Lived in Swansea for 8 years. Mid-Wales past Chester, Newtown, Neath valley for a lovely drive and a relaxed dinner somewhere. M50 then M4 to get there quickly (still nice after Monmouth mind).

Honestly, before the game I was absolutely delighted with the team. I agreed with every player. Didn't grumble about any player left out. Like everyone else, I assumed that we'd put Buckley in to replace Nyambe in extremis. Dolan buzzing around their defenders as the false 9. Never in my darkest nightmares did I think that Dolan would ever go in as a defender. After a few minutes though, the warning bells were going off and it was clear that both Dolan and Edun weren't going to be up to it. Of course, I attach no blame to Dolan for not being a right back. He has neither the experience nor the physicality to cope with holding off attackers. Edun though was bought as a left back option. How could he be so poor at dealing with a winger? Bullied on every header. Unable to stop a cross. Couldn't cross properly when in position. Very worrying if Pickering is out for a stretch.

Given that this was evident in the first half, what we needed above all else was to solidify the left hand side. Except we took van Hecke away and put Johnson there. The pressure this weakness put on us eventually told.

I honestly wouldn't care too much about missing a cup run if it was Stoke or Coventry or Charlton or some such. Wigan though grinds. Each season, we seem to be a cut above them but can't beat them. It's getting tiresome.

58 minutes ago, Scutdog said:

Could not believe how many morons were there following Rovers. Lads behind me spent most of the game trying to smash up seats. Not seen that before. 

It's genuinely embarrassing to be connected to them in any way. 2 fellas in front of me (when not in the concourse getting more beer) chatting to each other facing away from the game. Lad next to me (may have been adult-sized but certainly no need for shaving just yet) who didn't watch Rovers enough to know that it wasn't, "You are Gallagher".

Local derbies should be some of the most fun at an away game but you spend so long staring around you in complete contempt. I must admit I may start concentrating on the longer road trips and have a nice dinner somewhere rather than deal with the cretins. Hopefully Wales is back to semi-normal by the Swansea game. Meanwhile, grow the **** up and stop embarrassing Rovers!

Special mention to the mindless thugs amongst our following chucking several bottles onto the pitch at our own players (Pears) and at the ball-boys at the end of the match as well as their players celebrating the goals. Scum.

14 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

They need to chill out 

The atmosphere has been getting better and better. Smoke bombs are harmless. Go to a match in Europe they are everywhere 

Sorry but this is an extremely egocentric attitude. "I enjoy them with my mates so there isn't a problem."

1) If you are elderly or suffer from breathing difficulties, then smoke is not harmless.

2) If you want to watch the game but there's a smoke bomb going off near you, then you can't.

3) The atmosphere is down to noise not smoke and would not suffer in any way from a few smoke bombs being left in a warehouse somewhere.

Let's be honest. The Ewood Express in is the only way our fanbase will ever grow in a meaningful way short of challenging in the top half of the Prem. So bored of the laughter of kids at school who truly couldn't comprehend why anyone would support Rovers ahead of Man U or whoever.

Excited Tier: Burnley (either), Harrogate (A), Man Utd (H), Kidd/Halifax (A)

Intrigued Tier: Salford/Chesterfield (A), Arsenal/Liverpool/City (H), Boreham Wood/St Albans (A)

Pleasant away day out Tier: Barrow, Cambridge, Shrewsbury, Yeovil

Whatever to any anything else.

Haven't posted on this thread in a fair while.

My overall perspective remains unchanged. I don't think Mowbray is right for us and we need a new voice in the dressing room. Some of the square pegs stuff is truly mind-blowing. We need ugly, winning personalities like Diouf, Savage or Bellamy more than ever.

HOWEVER...

I, like many others on here, thought that this season would be a real battle to survive. I couldn't see where goals were coming from and thought injuries would see us too fragile at the back. They still might of course but we are waaaaaaaaaaay above where most of us expected right now. Diaz has been a revelation but Gallagher has also chipped in more handily than anticipated.

