Mattyblue

What kind of professional outfit doesn’t see the play offs as a focus when sitting in the places in February? Not a serious football club, yet they expect fans to pay up to £530 for a ST for what is seemingly now a mere ‘development club’…

Now sympatheticclaret has caught Longers’ ‘little owd Burnley-itus’ 🙄 Spare us, please…

Just think of all those skriking kids when there’s not even enough shirts to go round for the mascots… because that happens at other clubs too, right?

It’s at the ground(s) that count and he had the easiest of rides from Rovers fans throughout. Now that might be because he was just being ‘tolerated’ over being particularly rated, but the result was the same, the most Teflon manager I’ve ever come across here or elsewhere - JDT certainly won’t (and already isn’t) get the same courtesy.

A month ago the talk from JDT was that he was to be loaned out, so he was obviously in last chance saloon as a Championship level footballer - and he has taken that last chance with both hands. Couple that with that most important of commodities in sport, confidence, and we’ve got a decent player on a hands (which is very helpful when we have a perma-injured right back and seemingly an inability to complete transfers).

When did TM ever need to do shoulder that? He had a free pass at Ewood from the fans for five years.

That’s literally an article from their own website, so they obviously do call themselves Bluenoses. Just ask Jude… “To be a Bluenose is to be a Birmingham City fan really. “I’m a Bluenose, you’re a Bluenose, and if you’re from the right side of Birmingham you’re a Bluenose,” Bellingham explained. “I never forget when we went to [Birmingham City] games, I always loved going past the bit with the rock - there’s a rock on the way to the stadium and someone’s painted the nose blue. “Before games, I’d always go to my mum or my dad, ‘you’ve got to go past the Bluenose’. Before the game against Stoke when I scored on my home debut, we drove past it. I would’ve driven past it a million times going to a game as a fan, but, and I don’t know why, before the Stoke game it was special. From that point I said we always have to go that way to go past the Bluenose,” Bellingham said.

Had a look, nope still XL sizes for most of it…

To be fair the FA Cup thread has been discussing the game for days…

… or a match ticket

The only initiative I can see is ‘Operation get Swag his bonus’ through selling enough overpriced STs…

Yet JDT carries on with it…

The Haaland factor could help on that score…

Yep, always c5-6k home fans for 3rd/4th round ties, has been for many a year at Ewood. But as with Forest it’s strange how much hand wringing there now is about it (social media strikes again, you’d think). It’s fairly simple, half of ST holders don’t turn up ergo it’s a reduced crowd.

I suppose it all comes down to that famous Bobby Robson quote re what is a ‘football club’? For me Blackburn Rovers is the fans, I.e the connection me, my family and friends have with each other (and with other fans) through the club, and its history and heritage. Plonkers like Swag just happen to be temporary administrators. I love ‘the club’ as much as ever, and that’s why I despise the time servers currently letting it wither on the vine and waste so much potential.

Well if they’ve bothered to resurrect the sticker book there *must* be more to come, right? 😐

‘Siri, sum up brfcs.com in two consecutive posts’ 😁

‘Unrecognisable’. Yep, glad I clicked it as that photo gave nothing away.

The last census shows that the town of Blackburn (not the wider BwD borough) is now around 50% south Asian. So the club has to engage. We are facing two existential issues, the support base within the town itself is reducing due to large demographic change, with the match going fanbase as a result stretching further and further across other boroughs. The club has realised the town of Blackburn issue, and Yasir and team are doing sterling work to address it. However on the wider fanbase issue the club seems to have its head in the sand as to where a growing percentage of match goers now reside (though a quick scan on a ST holder spreadsheet would tell you that). We need to see engagement across the Ribble Valley, South Ribble, Hyndburn and beyond, not just a token gesture in a few primary schools within the arbitrary drawn BwD borders. As an aside, does the club have a target? I.e ‘10% of ST holders to be from an Asian background by 2030’ etc? Because noble as Yasir’s work and being a ‘community champion’ is, the overall aim has to bums on seats and to ensure a future for the town’s grand old football club.

They were the more successful of the clubs in their city until a certain Bill Shankly emerged…

The fella that had them 8th, they then hounded him out - where they been since? Just like here a lot of football fans really don’t have a clue and are obsessed with this nebulous mantra of ‘playing football the right way’

‘How shit must you be we’re winning at home/away’ etc. is another real motivator for your players, I imagine!

But then he wouldn’t get to screw Rovers fans for £30 a ticket…

I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for ‘your shit ahhhh’, it disappeared post your favourite decade, but it’s back again.

Or is it one post ten thousand times?