speeeeeeedie

Big Ron again - It's not my policy to comment on referees and I'm not making an exception for this idiot.

The Champs League finally finished out its round of 16 games a few days ago. City easily beat Real Madrid. 2-1 in both legs. The scores look closer than it really was. Real were never at the races. I was struck at how badly Hazard played though. Juventus beat Lyon 2-1 but lost out on away goals. Sarri got the boot within hours of the end of the game. Will Ronaldo stick around? They are the undisputed kings of Italy but fall short in Europe every year. Barcelona, well Messi, beat Napoli who looked off the pace. Bayern thumped Chelsea. Lampard needs a new back 4, yet he keeps looking for attacking midfielders. There were some very iffy VAR decisions across the games. If VAR is here to stay it really does need changing to sort it out. The last 8 mini tournament is in Lisbon. Quarter final games are Wed-Sat this week. Atalanta - PSG Atletico - RB Leipzig Barcelona - Bayern City - Lyon Atalanta and RB Leipzig wee worth a watch before lockdown who knows how they will fair this week.

A record signing who never played a game is worth a mention. It was unfortunate that he broke his leg. I don't remember what took him so long to come back. Players are usually only out for a few months with a "normal" break. I'd forgotten about that. I remember him playing for Barnsley, he was a very good player.

The Venkys era has been the worst for the club in my lifetime as I wasn't around for the 60's and 70's, but back then the club was a different place with even bad signings getting the benefit of the doubt. Venkys and Kean erased all that. Murphy's legs had gone, and did his wife start having a pop at Rovers fans on social media too? Hardly endearing if it happened. Orr wasn't a bad player per se from what I remember, but him sucking up to Kean puts him on the list. Best was awful. Came in, got injured, and turned into one bad attitude. Shebby Singh's Portuguese quintet weren't professional footballers, neither was Anderson's son which points at conspiracies and potential nefarious activities. Rovers managed to recover from Davies and Grabbi, the club is nowhere near thanks to many of the jokers already listed. No one offering up Steve Agnew? Rovers record signing in the summer of 1991. Don Mackay's big investment courtesy of Jack Walker. He broke his leg in pre season, and I don't think that he ever played a game for Rovers, before leaving post promotion having contributed absolutely nothing.

I was talking to a Boro fan yesterday. He said that when Mowbray was manager there he was untouchable as his status as a club legend allowed him to do what he wanted. The bloke's main complaint about him was that he tried to overcomplicate everything. Sounds like what's happening at Rovers. A leopard doesn't change its spots. I'd keep Mowbray though. Despite his quirks he is doing a decent job especially working for Venkys. They are the main reason why Rovers are where they are, not Mowbray.

This is round 200 of the same Mowbray discussion. It's pretty clear that he is a decent man, a manager who players like, and a person who holds some integrity. It's also clear that results under him, in the Championship anyway, are like a roller coaster. 5 or 6 games of promotion form is followed by a massive dip where relegation looks imminent. This is who he is. He won't get fired, nor will he leave. He'll finish between 8th and 10th, then say the right things this summer.

You really have no clue sometimes.

Another bad performance against Wigan. Mowbray can't figure out how to deal with them. 2 goals conceded in the last 10 minutes too. How many does that now make for the season? I thought that fitness had improved.

Stories over his tenure have always painted Mowbray as a passionate and understanding manager. I think that players do like playing for him. There was a Guardian interview with Lewis Holtby where he sings Mowbray's praises; Holtby Guardian chat I hope that he gets Rovers up, even if it brings about countless hammerings.

I enjoyed the fact that there is something happening. Games will resume next weekend. Watching the highlights built some anticipation. I could care less about the result. The score is utterly meaningless. A Liverpool coach was the ref, Liverpool staff also ran the line. The game had no semblance of official competition. The work out the Liverpool players gave the Rovers lads will help. That's what Mowbray said too. He won't be losing sleep over the result. Neither should anyone else.

