I'd be really pleased if they forget to turn up at Wigan, PROVIDED they remember to turn up at Ewood instead.

I was being conservative in my figures but yes that's right, that's where the problem lies and has been for 11 years in various different guises, from ditching Sam & putting SK in his place, allowing Anderson free reign to line his pockets at the club's expense, to hiring & firing managers in weeks, to appointing Coyle instead of Warnock, to leaving TM in charge for too long then not supporting him 12 months ago, then allowing those 4 players to all leave for not a penny in return, all whilst never being closer than half way across the glove whilst the club rots. It's quite a charge sheet, and I know there's stuff I've not included that goes beyond. JDT and GB are not the problem; their difficulties are just another symptom of it. We need to support them as IMO they're the best chance we've had in years of returning to something like an actual football club that wants to progress on and off the pitch.

And why don't we have money to spend? It's because someone near the top of the tree dropped the ball in allowing 4 first teamers worth a combined £15-£20m to leave for £0 in a 12 month period, rather than realising in good time that they weren't signing new deals so ought to be sold to realise a return on investment that could reinvested in the squad. That same person / persons have also alienated 50% of the club's fanbase in the last decade through showing no understanding of how to run a football club in this country. It goes back to our esteemed owners, let's not pretend that GB & JDT are the real bad guys here, they're just trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear. To expect them to do that in 6 months is entirely unrealistic, yet we're still in a playoff spot & the draw for the 5th round of the FA Cup. Give them some bloody credit people!!

Hang on, didn't we want our recruitment team to be creative in their scouting, to use European networks, to cast the net to find unpolished gems, in a world where bringing someone in from abroad is harder than ever for us both financially and administratively?? Here they are, doing exactly that, and are now being accused of being underwhelming and alarm bells ringing!! Can anyone really say he would be any better or worse for us than Geldhart or Undav?? Expectations of some on here need to be reeled in, unfortunately. What was it Souness said that is often quoted on here? "We have to wee with the willy we've got". It's not GB or JDT's fault that it's got rather cold in the last decade...

I didn't see Rotherham so can't specifically comment, though it seems from what I've read that no-one covered themselves in glory there. I think he's the type of player though where a lot of his good work goes unseen whereas his errors are glaring. Take your point re Johnson, but he certainly flattered to deceive more often than not & failed to live up to his promise. The others you mention, Graham & Conway I grant, but most will be happy see to let Ayala leave in 3 months as generally having been underwhelming, and Downing was as good in his first season as he was bad in his second. Anyway Wharton has been injured last few weeks, and with Buckley suspended there's been little option for JDT but to persist with him. As I've said elsewhere, hopefully the succession plan includes giving Wharton more game time 2nd half of the season.

I'm pretty sure that no-one from Ewood or Liverpool has ever built him up like another Harvey Elliott. Judging every loanee against Elliott is like judging every striker against Kane. See my comment above as to why he's here & starting ahead of Morton. Wharton & Garrett both got their debuts in the EFL this season, Morton had played in the Prem & Champs League. He's clearly further on in his development. All this said, I would like to see us play Wharton played more this 2nd half of the season, so he can hit the ground running more next season.

I actually think Morton would start for most teams in this division, and don't think that overall he is as bad as is being made out. Besides, we've tried the experienced route before with the likes of Murphy, Etuhu, Best, Goodwillie, Guthrie, Wes Brown, Stokes, even Johnson himself) but they've hardly worked out as hoped, so if you're looking at a season-long bridge why not try someone fresh, young, with good pedigree who has something to prove to his parent club? And if it was Wharton who had been making the mistakes Morton has, he'd hardly be getting an easier ride for it from the critics. Look at the criticism Vale is getting for example; if wharton comes into the team too soon & performs like Morton he'd be crucified on here and would hardly be greeted with, "at least he's one of our own". What would that do for his development?? Money is undoubtedly part of the reason behind it Morton over Choudary / Hendrick etc,, but Broughton has hardly been quiet about those limitations since he arrived has he?

Accepting the fact that Morton has made some individual errors that have proved costly (yesterday chief amongst them, it was right in front of my temp seat in the JW Upper & was suicidal), he's not alone in that. Can I suggest to those criticising why we signed Morton that they listen to GB"s interview with the Assoc of Sporting Directors that is posted elsewhere on this forum? It explains exactly why he was signed, which was to bridge the gap between experienced midfielders leaving at the end of last season & the likes of Wharton & Garrett coming through. He's 12 months ahead of both in his overa development & age, so a 12 month loan made sense given the budget & timescales GB & JDT had to work to, but next season will likely be founded on Wharton, Garrett, Travis& Buckley plus 1 other. To me that's rational, common sense, forward / succession planning which has been missing from this club for a decade. Additionally, Morton himself has said on record that he wasn't expecting this many appearances, so it can hardly have been written into his deal that he gets them! The main reason for that has been the drop off-in form of Buckley & Travis, which proves that reliance on just your own (younger) players isn't always successful so loans are required to supplement that, like all other clubs at our level given the fact that established Prem clubs have about 40 senior players in their books at any one time Why does everything have to be a conspiracy theory about penalties for lack of minutes, jobs for the boys, stats over eyes etc?? Edit: that post wasn't directed at you Exiled by the way, I realise on re-reading that it could've come across that way!!

