I'd guess Poveda and Clarkson may go back from their loans to free up some spaces?

Another striker, full back and central midfielder would be on my list.

Dack to come back also. Could really do with Rankin-Costello staying fit as another fullback option.

I think the Preston managerial list is a good indicator of who we'd be looking at should Mowbray be shown the door, or leave at the end of the season.

Ryan Lowe (links to North West - Scouser, ex Bury)

Callum Davidson (obvious links to Blackburn Rovers - former player)

Gareth Ainsworth (obvious links to Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn lad and fan)

Michael Carrick (links to North West - ex Man Utd coach)

In modern day management won't Mowbray succeed all of the fitness responsibility to a dedicated fitness coach? 

Totally random (yet somehow still interesting) stat alert.

This is the time of year that we usually do well.

You don't want to face us between 1st November and Boxing Day under Tony Mowbray.

Blackburn Rovers record (November to Boxing Day from 2017 - present)

P45 W24 D12 L9 F75 A54 Pts84 GD+21

Automatic Promotion form for us!!

I'd take 11 points now if offered!

I also do think this is the start of a season defining run of six games. Particularly in regards to whether we can sneak into the playoffs, or whether we'll revert to type and close back into the pack.

Preston [17th] (h)

Bournemouth [2nd] (a)

Birmingham [14th] (h)

Hull [19th] (a) - Boxing Day

Barnsley [23rd] (h)

Huddersfield [8th] (h) - 2nd January 2022

Brentford [48pts], Watford [47pts], Reading [47pts] and Bournemouth [42pts] occupied the playoff positions after 26 games last season.  

4 out of 6 at home, 18 points available, given the above stats, and the fact Rovers currently sit on 33 points, you'd think if we still want to be in the playoff positions/contention after this period you'd have to get 10+ points. Meaning 3 wins and a draw the minimum requirement.

After those the FA Cup returns, the transfer window opens, maybe some departures? Maybe some arrivals? Dack should be back in January also.

Over 20 years since Rovers last beat Preston in any fixture at Ewood Park.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1108526.stm

Admittedly we didn't play them for 14 years between 2001 - 2015, but since the 15/16 season.

Rovers v PNE at home

P5 W0 D2 L3 F5 A8 Pts2

2 hours ago, 47er said:

Glory Hunter!

It was all going well until age 12 in 1999, then was great til aged 25 in 2012.

Admittedly its been a bit grim since! 😂

Mowbray's place in Rovers' history is assured with his promotion campaign of 2017/18.

Bob Crompton, Johnny Carey, Gordon Lee, Howard Kendall, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Tony Mowbray the only Rovers managers to oversee promotion campaigns.

Lee, Kendall and Mowbray from Tier 3 to Tier 2

Crompton, Carey, Dalglish and Souness from Tier 2 to Tier 1

Being born in 1987 and a season ticket holder since 1992/93 I obviously don't remember the era of Bobby Saxton and Don Mackay. Data shows similar records with all three Saxton, Mackay and Mowbray, all around the 40% win rate, with around 200+ games managed over several seasons, primarily in the second tier.

Saxton 36% Win Rate

Mackay 39% Win Rate

Mowbray 41% Win Rate (36% at Tier 2 level)

For those who are old enough to remember the 1980s, how fair a comparison is

Mowbray v Saxton

and

Mowbray v Mackay

From numerous sources (friends, relatives etc) who remember the era, knew Rovers we a club without the preverbial pot to tinkle in, so Mowbray has maybe had more favourable circumstances? Although this season with the numerous outgoings and reliance on youth/loans maybe turned the tide?

Fourth! Nose bleed territory.

Chuffed for us all, the players, the fans, Mowbray and the coaches. Lets keep this going.

Bring on PNE next week! Hope Ewood is rocking.

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

How many Asian members does the club have and are there any Asian people involved in the running of the club? 

What efforts have the club made to reach out to the local Asian community?

