arbitro

I was thinking more of a 150% surcharge.😄 Disclaimer: If any of the stooges or their acolytes read this I'm joking.

Managers are responsible for results, the buck stops with them and ours clearly haven't been good enough which I think everyone agrees on. However there is sometimes some context which is what I was saying.

if it's obvious then tell me. But you're right - it's probably not worth discussing as you must have seen it completely different to me.

I said a couple of exceptions. How many others are there?

With a couple of exceptions (Derby away going to a back three) the shape has been pretty much the same as Eustace and Lowe. I haven't seen too much of a shift in tactics neither. I really don't understand your 'boys in the playground' comment.

He was easily knocked off the ball a couple of times in the first half but you are spot on about his effort and endeavour. He played in a similar vein at Luton until he was sacrificed after Montgomery's red card.

Changed everything?

The games you mention were good performances but we got two points out of a possible nine. I really think that losing matches affects confidence even if it's a good performance. Lowe's first two games were undoubtedly good but his third was one of the worst of the season. The last eleven games under Eustace were won 2, drew 2, lost 7. Currently Ismael has player nine, won 2, drawn 2 and lost 5. Comparable to say the least.

That's why I said conjecture on my part.

But Swansea away, the last match under Lowe we looked particularly poor.

I was referring specifically to the results under Eustace.

I was referring to the form under Eustace which was mediocre. West Brom was definitely one of the best performances of the season but in the eleven games preceding that we won two. It's pure conjecture on my part but I don't believe that had Eustace stayed our league position wouldn't be too different from where we are now.

The facts don't lie but I think there needs to be a bit of context. Confidence was absolutely waning when Ismael took over as proved by the poor results and performances. I'm not privy to what went on but I know that confidence is so important in professional sport and we were shorn of that before Ismael arrived. The run he presided over was awful but I honestly think it wouldn't have been too dissimilar had Eustace stayed. I'm not saying it's the second coming or anything like that but as I said context is important.

But he was also his usual diligent self defensively too. He broke up several Millwall attacks with tackles and interceptions. His sensible choice of passes today helped us keep possession when it was needed. The criticism of him is farcical and in my opinion shows a complete lack of football knowledge.

He is probably our hardest working player. He was getting further forward today than in any other game I can remember. Perhaps Ismael is allowing him to get forward more.

In my opinion that performance was in the top five of the season. The momentum we got in the second half against Sheffield and the win at Luton was built upon with a really good win and performance against one of the Championships form teams. There was lots to admire today. The tempo, quality of passing, resilience and intensity but what actually pleased me most was the quality of our goals and the play leading up to them. Who would have predicted those three players as goal scorers today? Ismael deserves some credit too as he did last week. Our shape and tactics worked a treat as we pressed and played a bit further up the pitch. I thought the substitutions were sensible too bearing in mind we have a game on Monday. I also like how he kept faith with Toth by playing him again today. There have been some testing times over the last few months but the last two and a half games have been a stark reminder to me of what Rovers mean to us. The mood of the supporters was really good As we were walking back to the car. That winning feeling takes some beating.

Millwall are very strong defensively so them scoring first would make it extremely difficult for us. Hopefully the renewed confidence shown in the second half against Sheffield Wednesday and the game against Luton will be evident and we go on to win.

And that is the most pertinent point of the whole sorry saga.

Selling home and away kits with a 30% discount = good. Marketing it as 30% because it's 30 years since we won the Premier League = tacky and lazy. Is this a new low for the Marketeers at Ewood?

Good post and this is just one of many dilemmas that individuals are wrestling with. Ultimately the decision is down to the person buying the ticket(s) and there is absolutely no right or wrong here.

Another entertaining match was seen at the Academy yesterday as the under 18's drew with Stoke. At 3-1 down with very little time to go it seemed we were heading for another defeat but an exceptional comeback was us snatch a point. The stand out performance came from Valentin Joseph who, besides scoring two goals have an orthodox centre forward performance in an almost old fashioned way. He is big and strong and made full use of this and his powerful running caused lots of problems for Stoke. Significantly there were a number of players who started and came on who haven't even started their Scholarships yet and they performed well. One of our substitutes, Alfie McIlroy is, I was told the grandson of Sammy McIlroy who was the last Busby Babe.

There are some excellent photographs in this article.

The season finished with another entertaining goalfest but another defeat. Fulham were too good for us for an hour or so. We couldn't get near them as their quick, incisive play was too much for most of our team. It was no surprise they took the lead but they had a helping hand from O'Grady-Macken who didn't do the basics of clearing the ball from inside his own penalty area. He tried to control a bouncing ball and wanted too much time. The second goal was another error as some indecision between Michalski and Davies allowed a quick thinking Fulham player to get between them and score. The third was from a clear penalty. We made a triple substitution just after the hour and looked better for it. A great strike from Edmondson gave us some hope and it was game on after 86 minutes when Doherty scored. In between we created other chances and had a couple more after this goal but just couldn't score. Despite the comeback it was quite a disappointing match as for an hour our passing and movement was poor and Fulham were better all over the pitch.

I was told on Saturday that Pat Gamble has been released but I haven't seen anything official from the club.

I was referring to the performances against Leeds and Leicester, how we went about the game and how we set up. Can you not see the similarities between yesterday and those games? That was my point. The marked difference from yesterday and pretty much all the recent games has in my opinion been a return of confidence for many players. I see the bigger picture too but I enjoyed that yesterday, the players attitude, the team spirit, the way we went about it but most of all the win.