I think the message is loud and clear - 'as long as I'm not the one being persecuted or murdered by a villainous regime, I am happy for others to suffer that very fate and for me/my football team to reap the rewards'. I do find 'their owners are investing in and off the field' an absolute eye opening (and symptomatic of modern football) reply to concerns about murder and oppression. It's like turning a blind eye to Fred West's murderous rampage because he helps out with your weekly shop.

Tbf you sounded happy, but I mean generally. Never really seen you disappointed with the manager, staff, board, recruitment, players - aside from the BBE closure. I remember you were TM's biggest defender (until they got rid, at which stage it was suddenly the right thing to do). Better than being a moany git like me. It isn't a criticism, I wish I was the same! I'm also happy with JDT overall, albeit with some concerns over recent performances. I thought last night was a step back in the right direction and I feel it's more sustainable than the kamikaze football we've seen lately.

I don't think you're wrong tonight necessarily, but I wish I had your blue and white tinted glasses! Everything is always great and everyone should always be happy. You were happy under TM and are happy now. I genuinely wish I could feel the same way tbh, I'd be a lot happier.

We have shown we can grind it out and play with discipline - Watford away a prime example. The lack of number 9 will continue to cost us points though, you're right.

Not to be pedantic, but asking people if they expect to win every game looks daft when we are 20th and have lost 4 on the spin. I get the spirit of the post and agree it wasn't as bad as it could have been but people are going to be pretty miserable at sitting 20th with 5 defeats in 6, especially after the hope (and crushing disappointment) at the end of last season.

Whilst I am miserable, tonight was a hell of a lot more encouraging than the kamikaze of recent weeks. It may be because Coventry are weaker, but we at least looked more solid and could have easily won. Still gutted though

I agree he's a better manager, but some seem to shrug their shoulders and say it isn't his fault everytime we get beat. The biggest issues are clearly upstairs but we just seem to be absolutely imploding. Whilst I think we'll finish higher, I think that 20th is certainly underachieving

I'm surprised people are arguing about the disallowed goal. The delay was weird but to me it was a foul and he had both hands on the ball.

Whilst I have ever faith in him, I'd be interested to know if many of the people feeling sorry for JDT would have the same sympathy if it was our previous manager in charge under the same circumstances. He seems to get a free pass from some. JDT clearly deserved more but 20th is desperately poor and inexcusable. That being said, I do like him and think he'll get us going.

Of course..... but my point is setting us up in a different way could yield better results (as we saw last year). Our defensive options are virtually unchanged from the majority of last season. So not sure really how what you said contradicts my point! Unless of course tactics/manager/set up make no difference....

I do see this season as a big departure from the second half of last year - it's much more gung ho. I thought we rode our luck in the first half of the season, but it was hard to put my finger on it - we were either good or absolutely woeful. The second half we were more consistent but seemed to lose the rub of the green or were let down by individual errors (Hedges at PNE). Our results were also brilliant for a period in February/March time (or around there). I agree on Kaminski, but I always had the impression JDT didn't. We are undoubtedly weaker in net but Pears seemed to win the battle for #1 in JDT's mind. JDT (and any other manager) clearly has their hands tied behind their backs working under the idiots upstairs and their lack of clarity/communication. I still think our current squad is better than results and our goals against column would suggest, mind.

Of course and I totally agree - there is definitely some recency bias. That being said, we probably played our best football at the end of the season without them (even if results indicated otherwise), which gave me hope they wouldn't be huge misses. Kaminski was brilliant and far better than Pears, but JDT seemed to disagree - so don't think we can grumble too much from a transfer perspective at his exit and Pears being the main man - although a lot of people predicted the errors and points lost that have arisen. I think he is a huge miss, but if he stayed it is possible he'd still be behind Pears anyway. Likewise, JDT didn't have much faith in Dack and he was a bit part player, so don't think JDT was unhappy to lose him. Ayala was constantly injured and I still think we remain strong at centre half, albeit without much depth. Take your point entirely on the off the pitch impact - big characters gone there in the dressing room. I'd have happily kept all of them for different reasons.

