From next season ITV will have the EFL highlights from QUEST. This will include the EFL's cup competitions. It would be interesting to know how much they have paid for them. https://www.itv.com/football/articles/itv-to-broadcast-efl-highlights-from-next-season

There would be yes but I honestly wouldn't expect him to not referee the game by admitting to being stressed. He would have had an option to stay locally on Friday night too but chose to drive on the day. That was a little foolhardy in my view given the forecast and knowing it could be a treacherous drive particularly if he came over Blubberhouses.

There is an article further down which essentially lays the blame at the referees door. The author asks the most pertinent question - why was kick off not delayed to give the pitch more time to improve? It's only hearsay but I was told the referee was complaining on arrival about how bad his journey was from the North East through several snow blizzards. Now anybody who has driven any length in bad conditions will know it can be really stressful. As I said hearsay but if it's true I would ask what frame of mind he would be in to make big decisions.

Great preview Ian. I really like Sheffield. I like the accent and The Full Monty still makes me laugh. A few of my refereeing colleagues were from Sheffield and they were always solid and supportive whilst never afraid to speak their minds. I normally like to see both teams doing well but on Wednesday (no pun) we are in for one he'll of a tough game. Hopefully we can sneak a win but if you offered a draw now I'd snatch your hand off.

It's strange to me that these wonderful owners wouldn't pay for a new pitch particularly as it wouldn't impact P&S in any way and they have thrown milions away. Mowbray has said for some time that we need a new pitch and when Waggott went public it was on the cards we would get one. That is from someone senior within the club. They pulled the plug, these owners you are so determined to defend despite their ruining our club. As for Waggott telling lies who said "We will absolutely respect the legacy of Jack Walker"? Probably the biggest lie of the century.

Although it rarely happens in these kind of circumstances on this occasion a delayed kick off might have worked. Ironically our game at Millwall in August was delayed by fifteen minutes The to train problems. The key people are the referee (who has the final say), the managers and the head groundsman. When I have been in similar situations I would have aired my concerns to the managers about a potential danger to players and asked them for their views. Nobody knows their pitch better than the groundsman so his input would be important then a call to the local Met Office for an update on the weather for the next few hours. A decision based on all the factors mentioned should then be made. I don't know if Eltringham did any of these things but I'm certain that a lot of referees on Select Group 2 would have played today. We just had a referee who took the safe, easy option without too much thought for the thousands of people disaffected by his decision.

No.

Whenever I did pitch inspections I always insisted, where practical on both managers being there and got their input. Ultimately it was my decision but getting something positive or negative from them certainly influenced my decision.

Correct. It only stops the ground from freezing. Quite often you have a nice soft pitch but the blades of grass are white with frost when the undersoil heating is on. It certainly won't melt snow or help dry a wet pitch.

Far be it for me to defend Waggott but with what we know so far I don't think him or anybody at Rovers is to blame. The question I would be asking is why it was definitely on at 12.30 (with no mention of a later inspection) and unfit at 2.15. And the referee should be wholly accountable here and do an interview. He owes us that at least.

Geoff Eltringham from Mowbrays neck of the woods.

I think we can discount a frozen pitch as the referee was allegedly bouncing and kicking a ball about. My guess from that is the the melting snow has waterlogged the pitch rendering it unfit in the referees eyes.

The referee should do an interview to explain his reasoning. Only then will we know who is to blame.

Yes. There is a picture of him with Waggott and Sylvester pitch side although I can't be sure of the exact time.

To be fair the pitch is the referees domain when it comes to postponements but I can't understand why it's such a late decision unless the referee isn't happy about the amount of snow still on the pitch.

Rovers now saying a 2.15 pitch inspection to see if the game goes ahead. I would imagine that nearly everyone who is going will be in transit by then. Only at Rovers.

I honestly don't think Fulham losing is the worst thing although I get your point about Huddersfield. If Fulham have a little wobble and we can keep winning who knows. Given all the variables in football anything can happen (and probably will 😁😁).

Pickering, Lenihan and Khadra to start?

Snow on the ground around Ewood - where's a Venky when you need one. 😁😁😁😁

The police and new fangled surveillance systems pretty much out paid to any trouble in the ground now. I was near two lads who got thrown out/arrested at West Brom. They were both shouting some pretty vile stuff and gesturing obscenely to some West Brom fans in the adjacent stand. They pleaded their innocence but I heard a policeman say they had it on camera. I was annoyed because the kerfuffle it caused and the number of stewards and bobbies involved made it difficult to actually watch the game.

Millwall have sold 471 tickets for today.

My copy came yesterday and I have to say the quality of this issue has surpassed itself as it covers 2010 to 2020. It's a stark reminder of how far we have fallen with references to the fraudsters, wide boys and thieves all underpinned by these awful owners. I would recommend buying one to any Rovers fans even if it's only to refresh memories and 50p goes to help with Tony Parkes' care.

I think it's crazy to say Travis is no better than Lowe. He has some limitations but he brings more to the team than Lowe ever did. He leads and I thought the responsibility of being captain last night saw a disciplined and dilligent performance. His work off the ball is really important to us. I don't really remember any redeeming features about Lowe.

It was a strange game I thought probably because I expected much more from West Brom and it appeared that Mowbray did early on as we sat deep. As the game went on I was more and more confident about winning as I realised that West Brom only had one tactic. And we should have won with the chances we created as we were the much better team in the second half. The quick passing, high tempo and press returned so hopefully we are over our blip and get winning again. We were solid defensively with some really good performances but Wharton had his best game in a Rovers shirt in my view. He is turning out to be a leader and has quickly become one of our most important players. Nyambe showed why he is by far the best right sided defender at the club (memo to Mowbray - don't cut off your nose to spite your face ever again). Buckley and Brereton showed up well in the second half, enough to suggest a return to form although I would hope that Buckley is kept behind after training to work on his finishing. Overall it was quite pleasing and lots of good things happened to suggest we can start scoring and winning again after a really good clean sheet.

No Ash Phillips in the reserves this afternoon so I expect him to be on the bench tonight