StHelensRover

I think someone Wilsden said on here over the weekend that this is our worst start to a season under Venkys. Very worrying considering during that time we have survived relegation twice on the final day and been relegated twice. Strap yourselves in.

When TM left he had taken us as far as he could and it was time for him to go. I'm grateful to him and for his time leading the team. I think he always did his best and wanted the best for the club, but it became stale and starting sliding backwards, we had a couple of very bad runs towards the end. Objectively he is a much better manager than Valerian Ismael and would do a better job, so bringing him in I think would give us a better chance of avoiding relegation. However, I think it would really divide the fan base, there are many who got very fed-up with TM and disliked him, if he didn't get results straight away it could get just as toxic as it's probably going to get soon under current management. Not sure whether it would be the right thing to do. There's also no guarantee he'd want to work here again after the way they treated him at the end.

Because none of them have any connection to the town and people of Blackburn, they're not Rovers fans, they're mercenaries employed by the Venkys, who also have no connection. So they don't really care whether we go up or down. They're getting paid an absolute fortune to coast along, it's a gravy train. If it all goes to pot in a couple of years time, they'll walk away from their roles very wealthy, will never need to work again. Why rock the boat by phoning India and asking for more money? On the owners themselves, I can't understand why they still own the club. I can only think we're such a small going concern for them, that they rarely ever think about us. The family are worth something like 2billion pounds, we occasionally (less and less often due to us selling players and not properly reinvesting the money in the squad ) cost them around £20m a year. I cannot imagine what it must be like to have that level of wealth, but I can imagine it's easy to forget about us altogether.

Those teams who are probably going to be in the mix with us, Wednesday, Hull, Derby, Oxford, Pompey, Charlton. Those are going to be the crunch games this season where we have to take 3 points off them home and away, if not, we're toast. Beat Hull away but then got a hiding at Charlton. The next run of games is a nightmare run, I would take a point in any of those upcoming matches before kickoff. Sad to have to say that, but I think that's realistic.

There are a lot of posts on this forum which say the owners and their representatives are deliberately trying to relegate the club and I don't agree with that. I think that's too conspiracy theory or supervillain to make sense in the real world. If they actually wanted to do that, to set us up to fail, it would be really easy and wouldn't have taken so many years. I think it's more likely that they either don't really care about league position, or have no idea how to run a club in a way which prioritises league position, or realistically somewhere in the middle of the two. Everything is done on the cheap and often in ways which seem amateurish, knee-jerk and for want of a better word 'tinpot'.

I'm the same, had a season ticket every single season since 1998, including covid (I know many others have been going since 60s and 70s, but I'm only 34). I also go to quite a few away games. I now feel like I'm turning up out of some strange sense of loyalty and duty. I always take the view that it's my (our) club and not theirs, and that somehow we can see them off and start enjoying following the club again. Apart from the league one season, it's not really been enjoyable to follow the club for the last 14 years. There have been odd matches which I've really enjoyed, but it's maybe only a couple of times a season, but I just feel flat about the whole thing. If I tried to explain all this to someone who doesn't also follow football, they'd think I was bonkers to carry on bothering. The club isn't necessarily deliberately set up to fail, but it's not set up to succeed or make any progress, it's set up to be as low cost, cheap and cheerful as possible, which inevitably will lead to failure eventually. We aim for mediocre every year, so in years where we fall short of that (this season), we're in trouble.

I hope it starts raining this evening and doesn't stop until 8pm Tues

I agree, I think all the senior pros or lads with further ambition sussed him out last season, didn't like the look of how it was going to pan out, and found a way out of the club in the summer. Many of the players who are still left are either journeymen, very young, or so below the standard required for this division that they're just happy to be here and playing at this level. They're not going to down tools or throw their toys out of the pram, they're onto a winner, even if the team isn't. Get beat, walk round the pitch and clap the fans, do a post on social media saying they'll try hard next game, rinse and repeat.

Vile. I absolutely loathe the people ruining everything good about this football club. One of the world's oldest, most historic football clubs. England's 10th most successful club. 15 years of muck - no ambition and embarrassment under these owners. They run the club like a non-league outfit. I'm terrified that's where we could end up one day. I'd give anything to be rid of them.