Whilst I agree, our main issue with our current style of play is how exposed the defence is. Wharton is totally overrun as our sole CDM, leaving a 4 on 4 vs our defenders. I actually think man for man the defence are quite good, but we are reliant on them having great games to keep the opposition out as they're left with so many difficult situations. His main ire seemed to be the lack of attacking signings (which is fair), but I'm not sure it would have changed much at the other end of the pitch. He prefers Wharton deeper to collect and play the ball, but for me we need Travis a bit deeper too - or some sort of 'enforcer' to protect the back 4. On the flipside - my gut feeling is that the current style is an exaggerated version of his preferred style of football, with us over compensating with kamikaze football due to our lack of finishers and clinical edge. He perhaps wagers we need to pile more players forward as we don't have a number 9, and as such we suffer at the other end. It's clear we need a balance, but perhaps with a balance we'd never score and we have to throw more mud at the wall for something to stick. I realise the post starts by disagreeing and ends with agreeing, which shows the indecision I have!

I am inclined to agree on this, but of the players we lost: Kaminski wasn't picked and he preferred Pears, he clearly wasn't sold on Dack, Phillips wasn't played and Ayala was always injured. Morton played more consistently and of course we do miss Brereton's goals. I'd say Moran and Sigurdsson are pretty good replacements, with full credit going to GB for acquiring them on such a limited budget. He has been completely let down by those idiots in Pune, but it isn't that dissimilar to what's happened in the past - Armstrong, Rothwell etc all left. As for JDT winning the league there by October with £12m, I'm not too sure. He would do very well there, but Celtic hardly drop many points themselves. Ange might be gone now but I reckon an Ange-JDT tactical battle would be a fascinating one. Two quality styles of football.

Eh? Mowbray was getting absolute pelters for most of his last year or 2 on here and on social media. He got far more criticism (including from me) than JDT is getting currently.

Sick of being patronised by opposing bosses who pat us on the head and say how good we were. We never got such praise under Sparky, because we were a nasty, difficult team to play against. Leicester would love to play a team that are such a soft touch every week. It felt like in the second half our strategy was to sit off them and wait for a mistake, much like at Swansea last year, but with their quality it wasn't coming. Our success came when we pressed them aggressively, leading to the goal, but we just stopped doing it and showed them too much respect. Has JDT been sold a dud? Almost certainly, he hasn't been backed. Aside from a couple of strikers bought every other year, Mowbray would probably say the same though, and I can guarantee he would be getting absolute pelters in the same situation (including from me). It might all click at one point, but this kamikaze football feels like it will lose us more points than it will win. For all the talk of not being backed etc, which is true, we've lost the following from last year: Diaz - lots of goals (which aren't much of an issue atm), offered nothing past January anyway Dack - wasn't favoured by the manager anyway Ayala - experience but perennially injured Kaminski - manager favoured Pears anwyay Phillips - wasn't really picked If we have weakened slightly (which I'm not sure on as I think Sigurdsson and Moran improve us going forwards), it doesn't justify us suddenly having the worst defence in the league and looking nervously over our shoulders. I like to think JDT is too good a manager and too intelligent not to turn things around.

Don't worry, JDT will smile away in his interview and make a joke about team buses or a similar dig at Waggott. Regardless of transfer failures, we are massively underperforming and have the worst defensive record in the league. That is on the manager and he needs to address it asap.

Exactly this. We won 8-0 in the last round - no attempt has been made to encourage supporters to cheer on our record breaking, goal-getting youngsters. Unless he wants our under-23s to play in front of attendances they are more accustomed to.... 😂

It shows the muddled thinking for me. They want to project a better image on TV, yet for a long time insisted on shoving away fans in the top tier of the Darwen End, creating a huge void of empty seats behind one net. Given most of our games (including Cardiff, I believe) are not televised, surely more fans behind the goal would have better optics as the vast majority will only see highlights of this fixture. If they really wanted us to progress further in the cup, they'd be focused on trying to get supporters in to watch and support the team, rather than ostracising further an already disenfranchised and disrespected fanbase. If this was any other 'product' and wasn't a form of such deep attachment to me and so many, I would have binned it off long ago. Only football supporters can have the piss taken out of them so readily - but even us loyal folk have a breaking point. I really hoped that horrible 18-months COVID period would result in a change in how supporters are treated, but the status quo was very readily returned to. All the 'football is for fans' nonsense, as we suspected at the time, were empty platitudes.

