arbitro

The vanity project that is Salford City have sacked Gary Bowyer. Gary Neville in particular is getting some grief after his previous comments.

Stanley have announced they are playing four home friendlies against as yet unnamed Championship opponents. Hopefully one of them is us for what was in the recent past a regular pre-season fixture.

Massive credit to him for coming out in a world were some Neanderthals still roam. Hopefully any homophobic abuse towards him results in arrests and charges.

In two seasons at Swansea Steve Cooper took them to a playoff final and a playoff semi final. He resigned on a matter of principle after promises made to him were reneged on. He had an interview for at a Premier League job in the summer and was very close to getting it. Just before he got the Forest job he was doing some coaching for Ancelotti in Madrid. His stock was very high after leaving Swansea.

I didn't know Rob Edwards was with them but after his antics last week it doesn't surprise me. He was given a chance in management by Forest Green Rovers and in fairness got them promoted as champions last season. Last week he left them for Watford and didn't even have the courtesy to tell FGR he was even talking to them. And Watford didn't even have permission to talk to him. Undoubtedly he was advised by his agents to take this course of action. The FA should charge him and Watford for their blatant rule breaches. Steve Cooper is no longer represented by them.

It might be me but this statue of Aguero looks nothing like Aguero. And it looks like he is swinging an axe.

The stark difference between the team that coined the 'Dirty Leeds' phrase could play, had some genuinely tough players and were winners. This current lot look to be lily livered and mentally weak.

For once the club statement is decent. A change was needed and that seems to have been recognised by Mowbray himself. Hopefully he is not the first as we really do need a cull including Waggott himself.

I was thinking about this yesterday and for me the crowds who go away have been great. They have created an atmosphere and sung pretty much non stop throughout the game. I've also noticed there are lots of youngsters which augers well provided the club can keep them interested. It would be interesting to know how many of the regular away supporters are actually season ticket holders.

Your hypothesis could be correct but there is absolutely nothing obvious when it comes to these owners.

What could be simpler than a communication basically saying Mowbray is leaving, blah blah, thanks blah blah, new manager search blah blah. There, done it. Why the hell is everything so complicated with this lot?

I saw them words and thought the same. The pedestal that he puts himself on (and his worshippers do) seems to have become unstable. He gets his information from sites like this for sure.

thanks John.. I sincerely hope that one of the outcomes of the fan led review is that the authorities are more accountable to the fans. I have had several dealings with them down the years and they just pay lip service despite all the white noise about caring about supporters.

Good post which pretty much mirrors my thoughts. He is trying to come out of this with a semblance of his reputation intact and has now firmly nailed his colours to the mast. He has passed the point of no return with his comments.

I'm not sure where to put this as the Hull postponement seemed to be in a previous life. I kept on chasing Rovers and finally have an answer (of sorts) although this reinforces once again my opinion is that the football authorities don't give a toss about the fans. Make of it what you will. This is the response: RE: RE: RE: RE: Hull City v Blackburn postponement Christina Haines 9 May Show details 1 Good Morning Tony Apologies for the delay in replying, please see the response from the EFL below; “Apologies for delay but we needed to get the Board approval for our overall approach around Covid postponements, but we have that now. We have investigated this matter and have received detailed submissions from Hull City. Having reviewed the information provided, the EFL has concluded that it would not have a reasonable prospect of succeeding in the event that it brought a charge against Hull City, given that there is a lack of evidence to indicate that the Club failed to comply with the Return to Play Protocols. The challenge that presents itself in this case is that Clubs were not operating under strict Covid Protocols as had been the case in season 2020/21. Almost all breaches we have been able to establish were linked to those protocols, and once they were relaxed it becomes almost impossible to show the Club was at fault. The late diagnosis of confirmed positive cases relative to available squad made the postponement inevitable, albeit frustrating for us, our broadcast partners, your Club and the travelling supporters. I’m sure that your fan group will want detailed answers to a number of questions, however as I am sure you can appreciate we are limited in what we can share with other Clubs due to confidentiality reasons.”

I wonder if Mowbray has changed his 'good people' opinion of our owners? On the face of it it appears he has found out the hard way something that some of us have known for years. They couldn't care less about Rovers or their employees. I dread to think what the process is going to be in the next few vital weeks as we don't have a manager in place. Has the job been advertised? Who will sort through the applicants? Who will interview the candidates? Who will make the final decision and what will it be based on? We really are as dysfunctional, basket case of a professional organisation and to be frank the next month fills me with dread let alone thinking about next season.

I despair at this modern way of playing sometimes particularly with goalkeepers who wait until the last millisecond until they play it despite being closed down at a rate of knots. The absolute last thing Leeds needed was to concede an early goal then the keeper gifts Arsenal a goal. And now the Leeds captain has been sent off for a ludicrous challenge which got exactly what it deserved. Madness from Leeds and it could be costly in the bigger picture.

After your recent purple patch it must be worrying how easily you capitulated today and with Tarkowski going off with a reported hamstring injury it must add to your worries too. Having been in your position it's almost as nervous watching the teams in and around you play.

Mowbrays last couple of interviews have confirmed to me what many have suspected for a while. The man has a huge ego and very little humility. He likes to tell us about his forty years in the game, tries to come across in a grandfatherly way and talks a lot about being a good human being. But ultimately he only thinks about number one and is already putting his name out there for another job. I'll be mightily interested to see where that is.

A game that I thought would be a tame end of season affair was surprisingly good with some good passages of play by us and some excellent goals. We conceded a late goal again to give us a nervous finish but I'm always happy after a Rovers win. I put a bet for my granddaughter at the ground and she went for a Rovers 3-1 win. It was good watching her face every time we attacked when 2-1 up. In the final analysis of the season my overall feeling is disappointment after the position we were in going into February. I naively started to think we were going up - I should have known better. I think there are several reasons why but the main one was not bringing in somebody with the credentials to get us 8 - 10 goals which I believe would have been the difference. Anyway that's gone now and we can only dwell on what might have been as we look to the future.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/61354435 After UEFA criticised the proposed Super League with Ceferin quite rightly saying it was about greed they themselves are ripping genuine supporters off with extortionate ticket prices for the upcoming Champions League final. The head of the snake and all that.

Today is the 10th anniversary of our relegation from the Premier League on that awful night against Wigan. The last decade has been, in my view pretty awful with very few highs and a multitude of lows. The lost fans, financial mismanagement, awful administrators, poor managers and players along with lots of other facets which none of us ever thought we would ever see. Step forward Venkys. Thanks for nothing.

Somewhat surprisingly to me Birmingham are reporting the game is sold out. The new capacity is 19000.

They have never appointed a CEO or similar of any quality. There is a theme here Rev and it's all their own doing.

For anybody driving down the M6 is closed on the exit and entrance slip roads at junction 10. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/west-midlands/m6-junction-10-improvement/