On PaddyPower right now, we're 5/1 to go down. Other favourites include: Wednesday 1/33 Oxford EVENS Derby 5/2 Pompey 4/1 I think also think these are the teams we'll have to scrap it out to the death with. Other shortish prices which I'm less convinced of: Watford 9/2 Norwich & QPR 6/1 PNE & Wrexham 7/1

I'd actually forgotten about Morishita today until you mentioned him just then. Like you say, he was the big one, the priority signing we worked on all summer apparently.

I think if we had appointed pretty much anyone else last season after Eustace walked, we would have got into the playoffs. When you look back at the position we were in, the favorable run of fixtures we had, the fact that some of the other usual suspects for the playoffs had 'off' seasons, it's quite incredible that we managed to not finish in the playoff places. It really took some doing to not finish in them, because so many other teams stumbled and faltered. I'm not saying we would have won the playoffs, I don't think the team was good enough for that. But if we had finished 5th or 6th, that would have been our best ever season under the Venkys, without question. But instead we went for someone who historically barely lasts a year at a club, with a very questionable record of success. We went from someone who put man-management front and centre of his approach to someone who doesn't seem to give a toss about the players and will throw them under the bus at the first opportunity. His approach to last season was so awful that all our senior and experienced players left the club as quickly as they could, I'm convinced he is one of the reasons they were so keen to leave.

Your guess is as good as mine mate, but I'd be fascinated to know what happens at training, given our start to the season. I think Ismael hinted in summer that he wanted a team of strong ,robust, athletic type players for this squad. So to address that, we sold our more consistent centreback in Hyam and now rely on two very injury prone ones. Then we signed a load of players who have never played in a division with this level of quality, match intensity and volume of fixtures. We then signed a player with an injury where we have no idea how serious it is or when he'll be able to play, or whether he'll be up to the speed and quality of the league. So we've definitely taken steps to be strong/robust/athletic etc.

"Why do you have to be so negative? Just back the lads ffs you're making it toxic and it affects the players. The owners are doing their best, they put £20mill in every year, good luck finding someone else to put that in. It's not 1995 anymore. Let's forget about off the pitch stuff and sing some more songs about B*rnley, who we haven't laid a glove on since our owners bought the club and are constantly laughing at us."

This is disastrous. We knew this would happen, that as soon as we picked up a few injuries with this lightweight squad, that we'd be staring down the barrel, it's happening faster than I expected.

I think BBC probably watched what happened with Eliot Jackson at the LT and realised that they'll also be sent packing from Ewood if they dare to ask anyone at the Venky politburo anything more difficult than what their favourite colour is or favourite film.

Just heard his guff on radio lancs and I think I've heard enough from him now. Banged on about how good we were in first half, said there was lots of positives to take from the game and a good mentality. No pushback against that really from BBC and then Kev Gallacher didn't really disagree too much either in his response to the interview. This fanbase is up against it this season.

There probably is, but he either won't apply for our job, or we won't interview him, we'll go with someone even cheaper and worse than VI, probably give them a 4 year deal.

Time for the arrogant prat to churn out a few more podcasts so he can talk us through his genius, insights and how he delivered the 'exciting summer' he promised us at the end of last season. Signed a load of players no one had ever heard from lower divisions around and Europe and what a surprise, only one of them (Alebiousu) looks like he has ever played football before.

He's not very good, I'd sack him. But then I've no faith in Suhail and Rudy to be able to appoint anyone any better. This is a big mess.

I'd rather he didn't 😄

The commentators are saying the game has boiled down to 'three mad minutes' where a couple of misplaced headers on the edge of the box have cost us. Not having that, since taking the lead, Coventry have completely smothered, nullified us, we have offered nothing in reply. Don't have the depth of squad, ability of player and the right mentality to respond and fight our way back in.

We did play well in the first half. However, if you play well for 45 mins every week over 46 games, that's half a season of good performances, but if you don't win those matches, you're in trouble. We're in trouble.

I don't agree with that. Two very good football teams of their eras with unbearable large armchair and internet fanbases, no one wanted to see them win, but they didn't become winning machines due to luck.

Saints having a a bit of a stinker so far, all things considered, maybe we'll be able to frustrate them and nick a point. I'm dreading the other fixtures in that list.