JHRover

And of course whatever the reality of it things were back-to-front. It isn't the manager's job to 'advise' the owners on whether to 'go for it' or not. They should have made a decision on what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go and then if Mowbray was uncomfortable with that he should have been replaced. That is what happens at just about every other club in the world - owners decide what they want and then attempt to get it whilst making changes along the way to help them get there. Here just an utterly ridiculous backward situation where it seems the interest was all on the part of the manager who managed to get out there and prick a bit of interest on the part of the legal owners and was the one setting the pace and deciding on the form. They were never really interested, just had a brief spell of a couple of years where they liked what Mowbray was saying and thought they'd roll with his plans and see where it ended up. This is all because he, Bowyer and Kean managed to get out to sit around a table with them and persuade them to support them. To them it is all about backing 'their man' and not letting 'their man' down - and by extension that means sackings or performance/result based decisions are off the table - job's theirs as long as they want it. More important to them that they have 'their man' running the show than it is the football club progressing, improving, building, growing. That's never been a factor worthy of their consideration. He presumably told them that 3-4 years of solid support would either lead to promotion or worst case a valuable squad. So by the end of it, after plugging 3-4 years of losses and losing faith in mid-table finishes every year they pull up the drawbridge, disappear again, cut communication and impose more significant cost cuts just like they did when they got bored with Bowyer's approach and dismantled his squad. This isn't going to change now until or unless we find ourselves a competent manager who is willing and able to get out to India and talk them into a different approach. That isn't going to happen because we've got communication lines well and truly cut, a couple of stooges enjoying themselves and running the place as their own kingdom and there aren't many competent managers out there willing to play that sort of game. Bowyer was because he was a rookie and Mowbray was because he was on the scrapheap and content to plod for a good few years. Most - Lambert, JDT, Eustace - would tell them to 'do one' and secure more lucrative and easier working conditions elsewhere.

White Rose of Yorkshire making yet another appearance though

Happy Diwali from everyone at 'Blackburn Football Club' Chat GPT again?

We've chosen to go down the overseas signings route. We didn't need to and nobody forced us to. So having made that choice we can't then expect results / performances to be rubbish and to sit in the bottom 3 of the division and for people not to complain or criticise because you need a 'settling in period'. We knew when the season started and we knew when the games were going to be. If we weren't ready for those demands that's another mark against the names of those responsible for dismantling an experienced squad and replacing it with a totally inexperienced squad. This 'settling in' process just another excuse. It isn't going to get us retrospective points on the board or let us move up the league table and it won't stop us being relegated.

At least in the Coyle season we still had a limited core of experience/nous/battlers - Graham, Conway, Evans, Bennett, Mulgrew - people who knew the level and I suspect could sort out the dressing room side of things. Now?

A lot of this comes back to Gestede and the inexplicable decision to hand him control of the footballing operation overnight despite him having absolutely zero by way of experience or track record to justify it. Something very, very strange and probably dodgy going on there with that one especially when we factor in the bizarre period pre-appointment where he was following Waggott around to meetings and loitering around the training ground - again just not what happens in modern day professional high level football. If you want a new director of football or 'head of' you identify suitable options from a range of backgrounds and experiences and then you whittle the list down and plump for a choice. None of that here though, oh no, we go straight for a friendly face, I bet there was no recruitment process the job was his the minute they managed to get Broughton down the road. Why and how it came about more mystery. But as we've seen here countless times with randomers being parachuted into top jobs, going right back to the first major decision the scum made in 2010, they seem to enjoy this sort of thing. The idea of having a thorough due process and ending with someone getting a job running the show who is unconnected and has a CV that stands up to scrutiny unheard of - it's jobs for the boys and who you know not what you know. In his haste to make a name for himself Gestede's recruitment probably the final nail in our coffin. I'm sure there will be people along sooner rather than later to explain how we couldn't remain competitive on our finances/crowds in this league, despite Eustace doing just that with his wheeling and dealing last summer. So why was that 'model' that was working well under a competent manager so radically and suddenly ditched? The answer I suspect is all to allow Rudy and his chums to get to work and 'do their bit' whilst 'proving himself'. Unfortunately that gamble/experiment will probably finish off Blackburn Rovers in its current form.

