JHRover

2025 - today's game called off after 80 minutes due to a waterlogged pitch

2024 - Rovers v Portsmouth postponed due to a waterlogged pitch

2022 - Rovers v Millwall postponed due to snow

2021 - Rovers v Swansea postponed due to a waterlogged pitch (2 days after this game Rovers release a club statement acknowledging issues with the pitch and blaming 'extreme weather' and a high number of games

2012 - Rovers v Brighton postponed due to a waterlogged pitch

Now I'm relying on the power of Google and my memory but I cannot recall a game being cancelled, abandoned or postponed due to the weather prior to 2012 in my lifetime, and I was born in 1990.

Maybe someone can confirm if I am not correct there. Let's focus on games affected by the rain or snow.

There has always been a river running past the ground into which the pitch drains and yet strangely this didn't seem to be a chronic problem for 20+ years, it seems to have become a major issue, particularly in the last 3-4 years. 

I'm sure that some will claim that this is because of 'climate change' and we are suddenly getting a lot more wet weather than we used to. Or maybe it is actually because Rovers have failed to invest adequately in maintaining and improving their facilities, which I think is pretty evident from a simple visual observation of Ewood Park, and this is one element of it biting us in the arse.

Edit - our match with Aston Villa in the Cup in 2010 was postponed due to snow and ice

So Wilder's return to Sheffield Utd confirmed. Has there been a more pointless and ridiculous series of events than what we've seen there since the play-off final? Sack a bloke who got 90 odd points and a play-off final, appoint a young coach with minimal experience of the Championship/promotions, it's a disaster and then go back to the bloke you sacked a few months later?

At least the owners there have had the courage to admit defeat and go back to a safe pair of hands and sensible appointment. Would have been easier for them to turn to someone totally new rather than swallow their pride and go back to Wilder but his record there speaks for itself. Expect them to climb the table quickly and I'll be having a little bet on them making the top 6 again. 

33 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Tronstad's interview was Summer 2025 with Norwegian media

https://www.brfcs.com/forums/topic/37711-2025-summer-transfer-thread-😂/page/413/#findComment-2735208

Almost as though between April and summer he concluded that staying here beyond next summer was no longer an option.

Perhaps linked to the fact the club has been unwilling to extend any senior contract and has sold off everyone else of quality.

21 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

What interview? 

I gave you the link last week over Tronstad interview with Norwegian media last summer..plus link Gestede's interview last week. 

That's it blame your own club

depends on what we talking about? 

Sondre Tronstad makes Blackburn Rovers contract admission | Lancashire Telegraph

This interview. April 2025. 

Yes I will blame the club. They are responsible and the one constant in years of shambolic activity.

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Some of that money covered Rovers losses whilst Venkys couldn't send money over..

We spent 10m this summer. Some left over for January window. 

Yet again I don't have all the answers why dont get Josh to ask these questions at the next fans forum

Pointless asking questions at the Fans Forum. Even if they answer them we have good reason to believe that they won't be genuine honest answers and even if they are won't be accurately minuted so that everyone can read them. 

I have zero interest in whatever fanciful figures you want to throw out there for what we spent in the summer. I do not for one minute accept or believe that we spent that amount and whatever we did spend was comfortably covered by what we brought in. Some might call that astute, but if it means we finish 10 places lower than last year where's the benefit?

Venkys could send money over, they chose not to. Choice.

Difference being the owners of Wrexham, Derby and Middlesbrough were willing to put money in. 

5 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

 

Don't agree. Every club have wage budget and some higher wages than others but its results on the pitch that matters. Your wage bill need to in line with what you can afford

Question - why, when we've sold over £50 million worth of players in 4 years (averaging out at £13 million per year, convenient that this is roughly the amount we lose each year) - are we not able to afford to pay our players as much or more than Wrexham or Derby?

Please answer me that one. 

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

People are still fixation on these 4 players who have gone. 