When I left, I'd say it was about a 50/50 split.

More recently has made big strides, hence the Guardian article above.

9 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The question was posed back then that East Lancs had declined because it was now in an "Asian area and local cricket and Muslims just don't mix". A quick google showed that the 1st XI and 2nd XIs were overwhelmingly white players.

Perhaps Blackburn Asian cricketers who ventured into East Lancs were made to feel unwelcome and didn't feel comfortable - or maybe they were racially abused - or maybe they stayed away because they knew any of those things could happen. I would hope that wasn't the case but if it can happen at Yorkshire CCC it can happen anywhere, and that cricket as a sport has a problem with inclusivity. 

Despite having spent many of the last dozen years as a member/administrator at East Lancs, I can't really answer any of your questions, the asian players themselves would have to answer those questions.

Admittedly I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to hear some, if not all, saying they experienced some sort of prejudice whilst playing Lancashire League cricket.

6 minutes ago, BigUts said:

Sorry rog, I wasn't meaning to come across as aggressive towards your comparison, which is fair and valid, but any comparison of such ilk is indeed going to draw conclusions which suggests we were merely out done by a more expensively assembled squad.

It could have been PSG last night and the team cost nearly £1b to assemble and it still would have been a wholly unacceptable, quite frankly disgusting "performance" of players that clearly have no pride for even themselves never mind the club.

The Labore element of our motto is the most important. We can all forgive being outclassed, that's the nature of sport but I won't accept is drawing a strawman proposition that we got beat 0-7 because Fulhams squad cost x amount more than ours or has x amount greater international or league appearances.

Absoltuely BigUts, no offence taken, we're all desperate for Rovers to do well. I respect your views wholeheartedly.

The Labore part in particular is extremely valid.

We're all hurting today, no matter where you feel the buck stops. Last night was as tough a watch from the Riverside as I'm sure it was from anywhere else...be it Clitheroe, California or Australia!

1 minute ago, BigUts said:

What a smokescreen. The fact is we showed zero endeavour or organisation. That costs zero.

We weren't constantly out done by sheer brilliance but by very poor attitude and application.

I did refer to that underneath the graphic, I'm not condoning or forgiving the attitude or commitment of the players and the manager, it was very poor, unacceptably so.

Just looking at the statistical facts.

Some interesting stats from last night's two teams I thought I'd share.

This in no way is a reason to excuse or forgive a 0-7 home result, but I just wanted to have a look at the various budgets and experience of both sides. The fact these two sorts of teams are even in the same division (and Rovers were only 5 places away from Fulham before the start of play) shows the real problem with the Championship, the behemoth the Premier League is and how far away promotion actually is.

Top 5 Stats (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue One and Serie A - largely accepted as the biggest 5 leagues in world football)

Values courtesy of transfermarkt.co.uk

50 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

I also think this was the last league game that we won "6-something".

A few 7's and plenty of 5's since then but never a 6 goal win.

In the cup I can remember 6-0/1 wins against Watford, Preston and Rochdale since then.

Love that stat MarkBRFC

Don't remember any sixes in the league either!

Thanks for all the positive feedback, pleasure to write the preview!

An addition

'' 19th April 1986 - Blackburn Rovers 6-1 Sheffield United - Garner, Patterson 3, Thompson and Barker. In front of just 4,736 fans. Was anyone from this forum there that day? ''

This fixture jumped out for both the scoreline and the attendance!

3 minutes ago, rigger said:

I can't believe you forgot Tony Field.

A bit before my time, but my apologies!

As an East Lancs lad myself for many years, a lot of what has been said is somewhat true, but there are lots of factors that have contributed.

