1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

mr perfect russell martins southampton look to be grinding to halt,honestly,it would be some achievement managerial wise not to get that side promoted🤣

He's the reason I feel either Leeds or Ipswich will pip them to second. A great squad and financial clout covers a lot of mistakes (think Parker as a manager too) but at some point a lack of managerial nous will get exposed. 

No one was expecting a classic. Given it was a good time to play Cardiff perhaps disappointing not to win. Given we've been in poor form perhaps a relief not to lose. A point serves us well as we limp towards the season's end. A point per game will easily do it for us. Next season however... 

18 hours ago, JHRover said:

Bloody hell, 4 wins in 12 is hardly crisis time, we'd have sacked Kean, Mowbray and JDT about 25 times between them if that was the case.

It seems to me that Beale is quite an unlikeable character. He's had 3 jobs in just over 18 months and all have ended quite quickly with the fans at QPR, Rangers and Sunderland not keen at all.

They're giving the job to Mike Dodds until the summer, be interesting if JDT does rock up there or elsewhere in the Championship after I was assured he was lined up for the Sweden job and maneouvured his way out of Ewood to get that job.

Definitely the case. Was reading about this and Beale said the criticism from Sunderland fans was because of his accent! He also bangs on a lot about his 16 years experience at top clubs (Liverpool and Chelsea) implying (to virtually stating) he's an expert which I doubt endears him to fans either. 

If ever there is evidence there's a troll in our midst that is it. 

No one, well over the age of 11, no one would be thick enough to challenge someone on their experience as a DOF when they have bugger all themselves.

Nor do I think anyone would be championing the expertise of a profession in one sentence - what experience have you got as a DOF - and at the same time expecting said person to have the expertise to suggest an alternative. 

In fact no one is stupid or ignorant enough to think one's lack of knowledge means an answer doesn't exist. I mean just because I don't know how to fix my car doesn't mean there isn't a solution. 

Also the respons when asked how Ennis  worked out, ignoring the obvious that it hasn't shows either a complete lack of understanding of English or a willfulness not to engage properly with people. Again even a child would have worked out the said question and implications. 

And all that's before we get to the tone. I'm all for different opinions and debate but such posting is really low imo. 

1 hour ago, KentExile said:

 

Although from what I have seen of him, he seems to spend more time hiding than Moran does

I'm not sure that is physically possible. 

For me Stoke and Millwall are in much more precarious positions and its between them for the third place to go down. 

Millwall have been quietly falling down the league, more under the radar than us. Their manager has very little experience of club management. We've seen how Rowatt, their previous manger, has repeatedly had teams over performing. We've seen a few times the gulf in performance when he has left a team. 

Stoke do have a good manager, in fact have had a number of good managers, and yet still struggle. That shows there are bigger issues and this season it feels like the game may be up. Losing to us must also set alarm bells ringing and the fact no one has rectified Stoke for years makes me feel they could be in real bother. 

One of those two plus Weds and Rotherham imo. Our front two will keep us up before going to pastures new leaving us facing the drop next year. 

23 minutes ago, NeilInBristol said:

Exactly. 

14 games. 

2 games in for JE and 1 point

3 goals conceded in 2 games isn't good. 

Time is ticking. Relegation awaits at this rate. 

Lucky Swansea and stoke lost today 

Millwall, Stoke, Swansea and QPR all look pretty poor too. And there's only one place left as Rother are down and Sheff Weds I feel won't make up the points and have all the off field issues as well. So probably we only need to do better than one of the 4 mentioned. That's pretty doable  

All the signs are there for relegation, especially he players having a moan. It seems we've simply switched our style in our rock paper sissors approach to football. I still think that with the lead over the bottom 3 that we have and one place at least being taken means we won't be relegated. There's enough yes, like Stoke the other day, we'll get points from to limp along to the finish. All set for next season though to plummet down the league. 

23 minutes ago, matt83 said:

 

I dare say he’s one of the more palatable options when our criteria is unemployed, won't want to bring in his own staff and happy to work for cranks at a circus of a club. I wish him all the luck in the world Christ knows he’ll need it. 

The above is why I'm not that excited by the appointment. He fits their criteria, as matt83 succinctly summarises. But it is really not an adequate criteria to appoint any manager whatsoever. 

His record isn't amazing. He's not that experienced. He's arguably done ok at a couple of places, but couldn't have been classed as doing well anywhere. To be honest he reminds me of the Berg appointment, underwhelming, but relief that it's someone who has actually managed and not been a car crash. 

I also can't see his defensive style pleasing the higher ups. Not that I think the higher ups have any valid opinions, but given how fractious things are between head coach and the higher echelons I doubt one extra clash is going to help matters. 

Still we might get new manager's bounce to keep us up, but that's about it. Hoping I'll be proved wrong - would love it. But I fear that it's going to continue the downward spiral. 

On reflection despite a bizarre openness over the last few months that has seen us leak goals, overall JDT I feel did well with Rovers.  Remember that there'd been the running down of the team for a year or two under TM and a step up in terms of lack of investment (players leaving on frees, Armstrong money not invested). Fans, myself included, were worried that relegation was on the cards when he joined. Add in he didn't get his own backroom team. Not an easy situation to come in to. 

Add in more transfer disasters then the rest of the league put together. Moved goalposts and two sabotaged windows with no incoming fees to spend and he was well and truly up against it. I'm not sure many managers could have coped with the rug being pulled out from beneath them and such adverse conditions. And his standing for me rose with his appropriate criticism of his bosses. 

