JHRover

I've bought a pack for the novelty. Bit of a con and rip off but don't mind as a one off.

Five or more points from the next 9 I'd be delighted with. 3 or 4 points would probably see us through the tough block intact and if we were to draw all 3 it would keep confidence flowing, but wouldn't be ideal as teams will pull away from us if we do that. Certainly need to be looking to win the home games no matter who the opposition - Luton have just shown that Norwich are very much beatable.

We're in 'the zone' now. Good run, momentum, positivity building and within striking distance of the top 6 and even top 2. I hope, and pray, that it isn't another case of hitting the glass ceiling before a death spiral over 3-4 games sends us dropping down the division again. We need to see something now to believe this isn't just like the last 2 seasons where as soon as we get into these good positions we are able to kick on and progress rather than it unravel again.

Huge win which I am delighted with. Armstrong worth his weight in gold as I doubt anyone else would have popped up and put that away. In similar fashion to Barnsley I am relieved and very happy to have come through with all 3 points despite arguably not deserving them and at times not looking like getting them. But having match winners in the side is very useful. Millwall perhaps surprised me with their ambition especially in the first half. I suspect they were trying to emulate the Barnsley approach. Second half they were more cagey but we never really looked like converting possession into chances and goals. They are a tough side to beat so credit for that. Rowett fuming on the touchline is always a good indicator that you've done him over. They'll whinge about the referee. I accept that just before their goal Lenihan got very lucky after it struck his arm and late on he was lucky again running around in the penalty area with his hand above his head. But they got away with 2-3 blatant bookable offences including the one which caused Brereton's serious injury so it evens out. I can't accept that the victory was enabled by the referee.

They're a tough nut to crack, no doubt about that. Rowett has done a real good job there at making them hard to beat - the result is that despite lots of draws and not much quality in their squad they are sat just a point behind us. First goal will of course be very important as it usually is with us in games. Get it and I'll be confident, but go behind and we will be in for a frustrating evening. Just hope they've got Cooper missing and that disrupts their organisation.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/swansea-city-announce-huge-reduction-19376671 Interesting to see what Swansea are doing. They're already busy sorting out tickets for 2021-22! Sales started on December 1st. Prices determined by the club following discussions with the Supporters Trust. For those people who paid for this season and didn't claim their money back the price for 2021-22 is £99 in any stand. The offer is open to the end of February. Now that is a season ticket policy. Start sales early, a proper financial incentive to buy quickly. Involving the supporters in deciding what is happening. No wailing about FFP and the need to generate more money - their parachute payments end soon and they are struggling financially. So impressive. Compare to the amateurish money-grabbing approach of Waggott - we will be lucky to get prices before August 2021. Think I'll email this to the club - not that it will achieve anything.

Agree. I don't think any manager with true ambitions and expectations of promotion would target the top six or be happy to be in contention for it. Anyone think that Warnock, Wilder, Dyche, Nuno Santo, Bilic were going round telling everyone the top 6 was the ambition? No - they wanted promotion and to do that you have to target the top and be consistently delivering to achieve that. We could finish 3rd on 80 odd points - but lose in the play-offs and the material end result is the same as falling short of the top 6 again. Unfortunately it has become engrained in our support that the top 6 is the Holy Grail, that getting there is some sort of long term aspiration that once achieved will automatically mean promotion or increased prospects of it in seasons to come. It doesn't. What has caused this mythological top 6 aspiration? Well partly the manager telling everyone that it is the aim to be in contention for it, and also because our glass ceiling as a football club over nearly 9 years now has been 8th or 9th in the Championship, meaning any progression above that into 5th or 6th will be hailed as some sort of major step forward. Rival clubs are sitting up to take notice - you don't have the top goalscorer in the division and the best goal difference in the league by mistake or accident - we are a good side that over the first third of the season has been held back through inconsistency and injuries and an inability to dig deep against the other good sides. To be in the thick of mid-table mediocrity at this point is difficult to accept given some of the performances we have had. To be neck and neck with dross like Luton and Preston for me is unacceptable. Mowbray gets credit for assembling that side but that doesn't entitle him to a free pass for the next few years. He has to now transfer that quality into promotion material and face the consequences if he can't. I am worried that we are facing another 'near' season where we threaten all season but never take that step of breaking into the pack and staying there. I hope I am wrong as we need promotion but I worry the bar is already set too low through our patchy start and being told that challenging for the top 6 this season or next is the aim. I hope we don't look back on this season in 3-4 years as the opportunity missed like we did with Bowyer's famous 2nd season.

