Betfred is one of the only three I'm on...but I'm struggling to figure out where I can make that bet on it! Might be for the best, my bets are often the kiss of death...

Where can I get that?

I'm astounded by that answer, but to each their own. So essentially, you think this match is more important than the rest of the season combined?

If that happens, I'm building a shrine to JDT in my house.

I thought he did his best work between and in front of the sticks 😉

He really isn't. He's a year or two younger than them (well, 5 younger than Buckley and 2 younger than Morton), but I don't see him as behind them at all. If I were to base it purely on appearances for us this season, I'd say he's a year or 2 ahead of them frankly. And he certainly showed more consistency, at least when I've seen him. Morton has been churning out shit performances for a good chunk of the season. Probably seen one fairly ineffective half from Wharton.

I think a Rovers fan posting on the Reading forum summed up how I feel heading into this one: I am primarily a Blackburn fan (I do have a major soft spot for Reading so I come on here to keep up with the goings on). Let me tell you, this is the perfect game for Rovers to lose. Against a team that is out of form Former manager A striker that always scores against us (Lucas Joau) Against a team with no away wins so far this season Against a team with no goal in a long time Midweek game Tickets are £10 and its just too much of a good opportunity to take to get a win in front of a bigger than normal crowd. Call me cynical but I've seen it too many times as a Rovers fan and I'm predicting a Reading win. Apparently it's actually 3 away wins Reading have this season, but still. I dread games where we have an opportunity to undo a team's run of bad form. I also dread coming up against ex-players and to a lesser degree ex-managers. I really want to watch tonight, but I feel it might almost be a good thing that I can't due to work.

And yet, has scored 1 less goal than him this season.

Will this be the club's first ever game with VAR then, or did we have it against one of the Prem sides in the League Cup?

I can see that being a problem if you ever got a home tie for a League Two side or something in the QF.

I believe the last update was that he's getting a scan.

I don't think we're in any position to criticise another club's attendances. I find attendance-criticising in general, whether of ours or anybody else's, a pretty tacky and sad thing to do. People have all sorts of reasons as individuals they may not attend, especially in this financial climate, and many clubs outside the top flight have had trouble retaining their fan bases for all sorts of reasons.

We have frequently rotated in the cups though. That's not the usual definition of taking it seriously. The main difference has been the players coming in have been hungry to prove themselves, and the manager isn't a fuckwit.

I'd never forgive the club, or him, if we lost him on a free to Stoke this summer. Or to any other Championship club (with the possible exception of teams who have just come down).

Surprised to see Reading in 7th and above us. They're not in the PL2 side, they're not a Cat 1 academy, and I stand to be corrected but I shouldn't think they've got anywhere near as many academy products in their first team as we do. Have they raised some players into big money sales recently or something?

That's actually the last thing I want to hear.

Yeh - the kind of ambition I want to see.

It's not that odd. People tire after they've been putting in a shift recently.

Are Stoke the first team to do the double on us this season?

Lead in the boots does seem likely. Something I was a bit concerned about after a couple of stellar performances against Leicester and Sheff U. You can pay players whatever you like, but the human body has limits, and isn't capable of 100% every match over an extended period. Those extra midweek games take their toll, no matter how much people like to make out otherwise.

Nah, the first half is when we had our descent.

What's that meant to mean? I've been reading this thread, I've looked at most of the posts...

A great many, in the history of Blackburn Rovers, let alone world football history. But they were poor, as usual. Absolutely suckered by the Stoke players on numerous occasions. Amazed they didn't give them one of those iffy penalty claims.

This post would have been worthwhile if we'd got it back to 3-3.

Too little, too late.