And we didn't play particularly well in that second half and Stoke missed a penalty. It's nonsense for him to claim that as his win and in my opinion is the action of a desperate man. Anyway on to tomorrow's celebration............

Bloody hell that just puts a tin hat on it. I don't know and Rovers fan who will be celebrating if we stay up on Saturday. We are where we are for a reason, because we haven't been good enough since early December and Eustace and the players have had a big part to play in that. Maybe Waggott has shown him his interview from August where he says the goal is to avoid relegation so crack on John, break out the champagne. Small minded people and an insult to Jack Walkers memory. Irrespective of how Saturday goes my overriding feeling will be of the missed opportunity to build on last season. It's just another reason to detest the errant ones.

I have seen lots of comment from Wednesday supporters who think they are safe and it appears some of their players are in this frame of mind too. Football has a habit of kicking you in the nuts when complacency sets in.

When we beat Leeds we knew that they really needed to win. One of the tactics was to slow/stop the game at every opportunity. Every restart was laboured and within a few minutes the anger of the crowd came through loud and clear. It was definitely the right approach and worked well. Saturday is different for me as Leicester are already the champions and the players and crowd will be relaxed and under no pressure. Whilst Eustace will probably still take this approach I don't think we will be able to capitalise on any anxiety from the Leicester players or crowd like we did at Leeds.

Not that old chestnut again. The best advice they were given was when Williams, Finn and Goodman wrote to them telling them they were wrong in what they were doing ie letting Anderson have the run of the place. Had they heeded that warning we wouldn't be in the state we are now. Instead of listening to those three they got rid of them and carried on with reckless abandon. I wonder who 'advised' them to do that. Similarly Paul Hunt wrote to them about the poison that was Kean (although Hunt had an ulterior motive) and he was sacked. Please don't come with the 'badly advised' excuse. We could get relegated for the third time in their watch on Saturday and it's all on them, they are totally to blame.

I'm not entirely sure where this should go but in yesterday's PMQ's the subject of having vaping companies as sponsors was brought up. Typically Sunak was wishy washy in his response but it appears that there is a growing campaign to stop it. Personally I don't like it and wouldn't buy anything that endorses it. Hopefully this season sees the end of it and Waggott and Read find something which doesn't court as much adverse publicity. Or will the laziness prevail and another deal is agreed with them using the local company bullshit excuse. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-refuses-ban-vape-32711479

I haven't done anything as stupid as that. The inevitability of something as serious as this is that it would incite trouble.

But that's illegal?

There will be cameras there and the trophy presentation will probably be shown live but right now the game won't be broadcast live. Sky clearly feel there is more interest in the games they have chosen and I think they are right.

https://www.efl.com/news/2024/april/29/three-games-chosen-for-sky-sports-broadcast-on-sky-bet-championship-final-day/ It hasn't been selected for live coverage.

Rovers will be well supported on the road again.

The referee caused that incident by taking an age to signal the direction of the throw. I actually thought it was a Coventry throw and I'm assuming Palmer did too by the way he held on to the ball. When the referee finally gave Rovers the throw Palmer had been hold of the ball for a few seconds and would have been out of position if we had taken a quick throw. When Eustace realised this he tried to snatch the ball and get play going quickly. Then the melee ensued but had the referee signalled earlier it wouldn't have happened. I'm certainly not going to be critical of Eustace because of his actions.

On Friday?

Ash Phillips own goal.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/efl-tried-stop-norwich-boss-29079002 According to this report the EFL are aware of the situation with Wagner and his shenanigans in 2017. The integrity of the competition is once again at stake but I personally think it's just lip service from the EFL.

Cheston has retired as announced a few weeks ago but Silvester had no plans to is what I was told.

I was told yesterday that Ian Silvester has gone, in fact he went around two weeks ago. It was put down as 'early retirement' so read into that what you will. My educated guess is that he has been made the scapegoat and paid off. Perhaps there might be a snippet of information comes out officially from the club but I'm pretty sure there hasn't been an investigation. The assistant secretary has assumed his duties.

Having studied the fixtures and current from for Saturday my conclusion is that I haven't got a bloody clue if we will stay up. There will be far too many variables across the four matches like mistakes, incorrect refereeing decisions and injuries. Who can hold their nerve will be another important factor. The only thing I'm certain of is that it will be a nervous day for the fans of the four clubs involved and during play there will be emotional ebbs and flows. I just hope the Wi-Fi at Leicester is better than Ewood so at least the Rovers fans in attendance can keep informed of developments.

Our under 21's got smashed 4-0 by Sunderland. The performance was poor, lacking in energy and intensity from what is normally an industrious group of players. Sunderland could have indeed won by more and only Leo Duru comes out with any credit although he fell below his recent standards. The next few days will be interesting for some of these players as contracts expire.

I really don't believe that the owners have any idea on player valuations. Of course the deal for Adam was done with their approval but putting a price on him? Similar with Brereton as again they wouldn't have and idea of his worth. The unqualified idiots at Rovers are the ones who put the prices on players I believe. The fools in Pune are just going along with them and in the case of Adam get some money into the club to save face after their court appearances.

This is funny. Watch Chansiri's reaction and the security guard too. It reminds me of the Rovers can who asked Kean for a picture and when Kean stood next to him the lad shouted 'Kean out'.

No one likes us they proudly sing. Do they ever wonder why? This f****** can expect a knock on his door soon.

And what qualifies the likes of Broughton and Waggott to put a valuation on him? They are both under qualified and took the first offer that came along. But the sensible Rovers fans know they sold the family silver to keep the lights on due to the owners nefarious business dealings.

I think we had as many shots today than we have had in any other game this season and not scoring from one is the real disappointment for me but I wasn't unhappy with our play in general. There was an immeasurable amount more effort and intensity that last Sunday and some decent play. In fact today reminded me of a few games early on this season under Tomasson when we battered teams but couldn't score. You'd have put your mortgage on Szmodics scoring in the first half as most of his goals have come from more difficult chances. In the first half we looked a threat from corners but that threat waned in the second half as they were poor. I really thought we could have got one from a set piece today. Is the point enough? Who knows as next Saturday will see lots of fans nervously looking at their phones and watching how the table changes with every goal. I still think Eustace left us light in midfield again today as Rankin-Costello and Tronstad worked manfully but the effort required when the opposition have an extra man in there took its toll on JRC and Tronstad looked weary after an hour. I think everybody knows we need wholesale changes in the playing person next season if we stay up. The real fear for many is that it just won't happen.