JHRover

You'd think one of the few benefits to an 'online only' or digital ticket regime would be that it would allow people to buy more flexibly and for the home club to more easily monitor demand and make decisions, as well as not having to worry about the problems of Christmas staffing and closures. I imagine part of this is that between now and 29th (we don't open Mondays for some crackpot reason) the shop and staff are probably only in for a few hours overall. But no, it seems the opposite is true and the unprecedented step of refusing to sell them for a whole 6 days over Christmas is the preferred course of action. Really odd behaviour from two skint and struggling clubs who need every penny and attendee they can get Anyhow, Sheff Wed obviously don't seem concerned about shifting a few hundred more tickets at £30 a pop plus concourse spending, and Rovers don't seem bothered about ensuring more fans can go and support the team as it battles relegation. So I again ask myself, why would I bother?

I admire anyone who can turn around after the events of the last 2-3 years and say that hand on heart they have been enjoying it. I suppose this takes us back to those who have the ability to ignore/set aside the off the pitch nonsense and focus purely on 11 lads running around on matchday, and their matchday 'experience', and those of us who don't have that ability and cannot help but become embroiled in the rest of it, knowing that there is something inherently wrong with the club and struggling to get past that fact. Personally it has filled me with dismay and rage at the way the club has operated and continues to operate, and unfortunately that has overridden any pleasure that there is to be had from watching games. The sad but inevitable consequence of that is to conclude that it isn't enjoyable. And when you reach that conclusion the obvious question is why do it? Even when JDT and Eustace had us competing at the top end and I started to enjoy it again it was burdened with the knowledge that our 'custodians' were always going to bring it to a swift end.

I imagine Pasha's jaunt to India is just a case of him taking stock and perhaps agreeing a 'strategy' for January (which probably involves a further round of cost cuts and wage reductions with a portion of the proceeds being allowed back into the squad. Suggestions that he's been summoned in response to performance/unrest likely to be well wide of the mark - more likely it will be bonus time for a jolly job well done in bringing in more cash whilst capping the wages. There's no evidence going back over 15 years that these people have a shred of interest or will act over trivial matters like league position, results, collapsing attendances or fan unrest.

Wouldn't be surprised if Steve McClaren got it. Ex Oxford player and coach, just come available after leaving Jamaica.

Suprising, as much as they have struggled still think he'd be your best bet to stay up in their position.

I've created this now because I just wanted to check / moan about something. I saw yesterday on the Club's twitter page that tickets for this game go off sale today and there will be no sales on the day at Hillsborough, and that purchases are online only. This staggers me even by recent football standards, that tickets are going off sale over 6 days before the game despite there being no chance of a sell out and with them being skint. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to deter people from making a late decision to attend, ignoring that most people will have other things to worry about and spend their money on in the lead up to Christmas and that plenty would like to make a late decision on whether to go, perhaps after the Middlesbrough game. Mind boggling. I was tempted to go but can't commit until later in the week. Looks like the decision has been made for me.

It's basic pride. Nothing more nothing less. Some people let their house/garden/personal appearance slip, others take pride and ensure they or their property are always maintained to a reasonable standard. It speaks volumes as the face of the club - the first impression tens of thousands will get as they walk towards the ground or sit in it. Some will of course not be able to afford to always do that. But I'm sure the billionaires of Pune can afford to look after basic maintenance. In some ways it helps highlight our plight because it is living, breathing proof of the indifference and lack of pride and respect they have for the institution they have taken hostage. It ends any suggestions from the head in sand brigade that these are decent, well meaning, caring people. The clear proof for all people who visit Ewood is that is not the case - they can't even go to the trouble of ensuring basic maintenance - pitch, paint, signs, even the focal point of the JW statue - are kept in a decent condition. Nor can they hide behind the convenient 'FFP' excuse which they have been able to do for so many other aspects of their negligent regime. And if you've so little interest, pride or care to look after such trivial things then you can forget them worrying about results, performances, league position.

Indeed. And then they get us there it will then be time to point at Bolton, Huddersfield, Bradford, Cardiff and shout 'we can't compete with that'. Then a few more years and they'll be pointing towards Notts County, Swindon and Oldham and 'we can't compete with that'. The trouble when you've got no pride or ambition and are solely interested in cutting costs and corners is that there's no end to it - you can always find more to cut, more reductions to be made, more excuses to throw out. Play the game long enough and I'm sure we could say that we can't compete with the likes of Carlisle and Southend.

Not sure how I feel about a guy who has won 1 all season at home and taken us to the cusp of the relegation zone getting 'backed' in January. Of course 'backing' has lots of different forms and unless we are suddenly going to spend money on both fees and Championship level wages we are going to be shopping in the same aisle as the summer. We could sign 5 on 1st January and that would qualify as backing. But if they are more dross like the summer there's little credit for that. Of course it would be typical for these owners to suddenly release funds to support Ismael in January after doing zilch to support the last 3 managers who had all dragged us into promotion contention. Suspect the Stooge in the shadows is nervous and plans to use the early days of the January window to dilute fan anger by shuffling the deck with players. Getting Pickering out will naturally free up space for a couple of cheap incomings and unfortunately a lot of the support base will lap it all up as evidence of Venkys backing the club and about how they're doing nothing wrong.

