Angry_Pirate

At least the club got their priorities right in kissing the arse of the away fans.

So we released a statement: "The club limited media questions at today’s pre-match press conference on matters relating to individual players." During the same press conference:

When is the next big "express yourself" day where we can all do 250 different things with no clear unity?

"Losing Travis, Dolan, Pears, Brittain, Hedges, Hyam, Batth, Buckley and Leonard doesn't bother me one bit." (Below Average Fan) What the club and (some) supporters need to realise is the prices of British players are ridiculous (which Rovers will not pay). Shipping out over ⅓ of last years squad - all of whom are British - will severely bite when they realise only a maximum of 1 more foreign player can be brought in (Mafoumbi leaving first). Its an absolute disaster. A Burnley fan playing Football Manager couldn't do a better job at sabotage.

Gueye: Hedges, Tronstad, Dolan Shefki: Bellamy, Tugay, Pedersen

💯 Even if Axel isn't a "Wide Forward, #7, or Winger" he certainly is an improvement on Hedges. Hendrickson probably touched the ball more last night then Hedges will in August.

God I'll have regressed that memory if he did. Kenna, Grayson, Curtis, Neill would all be ahead of him in this scenario though? Wikipedia (I know) has him down for 88 appearances in 6 years - with 33 appearances in 2002/2003, so maybe he was more involved than I remember. Maybe he took over from Craig Short as he aged out? Tiny is 45yrs old. Jesus.

Was he ever a "Best XI" guy. We had Short and Berg for most of his time with us, and Chirstian Dailly was the starting CB before Berg came back. Amoruso, Babbel and Zurab came in not long after. I'd have Tiny in with Damien Johnson, Jonathan Douglas, John Buckley etc as guys who played and were "Bench" options, but can't say I ever think of him as a quote-on-quote "Starter".

So the club likes to semi themselves with this "proud academy" stuff... With Travis leaving - and somebody please correct me if I am missing a time period - (Edit - I think there was a period in the mid 00's), this may be the first time in the entire Premier League era that a Blackburn Rovers best XI (ignoring injuries) does not feature an academy player? Maybe you could squint and say Carter/Wharton as a CB, but I think we will see McLaughlin as the CB2. Looking through the entire timeline from 1992: Jason Wilcox, Damien Duff, David Dunn, Phil Jones, Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Jason Lowe*, Marcus Olsson, Grant Hanley, David Raya, Darragh Lenihan, Ryan Nyambe, Adam Wharton, Lewis Travis. All those players seem to cover the majority of the past 23+ years - maybe there is a gap when Dunn/Duff left in 2003 in the Souness/Hughes eras. Which would make sense with the 720+ match streak putting us around that time. Still though, for where we are nowadays (as shell of a club), with an apparently excellent Academy, to say none would be in our best XI, is scandalous.

Operation blame the player : Achieved.

If Montgomery comes out for the 2nd half, we aren't actively trying to win the game. Alebiosu needs to come on, or McLaughlin to move Miller. Tavares the standout, Tyjon and Axel trying to play 1 touch football, both could have had better halves, but the intent is there, all three always turning forward. Haven't had a player the style of Tavares for years.

If Ryan Hedges ends up being the first "significant" contract renewal in +2.5yrs...

Did Rovers deserve to lose? No Did Rovers deserve to score? Also, No Should WBA goal be disallowed? 50:50 Should Rovers of had a penalty? 100% Two bang average sides. Hedges and De Neve look like back end squad players (being generous), and should be nowhere near the first XI. Sondre was honestly abysmal today, and Gueye looked like the October version of Gueye. The back four seem okay, we miss an (on form) Cantwell and desperately need a RW. Set pieces were hot garbage. Referee - a premiership referee - cost us at least a point there. 0-0 was the least the team deserved.

Jeez, grim reading... if only we'd have "expressed ourselves" a little better back in the spring.

