Because it doesn't suit your narrative?

I would wager that many of his yellow cards were for technical offences rather that nailing an opponent with a hard tackle. My patience ran out with him at Millwall last season when he bottled out of a challenge in the corner, they broke and scored their third goal. He got taken off at half time and from that we won the game. I see the point about losing an experienced player but some posts are wide of the mark in terms of his ability and what he is capable of.

I'm not surprised Travis has gone but I'm surprised it's only a loan. For the life in me I can't see any logic to that. Personally I'm not too perturbed by him going primarily because he wasn't contributing and if the stories are to be believed he was becoming belligerent and difficult to manage. The main issue though is that he needs replacing in the squad and that is where the waters get totally muddied.

Left hand, right hand????? 😂😂

An error of judgement! FFS is that the best they can offer? https://www.safc.com/news/club-news/2024/january/club-statement-black-cats-bar

One of two things has happened here. The club have been scared witless about the numbers of tickets that have been sold digitally. Or The number of complaints and representations from fan groups and individuals has caused them to swallow their pride and give supporters the option (which is all we asked for In the first instance). Going forward I at least hope they have the courtesy and sense to gauge supporter opinion before trying something as radical as this. It is through gritted teeth I say well done because we shouldn't have got to this in the first instance.It I will be buying ours tomorrow.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12926779/Sunderland-fans-rage-clubs-French-Swiss-owner-Kyril-Louis-Dreyfus-pictures-emerge-600-ticket-hospitality-bar-bedecked-black-white-Newcastle-slogans-ahead-FA-Cup-grudge-match.html A bit more information on the Sunderland situation.

It's amazing that people in power at some football clubs don't understand how much things like these mean to supporters. These career minded people don't understand the heritage or history of the clubs who employ them and just what it means to fans. And yet if things like this were run by supporters associations or even individual fans they would put them right. It's the arrogance that gets to me.

J*B has posted that there is an announcement at 6 pm this evening. He says it will announce that tickets can be bought on the day.

That's correct. The knock on effect of having so many youngsters with the first team permeates right down the chain and kids are stepping up to a level they perhaps aren't quite ready for yet.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'played'. What I asked for from the first announcement was a choice but despite many people I know contacting him asking for the same he steadfastly refused to compromise. My gut feeling is that someone has pulled rank on him given the awful sales.

It's not as easy as that though for some. My granddaughter is looking forward to this as she does every match. I shield her away from the nonsense that goes on off the field and all she wants is to see Rovers play and win. I haven't yet got tickets but why should I deprive her because of the idiocy of people who run the club. Sometimes I wish I could walk away from Rovers for good and save myself a fortune alongside keeping myself sane. But I can't. I have a forlorn hope that one day we will be shorn of the horrible owners and the half wits they employ.

Hopefully that happens. I suppose them climbing down (albeit still fatuous given the timeframe) hasn't gone down too well but what can't speak can't like - the sales are appalling and heading for a record low crowd for a competitive game at Ewood.

And Bournemouth just want to keep their options open and wouldn't have agreed to it. Then there was a real possibility we wouldn't have got him if we had tried to play hard ball with them. It's pretty standard in loan deals to get permission to effectively cup-tie the player.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/04/additional-support-ahead-of-digital-day/ So the 'update which may help' is pretty much the same as it was, just rehashed, regurgitated crap. In all my years working with hundreds of different companies I never encountered one who just flatly refused to listen to their customer base of even compromise. It really is sad how these people are alienating supporters, supporters who have been going for decades. And in my experience some of those will simply not return. But Fraser Read, Waggott and all the others won't be here by then, they'll have moved onto pastures new. We will be left with the ruins after it has been dismantled but by bit. This is our club and yet lots of supporters feel disenfranchised by the imposters who roam the corridors of power.

If we played him without their permission we would get thrown out for fielding an ineligible player. Is that what you want?

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/04/roverstore--system-and-store-maintenance-to-take-place/ Either I am losing the plot of the last paragraph says the match day ticket office will be open during the Rovers Store closure but they won't be selling West Brom tickets there. These can be only be bought online or by ringing the call centre. Am I going mad or is that the situation?

I have had further dialogue with Fraser Read after something was sent to me which undermined all the statements and reasoning behind Digital Day. Below is an extract from the last email I had from him. I'm not entirely sure what their intentions are but I'm hoping against hope that they have at last listened and are offering a viable alternative to the nonsense they are currently offering. I understand your concerns, at the moment the below is as much as I can respond but my suggestion would be to keep an eye on our channels on Thursday for an update which may help.

Love it 😁😁

I don't really know too much about Ben Benson but two of his protegees are regulars now in the Premier League. As for improving Walstedt I don't believe it can be done. One of a keepers strengths is bravery and he just doesn't have enough. He is afraid of getting clattered and therefore flaps far too often. Quite how anybody can improve that aspect of his game I don't know. We have signed a pup and our priority should be getting another keeper in now. It's a crying shame to have to do so as nobody really foresaw how calamitous he would be and up to a few weeks ago a new keeper wasn't really a priority but we just can't afford to concede the goals he is at fault for.

I have just watched it and fully recommend it. Great acting, great script and based on a true miscarriage of justice.

Not to me it wasn't. He won some great challenges on the ground and in the air. By implication you are accusing him of cheating.

He flew into a challenge for our second goal yesterday - I wouldn't call that putting your health at risk. You are doing him a massive disservice by insinuating he hasn't been committed. In fact if we had a player of the half season award he would be in the frame.

We have scored twice in each of our last two games but won neither. In both games that should be enough to win when you consider the opposition but it's our defending that is really costing us right now.

Disappointment is the overriding emotion this afternoon when, not for the first time we didn't convert enough of the good chances and our current Achilles heel of weak defending hit us hard. The big lump of Eaves up front for them was a real handful and his aerial prowess was supplemented by Hugill later on as Rotherham's only real threat earned them a draw. I was happy with our overall play and the pace at which we played and we were well on top for long periods but at the back of my mind was the fact that Rotherham had clearly seen our main weakness and looked to exploit it. Their first goal is once again down to the ineptitude of our keeper which is now getting beyond a joke. It's at least a goal a game he is giving away and it's really hurting us. Their second came from Pickering and Sigurdsson simply not doing enough to stop the cross particularly as Rotherham had their two lumps on by this time. So, so disappointing. There were several good performances though and our play sometimes is so easy on the eye but until we really address our glaring deficiencies we will continue to shop cheap goals.