• Changing demographics is definitely one, but the club simply would not survive without its Asian members, East Lancs would have gone years ago. Some fine cricketers like Nas Iqbal or Mini and Mo Bhada have all graced the 1st XI with distinction in the recent past, Sohail Mohammed being another.
• Volunteers, the ones who are there at the club do an admirable job (I was in that role myself for almost a decade) but finding willing helpers across the age ranges seems to becoming harder and harder. Losing people like the late Tony Rose (RIP) or Larry Pearson, who (deservedly so) decided to step down, after a lifetime of service to the club, 50+ years boy and man. These people are so hard to replace, if not impossible! Look at the successful Lancashire League clubs and you'll find an army of helpers behind the scenes that keep the club going. See Stan Heaton at Lowerhouse, I'd argue if Stan was at East Lancashire, he'd turn the club into a powerhouse (excuse the pun) in no time!
• The 'traditional' Lancashire League as a whole, the expansion has shown their shortcomings, 9 of the 12 Division 2 teams are the old Lancashire League teams. With 6 of the bottom 7 being ex LL teams.
• Talk about history and how East Lancashire are struggling....the bottom 4 teams in Division 2. Rawtenstall, East Lancs, Rishton and Nelson combine for 52 Lancashire League titles and 37 Worsley Cups!
• Players appetite and commitment. This is a huge factor in any modern day amateur sport. Tales of players cutting their holidays short to fly/drive home to play a doubleheader away at Colne on a Saturday and then Ramsbottom on a Sunday in the cup are very much a thing of the past. Work pressures, family commitments and the added value on free time is so much different than it was, even 25 years ago! You will see huge lineup changes in any double header now. With this, squad depth is tested and players naturally don't want to be seen as uncommitted to the cause, so you see huge swathes of cricketers walking away from the game. Standards naturally drop as players are then chosen to ''make up the numbers''. I ran the third team for two years, and it was almost like a full time job just trying to get 11 lads out on a Saturday! Even then you'd find most where 14-18 and were playing Saturday and Sunday at senior level, then an under 15s match on a Tuesday and/or Thursday!
• The professionals debate, another where, to be honest, I don't mind East Lancs not having a professional! Great league pro's like Ockert Erasmus are a rarity these days, but the figures quoted on South African list A players, without any experience to their name, are huge! Once of a day the gates/bar/socials would cover the cost of these pro's, but for 20/24 LL teams I'd guess this isn't the case. Gone are the days of Viv Richards, Allan Donald and Michael Holding. That standard of professional just isn't available any more.
• Shaid Afridi was my dream East Lancashire pro! If I win the lottery, I'll see what I can do!

Just my thoughts, but East Lancs is full of great people, trying their very best against all the odds. The fact that the club survives is testament to their work alone!

On 12/06/2021 at 08:01, Mike E said:

Tugay had it down to a fine art.

From an old post on here (can't remember who I nicked it off for Facebook):

Step 1 - Glance over to bench to get inkling he was coming off

Step 2 - Decide to try something outrageous or overly skillful as a parting gift

Step 3 - Drift over to the Riverside Stand

Step 4 - Look at the fans in the Riverside as the board went up.

Step 5 - Ignore the board

Step 6 - Wait for prompting or the stadium announcer to call out ''Number 5......Tugay''

Step 7 - Look suprised

Step 8 - Remove shinpads

Step 9 - Loosen Socks

Step 10 - Tuck shinpads into shorts

Step 11 - Applaud the Riverside Stand

Step 12 - Start the walk off

Step 13 - Applaud the Darwen End

Step 14 - Wait for the referee to come and tell you to hurry up

Step 15 - Shake hands with the referee, tell him what a wonderful job he's doing/done

Step 16 - Brisk walk or lazy jog for ten paces

Step 17 - Applaud the Blackburn End

Step 18 - Wait for ''Tugay you are my Turkish delight''

Step 19 - Kiss or pat badge on shirt

Step 20 - Shake hands with the left back/left winger

Step 21 - Shake hands with opposition right back as they come to tell you to hurry up

Step 22 - Applaud Jack Walker Stand

Step 23 - Final curtain call to all four sides

Step 24 - Affectionate handshake and/or hug with player coming on

Step 25 - Shake hands with manager

Step 26 - Shake hands with all the coaching staff

Step 27 - High Fives to fans sitting near the Rovers dugout

Step 28 - High Five to fellow subs

Step 29 - Final Wave

Step 30 - Finally Sit Down

Haha that was mine from the old boards.