Gestede's head will be the one they serve on a platter to the fanbase in May when relegation gets confirmed. Then the bots on twitter and facebook will heap all the blame at his door for poor recruitment/choice of coach and nothing to do with the ownership and their mate. Shadow man will remain in the shadows and they'll find some other good talker to step in and take over.

Just need another two places to be taken now. Any ideas on who might fill those other two slots ahead of us because I can't think of anyone!

Indeed there are, and we got one of those in JDT (but only after Broughton delivered the curveball, before then we were looking at Duncan Ferguson). But finding one of the leftfield appointments and it working well is only half the story - you've then got to harness it and build on it to try and let it blossom into something successful. At the good ship Rovers the agenda was never to be successful or for it to get anywhere, so all efforts were geared towards undermining it and ensuring it fell to pieces. Again, results a minor trivial issue in the equation. What was important was a willingness to tolerate the Venky shenanigans and not complain. Now they've got their ideal man 'aligned' to their project: Won't complain or call them out in public Won't attract interest or offers from elsewhere Won't object to them offloading whichever players they fancy cashing in on Will agree to work with whatever randomers Gestede unearths Such a man is worth his weight in gold to this regime, hence the 3 year contract. Again, results inconsequential to all this, so as long as he carries on doing as he's told and behaving himself he'll get to collect his wage and continue.

After his failings at West Brom and Watford and with his CV he wouldn't have got such a job (or close to it) at any other club in the same division. So we can add him to the list together with Kean, Berg, Singh, Agnew, Bowyer, Coyle, Mowbray, Waggott, Suhail and Gestede - none of whom would have got jobs elsewhere in the Championship and haven't since us (save for Mowbray having a few very short stints elsewhere after being here). The trio at the top can reflect on having that in common - do they call this 'alignment'?

Coventry spent money and gave their best players new contracts, Coventry didn't bring in £50 million in sales.

At least their owner takes some sort of interest in them. Any thoughts Chaddy on our owners and how they might react to a prolonged relegation struggle? Sackings? New managers? Investment? Will all happen at our rivals between now and January. Won't be happening at Ewood as we know from past experience. Just a shoulder shrug and confusion as to how we've ended up embroiled in relegation trouble.

Three weeks today from the big day. Still no announcement from Rovers about this special commemorative shirt. No dates, teasers, publicity. I really don't think they are capable of getting this done and especially not having it on sale for fans as well.

The fact that Rovers have had to move with speed to prepare and release a substantial club statement late on a Friday evening in mid-October, the night before a game, and 3 weeks before date in question, following one person posting this on twitter, just shows where we are at as a club. Something that would be utterly inconceivable at any other professional club, here is believable and so much so that one post on twitter snowballs into something massive and forces the club to respond like this. That is purely because the club cannot be trusted and no story, no matter how ridiculous or extreme it might appear, can be ruled out at Ewood Park these days.

That 150th special version, simply the new badge in gold with '150 years' below it is the sort of thing Rovers could and should have done. Anyone and everyone looks at it and knows straight away it is special and what the occasion is. Then back to normal the year after. We've instead adopted a white rose on our away kits because it's cheaper to do a monochrome badge than the full colour version and that's about it - nobody outside of the Rovers fanbase would have a clue that we're 2 weeks away from such a monumental anniversary.

Fortunately for this regime we got low gates back in the 80s so they and their defenders can hide behind that one for a good while - simply pretend that everything that happened 1991-2012 was an aberration and abnormal and all we have now is 'normality'. Of course this overlooks a couple of big issues - like how come every other club in the League - who all also got significantly lower crowds in the 80s - are no longer at those levels and have increased their support significantly Surely if 'back to non-Premier League normal' was the way of it then the likes of Bolton, Preston, and many many others in the Championship and below would be back to 10,000 or less? Strange how they don't appear to be plagued by comparisons to a bygone era 40+ years ago. And also why people want to focus all their efforts on the late 70s and 80s when we had low gates....those people never want to focus on the century prior to that, when Rovers got far bigger crowds, nor the 30 years after that when Rovers got far bigger crowds, but instead obsess about what we got during a relatively short window in our history at a time when nationally crowds were suffering due to all manner of issues not restricted to Rovers - hooliganism, economic problems, dangerous grounds.

