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JHRover

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Everything posted by JHRover

  1. What an absolute shambles. The people owning and running the club should be thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed of themselves. The people I feel sorry for are the ground staff and players. The ground staff do the best they can with the resources they are given. It is clear the owners and directors have cut corners and costs and now it comes home to roost. The players have joined this club presumably thinking they are joining a professional and serious operation hoping to get to the Premier League. Yet a stadium and pitch barely maintained, no undersoil heating and blocked drains getting games called off. Its like amateur hour. I don't believe the volume of rain has been unprecedented and alone has caused the postponement. Neglect of facilities and corner cutting has exacerbated the problem significantly. Curious how for 25 years after Ewood was rebuilt the rain never caused a postponement and yet during the Venky malaise the pitch is a disgrace and can't cope with heavy showers. We need owners who care and take pride in the club. It embarrasses me. Anyone else noticed the Frost covers laid out alongside the Ewood pitch recently? Looks like they've given up on the undersoil heating. Presumably it costs too much or they haven't bothered maintaining it so instead are using sheets to stop the pitch becoming frozen. The frost covers were donated by the 100 Club to help the academy at Brockhall. It seems these covers have been requisitioned and moved to Ewood Park. Not a problem? Well it means the Brockhall pitches aren't covered from frost so the team won't train on there. This is the reason the team have trained on Ewood recently as it is the only unfrozen grass pitch. This is the reason the pitch has rapidly deteriorated into the mess it is because in addition to games it has been used for training. What an absolute shambles. Venkys, Waggott and Mowbray out asap.
  2. 12 years on from then and pretty much everything can be applied to Rovers Well backed in the transfer market, liked as a person by most who encounter him, good intentions, yet all the same problems - bizarre tactics and subs, Tinkering Tony, head in hands on the subs bench, unable to handle big pressure games (when we get close to the top.6). A leopard doesn't change his spots and this is history repeating itself.
  3. Mowbray's initial target was to keep us up. That's what he was appointed to do, that was the task he was given when he got the job. I am confident that he didn't get the job based on his ability to get us out of League One or because he told them we were doomed but he would sort it out in years to come. He got it because he told them he would keep us in the Championship and it was all hands to the pump in doing that. It seems one of the reasons he got the gig was because he agreed to work with existing coaching staff in Lowe, Dunn and Benson (always a bad sign that a club would impose coaches on a manager to save a few quid rather than have enough faith in the manager to select his own staff and back him on those decisions). Mowbray failed to achieve his target, we were relegated. Do I blame him for relegation? Not at all, we were close to staying up, we had decent form over that spell of games and the cause of relegation was what happened before he arrived. Still I expect he told them he could do it and he didn't so target missed. Something happened in the summer of 2017 where he quickly went off to India, had words with the head honchos and got what he wanted - a long term contract, Paul Senior down the road, Mark Venus in as his assistant and in the process effectively secured complete control over the club on a day to day basis and also a good chunk of backing from the owners. Quite impressive for a handful of meetings. The result was that we went into League One with one of the most expensive and talent laden squads that League has ever seen. Promotion was the requirement and it was achieved. Job done. It was a success, but not an overachievement in any measure. Comparisons to Sunderland and Ipswich are no more relevant than comparisons to Wigan, Bolton, Wolves, Norwich and many others who bounced straight back. Mowbray gets a promotion on his CV, an improved contract and retains control over the club, earning himself bucket loads of respect and patience from the fans to crack on and do it his way. He claims he has advised the owners to not spend heavily in search of promotion and instead follow the slow build approach of assembling a quality laden squad over a few years which will allegedly stand us in better stead. A couple of mid-table finishes without ever seriously even threatening the top 6 never mind any higher. Not great but not bad. By now it is clear the slow build isn't delivering, we just limp along going around in circles. The problem for me isn't so much that we aren't in the top 6 this season. It's that at no point in the last 3 years have we ever gone close to establishing ourselves in there and if anything now we are moving further away from it the longer Mowbray is in charge. Remember previously he relied so heavily on the dressing room he inherited - Graham, Mulgrew, Bennett, Conway, Evans - and the more we move on from such players the further away we seem to get. I've seen nothing, absolutely nothing, in the last 18 months to make me thing there is any real point in handing him another season to repeat the same mistakes. This isn't a bloke who is going to suddenly change his ways or his habits or his beliefs. There is an incredible level of negativity and narrow mindedness knocking about online from people who seem to think Mowbray is some sort of messiah who knows it all and no other manager could ever deliver what he can or that there are scant alternatives out there. Actually for clued up and ambitious clubs there are many, many, many options out there, more than you could possibly get through discussions with all options, yet the attitude at this club is just 'can't do' rather than 'can do'. Think small rather than think big. Find reasons why we can't do things rather than reasons we can. We can't compete, we can't afford a new pitch, we can't expect better, we can't get a better manager or coaching staff. Repeat endlessly and convince yourselves it is the truth.