The referees are so poor at this level you'd be a fool if you didn't try to take advantage of it. It's certainly cost us plenty of times. Need to make it work in our favour too. Preston are another lot who manipulate the officials with regularity.

Looks like Preston missed the memo about Bournemouth being too good and spending loads of money. To say they were awful against us they have won the same number of games. I don't know what that says. Is it the division or is it us?

New contract needs sorting and before January. No point whinging every year about FFP and going with the academy if we are allowing the likes of Nyambe to leave for nothing.

Good point. Millwall will be tough to beat. We all expect that. If they succeed and take a result away from Ewood their approach will be justified and I hope Mowbray doesn't moan about it. Instead he should take some tips from them and then take that into our upcoming tough fixtures. A point against Millwall followed by draws v Brentford, Bristol and Norwich won't be terrible, infact it will show a new side to our game, however bemoaning struggling to break down a resilient Millwall followed by limp defeats in the next few will be dreadful.

It is an interesting concept is 'fashion' in football. What or who decides which clubs are fashionable or not? Is it location, style of play, success? I mean Spurs have always been promoted by the London media as a fashionable club, which seems to be based upon playing nice football and winning some cups 40 odd years ago. Yet today they remain 'fashionable' despite winning nowt, spending most of the PL era floating around in mid table and being based in one of the least fashionable and most deprived areas of the country. West Ham fall into this category despite Upton Park being one of the least pleasant places you could ever go to. The likes of Fulham and QPR have always attracted romantic and positive press for being fashionable little clubs by virtue of their locations in West London and particularly Fulham with their romantic little ground by the Thames yet neither have won anything of significance in the game. Just down the road Millwall and Charlton have at least matched if not bettered the above clubs achievements and yet have never been treated with the same level of positive press, presumably because they are in less nice neighbourhoods. Swansea are another lot as are Bournemouth that are now perceived as being fashionable clubs purely due to deploying an easy on the eye style of play in recent years yet 20 years ago both were 4th division fodder. 'Up North' the only qualification appears to be winning trophies. Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool deemed fashionable due to the immense trophy hauls they have had yet not sure what is fashionable about Salford, East Manchester or the back streets of Liverpool. All are similarly deprived and unpleasant in parts as Blackburn, Preston and Burnley yet are perceived as being very different. Very peculiar stuff but such is the power of the media in generating and maintaining these perceptions. I do think we as a club could do more to smarten up our image - this starts with making Ewood a nicer place to be.

Actually it was moved due to the national Jet Skiing championships that were taking place on the artificial Lake adjacent to their stadium on the Saturday. Has to go down as the most random reason a Rovers game has had to be brought forward.

It's interesting because after our goal laden start to the season and unpredictability on results along with possessing the top scorer in the League you'd think we'd be ripe for the picking for the selectors down at Sky HQ, on the look out for 'entertainers' to broadcast. Seems nonentities like Reading and Brentford get that honour although no surprises on location and London-centric attitudes. There's a vacuum to be filled with Leeds exiting the division and no Villa/Newcastle coming down so it seems they've adopted a new policy. Doesn't bother me just hope Rovers are kicking up a stink about the hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra money the likes of Brentford will presumably be getting for all this.

Normally the 3rd round draw is one of the most exciting events in the calendar, hoping that we get a good draw or a lower division side away from home. This year I'm really not too bothered. Would be typical if we good a really attractive tie away at a new ground and nobody could go. Avoid the Dingles. Other than that not bothered.

Gus Poyet one of the favourites there - Uruguayan link with their part owner who might be taking over the club and also still quite popular from his first time there. Parkinson boring to watch but a good record in League One. Can't see many options offering a better chance of promotion than him. Paul Cook would probably do a job.

I enjoyed it today. It was really good to see the other side to our game and do the necessary to get the 3 points without dominating the game especially after a hair-raising first 40 minutes. Very frustrating to sustain another couple of injuries. It seems a game cannot pass without at least one. Defensive issues once again midweek? Millwall I suspect will be the polar opposite of Barnsley in their approach.

If Terry joins Derby will it be 'John Terry's Derby' or 'Wayne Rooney's Derby'? They are rapidly becoming a club to dislike. I've no time at all for Rooney or Terry so both there and it will be great if they get relegated. They've also fiddled FFP for years and got away with it too.

