because of boxing day

Yet another example of the loyal supporter being treated as a cash cow customer whereas there used to be a relationship with the Club in which those supporters were recognised as invested in the Club, not just the matchday shirts.

Joseph Tyjon and Sergeant up front could be a potent goal mix. Each has different skills and physiques that could be a good blend on the night.

First awareness of Jayden Sergeant for me was a strong varied wing play performance in these extended highlights of an impressive under 18s win v Liverpool. No pressure but reminds me of some of the no 11 skills of Duffer.

That's harsh on Hedges. In fairness Hedges was not in the mix for the 2 goal header challenges in the Derby match. Miller and McLoughlin were outmanouvered by Morris for the first and Alebiosu was wrong side and not strong enough for the second.

Miller played the full 90 mins of both Australia matches during the international break with the second match apparently only kicking of in New York at 1.30am UK time on Wednesday. Jet lag and general need to recover indicates to me that an evening kick off tomorrow would be too soon for him to play any part let alone be a first choice. Pratt and Litherland I assume may be called up to the matchday squad/team. It would be beyond any sense at all if Gueye was to be drafted in as a makeshift CB......wouldn't it??

On Hedges. He’s far from a world beater but I don’t share the very negative slant adopted by some posters. I share the view of each of our last 4 regarded pro manager/coaches Mowbray JDT Eustace and Ismail who undoubtedly trust/ed him to do the team player job that he never appears to shirk.

The blue and white shirts on match day are My Team but BRFC is not my Club under this ownership.

At the moment he looks like a Buckley Mk2 needing a little too much time on the ball before progressing play but I agree that there is a player in there if he adapts to a quicker game pace in the regular congested midfield battleground. Not sure that our midfield would be sufficiently robust for the typical Championship midfield battles with both Tavares and Cantwell in the starting eleven.

Rain and wind makes it like a regular home game at the Bet365 for Stoke.

Lifted my spirits pre match just now. Asked Alexa to play Supertramp “It’s Raining Again.”

"Oh ye of little faith," Merce. Maybe baby steps but i saw groundsman yesterday pm using a machine that appeared to be punching deepish holes in the playing surface every metre or so presumably intending/hoping to avoid the pools that formed during the deluge in the Ipswich game.

Yuri did well to pick himself up and carry on after Hirst's extremely late tackle early on last Sat. Ribeiro gets through a huge number of yards per match and his numbers could indicate he needs a rest to avoid injury risk.

Shout out for the Ticket Office staff guy this morning who very quickly grasped my difficulty and emailed me a copy of the original season ticket link which easily loaded into my Apple Wallet to resolve my issue caused by erroneously deleting the complete digital pass.

They’ve put a warning (for numpties like me) this pm on the X Rovers page against deleting the digital ticket from Apple Wallet. Woops. Looked like I was just deleting the expired Norwich ticket! Of course they’ve closed the ticket office at 4pm to frustrate the necessary remedial action advice!! My retained ST card from last season should get me in.

Anyone still waiting for tomorrow’s digital ticket to land in Inbox? Did someone forget to press “send”?

The style and slick passing of Norwich last season in the corresponding match was so impressive. It was so easy on the eye. 1-1 draw last year. A very late Weimann equaliser. Our midfielders must not be as easily bypassed by the quick interlinking that has been a Norwich hallmark of late or we may be chasing the game.

It was late March 1999. One of my most enjoyable footie experiences. I’d been invited as a corporate guest notwithstanding my Rovers affiliation. Unashamed gloating was the order of the day. P.S. The corporate hospitality was only marginally better than the home team’s efforts.

Tyjon so reminds me of Duncan McKenzie in size gait pace and skills. His feint and dropped shoulder to unbalance Everton defenders twice on Saturday had me and those around me purring with admiration.

Should know tomorrow what carnage Sky create upon the original fixture list! See extract from EFL Website…. “Sky Sports Selections Notification The notice periods for selections for the 2025/26 season are as follows: On the 2025/26 Fixture Release Day, selections shall be confirmed in respect of the opening weekends of the Championship and League One and League Two seasons. By 3 July 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all live broadcast matches to be played before the end of September. By 31 July 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all matches scheduled to be played prior to the end of the third round of the FA Cup (January 2026). By 7 November 2025, selections shall be announced in respect of all matches to be played between the end of the third round proper of the FA Cup and the last weekend of February.”

135 additional tickets on sale at 3.30

It was like Oasis tickets without the dynamic pricing!!

They have no ambition to have the team competitive and pushing at the upper edges of the division this season next season or in the immediate future. What's the point of investing my time money and emotional involvement etc if there's no equivalent aspiration on the part of the Club? Allardyce hit the nail on the head amidst his general "schooling" telling him that if there is ever a chance of playoffs and promotion by that route that it had to be taken. The lack of immediate ambition to make playoffs leads to the obvious conclusion that there was a deliberate sabotage of Eustace's competitive chance of playoffs in denying him the help he needed in the Jan window because of injuries. No surprise then that he should wish to jump ship.... I can't accept that for the next 3 seasons minimum they are content to break up the experienced backbone that has given us competitive thrills and spills in order to rely on half a dozen Academy players in the 25 going forward. I will attend on Saturday to judge the atmosphere, the reactions of the players and the crowd but will not commit beyond Saturday to support the broken regime unless evidence emerges that Gestede's outline of the short/medium term ambition is misapplied.

Sam Allardyce throughout had a rather dismissive tone when intervening or commenting. His reference to Gestede’s recent “work experience” in house and his advice that Gestede should get first hand advice from Brentford Brighton Bournemouth or Fulham was more than a hint to Gestede that he was out of his depth and the concept currently had no credibility.

Do the Stooges really want last year's season ticket holders to renew? Do they want to build the fan base? They need to sell the benefits to the target audience! They should immediately set about engendering an emotional journey that would persuade renewal before the Early Bird cut off and a new tranche of season ticket purchasers and supporters for the future. (For the purpose of this post only and not forgetting the ineptitude of management over the last few seasons) I think that the recent run of results and the potential (albeit doubtful) for an exciting end to the season would give any sensible business the impetus and opportunity to take things by the scruff of the neck and go all out to promote the final very winnable home game to the masses in a cavalcade of good vibe social media output and positive new contract or extensions to the vital players in the few days now before Saturday. This Saturday provides an opportunity similar to the spurned Oxford full house for them to show that they really appreciate and want us.

Mick was an outstandingly pleasant chap. First memories of him were when he was the visiting Rovers player with us at Mill Hill St Peters Junior School football practice sessions in 65/66. His forte even in those days was "The Crossbar Challenge"... an unerring left foot!! Met him on a few occasions subsequently and he was always a total gent.