  4. Adkins was on 'the list' when Mowbray got the job and he fits all the recent criteria we've had when appointing our last 3 managers: Available, historic promotion to the Prem, happy to get a Championship job, once promising career now in its latter stages. I agree he's likely to be up there on the list this time around. Not keen myself. I think he's probably a marginally better manager than Mowbray but not much and he's another with 'footballing principles' and all about the positivity to the point of delusion.
  5. Exactly this. A mid term plan and forward thinking. We aren't going up. So what's the point in going through the motions for the next 4 months and then making a change? If a change needs to be made, which most people seem to think it does, then that should be made quickly and decisively with a plan in place. Likewise if a replacement is available now who ticks the boxes you don't sit around for months waiting and then that man gets signed up elsewhere leaving us without that option. Sadly we've owners who won't even think about Rovers until May when people turn up on their doorstep and they have a spare hour to talk about it. So there can't be a plan of any form. Remember the Venky motto. Always tomorrow, never today. Apply that to investment, improvement, promotion, changes. In football the proactive and bold succeed. Those who just make excuses and try to buy more time end up getting nowhere.
  6. I don't know about anyone else but I must have spent hours over the last few weeks thinking, talking and posting about the situation and the route forward. Anyone reckon our owners or incredibly well paid CEO have given the subject a seconds thought?
  7. I hope we get a deal with Kappa, Hummel, Under Armour, Macron or maybe Puma. Adidas, Nike and Umbro are as dull as anything. Last decade we seem to have just followed Umbro around - going right back to 2007 with only a couple of seasons with Nike (who inherited the Umbro deal when they bought them out). About time we go and get a manufacturer that makes more of an effort and provides a good range of stuff at some sort of reasonable price.
  8. Much of that may be true. I would point out that the KPMG audit was only conducted in mid-2017 after the self-inflicted relegation to the third division and almost 7 years into the Venky era, so there was nothing stopping them investing in the pitch between 2010 and 2017 including whilst we were still in the Premier League. They didn't do it then and haven't done since not because the owners can't afford it but because they simply don't care and won't spend money on the facilities unless it is essential. They could invest in a nice pitch, just like everyone else in the Championship manages, just like they could spend some money getting Ewood cleaned and weeds removed. But sat in a palace in Pune you don't see such issues whereas we have to sit in it and drive past it. Now that their mate Mowbray is kicking up a fuss about it something might happen, but he'll know better than to cause trouble with the owners about it and instead have a moan in the Telegraph and with Waggott but not with the people who matter. The whole club reeks of short termism, corner cutting, cost cutting and bare minimum. Eventually in life such an approach comes back to bite you.
  9. The scary thing is I think Mowbray and certainly Waggott are of the same mentality. There seems to be an attitude down there that we are lucky to have Mowbray here and that we should consider ourselves grateful. I can't remember the exact quote but Waggott said something in one of the Q and A sessions about being able to keep Mowbray here and it alarmed me. Then there's the bizarre decision to commission a large flag of Mowbray that club staff wave before kick off. Again it seems almost akin to cult that Mowbray is some sort of legend here that we are lucky to have. Of course the fact we rescued him from the wilderness by giving him a Championship job when nobody else would doesn't come into it. I don't actively dislike the bloke but he frustrates the hell out of me and the longer him and Waggott hang around the more that will turn. It has been a mutually beneficial arrangement for all concerned now for coming up on 4 years. He's recovered his reputation, had a promotion and four years of income from us. He's steadied the ship, grown a few assets and put us back where we were before the insane Coyle appointment and fire sale. Most experienced spectators can see where this is going and it seems pointless to me to drag it out for months more. Of course sooner or later we will have another little purple patch. Not because Mowbray turns it around or improves but just because that's how he works and leave things long enough we'll hit some form again. Most wouldn't get the time but he will.