Millwall are becoming the draw specialists of the division. Think they've had 4 in a row now. No surprises when you look at their manager and squad. Rowett is very good at making sides defensively solid and hard to beat, grinding results out consistently whilst their squad isn't blessed with talent but is hard working. Tough game indeed but another we need to be winning at home to have any chance. If it was away I think most would agree a draw is a decent result but at Ewood we need to be winning these. Just hope it isn't another Cardiff or Boro bore fest.

Yeah I echo this. As enjoyable and comprehensive as our wins this season have been it would be foolish to expect that to be possible every week. We will have to win games ugly if we are going to get anywhere. The Middlesbrough, Cardiff and Luton draws could have been those sort of games where we weren't at our best but had opportunities to snatch the 3 points yet we failed to do it and only got the 1. Barnsley are an odd side but are one of those that have made life difficult for us over the last few years despite lowly league positions. In seasons gone by they are the sort we have struggled to deal with yet this season we seem to be the opposite way around - we have been very good against the poorer sides and have failed to get results against the better sides. Two tough away games appearing on the horizon in Brentford and Norwich. If we can get 6/6 at home before then it will take some pressure off those fixtures.

I actually think this is a smart and astute move by Derby. McClaren has vast experience, granted not all successful, but he knows the Championship, knows English football and has also worked in Holland, Germany and Israel. He also knows Derby inside out having been manager there twice in recent years. At the moment they are a bit rudderless with ownership transition and inexperienced caretaker coaches. His advice could be very useful. With new foreign owners seemingly coming in and having given this appointment their blessing it seems at the very least they recognise the need for someone in there with experience who knows the industry and division to help. That's a good start rather than coming in thinking they know best and running the show like cowboys. It's probably the equivalent of Venkys appointing Souness as Director of Football when they took over. We all know what they did instead.

I'm in full agreement with the lady at Port Vale. It should not be allowed that some clubs are able to have fans in and others not. We'll end up with the likes of Bournemouth, Norwich and Reading being allowed fans in whilst the rest can forget it. Given the starts they have had to the season this may well give them an even bigger advantage in the quest for promotion. If Rovers are allowed 2000 fans in then of course they should, otherwise 2000 season ticket holders will be asking why they bothered parting with their cash in September. If it costs money to do it then we should have factored that in before putting them on sale. It was always likely to be such at least initially. Personally speaking I don't think I would take up the option even if it was available to me. I can't envisage me getting any enjoyment sitting alone at Ewood with 2000 others spread out, not being allowed to shout, sing, stand up or go for a pint before or after. Might as well stay indoors and watch on TV.

Agreed. Given how nice we are it is astonishing how many yellow cards we collect. I've no idea how we fare in comparison to others in the league but take Saturday as an example - we ended up coming out of the Luton game with 4 yellows to their none including a suspension for Johnson. Now all our yellow cards were for relatively insignificant things. Brereton one for rightly having a go at the referee but a cheap yellow nonetheless. I can't even remember what Elliott was booked for. Luton as predicted were crafty, and managed to repeatedly commit tactical and cynical fouls regularly through the game without ever getting booked. This happens too often. We aren't devious enough to be on the other side of it. I've no issue with us being top of the fouls charts and picking up lots of bookings (as long as it doesn't result in lengthy absences and suspensions) but when you are picking up 4 yellows to their none for next to nothing it isn't good enough

True, I get the impression that a big bonus and salary would tempt Allardyce out of retirement. I just remember when he left Palace he did so on his own terms and said that he was retiring and wasn't looking to manage again. He made a comeback for the Everton job but in fairness that would have been a big temptation - big club, loads of money to spend, chance to challenge for Europe etc. He got an incredible deal at Everton to keep them up and a massive pay off when sacked so he won't need to work. I'd just be surprised if he dropped into the Championship, especially when they've little chance of going up this season so will be at least 18 months before he can get them promoted. By then he'll be nearly 68. Does he really need to prove himself in the Championship at his age? If it were me I'd be relaxing enjoying life and might make a comeback if it was a Premier League club or international job.

I'd be amazed if Big Sam would be interested in going to Derby. Why drop to the bottom of the Championship? He's virtually retired, not worked for over 2 years, and said he wasn't looking to return. The only way I can see it is one last hurrah and a massive bonus for survival and promotion in the next 18 months. If there is truth to it then that's Derby and Sheff Wed who have secured safety already just with managerial changes.