27 minutes ago, roverblue said:

Just a point on his first 2 seasons at Rovers, the manager barely gave him any game time and if he did then it was for the last 5 or 10 mins of a match. Whether the manager thought he wasn't ready or the Dack/Graham combo was a factor who knows. But I don't agree with people saying he was rubbish those first 2 season, he just never played anywhere near enough.

In his first 2 seasons he played just over 600 mins in each one. This season he has already played just shy of 1,000 mins after 11 games. 

I personally feel the lad was given a hard time by the manager and a some of our fans in those first couple of years. Delighted to see him come good over the last season or so, not surprisingly when he actually starts games and builds up a bit of form and confidence.

I don’t think there were many fans that felt Brereton didn’t get a fair amount of opportunities up until last season. He played often enough to make a difference and he didn’t. Very easy to criticise now that he’s come good but this was hardly foreseeable given how average, at best, he had looked up until the end of last season.

24 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

Given he was having a half decent season, Armstrong was off and the only other option was Gally, I'm pretty sure most fans would have given him a new contract. 

Which we have tried to. He has, so far, refused to sign the contract. Its unfortunate timing but if he refuses to sign, what can the club do? 

8 minutes ago, neophox said:

Another poor mismanagement from the top of our clyb.... we havent learn from Armstrong...silly really...

We’ve been offering him a new contract for months. If he leaves it won’t be for the want of trying. Let’s turn this around, in his position, would you sign a new deal?

Fans would have been complaining if we’d given him a new deal this time last year given how poor his form had been. The last 6 months have been remarkable. Can’t see him signing a new contract whatever we offer so have to hope the rumours of an extension are true.

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

And you'd be defending them if they'd turned around and said all games will have to be 30 quid because the crowds are so low.

Such is life 🙄

It’s objectively recognising that this, in isolation, is a positive move.

Does it go far enough? Has the damage already been done? Both are very reasonable questions but at least they’ve tried to address the issue at a relatively early stage of the season, which is more than I (and probably most fans) expected of them to be honest.

It doesn’t nullify the justified criticism of how the club went about ticketing in the summer.

4 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Radical plans or knee jerk panic as another spiral and injury crisis looms ?

Smart money on the latter if this was part of the sweeping changes it would've been done at the beginning of the season. Look at all the stuff thats gone on and people that have left behind the scenes.  Then the players leaving slashing the wage bill but giving us the lightest least experienced squad we might ever have had.

Then front of house what did we get ?   Price rises and predictably the smallest gates for 30 years.

Clowns the entire bunch there is no planning radical, sweeping or otherwise. Those in upper office just like the manager and coaching staff are winging it.  Making it up as they go along.

Knee jerk panic it may be but at least they’ve tried to do something about it. I doubt many fans expected the club to address the issue so early on in the season. 

The damage may already be done and for that they deserve criticism but this offer, in isolation, is a welcome step. If the club had done nothing, you’d be criticising them for inaction.

Can’t knock them for trying. Pleased they didn’t wait until next season to do something. They got it wrong in the summer but this is a step in the right direction if nothing else.

Although we could have got more if the contract situation had been different, we cashed out at the right time with Armstrong I think. Not surprised that he’s struggled to initially adapt to the PL but it’s early days. Might go the same way as Che Adams. Ivan Toney always looked like he was more likely to make an impression given his attributes.

So we’ve chosen to wear the only kit that clashes with Blackpool’s for no reason at all. 

55 minutes ago, Blue blood said:

In isolation the club could perhaps be forgiven for not having tied down a player who has had a couple of terrible seasons, an indifferent one and then has started on fire this time. I mean up till last season no one (or very few) would have wanted him to stay. 

Thing is it's not an isolation thing. Ignoring the price which would be a red herring imo, there are some key factors that meant it should not have been left to this year to get it sorted. 

Firstly last season was ok. A bit of a flat track bully and not amazing but enough to show there might be a squad player in there. 

Secondly we were already letting 11 players leave, and quite simply could not afford to try and replace yet another player on top of that. There's only so many players we can try and fail to replace in a window. 

Thirdly with Gally as the only other senior recognised striker we were really short in that position. One of the reasons it didn't hurt that the talented if erratic Holtby left is we had Rothwell, Buckley, Dack (when fit) and other youngsters to take his position. Up front we only had Gally who is hardly reliable. 

Fourthly the wide contract situation. We have a paper thin squad. Four loans go back at the end of the year. Four of our first 11 are out of contract in the summer. School of thought that we may need some players!

Fifthly we have just had the Armstrong saga and not getting value for money. To have the same lesson repeated on us the following year is a very poor do. 

AS ever with Rovers if there is an easy and a hard way we chose the latter. 

Surely the challenge here is that the players are refusing to sign new contracts. Rovers are clearly offering new contacts but the players aren’t willing to sign and that seems to have been the case for a number of months.

We don’t have all the facts but I’m not sure this is as simple as the club letting players go for free with no effort being made to retain them.

If players like Nyambe, Brereton and Rothwell are refusing to sign new deals, at what point do we start blaming them for this predicament or should Rovers be buckling to their every demand?

Not going to get carried away by last night’s result. Disappointing but the injuries took their toll in the end. We’re still in the top 6 so it’s hardly a disaster. How we react on Saturday is more significant I’d suggest. Could be a good time for an international break.

Poveda was appalling.

33 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Cant imagine him signing a new contract unfortunately.

It’ll be similar to Armstrong at this rate. We can offer him improved terms but if he’s getting interest from PL sides then that’s that. 

The turnaround in fortunes with him is ridiculous. He was a joke figure little more than 12 months ago. Remarkable.

