TimmyJimmy

100%. I fear a bashing today, teams have worked out that our kryptonite is physicality.

I find this comment from JDT on the BBD saga most illuminating, not because it concerns BBD but because it highlights a necessity in the life of a football club. It is precisely what we didn't do last season. “We should always have done our homework for if something happens, we should be prepared,” he said. “I think we should expect that from the club that if it happens we need to have something prepared.” Amen. Precisely what we were screaming about last season. TM was known to be leaving. His backroom staff also. Three players believed to be key to our success leaving this year. I remember getting agitated that there were zero plans in place and we were all fuming that no succession had been planned for management or players. Yes we got lucky in a DoF and manager turning up out of nowhere. Yes we got lucky that JDT and team are brilliant and whipped the remaining squad into shape. We are currently lucking out results wise (long may it continue) but this whole episode could have been a well deserved disaster. We should have had plans in place, we should have had managers identified and we certainly should have had players lined up to come in. We still haven't got players (CBs) in with days to go before the window closes. Are we surprised? SW and board have got away with murder on this one. Poor performance and one set of lucky, lucky barstewards. Hopefully DoF and new chief scout/recruiter will consign these ridiculous things to the history books. We have to get more professional. The acid test is now how they handle the BBD situation. Hope they're up to it!

Don't Stop Believing' Journey.

West Brom were a good side, one touch give and goes, power, hard running, lots to admire. To beat them today, wow just WOW.

Scrape me off the ceiling!!!!@@

Rock and a hard place with this game. Lose and my win, win and win again bubble gets burst. Win it and I won't believe we will lose a game all season. Both silly points of view but I'm on such a high at the moment I don't want it to stop. WBA will be a TOUGH encounter so I'm a bit pessimistic, but win and you'll have to scrape me off the ceiling. Everything is crossed for a 2:1.

Wow, just wow. Echo all previous comments. The players were immense of course but for me this victory was all about the management team. Genius strategy, top draw execution. Enjoying it whilst it lasts.

Swansea targeting out of left field diagonal balls at our left back. Pretty consistent so obviously a tactic. Must have Pickering down as a weak point. We're letting Swansea have the ball up to the half way line then we're biting them. Solid two rows of 4 behind the ball. Look strong so far but it only takes one good through ball. BBD getting lumps kicked out of him. Need more of that intensity that JDT talks about in the 2nd half.

Not a snowballs chance in Hell will we get him back - unfortunately. A great player but we'll not see him in a Rovers shirt again.

It was a company car and Barry Fry repossessed it in a fit of peak when Szmodics said he wanted the Blackburn move. Dodgy character that Fry!

Was stood close to JDT at the match. He's got a temper. Got really angry and had a shouting match with his #2 who was disagreeing with him on something in the last 5 or 10 minutes. If Dacky and him locked horns in training then there's only one winner, I wouldn't argue with JDT. Dacky is likely being put in his place and being taught a lesson if he got too high and mighty in training. Once that's run it's course he'll be back in the team. Storm in a tea cup and normal player/coach dynamics. Just my interpretation of course. Time will tell. JDT does have a good flare up in him!

Do we actually win season openers?

Y'all know that saying Van Hecke three times won't make him appear. He's not Beetlejuice. Zero chance homies.

Not a hope he's coming back. Sad but true.

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, what have you done.

GB got the poison chalice. Desperate need for players. Tight owners. Glacial speed board. Players walking or about to walk. Not a ton of money available. Oh and the season starts week after next. He needs this pinning to his door "The difficult I do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer". Give the guy a break. If he can work his way though this mess then he can walk on water.

Enjoyed the game. If Celtic played in the Championship with us they'd walk it. Some excellent players, Jota, Japanese guy and others. They took the lead from a deflection. Our attack should have had two more with one on ones with their keeper. We aren't world beaters but be fair that was a good result after only a couple of friendlies, playing in front of a big away crowd, young lads in various positions. All in all not bad. Yes we defo need strengthening but we have the kernel of something good at the Championship level. Good pressing, good one touch movement. Some weak performances but not too shabby overall I'd say.