Dare I interpret this as a desperate bid to claw in some extra cash by trying to persuade fans to hand over extra money to listen to Ismael? Perhaps suggests that things are really, really tight down there? Or are they really thinking that loads of people are going to shell out in January to listen to him as he's potentially reached 1 win in 13 home games?

I think the club (regime) would be quite happy with that. If the profit on the top 2 can clear the cash paid out / committed to be paid out on the rest then the job is just about done, and that's before we factor in the sales from last summer covering most / all of the initial outlay and what should amount to a significant wage saving in the process. It isn't hard to see why the chief stooge and his mates are able to tick the boxes when it comes to the Indians. So long as we can limp our way to Championship survival they will be happy, and it seems so will a large chunk of the Rovers' support base.

Some of this, I think, comes back to the strange obsession some people have with the period of say 1975-1989. A 15 -20 year block of our history (similar to the Venky era) yet for some reason, perhaps because it immediately preceded the Walker revolution, some people fixate on this spell as being representative of what Blackburn Rovers is and can expect to be as a club. You rarely, if ever, get people referring back to what the club was in the 40s,50s, 60s and often these people are keen to remind us that it isn't the 90s or 00s anymore, that we've no right to rely on that 20 year block as a benchmark or standard as it isn't 'normal'. But why is 1975-1989 'normal' but the 50s, 60s, 90s, 00s not normal? A lot of it of course is because people can clearly remember the 70s and 80s and consider what is happening now to be simply a return to that. But by the same token I could refer them to the decades before then. Sadly I think a few are still in this 'I was there before it was good' mentality - that because they followed Rovers before the Walker glory days that this gives them more perspective, knowledge, understanding of what BRFC really is than those who decided to or were of an age to start supporting the club when the times were good in the 90s and 00s. Well the same people ought to know that taking our history as a whole it is certainly more than being a struggling second division club with 4-figure crowds. Because aside from the Venky created sham we have now and a period when English football was on its knees in terms of crowds and stadia that just isn't accurate as a reflection. But with the willingness to accept it and convince themselves it is the best we can expect it is little wonder the club drifted in the wilderness for the best part of 30 years rarely getting anywhere. Whatever the truth of it nothing and nobody will tell me that I should accept something that clearly isn't good enough. The disgrace of a regime and ownership that occupies the club today certainly isn't good enough and need to be reminded of that on a regular basis.

There's probably quite a few in that boat. People who didn't want Venkys to take over to begin with or who were strongly opposed to them in the initial few years as they got to work wrecking the club, yet through a curious mix of time, silence, decay and mountain of debt have come to the conclusion they are necessary or even beneficial to us. Very strange but I think most of it comes from an uncertainty or fear about what comes next and this baseless belief that there is nobody else out there to replace them. There's no evidence in support of that belief. Quite the opposite. I think it is a shame people want to live their lives in fear and accept the current disgrace on a pessimistic assumption that it would be worse otherwise. Where is the confidence or optimism? Little wonder the place is in the state it is with such acceptance of the unacceptable.

Me too. My only source of optimism over the last few years has been their legal issues in India, hoping and praying that either a guilty finding or the restrictions placed on them would break them - that they would be unable to keep going and would have to sell it on or let it go. That hope is fading. It appears they have weathered the storm there. The only residual hope is that either the imminent relegation that they have created is enough of a blow (it wasn't the last two times they relegated us) or that a couple of years without any large player sales tips the balance. I'm not confident, but can hope.

I wonder how many of the 'signatories' to that counter-letter will be renewing when the club slides into League One. Not many I would bet. They like to portray themselves as true supporters but like most others will have a limit to what they can stomach. Some call it a boycott, others will come up with other names for it and reasons, end result will be the same, and the source of it is the same. I hope it helps them sleep at night telling themselves that they are the majority and that they are 'true supporters'. It certainly won't make a shred of difference to the future of BRFC as it is gutted and dismantled before our eyes.

