JHRover

We now have a 'rainy season' apparently. Used to just be winter and a pretty wet part of the world to begin with. Here's my solution: Club statement tomorrow from the owners or at least the boss at Ewood: 'We want to apologise to our fans, players, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town and the League. What has happened twice this season is unacceptable for a club of our stature and we have a responsibility to take action to ensure it doesn't happen again. We are employing specialists to immediately investigate and report on the issues and remedial work that can be completed both in the immediate future and at the end of the season to resolve this issue. As a gesture of goodwill all fans turning up to the replay will get a free drink/pie/chips and ticket holders for the original game will get free admission for the replay. Tickets otherwise will be £10 anywhere in the ground. This club and our fans deserve better and we apologize for the embarrassment this has brought and to the players for their wasted efforts' That took me 2-3 minutes. Yet it's far more than this lot will do.

I firmly believe that the owners have absolutely zero interest or knowledge in what is going on at the Club on a day-to-day basis and their little goon in the shadows is quite comfortable with that and running things as his own kingdom in their absence. I would be amazed if any of the owners were aware we were playing yesterday, or that the game was abandoned, and much less that this is a direct result of their conduct over many years. IF the club was to be fined by the League for this then all that will happen is the henchmen from the finance team and Suhail will have to juggle the numbers again, probably cut the transfer budget or wage bill or offload a player in January to cover it from the club's own resources. Owners won't find out about it. No way is he going to ring them up and ask them to cough up extra cash. On it goes.

An away tie. We've got a better chance of winning away from home. Plus at Ewood the game might not start/finish and we can ill afford more postponements and embarrassment.

Seems the priority for January is once again on cost cutting and reducing the wage bill further. That's all that really matters in the scheme of things here.

Move it to the Wham Stadium, should be enough space for everyone who would attend Ewood and we know that the game can both start and finish there. Matchday experience would be an upgrade too - easier to park, better priced food and drink, sound system

There's a closet full of skeletons. As long as they keep hold of it that closet stays closed. The minute they let it go, or even give potential buyers access, it's open and people find out everything that's been happening here since 2010. Potentially a very good reason to keep hold even when it clearly benefits nobody and costs them millions.

All the issues - poor squad, exacerbated injury issues, poor manager, late goals against, games off due to waterlogged pitch - come back to the owners and their investment/management of the club. You get back what you put in.

This problem has been years in the making. Last year (November time) we had a game abandoned against Portsmouth due to rain. Prior to that there were vague promises by the Regime (Waggott) about getting the pitch relaid to prevent future problems, which unsurprisingly never materialised. This is not a problem that has landed on the club unexpectedly overnight. It has been developing for years as a direct result of cutting corners, costs and avoiding significant expenditure on the facilities under these hideous owners. That - might- be excusable - in claiming we can't afford it - had it not coincided with circa £40-50 million of transfer cash flowing into the club due to them selling everyone they could get out the door. So to not spend a miniscule portion of that ensuring the pitch and drainage is fit for purpose is unacceptable and unforgivable. The excuses that the water has nowhere to go due to the River Darwen might 'hold water' if this had been a recurring issue going back decades. But history shows that it hasn't been until recent years, again due to neglect and cost cuts catching up with us.

Should have had 9 points in the last week, and have instead got 2. These are the sort of fine margins and hard luck stories that separate survival and relegation.

Also should be noted by the fans and management team that a small squad struggling with injuries and depth have just wasted an hour of exertion in tough conditions for no reward whatsoever, and will now physically and mentally have to go again. I hope when more players break down and injuries are picked up there's no head scratching going on. By the time we've played our rearranged game against Wednesday we will effectively have played the best part of 2 extra league games over everyone else having had two cancelled with 15-20 minutes remaining in each. That's an extra demand we could really, really do without but has been imposed on these players and manager.

Unfortunately a sizeable percentage of the match going crowd at Ewood are either totally oblivious or in denial as to the severity of the mess this club is in. That bloke being one of them. This club is in a dire, dire state and yet sadly the head in sand brigade continue to tell themselves all is well because we get to watch the lads every other week on Ewood. The way things are going that might not be able to continue much longer. If Ewood is no longer functional as a football venue during wet periods we will struggle to fulfil our fixture commitments. I'm looking forward to the lies and blame game that will come from the club stooges over the coming days. Ismael and the players deserve better but he needs to speak out rather than defend the regime. Last time they gave a microphone to groundsman Trevor to talk us through it all. I doubt they'll get away with a similar stunt this time around.

Stolen from someone on twitter: It's nearly Christmas and Rovers have had more home games abandoned than home wins.

In all seriousness the way things are going we need to start thinking about whether we need to be playing our home games at a different venue. Assuming the lowlife that own us aren't going to take this seriously and invest in remedial work it is going to get worse, and worse, and worse. We cannot afford to continue using a facility that cannot cope with heavy rain and causes multiple abandonments and lost points. Either that or I expect the League will begin to apply pressure and begin to fine/sanction us for it.

