Mattyblue

Think that’s what’s called a ‘drawer article’, i.e to pull out and fill some space when there’s feck all happening in the close season...

Massive reaction on social media. I think it’s sometimes forgotten how local evening news still pulls in the ratings. North West Tonight and Granada Reports are some of the most popular programmes on TV up here. So it really hits people when the likes of Tony and Diane Oxberry pass away.

From... to...

Just saw that Bolton have taken a young keeper from Fleetwood on loan. If you’d have said 10 years ago to a Bolton fan that they’d be getting hand me downs from Fleetwood Town...

If everything was done with data there would be no scouts. Of course data plays a pivotal role in the modern game, Brentford run a successful operation with an analysis based approach, but seasoned coaches/managers/scouts ‘spot’ talent with their eye; the player has a strut, he’s a leader on the pitch, seemingly more time than others on the ball, a composure, a great attitude, even if the stats of a particular player when it comes to ‘numbers of interceptions’ etc aren’t anything to write home about.

Yeah I saw that, though I imagine there’s a chance someone will buy the gym’s, one of the discount chains, for example. The shops will be finished though, you’d expect.

Still think Steele was worse.

Take a bow Phil. It’s like you’ve been looking into my soul.

What does one of the world’s biggest clubs throwing what is loose change to them at a quota signing before they go off to win English, European and world titles got to do with Rovers trying to compete in the second division? There’s many issues with the hollowed out club these owners have overseen and many relevant comparisons to make with our peer group when it comes to competing on wages and the like, but that ain’t one of them...

Now it feels like summer. ?

Didn’t say you did think people were biased, we know who that was. Difference is that I take everything I read on here with a pitch of salt. This place is not at all representative of the fanbase...and as for Twitter, troll and crank central. Social media you either see ‘he’s shit’ or you get the uber fans who refuse to countenance any criticism at all (think we know who they are on Twitter), there’s little middle ground. At games I see real pride in the graduates, in fact I’d say far more than was on display in the days of Wilcox or Broomes or Tiny Taylor, because most now realise that the academy is now vital to us as a club in a way it never was in the 90s and 00s. But yes some grads will get more groans than others, always been like that, ‘our fans are historically quick to write off players’, bit of a sweeping statement, I didn’t write off Wilcox and I presume neither did you, some did, of course (handbags and the like), but plenty thought he was a raw but promising winger, so it just amuses me when it’s made out like Ewood is some negative bear pit, not giving leeway to young lads, when in reality it’s just a standard football crowd - some folk have no patience, some just don’t understand the game, don’t get that they are still developing and will make mistakes etc etc. Fans also realise that £7million for BB is a hell of a lot of money, so there’s a desperation for it to work out and a level of denial (“surely he must get better, I mean 7 MILLION”), with people clinging to whatever they can, I.e the fact he resembled a footballer in some of those post lockdown games, I think it’s fairly clear that most realise he’s been very poor for the most part, can’t speak for where you sit, but around me it was getting beyond criticism to almost embarrassed laughter and knowing looks - but it’s the manager who should have sent him out on loan, but he hasn’t, so fair play to the fans for continuing to get behind him.

Brereton gets slaughtered by most fans I speak to, but to the great credit of the Ewood crowd they still really get behind him when he’s on the pitch. SG also gets a load of grief. I’ve not heard a single person write off Buckley either on here or at Ewood - how many have written Brereton off? Fans opinion will always differ, don’t disagree, but to say it’s ‘bias’ or ‘an agenda’ if someone has a differing opinion on JRC’s form so far is non sensical. p.s, Hill? Bloody hell! How far back we going

You reckon Joe? Sure I’ve been reading posts saying Wharton isn’t good enough/not going to make it/what does L2 prove etc - you being one of those posters. And as I said, there’s merit in that view, so I certainly don’t see you as ‘biased’. Who’s said the above (I.e. actually writing off) about JRC?

Why would someone be biased against him? It makes no sense, especially as any criticism has been very mild. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. I suppose it’s easy to blame ‘bias’ when you can’t understand why someone has a view against a player you personally rate highly, but that’s football fans. Wharton has been written off by some on here, and you yourself think he won’t make it - that’s harsher than any criticism of JRC, so are they/you biased against Wharton? Of course not, it’s just opinion.

I don’t particularly disagree that where we are now means it’s a logistical minefield and no wonder the club is sitting tight for now, but it’s a bit of a stretch to say the ‘club is putting the fans first’ instead of mere struggles with the practicalities and no steer from the owners.

Miller - Example of who’s said ‘they’re shit’ and who’s ‘written off’ JRC or Buckley. Would be quite ridiculous, but I don’t recall ever reading it, merely stuff like Buckley needs to ‘bulk up’ ‘toughen up’ etc and JRC hasn’t blown anyone away so far, but with the caveat he’s been slotted in in various positions. Whilst Nyambe, Travis and Lenihan are seen as pivotal men. Which is all fair enough and obviously isn’t knocking our vital Academy one iota. (Oh and if we are talking about ‘writing off’, Joe’s comments about Wharton are probably closer to doing that than anything I’ve read about Buckley or JRC, which seems unfair for a lad that’s paid his dues on loan and done well, though that’s still an opinion with some merit for a lad who’s never played out of L1/L2 and is 22 pushing 23. Never black and white, is it...)

You can’t fathom it because nobody is ‘biased’ against Joe Rankin Costello, they just have a different view on his effectiveness thus far, game of opinions and all that.

Nowhere near oligarch level, doubt they’ll be back again.

They’ve blown a big opportunity to really grow the club with the constant wrangling over the ground. Large and affluent catchment area, there was a massive waiting list for season tickets, but of course with a 10,000 capacity ground you aren’t getting them in. That waiting list will now miraculously disappear and they’ll probably be back in the third tier at some point and back down to 4/5,000 crowds. Their PL legacy seems to be massive debt and enriched players and agents.

Lenihan is a standard Championship centre half, and fair play to him as he’s converted himself to be more than adequate there. But he obviously isn’t better than PL regulars or he’d be at least in with a shout of getting a move there.

Both sides of this argument seem to have missed the actual reason they have been on sale at a majority of clubs. It’s fairly simple to me, the clubs selling them (or were selling) are doing so because they’ve had them on sale for an extended period, pre lockdown in most cases, as is standard at most clubs to have a sale window of months. The few that haven’t had them on sale at all are the ones that are always late getting them out, I.e Blackburn Rovers, who usually scramble them out post annual Pune meeting leaving a few weeks to sell a standard 8/9,000 in the summer. So of course, taking a look at the logistics of it all on the 2nd August, it’s no surprise clubs in our position are giving the whole thing a wide berth and waiting for some clarity from government/EFL.

It’s a turn of phrase.

This forum isn’t representative, we all know that, and that’s said as someone who is a staunch defender of brfcs. As I said, if you think we have an outraged fanbase over the refunds, fair enough. I jus didn’t see it, actually expected more outrage than there was.

You pissed? Obviously they exist, there’s posts on this very thread. But if you think there’s also widespread outrage in the fanbase over ifollow, fair enough. But not the impression I got.

Who wanted refunds? A few on here? I didn’t come across a single person in real life. Wasn’t aware I was expecting people to sign up for a full season, as my previous posts today have been about ‘when we are finally back in grounds’ ‘‘yesterday’s announcement adds to the uncertainty, so we ain’t selling many if they go on sale on Monday’, ‘when they do go on sale’