Old Codger

No, one bloke, just a bit schizo. Any news about comings or goings, amongst the intra-cranial bickering?

Another rude awakening coming up here. Bradford are no giant killers, but sadly we are not in that ball game anymore. Make no mistake through, to beat the mighty Blackburn Rovers at Ewood would be seen as a very good scalp for the Bantams, whereas we would (normally) be expected to win at a canter. I want Rovers to take this game seriously, field a competitive and coherent team, and to go for a win. Anything less will be a cause for concern. COYB!

All to save thruppence ha'penny. Baffling.. unless there is a cunning plan* *there isn't.

Yes, I think that was our game plan... hit and hope. But sadly there wasn't a single player in our team who made me feel that he was capable of hurting the opposition with the ball at his feet. Oh for a Garner, Shearer, Wegerle, Tugay, Bellamy, Roberts (haha!), Duff, Le Saux, Olssen, Hendry, Samba... you know what I'm saying - someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck, a game changer. As it stands it was all just a bit too kick and rush for me.. On the plus side, Toth looks like the real deal - good hands and positioning, dominant (punching) on crosses, some very sharp saves to keep the score down. I think Axel will adjust to the Championship and become a cult figure (it's a tallest dwarf contest at the moment) and stop his silly schoolboy kickabout nonsense once he understands the level. Someone needs to stand up and be a leader, or else we will be watching with our heads in our hands for a lot this season. Candidates??

We aren't scoring here if we play till the end of the season. No threat whatsoever.

Sadly I think a dose of reality bites us this afternoon. The Baggies are a well drilled, well supported side, very experienced in this league and will be well aware of Rovers' frailties and gaps. Raw optimism is always good to see, and a scoreline like that would be an amazing spectacle to behold. Having seek last week's picking apart however, it is more likely that we will be on the reverse end of a 3 goal deficit. Boring but bearable - Baggies 1 Rovers 1 Baggered and Battered - Baggie Boys 3 Rovers Ragbag 0 Bugger me you Beauties! - Baggie Bottoms 1 Rampant Rovers 3 However it goes, it is amazing that 2200 hardy souls are trogging to the Black Country for a day out. Fair play to you, you amazing madmen and women! COYB!

Well, that only ends one way, to be fair. And it isn't with a strong set of results on the pitch...Just when there was a glimmer that perhaps things were actually starting to turn around too - and then someone screeches past in their go-faster-stripes Ford Escort and side-swipes yer pride and joy as if it was a jalopy. Typical! VENKY ESCORT DRIVERS OUT!!

I'd rather both were available for selection this season, as we know it will be a long hard slog from Saturday til May next year. Without putting too fine a point on it, we might have changed the look and feel of our side, but the reality of the Championship remains brutally the same. So we need to gear up for the fight, for the hard knocks, for the incompetent refs, for the cynical challenges on our better players, for the inexplicable (haha) loss of form between December and end of January and the realisation that fucking Wrexham FC are viewed as a more realistic prospect for success than former Premier League Winners... VENKY SHEEP SHAGGERS OUT!

Possibly, but he's a good egg.

Can't see him Peking this season though..

That chest down and volley at the end of the reel was something to behold. If we can get him into scoring positions, this might be a very influential player for the upcoming season. And maybe the bare bones backroom boys down at Ewood / Brockhall are doing something interesting after all..despite the resounding silence coming from the Punatics... it's the hope that kills 🙂

Trouble with all this cost-cutting is that once the cuts are in place, there is generally no further room for manouvre, and there are generally only two ways out a lowest cost base approach (spend more, or stop doing business). It is a move straight out of the Michael Porter play book for generic strategy - but unfortunately, the approach is based on manufacturing and process industry, not something amorphous and dynamic like a professional football club. I suspect that Rudy has read the 60 second MBA or some similar book (I say 'read' when perhaps it is more likely he's listened to sound bites / TeD Talks on his car ICE when driving between latte emporia). These aren't business people, people. These are amateurish, desperate, misinformed charlatans masquerading as football club officials. Out with the lot of them. VENKYS PSEUDO BUSINESS CHARLATANS AND PATSIES OUT!!

Not much left in the tank for there to be much in the way of controversy around a player going. Who is your money on, whose departure would be considered controversial? I'm with you in principle - just interested in hearing your thoughts..

I wonder, is it compulsory to have a CEO, or can a football club operate without being challenged is such a person is not appointed? Not that I'm overly concerned, either way, because the simple fact is we could appoint a turnip (or swede) and it would still be told what to do and say by the shady folk in the shadows... Come on you root vegetables! SHADY VENKY STOOGES OUT!

