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Doves - Black and White Town

I understand a lot of that message. We are where we probably should be and we're living within in our means. But to effectively say 'Don't question 4 points out of 30 because other teams would be happy with where we are' is silly talk. Fans have every right to question a really poor run; neglecting issues as with anything leads to further decline.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge

Dack and Rothwell playing similar roles next to each other from the start is definitely an experiment worth having.

Goals contribution would be very hard to replace. Even a change in system allowing players more attacking freedom or whatever wouldn't do it & you couldn't see Travis banging 10 goals in just because he's a few yards further up the pitch. Even harder when the focal point of our recruitment needs to be further back the pitch. Certainly don't need to sell just would be interesting to know our budget and how valuable the impact of a big sale would be towards bettering it. For what it's worth I would be keeping Dack; just interested in opinions on two very possible scenarios that will come up in discussion & will have to be thought about.

For once I'm actually expecting (more hoping for) a bit of positive variation, purely due to the fact it's a 3 game week. Rothwell and Brereton seriously brightened up a previously mundane approach at Villa, and Reed added more quality in midfield, so I'd like to see all 3 of them get the nod. Chapman won't start, that's a fact, but we might see him on the bench. Really looking forward to seeing him play again. But above all else NO BENNETT IN CENTRAL MIDFIELD (or anywhere else for that matter).

Obviously Venkys are still our owners and there's every chance they'd swallow any Dack money. But whilst there's a chance we could sell and invest on the playing side there's a discussion worth having. Plenty of situations make it realistic, Tony bluffing to walk if we sell and don't see any money, Venky's having a proper flirt at getting in the big time and so on... So being totally hypothetical on choosing whether to keep, or whether to sell and buy some new players with that money.... Really tough call. First half of this season I was firmly of the mindset 'we must keep if we want to progress'. The sell your best player and reinvest idea rarely works - we've had numerous examples obviously with Shearer standing out. However, In recent months Dack's influence has dropped massively. So much so that I'd argue if he doesn't start on Saturday, we wouldn't miss him on present form. On top of that there's obviously a chance that he could be poor for the rest of the season, not doing any better at the start of next season; that'd be a nightmare situation. Therefore there's a strong argument to sell and invest whilst he is worth a decent amount, particularly in a time where we're crying out for a few new positions. We aren't going to get the fantasy 20m but we could certainly still get 8-12m for him in the current market. At this level, with say 8 million, I'm sure we could bring in a goalkeeper, a centre back, a full back and a midfielder that would make us in to a much better team than what we currently are. On top of us being able to improve the playing squad, selling could also let us play a different differently. First with the 4-3-3 that has been mooted by TM this morning; Dack wouldn't fit in to it. Similarly there has been a number of occasions where we could've gone to 4-4-2 but probably didn't because we've felt the need to keep Dack on the pitch. I don't blame the manager for that. Last year it was imperative in the side and we were always better off keeping him in, however in a much tougher league it's more important to play your best system, to the strengths of the squad, rather than trying to accommodate one player; there isn't a player in the whole league that could break that notion for me. Don't get me wrong. Dack is still a quality player. I really like him and I want to see him stay and continue on a journey with us. But we've got to be realistic, considering the ambitions and mentality of the modern day footballer. Add to that the fact that his value isn't on an upwards trajectory, he's not on song, with questions regarding fitness and so on, there's certainly a decision that needs to be made for the good of BRFC.

Phrase. The Evans (The Ev-enz) - 'To receive the ball on the edge of the box with a clear sight of goal, shyte yourself, turn and play it square losing all attacking momentum'

It's critical he knows going in to the summer. Hopefully he knows in his mind what we will be moving towards, and the lack of consistency at times this season has been purely down to not having players available who can play the desired system. Back 4 then we probably need to sign a first choice centre back and an old school left back. Back 5 then we probably need to sign two first choice cenre backs and a totally different type of left wing back. They're both before addressing non defensive positions. If we are not precise and decisive, we could end up with further square pegs in round holes which we MUST avoid.

You allude to it, but those stats can be massively irrelevant. On Saturday at Villa, I saw our best player on the opta stats was Bennett. He was awful, stand out worse player by a mile for me. Similarly Corry Evans one season was rated as one of the best central midfielders in the league. At the time I couldn't remember anything he'd actually done. On Nyambe, I really like him. Season to season, since a howler of a debut at home to Barnet (I think) in the cup I think he's come on leaps and bounds. Granted he makes a few mistakes but he looks a lot more defensively solid than he did. The progress made, weighed up with his age, the scope he has for further development and his current performances/abiity for me totally justify his spot as the clubs number 1 right back. Unlike left back, in which we need to sign a new starter, I genuinely think we only need back up at right back. To stifle a 21 year old talent like him now when we have priorities elsewhere on the pitch would be needless and counter-productive, he can already play in this league and will only get better. Your point on the attacking sense does stand though. He does need to produce more. He is starting to burst further up the pitch getting in to decent positions when the game allows but the end product needs to be worked on. There is a team issue there though, with the midfield not contributing enough also.