  10. With Mark Hughes it boils down to how eager he is to return to management and repair his damaged reputation or if he is happy to relax and wait for something to come along that genuinely excites him. He's been out now for over 2 years and his last two jobs have ended in failure and the sack so the longer his absence from the game continues the more difficult it is going to be for him to get a decent job and the more likely it will become that he will be a forgotten man in management like Alan Curbishley, Alan Pardew and others. It is rare that managers come back from years out of the game and succeed. Hughes clearly has an ego which no doubt comes from his playing days and has probably served him well. It was that ego that saw him walk away from us last time around and no doubt he would have gone sooner had an offer been made. I always had the impression he thought he was destined for much bigger and better than Rovers and yet that hasn't been the case for him. He's going to have to accept that waiting for a Premier League job will likely see him never return to management. He might be fine with that, but if he's keen to get back into it then the Championship is going to be as good as it gets unless some foreign club take a punt (increasingly unlikely as time passes). I think he's deluded if he thinks he's too good for a job like Rovers. A mid-table underachieving Championship club is probably the best he's going to get. Too many folk are too negative about the offerings of Blackburn Rovers. Yes we've disinterested and clueless owners, and yes we've a bizarre structure with seemingly no investment or interest taken in the Club with any investment made just for the first team. But there are perks to this job as Mowbray is proving by still being in it despite stagnation over more than a year. Hughes would be worth a phone call but I wouldn't be getting on my hands and knees to beg him to return. It would simply be to ask him if he would like to be considered and to see if he fancied a crack at it and what his terms would be. If he wasn't keen I'd move on as the last thing we need is another Lambert scenario of someone here just to get their name back in the news before moving on after 6 months to supposedly better things. Plenty more fish in the sea. Johnson should be a no. This club needs know-how and experience and handing it to a rookie just sets us off on another 2-3 year cycle of development and learning on the job. We are underachieving with this squad and are running out of time with it. We need someone who can come in and sort it out quickly with fresh ideas, outside eyes and a new voice for the players. That also applies to the coaching staff so Venus, Lowe and co. probably need to go as well. If we wanted to go down the tried and tested route then for me it would have to be a toss up between Mick McCarthy and Nigel Pearson. Those would at the very least have us in a similar position but with potential to hit the top 6. They certainly wouldn't have us any lower than we are at present. Personally I'd rather we went on a bit more of a bold yet educated route and went for someone still up and coming but also experienced. Not a rookie but someone on an upward trajectory in the game looking for a chance to progress their careers here. Danny Cowley would fit that remit - comprehensive experience and knowledge of all leagues up to the Championship, available, done well in all his jobs and looking for that opportunity Huddersfield wouldn't give him. Failing that there are many other options out there worth looking into. For those who seem to think that a managerial change is some massive gamble that we should look to avoid the answer is simple - if it doesn't work then make another change. We don't have to stick with the next manager for 4 years regardless of results. You bring someone in, give them a target and review. The other way of doing things is that if we sell Armstrong say for £15 million then we use the bulk of those funds not to sign players or cover losses but to bring in a top, top drawer management team like Leeds did. I'm not saying someone like Bielsa would be obtainable for us but a game changing top level manager who could be lured with a massive salary and bonus and given 2 years to get us up.
  11. The cost of a desso pitch can be 7 figures. But certainly not 3 or 4 million unless you are doing it on all the pitches we have including the training ground. To just do Ewood it would be more like £1 million. Expensive yes but that is a one off, so divide over many years and the costs come down. I wouldn't blame the ground staff. They can only work with what they are given and it is clear that isn't enough. Who'd have thought that the best owners we could hope for would cut corners on facilities. A symptom of their neglect and lack of care. Thankfully it might force the issue now People can see what a mess it is and we get a public shaming for it. Won't be long before Players are looking for a move because they are fed up of playing on a mud heap.
  12. Need fresh ideas and different voices for the players. Promoting Mowbray's assistant doesn't deliver a clean sweep.
  13. They 'invest' in the pitches every summer by replanting them. The problem is that it is bare minimum levels and over a decade it catches up on you. Investment could mean a truckload of soil and grass seed. But that won't solve anything, particularly when the weather turns bad. About time we did more than the bare minimum and took some pride in the club.
  14. They 'relay' it every summer, or did up until this summer (I'm not sure if they had enough time to do it this year with the unique circumstances). The problem isn't relaying it, it is the way it is relaid and money spent on it. My understanding is that there are different levels to relaying the pitch. The cheaper way is to scrape off the top inch or so of soil and replace it with new and plant new grass seeds. From what I gather over the last 5+ years the fund available for replacement of the pitch has been bare minimum and significantly less than elsewhere. Compare to clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton who spent £1 million+ on state of the art desso pitches and we aren't remotely close. When you look at the lack of care, investment and maintenance at Ewood with filth all on the walls outside the ground and weeds growing I think we can safely see where the blame lies for the state of the pitch. Do everything on the cheap and easy here.
  15. I think it is irrefutable that Stoke have a squad that cost more money and have a bigger wage bill. The reason for that is they have owners who invest in their club to better it whereas we have owners with a very different agenda. But suggesting that this financial discrepancy is accountable for results or should put us into a different bracket to them is nonsense. They've been a calamity club since leaving the Premier League, burning their way through 3 managers in 3 years, twice battling relegation and have had a massive turnover in staff. Mowbray has been able to build us up with stability, time and a blank canvas with no deadwood or cutbacks needed. O'Neill has had all sorts to deal with, players who didn't want to be there and a sinking ship. He's put Mowbray to shame.
