arbitro

Initially I thought that Palace were the wrong club for Adams development but watching the last two matches I'm not sure now. In both games Palace didn't have the ball as much as we had under Tomasson and from an out of possession point of view Adam is doing a lot of closing down and tracking back. Hopefully in a couple of years when his all round game has improved he will get the move and platform to show what we know he is capable of. Watching him play now though gives me an even bigger dislike of the horrible people who own and run our club. Through their absolute mismanagement and corrupt practices we have been denied of watching a Blackburn lad fulfilling his dream by playing for us, a lad with an abundance of talent and a nice lad too. Even if is was only for another six months.

It was quite funny watching the Nobbers Chavs fighting amongst themselves on Saturday. I think it was about who had the last wine gum. 😁😁

I think Buckley has talent but like many failed footballers he also appears to have a poor attitude. Hopefully the Sheffield Wednesday move was the kick up the backside he needed and he knuckles down and concentrates on developing as a person and player. Time will tell.

I like Atkins when he talks about football but his uneducated comment does more harm than good. It's a lazy, uninformed view that so many people have.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/february/18/injury-update--john-fleck/ An injury update on Fleck. Eustace is saying it's a kick on the calf so hopefully once the bruising comes out he will be fine. I must admit I thought it was his knee at the time and that it looked quite serious.

What you way is correct but it's a reflection of the club rather than the players.

Without a doubt. Managers are primarily judged on results and we tanked after November. There might be some mitigating circumstances but I don't know anybody who could defend the results.

One of the best moments of the game yesterday was when Scott Wharton smashed into Frokjaer-Jensen who up to then I thought was their best player. Scott won the ball and followed through making sure he hurt the Nobber. He limped around for a bit and wasn't half as effective after that. More of that will do for me.

Of course it is and winning games is the absolute priority irrespective of style. My point is that losing playing a more direct way will be tolerated a lot less that playing in a more entertaining way. But to reiterate winning is the most important thing.

Footballers sometimes get a bad press but this is great from James Maddison.

To be fair this should have been played on January 27th but our involvement in the FA Cup that weekend meant it had to be out back. Another tough match in the offing but with Cardiff in worse form than us and conceding goals it's a difficult one to call. I don't think it will be one for the purists and I expect it to be a game of attrition with perhaps one goal either way. With in form Norwich at home next Saturday a win would put us in a decent position going in to that. A loss and the pressure could be back on.

Football is all about results and in my opinion the manner of winning is immaterial. Under this ownership and the presumed power struggle we are never going to be anything more than a mid table Championship club and from that perspective Tomasson was ideal as even in defeat we would generally concur that our football was entertaining and that tempered the losses generally. The platitudes he received from other managers were all genuine in my view. A bland, predictable style of play will certainly make the defeats less bearable and attract far more criticism. Clearly I want Eustace to do well and win lots of games but irrespective of how we play success will be a pipedream for us all with these owners.

Has he grown a small pair of wings on his head? 😃😃

Like many Rovers fans I would have snatched your hand off for a draw at 3 o'clock but that is slightly tempered by the fact we were 2-0 up. I said we needed to keep it really tight until half time after we scored our second but a recycled corner and a corner did us, effectively two set pieces not defended properly. There were lots of positives though and our defending in the second half was probably the one to highlight as we blocked, headed and kicked the ball away. We did look more comfortable with Scott Wharton in the back three, I think he is more suited to that system than in a four. Our goals were really well taken and I thought the ball over the top would have been better against a slow defence but we didn't play it that often. Perhaps if Fleck hadn't got injured we would have got more from the game as we had our best period when he was on. Hopefully the players will take some heart and confidence from what was overall a decent performance. With some tough games on the horizon we need to keep picking up points.

Thanks for sharing this. It saddens me how poorly he was treated in the Summer of 23. It's telling that he let thirteen players go and had plans to replace them when his budget was slashed. I suppose it was inevitable at that point that the best manager we have had in over thirteen years wouldn't see his contract out. F**k Venkys and all their acolytes.

I'm assuming Waggott was at the PL and EFL meeting of chief executives this week to try and sort out a deal for the redistribution of finances from the PL. From this it appears an impasse has been reached despite the intervention of the culture secretary. It looks like the new football regulator in waiting has his work cut out. https://news.sky.com/story/frazer-urges-clubs-to-seal-football-new-deal-ahead-of-legislation-13072975

On a thoroughly dismal night for any Rovers can something made me smile. Rovers fans were taunting the Brummies with the 'Champions of England, you'll never sing that' chant. They came back with 'Champions of England, you weren't even born' which I thought it was funny (and probably true for lots of Rovers fans).

I can't remember a recent match where I went into it with such little expectation. I'm normally reasonably confident but the events of the last two weeks have knocked the stuffing out of me. All I have seen from the players since Tuesday is big talk like 'we go again', 'we're all in it together' and meaningless platitudes. If we lose (which I am expecting to) the fans will turn. There is no hiding place for the players tomorrow, talk is cheap.

I think he has some talent, just no heart. When I think about the likes of Jim Branagan who was of limited ability but knew the importance of the physical side I know who I'd prefer.

It should be but it's very rarely enforced.

Personally I wouldn't have Brittain in my team on Saturday. He is a real weak (literally) link and in my view doesn't have the heart for a scrap. Having watched his marked improvement this season I would be promoting Leo Duru who has something about him. I know it would be a big ask of a young lad in a local derby but I have faith in him. He can also play in a four or a five.

They accepted a bid from Palace on January 29th and Adam was told about it then. By a strange, very strange coincidence it was a few days after the Indian judge adjourned the hearing into whether they could transfer money for us to keep the lights on. My deduction from these amazing coincidences was that Adam was some so we could pay the bills in the interim.

How did you view it when we went on a long run without winning under Dalglish and got promoted albeit via the playoffs? It's about points accumulation surely and at the beginning of December we had enough to be in 7th. That is what any manager should be judged on. I remember asking you if Tomasson was sacked who would you like and you called Eustace so well done. He, like any manager will be judged on results.

The intention was to add all time but I agree that has eased off from many of them. The going off for thirty seconds has been circumvented by players simply not having treatment. They go down, the referee goes over and they tell him they don't want treatment. Miraculously a short time later they are up on their feet and their team has its full complement of players. Job done. Also keepers having treatment is more frequent as they don't have to go off. Preston have one where a player deliberately tries to take a throw in further up than they should in the full knowledge that the referee might send them back and it wastes time. If he doesn't send them back they have the advantage of moving up the field. Win/Win.