If we are going to scrape by until the summer with no funds for January then so be it. I still hope that the summer will see Mowbray departing and a hungrier manager with a bit of steel coming in. Major changes are obviously a necessity in terms of players as so many will be off. It makes sense that a new man would be the one to oversee this.

Do I think this is what will happen? Of course not; it's Rovers we're talking about! Mowbray to get a new contract and a fresh set of loans on their way...

"None of them players no if there..."

I choose to ignore 'facts' provided on Twitter by someone that uneducated.

Why do Asda feel the need to move their store around every few days at the minute?! Asked a girl there where the bakery sausage rolls were that used to be in the corner. She looked at me. Then she went and picked up a pack of bread rolls.

"No. Sausage rolls. They used to be behind you in the corner there..."

She turned round, walked to the empty corner and stared into the cream cake display. I left at that point. Clayton Green Asda it is.

3 minutes ago, Carbz said:

Swearing doesn't bother me. It's just a word. It's the intent that bothers me. You can say something just as hurtful to someone with a non swear word if the intent is aggressive.

That's very true. Excessive aggression would be upsetting to potential new fans as well and create an atmosphere which might discourage new fans attending.

From my work in school, I know that children often get upset when things they know are wrong happen. They are educated all week long that some words are 'bad' and kindness to others is a big deal. They then go to the football at the weekend where grown men shout and scream and use words they know to be 'bad'. Teachers have years of experience checking children's body language and expressions to notice upset and you see it a lot at the game.

Anyway, I feel like the thread's wandering off topic so that's enough from me.

17 minutes ago, rigger said:

My you do live in a closeted world. I take it that if you are offended by the casual use of swearing, you have never lived in Scotland where fuck is an adjective. 

Quite the contrary. I am an adult and swearing is part of life. Even so, I generally keep it to a minimum.

However, I do have a big issue with swearing in the presence of young children. The idea that civilised adults can't moderate themselves in any way (or are unwilling to) to avoid upsetting children is quite sad.

It is a pity that those fans most boisterous and most likely to sing at every game no matter what, can also be the most obnoxious and chavviest, most likely to sing songs about Nyambe, Samba or whoever else that are VERY iffy.

The same is probably true for many clubs but it is demoralising to watch grown men seemingly not understanding racist tropes, using foul language within yards of young children, trying to start fights with Blackpool fans simply because their football team lost and generally behaving like scum.

I could never imagine a child of mine going to Ewood. Even where I sit in the Riverside, there's a bloke at the back who regular swears blue murder at every Rovers player who messes up in any way. His son is a young teenager and also uses f, c and whatever else words loudly and unthinkingly in imitation.

While I rate Nyambe, athletically and as a professional, his runs into the box never seem to result in an actual shot. It's always straight to a defender. His injury seemingly forced our attack further inside the pitch and it was far more effective. If we had our hearts into it, Dolan and Poveda could have set up another 2 or 3 goals come the end and we really need some killer instinct. Special mention to Johnson for a proper midfielder's booking!

All in all, a decent win after an appallingly boring first half. Reading fans must wonder why they bothered come. They tried to mock us with the library chant, but there were only a few dozen of them to sing it!

As others have said, we'll have to 'enjoy' these random wins as nothing will happen until the summer. Life's too short to waste a year being miserable.

The worst standard of writing I have ever experienced from someone above the age of 8. Why would one single person PAY for LT journalism?! Baffling that they want to drive off their last customers (Rovers fans).

We've discussed all the reasons for non-attendance for a decade or even more.

Whatever we individually think, this game will be concrete evidence. A poor take-up would prove that money is not the main priority and that things can't improve without ownership changes. Season tickets and match tickets will continue to be high and make us all moan.

An extra 2-3k would indicate crowds could return and might force Rovers' hand in next year's pricing. We would think that crowds might shoot right up with cheaper tickets and improved fortunes on the pitch (however unlikely).

An extra 5k (we can dream) and all bets are off. The talk of owners and Mowbray would mean little or less. Cheap tickets equals loads more fans and all this talk of Mowbray, Brockhall or Venkys would be redundant.

