sharpysharps86

Yep. There are plenty of occasions where putting someone who 'knows the club' hasn't worked. Hoddle at Spurs comes to mind. Henning Berg at another 🥲. I get what Chaddy is saying about Rangers and Celtic in particular, but I'd debate that the only manager to win the league with Rangers in the last 10 years was someone who had no prior connection to the club. His main coaches were Gary McAllister and Michael Beale to my knowledge, neither of whom had any connections with Rangers either. Then you've also got the scenario that they brought in Van Bronckhorst who was a former player, and it failed. Yes they had Barry Ferguson for a bit last season, and yes he seemed to steady things a bit, but it's impossible to say whether it'd have been a success or not in the long term. O'Neill in at Celtic temporary definitely feels like one of those cases of 'we didn't anticipate this happening so we've had to scramble around a bit'. Ultimately it generally does feel like putting a club legend or someone who 'knows the club' is always to paper over the cracks of deeper issues within the club.

He knows the club https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0l3Fum29xA

Brilliant win, just what was required. Delighted for Gudjohnsen. Toth superb. A bit of momentum can go a long way in this league, hopefully Rovers can string some more results together and pull away from trouble.

Pascal Chimbonda - simply for the goal against Burnley 😅

Tough game, but Leicester are faltering at the moment, so there's always a chance. Not sure I'd change the starting XI, although if Cantwell is fit then I suspect Ismael brings him back into the team simply due to him being captain. The optimist in me says 1-1 or 0-1 to Rovers. The pessimist says 3-0 to Leicester.

Garry Flitcroft

Agree on O'Riordan. Feels strange that he's hardly had a look in at Rovers, but unless we're planning to splash some cash in January (doubtful) then recalling him in January is essential. Even then I'd be tempted to bring in a CB on loan as well if Ismael wants to persist with 3 CB's. Seen the script with Toth before. They likely won't give him what he wants. Tronstad is certainly not performing as he was last season. I suspect its due to a multitude of reasons...some of which may be personal to him and his family. We forget footballers are human beings sometimes. His performances last season give him enough credit in the bank for me, but its sad knowing that he's likely leaving at the end of the season and he probably already knows it. You can appear fine on the outside celebrating a win like he was yesterday, but who knows what's going through his head. De Neve and Hedges are players that will never pull up any trees, but they're hard workers for sure. You do need players like that around the squad, but Rovers problem is they're reliant on them and there isn't enough technical quality to balance things out. Pleased to see De Neve has improved a touch though.

It would not be a surprise at all if Manning and Still both lost their jobs this week. I suspect a Championship job came too soon for Still. Certainly Southampton as well given their record for the last 12 months, it's very hard to turn a ship like that around. As for Ismael...well regardless of yesterday's win I still think he is out of his depth.

Fantastic win in the end, and sounds like it was deserved too. Huge relief but this is one small step in the right direction. Credit to Montgomery, sounds like he changed the game a bit when he came on.

8 mins added on 🙃

Would you believe it 😂

I really doubt Sam has the fire in his belly for it anymore. Agree on him coming back though, it'd be night and day compared to what we currently have.

Dreading this. Think I'll spend the afternoon cleaning out the gutters instead.

Some of them are clearly playing a level or two above where they belong. Of the new signings, only Alebiosu appears to be playing at Championship level to me. Haven't seen enough of Morishita to judge fairly, but the rest are League One, possibly League Two standard.

Can see this being a 1-1 draw like the Stoke game, and we get the "we've turned a corner" and "excellent performance" spiel trotted out. On the other hand, a team and opposing manager desperately needing a win coming to Ewood...we've seen that script play out plenty of times. The only outcome I can't see is a home win.....meanwhile Sheffield Wednesday beat Oxford at home and Rovers drop to the foot of the table.

This season has the makings of going down with a whimper, like Southampton in the prem last season. Very sad times.

With Miller likely to be missing tomorrow, I'm struggling to see a way in which Rovers can play 3 at the back, which is a shame given the shape seemed to work ok for an hour at Coventry. Who knew that selling a regular CB on deadline day with no planned replacement would lead to such a scenario 🙃. I think Ismael will be forced to revert to a back 4. Expecting to see something like this: Toth Alebiosu McLoughlin Wharton Ribeiro TGH Tronstad Morishita Ohashi Hedges Gudjohnsen Rovers 0 - 2 Sheff United. Wilder has more often than not had the better of Rovers in the past, and I see no reason for that to change here.

Think Miller is a big doubt for Tuesday, so starting with a back 3 may not be an option. Should he be available then yes, same team to start for me.

Indeed. Sadly the reality is as much as I am not a fan of Ismael and would like him gone....I'm also terrified of who the replacement would be. Based on player incomings it'd be an unheard of foreign coach.

Don't think anyone expected anything from today, and certainly no shame in losing away to the team now top of the table, but the last 30 mins or so certainly summed up the state of things at the moment. 4 points minimum from the next two games is vital. I think they'll do well to get 2 points though.

We could be bottom at 5pm next Saturday, never mind Christmas. Could be even sooner but I can't see Wednesday beating Boro in midweek.

Time to get rid. Sadly he's probably bullet proof.

Would be quite amusing if he ended up at Rangers after that press conference he did when Malmo manager 😂

They've won 1, in Wilder's first game back....but yeah, perfect time to play Charity Rovers.

Pleased that the lads managed to fight back and get something from the game, but sadly I think the damage has been done in this last week. 1 point from a possible 9 just isn't anywhere near good enough, especially with 2 of those games being at home. No home win yet this season and it'll be beyond mid October before Rovers are back in action at Ewood. It's just not good enough. Incredibly tough run coming up after the international break. Sheffield United at home is looking huge.