Isn't the main point that we have yet another manager starting to express concerns about the underlying broken approach - these are perhaps the first salvoes in the barrage that will ultimately drive a sufficiently large hole in VI's relationship with the club to justify his (inevitable) departure, once again under a gagging clause that prevents anything meaningful coming to light about how stupidly (dis)organised we are behind the scenes as a club. That's how I read his utterances anyway. Probably best to focus on what happens ON the pitch for the time being, because that is where the immediate future of BRFC is to be decided. The back room stuff is just noise and distraction to stop us knowing what is really going on here (which is perfectly well summarised in many of the pages preceding this). Oh for a leader like Kenny, oh for a chairman like John, oh for the days when we won stuff, oh but those days are long gone... Oh for winger like handbag, oh for a striker like Al; oh for some matchday excitement, oh for the stands to be full...Oh for defenders like Samba, oh for Si Garner on fire, oh what has happened to Ewood, oh don't we all like a trier? Oh for a goalie with bottle, oh for a change can't we trust? Oh for fucks sake what a shit-show, oh for some wankers we're lost. VENKYS OUT!

They really do take us for mugs, even though it is as clear as day that the only game being played behind closed doors at Ewood since the Venky Curse landed is 'Deckchairs on the Titanic'. 'Women and children first'. "Keep playing, orchestra, to maintain morale". 'No, the ship is Unskinkable', we are merely offloading passengers to conform to the rules at sea when dealing with icebergs.' 'It wasn't an iceberg... it was a snowball.....' Some of us are awake, on deck, and can hear the roar of the ocean pouring in. Sadly we won't be around in 100 years when the wreck is discovered and pored over as a curiosity by whatever passes for football fans in the future. VENKY CRETINS AND THEIR STOOGES OUT!!

Those punts look very reasonable, given the wrecking squad that is installed in the back rooms at the moment. I just think it is totally disingenuous of those morons to wait till late in the window to do the outgoing business, as it will inevitably leave us and VI short of numbers, spirit, experience and cover. Wankers! VENKY WANKERS OUT!

Maybe limited, ability wise, but a big influence on a game, and when he isn't in the side we do seem to struggle. Perhaps it is time for a new broom though...and a new style of play to emerge from the chaos around the club.

Telewag reporting that Pears and Buckley are on their way out, having been omitted from VI's squad that went to Nijmegen yesterday. Anyone know where they are going? Have there been enquiries?

Yup - moronic little turds, playing fantasy football on their PCs and taking the algorithmic outcomes as gospel. Wankers!

Yes, that's clear, but unless Mill Hill St Peters come in with an offer, he's going nowhere. Same for any of our other (alleged) 'high earners', which is probably a recipe for disaster, as having someone on the team who is regarded as surplus to requirements is hardly going to be good for morale. Someone get those blasted VENKYS OUT!!

Who has Travis been linked with? I think his influence on the pitch is much greater than the NLPB* acknowledge, and without his leadership and shithousery we will be much diminished.

Some folk get quite myopic when reading the facts about Blackburn Rovers over these past umpteen years the morons of Pune have held the title deeds to Ewood Park....Other folk just don't pay attention. Some of us are so inured to the drivel that is drip fed from the local press, the dwindling number of ITK and the remaining faithful who just hope the nightmare ends soon, that we take everything with a pinch of salt until there is an actual picture of someone holding the shirt in front of the Senior training facility (although even that has been an unreliable indicator of an actual signing in recent years..). Let the Facts speak for themselves. I'm not anticipating any kind of long list of facts to pore over, to be fair... VENKYS OUT!! CLUB WRECKING MORONS!

I hope you let their tyres down as an appropriate gesture on your way out, to give them an exciting journey home. It is high time some of these nuovo lumpen petit bourgoisie pillocks were instructed to stuff socks in their mouths before uttering any simpering drivel like that to good folk like you.

A lot of pages have been written since the Brittain to Boro / Derby / wherever story bubbled up, and pretty much every perspective on him going or staying has been voiced on the forum. Despite this, the reality is that we will be losing a senior player, experienced at this level and capable of contributing known value to the side. And for what? No realistic chance of the transfer fee being reinvested in any meaningful way. A significant downgrade in our attacking threat. A cut-price leg up to a team usually considered a direct rival. In the days of Jim Smith, Bobby Saxton, Gordon Lee the need to trade players to balance the books was accepted as part of the reality of being a third tier club, lacking the resources to blaze a trail or flash the cash. Unfortunately I don't see any of the guile, commitment, inside knowledge, passion, connections or strategic thinking from the arseholes running our club, that were the hallmark of Blackburn Rovers back in the day. All I see is a bunch of chancers running the resources down, without a plan, with no pride in what Blackburn Rovers should mean (and could still be) and with no regard whatsoever for the people without whom the club would have no meaning (yes - I mean YOU and me, friend - the fans). It's an outrage. Rudy, You SLAAAAGG! VENKYS OUT!