Ipswich come to Ewood & depart after a good old-fashioned beating...

The moment that swung the title race ?

Still can't believe that goal was disallowed...

No Wembley glory this year...perhaps next season ?

Tricky Trees at home...

Call me a cynic but I bet that the 1875 membership scheme is revamped to capitalise on this. Platinum, Gold & Silver memberships giving appropriate priority for match tickets with season tickets only on sale once restrictions are lifted...

BRFCS chats with a former referee, Rovers fan and contributor to the BRFCS forum, Tony Leake. Ian Herbert poses the questions. Listen closely for the Souness, Allardyce, Mimms and Ronnie Moore stories. A real insight into the life of a man in black. View full record

Rovers Season Peters Out Into Consolidation Having entertained the division’s best side last week and emerged very much as second-best; the midweek win at Cardiff provided a welcome fillip and with it, a source of optimism for the visit of the division’s second-best team, West Bromwich Albion. Hopes of the play-offs now a vague arithmetical possibility, as opposed to sporting probability, Tony Mowbray named an unchanged team from the Cardiff game and hoped for an unchanged result. On the side-lines, Tony Mowbray sported the polo shirt and suit combination oft-favoured by golf club captains on prize-giving day whilst Slaven Bilic carried himself with the demeanour of a visiting law professor whose energetic, exuberant lectures are renowned throughout the faculty. Intriguingly, Bilic actually was a lawyer and is apparently fluent in four languages. This gives him ample opportunity, either to apologise to Laurent Blanc in his mother tongue for scandalously cheating him out of an appearance in the World Cup final of 1998 or at least advocate enthusiastically for a commuted sentence. Sporting a kit resonating with FC Nantes overtones, it was Albion that looked like sophisticated European campaigners. The Brazilian Pereira and former Burnley favourite Austin proving to be quite the handful, combining on more than one occasion to threaten and then with the help of Krovinovic, finally to deliver the opening goal their endeavours deserved. Bilic meanwhile on the touchline, no doubt studying the fine print of Pereira’s loan deal contract, looking for a water-tight “option to buy” clause. Rovers struggled to make a lasting impression the opening forty-five, the best chance falling to the normally oh-so-reliable Danny Graham, but not on this occasion. A tame, close-range header finding the keeper Johnstone, in the middle of his goal, rather than the vacant space either side. The second-half started in a similar vein to the first, Pereira probing, then forcing a low save from Walton, the rebound falling to Krovinovic, who somehow hit the post rather than the gaping, largely undefended goal as Walton lay prostrate and helpless. It was to prove a costly miss as Albion failed to capitalise. Bilic at this point seemed to be enthusiastically demonstrating the various ways he would like to litigate against his players for non-performance clauses. A brave quadruple substitution from Tony Mowbray invited scorn as the act of a desperate man... “Boss, we have to do something...” “Very well...THIS is something...let’s do it...” But in his defence, it worked exquisitely. Gallagher showed energy, strength and awareness in equal measure to deliver a neat pass inside for Rothwell to finish with the minimum of fuss; all square, all to play for. Albion’s O’Shea forced another low, diving save out of Walton who kept out the swerving effort with what appeared to be his nose. No, nez, never as Francophone Rovers fans might say...possibly. There was still time for another of the gang of four substitutes, Holtby; to find Gallagher with a delightful through ball. A first time pass inside fell to the feet of the fifth replacement, Davenport, but he could only fire his shot straight at Johnstone. Danny Graham could empathise. Still time remained for a sequence that would normally be seen only in a testimonial, or as a choreographed move at a Harlem Globetrotters match. Rothwell, Holtby, Gallagher all having a chance to get a shot away instead repeatedly and comically dribbled, passed and dozy-doed their way across the Albion area like an energetic country-dancing outfit. Finally, Holtby tried unsuccessfully to backheel it in from the six-yard box. A point just enough to keep a theoretical dream alive, but the reality dawned that nothing less than three handsome wins from hereon in would sustain the improbable play-off place. A visit to the New Den has been a relatively happy hunting ground for Rovers over recent seasons but in the absence of fans, it seemed that Rovers were struggling to find a catalyst to spark a performance. A bright opening soon petered out and Rovers’ consistent use of non-full backs in the full back role was to cost them, as a cross via several deflections eventually found its way to the on-loan Mason Bennett, who slotted home to give Millwall a lead that they had threatened for some time. Rovers huffed and puffed and posted some deeply impressive possession statistics but the one stat that matters most resolutely stayed at “nil”. Tony Mowbray threw on his full complement of substitutes with the result that the team at one point seem to consist entirely of creative midfielders, each aiming to create something for a central striker that didn't exist. It was the same, lame game that had been on show at Barnsley, albeit with a tad more endeavour, but as for cutting-edge there was none. Just two games left now and perhaps a chance to experiment with some of the much-vaunted youngsters now nothing is at stake. A season of consolidation is not necessarily a bad thing, but with the futures of so many players still uncertain and post-COVID finance challenges, the next six weeks could be the biggest challenge that Tony Mowbray has faced at Ewood, handling relegation to League One included.

Start it ???

Thanks...appreciate that ??

