Miller11

It should be a 30,000 crowd. The fact it will be not much over half that just shows how much contempt our owners and their trusted employees have for us. We must mark the occasion by showing them how much we want rid of them.

Uwais Patel. Trustee of the Community Trust.

WATR have already met with the head of the regulators office. It won’t be a quick fix, but lots of what we said raised eyebrows and was very much of interest to them. It was definitely a very positive meeting.

Feel free to use this graphic anywhere you like. Plaster it on social media. Respond to all the clubs posts regarding the anniversary with it. It should hopefully be all over Ewood on the 8th

Watch this space!

We went for the hollow 15 to symbolise how we have become a husk of our former club.

Not sure where you’ve got your info from Carl, but I certainly wouldn’t agree.

I’m not sure anything was made up. Make a monumental fuckup, big backlash, quickly change plans, deny and pretend it never happened. That’s the Rovers way.

Pretty much. Or watered down to the extent they might as well not bother. As you can see the vast majority have been ignored anyway.

150th Anniversary Working Group Wednesday 23rd April 2025 1. Brett Baker, Head of Football Administration, took us through possible pre-season friendlies and those clubs we have been in touch with regarding our 150t Anniversary (Hibernian and Birmingham also celebrating their 150th Anniversary) Athletic Club unable to play this pre-season but could look at pre-season 2026. Queens Park approached but possible dates too early for our pre-season schedule. Brett would also be making a request to the English Football League (EFL) special consideration for a home fixture on or close to the 5th November 2025 as possible. It was proposed we should also contact SKY regarding their scheduling of games for the first half of the 25/26 season 2. Steve Waggott, CEO, had been in contact with Elliott Charles of Old Etonians with a view of staging a re-enactment of their FA Cup Final along with inviting Darwen F C to also be involved in these games that we would be looking to stage in one of the International breaks during the 25/26 season (September, November or March) 3 . An official club letter had now been finalised with the view of sending to various governing bodies (FIFA, UEFA, FA, EFL) and possibly members of the Royal Family ( a copy of which was circulated to all attendees) Phil Riley, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, is also working on a Royal Visit that could include Blackburn Rovers. 4. Steve Waggott had approached the English FA to give permission for us to have a full size replica trophy to commemorate us being the only club to win the competition over three consecutive seasons in 1884, 1885 and 1886. We await further discussion with them on this 5. Just awaiting completing the final piece of the 150th Anniversary Book to enable it to got to print. 6. An 150th Anniversary Club video is nearing completion and the group will be updated once final cut is done. 7. 150th Anniversary Web page / site is now under construction and the club will look to finalise it come the end of the current season to enable events / projects to be posted and promoted. 8. Anna Melia, Head of Marketing, highlighted the 150th logo now being used plus informed the group that she had now sourced Commemorative Caps should they be required. The group felt i t would be beneficial to contact the Former Players Association to get their thoughts on who should receive a cap should we proceed with this initiative. 9. Steve Waggott proposed that the Blackburn Rovers Community Trust be our nominated charity for the 150" Anniversary year which was approved by all the group. 10. Nick Cooney and Mike Jackman advised the group that it had now been agreed with the club that the whole of the second floor of the Darwen End for the 150th Anniversary Exhibition. Work would commence as soon as possible on redecorating the rooms on the second floor with cabinets and design of rooms being discussed with external organisations. Discussions were on-going with the Heritage Lottery Fund for a smaller grant to facilitate certain parts of the larger unsuccessful bid. 11. Lynsey Talbot, Head of Operations, outlined the possible club events including a fireworks display on or around 5 November, a Gala Dinner and a summer 2026 Music Festival. Lots of other planned / themed events will be developed once fixture lists are released. Other potential partners had come on board followng the call to arms at the recent Blackburn with Darwen Partnership Forum including BwD Children Services Department and The Exchange in Blackburn. 12. Yasir Sufi, Head of Commercial, updated the group on a 150thLimited Edition Kit and also possible mural on the Watson Ramsbottom building in Blackburn Centre using local artists. Other sites were also being considered for further murals along with the need for consideration of appropriate 'Blue Plaques' locations. Jamie Holman was also looking at a musical performance in the Blackburn End with a choir of all ages. Darwen Terracotta had also stated an interest in being involved in the 150th Anniversary with Wayne Wild being a good contact t o discuss further. The use of LED Lighting of 150 being projected on to Ewood Park and other appropriate buildings would need to be discussed with the Council. 13. Paul Salmon proposed reaching out with our club letter to the Royal Family to see if there would be an acceptance of either Prince George or Princess Charlotte becoming an Honorary Club President. He also thought that the unveiling of a new piece of artwork could be linked to a visit from FIFA to unveil whatever we thought would be appropriate for our 150 Anniversary. Darwen Terracotta was mentioned again as a possible partner to look at this proposal. A time tunnel around Ewood Park was also suggested subject to funding. 14. Duncan Miller on re-engaging with supporters proposed Supporter Groups championing a player; flags with players and supporter group logos; introduce a limited printed matchday programme for the 25/26 season; develop a Fan Advisory Board (FAB) or Shadow Board 15. Steve Williams, representative of We Are The Rovers (WATR), informed the group that more military personnel had been found who had been former Rovers' players. He felt any exhibition should include a military section. He also said h e was available to help as and when required on heritage initiatives / projects. 16. Anna Melia highlighted the fact of having an inclusive approach on gathering ideas and opinions from younger supporters/ Junior Fans Forum especially around what the club and Town would look like in another 150 years. 17. The meeting ended in a general discussion around seeking appropriate sponsors for various elements of the initiatives being proposed. Date of next meeting - During May The follow up meeting to this was in July, not May. By that time Steve Waggott had left so no minutes were ever circulated but a number of the above ideas were completely taken off the table with no discussion. There has been no follow up meetings or even any email correspondence to the committee since.