Yes. Because it is important and directly affects how the club performs. 

Must be nice to just want to sweep things under the carpet and pretend everything is well and gross negligent chronic mismanagement doesn't matter because 'it's in the past'. Gestede, Ismael and Pasha would just love that if everyone fell for the 'new era' spiel again and forget all about the chaos of the last 4 years that they have delivered. 

If only life was so straight forward. Unfortunately unless we finish 7th or above there should be an inquest into what has gone on here and why and serious questions asked and answers demanded. Not just a shoulder shrug 'it's in the past'  routine. The club will never, ever get anywhere if it doesn't at least accept and recognise past failings and ensure they won't ever happen again. Under this regime it is just being set up for the same in a couple of years.

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Tronstad said in a Norwegian podcast last summer he wanted to return to Norway at the end of contract. Posted the link last week to a poster who posted that info

Travis was never staying here when Eustace left and of course he would publicly say he wanted to stay here, in case he didn't get a move. Listen to Travis Derby country interview last week with their BBC Derby, he wanted out from here. 

 

Tronstad has said more recently in a local media interview that he was very happy at Rovers, loved being here and would like to extend his stay.

So which one is accurate?

With Travis you are doing exactly what the club want people to do - making out as though the club is nought but a powerless spectator in the debacle. You're contradicting yourself here - suggesting his comments about wanting to stay at Rovers weren't true and yet attaching importance to his recent comments to BBC Derby which of course are going to offer a different narrative.

The club is to blame for his departure. Surely you can accept that basic principle?

90+ points, 2 points deducted, play off final, arguably unlucky to lose late on to Sunderland.

If that had happened at Ewood the manager would be given years in the job off the back of it.

Wilder clearly the best man for that job, the new owners there very foolish but falling for the laptop / football manager spiel like so many others have in 'modern' football apparently needing a 'head coach' and 'structure' and 'alignment' but in doing so have cost untold time and money.

No. You need to just support a good manager when he's done well. Bit like us with Eustace.

32 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Does it matter? Still on his managerial CV isn't it? 

Why not appoint Coyle then? Or George Burley, Nigel Worthington or Micky Adams?

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

or we aren't willing to pay more than we can afford and budget for? 

we have wage budget and we offered them the best contracts we could.

We've brought in almost £55 million in player sales since 2021.

Why can we 'not afford' to pay our best players as much as or more than Wrexham, Derby or Middlesbrough?

Why could we not have instigated contract negotiations earlier than May/June? (If they ever actually happened, which I don't believe). 

You're getting mixed up again. Venky/henchman choices are not the same as what we can afford ad could do if we wanted and they allowed it.

If they allowed us to spend the money we brought in we could have offered these players the going rate. They chose not to allow this. It is their decision, and the consequences are on their heads.

It isn't bad weather, covid, FFP, small crowds, bad luck, location or any other ridiculous excuse you and others want to hide behind. It is Venkys and their mates. Enjoy.

I think it is clear that the sole objective and barometer of success for the summer transfer window was to successfully offload certain players - those with cash value, expiring contracts and larger wages. 

The timing, impact, effect of those departures totally immaterial and of no concern to the owners or their henchmen.

We are now a club that measures success based on how much (if anything) it can bring in from selling important players and whether it can cut costs further. That's it. 

Quite clear from the interviews with Gestede and Ismael that there is no footballing objective here - no pressure on either to deliver certain results, league position, points, improvement. If we limp our way to 21st they will be more than happy ahead of another summer and year in the job.

If they were serious tickets would be on sale now for the Derby game with every tom, dick and harry associated with the club being sent promotional material, adverts, offers to try and get them back in for such a special occasion. 

This includes everyone on the database, lapsed season ticket holders, and the general local population of East Lancashire - posters, digital adverts, etc.

What we will get is tickets being put on sale 3 weeks before the game at Category A prices with standard 'efforts' made on twitter and Facebook and that's your lot. 