I've conveyed all of the above in my reply, and asked for how many tickets need to be sold to offset the cost savings we have made in closing the stand: Thank you for your reply. I can almost guarantee the attendance will be considerably less than the Walsall game, when in reality it should be higher (being a round further). I’d be intrigued to know how many tickets we need to sell to offset the costs associated with closing the Blackburn End – surely an attendance of even 1,000 lower (£10,000 lost in ticket sales) would trump the costs of hiring staff in the Blackburn End for this fixture, in addition to any other operational costs. It feels nonsensical commercially, notwithstanding the long-term effect such a decision will have on supporters who feel ignored. I already know of many long-term supporters who are not attending this fixture out of principle, and fear the long-term effects will be dire – it is hardening belief amongst our fanbase that Steve Waggott is out of touch with the supporters and that the supporters are disregarded and not considered. I, for one, am postponing any plans to return to Ewood anytime soon on the basis of this decision. As for the broadcast element, I cannot fathom how it will present a better backdrop – the optics of an empty home stand behind the net will more than outweigh this, as well as the certain mockery we will receive from fans across the football pyramid. It just feels like every decision made is aimed at saving a few quid, even if this means alienating loyal fans – which will have a long-term cost both financially and non-financially. Whilst this decision would make sense on a spreadsheet, it will undoubtedly come at a cost, and I sincerely hope the resultant attendance decrease will offset any reduction in operational costs, and therefore not be considered moving forwards.

I contacted the club regarding this and receiving this reply from a PA on behalf of SW: Thank you for your email in regard to the closure of the Blackburn End for our Carabao Cup match versus Cardiff City on Wednesday, 27th September. There are a number of factors to consider when creating the operational plan for a matchday and the decisions made are based on these. Initially we review what the anticipated attendance is going to be and then measure this against the financial cost of opening the entire stadium. For the first round of the Carabao Cup; BRFC V Walsall, we attracted an attendance of just over 6,000 supporters. There were fewer than 2,000 supporters in the Blackburn End for this fixture, which is less than 50% capacity for the lower tier. Due to the make-up of the stadium, once the decision is made to open a stand, the staffing of that area remains the same whether the stand is at capacity or accommodating fewer than 500 supporters. For this week’s fixture, although we expect an attendance similar to that of the Walsall game, with just over 48 hours to go, we have sold just over 2,500 tickets. The Jack Walker Stand has a total capacity of 11,000 seats, which will adequately cater for the demand. We do appreciate that many of our long-standing supporters sit in the Blackburn End and would argue that this stand is affectionately referred to as the home end, but the Jack Walker Stand can be relied upon to accommodate all supporters with ease, provides a better backdrop for the broadcast footage and ultimately it will help us to manage costs at a time when all costs have to be carefully considered. I’m sure you can appreciate and understand why the Club has taken the relevant measures on this occasion. Of course, these decisions will be reviewed on a match-by-match basis should we progress further in the competition, as we hope to do. Thanking you for your continued support. Of course, most of the above is easily rebutted. The 'broadcast footage' point is absolutely mind boggling - it will look great on broadcast with no fans behind one net.

I was also one of those people. It was a miserable time. I was constantly conflicted between wanting the team to win and play well and knowing that any wins would be used as ammo by our scumbag manager to belittle the fans who were trying to expose the horrors behind the scenes. As well as knowing that winning the odd game of football was a minor battle and the real fight was in winning the soul of the club. Every now and again I have thought the penny has dropped, but it always ends in tears. Waggott is the latest in a long line of shysters interested only in lining his own pockets whilst giving two fingers to the supporters. Looking back, I wish I was one of the supporters who just shrugged their shoulders. The frustration of the protests between 2010 and 2012, as well as the brief re-emergence under Coyle, were horrible, stressful and just felt like shouting into a void. I wish I cared less.

The radio silence on this is a disgrace. We are about to become a UK-Wide laughing stock as people wonder why the feck we only have 1 home stand open for a competitive match. Swag has managed to shave a good 2,000 (at least) off an already low attendance with his short-sighted, penny pinching, negative decision. A lot of people simply won't bother going, when the tool should have been trying to attract new fans into the stadium.

We are at risk of being dragged into a relegation battle. Leicester next. JDT has some very fair gripes about those above him but this squad is better than having the 3rd worst defensive record in the league. He has to own that defeat as he has kept faith in the absolute clown in net.

Hedges and Dolan coming on. JDT on the wind up?