I'm all for discussion & debate, but the bare facts are that we're paupers, with rich owners who can't or won't write blank cheques. They've spunked £180m+ away in a decade whilst reducing the club's value, but don't feel obliged to throw good money after bad to right their wrongs. So they've gone down the sustainability & self sufficiency route. On one level that's to be applauded as we all want the club to survive & grow for next generations. Whether we like it or not, that's where we are. So GB & JDT are working in very tight parameters. They have some budget, but have to wheel & deal to get the right blend of ins & outs, youth & experience, for now & for succession planning. That means having to be patient and wait on other clubs, and / or on the next round of cup games to pass before prem clubs release fringe players. Folk are impatient due to the stalling under TM. Fair enough I get it, but GB & JDT are a new broom. I listened to the interview GB gave to the ASD today, he clearly knows his onions and understands how important our proud, historic club is to its town. I'm 100% certain he's doing his damndest to bring sustainable success to us. It's unlikely to be immediate, and it might not succeed at all, but I think he and JDT are the best chance we've had since 2012 to get back to being a force at the top table again.

Sorry JH but can't agree. Yes some were first time loanees but many weren't, probably like any other team at our level. Tosin played a season on loan at W Brom the season before he joined us (& was excellent for us). Van Hecke played a season at Heerenveen before us (and again was excellent for us). Giles - was on loan at Cardiff before us. Then going further back there's the likes of Tom Trybull, Barry Douglas, Greg Cunningham, Harrison Reed, Kasey Palmer. All of whom were experienced pros or had prior loans at our level before. And the best one of all was Harvey Elliott, who admittedly was a first time loanee but boy (literally!) was he worth it! So I'd say there's nothing to see here, just appears to be a bit of mischievous stirring on your part, if not a lack of research...

All this talk of the project, the longer term, forward planning etc. being criticised, for me brings to mind something Jack said when we won the title. Through tears of joy, he said that we'd achieved his goal of winning the title a year earlier than planned. Great, we all thought, and it was a truly fantastic 4 years. But then what happened? We finished 7th, then mid table for a couple of seasons, then went down. We were rubbish in 99/2000, then found Souness and lucked out with the likes of Dunn, Duff & Jansen coming through. Hughes also benefitted from that, but was also able to buy in decent talent. We competed really well over a decade in the Prem under Williams' guidance before Venky's came along & threw it all away. My point, in this context, is that we grew too fast, faster than expected, such that we fell away almost as fast, faster than any other title winner. We didn't have the foundations to be sustainable in the longer term. Jack knew this and admitted as much, hence the funding of the academy. After his death, that academy, plus good club management from Williams, kept us up, but it only took 1 bad appointment by know-nothing new owners to ruin it all and since then.... well, we all know what's happened since then. This summer, for whatever reason and at whoever's behest, the club took a new turn by opting for the DoF & Head Coach model. It happened at a time when 3 senior pros left for free, 2 first team loanees left, and half a dozen squad players moved on. The club was riddled with holes, not just on the squad but in the backroom team too. On arrival, GB made no bones about this being a project, the brief being to make the club sustainable in its own right, to build a solid foundation over a period of time which would stand the test of time and the vagaries of the modern game. It was to be (re)built from the bottom up, relying heavily on the academy, good scouting & shrewd investment. JDT then arrived. He perhaps didn't know the recent history, the antipathy of the owners, the mistrust between the club & fans, the false dawns, the promises, the journey. But he did know we had a shoestring budget, he knew we had a strong academy, he knew we had a team shorn of experience & numbers, with 1 star player who was only likely to be around for one season, the other still recovering from 2 seasons out injured. "I was looking for a project, the project found me". He nor JDT couldn't have been clearer about their remit. He then had what, 6 weeks to get to know the players he inherited, in a pre season he said wouldn't have been his choice, plus contribute to identifying incomings. One of his backroom team died within days of his arrival. Then the season started in earnest, 24 games crammed into 3 and a half months. He had to rely on blooding youth to get through that, giving 5 players their senior debuts. It's not surprising that some things didn't come off (Hirst being the standout flop) or that results have been inconsistent. Despite all that, the team clearly over achieved in that spell, to the point where now, even after 3 wins in 10 matches, we're still in 4th, which none of us predicted, expected or demanded in June. All to play for. There's 1 week left of the January transfer window. We clearly have targets, some known, most probably unknown. JDT and GB will be trying to push for the best deals for now, whilst also planning for the future as per their remit, which they knew when they arrived. Every manager hates the January window, good deals are tough to get at the best of times, even for non-dysfunctional clubs like Rovers. I've rambled on a bit, but looking through the prism of history GB & JDT just cannot be judged harshly now, or at the end of this season, on the back of faults of others before or above them. The Prem winning year was built on weak foundations which crumbled just as quickly, & Venky's ruined the stability of the Williams era. If it takes JDT & GB 2-3 seasons of rebuilding, of trading, of instilling a togetherness & an identity back into a broken club then great, 'cos it was a shambles when they arrived. And that's not giving up on promotion this year by the way.

