AspRover

Get to 60mins and chuck on all the half fit forwards to try to get a goal in half an hour? It's a plan I guess.

Is Johnson going a bit Guardiola - Miller as an 'inverted full back' stepping up into midfield to form a double pivot with Tronstad and Alebiosu acting as a wingback down the right? Or I guess Carter stepping up when we are in possession ala John Stones and Miller tucking in to form a back three. Ie. When defending Toth Alebiosu Miller Carter Mcloughlin Cashin Tronstad Morishita Baradji Cantwell Ohashi When attacking Toth Carter McLoughlin Cashin Miller Tronstad Alebiosu Baradji Cantwell Morishita Ohashi That might qualify as a 'very surprising line up'. Cantwell feels very shoehorned in though.

Nope, genuinely managed to miss that - I knew he was injured but somehow had it in my head that it was minor. I blame all the manager shenanigans, I've not been keeping as on top of news as I normally would. Fair enough then I guess.

A competent club would have had a loan for Pratt already done and dusted - he's shown this season that at absolute worst he's got to be a league 1 level defender and hasn't really put a foot wrong so far in the championship. I guess the hope is that we are taking the time to try and engineer the best possible deal, but I'm amazed that a league one or two outfit couldn't have been found before the deadline - surely we knew that we weren't registering him? That said, you'd hope at this point that a good national league team - possibly recently ex EFL with decent facilities etc. would not only want him in the squad but would want him to be playing week in week out - we've had too many players out on loan struggling for minutes.

I mean yeah, that's why I said heart over head - he's not the answer and it would very likely be a legacy tarnishing appointment. Sorry, perhaps I should be clearer when I post these things.

We need someone to do what Hughes did when he first came in - pick a team up, make it tough to beat and keep us in the division. I get why the idea of getting him back in appeals - hell, heart over head I'd have him in a flash. What we need to find is the modern equivalent. Of course being a division below where we were then does limit our pull somewhat. Is Savage that guy? Bellamy? Do they absolutely have to be Welsh for it to work? IDK, man. IDK.

Cantwell is an 'If' player - If we can find a position for him If it's in the right formation If we can protect him If he can find some form If he can forge a partnership If he stays fit Then he'll be a big, big player for us. Needs everything on a plate. Szmodics or Dack didn't do 'If', just made it happen.

I'm almost more interested in the formation/line-up/bench we put out than the result. Yeah we need to win this one (badly), but if we just put out Ismaels formation and tactics again then what hope do we have? I want to see back to basics - a back four with a left back at left back, maybe a strike partnership god forbid a 442. Maybe a diamond - Toth Alebiosu Pick 2 Centre backs Ribeiro Tronstad Baradji IDK Monty maybe Cantwell Ohashi Gudjohnsen Just something, some green shoots, some sign that a new person is picking the team.

I think that there are managers who can come in, shout at folks, throw the proverbial water bottle around, put some standards in place and hammer the current group of players into the best formation/ setup that they possibly can be right now. A lot of those managers you wouldn't want to be building a team/running things long term, as the wheels tend to fall off, they haven't got the stamina to maintain it or they end up falling into the old trap of having players out of position so as not to disrupt their formation/picking their favourites etc. I think that the criteria for a firefighting manager on a six month deal and a manager you'd want to sign on a 3+ year deal are very different, and I don't actually hate the idea of going for one now and the other in the summer. A lot of the managers whose names have come up would probably work fine on a six month deal - the old, grizzled veterans, the Big Sams and the Sparkys and even Mowbray to an extent. Hell, I'd have Souness in for six months not even as the manager, just to stomp around Ewood shouting at people. Motivational consultant or something. I don't want any of those names long term, but there's a lot of them you'd back to keep us up this season.

Souness on a six month just to shout at people for a bit and throw some water bottles around wouldn't hurt - wouldn't want him actually in charge long term.

The way I see it is this - under Ismael we are going to be relegated, and I have seen nothing to suggest that he's the man to get us promoted again from league one. There is no value in keeping him. I do think, genuinely, that we have a core of players that are good championship players in the right system - Toth, Alebiosu (assuming he's still here), Ribeiro (not going to set the world on fire but perfectly competent and a victim of the system change imo), Baradji, Tronstad, Andre, Cantwell and Ohashi (both have had poor seasons but again, it's hard to shine under the circumstances - Ohashi of last season looked a double figure goal and assist forward and this season he looked good in a partnership with Gudjohnsen). Possibly a couple of the others like Morishita might look decent under new management/tactics. Supplement with a crop of youngsters who haven't really let us down this year. What we need is a firefighting manager who can come in, assess what he's working with, hammer together a formation/tactic to get the most out of the squad, make us hard to beat and then potentially walk off into the sunset after 6 or 18 months with a big cheque for avoiding relegation/getting us promoted at the first time of asking. There are a few managers I would trust to do that, but wouldn't really want/trust long term, or wouldn't be interested in managing us long term. You know the kind of names I'm thinking of - Mowbray, Big Sam, Sparky, Warnock, Pulis etc. A competent club would have an emergency plan, some kind of roll of the dice up the sleeve. It would also buy some time for an actual managerial hunt rather than another emergency appointment of whoever is available on whatever terms they demand ala Ismael. I do think that there is a chance that if we lose to Wednesday Ismael will go - the timing is spot on for Venkys, just at the point that no more money can be spent in the window, slightly too late to definitely turn it around and providing both a cover for a bad season (managerial disruption) and deflecting a bit of the blame (ie. they tried to turn it around - they changed the manager). I don't trust them to do any of this. Or possibly I trust them to sort of try to do something a bit like this but to muck it up somehow. Give Mowbray a lifetime contract where he gets to keep Ewood Park as his personal stadium if he's ever sacked or something. I feel increasingly like that joke about the guy in the soviet union who goes to the shop to look at the front page of the newspapers. I don't the threads much any more, the firings I am after will be front page news.

