Not having it. It sounds like you are basically saying this side would go down from where we were in early Feb no matter who the manager is once Wharton left, but Adam Wharton ‘could have possibly’ kept us up. If we go down on Saturday it’s a major managerial failure by the incumbent. That doesn’t detract from its also a monumental failure by those above on several levels - Wharton, Travis, appointing Eustace, Ennis,Semir and Leo, Send buttons, Indian court cases, etc..

But that's a problem which JDT had all season, even in the early part when we were doing quite well and got enough points which ultimately has made us safe. On top of that, he had Dolan injured all of December and January. Gallagher out from mid-September to January. I don't deny that this squad would struggle from day 1 next season. But when he came in he already had a points cushion over the bottom 3 to protect, which has been evaporated.

I agree JDT's tenure was up and that results had deteriorated. Had the manager / team / club relationship been better then relegation wouldn't have been a worry. But a new manager has come in to reset that relationship, and yet results have continued to be poor, with no home wins against a very middling set of opposition at Ewood. Stopping up is what should have been achieved by any competent manager taking over at the start of February from the position we found ourselves in, not portrayed as a great achievement. This isn't a criticism of Eustace, more a criticism of portraying stopping up being some great sense of achievement.

Yep. Survival is being marketed as a success by many.

I agree. I presume they just sent a couple of mates to the ticket office and bought bulk, or did it over the phone). I'm just sure Rovers weren't online at that point. First time I ever encountered away fans trying to buy tickets was Man Utd at home in 1992. Got asked if I'd sell my ticket off two people whilst going down. Wasn't even a big game and finished a drab 0-0.

I’ve criticised the guy for quite a lot, but there was nothing really in the sending off and I’m not going to slag him off for that. Plus at least he was showing a bit of urgency about the situation. I’d be more bothered by him if he was just stood there, hands in pockets, no concerns.

Did ticketmaster even selling football tickets, let alone Rovers tickets, in 2000 when City came to town? I’m not even sure we were selling online back then. That may even have been in Rovers pre-Grooby web days. Certainly for the Worthy cup final in 2002 I had to go down and buy tickets from the ground or over the phone.

I trust Liam Rosenior to make a fight of it more than David Wagner.

Regardless of who is in that position, I'd expect the XG to be higher than 0.5. Just my opinion. I'd think a professional footballer would put that away more than 1 in 2. I mean, I'm looking at that situation and thinking I would put that away more than 50% of the time !! I just think it's all perceptive between what someone thinks a chance should be rated against other chances. A similar chance might happen in a game 2 weeks later and will it still be rated as 0.46 ? Or does someone else rate it differently? And then it's used as a comparison against other players and against other games. It's all very subjective. I've no real issue with XG. It gives an indication of how a game is going or who had the better chances. But when we are comparing that Pears is -0.1 and Leo is -0.16, that's so close it (and most other keepers are around there) I dont think it tells us much .

After Szmodics blazed his chance over the bar on Saturday against Coventry, our XG went to 0.46 Does that more often than not you would expect Sammy NOT to score that chance? XG just a bit nonsensical to me.

https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75588&start=50 Regarding the idiot who is now plastered all over twitter and all over the internet, UTC have locked the thread of their fans condemning the prick. I don't think the

BBC, Sky, Rovers own website and the Lancashire Telegraph all say Sunderland was the first official Eustace win. All football stats websites give him 2 wins. It’s just a bonkers, desperate argument. It’s not like it suddenly makes anything more impressive. It would just mean that every home performance since then has been worse.

Rovers website disagrees with you. My post and point was that we know what happens if we have 3 centre halves. We don’t score and don’t win the game. I’m not sure why you won’t agree with that but it’s a fact. It’s what happened.

At best, JDT got given a choice between two pieces of shit and got asked which one he wanted. It’s up to Broughton and his team to find and suggest the players, not JDT. Sorry but I don’t suck up what Broughton and Waggot say like a salivating lap dog.

OK, but irrelevant to the topic we are discussing. So back on topic, We know what happens if we keep 3 centre halves on against Coventry. 0 goals. 0 home wins for Eustace. 1 point against 10 men. Last day peril. We’ve gone from a manager who believed we could beat any time regardless of the opposition (see West Ham / Leicester away), to one who doesn’t trust his team to go for a win against 10-man Coventry at home.

At best, JDT got given a choice between two pieces of shit and got asked which one he wanted. It’s up to Broughton and his team to find and suggest the players, not JDT. Sorry but I don’t suck up what Broughton and Waggot say like a salivating lap dog.

We know what happens if we keep 3 centre halves though. 0 goals. 0 home wins for Eustace. 1 point against 10 men. Last day peril. We’ve gone from a manager who believed we could beat any time regardless of the opposition (see West Ham / Leicester away), to one who doesn’t trust his team to go for a win against 10-man Coventry at home.

Another Broughton master stroke. At least Telalovic wasn’t his major striking target. That was Ennis.

Yes. And ultimately it meant we didn't score and didn't win against 10 men. Therefore going into the final day in a precarious position against the champions-elect rather than being safe. Bravo. Plus the fact remains that they may only have played 2 up front because we stuck with 3 at the back.

Funnily enough I may (or may not) have been at the services on the motorway this morning and may (or may not) have seen Mark Robins. I asked him "Why did you leave two men up front, even with 10 men?" He gave a fairly logical explanation. Here's what he said:- "Blackburn kept 3 centre halves on the pitch meaning we were not so outnumbered in midfield or at the back. Therefore we kept two up top with the hope to try and nick a goal. What we didn't want was them passing it through us by having an extra man in midfield, but because they utilised their extra man in defence we just though "you stupid bastards" and let them pass it around at the back. I had some defensive players ready to come on had Blackburn gone more positive, but they seemed quite content with a point"

I know you are ultra gullible and believe every word that comes out of people like Broughton and Waggot. But believe it or not sometimes people say things which aren't true to put out an appearance. Nowhere has Broughton or Waggot said "We had to sell Adam Wharton earlier than we liked because we have cash flow problems due to the Indian court case", but we clearly know this is true. Therefore, what Broughton should have said on TK was "We rejected some bids to try and get the price up, but ultimately £2.5million was as much as we could get. We could have a possible cash flow issue coming up which makes us a more willing selling club that we would like." Here's Rich Sharpe, back in July in the LT, saying "It is understood that Rovers would want between £3m and £4m were they to allow Kaminski, who has two years left to run on his contract, leave this summer." Another article online , quoting Nixon as its source, saying we would want up to £5 million. (Also frustratingly JDT saying he expects nobody to leave and he wants quality coming into the squad ). If Luton would have stopped at £2million we would have played hardball for a few days and then taken it. Szmodics will leave this summer for whatever the highest bid we can get will be. It will have nothing to do with a 'valuation'.

No with Kaminski we got to the figure we thought Luton would pay and then sold. He was worth far more than £2.5 mill.

But I thought once a Premier League team comes in there’s nothing you can do to keep a player who wants to move. Cos that’s what you’ve said about Kaminski all season.

It’s not elevated beyond reality. JDT had very good spells, ok spells and very bad spells. However for the first time since 2012 I think some of us actually thought we had a genuine chance of promotion last season under him, that was until the transfer window was fucked up and the results wilted under pressure at the end. This season started quite well but we now know JDT had had enough and didn’t want to be here, and his stubbornness was affecting results and morale. Eustace however has shown nothing other than negativity, culminating in a points return equaling JDT’s worst ever spell (with the previous mentioned injuries) and hasn’t won a single home game, scoring just 4 in 7 games at Ewood. That’s just piss poor.

He’d have probably dropped him for another centre back anyway.