Dreams of 1995

We’ve tried that Crimpshine. I’m sure most of us on here were out there in the early days, marching, singing, protesting. It is very difficult to have an effect when they are so far removed from the town. I can’t wait for the day they go but until then I don’t think any sort of fan movement will shift them. In my opinion we should turn our attention to the FA and unite as fans, demanding supporter board representation. That’s a whole other story though.

Calls for Mowbray to go at the end of this season are over the top. None of us thought promotion was a given at the start of the season - it is just all the more frustrating with how close we keep getting to a chance only to flunk it. However it is becoming apparent that Mowbray may never break that duck of getting into the top 6. He has to seriously improve the teams consistency or move aside for a manager with fresh impetus.

How fecking frustrating man. Every time we get within touching distance we go and make a right pigs ear of the next game. Time to get rid of players like Bennett, he’s simply not good enough to fill any position in our team if we are serious about promotion. Mowbray dropped another clanger yesterday. I have been his most fervent supporter since our promotion and always look to try and defend him and our players because I do think he’s been a brilliant manager for us. I’m far more proud of my club than I was when he took over. We are in a far better state that’s for sure. With that said, I am getting sick to the back teeth of our inconsistency. Some games we play I think we would be able to mix it in the Premier League with a few additions, then I watch that shite and realise we are where we deserve to be. For me TM has next season to sort this problem out. Another season like this and it would then be time for a change. We cannot miss our opportunity again.

I'll focus on a few points here You talk of a lack of money following the pandemic, and then you advocate walking into next season without a full time senior left back on the books. If we don't have money to pay Bell's wages (signed on L1 wages from Fleetwood) then how are we to afford another 2 senior players with added on signing fees, agents, bonuses and all that comes with it? I'm not even debating the Hart issue here, solely Bell, to which you seem to think is a poor decision. Regardless of all the claptrap about not signing players until we know what league we are in (mere speculation), if any manager went into a summer window without a registered player in a certain position he's made a balls-up. It could happen to us with a goalkeeper, unbelievably. Your opinion on every player is hyper-criticial. You couldn't even squeeze in your point not being about his ability without adding in the "lack of" caveat. Tedious stuff. Williams will almost certainly leave if we follow our upward trajectory. We are buying better players in every position and Williams is currently one of our weaker centre halves. Providing we continue to improve, don't lose players, you'd have to assume Williams will be gone next season. Aside from that, which is completely besides the point, Williams isn't a natural left back and if we didn't sign Bell he'd be the only senior player left in the 2021 season who could play there, without sacrificing Downing. Clearly that isn't a situation we want to be faced with. I don't disagree with any of what you said about our owners being at fault. I just don't see the furore about a one-year extension for a player that has both improved since his arrival and is a natural in a position we are paper thin in, especially given the current financial situation of all football clubs. As an aside, it would be nice if we got some posts from you - not just you - which didn't 99.99% of the time have some sort of ridiculous downplay of our players. I'm sick to the back teeth of reading "incompetent at best" or similar. Your criticism is overdramatic. That's all I will say on that matter because I've had this discussion with you before. Quite frankly I think it's disrespectful - your 'criticism' goes above and beyond the normal level, to a point of melodrama and often blatant untruths.

My bad. Probably even more of a reason to have at least one left back tied for 12 months, given our transfer record as of late.

Amari'i Bell is probably on less than £5k a week and puts effort in on and off the pitch by all accounts. Even if we buy a left back I wouldn't mind if he was in the squad; if we get promoted and buy two left backs he'll be a back up player on less than 12 months remaining for the contract. It's a no-brainer really. Realistically, if we aren't going up, we will probably look at buying a left back and then Bell will remain as cover. That's decent business in my eyes. After those 12 months he either massively improves or he's off for free and we replace him. Despite the fact you are the most critical supporter I have ever seen sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture. Williams has a year left and will most likely go, Hart has a year left now (bemusing one though) and aside from that we have no alternative left back. Williams sees himself as a centre half (better there than left back) and Hart will no doubt go out on loan again. If we didn't extend Bell's contract we'd be heading into the window without a left back in the squad at all. Although I'm certain you'll label him "incompetent at best" or "savagely shite" or some other remark I actually think Bell's curve since becoming a Rovers player has always been on the up. He's been playing a lot better recently than when he first came into the Championship. With any luck he might continue that improvement.

I wasn't replying to you, it was a general comment

Morgan Fox got pelters from Sheff Weds fan in a "Who would you keep?" poll. Injury prone, over rated and inconsistent were the terms used. He'll fit right in with your history of left backs then.

