Dreams of 1995

We will hammer both of these two teams next, playing scintillating football and Rothwell will look like Messi. Means absolutely nowt but it’ll keep Mowbray about and give us a tiny bit of hope for next year, which will be crushed by the 5th game

Bloke is 32 as well, just what we need to replace Danny Graham with.... Our transfer policy is and always will be weird. I don’t think this Terrode will come, but what I do know is we will have someone completely out of the blue and in a position we don’t really need. So expect a central midfielder to come in at least.

Elliott Bennett is a liability and has been for yonks. His briefest glimpses of form came in midfield, in a league where the more you run and throw yourself around the more chance you have of winning. Akinfenwa just got promoted from that league by essentially lifting weight and being hard to mark - he'll be laughed out of the Championship. We need a change in captain because you are meant to be able to look at him for a bit of inspiration. Half the time Bennett is on the floor. I don't have any time for him left as a football player- if his influence is so great then bring him on as a development coach on the fitness side or something, because his influence on the pitch is worrying.

Mowbray's treatment of Nyambe has been nothing short of disgusting. He has never liked the boy, presumably because he fills the only position Bennett can attempt to play. He absolutely devastated his confidence last season with some fairly outlandish comments and it seems like once again he's bearing the brunt of a TM excuse. Why is he low on confidence? He hasn't made any particularly bad errors lately, or even put in any terrible performances. In fact, I'd say Nyambe has been much improved this season and I've enjoyed watching him tear down the wing on occasion, even if his final ball leaves a lot to be desired at times. He reminds me of a proper full back and he is arguably one of the stronger players in our squad. The way Mowbray is painting him out to be sounds like he's a guy that needs an arm around him every now and again. One thing is for certain, you wouldn't see a Harry Redknapp come out and say the things TM has said about Nyambe unless it was absolutely without-a-doubt true, and then you'd probably see the back of the player. To come out in the papers and say his confidence levels aren't right is just bemusing, what a way to protect your player...

The funny thing is that before this season began literally nobody on this forum put play offs down as a realistic outcome. In fact, I remember when TM came out with it pre-season and the attitude on here was that he is reaching and it probably wouldn't happen. In that respect I guess he dug his own grave, for want of a better phrase. We have scored the right amount of goals to be up there this season, but on the face of it conceded 15 - 20 goals more than we should have. Mowbray shouldn't have promised defenders are coming if they weren't. To put things into perspective after all the melodrama about our defence we have saved ourselves 9 goals so far, with 2 games remaining. On top of that we'd need to score more than 4 to improve on last years attacking performance too. Whilst the maximum points progression is 6. There were too many promises, too many eye catching headlines and quotes from Mowbray. We have stood still this season but in the process of standing still we have supposed to have replaced some of our poorer players (Johnson for Smallwood, Holtby, Cunningham for Bell, Tosin for Williams). It's all been a bit of a farce really. I don't know how much money TM will receive in the summer, if any, but anything short of a major play off push next season means he has to go. That leaves him with a lot of work to do because there's just as many holes in his ship as last year despite the spending. I can imagine there will be vultures circling for some of our better players too, whilst the likes of Bennett can think of an easy few months knowing his place in the squad is guaranteed until retirement. I was scathing about Mowbray's treatment of Nyambe over 12 months ago, and I am still angry by it now. If he leaves it will be Mowbray's fault no question about it - he should be our guaranteed first choice right back unless injured, instead he plays second fiddle to a bloke who isn't really good enough to play in any position, and certainly not good enough to play at full back.

After what’s happened with City I should hope they are relaxed. Unless relaxing of rules only applies to those who will cough up the fines - which I believe don’t count towards FFP too, conveniently.

Brilliant post and the bottom line is perfectly put. Take a look at stadium expansions that happen in England, or new build stadiums. Almost always there is a disproportionate amount of seating allocated to "hospitality" than there is standard admission. Take a look at the bloody Europa Leage final last season! My tin foil hat may well and truly be on but this is a conspiracy against the working-class fan. Working class people are being priced out, we are being literally pushed out of Premier League clubs especially with spacing and to top it off they are even talking about the potential of moving us out with, maybe, games happening abroad to allow our 'global audience' chance to see it. And whilst all of that is going on we are supposed to accept and be grateful for the huge sums of money these distant, and often shady, owners are putting in and keeping "the sport going". Bullshit. It was here before them and it will be here after them. I'm not in the slightest bit grateful to any of these rich benefactors for what they have done to my sport.

