1 hour ago, JHRover said:

Hmmmm.

Are you saying Blackburn is a small North West town or that Blackburn Rovers is a small North West town club?

Either way, I'm not sure either is accurate. I certainly wouldn't describe Rovers as a small club and whilst we are constrained by heavy competition and a relatively small catchment area I'm not sure I'd agree even that Blackburn is a small town. The conurbation has around 150,000 people plus many more just outside it so we are not an Accrington or Morecambe here.

The reason we have a 31,000 capacity and not 20-25,000 like our neighbours is because our ground was built for us to be the best in the country, and not for us to be mediocre like Preston, Wigan and Burnley have been. At the time it was built i think 30,000 was a sensible capacity for where we were. If JW had built it to 25,000 he may have been locking people out. Its too big now for where we are. The way to overcome that issue is to get promoted and grow the fan base. Sadly that sounds like.too much hard work for the Waggots of the world.

I agree the Riverside needs work doing to it soon. It looks a mess, the facilities are letting the club and stadium down. To not even have every seat under cover and have no concourse is really poor. It doesn't help that when it was done in the 80s it was on the cheap and wasn't a complete newbuild.

I wouldn't waste my time with a 'refurb'. I don't think it could be done to a good enough standard to make it worthwhile and with this setup would probably end up worse than it is now. With this lot we'd probably throw up a prefab thing like they have at Accrington. The last thing we need is it doing on the cheap as a patch up job. It needs completely rebuilding in line with modern specs to include internal space, concourses, disabled access, floodlights, the works. 

Might not be cheap but there are ways to get it done. Preston managed it with their pavilion not long ago.

Agreed! Great post that made a lot of sense, if Preston could afford a new stand then we can 

One thing I forgot to mention is putting in a club museum,we have a lot of history so celebrate it and show it off, stick the trophy room in there too so everybody can see it anytime rather than when they go to functions, tours and events 

47 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Good thread on this already.

Like I said on it, a replica of West Brom’s West Stand would be ideal...

 

Good idea, the stand needs to be closer to the pitch with it also matching the other three, put a club museum in too 

This is a topic that's interest me for some time so I'm curious to see everyone's opinions.

The obvious thing is the riverside needs a makeover atleast, when people say ewood is a shithole the only reason they say that is because of the riverside, if you walk round the sides and back of it (Blackburn end side) there is all sorts of crap dumped there and it's a complete mockery of a good standard and what was a state of the art stadium until the super stadiums started going up, the tv gantrys hanging off the roof make it am even bigger eye sore

So what could be done? While financies ain't great these days not helped by the pandemic of course its unrealistic to expect a new stand completely even though on two occasions I spoke to waggot about the subject and how the stadium needs maintence as it's starting to look dirty and tacky in parts,he openly told me plans have been out in place for a new riverside stand which would include facility's that can make money outside of matchdays and also downgrade the capacity a bit, otherwise an idea would be to give the stand a makeover, new roof, removal of pillars and maybe an inside  concourse by knocking through which means removing seats. 

Jack walkers ambition for the stadium  meant we a small north west town club was never gonna fill our stadium, even 31k has always been too big for us, a capacity of 25k like the dw would have been about right so thank god his plan to make the place 40k didnt happen.

What would you like to see happen with the stadium? 

12 hours ago, 1864roverite said:

The rumours were that the rugby were moving their side over to Orrell due to the issues with the pitch and the separate administration of both clubs as they are owned by different entities.

Orrel? Building a new stadium I assume ?

3 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

And the premier League is interesting? Watching a bunch of clubs owned by money launderers, slave owners and crooks from god knows where jizzing away billions for players from across the world whilst the only people able to afford a decent ticket is some South Korean tourist with cash to burn and a desire to do something novel on their holiday. Was it ever really exciting when Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea were winning almost every FA cup and Premier League going for about 15 years whilst Jeff Stelling and co. we're having a big circle jerk about Abrahmovich and the UAE guys who had just bought Man City from a dodgy Thai bloke?

There is no point in watching Premier League football as a neutral as it's just as fake, alien and ruthlessly commercial as WWE or the NFL. Chelsea or Liverpool could play games in Sydney or Lagos and it would be no different. Sure the few fans from London and Liverpool will be angry, and they will miss out but outside those people no-one would care. They don't count, and the TV hype machine would describe the match as historic, as a great opportunity like the NFL games in London.

The clubs are now brands, nothing more, steadily cutting the roots and their heritage from their identities as they chase money from any kid who wants to look cool and back a winner. 