I think you should change your name to "No Merc-y", 'cos that's what you show to anyone at Ewood who fails to smell of roses (or should that be rosé?)! 😉

Be careful what you predict, many on here were lamenting Raya as being unlikely to do much in his career - too small / rash / error-prone / lightweight etc, but he's turned out alright.

Whether your opinion is correct or not (I think TK is as good a keeper as any in this division) how on earth does it make sense to sell Kaminski just because he isn't Raya? We're not going to get Raya back so we should only be considering selling TK if we can identify a better replacement. Let's not compound one decision by making another unnecessarily.

A poor day, no doubt about it. Seems like one of those games that everything's gone right for the opposition but we didn't do enough to deserve anything. JDT will face a lot of questions after this, and rightly so, but this isn't a time for knee jerk JDT out reactions IMO.

Wow. Just wow. I agree there are bullsh1tters in football, but how you can argue with a straight face that GB and JDT are amongst them is impressively poor judgment & is just peddling a narrative that everything at the club is rotten.

The Blackpool game's been postponed to make way for the FA Cup tie, which is also an important & v winnable game but nonetheless offers a bit of a welcome distraction to what will otherwise be a bit of a long slog of pressure-filled league matches.

Great post. It would be better if we could all do this down the dog & duck over a pint, a game of darts and a laugh, but alas that's not possible in most cases so we're stuck with forums that, whilst useful, aren't the best way for debating the things that we're all passionate about, which can often get the better of us all. I hope engaging with me yesterday didn't make things any worse for you and that you feel right as rain soon. 👍 I guess a decent transfer window will help, here's hoping!! 🤞

Forgive me if your post wasn't directed at me but at someone else (Eddie?). It did refer to the issues I've been raising and did follow on chronologically from what I'd just posted, and I appreciated I've been a bit outspoken on this thread the last few pages. Perhaps quote the post(s) or poster(s) that you're responding to in future like you did above, then it can avoid further misunderstandings. 👍

Here we go again, don't read and reply with civility, instead just play the man not the ball and resort to swearing back at me and questioning my support of the club despite what I said in my previous post about my background as a season ticket holder for over 35 years. Bang out of order on both counts. You've no idea who I am and I dont dare to presume who you are. I see you only joined this forum in Nov 2021, does that give me the right to question your entitlement to comment or your commitment?? All managers publicly downplay their prospects of success. "We're just taking it one game at a time", "we're looking no further ahead than to the next match" etc. are common phrases from managers. Managers set internal targets which stay internal, whilst publicly they say very different things. Much like when managers give nothing away about transfer targets to fans & the media. Is that so hard to understand? All I'm seeking to do is bring some objectivity to the debate, and put my alternative point of view to that of the critics on here that is wider in scope than just a handful of poor performances & supported by the stats, be that league position, squad strength & demographics, financial limitations, new backroom structure etc. If criticism is due then fair enough, as it was following those performances mentioned, but let it be levelled fairly alongside of praise when that's also due and not just ignore the achievements that have come in between those failures and which, combined, see us in a far better position now than any of us anticipated in the summer. On a final note, it's a shame that you don't give a feck what other people think if it's different to you. It's kind of what message boards are for, to debate and discuss & potentially enlighten. Without constructive criticism of opposing points of view, forums just become echo chambers. I've never once questioned another fan's right to think or say what they do about the club, the team or the management; nor have I resorted to name calling or the bare dismissal of opposing views. I've just said that I don't understand the bleak view that some have of this season overall & JDT in particular.

