1 hour ago, den said:

1969. 

Is that a young Shilton being rounded by John Connelly?

The first thought that occurred to me was, is this a sign of how close to the financial precipice we are? Let’s hope it’s just all about Waggott being Waggott.

16 hours ago, tomphil said:

First time i went there was a pre season game late 80's and there was metal netting from dividing fence to the bars that supported the roof.  I remember looking up at it and seeing all sorts stuck in there like darts and other bits and bobs including a chain from a bike or chainsaw.  

I thought WTF is this place.

Bolton in the 70s was far more intimidating. Turd was a great day out, Burnden was like the first 20 mins of Indiana Jones.

On 30/07/2023 at 15:12, tomphil said:

I remember seeing a lad get hit with a brick at half time in one of those pre season Turd games.

A hail came over the fence and one hit this guy who was just queuing for a hotdog in the area at the back of the away section. 

Rough as old boots those games were.

If you haven’t been hit by a brick at the Turd, you weren’t standing close enough to the Longside dividing fence - I got hit by a quarter of one and my mate next to me by a golf ball - the inbreds didn’t even shout “Fore!”

9 hours ago, philipl said:

Previous post was factual as I see it.

This is purely non-factual and speculative. 

Nobody has remotely provided a rational explanation for the majority of the £270m sunk into Rovers. 

Prior to the 2012 relegation there is a shameful narrative which at least is rational.

Since then????

I am not making any assertion or allegations. 

 

But I do recall past cases of an American company or two making seemingly inexplicable operating losses overseas as a front for parallel cash and asset transfers away from IRS jurisdiction which overall were of greater benefit than the loss. The American authorities have made this sort of thing much more difficult. 

Hopefully, the Indian authorities are simply taking back asset values for a creative way of funding the now closed Swiss pharma business- if you were doing something creative moving assets out of India, Switzerland and Jersey make far more sense than the UK. Rovers in this case would be innocent collateral damage and Waggott has been told simply now is a sensitive time to transfer cash so hold tight for the moment. 

Being rational this is most likely.

 

However, if the Rovers ownership by Venky's is at the centre of something much more "creative" which has been busted by the Indian authorities, then those on brfcs dreaming of watching 7th tier football could be about to get their wishes fulfilled.

I can understand it if we had been largely paper losses, but it’s been entirely cash, most of which has gone in wages to not very good footballers. Who could benefit (and how) from disbursing that much cash on something that remains mostly value-less?

8 hours ago, 47er said:

Delighted for the young lads but really, have we ever played a worse side?

Plenty I’m sure. Two nailbiters spring to mind from the Furphy era:

Away to Willington 0-0

Home to Altringham 0-0 and they hit the bar late on.

12 hours ago, rigger said:

I don't remember Burnley being the focus of dislike at that time. For me it was more Bolton.

Same. We hadn’t played Burnley for 7 years and they were two divisions above us - I barely thought about them.

Intriguing game so far. Letting their centre halves have it as long as they want which is fine as they aren’t playmakers. Good defending and we get through the middle half of the pitch really quickly and sharply, but not enough up front so far. I suspect we won’t be seeing Dolan second half and the rest of our lives on that non-performance.

C’mon lads - same spirit as our play off win here in whenever it was (‘88?), Garner scoring the only goal in the first minute sending us all bonkers in the away end.

6 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Several of us actually questioned whether Hyam was injured today such was his lack of mobility. It was basic, elementary centre half duties he was failing in.

Could be Tony. On TV there was a momentary close up of him where he appeared to be flexing his groin or hip.

Brilliant effort undone by players we thought excellent - Hyam and JRC - having stinkers and going awol at crucial moments. I’ve been bothered for a while that Hyam, the senior defender and supposed captain material, seems to do no organizing whatsoever, I think we miss Ayala and even Lenihan in that regard. 

Am I the only person disappointed Gallagher didn’t put his 1-on-1 away? Typical Sam I thought, didn’t outmuscle the defender enough, so didn’t have the ball or himself under full control making the shot hopeful rather than clinical. Ennis should’ve scored his but I thought the pass a bit heavy (like quite a few of Wharton’s today) which turned a tap-in into something a bit more difficult.