For what it's worth, I see an extra 1-1.5k fans, not really changing anything. Enough that prices have some effect but not that many, proving that our grievances can't be settled without serious change. I hope I'm wrong.

9 hours ago, toooldforthis said:

I was at AFC Darwen today V Bury AFC.  Spoke with lots of ex-Rover's regulars.  Like me, non will return until Maggot goes.  We don't care what division we play in, or what the ticket price is.  Maggot goes and we'll all come back.  SIMPLES!!!!  What's not to understand???

How many of them stopped going under Kean or during the Shaw/Shebby era? All recently lost fans?

So let's say Waggott retires but Mowbray stays. We are relegated after a particularly disastrous run. Venkys fail to sack Mowbray. Prices are frozen at current levels by the new guy so we can be 'as competitive as possible' in League 1. The Sunderland/Wigan/ whoever else game is £30 a ticket. Would they all return? I cannot speak for you but I'm not sure everyone feels that Waggott is the one thing keeping them away. I doubt all of the 10k+ lost fans since 2010 know who he is.

5 hours ago, frosty said:

Next season! We’ve only just started this one. But it doesn’t matter what season it is, or who’s on the pitch - we’ll never do anything under Mid-table Mowbray. That was obvious well before last season but let’s not forget we came 15th with 29 goal Armstrong and a player now starting for Liverpool as part of our front three.

Just on Harwood-Bellis, I agree he’s decent, but he played pretty much all the games of our 2 wins in 17 run second half of last season. Cunningham is just a Championship standard LB.

The squad has some gaping holes but the main place we’re short is in the dugout.

 

It's always hard to come across correctly online but this was really my point. This season is a write-off because Mowbray is still here. We need someone new and we all know that won't happen until at least next summer.

A decent LB is all I ask for rather than the 'weak link' players we've had recently.

Just after Lenihan's challenge (we didn't know how bad it was at the time), we were talking about how poor he was and how much he flew out of position to commit some howler. Certainly not captain material. Which player in that 11 was worse than him for their role? We settled on Gallagher and Pickering (before he then scored and generally seemed a bit better than recently). So either 2nd or 3rd worst for the team. Yet he is an un-droppable captain, first name on the team-sheet?

To properly improve, we really need to replace this kind of player, not merely the ones who've just left out of contract. Imagine that team with Harwood Bellis next to Ayala, Cunningham at LB and an out-and-out striker like the next Billy Sharp or someone. I honestly believe that team would be in with a chance...

We're not a million miles away but we lack the will to make that final push. Let's see what next season brings.

4 hours ago, XLM said:

One of the few places we, as Rovers fans, can call a shit hole.

Shit town. Shit club. Shit fans.

 

 

1-1

To me, Boro are one of those teams just like us. An unfashionable team from an unfashionable town with unfashionable fans. The football is the only thing that keeps life sufferable. It's just that we've had a ridiculous amount of success in (relatively) recent history. They'd be my preference for teams up that way ahead of Newcastle and Sunderland. Not actually been to the new ground though and Saturday will make it 52 away grounds (I counted them up the other night when I was bored).

16 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

never been to the riverside,had the misfortune to visit ayresome park which was falling to bits and we got herded into a windy corner,middlesborough is a miserable place,grey,drab even in summer with people who look like they rarely see daylight,the whole area still appears to be in ww2,on the match,the old fox warnock will be to smart for mowbray and our approach will be blunted,having said that,i don`t think they have much in attack so i`ll for a 0-0 boredraw

i was hoping to go but apparently the club coach travel is booked up,which i find hard to believe as i went to the ticket office first thing monday morning,sold out with 5 days left????????????

I got a space this morning

On Gallagher, I don't understand how people can think of 'trying hard' as anything other than the most basic desire that EVERY player should have. What next? Do we give players a free pass on being rubbish because they can tie their own laces before the game?

The two standout attacking players for me today were Rothwell and Clarkson. They both went off and their replacements were inferior. Baffling.

By and large we did well today but you can't hope to do well over as season if you don't shoot. I expected a heavy drubbing at half-time so was happy enough with the second half but hope to see a bit more passing and shooting next time rather than hoofball.