Herbie6590

Rovers travel to Forest & the hometown boy enjoys his return...

League Cup action at Ewood...

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/01/wigan-go-into-administration-four-weeks-after-hong-kong-takeover?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true

‘Tic & Tykes Take Turns To Top Tony The weekend just gone should have seen Glastonbury in full flow and in the absence of the real thing, the BBC rolled out some footage of classic performances from years gone by to fill the void in their schedules. I wish I’d spent at least two 90-minute sessions this week watching some old VHS tapes of vintage Rovers instead of hugging a laptop and cursing sporadically at a couple of modern day instalments of the soap opera that is Blackburn Rovers F.C. If there’s one thing you can count upon in this stilted, strange, subdued season, Rovers inability to capitalise on a hard-earned and promising league position is almost certainly it. After an insipid start to the campaign, Rovers finally seemed to coalesce into a team that might threaten the play-offs on the back of a defeat to Leeds back in November. They followed up this narrow defeat with a run of five wins and a draw to set up a couple of home Christmas fixtures that seemed primed to launch a promotion challenge of substance. Almost inevitably, the two limp home draws that followed were surpassed by two lame away defeats to celebrate the dawn of 2020. Before you had chance even to start a New Year’s resolution, prospects of glory slipped away faster than a midnight bottle of bubbly. Rovers then tantalised their fans once more, with a run of one defeat in ten to re-kindle hope, before a calamitous performance at Derby seemed to signal finality to aspirations. The three-month COVID interlude however, allowed injured players to recuperate, gave the manager opportunities to work with his squad and a chance to prepare for a mini-season of nine games that might just lead to two or three more. The Bristol City win encouraged optimism and once more, on the cusp of possibility, with a chance to make a bold statement of intent, Rovers chose to retreat into their shell and their warm, safe place of mediocrity. It’s hard to pin down what must have taken place in training last week that caused professional footballers to turn in a couple of abject performances on Saturday and Tuesday. One thing is for certain; the team cannot blame a hostile atmosphere, a referee influenced by noisy home supporters, or a long, uncomfortable journey for their travails. This was self-imposed torpor. Wigan were nothing special but they have secured some very impressive results this season based on some basic tenets of discipline, organisation and work rate. The pantomime villain that is Paul Cook has certainly found a way to frustrate Rovers in recent seasons and Rovers run of winless visits to Wigan stretches now to thirteen years. Such is the joy of football statistics, that defeat at Wigan made it just one win in six for Rovers. This is not the form of a side gearing themselves up for a play-off push. Compare and contrast with the resurgent Derby County, aided of course by the impact of Wayne Rooney, who have chalked up five straight wins to overtake Rovers. They might just be the team that sneaks into the play-offs under the radar. A chance for redemption on Tuesday tea-time, a trip to South Yorkshire and a meeting with bottom of the table Barnsley was spurned, in the words of Rowan Atkinson “like a rabid dog...” The litany of woes was familiar. A line-up missing vital components for various reasons, players out of position, lack of energy in the opening quarter of an hour, poor finishing, ill-discipline generating another poor result against a team apparently deep in the relegation mire. The hapless Ben Brereton summing up the evening in a brief cameo performance, capped off with what initially looked a harsh red but, with the benefit of replays, it justified the referee’s interpretation of violent conduct. Tony Mowbray’s somewhat formulaic response to going a goal down contrasted deeply unfavourably with the tactical switches made by each of his opposite numbers, first on Saturday and again on Tuesday. Rovers suddenly look wooden, lumpen, ponderous and deeply predictable. The inexorable conclusion to draw from the re-start is that Bristol City really aren’t any good and that victory clearly flattered Rovers. An optimistic mathematician might try make the case that Rovers still have a chance of reaching the play-offs; but an optician would urge an eye-test in order to ensure that the evidence can be properly considered. Perhaps we should all take a drive to Barnard Castle ? Rovers have a run of very tasty fixtures coming up now, Leeds, Cardiff, WBA and Millwall the next four. Essentially, six straight wins would deliver a points total good enough for the play-offs only once in the last three seasons. Rovers have managed four wins in a row on one previous occasion earlier this season, initiated intriguingly by a win over Barnsley. To expect six in a row following this defeat by Barnsley is plainly fanciful. Just pride and contracts to play for now. Marcelo Bielsa will doubtless be quaking in his boots.

It is NOT on red button ☹️

Am I right in thinking this isn’t a Sky Red Button option ? Anyone know for sure ? ?

Some footage of the rebuilding of Ewood from a club Christmas video issued in 1994 called "The Best"...

Sorry about this...

Gerald Sodding Ashby....

There was a time when the team in red were struggling to compete for the Premier League title...

In hand...

Shearer returns to St James Park & does what Shearer does...

Yes....will DM thanks ??

Podcast episode ???? ??

Big Ron brings his cheque book to Ewood...look away now Mick Rathbone...