Yes. After months of nothing I'll take anything. It was a friendly. The result does not matter a bit. The players will be fitter for it and will know that come next weekend Sadio Mane won't be running at them.

Oddly, I enjoyed those. I said it at the time he signed but if published figures are true Minamino cost not much more that Brereton. I know who I'd rather have.

It was a game to beef up fitness. IT's nto worth getting worked up over. The Rovers players certainty got their exercise in being run all over the place by Liverpool. I reckon that Mowbray is pretty happy with it all. It was a friendly, he won't care that it was 6-0.

Hopefully there will be a decent track and trace done on O'Neill which will give a decent indicator of where he got it or who could have passed it on to him. Restarting football is a hot button item. I'm pretty sure that those within the game overwhelmingly want it to resume so they and those close to them should be adhering to the strictest precautions to lower their risk of catching the virus. If O'Neill had been essentially isolated and it's dumb luck then we are all screwed. If he spent his free time swanning around Waitrose then it's a whole different issue.

A study has come out which says that empty stadiums negate any home advantage; No crowd, no benefit Is this good news for Rovers? From this table they are 7th in home form and 13th away; Home and away tables Championship. West Brom have earned more points away than at the Hawthorns. If the study holds true away form should pick up. I commented a few weeks back that as Ewood is 2/3rd's empty they don't really get that advantage to begin with.

Me too. It's outdoors. Players are far apart. Make the umpire wear a mask if they are worried. Tennis hardly stopped over here. There are concerns with handling balls but I'm pretty sure that current research has coronavirus far less likely to be passed by touching something with it on. Bowls should be another sport that should be allowed to continue. However, the average bowls player is at risk due to age. I think that it will be hard for rugby to get going again soon. American football will be tricky too. The linemen spend all game at close quarters breathing all over each other.

I'm in agreement with Rev again. Playing in empty grounds is the best option available. Now, if some money is allotted to lower league clubs it will help all. I read today that Klopp told Liverpool players to wear masks and gloves when they went out. I would like to assume that it would be almost universal foot footballers to take as many precautions as possible as to not jeopardise their health.

Fans make games' atmosphere much much better but they don't make much difference at all to player performance levels. You did get me thinking about my view on this, and football in general. I like watching the game. Many others like the matchday experience. Plenty like both. These all usually exist in harmony, yet coronavirus has taken being at the match away for the time being. I lean heavily toward watching the game. I was never a singer, shouter, antagoniser, nor did I have a few drinks before, at halftime, or straight afterwards when I went to games regularly. I still don't these days when I go to a game when I am back in the UK. I did have a few drinks an MLS game last season but I was there on a freebie in an executive box and wasn't really bothered about the action. I love watching top level football in the stadium. It's much better than on TV. You get to see player movement, positioning, and subtleties that only exist in the ground. At different times over the past couple of years I have seen Aguero and van Dijk live. They were both fantastic to watch in person. My access is limited to TV football therefore that is what I look forward to.

Ha ha. Perfect levity.

I'm not denying that, nor have I ever been shy about posting my view. I've always accepted that on here that it's Rovers above all, and I've always wondered why people, here or anywhere, care so much about one team then shrug shoulders at the wider game. Rovers can't exist in a vacuum, to me the game as a whole is more important. As to restarting, I've said my piece regarding football having a top notch test, track, and trace process, and for no fans to succeed top level money needs to find its way down the pyramid, but I certainly think that it's feasible to begin. Britain has become paralysed with fear over the virus. It isn't going anywhere - or so everybody thinks - so life has to adjust to accommodate, not stop. It's regular moan on here that Ewood is like a library these days with the ground usually a third full for games, how much changes with zero fans? The players won't care. They'll find it weird but will still give it their all. At least with TV there is a chance to see Rovers play. I've never been like that. I can't explain why, but it's not me. I'm not faulting you for it either.