Is the Celtic game being streamed anywhere?

On May 2nd I posted this: ------------ " ... Whoever gets the gig will be fighting with his hands tied behind his back because the summer will have passed where he could be assessing needs, recruiting etc.. There'll be excuses of having no pre-season for new hires. Players left on the books plus academy canon fodder will need a whole new set of shapes to drill as half the bleeding playing staff will be gone and their established patterns of play gone with them. Totally lame dude, just totally lame. Venkys, if you ever have any hope of owning a successful club you really need to get your arses into gear. Interviewing 6 people, really, wtf." ------------ I'm no oracle but if it was obvious to me surely it must have been obvious to Waggot. No surprises then. Three first teamers gone, pre-season well underway, 26 days until season kicks off, no transfers in! Whoever stumps up, unless they're from Malmo, they won't have a clue about our patterns of play. We're going into the new season with our hands tied behind our back yet again. We need new players yesterday! WTF.

I think you must have forgotten to take the plastic wrapping off 😀

According to the Waggot article in the Telegraph the market is awash with available players right now, just a case of selecting the skills that JDT wants. Also we have cash. Not all doom and gloom then.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec here but it's my view that they were offered deals that reflected their ability. They just didn't have much 'usable' ability. Nyambe was never fit and as I said wasn't going to improve much beyond where he's at now. Always out of position, can't cross, never scores or even threatens to score. Rothwell was a show pony. Exciting, dynamic, once every ten matches, little to no end product, slow thought process and decision making. Could he press? The aim is to score and win matches not look good in little cameos with no end product. He was also as good as he was going to get. Lenihan, well there you have more of an argument, sad to see him go yet he's not a world beater. Looked good going forward and good channel passing this last season, but defensively can we really say he was always in position. Good, one of our own, but brace yourself, it's always tough to tell a mother that her baby's ugly, I have to be honest and say he was just above adequate at best. Just compare him to the young loanees we've had in his position. There's better out there. We've played those guys for three years now and never got above 8th. They were offered what they were worth IMHO. It was their choice not to sign. C´est la vie. Move on. Over to you GB.

I think to counter question is 'when was the right time to sell them'. Mid season whilst pushing for a play off place? Tough choice, money or being competitive. My understanding is that we tried to get them to sign new contracts way back but they refused. We knew pretty much all season they were going so when was the right time. One route forward is to throw money at the problem but what does life look like without a wage structure? Tough choices to make. I'm minded of that comment that came from a White House advisor (at least that's where I first heard it), for every difficult question there is always one simple, easily understood, obvious wrong answer. I'm no champion of the Rovers board but sometimes crap happens in triplicate. The king/s are dead, long live the king/s. Time to move on.

Agree fully. I'd add that IMO Nyambe was already his best self, he'd never get any better. He was strong defensively but weak going forward mainly because he had no idea what to do with the ball when reached the other end of the pitch. Constantly caught out of position, constantly injured. He was one of our own so sad he's moving on but from a purely footballing point of view we can do better. Selling Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell in the last transfer window wouldn't have gone well with us would it. In and around 2nd place and then we sell the captain and an attacking midfielder, can't see that as being well received. We were always going to lose these three and it probably made sense to give it one last big heave at promotion before lettting them go. Crappy situations happen, we move on. There's better out there in all positions and I think we will find them. If it costs Venky's money then who cares. On a seperate note I think TM lost the plot with this whole 'you've got to be a nice guy to join our club' thing. Pro spirt needs an arrogant even nasty side to a blokes make up. We ended up with a dressing room full of boy scouts. Time to move on and them three leaving and JDT/GB joining is the stepping off point for a new adventure. On balance I'm glad they're gone.

The reel of Ahmedhodzic is all a bit fire brigade action. Loads of sliding tackles which Championship forwards will dive from. Coupled with nothing on his distribution capabilities, holding a line, stepping up for offside and headed clearances I'm not sure he's configured for the championship. But what do I know. If JDT has worked with him and has confidence in him then, if he's a reasonable cost, I guess he's useful to the squad. Would like to see more from him though and not just last ditch tackles and putting fires out.