Bang on 

On 01/07/2020 at 20:00, 1864roverite said:

Wigan have no money in their accounts and no income. They don’t even have money to transport the team to away venues and will be relying on players to help them out. They don’t have money to pay wages and it is the ground staff who will be the only ones paid due to the rugby side of things which is in slightly better shape than the football side. Their biggest worry is that the Rugby side collapses as well which will cause serious issues for both clubs. Wigan RL were looking to relocate next season away from DW and now my neighbours think they have to move to survive. Dave Whelan on the fence about finance according to Wigan news

Rugby side moving ? Where too and why? 

26 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Once we get into a habit of giving below par players like Bell and Samuel a new deal then it starts to increase expenditure on below par players.

Sadly weve already extended Bell's deal. Even as a wing back he isnt up to it as hes never been effective going forward. He dithers and turns back basically every time.

Samuel was not very good even in League 1. Cant be giving him a new deal on the back of a solitary decent performance and goal. Not up to it.

Suppose you have a point 

Has to go! Yes he's done a great job getting us back on our feet but from a football pov he's room us as far as his capability, he has no real plan nor identity of play, no touchline presence even his backroom are useless bar johnson, him,his assistant, first team coach and gk coach need to go. 

With this pandemic and the fact we splashed cash on players who ain't contributed enough even though they haven't been played correctly so their confidence isn't there we are gonna be looking to cut back. 

He extended leuitwiler and smallwoods contracts why ? They dont play and know they are leaving so why would they sweat for us ? Just a waste of a wage and their places on the bench could have been used by youth who would bring something when called upon. 

I would honestly go for gareth Ainsworth, would bring a solid hard to beat system and is an up and coming manager, damien Johnson as his assistant manager with new first team coach and gk coach appointments, Ainsworth is also a Blackburn man and well respected 

Mowbray has to style of play, one game we are tiky taka look shit hot look like we can hammer anyone the next we are smashing it into the riverside with no clue, he lacks a firm game plan, no ability to change a game when the going gets tough, he just puts his hands in his pockets head down hoping for a miracle so has no fire in his belly barking out orders and rallying his troops like neil warnock for example, he's also messed up the balance of the team and hasn't recruited to suit the formations he likes to play 

This is a logical way of looking at it

Mowbray likes the system 4231/433 we currently do not have the players to suit that system in reality, the wingers are actually strikers, Armstrong the only one capable of being a winger, I've said all along 532 or 5212 would suit us, nyambe a tank going forward would be a wing back meaning has more freedom to relax and Express himself going forward and bel who is actually a LWB anyway by trade, mowbray and some rovers fans first noticed bell against Fleetwood in 2017 when rosler the cod boss at the time played a 532 system that suited bell and he ripped us apart and was the difference between them getting a point, if mowbray wants the 4231 formation to work he needs to bring in 2 or 3 actual wingers who can cross a ball to start with, until then the 532 suits us best and I firmly believe that, going off what's available right now this would be an ideal team to fit it 

Walton 

Lenihan 

Tosin 

Carter

Nyambe 

Costello 

Travis 

Johnson 

Holtby 

Armstrong 

Graham 

Either way mowbray needs to find the best system and stick too it, players in correct positions,no 6 foot 3 strikers on the wings who cant cross let alone anything else, I said at the start graham shouldn't get a new deal but i have mow changed my thinking, he should get another year to keep that calm experienced head with a view to a coaching job. 

What's needed in the transfer window 

 Bell given a new short deal maybe 

Samuel proving he's worth another punt

Wharton deserves a chance, he's gained experience at Northampton and looks to have improved in his ability and physicality and could be our next lenihan 

We need a keeper or two if mowbray doesn't see Fisher as a number 2 

A decent left back to become first choice or compete with bell shoukd he be here still 

Right back to compete with nyambe 

Two wingers 

If samuel and graham get new deals then we have them two brereton and Gallagher as striking options, brereton needs to go on loan Gallagher given a fair run as a striker not played on the wing, I would preferably like to see Armstrong as a striker but cant see it under mowbray  

On 02/01/2020 at 20:58, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Thought he left us to concentrate on Flitty’s business?

He did but it didn't work out si got back into football 

Great news! Good luck to dunny, hopefully Rovers boss in a couple of years maybe ? Dunn, damien Johnson and Gareth Ainsworth, three managers I would like to potentially take the ewood hotseat in the near future, building strong connections with Barrow they are doing a good job in developing our young and up comers so specially with dunn knowing our academy well we can continue to send players there