This sad news makes me feel VERY old. Another player who gave 100% for our cause back in the day has left the world too soon.

RIP.

50 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

He must be shyte then, grayson is woeful

You've really got it in for Grayson, haven't you, Sparks? Any opportunity to rubbish him; you'll take it.

7 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Sure sure, bang average shit, but not shit and bang average. Syntax is king.

You must be the chap I spoke to in the Riverside stand on Saturday, wearing the "I am silently correcting your grammar." tee-shirt.

15 hours ago, Ossydave said:

This sums up how a lot of people are feeling round about now.

I'm still not convinced the owners aren't fecking about though as well making transfer dealings 10 times harder than they should be. He's not gonna have the balls to come out and state that though so it'll continue, unless he walks which is also doubtful.

Dropping Bennett at weekend would be a start though and claw back some credibility for TM.

Are there still branches of Burton's the Tailors?

Becauseif there are, I'm prepared to show my a*se in one of their windows if Bennett's named in the team to play Fulham.

Right; I'm up to date, and agree with everything that has been said in the last few pages.

I haven't the stamina to go onto the match thread tonight. I have my blood pressure to think of!

27 minutes ago, Angry_Pirate said:

 

If he can't drop him after that, that was Elliott Ward Doncaster level bad.

 

That has to be one of the most damning comparisons any fan of any team has ever uttered.

The sad thing is it's right; about a minute before we equalised - we'd been pressing for a while and the ball was passed to our right full-back.

He was in Charlton's half of the pitch; so what did he do with no real pressure on him? He kinda aimlessly passed back and our momentum was lost.

4 hours ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Beaten only to the title by Del Williams.

Or Elliot Bennett?

11 hours ago, Angry_Pirate said:

Can't wait for this afternoon. Tony if you (or one of your stooges) are reading this, on behalf of (probably) all of the BRFC supporters, we beg:

Please do not bench Travis, Rothwell and Nyambe! 

PS. Some young lads (JRC, Buckley) on the bench instead of the likes of Smallwood, Samuel, etc would be a bonus.

PPS. I would ask for Bennett to be an impact sub and NOT the RB, but I know you cant control who you fall in love with.

COYB! 

I've deliberately not read a word of this thread since leaving home this morning to get to the match so I apologise in advance if any comments like the one I'm about to make have been overtaken by other comments.

BUT, having been at the game, I agree with the comment which is implicit in Angry_Pirate's comment that, at best, Bennett should be a substitute.

The bit I don't get is the word 'impact'. I'd only ever be tempted to bring Bennett on as a substitute if we were something like 8-0 up with 90 seconds to go.

5 hours ago, HowieFive0 said:

We ve found our Championship level ..only success will bring people back ala Oxford . And that was just a piss up in the sun for most ...

And, as I'm fairly sure others have pointed out on one thread or another on here, it could also be seen as a marketing opportunity missed.

Each of us passing through the turnstiles that afternoon could - should - have been given a flier advertising season ticket prices for the first season back in the Championship with an application form. Many of them might have been thrown into the bin, but for each one that was completed & returned to the club, we'd have had a new season ticket-holder - possibly more if the form was completed by a parent/grandparent.

Just now, Dreams of 1995 said:

Nobody has let Nuttall down. I for one championed his inclusion in the squad but simply put when he had appearances he didn't put the kind of shift in you'd expect from a striker in this league. Too lightweight, not the greatest touch in the world and would never hammer defences down or run the channels. The three lads we have in front of him are all better and one could argue Samuel is better too.

Whether Nuttall will do well at Blackpool is anyones guess. I think he will. He gets in the right places and has an eye for goal. That level may suit him more.

It's crazy how players that sign for us are instantly confined to the poor player category, where their bad attributes are highlighted, and suddenly when a player goes he becomes the best player we've seen in that position and sorely let down by the club.