Cunningham is a leap to "class". He only played a quarter of the season. Mowbray should be given another season. At the end of the day progress has been made, we are a better team now than last, but the only problem lies in the fact that once again we are forced to have a high turnover of players. Now, we can all blame Mowbray, but name me a season under Venkys where we haven't required such a high turnover of players? Some think the blame lies solely at the managers door but surely that pattern points to another influence. The only consistent in all of this is them. If Tony Mowbray can find a player of Tosin's class, Walton's class, Downing's class and then somehow afford the two wingers + left back we require this summer than fair play. There'll need to be a few loans again, but these loans need to be tied in quickly, and once again we will be late to the party because we can't decide on any budget until we meet the royalty of Pune. Lastly, Mowbray needs to admit that Elliott Bennett isn't good enough for this squad. It's criminal he is still being shoe horned in to any position going on the pitch.

No point even trying with you. If some people on here said the sky was blue you'd say it was yellow. You've clearly spent no time at all looking into what you are arguing against based on your points, or refuse to see that a change like the 50%+1 model means continuing with how football in England currently is. Managers in Germany get sacked, transfers get made, hiring of new managers still happens you know. Again, actually look into it before coming up with a firm opinion. The only point you had which had any relevance is the better players may leave to another league which allows rich owners to act like they do here - with impunity. Good riddance. Football was here before them, it will continue to be there after them. But they probably wouldn't leave, the Premier League is now the most successful brand in football, and having fan ownership wouldn't change that, it would improve it.

Tosin is a fantastic player but he was at fault for our 2nd goal. Complete wrong side of his man. Danny Graham trying to track the overlap too - I mean, come on, Samuel and Armstrong should be doing the tracking back from our attacking players. Good win though and what a goal by Armstrong ? Shame that still leaves us 5 pts away. Honestly cannot believe we didn't get 6 points from Barnsley and Wigan...................... my god.

Whether or not people will buy them is irrelevant. You have more chance of selling some it they’re on sale - agreed? Another club management balls up, although tbf this isn’t a “balls up” anymore, it’s actually policy haha

I was taking the piss Chadster It doesn’t mean we shouldnt have our season tickets on sale yet

Our losses are happening because the model of English football is built in a way that teams are that desperate to reach the Premier League they are willing to sacrifice huge losses in order to get there. The proposal of having fan representation isn't including that and sticking with the status quo. Just look into what goes on in German football and how the small clubs are better protected against dodgy ownership (see 1860 Munich for example; see Hoffenheim for how they decided who was the right man). You have half an argument for the decrease of quality that may come from it; you have no point in defending the state of modern english football. You are seemingly more interested in protecting the integrity of modern football than you are in ensuring the true shareholders of the clubs (fans) are given representation and voting rights of the club they financially support for the entirety of their lives. It's a strange stance for a football fan to take. If we had fan ownership in this country Bury would still be operating, Wigan wouldn't be into administration and we'd have never had the early Venky-years. What we would have had though is the Jack Walker years because ultimately could you see a fan of the club saying no to that model? Owners will still have rights to say how their money is spent. Again though, you are a Rovers fan, and such a rule protects the club from external investors, so what is your beef with it? ?

The exact same place it does now. You are acting like this isn't a model already being used with a great degree of success. Owners claim they aren't here to make huge profits, they invest because they want to invest in their supported club. If that is the case then there should be no problem in continuing to do so. Besides, if it meant that the hugely inflated market has to deflate to normal levels then so be it. If you also think the money generated currently in the Championship + Premier League would seize to flow then you are also sorely mistaken. People would not stop sponsoring, or watching on television. Besides, we are supporters of Blackburn Rovers, and we do not have the financial backing of Qatar. It would benefit us greatly if a 50%+1 model was brought in, which again begs the question why you are so against it? You seem to value the "Premier League" brand much more than you seem to value the sport.

That's a problem when you have a club as huge as Bayern Munich in the league though. Besides, we have gone through two periods of club dominance (Liverpool, Man United) and in all the time the Premier League has been in existence only us and Leicester have ever broke the trend of league winners, save Liverpool this year. Are we really much different anyway? Italy - one club wins every year. Scotland - one club wins every year. Spain - 2 clubs, usually take it in turns. Big leagues are dominated by big clubs, fan ownership as part of their model or not. What we are focusing on is stopping the small clubs being hacked apart by con men and shady investment. Nonsense. Lord knows why a football fan would have a problem with a 50%+1 model for clubs is beyond me, even more so a supporter of Rovers.

Why couldn't he? This is a model that works in Germany and in the modern era hold the Bundesliga up as a model to follow. Terrific atmospheres, some fantastic players being generated from them clubs, low ticket prices etc etc. Being a follower of a German football club seems to be a much happier place than an English counterpart from the outside looking in of course.

