If this is accurate - and anyone capable of reading the runes would agree that it is - we are a depreciating asset. If Venkys no longer feel that we are worth investing in, probably for a varied, curent and historical combination of reasons, then it seems we will be run as a going concern with a view to eventual removal from their portfolio. That is my view. I honestly can't see the club disappearing from view but the basis upon which the club was initially purchased seems to have shifted somewhat and the prevailing question: 'What are they doing here?' is about to be answered. The saddest aspect of Kamy's analysis is that the club cannot be run remotely as the decision-makers have been appointed on the basis that they are not trusted - and therefore capable and/or trustoworthy enough - to make the calls that need to be made in order for the club to thrive or survive. We've been stumbling along the train tracks wondering if the light we can see is the end of the tunnel or an express train. I think this season we are about to find out...?

?

I think the unfathomable 'Indian' factor has played a part to some extent but maybe not in obvious ways. Currently reading The Geography of Thought - How Asians and Westerners Think Differently by Richard E Nisbett. The Japanese, to take an example, don't have a single word for 'I' as it's used in the West. When they tak about I, it is only expressed in relation to the context. Social relationships are much more important in terms of how Asians see themselves. We apparently see the world through much narrower lens of singular questions and provable answers. It partly explains why science and technology and economics gained a stronger foothold in Western society over the last 200 years. Whilst we tend to chase explanations for problems and the bottom line, Asians factor into the calculations much more the social consequences of their actions. Compromise is better than fighting for a principle that could end up bringing the whole house down. I had an interesting conversation on holiday with a guy who writes for The Times of India. The caste system is alive over there. Lower and higher castes can be identified quite easily by their surnames apparently. He says that when he goes to the doctors, he tries to be seen by a medic with a lower caste name. He knows they will have had to work had to get into that profession. Those from higher castes find it much easier to enter the professions and are best avoided because of that. Competence doesn't tend to distinguish them.

Inertia on the pitch. Inertia off the pitch. That's where we are.

" The EFL’s rules only require the prospective owner to show that they have the money to fund a club. They do not have to furnish any proof that they actually intend to do so... The chair of the House of Commons culture committee, Damian Collins, has proposed a sensible plan under which government aid would be forthcoming for clubs in return for them submitting to a tough new watchdog called the Football Finance Authority... The names and the histories of Bury and Wigan belong to the town, not to a fly-by-night property speculator or a Hong Kong real estate broker. This is also a clue to what has to happen next. As hard as it is to do, the fans of Bury need to let the club go. Wigan has not quite reached that point yet and let’s hope the club can be wrestled from the hands of its asset-strippers. But in Bury, change is now stirring. A phoenix club is being created, to capture and resume the idea of Bury Football Club. The Bury Times carried an advertisement in recent weeks for a manager, so it is not too late to apply." Article by Philip Collins, Bury lad and columnist at The Times here

Saw him at home in a couple of years ago in a Rovers shirt and bossed it. Is he good enough? You won't know until we try it, Is Mowbray a risk taker, though? That is the question.

Armstrong will take the plaudits but Travis created the goal - without even touching the ball. Closed down and pressured the man to make a mistake. We are all in thrall to Arma but for me that was Travis's goal - to quote, 'without Travis, Arma is nothing...'

Don't Liverpool have a throw-in coach? https://thesefootballtimes.co/2020/03/23/liverpools-throw-in-coach-thomas-gronnemark-shares-some-of-his-insights/ Nice work if you can get it mind. ???

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Blackburn_Rovers/Blackburn_Rovers.htm

X That book in hard back is going for £1000 on their site. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underdogs-Unlikely-Story-Footballs-Heroes/dp/0224083139

They were watering the pitch extensively with the sprinklers before the game. ?

I'm a paying fan. I think I have a right to expect to see our best team on the pitch. Gallagher isn't our best striker. Samuel has shown more in the last couple of games. Why not play him? Last night I felt short changed. TM is like any manager. He isn't going to own up to his mistakes. He is taking the bloody minded approach to make it work. Meanwhile our promotion chance flickers and fades out. Sharpe is right. What's surprising is that he said it. New job on the horizon for Rich?

You make a good point about Holtby. One I hadn't really thought ;much about. I think that because he has been hardly used so faf, maybe Rovers fans think he is just another run of the mill player. He is absolutely not. I was looking forward to seeing him play and thought the other day just have seldom I have felt like of late. As for a poster above suggesting he came from another German Championship club, Hamburg are nothing like 'another Championship club'. Hamburg fans loved Holtby. For his performances on the pitch and how he connected with them off it. Rovers really are missing a trick. (Note how oiur performance dropped after he was subbed on Saturday.) The lad is gold dust - only my opinion, of course - and could end up wasting away - though I really hope not.