Agreed, I'd even go so far as to say that most of that number wouldn't have any awareness of a planned boycott or this letter or indeed the strength of feeling among some parts of the fanbase. For one reason or another there is a large portion of people who go who simply have little to no interest or understanding in what goes on other than from 3pm - 5pm (or 12:30pm-2:30pm these days) every other Saturday at Ewood. It seems to be that they can switch off their Rovers interest for all but a couple of hours a fortnight and even then won't trouble themselves with matters around ownership, management, decisions. Just turn up, sit there, hope we win and shrug shoulders if it goes badly and see you in a fortnight. I'm not criticising that, I envy it, as I sometimes wish that was the extent of my interest in this club and I could put myself in such a bubble and carry on going and enjoying that routine. I can't do that though. But I know from the people I sit near that many of them would react with surprise, amazement, horror or bewilderment if I asked them about a plan to boycott the Watford game. Many wouldn't have heard about it, many wouldn't even entertain the idea as a serious suggestion. Some don't even understand that there's anything wrong with the club because, up to this point, their little routine of visiting Ewood hasn't been seriously affected.

The FA not even trying to hide that they've totally sold the soul of the competition off. It's hard to even keep track of how many different TV stations have bought rights to it scattered across the globe.

Has anyone checked the forecast for Saturday? Hopefully not raining so we can get a game in. I'd overlooked this was another one of those needless 12:30pm kick offs so that will put another dent in the attendance and atmosphere.

It's all so tiring isn't it? If I had a pound for every time a Rovers manager has talked about an upcoming transfer window and wanting bodies in the building early etc. only for that not to happen If I had a pound for every time I'd heard the word 'transition' and that things will be better in a few weeks, months, years. Ifs, buts, maybes, jam tomorrow not today. The never ending project and cycle. We've got a manager that is already beyond his career average for games in charge of a club who has got a 30% win record and delivered 1 home win in 10. We've got a regime in charge whose only interest is in cutting costs and moving players in and out quickly and hoping to turn a quick profit. There is no project or plan. It's just excuses from people now starting to feel the pressure as the enormity and severity of our situation becomes clear to even the more deluded bunch out there.

Mowbray was the perfect manager for Venkys. Not for Blackburn Rovers, but for Venkys. He was willing to work with their bonkers ways, traipse off to India and tell them how wonderful they are, handle more than a modern day manager should be handling, all the media, contracts, scouting, fans, even going as far as to appoint his assistant as director of football and Waggott as CEO to provide additional support. In return they got seemingly everything they've ever wanted in a manager - someone they trust who they could leave to get on with it, keep the fans quiet/content, perhaps most importantly plod for a few years whilst developing serious assets that would make a hefty profit in the transfer window and allow them to recoup cash from sales. I don't think we would ever have got promoted under him as he just isn't the sort of manager to go out and deliver that. But for a disgraceful operation like these owners want to preside over he was an ideal custodian for them to just sit there and do nothing and leave it to him. For reasons unknown they decided to cut him off. Whether that was them losing faith or middle men getting a hand on the controls again after a few years out of the limelight we will never know. My own suspicion is that dogsbody Pasha was annoyed at Mowbray usurping him in the chain of command as he did after relegation to League One and therefore set about ensuring Mowbray's access to the top table in Pune was severed. Ever since then it has been a gradual return back to the sort of skeletal joke of a structure that was in place from 2015-2017 when they removed good people from office (Bowyer, Myers, Biggar) and either didn't replace them or replaced them with dross. The parallels between then and now are startling. Whilst Ismael is undoubtedly a better manager than Coyle ever was he is working with a smaller and probably inferior squad. Either way the end / outcome of this is going to be the same. Last time around it took relegation being sealed for the idiots in India to summon people out there for a meeting, so I suspect the same this time around - they'll only even become aware of a change in league status after it happens. Unfortunately they've got even less interest and willingness to invest this time around so I'm not confident that anything will happen other than another radical round of cost cuts. Rudy will probably be the one sacrificed at that point.

If you're running a professional football club you don't take your holidays in December when it's the busiest time of the year for matches and we've a transfer window approaching, especially when we are floundering towards the bottom of the league. I know you want to excuse and justify every inexcusable thing this lot do but it just isn't acceptable.

How can he 'not be around' if he's being employed by the Club to be its' 'Chief Operating Officer'?. Surely such a role requires you be based at Ewood Park?

Who decided to appoint Gestede and why? What qualification or experience did that person(s) have to make that hugely important call? What qualification or experience did Gestede have to earn him a crack at running things? Decisions that are likely to cost the club its league status, thousands of fans and millions of pounds. I think it requires a bit more than a shrug and 'it is what it is'

It's still ridiculous to think we appointed him in the first place considering where we were when he got the job. Would anyone else have appointed this guy whilst sat in the top 6 of the Championship in February? Of course not. Even if we had been bottom 6 in February he was still lucky to get the job after his recent tenures. But then we should remember that promotion was never on the agenda here, so they weren't looking for someone to keep us up there or get us up. Eustace created a problem for them last season and everything they've done since then has been to ensure it doesn't happen again, forcing him out, dismantling his squad, selling key players to Derby, Wrexham, Middlesbrough etc.

And just think about what is going to happen come the summer if we do manage to avoid relegation. Gestede collects his bonus and then sets about offloading some more of our bigger earners and better players to make some money and reduce the wage bill further.