That's another thing really, the traffic on here is far greater after a defeat or poor performance than after a win. That grates me too, though I have it on good authority from other posters who scrape the barrels of other club's forums that it's the same for all clubs, so I'll let that one slide... 😉

Thanks for the reasoned & well considered post, I appreciate it much more than the "weird behaviour", "bizarre" & "prioner of war / Stockholm syndrome" comments seen from others. For the record, someone else accused me of performing mental gymnastics, so I was responding to that. It was also someone else brought Jack into the conversation & I was responding to that too. Jack Walker is a hero to anyone who has any passion for our club; I will never denigrate him, but I will also not rewrite history. I only get to see home games live due to family & financial commitments. I live in Cheshire now so a 3pm home game for me basically takes up the whole day, but I've had a season ticket for 35 years so have a valid opinion having seen the good, the bad & the ugly over that period, & was at Wembley for the Full Members Cup win etc. in my black rimmed NHS specs as seen on ITV news! I didn't see the Preston home game due to the weather (last season when it snowed it took me 3 hours to get to Ewood, only for the match to be postponed when 500 yards away!), nor the Wigan away game, but I am acutely aware from here, from facebook, from twitter, from JDT, from the LT and Lancs live how poor we were, there was no doubting it! I saw the Burnley debacle on tv & called it out for what it was on here afterwards. I get those results and performances will stick in the craw most for those folk who spent good money & time to attend. If you look at my history of posts on here, hopefully you'll recognise that they're less of the knee jerk type & more objective than most. Perhaps on this occasion I've fallen into blue-and-white tinted specs territory, but if so that's only because I feel the extent of criticism of JDT is so unwarranted. He walked into a shitstorm really in the summer but despite that urrently has us 3rd, has brought half a dozen academy players into the fold (albeit through necessity, but mostly successfully), has made some decent, good value signings (and some admittedly less so, like all managers) and has been honest enough after poor performances to admit they were below par. He came in saying "I was looking for a project, but the project found me". He was open about that from the start. There were some who questioned the wisdom of his appointment, but the majority view was that it's a bold & ambitious appointment, a welcome change from the usual dinosaur merry go round, and that he would need time to rebuild a broken & morale-strapped squad to even make us competitive. Now, due mainly to poor performances against 3 local rivals, he is vilified for every wrong move & deemed lucky when things go our way. Listen to any manager, they all say that young players are prone to inconsistency. If you have half a dozen players aged 23 or less in your team / squad, it's more likely than not that they will put in inconsistent performances from one week to the next week, just like we have done (contrast poor defeats to Burnley, Wigan, Sheff Utd and Preston with deserved wins v QPR, Watford, Blackpool & Swansea). He had 6 weeks to get to know his squad, backroom team, a new internal structure in its infancy, and Broughton himself, to understand the division, and to identify upgrades, before games then came every 3-4 days for 15 weeks in an unprecedented season. All with a thin squad inherited from Mowbray due to contract mismanagement that's been padded out with loans, academy players & a few others known to be injury prone. I just don't get why so many people are so critical of JDT when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I respect people's views & don't pretend to be any kind of Oracle. Nor do I expect to change the minds of others, but I do feel it's right to stick up for fair comment. To round off, Venkys ownership has been nothing short of shambolic. As a consequence, we don't have the muscle, the pull or the stature we did 15 or 20 years ago. We can't just push out our chests and say "We are Blackburn Rovers". Venkys have dismantled what we were. So our short term aims and goals have to be set accordingly, to build from the bottom up, to build up the academy, to become self-sufficient & not rely on handouts. That's the context of JDT's arrival here and it's his job, over time, to usher in a new era for the club and oversee a smooth transition to rising again as a different beast to what we were under Jack. It has to be like that because Venkys won't sell. That's the reality of where we are now, like it or not.

I think there's a lot in this, hence why some people need a reality check re JDTs football bein boring, or people feeling entertained. But ultimately 3rd place is a great place to be at this point in time. This desire for entertainment, has it ever been thus or is it recent phenomenon spawn of the internet & instant gratification? I remember some dull patches under Hughes & Souey especially, isn't it just part of football for some games to be dull & uninspiring? It's before my time, but many on here who I see criticising JDT are some of the same folk who look back fondly to the days of Howard Kendall which, from what I understand, was very much built on 1-0 wins, scoring then shutting up shop. Hardly sounds inspirational, but it was effective ultimately. Bearing in mind JDT has had 6 months in charge, there's surely an inconsistency there?

Hats off to you sir for engaging, I almost feel guilty for taking you to task now (almost)! Let's argue no more as you say. We both want the same in the end.

The valid evidence that JDT has done well is the league table. In June when he took over, with 6 first teamers having left on frees or returned to their parent clubs, most anticipated us being closer to 3rd bottom, not 3rd top. I'm not sure why you've gone down the "Jack would never have appointed him" route, but seeing how you have you should recall that Jack appointed Hodgson; he also got Eriksen to agree to come here. Neither of them had a record in this country. It's a different world now anyway. He also appointed Kidd & Harford, who respectively had zero & little managerial experience at all. Thinking about it, Jack's only truly successful managerial appointment was Kenny. But yes, we'll see if JDT achieves promotion. If he does then that's a massive overachievement, even getting 6th upwards would be given the circs. Realistically he should be given more time to instill his ideas & get his own personnel in. See what J*B said above re how well respected he seems to be at Ewood.