bluebruce

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23617466.blackburn-rovers-youngsters-given-chance-impress-tomasson/ Rory Finneran, 15, has taken part in the internal games with the senior team. Also 16 year olds Max Davies and Tom Atcheson, both centre halves. Anyone have knowledge of any of them?

Raya's loan was only a 4 month one too. Pike spent more time at Fylde than that overall. I think those loans can be handy for younger players who need a taste of the physicality and stakes of first team football, but agree I'm not sure what it achieved for the likes of Burns and Pike. I think it's just been desperation to get them experience when we've struggled to get a league loan sorted.

@BRFC4EVA you still living down that way?

Absolutely, didn't mean it as any kind of slight on his ability and potential. Just that, as we agree, he's unlikely to be ready for the first team. You never know of course, Dolan was brought in on the same assumption, but at this point in time it can only be believed that JDT and GB (or perhaps more a case of the U21 boss) have brought him in as an U21 player initially. If he performs better than expected early doors, maybe he can break into the fringe. Think there'll be a lot of senior competition by the end of the window though.

Was 4th in line the other day. Think they're just mixing up bench duties.

I gather he only played twice for Spurs U21s (who got relegated and finished 3 places below ours) and also twice for our u21s when he was on trial. So no, I think we can assume he isn't ready for the first team. Likely to spend much or all of next season trying to establish himself in our u21s first.

That sounds like a pointlessly convoluted load of old bollocks.

No longer Rovers Ladies! Now Rovers Women https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/june/20/a-new-era-starts-now/

Nope. Old enough to remember when defeat away to Coventry mathematically cost us the title, and a little earlier.

I'll have to take your word for it, I don't remember a single thing about his game! I do notice he played 11 games in his loan and we didn't bother signing him.

I see Hyam got his debut...in the 90th minute. I mean wow, what an opportunity to prove his worth...still, he will be happy with a cap at least.

A bit of shite too, mind. Andresen (I don't even remember him so I can only assume he wasn't up to snuff), Ostenstad, Samuelsen, Tore Pedersen, all dossers. King (during his time with us, though personally I liked him) and Bohinen (again, didn't mind him) would probably split opinion a bit. Gamst, Berg, Bjornebye, undoubtedly great signings for us. We should have made a lot more of King and he went on to have a very good career. It's probably a bit of an even split all considered, with Tromstad of course still to be decided.

I'm not surprised I forgot him! I should have remembered King though.

Our first Norweigan since Pedersen? Or am I forgetting somebody?

Looks like they haven't even finished sorting out their coding yet, judging by all those <h2> markers.

Many of our young attackers have seemed exciting over the years, until it comes to breaking into the first team. Then they never really quite manage it. Not since Dunn and Duff. I hope we're due one to buck the trend, but I think it's harder for youngsters to break in up top. If they don't score pretty quickly (and they'll often start out with just some cameos) they tend to be dropped in favour of experience. God knows how Vale managed to get so much game time.

His first pro deal was already negotiated and waiting to be signed as soon as it was allowed, but then his agents delayed and presumably renegotiated anyway.

I agree, we need to try to get him into goalscoring positions more often. I actually feel that since January and obviously excluding players who are no longer here, he looks the most clinical finisher at the club right now.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/23576445.blackburn-rovers-frustrated-lack-efl-opportunities-players/ I share his frustration at the lack of EFL opportunities we've been able to manage for our youngsters. We clearly have one of the best academies in the country, playing at the top youth level, churning out a string of Championship level players, and yet pro clubs don't seem as interested because the main team isn't in the Prem. I hope we can work on this somehow. You can't force clubs to take your youth players and use them, but the use of the phrase in there of something like the phone doesn't ring enough...maybe we can work on improving our networking with other clubs and starting these discussions ourselves instead of hanging back and waiting for it to happen. I'm not saying this is entirely our fault either, I do agree with him there's probably an unfair perception of our youth players not being as glamorous due to not being attached to a Prem club. I'm sure we've had more youngsters who could have made an impact at League One and Two levels if they'd had the chances, than have had the chances. That said, some of our youngsters loaned out have disappointed a bit (albeit sometimes from lack of game time), but that's the nature of loaning youth players.

I was aware of that Friedel performance and thought about mentioning it, but I didn't actually see it. I remember hearing some very excited commentators talking about how he was keeping them at bay single handedly. Honestly, what a fucking keeper.

I remember Williams saying many years ago they always knew they could charge more or less whatever they wanted to about 8 thousand hardcore (I think 8 thousand was the figure he used). But he knew that wasn't the way to grow the football club.

Speaking of performances that never repeated, Pedersen had a game (I think it was against Middlesbrough) at Ewood where, just for that one match, he looked like a proper flying winger! Really fast, great dribbling, kept beating men with the ball at his feet etc. I'm not saying it was his best game for us overall, I don't recall if he scored etc, but that aspect of his performance was weirdly unique. I never saw that in his locker before or since. Looked like a different player and had me questioning why he couldn't do that every week. I think it was in the middle of one of his poorer runs of form too. Other one off performances that come to mind include Jay McEveley when he marked David Beckham out of the game, and Adam Henley playing very well against Manure and Liverpool I think it was, the games that apparently got Real Madrid scouting him. Neither player went on to fulfil the promise we thought they had, especially Henley. None of those fit the brief of course...I'd probably go with Friedel in the Worthington Cup Final, as that one was the first that came to mind and it won us a trophy. Tugay's masterclass against Liverpool, as mentioned, for runner up. There is still a video on YouTube of every involvement he had in that match, warts and all, and they're nearly all flawless. I think he was 37 or 38 at the time?

And individually, too.

Then there's the less tangible question of whether we would have made the playoffs without being featured on Sky so much, due to our awful record when we're on it...but I don't know how much of that is coincidence, and how much is players bottling it in front of the cameras (or being less gee'd up due to smaller crowds).

My previous post explained why we would potentially be worse off financially for it. Depends how it was calculated - if Venkys simply sent us 1.5 mill less in losses due to it (ie all the extra Sky money), we lost money from reduced ticket sales from being on Sky.