I'll have no King Kazu slander here. An all Japanese front three would be great for the marketing. (for the love of all that's holy I am not being serious do not give them ideas)

Its going to depend massively on the wording of the clause - it might be that the clause is an obligation to buy at a set price once 20 appearances are reached - eg. there is no clause to activate until that milestone is reached. In which case it happens when it happens, but he won't be registered as our player permanently until the opening day of the summer transfer window, I think. We'll know if he picks up an 'injury' on 19 appearances.

On the one hand, I'd like us to sell Pears, on the other hand any team that sends scouts to look at signing Pears and is in desperate need of a keeper will surely make a bid for Toth instead.

If he's got any sense he's got a relegation release clause

Keith 'fifth in the premier league' Andrews is out of our league. We couldn't afford him, and even if we could he wouldn't come here. That's how bad it's got.

Phenomenal

Both our wing backs are out (and have been for a while, and we knew they wouldn't be available) but hey, this is the formation we play now I guess so we absolutely can't change it now, plan B's are for losers... As an exercise, here is a line up using the squad who have travelled today - Toth Ribeiro Atcheson Cashin Pickering Tronstad Henriksson Baradji Cantwell De Neve Ohashi Like, it's still arse, but when defending De Neve drops back and Pickering tucks in, which covers Pickering's lack of pace and De Neves lack of defensive awareness. Ohashi, Cantwell and Henriksson rotate a bit, and with Tronstad playing the holding role and helping to cover the (defensively weak) right side you encourage (one of at a time) Henriksson and Baradji to make runs into the box to provide a goal threat from deep. Crying out for a striker, but that's the story of the season. Got to be better than TGH at right wing back. I'm sure there are plenty of folk on here who can come up with something better than me! edit - I rescind my decision to play Cashin 😅

I have said it before, but with Hedges out and potentially Alebiosu off it wouldn't be daft to re think the system a bit - we might genuinely be going back to playing with wingers, Morishita and this guy on paper might be pretty good. Not that I can remember how long Morishita is out for... he's back soon, right??

Swedish lad then, we reckon?

Current Pope is Leo isn't he? Messi incoming confirmed??

Are we signing Nick Pope?

Absolutely agree here - the point I was trying for was more that you absolutely know that there are people who have seen the success (purely from the marketing potential/tv deal/media coverage) of Wrexham and thought 'I want a piece of that' And I'd almost guarantee that anyone with ambitions to replicate Wrexham will have looked at Rovers as a possibility, for the reasons I outlined and more. Which suggests that there are reasons (presumably Venkys) that have prevented it. In many ways I think that new owners coming in to 'do a Wrexham' could be a massive red flag, knowing our luck we'd get someone who absolutely did not have the clubs best interests at heart first and foremost. Of course I could be completely wrong on all points.

I would absolutely believe that at this point probably multiple people have looked at putting together serious bids to buy us. There are plenty of reasons that we are, on paper, an appealing prospect - particularly for anyone wanting to 'do a Wrexham' - run down old club with plenty of history, a distinctive kit/badge for marketing and a fanbase ready to welcome just about anyone with open arms. Lots of people are being linked with/actively buying clubs smaller than us all the time. The idea that there is a group willing to put down 'substantial' figures isn't unlikely, I'm happy to take that at face value. But it is meaningless unless Venky's are actually willing to entertain the offer, which so far they have shown no inclination to do. People can 'approach Venkys' all day long - the scoop will be if and when someone actually coaxes them to the table.

I'm not a prolific poster on this message board, but I have been a member for 18 years now, and I'm close to signing out too. My dad was my last tangible connection to the club really, I guess my brother too but we haven't really spoken about Rovers in a very long time. Dad passed away a little over a year ago. Dad grew up in London, he supported Rovers because his dad, who died long before I was born, was from the town. Even Grandad had left Blackburn during or around the second world war - though I am told he maintained the accent immaculately - by the time I came around the connection was already getting a bit frayed. I now live on the south coast, I guess Bournemouth are my local 'big' team, I used to go to away games with dad but haven't set foot in Blackburn in years, let alone Ewood. I probably have some relatives in the town - dad certainly had cousins who were still about, but I don't know them and wouldn't know how to find them. I genuinely, sincerely, love this club, but it increasingly feels like that one relative you gradually grow up to realise isn't a very nice person and you actually don't enjoy spending time with. I deeply resent that the rovers of the last years of dad's life was this version. It's gutting. It should be a source of joy, and memories - I want to see results and think 'dad would have enjoyed that', 'dad would have liked this player' etc. and I can't. He wouldn't have. The fanbase feels increasingly fractured, even on here. I have encountered other Rovers fans in the wild and been almost reluctant to admit that this is my team for fear of the reaction if my views on Venkys or recent history don't align with theirs, if I am not sufficiently 'getting behind the boys' or whatever. A prolific poster late of this parish accused me of being a dingle infiltrator a few months back for suggesting I'd like to see the academy players get a run out in the cup. Supporters of other clubs are unsympathetic or ignorant, and I find myself fed up of explaining, or attempting to explain the situation, so I shrug and move on. I used to be proud of this club, and I find myself wondering when I lost that. I guess it's just been worn away gradually over the last fifteen years. At some point it will be gone entirely and I will probably have to make the same decision as Devon Rover. I'm tired lads.