Sam Hart was out on loan though and has been since he came. He can't have spent much time with the squad at all. I can understand Smallwood as I'd assume he's a pretty influential figure in the squad. Plus if the dreaded coronavirus does put a few of our players out Smallwood can easily step in and play.

That didn't even cross my mind before asking that question to be fair. A very weird choice, given his position in the squad. I was trying to come up with some justification for it but there's no point trying to defend the indefensible.

Remarkable from the bloke who totally dismisses anything positive about Gallagher to the point of near tears. Your tune changes quickly.

Is it 100% confirmed Sam Hart cannot play for the Club under any circumstances? Given the current situation it is possible we may lose Bell / Williams overnight due to forced quarantine and Hart would need to step in. It may shed some light on why he was given another month. For all of those who are linking our transfer conundrum to Tony Mowbray - you're way off the mark. This is a problem which stems from the top. Ever since Venky's came we have had a reputation of being slow when it comes to transfers, which means sometimes agents, players & clubs go elsewhere. Nothing will change whilst the attitude of our owners remains the same.

A tad disrespectful, although I am going to assume you didn't mean it as Smallwood the man is a joke, but more the decision to sign him up again s. If that's the case I apologise. I f it isn't the case then I should remind you that Smallwood always put every effort in whilst in a Rovers shirt and has never done anything to disrespect the club or town. He's not good enough at this level but I enjoyed watching him play whilst in League 1 and will always be thankful for his services. We've had far, far worse players!

Nah, not buying it. Sorry. I had a quick look through my tender list for work. During the Covid-19 lockdown I helped to secure over £10m worth of groundworks schemes, £3.5m brickwork scheme and a £1.2m ground remediation contract. I did this by remote working, zoom meetings, Microsoft Teams and generally a bit of endeavour from everyone. If a small construction surveying firm based in Shropshire can do that 'remotely' why can't business mogul Waggot and multi-national business moguls Venkys not sit down and discuss budgets? It's bullshit. Another excuse for why we will be once again behind the curve. As for the refund the club should be making it much easier to recieve a refund if required. There's no reason to wait 10 - 14 days, nor is there a reason for the customer to be approaching the producer for their money back. They should be making the process as easy and quick as possible because, for all of their financial difficulties, the man on the street is facing more.

Definitely. When I was younger the local ABC was ran by "Mad Frank". MMA was up and coming back then and most of us went to Frank's to box. Some of the roadmen lads at school would come down occasionally and Frank was perfect at bringing them down to 'normality'. He'd put them in the ring to spar with one of the better lads and they'd walk out with a different mindset. Mad Frank died when we were 15 sadly, and unfortunately a few of the roadmen lads who boxed with us are either dead or in jail now. I can't help but think if Frank had stayed around a few of them might have stayed out of trouble. One of the best boxers I've seen is doing a 10 year stretch for armed robbery right now. There's certainly a dozen or so success cases from the gym. I think it has since shut down. Personally speaking I was always a bit of a tearaway as a youth. I always lacked mental discipline and it got me in a bit of trouble. I started wing-chun and Brazilian ju-jitsu after hitting it off at Dark Circle MMA gym in Wolves when I was 17. Without blowing my own trumpet them two martial arts have instilled a discipline I never thought possible. Whether it was solely the art or a mixture of that and maturing I'm uncertain but, without it, I wouldn't be the person I am now. From Birmingham there are two big success stories: Leon and Fabian Edwards. I saw Leon train at the Erdington UTC (now a washing machine wholesalers!!!) and he's a whole different animal physically. The level of fitness them pro fighters have is breathtaking. Fabian is a bit different: he recently done time and has come out the other side. He's now in the Bellator and smashing it so will no doubt see him in the UFC at some point. As a final note, both of them have said in the past without MMA they'd probably be in and out of jail all their lives.

Infinite Limousine Pile Up - Dead Players (any grime fans give this a listen, including Sox ?)

The infamous Marcus Maddison. I wonder whether it was him or the Peterboro director who couldn't strike an agreement? I can't wait for another summer of being tentatively linked with him.....,.

Oyster and Otter was decent the first time I ever went there. I don't know what happened but the longer it stayed the worse it got, yet the prices kept going up and up. My old man lives in Feni and in truthful the prices round there are outrageous for Blackburn. They pretty much match Brum city centre prices for pints.