Push is going to come to shove at Hillsborough very soon indeed. When the HMRC winding up petitions get served the clock is ticking. No more kicking the can down the road Interested parties will be hovering and waiting to pick them up on the cheap when they're out of time and options.

Do you expect them to actually do it? I think they probably just came out with it in the heat of the moment once they saw the reaction to the most bland and least commemorative home shirt imaginable. Things like one-off badges, kits, merchandise all require time, designing and expense. That doesn't fit with the regime's 'management' of the club.

It is really really odd especially when intelligent educated people come out with it. It seems to be the most extreme case of Stockholm Syndrome combined with rose-tinted spectacles. I don't know if it affects other clubs and fanbases as much or not but there does seem to be this attitude that pretty much anyone and everyone who leaves Rovers, whether that be by choice or being removed by Rovers' decision making, are to be treated as inherently evil, unpleasant, good to be rid of, glad they are gone etc. etc. Some of it I think comes down to perceptions of personality, or some sort of grievance that these people would dare try and leave Rovers and that makes them a problem. I get the impression that people like Allardyce, Lambert, JDT came across in some quarters as 'aloof' in some ways - that is they didn't do the 'tea and biscuits' routine with people and all that. Or perhaps others were uncomfortable with the public declarations of ambition and wanting to get promoted asap and were more comfortable with the (very) slow burn approach of Mowbray. Anyhow, personally I enjoyed that 2022-23 season more than any since these disgraceful people took our club hostage (or I did until it became clear they weren't going to try and maintain it beyond Christmas). The facts and figures show it was the best we've had and probably will ever have under these gangsters. Play-off pushes and FA Cup quarter finals I enjoyed, more than relegation scraps to League One that's for sure.

Of course they have. Hardly going to say he did get him the job is he?

Either side of Waggott these owners haven't had a CEO - that's from 2010 to December 2017 and since May 2025. They don't want a CEO. Never have never will. They agreed to bring in Waggott at Mowbray's request and together they went out to India and talked the owners into 'backing them'. Now we are just back to normal - no CEO and no need for one because they won't be empowered to do the job of a CEO in any event. The CEO here is just to tick boxes, meet regulations and talk a good game to the fans. Now they've cut off the Telegraph there's even less for them to do. It won't have gone unnoticed that they're saving hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by not having one.

A pattern emerges of not getting business done when needed. I very much doubt that's because we 'couldn't convince' a player to join us and is more likely because the owners and their henchman refused to sanction the outlay. In doing so it probably cost them millions and millions. JDT will have learned one thing from his time at Rovers. Never, ever trust a Venky.

The time for JDT has been and gone. When he was here we had the foundation of a strong Championship squad and on top of that invested sensibly and effectively in people like Szmodics, Brittain and Hyam. The combination of Mowbray's left over squad, those good signings, JDT's impact / ambition and the Adam Wharton emergence - the stars aligned at the right time and we could have done it. Some prefer to convince themselves that we will never get promoted or close to it because of crowds, money, excuses but even under these wretched owners we ended up in a position to take that step under JDT. Engaged owners with some ambition would have backed him 'heavily' in his first January - instead they borrowed Sorba Thomas from Huddersfield. Nowadays it wouldn't work as well - they've gutted the squad of the quality it once had and are ensuring the prospects even of repeating signings like Szmodics and Brittain are remote. I think JDT struggled at times here because he was just on a totally different wavelength footballing wise to most of the players who had enjoyed the happy camp under Mowbray for years. Nowadays that would be even more extreme - I doubt any of them are capable of performing in the way he wants.

Chansiri about to sell up to Mike Ashley by the sounds of things. Lucky Sheffield Wednesday. Whereas we'll be stuck with this lot forever. Precisely why I'd have rather had a couple of years of Sheffield Wednesday misery with an end to it and some light at the end of the tunnel to what we've got. Still, nobody buys loss making, debt ridden, struggling Championship clubs eh?

I think the only logical explanation is spite / petulance / pettiness by the current 'power broker' keen to remove any positive things done by people long since removed from the club.