 

45 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Offloading Wharton and Travis in the midst of a relegation battle is borderline criminal. Surely heads will roll if we go down.

I doubt any heads will roll, no matter what.

Who have we sacked in the last 13 years?