Old Codger

that is a good shout to be fair - old head, able to read the game, not afraid to put a challenge in..

As with all such things, there is always a tell-tale in the patterns around it. Whilst there is nothing 'illegal' per se in what appears to have been done so many times under Rovers' flag, it stinks like the bag of shite that it really and truly is. If it smells like shite, it looks like shite, and it plays like shite, well then, don't be amazed if it is actually shite, despite the protestations of the gob-shites and their acolytes. VENKYS AND VEXATIOUS ACOLYTES OUT!

Optimism is one thing that we as Rovers fans cannot rely on, and a Rovers side this thin on the ground cannot afford. We need solid graft (Yuki style), a decent ref (like that is suddenly going to happen!), some modicum of 'home advantage' (even if there hasn't been any so far this season) and more than the rub of the green (and you know what they say - "The harder you work, the luckier you get...") We aren't going get all of that any time soon, so probably best to buckle up, cos Kansas is probably about to go bye bye.. Keeping it all crossed for this evening.. COYB!

Billy Whizz used to play for Blackburn College, a million years ago when I was goalkeeper in a very decent side. Alan from Newry, Cointy Doin. What's Sammie Szmodics up to these days, he wondered out loud, apropos of nothing..

You might as well make some names up. Everyone else does, especially the club.

VI needs to work out some way of adding steel and resolve to our home performances, or risk further damage to our already dwindling support. I mean, what is so wrong about battling relentlessly and with passion for 90 minutes and against the odds wherever we are playing? There is something deeply concerning about a set up that can garner the kind of hard-nosed commitment we have seen repeatedly on the road, but which meekly accepts powder-puff performance in front of home fans, and it is up to the manager (coach) to iron out whatever psychological bumps are preventing equal measures of resolve and persistence at Ewood. On to the game. QPR are only 3 points ahead of us so this is a true 6 pointer. Their record this season is not dissimilar to our own, albeit they have scored more and conceded more than us. It is a club I've long held disdain for, ever since their plastic pitch in the 1980s gave an obvious and unfair advantage - an experiment that always seemed to work against the hard-grafting Rovers visiting Loftus Road. Having said that, we have enjoyed decent returns there in recent years..on and off. The Gerry Francis cast off club don't like travelling Norff, so perhaps there is a glimmer and shimmer about Wednesday's game under the Ewood floodlights...There won't be hordes from West London, that's for sure. On paper it is a nailed on draw. On form it is anybody's game. On reflection there will be a sparse collection of eyes on the game from the seating and terracing of Olde Ewoode Parke.. Football is of course a game of confidence and form, chance and chances, right place right time and right mess right now. It isn't clear what will be served on Wednesday, but I do hope it isn't another dollop of dosy downcast demeanour from the brave boys in blue and white. Hiding to nothing, Rovers 0 Sweaty Hoops 0 Hating the Home Form Rovers 0 Hula Hoops 2 Hooray for the faithful Rovers 2 Betty Boops 0 COY miserable home form Blues! Oh, and VENKYS OUT!

Sadly it is more likely, based on the modus operandum of those behind the curtain, that the team will not be bolstered in January, but butchered instead. Whilst I like to hope that dead wood would be cleared out (Big Mak needs to move on, imo, for example) I am more worried that players who have grasped the opportunity to show some capability during the first half of the season (e.g. Gudjohnnsen, Cantwell, Alebiosu, and even Hedges) will be touted out as a way of generating cash flow for keeping the lights on a little longer. Thank goodness Balaz Toth is injured (and how crap that I should be typing such a sentence) 😞 I agree with your sentiment that the players seem to have found a miraculous formula that works (away from home) but I wonder how much of it is Dumbo's feather, and how much is actual team spirit derived from a reality of utter adversity? Let's hope the potion (whatever it is) doesn't wear off at Christmas..(as usual for good old Blackburn Rovers, the best team on the day). COY potion induced grafting B!

A big step up for a pressure cooker game in a cauldron atmosphere. It's the kind of thing that can make or break a career. Let's hope it is the former, not the latter. COYB!

There has always been a scummy underclass in attendance at association football games. The ones who sing the most cringe-worthy 'songs' (and I use the term loosely of course) are generally those with the least actual life experience and perspective, whose capacity for self-reflection is negligible and whose values are shaped by the shallow horseshit digital diet they depend upon for confirmation of their backward views. It was always so, although back in the 70s the rhetoric was fuelled more by anecdote and actual interaction, than the drivel that emanates from the gobby rat-holes that today's yoof yell from. Best to put the noise on 'ignore' and try to filter out any unpleasantness that ensues by focusing on the actual reason you are there - to show your valuable and valued support for the Rovers. I do hope your evening gets much much better 🙂 Thank you for standing up for your values and those of many others who can't make it to Deepdale this evening. COYB!

More likely to see Lord Lucan or Shergar...