  16. Great, roll on another 6 months whilst we try to change to this 'different way'. Maybe we need another couple of transfer windows to recruit the right personnel for this 'different way'. Always tomorrow, never today with this regime.
  17. It is hard to believe. Especially as you say we've really laboured over the last couple of months - narrow and fortuitous wins over Rotherham, Millwall, Barnsley, draw draws v Stoke and Sheff Wed, defeat to Norwich. Away from home failed to score at Stoke and Bristol, 1 at Huddersfield. It says a lot about where we are at. We've got more goals and the divisions top goalscorer yet are mid-table and have been for months. I'm afraid that is unacceptable. It is underachievement. The double edged sword is that Mowbray deserves some recognition and credit for making us the top scorers and bringing in the players to do it but these things don't last long and you simply have to make the most of it while you can. Most managers in this league would kill for the talent we have in our ranks where goals flow.
  18. Standard day at the office. 0 goals in the first half, again. Admittedly it looks like we were wronged on the Armstrong disallowed goal but other than that no real chances and certainly not enough for the home side supposedly looking up the league table. Devoid of creativity or intensity. Falling behind from minimal pressure, again from a cross into the box Laboring for most of the game trying to break down a solid defence, creating little and looking like ending up 0-1. From 70 minutes onwards and after a few changes we finally start to apply some serious pressure and thankfully this time managed to snatch a goal from it. In the end it is too little too late to go on and win the game, still haven't created enough after the equaliser to be worthy of a winner. We go home with a point that gets us nowhere in terms of top 6, another day of points dropped at home, quite abysmal for most of the afternoon and i can't argue with the scoreline. Mowbray escapes serious scrutiny as we 'put the point in the bag and move on' yet really all the same old issues are staring at us in the face. Raft of excuses - pitch, injuries, players not fully fit - all issues to varying degree under our control. The pitch issue in particular is almost entirely of our own making, created through a lack of investment and cost cutting now over many years. If Mowbray is fed up with it he needs to get on the phone to our great owners who never refuse a cheque.
  19. Without a shadow of a doubt yes.
  20. Alex Ferguson once said "attack wins you games, defence wins you titles". How right he was and how we could do with that attitude here.
  21. What happened to Venkys agreeing to back Mowbray this window?
  22. If anyone was in any doubt a quick read of Mowbray's comments will confirm he's lost the plot. He's not completely daft and knows he is underachieving and not delivering what was expected. At any other club in the world he would be on the brink or already down the road so these desperate comments reflect him feeling some heat. Unfortunately this is Venky Rovers run as a corner shop operation and he's as safe as houses. Ramblings almost as deluded as Kean's 'entries into their box' nonsense. Does he think we are all stupid?
  23. Doesn't matter who is in defence. What matters is who is in the dugout.
  24. Things were worrying enough at Rovers prior to Covid with a diminishing season ticket base, falling attendances, disinterested absent owners and an altogether poor product at Ewood. Covid I fear will accelerate things significantly. All clubs will be affected however many will be resilient, be able to bounce back quickly or to a good healthy level on what they were before. I expect this is going to hit us harder than most. For example I think our season ticket base will be decimated, and as we've discussed for years and years we aren't a club or in a region where we are able to quickly bounce back and significantly increase sales overnight. It is a slow, arduous process to grow a fanbase at the best of times but in this competitive area even more so. What incentive are we going to be providing to get the people back? Another price rise to watch Mowbray's men for another year? Do me a favour. The climate we are facing will challenge the most skilled and creative of minds, there are boards and owners out there far more clued up than those here who will find it a huge challenge, but when we are stuck with Waggott and Venkys what hope do we really have. Waggott had set us on a downward trend before Covid despite promotion which takes some level of ineptitude but with Covid it isn't even worth thinking about. I think the full extent of what we are facing will only become clear when we look at our season ticket base in comparison to rivals and how much worse off we end up than them. My expectation is we will end up in the top bracket of most significantly affected when it comes to numbers through the door. The worst part for me is that there will be a whole raft of Rovers fans who ignore or turn a blind eye to our in-house negligence and failings and instead just accept a raft of excuses and 'but Covid' as an explanation for everything even though others will manage to deal with it much better. Then there will be the '80's gang' who will just point to poor attendances 40 years ago as some sort of basis for poor crowds now, even though that isn't relevant in any shape or form. Really, really worrying and another reason we need to see the back of Waggott and co. and get an ambitious, creative and fresh approach from someone else to run the club, ideally without Venkys dragging us backwards.
  25. Slightly off topic but if anyone follows Andy Holt on Twitter I noticed that someone had donated a Rovers season ticket from 1891 to him and he is going to be putting it in their display cabinets when the ground is reopen. Not sure why such things are ending up on display at Accy Stanley rather than at Ewood but kind of sums things up.
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