Crystal Palace...the play-off final...the good match...Howard Gayle masterclass & then he goes and...

Speeeedie...!

THAT o.g.

Oh Andy Andy, Andy Andy Andy Andy Kennedy...

Classic Archibald...

Derby & then the FMC ahoy...

iFollow Fiasco Leads to Blackout Rovers Way back in the early 90’s, my then girlfriend (the current Mrs Old Blackburnian as it goes) would occasionally arrange to have her hair done in Rochdale on a Saturday morning. Nothing too odd with that I can hear you say, but we lived in the West Midlands at the time and each fortnight, I commuted northbound on a Saturday morning to watch the unfolding revolution taking place at Ewood. The future Mrs OB however would at that point, trust only her former hairdresser from her Mancunian days and so for a few months, until a suitable West Midlands alternative was eventually sourced, this was the arrangement. I would drive us up to Rochdale, hair would be sorted, then off to Ewood. The future Mrs OB would then drop me off and spend the afternoon single-handedly boosting the local retail economy for a couple of hours. Except one Saturday, the appointment had to be delayed as we were running late due to M6 traffic issues. It seemed to take forever to reach Rochdale. With every snip, spray and “going anywhere nice for your holidays?”, the tension rose and words were exchanged as I kept pointing to my watch and visibly winced with each passing minute. We left Norden at about 2:40pm. It was a tense journey over Owd Betts to Blackburn let us say and certainly was conducted in the days before Gatso cameras became de rigueur. I leapt out, Starsky & Hutch style (ask your parents/grandparents), somewhere on Bolton Road at about 3:10pm, eventually making it to my seat at roughly fifteen minutes after kick-off, having apologised to everyone on the row for the inconvenience, as I inched my way into the warm bosom of the Walkersteel. Until Saturday afternoon just, that was the only previous occasion upon which I had missed the opening fifteen minutes of a Rovers game I planned to watch and that even includes once driving from Loughborough to St Andrew’s (Birmingham, not the home of golf) in a venerable, old Mini 1000 with a dodgy radiator that much like a thirsty child, needed topping up every thirty miles. It later transpired that the “iFollow Fiasco” experienced last Saturday was fairly widespread and the EFL’s technology was seemingly overwhelmed with fans trying to access the system in a surge, as the time ticked ever closer to 3pm. In their defence, who could possibly have predicted that? Many thousands across the country were met with a black screen or a bouncing football alongside a “please wait whilst we try to connect you” message and levels of frustration last experienced whilst listening to Robbie Savage on FiveLive. My own connection fired up in time to show me the opening goal from Bristol City and at that point, it was fair to say that I was questioning my Saturday afternoon leisure choices. Christian Walton made a bit of a hash of a header aimed pretty close to him and in trying to push the ball around the post, he succeeded only in flapping it into the side netting. I am so old that I can remember goalkeepers actually catching attempts at goal, in the case of Pat Jennings, often with a single hand. The use of lightweight balls that move in the air has resulted in a safety-first approach to goalkeeping coaching. A keeper that actually catches anything these days is a rarity. Although in a COVID-laced environment, perhaps having the ability NOT to catch aerial threats is a desirable capability. Not too much time to launch into “full pessimism” mode though before the returning Corry Evans curled a cross into the area for Gallagher to attack. It evaded everyone, attacker, defender and goalkeeper alike and Rovers were level. After that awful injury suffered against Preston, seeing the joy on Evans’ face was worth the wait. Rovers certainly seemed to get the bit between their teeth and early in the second half, the hirsute Ben Brereton latched onto a short pass back, nipping in to pinch the ball before the keeper could collect, an open-goal at his mercy, you could sense the relief...just side-foot it in and...if ever there was an advert for “sensible boots, with sensible studs” then this was it. Brereton cruelly robbed of the salvation a goal would bring. It looked like one “of those afternoons” as Rankin-Costello was robbed of a goal when the referee awarded a free kick to the increasingly hapless Bentley as a result of being fouled by his own defender. Adarabioyo soon curled in a lovely shot from the edge of the area in a “Chris Samba at Spurs” tribute and then Armstrong, on as a substitute, finished delightfully to wrap up the points. Whether this was a case of Rovers being particularly good or Bristol City being especially inept was hard to judge. Results on the day generally went Rovers way and so for a little while longer, the play-off dream remains alive. Wigan up next and with it, renewal of a strange rivalry that has taken on a life of its own since our respective promotions. Wigan enjoyed a tidy win at Huddersfield at the weekend and doubtless will be high in confidence themselves. This is yet another of those “stand up and be counted” moments for Rovers who haven’t beaten Wigan away in ten attempts, since 2007, long overdue.

Golden Goals 1984-5...Jimmy Quinn & Noel Brotherston star...

Golden Goals 1982-3...Glenn Keeley enjoys a return to St James Park

Golden Goals 1981-2...Chelsea away & Oldham away on Boxing Day...