The Bradley Orr link was very interesting. Goes to show there are two sides to every story.

🔥

So why is the jury out on Dolan and JRC but not rothwell? For me they’ve shown a lot of promise. Anyway your argument was that TM doesn’t like skilful players or know how to use them. The players listed above show that (just like every other manager) he does try to bring skilful players to the club and develop the ones we already have. Case closed 😂 edit... and I forgot to list Dack, probably the most technically gifted player we’ve had since the prem, and a player that TM brought to the club and developed.

Tbf I quite regularly read on here that we’re “better than the likes of Brentford” or shouldn’t be anywhere near the likes of Luton and so on. To me this can only be based on our proud history rather than a logical comparison of our current squad and setup of the club. In honesty we’re no better than any other team in this league and are where we are on merit.

I thought you said: Gallagher playing as CF and being given the same freedom would bring similar results IMHO. Your quoted response is a facetious response to a reasonable question. I don’t understand your unrelenting focus on making Armstrong out to be a weak point in our team. He’s the best striker we’ve had in a long long time, certainly since Rhodes and probably since the PL days. We absolutely should try our utmost to get Arma to sign another contract, ideally with a view to providing the goals that will get us promoted, at worst with a view to making a huge profit on him which must be on the cards. Strikers that get over 20 goals a season should be celebrated, not damned with faint praise or criticised. The question of rothwell or Arma is ludicrous and a complete non-starter when you compare both player’s contributions.

Fair play, and I can’t believe Bell is 27.... I’m from the same town as Lyons meaning I probably know more about him than any other Rovers fan, for once I have encyclopaedic knowledge of one of our players lol. I was fairly excited to see him develop but I acknowledged that he had a lot of work to do and was therefore surprised that he’d be hyped up. It was a strange signing, I think he was 20 by the time we got him so he’d spent a long time training with a part time team - too late for him to make any sort of impact in a professional league.

I can’t remember anyone ever describing Brad Lyons as wizard-like or even as a winger. Really he was a free transfer, worth a punt after showing promise in the Irish league but sadly one who didn’t work out. He’s not been impressive in league 2, and at the age of 23 he’s not likely to improve to championship level. It’s the right decision to let him go and I don’t think it’s indicative of anything more than the common narrative of a player from an inferior league not being able to take the step up to a higher level.

Say something enough times and it’ll eventually come true. It’s interesting that ITKs never disagree with each other - when one claims a signing is imminent, Jordan Rhodes or Bradley Dack is being sold, or TM is getting sacked, none of the others come out and say “that isn’t what I heard”. Maybe that’s because most of them have as much insight on the inner workings of BRFC as the rest of us.

Nailed it.

I reckon the only way this won’t go ahead is if the major domestic leagues and UEFA negotiate with the big clubs to revamp club football. To me it all seems like a power move to force through changes to the CL format - guaranteed places for the elite clubs for starters. In the 80s the big English clubs threatened a breakaway league which led to them getting a better financial deal and eventually the PL. It worked then and they’re IMO trying the same again now. Additionally there’s talk in some of the statements about doing this for the global fan base - I think that we’ll see select domestic games played in global locations similar to what American football does occasionally. Sadly I don’t think there’s any chance of this happening. Fans in Singapore have no interest in clubs like Blackburn Rovers or even the bottom half prem teams. I doubt that most of them are even aware that clubs outside the “big 6” exist (apart from the wonderful Hong Kong Rovers supporters club). They want to see Utd vs Real Madrid every week and they’re not likely to protest this move. There could even be places for super clubs to be founded in the Far East or Australia etc and gain entry to the league eventually. The premier league is a global brand now and this is the next logical step for them. It stinks but it’s the way the game has been going for a long time. I hope the motion is defeated but even if it is we’ll be in this position again and again.

