From what I just read, Sweden's first ever foreign manager. Good luck to him and hopefully he can mould a team truly in his image. They'll be a joy to watch if it works out for him. 

A shame that since 2014 the league cup is just another trophy to be passed around between the usual suspects. 

Whilst I think Brittain does have decent ability at times, I'm not convinced by his mentality. I don't think he's reliable when the chips are down, and I don't really want those kinds of players in the team. He's not the only one but fairweather players are only ever going to get you so far.  

Another result to add to the rest where we go behind and can't come back to win. 

Finding it difficult to be thankful for a point at home to Norwich, who we handily dispatched at Carrow Road only a few months ago. How the tables have turned. They've gone from strength to strength whilst we've transformed into one of the worst teams in the league. 

Can't wait for the season to be over, regardless of the outcome. 

Pack ye bags and head home boys, 1-0 is game over for our soft lads. 

(happy if they prove me wrong mind) 

Interestingly in 2014/15 when we finished 9th, 11 points off the playoffs, we actually conceded less than the previous year when we'd finished 8th and only 2 points of the playoffs (59 conceded in 14/15, 62 conceded in 13/14). We also only scored 4 less goals (66 in 14/15 and 70 in 13/14). The division was just a lot stronger in 14/15. The teams above us scored more goals and conceded less than the year before. Brighton took 6th spot in 13/14 with 72 points, whereas Ipswich took 6th with 78 points in 14/15. We didn't really decline, we just didn't improve whilst other teams around us did. Adding Gestede to the mix for a full season didn't really help improve on 13/14 (when Rhodes was the only player we had in the top ten Champ goalscorers) as others evidently did not contribute as much as they had the season prior in terms of putting the ball in the net.

I consider 13/14, when we didn't have Gestede in the top scorer charts, as far more of a wasted opportunity than 14/15. The 0-0 at home to Yeovil will always stick in the memory as particularly infuriating. Ultimately even if we had won that match we still would have lost out on GD, assuming results went the same way for other teams in the run in, but if we'd won that game then more pressure would have been on the teams around us and who knows what happens next. With that said, considering we've been a soft touch since Venky's turned up, we probably would have found a way to blow it anyway.   

These last few months are going to be a slog. 

https://90sfootballparty.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/home-too-soon-hodgson-at-blackburn/

Really good write up here of Roy's time with us. 

13 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Managed 22 different teams, including 4 national sides, in a career spanning 48 years.

Had his failures at the top most level, notably at Liverpool and England.

TBH his garbage signings for us soured me quite a bit.

Very much an underdog manager. He knows how to get a team punching above its weight. His methods simply don't work when there are significant expectations and dressing room egos involved. At the time he came to us we were very much in that category. If he'd come to us after Hughes left he'd probably have done well here, as we were a completely different proposition by then. 

Jack had offered him the chance to resign a little while before, and Roy confirmed that even in resignation Jack was willing to pay his full contract up. I believe Hodgson later admitted that at the time he was too arrogant to realise he couldn't turn it around. He said he held no ill will towards Rovers and very much respected how we handled the situation. 

All the best to Mowbray, hope he recovers and takes time out of the game if he needs to. 

Replacing TM with Beale was so obviously a stupid move that it makes you wonder how Sunderland are 10th with decisions like that being made.

Then you remember we've been just outside the playoffs a few times under Venky's, and realise the majority of the league has incompetents at the helm. 

Considering how poor we are, and the fact Preston have been in decent form recently, I'll take a point for sure. Sad that Venky's have reduced us to this level though. 

Must be nice to be at a club that isn't a total circus mind.

I don't think many people thought JDT's entire footballing philosophy needed to be thrown out, just that it needed some tweaking and a Plan B in the event Plan A wasn't working. We obviously needed to be more compact defensively. 

The whole "shackles are off" nonsense is a big red flag to me. Just feels like the players now have an excuse not to work or think as much anymore and can resort to hoofing and doing as they please. They aren't good enough to be allowed that kind of freedom. Stoke were expecting something different in the first half and are as bad as we are, so our attacking talent was enough to win that match. If they score that penalty I have no doubt our weak minded team folds and we get a draw at best. Against more organised teams we'll come unstuck repeatedly as we did last night.

As I said in another thread, Eustace can't trust these players. He's got a job on his hands. He might get away with drilling some absolute basics into them over the next few weeks which may get us over the line, but looking at our fixture list it's going to be tough if we need to wait a few weeks to get going. 

As is the case for pretty much all 'official' forums. Either heavily moderated to ensure no negative stuff posted, or ultimately shut down due to negative stuff posted. 

Brittain probably not going to be as eager to pipe up tomorrow.

5 minutes ago, superniko said:

JRC made of glass - just cannot be relied upon 

Have said this time after time when people talk about JRC having this spot in the team or that spot... he'll never be fit enough to consistently rely on. At best he's a bonus when he's fit.

53 minutes ago, ScorpioRover said:

The way the rock thought he could just muscle is way into the main event of mania without anything much going on before hand and to make the storylines that have been going on for a long time now seem a waste and irrelevant, just goes to show how out of touch the rock is with the WWE and the WWW Universe….. Friday will be interesting 

The only thing I'll say in Rock and TKO's defence is that at least they immediately walked it back. Under Vince it would have taken a lot longer, if it happened at all. This probably doesn't do any lasting damage to Cody and does set up some really interesting possibilities going forward, so they've stumbled their way into something interesting in the end - they just went about it in a very backwards way. I did find it funny how at the press conference Cody basically pretended like he didn't make a decision on Smackdown and retconned that entire ending segment. That's exactly what they should have done - have Cody say he'd spoken to Rock and made a decision, then have Rock come out and engage in a staredown with Reigns without Cody saying anything else. Imply that Rock might be stealing the main event without outright saying so. Gauge the response and go from there. The press conference then makes a lot more sense.

Nonetheless, what's done is done. They've done the right thing in the end, and I assume that going forward they'll just pretend Cody never actually said he was giving up his WM spot. 

I think they had a fairly solid plan until Rock came in and forced his way into storylines. The Vince allegations obviously put things into a state of chaos as well.

I actually think they have the opportunity now to make things more interesting than the original plans, but it depends where they go creatively. It's not ideal to have to retool a story that they likely had booked well in advance, and deal with the knock on affect of how that impacts other stories - particularly Seth's opponent at WM.