Miller11

Rob Coar thinks we still print a matchday programme.

The Ewood brain trust will have had their heads together coming up with an official party line and appropriate direction for the blame to be passed. My money is on it being Waggott’s fault for stitching the pitch prior to last season. I can’t believe any of our fans are calling for a points deduction. Not only do we need as many points as we can get, why would anyone think this would remotely bother anyone at the club apart from us fans? The accumulation of points on the pitch is far from the top of the clubs list of priorities. If he was given a choice between a 10 point deduction and a £100,000 fine, which do you think Suhail would opt for? It wouldn’t be the same choice you’d make.

“Significant cost”

The entire point of football is for a team to try and win games to finish as high up the table as possible. Unfortunately Rovers this seems to be quite a long way down the list of priorities. How can they expect attendances to be anything other than pathetic while this is the case.

It’s a definite goal scoring opportunity given how shit of a goalkeeper Walton is. It’s a shame we didn’t capitalise on the couple of idiotic errors he made playing it out really poorly. We really ought to have tested him more. On that, I wish we’d be a bit braver when Alebiosu picks the ball up. He literally ALWAYS manages to get a cross over. When we see that is happening Hedges should be steaming in at the far post and one of the midfielders should bust a gut to get in the box. Really frustrating how we don’t commit more men forward.

Was the penalty incident the one in the first half where we got a free kick on the edge of the box? It looked outside the area from where I was. Haven’t seen a replay though.

Rather than writing lists about referees I’d much rather Ismael tried a bit of self reflection. Of course he won’t though, Ewood is an accountability free zone from the top down. And while everything always remains someone else’s fault, and beyond their control, the best we can hope for is muddling along in the Championship. Predictably we went to pieces late on. Why try and defend so deep with such a limited back 3? Was anyone expecting a blood and thunder performance from Tavares or Baradji to help solidify things? Why DeNeve and not a full back? Gueye was crap, but we didn’t give him much of a chance… it’s hard to close down 2 thirds of a pitch and half a team on your own. Miller spotting Cantwell’s smart run but kicking the ball like a 7 year old on a windy Blacksnape instead of sitting it up in the corner was the moment that killed us.

I think a better mantra is “Don’t believe most of what comes out of Blackburn Rovers employees mouths”

Second only to the obvious.

Feels like points thrown away today. Worth remembering it’s less than 2 years since they came to Ewood and we completely humbled them. The trajectories of our two clubs in that time are polar opposites. Dropping points is a big concern and we need to pick up plenty over the next month. We haven’t accumulated enough to survive our customary New Year collapse.

I’d be tempted to drop Ohashi a bit deeper and give Gueye a start, particularly if we are going to be smashing aimless balls upfield again. Forshaw has to start for me… what a sorry state of affairs.

Pears - should be grateful to be playing at all Alebiosu - played primarily in Scotland (not for Rangers or Celtic) McLoughlin - Started his career at Cork City Pratt - must be pinching himself he’s not still at Victory Park Miller - From a country where it’s not even the most popular form of football, also Hibs Hedges - Flint, Orient, Stevenage, Yeovil… Gardner Hickman - Unwanted by Birmingham Montgomery - See Pratt Morishita - A possible exception Ohashi - Jumped at the chance to play in England having been in Japan all his career Gudjohnsen - he’s not his father If any of the above can’t properly motivate themselves playing at Ewood Park for Blackburn fucking Rovers then they should just give up.

Absolutely this! Nothing is ever the owners, Suhail, Yasir or Gestede’s fault. Ismael fits right in. Slopey shouldered liars.

There’s a few posts on here that seem to be hinting at the crowd (or lack of) being to blame for our awful home form - a disgraceful insinuation. Lets be honest, a hell of a lot of those who went to PNE did so for an evening out with the football a sideshow - certainly shouldn’t be using that as a benchmark for home support. Quite frankly it’s an absolute miracle we get the attendances we do given we’ve had to put up with 15 years of hell. The powers that be at Ewood hold us all in utter contempt, and shame on any Rovers fan who is buying into this narrative they are none too subtly trying to spin. They don’t give a shit about increasing the attendance or atmosphere, they only care about increasing revenue but are too incompetent to try anything other than milking the few of us that are left. I can take the bad results and performances (I had very low expectations this season), but I’m being pushed to the absolute limit by the owners, Suhail, Gestede, Ismael and Sufi. We are a husk of a club because of those people. The detachment the fanbase are feeling is totally unsurprising, and while terrible results don’t help the problems run much deeper.

Has Ismael blamed the fans yet? They’ve been planting that seed all week.

I don’t know. Forshaw has nearly 100 premier league appearances to his name. Don’t think many other of this cobbled together rag tag bunch have enough quality to do that in their careers.

This seems very reminiscent of when Mola and Garrett were seen as the answer at Turf Moor. Carter spent about 20 minutes on an exercise bike in the tunnel against Derby. Obviously worked a treat. Wonder if Baradji will be subjected to the same.

Even if he does I expect we are on a hiding to nothing with him. He’s been built up in the minds of the supporters, and the words of the Ewood brain trust, to be the answer to all our problems. Unless he’s extremely good he will no doubt divide opinions in the extreme. Half of us will see him as a pointless signing and waste of money, half of us will cling onto any positive shoots he shows and advocate for patience. Pretty desperate for a player who didn’t even have a Wikipedia page til well after we signed him!

Eustace and Waggott wanted Cantwell. Gestede didn’t. Waggott and Eustace met with him early in the window but it didn’t progress due to finances - probably Suhail putting a block on it. It became apparent towards the end of the window that he was available on the cheap - 250-500k - so Waggott went rogue and had talks with Rangers - whoever he was dealing with up there said something along the lines of “Thank god, we’re desperate to get rid of him” so Waggott revised the offer to zero. After about 2 days of wrangling they agreed that it would be zero upfront with a big sell on clause and various appearance/promotion payments. Announced as undisclosed to appease both sets of fans. Getting him on a free allowed Waggott to make the case to Gandhi Babu (circumventing Suhail) to pay the required wages and get the deal signed off by Venky’s, as did claiming he would be worth 7 million if he could rediscover his form. It’s certainly plausible that an appearance trigger is approaching. It’s also plausible that the man who never wanted him in the first place and thinks paying any player more than £10k per week is unnecessary might want rid of him.

Very likely. Remember this deal dragged on for a while when we signed him. We paid nothing at all up front and it was all based around him hitting certain numbers and a hefty sell on clause.

All this comes down to now is their arrogance. They don’t like being told what to do. They sold off our best players rather than put money in a bond that they objected to. Now the requirement for that bond is gone they have no inclination to improve our situation or reinvest any of those funds brought in back into the squad. lets be 100% clear, neither the Indian courts or FFP/P&S rules are preventing investment in Rovers - they just don’t want to.

Shit day. Shit anniversary celebrations. Shit line up. Shit pyrotechnics. Shit players. Shit performance. Shit manager. Shit attendance. Shit staff. Shit owners. Shit club for the last 15 years.

Here’s a little snippet from the programme. The usual amount of care and attention has gone into it I see. Absolute husk of a club.

Someone on Twitter is correct. No prizes for guessing which genius at Rovers made the decision to delay it til after Christmas.

The only people who deserve any boos on the day will be in the directors seats, corporate lounges and in bed in India.