Worrying about resale value on signings... People seem to forget we are Blackburn "run your contract down and leave for nothing" Rovers. How was the resale on Dolan, Brereton-Diaz, Lenihan, Rothwell, Nyambe, and Dack (though we can forgive that one to a degree). That's £25m - £30m worth of assets that walked for nothing in the last 3 years. Travis, Hyam, Tronstad (£7m?) - even Hedges (£500k?) - are at best going to be sold for under value (like Brittain) due to contract malpractice, or will join the list of £0 departures. Let's just say I don't share the same concern if they spend £1m on a 28-year-old. Rovers players walk for free 80% of the time regardless!

Literally give me all these Right Winger links and throw the lot of them at the wall to see what sticks. At least one (if not all) will be more of an attacking threat than Ryan "Chip" Hedges.

The annoying thing is that not all loans need to be players to grow - or to put it in real terms, not ready! Fed up loaning the likes of Cozier-Duberry, Billy Koumetio, Clinton Mola and George Hirst who (may become good, but) were woefully under prepared for Championship football, when other teams seem to loan more "proven" and championship battle tested youngsters. Derby signing Owen Beck this year is a much better loan than us signing him 12 months ago. Louie Barry another example to Sheffield United. When was the last time Rovers loaned a player (who was successful) that was already proven at Championship level. I use this example often but why is it Rovers loan Jack Byrne, whereas Huddersfield loan Aaron Mooy? Both CM from Man City reserves, yet we get the absolute dud vs the star. Rovers don't get relegated if you swap that one loan.

Sadly also seems that the proud streak of Academy players in the XI will end fairly soon. Might even get our first ever non-english XI. Travis, Wharton, Carter, Montgomery and Tyjon (not counting Buckley) are the only ones with that classification, and between potential sales and injuries, it's very possible we see a team of; Toth, Ribiero, McLaughlin, Hyam, Miller, Sondre, Tavares, Kargbo, Hendrickson, Hedges, Ohashi. Zero English, Zero Academy. Minor problem in 2025? maybe. But sad.

Anders Andersson: bought for £1m back in 1997. I think he played a half-dozen games and scored once vs Preston in the cup. 🇸🇪 Speaking of Scandinavian players. Per Pedersen 🇩🇰 for £2.5m was one of those signings that really were part of the catalyst to the fall from grace. Donis, Davidson, Dahlin, Valery and (Tore & Per) Pedersen were all pretty woeful arrivals in the 12 months following Alan Shearer's departure... only Stéphane Henchoz was a successful signing in 2 years. No wonder we quickly fell off a cliff.

Not at all what I imagined him to look like. It looks like he's spent too long north of the border on the Iron Bru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (I say that as ⅔ Scottish myself).

Callum Brittain is easily a top 6 right back in this league, lets hope Miller is at least a top 12. Wonder what we'll do with the net £2.5m profit...

It's pretty inexcusable that any Football League club would sign an ESC player on a 3yr deal, and be over a year without even a legitimate sniff of the first team (Pre-season, EFL/FA cup squads etc), and now be in a position where that players slot is a hindering factor. Feel sorry for the lad as it isn't his fault. But he needs moved.

Losing Brittain is less than ideal, but I do like the idea of adding an Australian (and Americans) to the squad, brings back comforting memories of better days with the likes of Neill, Emerton, Filan, and Friedel. Partly whely I've always been on the Gabriel Slonina bandwagon from Chelsea as a GK option. Seems like a nice option to replace Pears, but let's see. What this team would do with a Jermaine Jones type CM, absolute tease of a loan back in the day.

I did this on FM23, worked fine. Didn't work out as well when he triggered a 2yr extension on promotion (😂) and a hefty pay rise... 1st world problems and all that.

Any predictions or ITK on where Buckley and Pears are off to, and what kind of price? Personally, anything above L1 and £750,000 each would be a success for all involved. Add ons wouldn't be a terrible idea due to nationality, "potential" and age. If JRC could go for £1m it might not be as crazy to hope for similar. Pears is useless, but look at the career Steele has had since we cheered his departure. 30+ EPL appearances for a 26yr old GK at £500k. All this assuming money even matters at this football club. With our 15% reinvestment since V*nkys took over. With Dolan, Brittain, Buckley, JRC and Pears all departing, our squad all of a sudden is going to be fairly thin on 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 players. Travis, Cantwell, Pickering, Wharton, Carter, Alebiosu, Forshaw and Tyjon are the only ones in the whole squad. 8/25.