With the modern day substitutes encouraged to leave the pitch at the nearest side they're on, I'd imagine Tugay would have adapted his style to suit the modern game.

A walk towards the traditional side (after taking the applause from the Riverside obviously) then reach just over halfway, before realising he can leave at the Riverside.

Preferably close to the Darwen End, so he could milk the adulation whilst heading the "long way" back to the dugout via the Blackburn End.

Still love Tugay

Bloomin heck @glen9mullan a bit of balanced analysis! You might get kicked off here! 😁

Fine post.

Things are never definitively one way or another when it comes to football clubs.

3 minutes ago, roverandout said:

So u are happy to waste another season just so in the vain hope a clueless manager might sign a striker? Well good luck with that 

Its just an opinion, but I think that's where we are at.

In terms of ambition, we've wasted the last four seasons, I don't see this one being any different. If the stars align for a club at this level (ala Barnsley last year) then maybe a playoff push is within reach, but in a post Covid world, survival is the priority.

Whilst its hardly a thrilling transfer window when you lose your best two players (Armstrong for money and Elliott to a loan return) I think its important to try and see the bigger picture.

Going into the season, some four weeks ago, mine and plenty of forum members fears where that we'd be relegated. The fear we'd be cut adrift and face a season like the one under Coyle in 16/17 with us battling from a home thumping by Norwich on the opening day, to the heartbreak at Griffin Park months later.

With signings like Gordon Greer, Tommie Hoban, Anthony Stokes, Wes Brown, Stephen Hendrie, Jack Byrne and Martin Samuelsen.......shudder 

This season has been surprisingly pleasing so far, we've put 8 points on the board, shown a togetherness, team spirit and most refreshingly of all have shown a willingness to dig in, scrap and stand up to the physical battles, which was missing from last seasons squad in abundance.

It took us 9 games to get 8 points in 16/17

The squad we have is good enough to better last seasons dismal performance of 15th place, but lets face it, we're more than a striker away from pushing for the playoffs! And with that said I'm happy to sit tight, let the FFP clock restart next season and take things from there.

We've bemoaned the fact Gallagher has played as a right winger for two seasons, now lets see him down the middle. BBD similarly, the challenge has been set to both of them to get 10-15 goals this season, which they should both be capable of.

Who of last seasons squad (bar the aforementioned Elliott and Armstrong) would anyone actually want at the club? Harwood-Bellis perhaps, but we were never going to be able to match the lure of Champions League football.

Williams, Mulgrew, Bennett, Downing and Evans were all too old and ready to drop down the divisions, or move to new leagues.

The collective cheers around Blackburn when Bell, Douglas and Trybull departed were palpable, whilst the youth fringe players also had proven that their futures were at pastures new, see Grayson, Lyons, White, Mols et al.

Lets see how good or bad Poveda, Khadra, Edun, Clarkson, van Hecke and Pickering are?

This board and other Rovers fans are also quick to criticise loaning in players from other clubs and not giving our own youth a chance...

Carter, Magloire, Cirino, McBride, Pike, Garrett, Annesley and Vale all should see time in and around the first team squad this season (bench time or playing) lets see how good they are.

Dack, Rankin-Costello and Johnson to return also.

Hopefully some of the cash from Armstrong can be spent on tying down Nyambe, BBD and Rothwell to extensions.

This season was always going to be a transitional year, its proved to be so far. 

We have a squad that should finish between 12th and 18th, which is where we are at present.

Yes!! this takes me back.

Probably 10 years since I last did a preview, so I'll take one @Mike E

Sheffield United (home) Saturday 6th November

Can we reach 350 pages before any official announcements?