To be fair to Hull, I thought the finish for the first goal terrific, first time volley from a ball coming over the shoulder - none of ours could’ve pulled that off.

Sammy disaster, Dolan misses open goal, but my bigger worry is Wharton being completely marked out of the game by a lower league dolloper.

8 hours ago, USABlue said:

I think some.of our long time posters have a bit of a kinship, from the times we (EiT was it?) made copies of Rovers games.and mailed it all over America, sort of a bond of sorts.  Loved your positivity 

Please don’t tell me the 5-0 Burnleh video perished in the flames!?!  

2 minutes ago, rigger said:

Jim Fryatt

Bradford Park Avenue

By my reckoning, the second goal was 8 seconds after the restart, which makes it the fastest Rovers goal after a kick off I’ve ever seen. Can’t think of one anywhere near as quick.

13 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

There is even a provision in the contract of what salary Kean would be paid if we were relegated to League One. There was absolutely no incentive for him to get relegated though. 

Apart from relegation providing a rationale for increasing player trading…

4 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Edun goes, new contact for Leonard… trading club in all its glory 💪

Edun stays, Leonard leaves for nothing, Tony Mowbray’s gurn deepens… 

4 hours ago, yankfan said:

Looked like a young kid that was trying too hard not to make a mistake. 

I thought similar, though not necessarily trying too hard not to. He needs this season to have the same season (or better) that A Wharton did last - double digit appearances and be MoM in half of them, demand the ball, show the passing game and be demanding of those around him. Then he’ll be first choice next season.

I must admit to really liking the Rovers FC aspect to it, especially recreating the typeface - totally speaks to our heritage as THE Rovers in a much more meaningful way than some 19th-century public school fad. Any no other club could or would use it.

Do any of our senior posters remember that stone being put into the Blackburn End turnstile wall? It was certainly there when I started going in the mid-60s.

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

There you go then… homage every season!

Ergo collar= superfluous!

Or…another extra colour = more superfluous

13 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Which is fine, and we’ve had ‘Cambridge blue’ and white shirts intermittently since as homage  - but don’t just try and shoehorn it in to a royal blue and white one wherever there’s a bit of space.

Is it not also the same blue as in the circle of the badge, which has been there for decades?

Having exhaustively critiqued Pears based on one incident of not dominating his six-yard box for a cross and neglecting to clean out the goal scorer, he could surely learn from repeated viewings of Burnleh’s first at the Turd when TK, errrm, stayed rooted to his line, watched a free header go past him before being thoroughly cleaned out by a Sunday League dolloper. 

13 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

A bit like Tony Field was when we were bumping around the old Division 3 in the 1970’s.

Except Tony Field went on to score a Goal of the Month in the top division and play alongside Pele.

I agree with the poster who tied Dack’s fortunes into Danny Graham, whose ability to win and lay off headers was perfect for Dack’s arriving late from nowhere party piece.

As an aside, loved the compilation of his top goals but, man, was he slimmer then!

2 hours ago, Miller11 said:

Out of interest would you buy the following…

Membership to a “pay as you go” season ticket scheme - £50

That would then allow you to purchase individual tickets for £23 in your preferred area of the ground, £19 if you wanted to sit in the other areas. You’d also get the same priorities on away tickets as season ticket holder, along with any other fringe benefits.

I ask as I’ve put this idea to Waggott. He said he liked the idea, but I sensed there was again a fear it might impact that base revenue target. Rather than see any positives in terms of potential uptake from people such as yourself with other priorities, they worry that a % of people who will still buy ST’s in the knowledge they will miss a number of games might opt for this instead.

This kind of thinking is the future IMO.

The benefits of a season ticket are being eroded away, primarily by Sky-enforced day/time changes. Unless you know for sure you can attend every game whenever it’s played, in which case you get a financial benefit vs pay as you go, and/or you strongly wish to sit in the same seat each time, there’s no benefit at all to buying one.

Perhaps only seniors these days can say they will able to attend every game whenever it is.

As the timing of games has become much more flexible, the means of getting fans to pay forward needs to also become equally flexible and imaginative.