There isn't one. One bit of positive feedback Mowbray used to get on here is that he looks like he has the squad playing for him, which they are, and that the dressing room atmosphere has taken a massive up turn since he came. It has. There's not been a hint of bad management on behalf of Mowbray, it's just that on here some wild assumption like that has legs all in the name of "opinion", whether or not it is fact-based is irrelevant. 

I'm the total opposite of an ITK; I'm just a dyed in the wool Rovers' fan who gets his season ticket, 'invests' [?] in Rovers Readies, regularly chants "Rovers till I die" on certain Saturday afternoons throughout the year and generally just wants This Great Club Of Ours to succeed at the highest level possible level.

What this dialogue has got me wondering, though, is if the foundations aren't being laid for Mowbray to become the club's General Manager with Damian Johnson succeeding him as Team Manager.

Many pages ago, I'm sure I read a suggestion of Matt Jansen being encouraged to apply to succeed Johnson as Under-23s/Academy Manager which if I didn't  ❤️, I should have.

It brought back memories from the 1960s to the '80s of the Liverpool 'boot room' when, after Bill Shankly retired, he was succeeded by a dynasty of internal appointments and former players - Steve Highway as something like Academy Manager springs to mind - working inside the club. We had the germ of this idea in the late 1960s when Johnny Carey came back as General Manager with Eddie Quigley as Team Boss. Ajax and, I think, Bayern Munich work on similar lines; and I'd like to think we could establish a similar system.

Having read the Times article about Mowbray on the train up to Newcastle in January and having read similar comments about him recently in this thread, I'm one who thinks that he's a decent human being,  who's been a positive influence even if his team selections are sometimes somewhat, erm, bewildering to us.

For me, he would have a fitting legacy if the club could be seen in years to come to have set up something similar to the Ajax set-up on the football management side of Ewood.

4 hours ago, matt83 said:

Technically Blackburn and Blackpool are unitary authorities. Do we even qualify as Lancastrian from the boundary butchering act. 

Most certainly! I'm a Sandgrown - native Blackpudlian - Rovers' fan.

When I go back to my old school's Old Boys' Dinner, we raise our glasses for the loyal toast, "The Queen, Duke of Lancaster." We did so before local government reform in the 1970s; we did so this year.

Oh, and back on topic; Finney, by a country mile.

Just now, Leonard Venkhater said:

His debut was a very famous Boxing Day(Stephen's for your good self) at Turf Moor...

"Hark now, hear the Rovers sing; ... ?"

What a day that was; to quote Max Boyce, "I know; I was there!"? [And many others on here too, no doubt.]

5 minutes ago, DE. said:

Problem is I'm not sure it's so much desire with Mulgrew as ability. He's never been a convincing CB and with age catching up it will only make things more difficult. I'd prefer him to be brought on as DM in games we're trying to run down in a Tugay-esque role at this point, as he has some excellent passing ability, but it doesn't look like that is on the cards. 

Isn't that because he started out as a midfielder? We - and his country - have used him as a centre-back.

I agree that, if we'd had a stronger back four, he'd have been ideal as a latter-day Tugay but now that we've got Johnson, 

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

It isn't the same though as there is a new goalkeeper. 

Ideally we would have gotten the City guy in earlier so he could have trained properly and staked a claim for a starting place. Suggesting we just drop Mulgrew for Saturdays game and criticizing Mowbray for not doing so is stupid. 

Where did I suggest that?

I was merely drawing attention, as so many others have on here, to the phrase the manager trots out so regularly and which may have cost us players - e.g. Bauer - in whom we were supposed to be interested.

Trust me, I'm not stupid.

From the club website:

'So will Adarabioyo be thrown straight in against Charlton Athletic for the opening game of the season? The boss added that the youngster may well have to wait.

' "It may take him a couple of weeks to get to grips with the team but then he'll be looking to force his way into the side." '

It's TM's mantra, isn't it? I bet he'd use exactly the same phrase if we'd signed, say, Messi, or Bale!

2 hours ago, philipl said:

TV boys will get antsi about ads and scheduling

There is a silver lining, then!??