I am fully aware that this is a Rovers board. I've been on it for years. I am a Rovers fan, always will be. However, living overseas somewhat limits my ability to go to Ewood or get a feeling of how events are felt in East Lancs. I do get to see Rovers games on TV each season. The last two I watched were utter dross. Wigan at home, Derby away. If I had a season ticket I'd wonder about ever going again if those performances were an indicator of what usually occurs. I put some of the bitterness down to Rovers current situation. Being owned by Venkys and middling around the Championship is frustrating for supporters who enjoyed 20 years at the top table, and a few prior to that almost getting there more than once. Above all I like football. I want Rovers to do well but my life or mood doesn't change if they win or lose. It never has.

Of course it's all about money. Very few things aren't in the 21st century. I talk to a lot of people about football. This forum is the only place where the majority view is not to resume games. The reasons for are all over the place too. Taking away resources from elsewhere. Football isn't football without fans. I mentioned it last week but there is a bitterness toward the game from a few on here. I don't understand it. Football exists outside of Ewood. There's a whole world of it out there.

I meant British crisps. Although Frito-Lays owns Walkers they haven't figured out how to replicate the flavours. Their salt and vinegar is so-so, and no cheese and onion in sight. The common cheese added is the generic "cheddar" that tastes like rubber. Nasty stuff. I buy specialty cheese. Costs more but you know that it's real. I did a cheese board for Thanksgiving, one of the guests was fascinated as he'd never seen what different cheese could taste like. I can't believe I forgot tea. I guess I'm too far gone to even mention it. Americans really have no idea how to make it. In the southern states they drink iced tea - think cold stewed tea with loads of sugar and ice in it. "Hot tea" as you have to specify is made with lukewarm water and the weakest tea imaginable, served with sachet's of manufactured cream. It's like drinking dishwater. I don't leave home without my own tea. I also have a proper kettle. I will say that Americans who have been to East Lancs with me laugh at the diet; kebabs, fish and chips, pies, beans on toast, sandwiches. It's a carbohydrate carnival. I do miss proper chippy fish and chips. No place I've been to outside of A Salt and Battery in Greenwich Village/Chelsea can make them. However, that place is run by a Rovers fan from Darwen so it makes perfect sense.

As a Brit living in America I have enjoyed reading the food tangent. I'm not going to comment on how it's produced as I have no idea. The only place I've heard of a chlorinated chicken is on here. America's food production system is based on quick and cheap so I wouldn't doubt that corners are cut. Tourists tend to want the American experience so go full blast on massive portions and unlimited coke. Buffet style places should be avoided at all costs. As well as "Chinese" restaurants. It's not Chinese food. I've travelled the length and breath of America. There is some very good food if you look for it. American BBQ is probably the only food style that they can call their own. It's very very good if you go to a local place. Different regions have different types. In any largish city you'll be able to get a host of foods from different countries. There are plenty of crap American foods, although I don't know if these are because I grew up on British food. Generic mustard - It's just vinegar with yellow food colouring added. There are loads of different varieties available though, Colemans included, so you don't have to suffer it. Chocolate/sweets - just doesn't taste right. Hershey's is awful. Mars isn't too bad. Supermarket bread. It's made to last, not to taste. I don't buy it. Go to a baker. Crisps - improving but still aren't UK quality. Beer - when I first got to the US the choices were Budweiser, Bud Light, Miller Lite, and maybe Guinness. That was pretty much it. To me it explains the explosion of American full hop IPA's that are brewed by every single craft brewery. Americans were used to ale with no flavour so went with too much as soon as it was available. They do like to put cheese on everything. It's hilarious.

I disagree with your first paragraph and agree with your last. Professional footballers want to win whether there is a crowd or not. Football also needs fans in the ground for multiple reasons. Based on your summary Rovers should be a cert for a playoff spot though. They've been playing at a mostly empty Ewood all season. They are well schooled in playing in front of a sterile atmosphere and should thrive.