On 19/08/2020 at 08:54, Kamy100 said:

There is very little money to spend.  I have heard that Venky's will continue to fund the club (to meet current liabilities) but they want to reduce overheads as much as they can with money spent on transfers being one of the key cost reduction areas, even if we sell players, some of that money will be used to reduce overheads.  

This has been coming for a few years, there had to come a time when the Venky's made the decision to reduce spending, the hope is that they can transition to this new model of working in a controlled way but I very much doubt that will happen as I have little or no faith in the executive structure at Ewood to be able to successfully manage such a transition.

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...?

?

28 minutes ago, Moptop1 said:

Indian Business men and women are known for doing things on the cheap and NEVER admitting when they have done wrong. We’ve a long wait if you expect something like that to happen...

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.

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We can't play against teams who put a foot in and give us the " hurry up ".

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

57 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

Youth are characterized by extremes, both good & bad. I take Rankin-Costello, I think he will be a solid player for us.

 I asked the same thing about Wharton, he’s helped 3 teams to promotion. Hard worker, & surely, a winning attitude. 

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.

9 hours ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Last night I gave MOM to Travis but I think we need to forge a duplicate and give it to Graham.

 

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...'

On 3 May 2020 at 17:05, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

It wasn't as easy then though Mike. The amount of coaching roles in pro football must have gone up ten fold in the last Forty years.

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. ???

On 21 March 2020 at 21:03, Mattyblue said:

As far as I’m aware Rovers or Olympic never wore those colours 

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

X

On 19/07/2019 at 20:09, Claytons Left Boot said:

There’s a great book by Keith Dewhurst titled Underdogs. Darwen FC are the central figures and their early FA Cup exploits but the book also tells how football developed from games in the Darwen and Penistone (nr Barnsley) districts. They used to have ‘goals’ down at the Boundary, probably just two trees. The other goals were up at Bull Hill and there were around 50 a side with games lasting all day. The forerunner of the modern game.

Before the Football League was formed, Darwen and Turton were two of our areas biggest teams. Rovers and Bolton hadn’t really got going. There was an account of 500 Darwen fans travelling to Turton by train. One of the first football specials lol.

Great reading, especially if you’re from Darwen as there are many references to the town and its mill owners and other buildings etc. I’ve lent the book to someone and never got it back. Trouble is, I can’t remember who. 

It’s still available on Amazon.

That book in hard back is going for £1000 on their site.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underdogs-Unlikely-Story-Footballs-Heroes/dp/0224083139

5 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

You've seen the weather, right? Half the country is flooded. 

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?

18 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

I’m not rewriting anything. Their fans sang for Neil to ‘get him on’ for 15 mins before he came on. His reception was unbelievable! He must’ve felt like Messi bless him. I’d have taken Sinclair,  absolutely but I reckon a few on here would’ve been caning Mowbray had he given a 30yr old winger a 2.5yr contract. Rightly so, it’s madness imo. Fair play to Sinclair though. Must’ve been blown away with that offer.

Make no mistake, our fans didn’t react like that to Holtby. Who based on his career is a far better signing. Maybe we just have higher expectations. Nothing wrong with that.

In terms of Bauer, I’ve now seen him live twice and on the TV another half a dozen times. He’s a stump. Based on what I’ve seen he isn’t fit to lace Tosins boots.

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.

3 hours ago, lraC said:

It's hard to imagine that it is pure coincidence, with it going on for so long and under several different managers. Let that little group who won't accept some sort of strange behavior, has been and still is evident at the club, say what they want, I will take some convincing that there isn't. 

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.

Just now, Harry The Bass said:

Over 40 goals and 20 assists in just over 100 games?

Remind me who else we’ve had with that level of impact since pre 2010?

Will be a bitter loss but I genuinely feel Holtby is a perfect replacement.

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.

?

8 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

 

The debts grow and grow.

A lot of people have their heads in the sand.

This.

2 hours ago, benhben said:

did any of the crowd make any Mowbray out noises at the end?

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.

8 hours ago, Rolo PB said:

I haven’t posted about Rovers fortunes for a long while. It’s so hard to believe in the current ownership and it’s very easy to become disaffected and disillusioned with the way in which the poultry barons in Pune have breathed life into our nightmares.

However............

On the subject of their 7th permanent manager in 9 abject years, it is hard to escape the fact that any judgement of Tony Mowbray was always going to be distorted by the folly that preceded him. He followed Owen Coyle, who was a farcical appointment that could only have been entertained by fools looking to torment an already mistreated fan base. Therefore the unsuccessful battle against relegation was overlooked and Mowbray’s contribution from Feb-May was, rightly or wrongly, viewed largely as a valiant effort.  

The promotion season was enjoyable for the simple reason that for the first time under these wretched owners, a winning team was being turned out most weeks and, to Mowbray’s credit, he projected a palpable authenticity and came across as the “proper football man” that so many of us dearly craved. That said, for me personally, the football was unconvincing, but I was (like most of us I suspect) carried away with this euphoria of winning, which had become so alien. 

Last season again seemed to be considered a “free hit” by many, but for me this is where significant concerns began to manifest themselves on a consistent basis. Chief amongst them, the “marquee” signing Brereton, the porous defence and Mowbray singularly failing to integrate the talented Joe Rothwell until it was too late.

This summer was not only a missed opportunity, but for me actually inflicted more weaknesses in a squad that so badly needed augmenting in crucial areas. 

The goalkeeping situation has completely bemused me. Raya was far from faultless, at times painfully naive, but the necessary promise was there to be nurtured and developed. Walton is not an upgrade and more significantly is not even our player. For me the sale of Raya is symptomatic of this manager, his handling of youth players has left a lot to be desired, as both Nyambe and to a certain extent Travis demonstrate with their performances, which have to me displayed confidence issues and an anxiety which were non existent 9-12 months ago. The acquisition of Gallagher is fast becoming as big an albatross round Mowbray’s neck as Brereton and the striking department is beginning to look worryingly bare.

The team, much like the club itself, is drifting in a mode of complacency and that is when sides are at their most vulnerable. A real motivator and tactical innovator is what the club needs and has needed since the needless jettisoning of Allardyce. 9 years have nearly passed, very little fun has been had following Rovers in those times. The Raos have had 7 go’s at getting it right and simply have not, only proving that their heads are as empty as Ewood Park. Mowbray has probably come to the end, but the sad and frank truth is, I have no faith his replacement will be any greater suited to deliver the needs of our football club

"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.

On 27 September 2019 at 15:39, Peteb2014 said:

Does look rather like Johnson on the latest video that has appeared on the sun website though

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