58 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Bennett for Nyambe & Gallagher for Rothwell, and I think that's the team.

I preferred Joey's choice; but I fear that your amendments will be the team Mowbray uses to start the game.

Just now, Vinjay17 said:

Considering Leslie's last few years in management not much of a loss.

No; as with many of the players who've moved on from Ewood over the years, we could make a good claim to have had the best years of his club managerial career.

1 hour ago, Mike E said:

... My Dad remarks that he was easily as good as Duncan Edwards at the same age that day.

I believe Sir Ferguson also made a similar comment about Jones.

2 hours ago, Blue blood said:

You think we don't need defenders? 

Are you saying that Kenny didn't invest in the defence because he didn't spend loads? - same goes for Hughes too: Mokoena £300 K I believe and Nelson also a pittance. Don't confuse investment and strengthening with big spending. The two don't always go together as a certain Bereton transfer will attest to. 

Bit worrying if you genuinely can't see top quality managers investing in their defences. 

Wonder whatever happened to Sparky's overseas scouting network??? ?

I don't know if some far more computer-literate than me - not difficult! - member can transfer this thread to the "In memoriam" Board?

I've just visited that Board and had a wonderful 1/4 hour reading about my heroes from the era beginning with the team that got back to the old Division 1 in 1957.

So sad to read how many of those players have died so young.

Just now, Boz said:

Some might want to undertake some homework before Saturday?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48382254 

 

So no more "Tugay-substitutions", to allow the player being substituted to milk the applause as they walk from the Riverside to the Jack Walker Stand, then?!?

On 27/07/2019 at 23:42, bluebruce said:

First time I've had the chance to see him in person. I watched pretty much just him for a bit. I'm not gonna lie lads, I wasn't blown away. He looked comfortable enough though, and did a few fairly nice things. Took a shot outside the box well, which I think might have been his first touch. There was a point I thought he'd foolishly played himself into trouble, but he came out the other end somehow. That bit impressed me, and actually elicited an audible 'wow'.

Looks promising for his age. I'm not expecting him to change our season just yet though.

Mowbray saying he is definitely not going on loan sounds like he might have a bit more willingness to play him than I thought. We will see, but it does make me a bit less apprehensive about the drawbacks of not loaning him.

It was my first time of seeing him playing, too; and, like like bluebruce, I couldn't see - on Saturday's display, at any rate - what much of the fuss was about.

I was also a bit worried about the way Saturday's Ref felt the need to have a quiet word with him. I wasn't aware of Blackpool targeting him, but he seemed to commit a few niggly fouls within a short time of coming on as a sub.

Obviously, I don't know if the Ref was considering yellow carding him but the quiet word seemed to do the trick. Maybe a point for the management to consider?

1 hour ago, cesus said:

I can completely understand why nobody locally has come forwards, you are signing up to a financial black hole. If regulation was brought in and the same problems wouldn’t arise in 1-2 years time then I’m sure local people would help but there isn’t and good local people would lose their hard earned cash into the cess pit that is English Football. The clubs aren’t requiring a few quid to keep the floodlights on they are pretty much asset less with multi million pound costs.

And Gigg Lane could easily be a prime house-building site, very close to Bury town centre and just off a prime commuting route to Manchester.

The vultures could be circling.

2 hours ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Parental issues - this could actually translate to parents wanting some guarantees about playing time. If he was my son - I would want some assurances - as going to the Championship to warm the bench won't help his career. At the end of the day he isnt coming to Rovers because he is a fan - it is about playing time to further his career.

Equally, it may well be Citeh who are asking for assurances about the lad's playing time; assurances which may not be easy for us to provide, given the loyalty our management seems to have to our current back four.

I'm sure I read recently about a penalty clause in a loan deal - maybe a couple of seasons ago - between Liverpool and Bristol City where because the player didn't play as much as Liverpool expected, Bristol City had to make a fairly hefty extra payment.