He wasn't a great manager mind. Sticking with Pears in goal last year is evidence there were some huge blind spots. But he was decent, and that is as good as we are going to get. Perhaps decent enough that without being constantly undermined, he might have achieved something. Shame we will never know.  

10 minutes ago, Angry_Pirate said:

Just "won" £49 on a QPR victory, only 1 place to put those winnings...

The Bookies are giving away money! 8/1!!!

Get in whilst you can. The fans could afford to buy the club in 3 months with them odds!

 it is great odds but 2 of the 3 relegation positions are already pretty much sown up. Rotherham and Sheff are already down or at least too distant from us to overtake us. The third position  however is a real possibility...

15 minutes ago, Ewood Bobbler said:

Wow, the optimism for any signing can emphatically dissipate with a simple scroll through this forum.

So, to recap, on the last day our deals are.... 

Fleck.... Not long ago I'd argue he was a big upgrade on Travis. A guy with bite, who covered the ground and who undeniably had far more goals in his locker. Whether he can still hack it at this level remains to be seen but I'm not writing him off because he is 32. Jury out yet but surely a reason to be quietly optimistic, especially when there is an Adam Wharton sized hole to fill and a manager crying out for more experience.  

On top of this Travis is still our player. If he really is all that then he will be playing for a promotion pushing team and his value will only increase with good performances. He gets the chance to prove why he should play for us or gets us a bigger fee than we would get for him now. Win win. 

On top of this we manage to sign a USA International, certainly one of our top targets, who has scored 15 goals in 37 games at the tender age of 22. Raw prospect but hopefully plenty of growth in him and we get him on a try before you buy basis so if he turns out badly we aren't hugely out of pocket.

Backed this up with a young Liverpool kid who has the physicality to hopefully stop us conceding quite so many soft goals. Admittedly he hasn't had the best loans previously and I am honest enough to admit I have seen nothing of him to form a good basis but there must be a reason he is still at Liverpool.

I rate Ayari. I don't care what happened at Cov. There is a brilliant player there. McFazdean another vastly experienced player that has stood out when playing against him and has the physicality to outmuscle and bully if his legs are still there at 37. O'Riordan was beloved by Crewe fans and hopefully a real steal of a player with plenty of potential and Chrisene looks good when moving forward with the ball. All fairly positive, no? 

I remember years ago reading through the comments on here. They sounded out our decline and several posters were actively praying for relegation and hoping we got beat which I found bizarre. They wanted rid of the woeful manager at the helm, who at the time was Mowbray and called for us to bin the worst player they'd ever seen, that player was JRC. My response must have been quite inflammatory as it was immediately blocked. 

I was similarly angered at the tripe dished out when we signed Szmodics. He doesn't look too bad now does he? 

To my knowledge this is my first post since. I don't know if it will see the light of day either. I certainly expect more to disagree than agree. 

Yes, we have massively cut costs. Yes we aren't run well, (the on/off nature of the McGuire deal was a fiasco) but recruiting the kinds of players JDT asks for whilst not spending vast amounts highlights to me a job well done in the end. 

Our future may well be determined in the Indian courts. Venkys for all of their failings have never shirked putting money in. Hopefully they are allowed to continue to do so and in the summer we can finally begin a Brentford model of reinvestment based on selling players of the calibre of Adam rather than letting them walk for free. 

If this isn't the case then maybe I understand the doom and gloom of some posters but until then I'm fairly content with the job done by Broughton in this window despite him having both of his hands tied behind his back. 

Despite the soft underbelly and the injuries we have suffered this season some of our football has been fantastic to watch and I for one am optimistic if we can keep JDT and offer him better players in the summer then we really could turn around some of the pessimistic followers and look forward to a brighter future. 

That's a barefaced lie. Couple of examples being the state of Ewood Park and the pitch. Both exempt from FFP, neither maintained appropriately. 

Even if it were true- which it isn't- that's like praising a mad axe murderer for not coming grannies out of their pensions. 

Credit to the lad but we will get so little of it to invest in the team. Like Rhodes, Armstrong, Hanley and Duffy before him, Jones come to think of it, an insulting low amount will be ploughed back into the team. The downward trend continues. 

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

JRC the new Warhurst?

Yep, including his injury prone nature. 

In the next round. A tad worried the ref was going to blow for a foul. Don't think we will mess it up now  

Garrett appalling but involved. Moran just appalling. Much less open this half from both teams. 

3 minutes ago, bazza said:

That double save by Pears was crucial. 

It was a double save because the first save was poor.  Great recovery mind. And we still need better. 

Game over! Great ball and what a player Sami is. 

Thank goodness! 

And again as I type! Keeper did us a favour there. Great to be in front but issues remain. 

More alarminf then Garretts performance or Pears keeping is how mentally soft we are. Go behind and go to pieces. We were playing them off the park. Rather than be pissed off we let in a goal we become piss scared. 

1 minute ago, superniko said:

It was his fault in the first place, the first save was absolutely shocking palming into the centre of the 6 yard box. 

Thought exactly the same. That bit will get forgotten though  

1 minute ago, Proudtobeblue&white said:

Pears redeems himself.

He has it in him. Problem is he often has to redeem himself because he drops so many clangers too. 

Dominated them. They've had nothing yet we STILL concede. No wonder we are struggling, teams have to put us under zero pressure and still score.