That they are seemingly expecting to be able to rinse people for hospitality for a 12:30 game against Derby County, suffering the humiliation of our former management team, captain and numerous other players turning up, tells it's own story. 

2 hours ago, Mike Graham said:

It is now less than 2 months to the 150th birthday of probably the most momentous moment in the history of the town of Blackburn.  
 

We were originally promised a year of celebration of our World famous club.  Sadly we haven’t a clue what will be happening to celebrate OUR Club.  All we have had so far is:

- the promise of a anniversary book (the Club announced this about 4 weeks back but have been quiet on the subject ever since; I wonder why🧐).

- an anniversary logo that could have been better designed by a 5 year old in an infant schools art class.

- a celebration game against Derby Rovers at prices to put off most casual fans.

- some nice flat caps handed out pre match to stars of the past.

Is anyone aware of any other formal Rovers 150 Anniversary activities?

You forgot the 'range' of 'Macron' anniversary merchandise released a couple of weeks ago, including these two classics

Simply laughable stuff.

4 minutes ago, Tricky said:

Understand where you're coming from 7th place with a stronger January window and some backing for the manager could’ve made all the difference but that's hindsight now.

The new signings will take time to adapt, no doubt but it doesn’t mean they’re not capable. It’s a different approach—less about short-term fixes, more about building a team that can grow together.

The contract model might need work but if we give this group time and back the project with patience, it might just surprise a minority of fans who seem hell bent on preparing for relegation.
 

There won't be any time or patience if results don't improve because at less than a point a game relegation is quite likely.

It isn't the fans that are 'hell bent' on preparing for relegation it is the Club due to voluntarily pursuing a policy of rapidly dismantling a proven competitive squad and replacing it with a totally inexperienced questionable quality squad at low cost.

Unless you are very, very good the likelihood is that this policy will result in a deterioration in results, something you seem to accept with all the talk about 'patience' which basically means we should accept a decline in performances, results, league position as a result of choices the management have made this summer. Why should we accept that rather than expect an improvement on last year?

I'm not interested in a team that can 'grow together' - as pointed out a combination of a wage cap not competitive at this level, an obsession with cutting costs, a high risk recruitment strategy and general unwillingness to compete financially in this division this means there will be no growth or project because the minute a player proves himself of quality in this league we will be vulnerable to him being poached by a rival e.g. the mighty Derby.

We had a squad that had 'grown together' with people like Travis, Brittain and Dolan who had been at the club for years, often since academy days.

It is as much short term now as it was last summer only with a lower cost base.

12 hours ago, Miller11 said:

They really do think we are stupid.

A completely transparent unsubtle propaganda piece that will appease a good chunk of the social media masses, but you don’t have to scratch very deep to see much of what the more observant fans were thinking was bang on the money.

Wage bill cut, wage structure problematic, all about “sustainability”.

That's because the majority of people they have to deal with / bullshit actually are quite stupid. 

They're still sitting comfortably at the moment because the consequences of their high risk strategy are yet to unfold. As I said the other week - Rudy has had it incredibly easy in his 12 months in this high responsibility position so far because thanks to players already here (Brittain, Dolan, Travis, Hyam, Tronstad), a manager already here (Eustace) and players Eustace insisted we recruited (Batth, Weimann) business took care of itself last season with a better than expected 7th place.

Rudy and his chums have recklessly and comprehensively dismantled all that this last 6 months, and over the next 6 months the results will become clear.

Unfortunately we have owners and a large chunk of fans who are quite content to plod along in mid-table/bottom half, and even scrape survival and finish 21st every year with little more than a shrug of the shoulders, so provided Ismael has enough about him to achieve that the circus will continue under the current setup. At a normal club a bottom half or relegation battle this season would not be tolerated after finishing 7th last season and heads would roll, but here we all know it isn't about results or performance it is about who you know and whether you are prepared to 'play the game' the way the owners and their stooge require.

