... and Venus, and Downing

There’s an element of every fanbase that are ‘never happy’, but he honestly can’t think he’s had a remotely tough relationship with the Rovers fanbase. I’ve never known a manager as average as TM given such an easy ride.

I would say the League 1 relegation has led to the opposite of fans having ‘1995’ expectations. Standards of what is acceptable and what the club should have aspirations to achieve has dropped markedly post L1, even from the not exactly halcyon days of the Bowyer era - which has helped TM out massively in keeping fans pressure for poor results and performances off his back.

It is out of the ordinary for TM to appear on new fangled mediums like podcasts, he’s more a Radio Tees kind of guy, you’d think. The official EFL podcast with a friendly fellow Boro man would be the best outlet for him to put his point across...

How quaint... “Tam, the Cardiff owner said; their efforts to propel us towards a fifth-place finish and play-off position last year are recognised and appreciated. Although sadly we are in a result-orientated business and our on-field results of late and progress this season has been very poor. “As such, we have had no choice but to relieve them of their duties. We hope to improve results and league position with a change of manager.”

So Mowbray was a busted flush when he came to Rovers then? Some mental gymnastics at play here, Masher. You are pleased with how he’s performed here... so it’s almost like an experienced manger can turn it around - also see Moyes and a thousand other examples.

Poor Masher! Hoisted by his own petard there!

You serious? Because post a few months at City he was managing some of the smaller clubs in the Premier League (and still finished in the top half the majority of the time). Bloody hell Masher, not rocket science, is it!

Two Boro fans having a good old yarn by the sounds of it...

Hughes did a very good job at Stoke over 5 years, three top half finishes and 13th in his four full seasons, went sour at the end like many a job does for a manager, doesn’t mean he was a bad manager for Stoke. By that rationale Souness was a poor manager here because of the decline in his last season and a bit - very silly reasoning from Masher.

The club gets such an easy ride from local media (and the crowd most of the time) they are unsurprisingly in a bubble - when that bubble is pricked every now and then they don’t respond well. I.e last season when Sharpe was rounded upon by the players for being *slightly* critical of SG and when TM got arsey when the fans showed their displeasure in the Barnsley home game.

What about the BRIC? May get a few carpet burns, but it never used to do my 5 a side teams any harm!

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/january/club-statement--ewood-park-pitch/ Interesting divergence of views here. Trevor Wilkin and the ground staff obviously want a new pitch, ‘30 years old’, ‘we need to go to the next level’ they obviously realise that it’s just sticking plasters otherwise, even in normal years. Waggott? It will only be ‘renovated’ in the summer. For our benevolent Cheque Sign-ers, why only ‘renovations’ for capital spending that doesn’t impact FFP, but is certainly impacting the team and our reputation?

Let’s hope he doesn’t repeat his bizarre performance from our last Sky game...

Seen Richard Keough mentioned on the transfer thread. He’s just been given a £2milllion payout for unfair dismissal from Derby. What stood out for me was he was on £24,000 a week! A decent centre half, but he’s never played in the PL and Derby haven’t had parachute payments or a billionaire owner. Absolute economics of the madhouse this league.

Surely it’s fairly obvious with Buckley. Plenty of technical ability, but can often be on the periphery of games due to his lack of physical presence - the very best players can thrive without that body strength, but I would say he needs to toughen up a bit, he’s 21 now, not 18. Now that doesn’t mean hitting the gym Traore style, but developing a more resilient frame - look at how a beanpole like BB (also 21) can bounce through challenges.

This article is pretty damning from the increasingly brazen Sharpe (he’ll be getting his lanyard taken away). Some highlights - - Haven’t scored a header from a corner since 2019 - One headed goal all season - Fewest goals from set pieces in the division. Certainly points to poor coaching. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19025039.stats-reasons-behind-rovers-set-pieces-struggles/

He’d certainly be in for a shock at the state of the football club compared to what he left behind in 2008...

Priority for the playing side? Of course, as John Williams used to say the point of running a football club is to get the very best team on the pitch that budget allows. However, it’s become strikingly obvious that to keep a semi-competitive Championship squad the non playing side is run on a shoestring (executive pay aside, of course). Weed infested, filthy stadium, litter piled up, cabbage patch pitch, skeleton staff for maintenance and groundwork, closed Radio Rovers, closed RoverVision, closed DEnd, closed BBEnd Upper, closed town centre shop, leaking roofs, closed Blues Bar, run down merchandising. All supplemented with steep price increases for tickets (with surcharges) and food/drink. Of course, the success of the first team is what everything else hangs from within a football club, but contract extensions for Gladwin, Hart et al sticks in the craw whilst the infrastructure of the club falls to pieces...

Back to back series against India after Sri Lanka, some year of Test cricket coming up... and I’ve a ticket for Old Trafford in September... in vaccines we trust 🤞

Did we kick off the season earlier than the rest of the league, as the majority I’ve seen in the Championship are nowhere near as bad as ours...

‘We’ll put the postponement in the bag and move on’.

As others have said there’s obviously a dual budget at Ewood. Playing side gets generally what it needs, the last few weeks have seen that with Branthwaite, and little pressure for the manager to sell players. On the non playing side ‘keeping the lights on’ so we don’t ‘do a Bury’ is seemingly seen as enough. Maybe that’s the correct approach and we are all being precious over weeds, litter, grime and a Sunday league pitch, the first team has to take priority at a football club after all - though considering much infrastructure spending doesn’t impact FFP and we have ‘optimum owners’ that ‘never refuse a cheque’ it seems strange that the place is now a complete shit tip. Well it’s caught up with us now and the stripped down husk that is Blackburn Rovers in 2021 is there for all to see.

What was the line again? Oh yes... ’they never refuse a cheque’

Yes wasn’t that the day Ribchester had already flooded after days of heavy rain? And the River Darwen was bursting its banks? It certainly wasn’t after a few hours of rain just on the morning of the match.