A concerted effort by every referee would rectify this. Allow the pushing, shirt holding etc and as soon as the ball is in play penalise them with either free kick or a penalty. At the moment the easy option is taken but in many games players are warned several times and still nothing done, there is absolutely no deterrent and until action is taken universally they will keep doing it. It's now a pet have of mine and adds nothing to the value of the game.

That's the real frustration I have with the Waggott regime. We have thousands of empty seats and, on the face of it he is doing nothing to occupy them. It summed him and his outlook up when he said he had reached his target on season ticket sales for this season. I wasn't there but on the face of it if sounds awfully boastful and smug. I have long said they have to give the customer what they want and some flexibility would be a start. A season ticket for say 18 games to factor in shift work, school nights and various other things. If the ticket holder can't make it then they have a responsibility to contact the club by a given time and their seat could be sold. If they don't go and don't contact the club then it counts towards their games. If they want to go to games over and above the agreed number do some real in advance. Of course it would involve extra admin to operate something like this but surely we have to try something different. My personal view is that Waggott is lazy and takes the path of least resistance and as long as he is here then nothing will change but if we had proper and responsible owners they would be tasking him with increasing sales of not just tickets but everything where the club can make money. He is a CEO in name only and does very little to justify his huge salary.

I don't think there has been a keeper sent off for two yellows but maybe that's because invariably they get the ball into play quicker after being cautioned. There might be lots of added time initially but when managers realise there is no benefit in effectively cheating they will advise their players differently.

Are you joking. No goalkeeper would have saved that. If that's a reason to drop keepers then teams would be changing every game.

Some excellent analysis into time wasting in the Premier League. I'm pretty sure if similar analysis was done in the EFL there would be similar results. In short we are being ripped off and clubs are allowed to get away with it. It really is time the PGMOL did something about it. https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/04/guide-to-premier-league-time-wasting/

It looks like Champions is spelt wrongly.

How tacky, an inflatable trophy and a second division player in Brownhill giving it the big 'un. He would have had no trouble blowing it up though. He blows his wife up every night. When they they sing 'no one likes us' it's probably the truest thing that ever comes from their manky gobs.

His son is at their Academy.

How?

I thought he looked tired to me with about twenty minutes to go but then he got a second wind for the latter stages. When we committed everyone forward at the death he was the one sprinting back and his presence forced the Dingle to shoot from a wide position I thought. His potential is frightening.

Tomasson has it right for me.

Of course winning is the most important thing but the debate is about who was the better team.

Of course we troubled them. Didn't you see the last ditch challenges they made, hacking it out for corners and hoofing it upfield under pressure. We didn't create great chances but to say we never troubled them is nonsense.

How many times did our press win the ball off them high up and we pretty much stopped them doing what they have been dominant at, playing out from the back. How many times did Muric kick it long? A lot more than he wanted to I'd wager. How much did they create, how many chances? Did Pears have any more saves to make than Muric? They resorted to kicking Adam Wharton because they couldn't handle him. Cullen aside and perhaps Benson when he came on not one of their players impressed me.

You are confusing better team with winning team. They scored and won but we were the better team. If you couldn't see that you should give up.

You have just assassinated the whole performance there, a performance in which we were the better team. Each to their own I guess.

Nailed it mate. He let Tomasson and the club down beyond belief and we are still waiting for him to tell us what happened as he promised he would do. He is a no mark, a chancer who follows many like him over the last decade. We would be better off without him.

Well done Rovers tonight, the team, the management but especially the fans. I haven't experienced an atmosphere as good as that from Rovers fans for a long, long time. I couldn't ask any more of the players who all worked hard. Of course there were some errors but tonight I think it's far more important to focus on what our club could be, what it probably was and has been dismantled over the last decade. Two absolute stand out performers tonight for me. Adam Wharton and Sam Szmodics were excellent, better than anything that lot had to offer. It's a credit to Adam how many Dingles actually kicked him as they were fearful of him. Once again a weak, out of touch referee who simply didn't understand that they were kicking him in rotation so one player didn't get in trouble for persistent infringement. Szmodics just never stopped and his running off the ball was terrific. If we had more with his hunger and attitude we wouldn't go far wrong. We should all feel proud of our club tonight even in defeat to the team of shithouses. They were horrible tonight and their fans song about 'no one likes us, we don't care' was never more true. I hope their manager shafts them and they get relegated next season with the lowest points ever.

Swag will be able to boast again that he has reached his target and the errant ones will laud him for that. The head of the snake should have been cut off some time ago.

At quarter to five the police were outnumbering the Dingles in Darwen by eight to one and there were eight bobbies. 😃😃

At a reported three grand the least you could expect is for it to be centralised.

I understand people not going because they are working or struggle to get to night matches but not going because effectively you are scared. That's a new one on me.

Referees like Scott have benefited hugely from the dearth of quality, in other words when he was promoted he was the best of a bad bunch. An ever increasing budget (probably more than a lot of full time EFL clubs), two groups of full time officials (four if you include the linesmen), plenty of full and part time coaches, physiotherapists, sports psychologists and other ancillary staff and can anybody say that the standard is any better. I think there are too many manufactured referees who don't have a feel for the game. I saw one on Sunday refereeing our under 21's. At my age I could have refereed it with no hassle but this bloke had four yellow cards when the game didn't need any and gave City an outrageous penalty when one of their players was blown over by a gust of wind. I worked with Howard Webb many times as we came through together but he has the devil's own job to improve the standard. As an old colleague used to say to me "you can't weave without weft" .

Of course he might. I really believe that will come naturally though as he progresses and get a chunk of Championship games under his belt. At his age going to a top club would mean either playing in the under 21's of being loaned out.

He is contracted with until 2027 so if he didn't want to stay (and we wanted to keep him) the only way he would have to force a move. If he did that it wouldn't do his reputation any good. He has good people around him who know what is best for him and advise him accordingly.