Things will only get heated if our Championship status is coming under increasing threat. I think Rudy might struggle to bullshit his way out of that one with comfy in-house interviews masquerading as communication.

It shouldn't be overlooked that Waggott, like Mowbray, had a direct connection to the Indians.

This is of critical importance in the weird heirarchy and power struggle that we have witnessed here over the years. Now that the shadow dweller is the last man standing with that direct connection to India he has carte blanche to crack on with his agenda. A bit like in 2015 once Bowyer and Shaw had been ousted and he was able to play games with Lambert and Coyle beneath him. 

Mowbray's flight to India following relegation in 2017 interrupted that as Mowbray did what Mowbray does and won over those listening to him in Pune. Part of that meant they trusted him to recommend a CEO to do the upstairs work and along comes Waggott. Of course a total coincidence that they had worked at Coventry together just a few years previous. 

Waggott was also allowed to go out there with Mowbray and say his bit to those at the top table and off the back of it secured himself year after year of lucrative employment with probably little-no pressure from the Indians to actually deliver a great deal.

I would be astonished if any of the top brass in India ever put him or Mowbray under any serious pressure in terms of performance, results, targets, growth, league status, attendances, facilities etc.

Strikes me as something of a ghost ship here - once you are in and get the thumbs up from the Indians you are just left alone to coast along - pros and cons with that sort of routine - the downside being zero communication, direction etc to the point where you are literally your own boss and left to fend for yourself.

Things start to unravel if you expect more or better of them or dare demand or criticise them - but as long as you are willing to put up with this upwards/reverse hierarchy you're laughing. That is until the shadow dweller reasserts himself and re-establishes control and then the party comes to an end. 

I would be fascinated to know the truth about who the shadow dweller truly acts for and represents because from where I'm sat there is a clear divergence between what he has been overseeing the last 10 years and what people like Mowbray, Waggott and Bowyer were up to with their direct connection to the bigwigs. 

Often we get 'the owners' chucked out there as a term for who is running the show and making the decisions but that is really quite unhelpful. Even if we accept that 'Venkys' are the only ones who are the owners of the club, we already know there are four in their inner sanctum all with likely different ways of operating, then there's their children, and other board members/hangers on/family members, advisors, finance people. Quite the tangled web. Like who is the other Rao bloke who is on the board who, allegedly, turned up for a game recently (how anyone knows what he looks like I don't know). 

You could spend £50 million on transfers but if you are only willing / able to pay players £5k a week then they aren't likely to be very good and you probably won't improve as a team. 

Likewise you could spend £0 and bring in free agents and loans only, but if you are shelling out wages on a PL or parachute level then you're probably going to end up with a very strong side at this level. 

No doubt of course that this £8-9 million transfer spend estimate will enter the history books as fact once Gestede and co have told Jackson about it and then they can pretend as though there has been serious investment in the team. Anyone with sense can see we have drastically regressed off the back of it. 

This 150th game is the regime's opportunity to paint an image of normality to the world. They'll be expecting a bumper crowd of people to turn up for the 'special' occasion, probably stick some Rovers 'legends' on the pitch before the game, wear a special shirt. This will all make them look and feel legitimate.

I agree the best, probably only way, for supporters to send a message to them and the watching people on Sky, is to not turn up for it. I also appreciate that is everyone's own choice and might not be acceptable to some. 

So ultimately we will get a half-way house. We won't get a total boycott of the game or a ridiculously low crowd, but the ground will be more than half empty, which tells a story in itself for what should be a significant occasion in our history.

Personally even ignoring the 150th stuff the ignominy and humiliation of sitting there as our former manager, captain and half our side turn up for Derby, and imbeciles around me in the stands booing/blaming them for our demise, is enough to ensure I stay well away from Ewood, as I genuinely would not be able to go and sit there without either falling out with someone or walking out in disgust.