Just now, moerpho said:

WOOOHOO!!! About time we get to be on the other end of a pasting. And against the genius Mick McCarthy of all managers!

Disclaimer: This is not meant as praise for Mowbray

About time? We scored 5 three times last season didn’t we?

Got to give credit to Mowbray for today. Gets plenty wrong but got to give praise when it’s due.

1 minute ago, yankfan said:

I think I read it somewhere. If I recall it said, “it’s believed the club may have an option.”  
 

much like Chapman last summer, I’m baffled by the fact we don’t even know our own players terms. 

The club will know. The reporter commenting on it clearly doesn’t. Two different things.

Looks like half the upper BE is available online for the Cardiff game. Not sure if it’ll actually allow you buy a ticket but it is showing as available on the stadium map. Odd.

2 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Managed to catch just over an hour of another bore fest yesterday, watching us at the moment is really difficult but football is about results and to be 6th with this current squad is a minor miracle so fair play to Mowbray for that. Barnsley were equally poor and it made for a horrendous watch.

Defensively we seem to be really tightened up, Ayala is a big reason for that. Lenihan was beaten too easily in the first half for the chance that Kaminski/a poor finish bailed him out with, and the full backs were fine, with Pickering settling in nicely.

I would suggest that the current set of attacking players is as poor as I can remember us having however, they all allow the majority of games to pass them by without stamping their authority on them. Leeds look like that they have sent us a dud in Poveda, he was shocking not only when he had the ball but his attitude when he didn't. Dolan aside from one turn in the first half was poor again, not much of a football brain. Brereton is not a central striker as long as he has a hole in his arse, so clumsy and ungainly. And Buckley off the ball was tenacious as he tends to be but he doesn't do enough on it in the majority of games, repeatedly over hitting passes. Rothwell was anonymous too.

Worse than Tony Watt, Chris Brown, Simeon Jackson and Nathan Delfouneso..?

6 minutes ago, matt83 said:

Out of interest I looked up this season. Fucking embarrassing: 

Thats including a bumper post covid opening day home crowd, wba who brought 2,500, a game where gave shed loads of tickets free to kids and as always counting absentee season ticket holders. Pathetic. 

Those teams below us are all limited by stadium capacity, we are certainly not..

36 minutes ago, Boroblue said:

How many other teams in this league are situated in one of the most economically deprived areas in the country . Have a catchment population of a maximum of 140000 with large sections of that population supporting Liverpool or Man Utd.  Yet our senior management after a Covid epidemic decide to hike up prices again and charge extra for entrance on the day.

We can never be criticised for our support or as a club our achievements. To use the adage we are lions led by donkeys. 
To complete this Jack built a stadium to match his dreams so don’t use the 20000 empty seat ms as a stick to beat us . If those in charge had lived up to the dream it would have been a success 

Have I used it as a stick to beat us with?

I was contesting the point that our attendances are mid-table. They are objectively very low in comparison to the rest of the league, if not the lowest.

The reasons behind the attendances are a different issue. 

30 minutes ago, matt83 said:

One thing I genuinely wonder (worry) about is we have a mid table attendance, presumably a mid table revenue that goes with it, mid table players, mid table manger, no proper executives, yet we lose £20 million every season whereas our counterparts dont. Where the F does it all go? Why aren’t we at least breaking even with a squad that’s got a significant amount of academy players. 

Mowbray tends to extend contracts of players who aren’t good enough or surplus to requirement, the squad has always been too big yet simultaneously lacking, one has to assume those that are good enough are being paid far more than our mid table rivals. But a £20 million loss a year, how.

This shambles is on the manager, but like every other manager he’ll waste money that isn’t his, but why the owners allow this is beyond me. Rather than simply being grateful they sign a cheque every season let’s try and run the club properly like a proper business. 

Mid-table attendance? How many other clubs in the league have sub 10k crowds with 20k empty seats each week..?

1 hour ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Waggott already knows why RoversTV are not showing full replays or any highlights,apart from a few YouTube seconds.

It would cost £££

How many times do I have to post that.

Does it cost more money to show full replays? They show highlights with Rovers commentary on Twitter.

17 minutes ago, Tom said:

Just read on Twitter that it’s our lowest Ewood attendance in the league in just over 30 years!

It’s so sad. It has been on the cards for a while.

The combination of covid, apathy after last season, an underwhelming transfer window and a pricing structure that is out of touch with the local financial climate has all led to this.

Not sure what it’ll take to bring attendances back to pre-covid levels but there needs to be a radical re-think. Ticket pricing in particular has to be looked at after last night. 

Forgettable game but decent result. Khadra looked very bright. Can’t complain with the start to the season. Need to keep this back 4 fit. Brereton had a shocking game but got the goal, almost Armstrong-esque.

Attendance was concerning, we must have the emptiest stadium in the football league. Very sad. There needs to be a radical re-think.

Not a single substitution. The man doesn’t learn. Infuriating.

We got spoiled during last year’s transfer window. This is the counter balance. We’ve not had to find an out and out striker for years and, on a tight budget, we’re scrapping with every club out there. It doesn’t mean we don’t have a plan, it’s just the same plan as everyone else.

The money was spent on Gallagher and Brereton. None of the credible names we’ve been linked with are much better. Armstrong stepped up, now it’s their turn.

6 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Owner,not owners would suggest it's not us...

And our owners don’t make decisions. Got nothing to do with us.

3 hours ago, windymiller7 said:

Is it just me, or does something not look quite right with that still - it looks like someone has moved the big screen to the corner between the DE and JW. I know I'd had a few scoops on Friday night but I'm pretty sure it was still in its usual place on Saturday & I can't think what else it could be. 🤔

It’s the City Ground in Nottingham.