Quite the opposite...

Oasis - Up In The Sky

Karanka's a bit mad? He's worked with mad men? Pull up a chair pal, welcome to the mad house

Wouldn't be my first choice but you haven't included Karanka - he's free and would be a good choice imo

Good point, wasn't my first port of call but I'd probably agree with a replication of that. You might well be right to say away fans being moved to a portion of maybe the JW, with the focused home singing area being the Darwen End Lower would be the best move. But that's stage 2 or 3 of the discussion. Stage 1 of the discussion, the topic of having a marketable singing section at Ewood hasn't even been had by the club yet, which is amateur.

Another big mistake came from that - not addressing the atmosphere issue. I wasn't overly fussed about the Darwen End moving, the criminal mistake within that was not designating a clear section as a singing/atmosphere section. If marketed correctly i'm sure N01 of the BBE would've been really successful as the 'traditional end' I grew up in awe of. If not N01, there are loads of options whether it be the BBE upper, JW corner, Riverside corner of wherever. With clear comms we would've made a fist of it rather than letting 95% of people interested not bother, and leaving 5% of them to congregate in an area with not enough bodies to make any noise. We neglected the situation and have been left with an even worse atmosphere. I think I'm correct in saying only 2 clubs, Leeds and Preston brought comfortably more than half of the capacity of the Darwen End. Leeds are bound to go up and none of the relegated or promoted clubs would be expected to fetch more than 3000. So it'll be even more pointless next year. If we had left the ST holders in the Darwen End they would've had to move less than any other season in the last decade bar league one!

Bolton at home on Easter Monday is Category A. Not saying it had to be dirt cheap (I'm a ST holder so don't want the value to be undercut) but with people off work, and this being the penultimate home game against local rivals we had a really good opportunity to pull in a larger than usual crowd. But most importantly, with the season petering out with nothing to be excited about, this was the last chance to get bodies through the door to sell the product as well as we can before next season. Do we want to shift any season tickets??? Anybody deciding to walk on on the day will have to fork out £27-£34. On that alone we've wiped out the chance of pulling in a decent pool of folk waking up with a free day who may fancy a mooch down to the football. This is an end of season game in the second tier. Both sides in the bottom half of the table. Category A in my mind used to be playing a top 4 Prem side. On this topic, it's one step forward, two steps back.

I’d say go but only if we had a replacement ala Allardyce/Jokanovic/Hughes lined up. 4 points out of 30 is a massive worry and a start like the last few months would make us nailed on to go down. He needs to ensure we pick points up in these last 7 games. Carrying on the rot would fully justify his removal. That said, either way I’m adament he’ll be here first game of next season. It’s a make or break summer for him in which he has to get recruitment spot on, wouldn’t be confident of him doing that given his track record but hopefully he knows how critical the situation is and has learnt exactly what he needs to do. He’s arguably met this seasons objective thanks to the first half of the season but he needs to address a number of things (recruitment, addressing the defensive frailties, creating a consistent identity) in the first half of next season in order to kick us on and retain the job. He isn’t the perfect man to do it & i’d rather cherry pick somebody else to do the job but he isn’t a total write off just yet.

Rothwell when on the pitch has been our most influential player for months now. It’s clear cut. For that reason he MUST be a starter. Yet he isn’t. It’s a shame, a joke. If I was him I’d be livid and I’d be seriously considering my future.

They had us on toast for the first half hour. Men against boys stuff. They’re a good side though and we were genuinely in the game until the end. Credit to Rovers for finding some fight and turning it round after that. Felt Lenihan and Travis in particular stepped up after a poor start and dragged the rest of the side through. Bennett was utterly appalling in central midfield, he shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting 11. Had an absolute mare. Reed/Rodwell would’ve been much more logical starters in that position, baffling selection. Brereton and Rothwell changed the game when they came on. Full of beans and got us up the pitch, unlike Graham and Dack who were very uninspiring not for the first time in recent weeks. If Rothwell doesn’t start the next game I’ll be livid. Much improved on the last couple of away games as shown by most fans staying until after the end and clapping them off, but still a lot of room for improvement.

Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen

Agree in principle. But for me it's more a case of they have more to play for, not a case of us having nothing to play for. It isn't a case of two teams in the same situation, they simply have more on the line than us hence it's tough to match their yardage. Villa are one of a few teams fighting for the 2 last play offs spots with not many games left. They're in 6th at the moment and can make it 5 wins on the bounce & a step closer to the play offs and ultimately the Premier League. Even if we're fired up to right some wrongs & play out of our skin it'll still be very tough to match up to their momentum and mentality. Different if we were playing say Stoke or Swansea. That said, we are capable of pulling off an underdog performance in front of a full crowd, using it to our advantage. I'll be there, in hope more than expectation but you never know with Rovers!

Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone

That's a given. Yes everybody needs to work hard and perform, but a starter in all reality. Different scenarios but think of Rovers signing Bellamy, Santa Cruz etc. They were signed to start, to be main men in the spine of the team, not 'to add competition'.