No, they definitely didn't. You have misunderstood my point. My Grandad isn't annoyed by the lack of refund because he's in the old-school category of supporting your club in the ground. He's 82 and has bigger worries than 50 quid. If the offer was given to him for a refund he wouldn't have took it. That doesn't mean the option shouldn't have been given to him though. There will be plenty of people out there, including myself, that see it as a consumer right that you should be offered an alternative to the live football game you have paid for. iFollow doesn't match the product you purchased hence why the refund should be on the difference in cost between the two. However, this idea that because you have iFollow you've been provided with your service is wrong. It doesn't cater for people who either aren't technology savvy or don't have internet access. So for that marginal group of people the Club have completely failed them. In fact, I'd go as far as to say, my Grandad has effectively been stolen from. He has no way of watching another game this season despite having paid for 23 games of football. The Club have no way of providing that service to him therefore the club should give him his money back. They aren't though because they are banking on him being the type of person he is. That's wrong. Put it this way, I don't think the owners before Venkys would have acted in the same way. It simply isn't the way Rovers fans should want their club to be run.

To be truthful he doesn't care. He never kicked up a fuss about the refund or not being able to see the games. He's firmly in the category of "I watch my Rovers games in the ground". It was more my beef with the clubs actions. He has Sky and will be kept entertained by the PL, so as a family we aren't particularly "put out" by what has gone on. However, in business terms, if another company had treat my grandad in the same fashion they would not receive another penny from us. In my eyes that is taking advantage of your consumers because, and the club realises this, we aren't "just customers".

You have a fair point about supporters not equalling customers. Although I see it in a different light to you. We are better than customers. We guarantee repeat purchasing and will stick with the brand despite any potential PR nightmares, ie: Venky's. It is for that reason why we should be treat better than an avaerage customer down Asda for example. Yet, if I prepaid for my online shopping at Asda, and they didn't have the product, they'd either supply an alternative or provide a refund. Rovers are not offering that same consumer protection. What Rovers have offered is good for some people, like myself, but for someone like my Grandad it is pointless. He doesn't even have internet at his house so how, in the current climate, can I make sure that a man who has been going for over 50 years is seeing a) his football and b) value for his hard earned money? By rights my Grandad should receive a credit refund of £52 from the club. He won't though, because the option to use iFollow is available....if you have internet. The Club has let my Grandad down massively. He's never let them down, bought his ticket every year, got all his grandkids replica tops, season tickets, hats, scarves, programs. The only time in his life when he's probably looked at the club for something back and the men in charge are nowhere to be seen. Sadly it is exactly what we have come to expect from the current management of Blackburn Rovers.

It is only right that, in business, if somebody has pre-paid for a service and you are not able to fulfil your responsibility you offer the chance of a full refund or alternative. It wouldn't have meant diddly squat for the club in real terms. I'd say out of the 8k (?) ticket holders it would only be a maximum of 5k who would apply for the refund. Some rough maths tells: On an average ticket of £299 per season, spread over 23 games = £13 per game 4 home games left = £52 £52 for 5k supporters = £260,000. Is £260,000 really that big of a figure that the club wouldn't at least risk the chance that people claim the refund? Even if all 8k supporters claimed it is only a liability of £416,000. Again, in the grand scheme of football, is that figure substantial enough for Rovers to potentially turn away a few ST holders? As the iFollow is a credible alternative given the current circumstances then the refund should have been calculated as the pro-ratad difference between iFollow subscription and a ST, even then only as an "option".

I think attempting social distancing in a football ground is cloud cuckoo land Matty. I think more and more about this virus is coming around each day. The world won't wait for a vaccine before things open up again. This is just one of those things we as a people will have to learn to deal with. In any case, the vast majority of people will have probably been in contact with the virus already. I'm not holding my breath for a vaccine but I was always under the impression the 'experts' believed a reliable anti-body test was key to opening up the world again. I don't quite know where they are with that though but by all accounts it doesn't take as long to develop as said vaccine. I suspect we will be back in football grounds and attending mass events before we know it. You will then have to make up your own mind if you want to risk it and attend. That could be just as catastrophic for us as it could be remaining behind closed doors. A lot of our fan base is quite old and probably won't bother attending - the JW Upper will be vacant.

Living it Up - Damien Marley

This isn't for the Clubs to work out though, Paul. Imagine if they tried to make Ewood "Covid-Secure" (its the new buzzphrase in industry right now) and then half of the BBE ended up with it after a game? There'd be claims going in left right & centre. The only easy answer to getting people back inside is a vaccine but as you say, is that even possible? Society has to move on from this whole episode eventually. The balancing of risk is something to be considered carefully by the health authorities, not by our clubs. If I was running a club the only way I'd entertain letting fans back inside is if clear guidlines were issued for me to follow, and the health advice was that mass events were allowed again. Then again, we are in a fairly good position to stay 2m apart at Ewood these days and not have any of our usual attendees miss out....