What's the betting market like in India and the East Asia, I wonder? Just saying.?

We really need something from the Forest game or this season will might start to like it's built on sand. A draw wouldn't be a disaster. Another defeat, though, and the PNE game begins to loom very large.

Can be impressive. Rarely for a full game. Greedy at times in front of goal which is just what we need. Has far too many mediocre games. Doesn't make the difference in matches his ability warrants. Agree totally about Holtby. It's a team game for me so 'assisting' is redundant in my eyes. Just saying.

Dack is one of the most overrated players we've had for some time. It looks like Tosin's excellent form is the reason for our recent run. A unique, irreplaceable player in the squad.

Don't especially want to be a Jonah but... Is it possible that TM will be the straw that breaks the Venk's backing of the club? 'Blow this for a game of soldiers. We can't trust anyone over there to get it right any more. We're off.' It's going to happen at some point. That's a given. Just a matter of how and when, imo. ?

This.

Yes, they definitely did. Loud, clear and prolonged from what sounded like a large section of the support. Directed at the players as they acknowledged us at the end. Some giving angry volleys of expletives towards them as well. The players looked embarrassed, kept their distance and so they should have too. The brave handful certainly got the message.

"I think it’s just sticking to your core principles and not wavering from them and getting all the key decisions, such as the manager, right. Getting the right players to fit in with the team.." Garlick Read the article and weep. You have to hand it to them, though. The opposite of us at the moment. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/oct/25/burnley-miracle-premier-league-success-story-poorest-owner

I think we are trapped in the wrong argument with regard to ticket prices. As has been mentioned over and over, the relationship between ticket prices and attendances is not a causal one: cheaper tickets do not - in isolation - result in higher attendances. The performance of the team - winning games, playing well - is obviously a factor but doesn't correlate with higher attendances (though that is actually hypothetical as we have never looked liked getting anywhere near promotion from the Championship and fought the gravity of relegation for years in the Premier League). FWIW, I think the club needs to radically re-think its relationship with the town and local area. BRFC Trust, for example, engage in many worthy activities. But players taking training sessions at local schools like they have been doing this week can't really be seen as serious outreach on their own. These kinds of activities have been going on since I was at school forty years ago: they provided a conversational topic for a short time but the old cynicism about the Rovers was never far below the surface for most kids. Few converts were made. The club needs to ask itself some serious questions regarding what Blackburn Rovers is really about. What purpose does it serve locally? And, most of all, who cares? The die-hards are passionate, the rest are tepid if they are interested at all. Not all are passionate, not all are moved to attend even in the good times. So, this group need to be given a reason to attend. Blackburn people generally are proud of their town and local area. They might mock it and mock themselves but, in my opinion, cut them and they'll bleed. There's a renaissance in Lancashire' industrial and cultural heritage: look at how Manchester and Liverpool have reinvented themselves as modern and with proud past. Look at the British Textile Biennial for just one instance. If the Venks are interesed in the long term, they need to get a grasp on the local culture and economy: that basically means local people, local memories and local ambitions. That is what the club should be part of, a point that Jack Walker knew instinctively because he, and many of the local gliterati such as Our Dougie, grew up here. This is Blackburn's club; it's what the Venks 'bought' when they purchased the club. But they need, firstly, get a hold of that idea and then, secondly, have the imagination and courage to do something about it. Without the local element, and a drive to serve the town, like Jack, they will be stuck where they are - and so will our meagre attendances.

Just speculation but Johnson's involvement in this Derby County farce might explain his surprise omission from the team recently. An example of Mowbray putting down some boundaries, I would guess.

He's a big character on and off the field..Takes his football really seriously. A big competitor. But also plays with a smile on his face. Enjoys his football. See HSV fans' efforts to keep him signed. Played in the famous HSV game a couple of years ago when they won in the play-off with the last kick of the season to keep them up. They were the only team to have played in every Bundesliga season up to that point. Never relegated. The equivalent of Arsenal staying in the Premier League by the skin of their teeth. The man was ecstatic. An on-form, up-for-it Holtby will be a massive addition to the squad. He's a Mowbray man. Run through a brick wall for the cause. If he believes in it. (The less said about last season the better - for all HSV fans. Sacking managers left, right and centre - They changed managers three times a season for three seasons in a row. The whole of German football laughing at the way they were run- and you thought we were bad!! ?). Welcome to Rovers, Lewis. #nurderHSV COYB