Spot on

Hate is too strong a word I admit. However, it’s bizarre to me that our top scorer and only the 20th player in our history to score 20 league goals in a season is criticized for being selfish in front of goal. There’s nothing wrong with playing for yourself when you’re scoring more goals than the rest of the team combined. Sadly I think you’re right about TM and I totally agree that we need a replacement before we can move on, and to stop us from regressing further. I disagree though in that anything needs to change with Armstrong. He’s different class at this level and we’re doing the right thing by playing to his strengths. TM hasn’t brought much money in from transfers right enough but I reckon this time we’ll make a very handsome profit on our investment.

I don’t get the Armstrong hate. He’s actually scored more than enough for 3 of our players and constantly drags us out of trouble. When he goes we’ll be lucky to get a striker that is anywhere near as consistent.

Depressing news after we’ve watched him develop into a respectable, promising right back. If we kept Nyambe for next season, performed well in the league and got promoted then we’d have a very strong bargaining position. I’m not saying that’s going to happen by any means but if the decision above is made and he’s off on a free then there is no ambition at this club, clearly there is no appetite or expectation of success next season. We didn’t make much on Josh King either.

Signed and shared.

I guess this is old news but Daft Punk have split up. Surely one of the best electronic artists from the 90s although I haven’t always been convinced by their more recent stuff. Back in the day Thomas Banghalter released this banger, in an alternate universe Daft Punk released more genius house music like this rather than going mainstream I also came across this act while reading about Daft Punk. Dunno how I didn’t catch them while they were still active. Etienne De Crecy and Philippe Zdar - Motorbass.

I’m still old school with the stereo, got an old Sony home cinema amp hooked up to some speakers for vinyl etc. recently got a pair of AirPods for my birthday and I can heartily recommend them for on the go listening. Great sound 👌

Harsh...

Glad you enjoyed. I’ll check out that album, was playing original Nuttah last night!

After hearing of the sad loss of MF DOOM I started listening to some of his albums (excellent) which led me down the rabbit hole to Madlib. Any hip hop heads here will probably have heard of him but to those unaware he’s a very eclectic hip hop producer, his album with four tet is unreal and I’m also loving his collaboration with Freddie Gibbs. The beat on this track is immense

They’ve done very well for themselves and are making everyone from NI proud of their success. It’s an excellent album, reminds me a bit of early Aphex Twin. Bicep radio is worth a listen on Apple Music as well.

Thanks for these excellent sets. Never heard of folamour before but I’m loving it. I’ve always wanted to see Carl Cox live, he just knows house music inside out. A true maestro. Probably the best DJ set I was at would be 2 many DJs at custom house square in Belfast, but I’m going to share this set from DJ Sneak, found it years ago and I keep coming back to it. https://youtu.be/PcCFVDrH4nw oh yes and I’d love to have seen Congo natty as well, got some of his releases on 12” 👌

I was lucky enough to attend Ewood when we played Swansea at the start of March. Brereton came on for a second half cameo and still looked a bit raw, but he had one lovely dribble down the left flank where he showed an ability to keep the ball and glide inside. Of course it came to nothing and characteristically he had a chance near the end of the game and fluffed it, cueing a mass groan and amused, resigned grins between the fans. All the same I went away thinking that day that if BB could get a bit of confidence and a good run, he could actually be worth the money we paid. It’s so heartening to see him begin to show his class, and he’s become one of my favourite players now in a cult hero sort of way - kind of like if Grabbi had started scoring goals. I agree entirely with what you say - he’s become a key player now and I’m just made up for him. If he gets us 10+ goals this season I think I’ll name any future son “Brereton” ?

I’m still backing Mowbray. I still hope he can get us back up the table with a bit more luck re: players available. Mystified as to why he plays Gallagher on the wing mind you and that is getting very frustrating... If we’re not in and around the top 6 come Xmas I think it might be time to consider a change. Previously I’d said to give him till the end of the season but tbf we haven’t been great recently apart from when we absolutely bullied some weaker opposition.

I was referring to Gav’s quoted post where he said people were having a good laugh about his account being hacked.