Apparently the players are 'All fired up and ready' Except, of course, for those in key positions that have been instrumental in delivering unexpected results at Bristol, Leicester and against Southampton, specifically in goal and our back line. Old git feel about this is that we will leak goals like a teabag in boiling water, as the Preston cockwombles turn up the heat in that in yer face style beloved of Mr Scowlwhilstyouwank himself, Heckingbottom. Strange things happen in football, so I'm not going to complain if somehow Rovers conjour a positive result (draw or even nicking a win) but neither am I going to hold my breath whilst the tactical genius of our coaching team floats like magical cream over the scum of the North End Bovril. Unless there is something psychotropic in the pre-match orange squash in the home dressing room, I'm inclined to be expecting a sobering reverse this evening. Lillywhites loving life 3 Rovers rue-ing recent recurring regression 0 Knob End knocking one out 2 Rovers reacting remarkably robustly 2 Deepdale despair 1 Rovers Rocking Right Round Roman Road 3 Just as long as VI understands the importance of 'bragging rights' for those who live (or were born) in Bamber Bridge....* COYB! VENKY VANITY VAMOOSE! * I'm pretty sure he a) doesn't and b) doesn't give a toss

Can already hear the fingernails of lady luck dragging down the blackboard of results for this one...Sadly I feel like Rovers have self-sabotaged and become victims of the hard man-slog that is Championship football just at the wrong time, with an otherwise winnable game at home against rag-bag opposition now becoming more of a challenge to compete. Coupled with the day being ostensibly one of 'celebration' it feels like there may well be (self-inflicted) rain on the parade, despite the sunshine and feel-good factor of three hard-fought wins on the bounce. Certainly the loss of our talisman keeper between the sticks, with his strong hand style, rapid reflexes, distributive excellence and ability to organise those in front of him, is a major concern. His 'understudy' blazed the ball straight out of play from a goal-kick on his first act of return midweek, demonstrating (worryingly) little or no change in approach during his time on the sidelines. Ho hum. On to the game. The Rams have also picked up a bit of momentum recently, and can be expected to want to dominate, although their manager will have less insight into Rovers tactics than he might had there been a more familiar nucleus to our line up than the completely re-engineered side his pseudo-Rovers-Rams will face. That might play to our advantage. Football is a game that is highly sensitive to factors such as confidence, and our team can rightly take some kudos from having ground out three successive wins following a painful fallow period. Stability and team spirit are highly volatile factors too, though, and we now have to chop and change with our ragbag journeymen international player soup squad to find a combination of resolve, drive and flair capable of battering the Rams. So, here goes.. Rovers rally, Rams retaliate - Rovers 1 - Derby 1 Rovers revert, Rams relish the resigner's return - Rovers 0 - Derby 2 Rovers Rampant Raiders (w)reak Resounding Result on Retreating Rams - Rovers 3 -Rams 1 Meh.. at least the sun will be shining and we will be in Blue and White at home 🙂 COYB! VENKSTERS AND VANITY PROJECT VENDORS OUT!

Sometimes you just have to win UGLY.

Bristol are marking him more closely, having been torn a new one down that side in the first half.

Rovers gone to pieces in the second half so far. Need to put the foot on the ball. Slow it down. Like that.

I guess you mean, why he is selected week in, week out? I think it is pretty clear - if the game plan is to play a team of low cost journeymen, then the most obvious candidates for the team sheet are your 'low cost journeymen'. Having said that, if that is the game plan, then Ryan Alebiosu is surely playing himself out of contention on a regular basis. Welcome to snake and mirror world. Over 17 different snakes and mirrors.. None of them Rovers players.

Nothing on the bench, other than De Neve's crossing and Montgomery's tankedy tankedyness.

Rovers: Toth, Alebiosu, Miller, Wharton (c), McLoughlin, Hedges, Tronstad, Gardner-Hickman, Morishita, Ohashi, Gudjohnsen Substitutes: Pears, Ribeiro, Tavares, Gueye, De Neve, Henriksson, Forshaw, Montgomery, Atcheson

We've had the rub of the green for two games in a row now, so am expecting lady luck to tear us a new one tomorrow evening. We can also expect, as a minimum: Toth and Alebiosu to have a good game whatever the score. Yuki to run his nuts off. De Neve flatters to De Ceve (pardon the pun) Gudjohnsen to put himself about to good effect. Low expectations based on recent form at Ashton Gate or wherever it is these days. Should be more confidence in the side based on our last couple of outings... Robins run Rovers Ragged 3 -1 Robins rue Rovers Resilience 2-2 Robins regret Rovers Running Riot 0-3 COYB! Give em a game, at least 🙂 VENKSTERS OUT!

Can't see us getting anything other than a good thrashing here. I think VI should make all the players wear that ridiculous headgear that Yuki donned after his minor surgery last weekend. We could just play football for fun, I suppose, for a change.

David Dunn

Damien Duff

John Bailey He used to stop at Station Garage (in Feniscowles, next to what was the Horden Rake, is now the Foundry) for petrol on his way home in his - Vauxhall Viva. Imagine one of the current crop of pros driving an ordinary person's car!?? It was dark blue, like this one..

Don Martin

So, Rovers revival it was. If you get a chance, have a look at the comments on the BBC report on the game - Saints fans sounding uncannily similar to the gripes and groans that have echoed from the Ewood sewers in recent times... Perhaps there is a wider game afoot, that we, as Rovers fans, parochially fail to spot. Perhaps not. Will take the win. OUT WITH THE SCUM