arbitro

My granddaughter cried happy tears when we scored and floods of sad tears at the end. On the train home I explained to her that those two emotions are common in football but not usually in the same game. She doesn't really understand about poor ownership, snide directors and the like - she just wants to see Rovers win every week and there are many kids like that. It's up to us older ones to keep some pressure on these wretches to try and ensure the club is safe for generations to come.

There was clearly a game plan today which up until the equaliser played out pretty well I thought. If we hadn't conceded so soon after going ahead I could see us going to a back five with Forshaw coming on in a three man defensive midfield as we have successfully done recently. Them scoring within eight minutes meant the other option covered by Ismael was all out attack. In that respect I thought he left it five or ten minutes too late but I could also understand his reasoning as conceding a second with so many attacking players on would have given us a mountain to climb. We were in with a chance of promotion up until the last kick of the season. Had that been said a few weeks ago the poster would have been deemed certifiable.

Recruitment would work better if we could keep hold of staff. The turnover of personnel in that particular area cannot be conducive to success, there is very little continuity. And one of the reasons for this recently has been the power struggle going on which in turn goes back to poor ownership and leadership.

Alas it wasn't to be but for a short while the dream was on and how that nine minute period really got the adrenaline flowing. The excitement amongst the Rovers fans was something to behold and made me realise why this club means so much to us. I really think that if we could have held on for another five minutes we would have won. The 50th minute was just too early to go a five man defence and just defend for our lives rather than throwing on attackers in search of another goal after Sheffield equalised. Although Sheffield had some chances after that we undoubtedly finished stronger and with a bit of luck could have scored to send us into delirium. The season was a real rollercoaster of emotions with the winning and losing runs being the reason but overall I will give the players a lot of credit as I thought we would be in a relegation scrap so just missing out on the playoffs exceeded my expectations. It's clearly going to be an important summer but I think Ismael has done enough for us to have some faith in him but once again the lack of funds and ambition could bring an end to some promise. It was good to hear the Venky's Out chants today and that has to be every supporters mission to get rid of them and the awful acolytes of theirs.

He didn't mention that he voted for the Sky deal and that a reported £3m per club is what they actually receive to compensate for irregular kick off times and days. It has been another income stream which has offset the owners inability to send money over (and probably contributed to Swag's huge pay rise).

The only place I've seen £150 season tickets mentioned is the odd post on here so for them to hide behind that and say we need to sell 23000 to maintain current targets is real misnomer. If that is the case why not price them at £300 and aim for around 12000 which would then meet their targets. Once again they go for the soft option, the low hanging fruit and prey on the loyalty of existing supporters.

Is that £15k a basic wage or the maximum he can earn including bonuses? It's not as simple as plucking a figure out of the air as contracts are complex and can be onerous. With bonuses £15k could easily become £20k.

Three weeks ago who would have thought that we would be in with even a slim playoff chance? The only certainty about following Rovers is the uncertainty.

Get him booked on the train and granddad can pay 😁 10:13 Manchester Piccadilly TransPennine Express Advance Single Manchester Piccadilly, Victoria, Oxford Road or Deansgate to Sheffield 11:08 Sheffield t 15:11 Sheffield TransPennine Express Advance Single Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly, Victoria, Oxford Road or Deansgate 16:09 Manchester Oxford Road

I'm guessing you got them 😁

Only online again.

I really hope the phone signal at Bramhall Lane is better than it was at Leicester and Millwall on the last day of the previous two seasons. With all the likely permutations it will be purgatory again having to rely on somebody several rows away keeping us updated.

Looking for omens? This season so far we are unbeaten in our three games in Yorkshire.

Charlie Olson scored at the weekend. Unfortunately it was of the OG variety.

The number at the time of the meeting is what will be reported.

I don't understand why the number of season tickets sold up to the meeting couldn't have been released. It would be open to interpretation or opinion but is a fact and shouldn't need approval from anywhere.

Being specific and reporting 'over the weekend' sales is strange. Why they haven't just given an up to date total is odd. The number given to the FF will be interesting (I really don't understand why it's been held back btw) and it won't take a genius to work out the total number sold so far.

For the players there will be win bonuses, clean sheet bonuses and other benefits but I really don't believe a professional footballer would go into a game and not want to win.

Don't we have a Head of Special Deliveries yet? It's about time we bloody well did.

If he has been offered a deal worth £8k a week it sums us up as a club with priorities in the wrong place when you consider he will have just about have parity with a useless CEO. One is an asset, the other is liability.

I do wonder if agents fees are included in any budgets or indeed how they can budget for them when they don't know how much they will be. The latest figures show that we spent £1.1m on agents fees.

I have a bet with a Nobber friend on who will finish higher in the league. A few weeks ago there were only a few points in It and we had nosedived massively. It's remarkable how quickly fortunes can change in a league like the Championship.

And he nearly scored again yesterday with a good effort from twenty yards which narrowly missed. One general observation I have made is that we do seem to be shooting more often. Perhaps not enough at times but it seems to be moving in the right direction.

Dolan has always been an enigma who could excite and frustrate us in equal measure. He has probably put together the best run of his Rovers career recently and has been consistently picked by four managers. From his demeanour when he was substituted and at the end I would think he's going and has known this for a while. But we should praise him as his effort and commitment has never been doubted unlike Brereton and Rothwell who effectively downed tools.