Can imagine it now can't you? They want to get them on sale but have to weigh up the pros and cons of spending weeks in isolation following a trip to India. Mowbray will miss the last 2 weeks due to it or some shite, because a face to face meeting with Madam before any decision can be made is the absolute minimum - and only - requirement of working for Blackburn Rovers FC. Why they can't use Zoom / Teams like the rest of the world and agree budgets remotely is beyond me. It's like the internet doesn't exist. Maybe that's why they went for the Western Union transfer option all them years ago. The old ways are the best....eh

Just remember how they laughed at us. That is all I am saying. This is further proof - if we as fans ever needed it - that the EFL are not fit to run the English game. Off shore bets, dodgy international mystery men - all sounds very very similar doesn't it? Unfortunately for Wigan they were a less sophisticated scam than ourselves but make no mistake about it Rovers suffered similar fates, and probably would have been wound up in a similar circumstance hadn't so much of a fuss been kicked up. We had a very, very dodgy relegation under Coyle not so long back. Mass sales, no investment, a last-minute u-turn from a promotion chasing manager to a shyster. Do you not think there was sums of money in the middle / far East put on that outcome? I think in our early days a lot of people made a lot of money out of us. I think they still do, with the signing on fees and agent involvement in almost every facet of the club. This is further proof that fans should have a 51% stake in the club at all times. If benevolent super-rich elites really want to blow their money on the 'pride' of the towns and cities they claim to represent then they would still do so if only running on 49%, surely? The truth is that most clubs these days are loss making enterprises for a reason - no rich person ever got rich by throwing millions down the drain every single year.

We have had a different approach in the Midlands area, from my experience. Most of the Main Contractors sent recommencing of work letters which basically said by accepting this instruction you forego any right to claim a loss / expense as a result of Covid 19 etc etc. They were quite spiky and vague, giving off the impression it was open to interpretation as to what a claim relating to Covid-19 could be (ie: temporary work required for ped walkways, cabin set ups etc). We only ran into problems when we sent it back saying it worked both ways and if my subbie ran over the allocated programme time we can't be expected to be hit with charges as a result. For some reason (?) us telling Main Contractor they couldn't claim from us in the future was met with a bit of resistance. But yeah, from a contractual p.o.v, everyones first port of call seemed to be the force majeure clause, but that has been either been accepted or rejected on a job by job basis or. On the large though businesses seem to be quite flexible and are not looking at shafting each other.

Some shockers of posts here. Fair play to the bloke for being there and standing by his word to his Mrs. A real man. I'm sure his child will be over the moon they were worthy of such a "sacrifice" (but I bet Darragh didn't see it as a sacrifice at all). Some of you should give your head a wobble. Usual lot though, nevermind.

I turned iFollow off on the 88th min. I think I can count on one hand the amount of games I haven't seen to the end in 20 years of supporting the club. I just didn't care anymore, and that was a bit of a sad thought to be truthful. I am firmly in rog of the rovers camp - excellent post by the way - in that I have tried so desperately to equate TM the man into TM the manager. After years of seeing shysters come and go it is just nice to have a bloke that I trust. Unfortunately though that only gets you so far. Your results have to match your 'personality', otherwise we are just treading water and paying for a nice guys living when in reality there are better options out there for us. As said, 2020/2021 will be his last chance for me. We cannot continue this inconsistency otherwise we will lose all of our best players again, if we don't already lose them this summer. Once Dack, Lenihan, Travis, Holtby and Tosin go we are literally left with the bare bones once again and you can bet any money that there will be teams after them players in the Summer break, save maybe Dack due to injury.

Samuel did something brilliant in the first half, beat his guy and smashed it across the box. Had me thinking "ok then, he's turned up". Was a flash in a pan. Terrible performance from him. Terrible performance from everyone really. Honestly there were some comical moments between Bennett and Walton in the 2nd half, if I weren't a Rovers fan. I have never screamed at a TV as much as that 45 minutes. In my opinion that is the worst I have seen us play this season. When Gallagher passed the ball out of touch towards the end I shut down completely. Another season in the Championship beckons.

You are very dismissive and rude to people considering when the tables are turned you always champion "fair discussion". Just sayin. Don't play the victim when you dish it out tenfold.

Scott Wharton has done more than Adam Armstrong? The man has a League 1 promotion and 50+ senior career goals. Travis has become a Championship regular. Regardless of the league 2 promotion Travis has still cemented himself as a better standard of player currently. Brereton and Nyambe you may have half a point but, even then, both of them players have senior Championship regular status, youth international caps and full international caps in the case of Nyambe. You are on very thin ground trying to claim Wharton has done more than them players imo. Although this is in no way a slight at Scott, I want to see him in the side next season or at least playing at a level higher than League 2.

I remember seeing Wharton play twice for our senior side and both times I came away thinking he was a tidy player. In my opinion, that's what you judge a player on - his performances in a Rovers senior side. As said, when Travis first started getting game time he was struggling to cement his place. I'm sure he had a few knock abouts at right back before finally getting centre midfield his own. Nowadays, when I see a team without Travis in, I immediately think we have lost the midfield battle. There is an extra incentive for academy players to play well because it is their chance. That's why I will always prefer to see Scott Wharton on the bench than Derrick Williams, regardless of whether Williams has played in the Championship / League 1 for most of his career - which says a lot.