& here is part 2 of 2000-1 season review...

We're going back to 2000/1 with the season review part 1....

FA Cup action from St James' Park

1995 is ushered in by a solid performance at home to West Ham...

Here's the league table as it stood on New Year's Eve...

New Year's Eve...Crystal Palace away...

Boxing Day...Man City away...

https://thebottomhalf.co.uk/products/rovers H/t @nycrovers on Twitter

Shebby ?

Live And (Occasionally) Dangerous In the midst of a run of form such as that exhibited by Rovers since the Bristol City false dawn, one wonders as to whether the presence of noisy, vocal fans in the ground would have elicited a more bloodthirsty response of late from the team, than that which was observed on screens of varying shapes and sizes on Saturday afternoon. Imagine Glasto without the crowd, performed just for TV audiences? Would bands experiment with line-up changes, play different instruments, perhaps try out new material in a safe environment? The 2020 “Rovers Unplugged” tour had started brightly against Bristol City, but they have since relied heavily on their “Greatest Hits” catalogue; a well-rehearsed, oft-performed series of tame acoustic numbers lacking any real passion and belief. Instead of exploring and embracing the nuances and possibilities of the no-crowd constraint, Rovers have repeatedly failed to adapt their clunky, pedestrian rock and roll to match the mood. Saturday’s gig opened with a newly penned song, “Concede Early Goal”, with Lewis Travis on lead and unusually he struggled to deliver his routine, swaggering, accompanying vocal, finding himself unable to match the Klich track beat for beat. Sam Gallagher rolled out an old crowd favourite “Steered A Good Chance Wide”, naturally enough from a position of wide stage right and then he handed over lead vocals to Lewis Holtby who belted out “Rebound Off The Post”, a recently penned new song, but unlikely to be as popular as the perennially crowd-pleasing “Slots It Home”. The first half ended with the soulful ballad “Nothing I Can Do about That”, a paean to direct free kick taking as seen through the eyes of a helpless goalkeeper. After the interval, in a neat but unorthodox twist, the second half opened with the same song that closed the first; a reprise of “Nothing I Can Do About That”, but this time sung with gusto by the support act from West Yorkshire. But just as the show seemed to be gaining some momentum, the mood was curiously slowed down with a version of an old country & western favourite “My Keeper Just Let In A Soft One”, once more the Klich track caused some problems and Rovers seemed out of sync with each other. Walton’s subsequent solo, the Bruce Grobbelaar-penned classic “Clumsily Bringing You Down” ended unexpectedly with Walton remaining in the spotlight instead of leaving the stage at the close of the number as has been the norm. The UK tour continued to South Wales on Tuesday and once more Rovers proceeded to confound the odds and their critics. A line-up bereft of Dack, Gallagher, Brereton and Holtby would instead look to Graham, Samuel and Armstrong for goals and each of them delivered on cue and as a result left the manager with several awkward/interesting questions to ponder, depending upon your perspective. Nobody yet knows what budget Rovers will be granted by Venky’s, Tony Mowbray confirmed as much in a pre-match interview on Radio Lancashire, saying no talks had yet taken place, nor even, any plans for talks made. Mowbray therefore has time to ponder on the wisdom of offering new deals for several players; Downing & Graham amongst them. Each of them demonstrated the value that they bring to the team, Graham adds a focal point to the attack and Downing has a passing range that is beyond the vast majority of his colleagues. Rumours abound that each of them will depart Ewood shortly, if that proves to be the case, they are big (and potentially expensive) boots to fill. On Tuesday night, the surprise win served only to frustrate the Rovers faithful with what might have been. The insipid performances of the last couple of weeks can be forgotten after a performance like this, but forgiving is a little harder. Opportunities to sneak into the play-offs cannot be spurned so readily or tamely. You don't win the raffle if you haven’t bought a ticket and whilst Rovers are clearly an outside bet; as they have shown, against the likes of Brentford and Cardiff, they can produce a performance from time to time. What made the difference on Tuesday night? A combination of factors seemed to be at play. Graham as a focal point in attack, energy and strength in abundance from Travis, a couple of wily old heads alongside him in Johnson and Downing and mobility and energy from Armstrong and Samuel in front. There were still some defensive frailties, Walton’s positioning for the first and Adarabioyo’s for the second Cardiff goal were each questionable. One other element very much on display came from Armstrong, who seems determined to make the point that no “Goal of the Season” competition should be voted upon, when there are still five games remaining; “Goal of 84% of the Season” doesn't really make any sense. Rovers it seems now have their very own Che Adamarmstrong! In all probability, it was too little too late for a play-off push, but it ended a wretched run of form and results, setting up nicely, Saturday’s encounter with West Bromwich Albion. Will Rovers play an acoustic set or are we due some more “heavy-metal football” as Herr Klopp would have it? Tune in to find out pop pickers.

25 minutes in on this....

If you have an hour to kill...you could do a lot worse than watch this...the story behind Rovers return to the top flight in 1991/2...

Not quite a thriller at Filbert Street...

Southampton at Ewood and yes...it's THAT goal from Le Tissier https://youtu.be/gHabRXsxq_s