Actually laughable that with the exact same thing happening only a couple of months ago the 'solution' during the intervening time has been to buy/borrow half a dozen water hogs that obviously are going to make zero difference on a football pitch in that state with the rain still peltering down. Like with everything else down there, superficial, cheap, minimal efforts to resolve an issue just end up making us look even more amateurish than before. We use the same hogs to try and dry the square at our amateur cricket club, not a full size football pitch in the Championship,

Global warming disproportionately affecting a small corner of Blackburn? That's darn bad luck again. Or maybe, just maybe, it's something to do with the tossers owning and running the club?

Accy Stanley still playing, maybe it's time we arrange to ground-share with them and then at least we can finish our games.

And there is the never ending project. It never ends because as soon as we get anywhere players quite rightly expect improved/extended terms which the club is unwilling to provide and other clubs start to take notice and offer them more than this regime is willing to offer. Still, in the middle of this is highly lucrative employment for the people facilitating it, not to mention the agents tasked with bringing in their clients to fill the void every summer, so at least someone is benefiting. Just not Blackburn Rovers or the supporters.

A far, far cry from the stuff we were watching last season when Eustace had us as one of the most organised sides in the division. You knew when we had a lead under Eustace we were unlikely to let it slip and had confidence in the team seeing it out. Still onwards and upwards under the 'new project'!

The only way this lot let us go is if they have to - either because finances dictate it or because their legal issues prevent them from owning us or sending money out of India over to us. They're probably best described as a modern day reincarnation of the Oystons - nobody really wants them, they run the club as an amateur outfit on the lines they are comfortable with - but always do just enough to ensure they keep control and have no intention of letting that go. Fortunately for Blackpool fans they eventually found a legal route to his removal via the Court action of the previous major shareholder. I had my fingers and toes crossed that the Indian legal proceedings would be our answer to that. Sadly that hope seems to be fading, although some hope remains that once the Wharton/Szmodics cash runs out and there's nobody else left to sell breaking point will be reached.

Bizarre but I suppose he still has friends down there and will be in a few phone books so an easy one to sort out.

Could have, would have, should have again Like with making excuses we should be world champions at hard luck stories.

When you spend the summer trying to dismantle a popular and competitive Championship side that nearly made the play-offs last season and focus all your efforts and energies on cutting and reducing as opposed to growing and improving then even with serious efforts it's going to be hard to flog season tickets. But when you simply come out with the same old tired efforts as every other year a decline in numbers was nailed on inevitable. Strange that the only people who appear surprised by this are those responsible for the mayhem and decline we've witnessed here.

Ismael's just following the Venky Rovers playbook - blame anyone and anything other than ourselves. Already we've had referees, the weather, the drainage, previously we've had injuries, bad luck, the EFL, fans, parachute payments, FFP rules, covid, Eustace, nasty players, their agents, Tomasson, Broughton, administrative errors, plain hard luck. It is quite the list and it grows every season as a failing regime searches far and wide for reasons, other than their own decision making and ineptitude, why this club is a failing husk of an organisation. Obviously they can't blame the real source of pretty much all our ills - the vile group of people in India overseeing it all year in year out - nor will the lower down employees do anything that might lay blame at the door of the henchmen in the shadows doing whatever it is they are doing. Nor indeed the incompetents beneath them, promoted way beyond their capabilities or stations simply by virtue of being willing, compliant and cheap. So into the void they blame all the other things that we cannot control and which clueless supporters just love to point their fingers at and believe little old Rovers are doing their best in the big nasty world that is set up against us. I'm the first in the queue to blame refereeing competence, of which there is a catalogue, but I am not for one second having it that our pathetic home results, rapid decline down the table (play off to relegation contenders in mere months) are the fault of anyone bar those running this shambles.

I think to be reasonably confident of survival we need to be looking at being on 30 points or more going into the New Year. With the fixtures between now and then, six games, and 18 points available, we need to be picking up at least 50% of the points on offer. The fixture list is as kind on paper as anyone could ask for. Twice playing administration stricken Sheffield Wednesday, a gimme for most teams in this league, also Oxford at home and Portsmouth away, two clubs we need to be finishing above. Millwall at home should not be a game to fear either. I've seen enough of this club over the years to never be confident of a 'home banker' no matter what state the opposition are in, so sadly I expect a couple of draws from this and Oxford, which will keep us bobbling along and the serious pressure off but not get us the return we need from two such significant home games.

Yep, to the outsider these owners are probably the very definition of ideal - pour tons of money in, don't interfere and in it for the long haul. We're in a decreasing minority in recognising the immense long term lasting damage this is doing. Quite a few others know about it - the dozens of players and staff who have escaped it at the first opportunity - fortunately for them there's no local or emotional attachment to contend with and they can simply secure employment elsewhere