Exactly this. And it’s all part of a bigger issue. Nobody at the club will ever admit they got anything wrong. It’s always bad luck, or someone else’s fault, or beyond their control. Top down arrogant, shit attitude. The culture Venky’s and their incompetent trusted employees have created.

Give over. He’s been the best referee at this level for a good while.

There was an initial plan to actually do something quite interesting with this idea, but it seems like it was too much effort. my best guess is Old Etonians were promised something ages ago and we are obligated to make a game happen, so very recently David Dunn has been tasked with cobbling a team together. Shoehorning it on to the end of the Derby game means none of the staff at Ewood have to work an extra day. Suits them, suits Suhail. They are all delighted they don’t have to do Sundays as the women’s team has been bombed off to Clitheroe, and that we only had one pesky league cup game.

That point papers over a few cracks. The biggest worry is that it took us ripping up Ismael’s “tactical plan” and throwing the kitchen sink at them for us to look remotely competent. 12 minutes in and I could see what Stoke’s game plan was. 9 games in and I’m still struggling to see what Ismael’s is. I don’t think we really contained them, they were pretty wasteful with their final ball. Alebiosu had his toughest test but also pulled off an unbelievable bit of defending. Miller a good shout for MOTM. Midfield bypassed too often, Gudjohnsen mostly anonymous then fluffed his lines. Impressed with De Neve and Kargbo responded to recent criticism in the best possible way. Also worth mentioning that Ash Phillips looks like he’s developing into an absolute monster of a centre back.

Signing an injured player does look as though it was the plan. Obviously it’s an absolutely shit plan though. The plan has contributed to us being in the relegation zone by the beginning of October, was that the plan?

Well… I’ve never looked forward to reading an Elliott Jackson match report until today! That was absolutely dreadful. 3-0 flattered us. Charlton squandered loads of really good chances. They absolutely bullied us, particularly second half. No positives to be taken out of that shit show. Hopefully Forshaw is fit soon as I genuinely think he makes our strongest 11. What a testament to Gestede’s recruitment.

There’s enough (unfounded) optimism in that interview to last a lifetime.

So it was a complete and utter waste of time asking that question then wasn’t it. You don’t necessarily qualify as a fan just by following a Facebook page or a Twitter account. The issue is the club have made putting out surveys on these platforms their entire “engagement” strategy and are dodging all the recommend and mandated forums for fans to ask meaningful questions of ownership and senior management. The questions “selected” weren’t even close to middle of the road.

Owen also eventually stated in the fans forum fiasco that he didn’t believe it was possible to become a sustainable club and remain in the Championship. Not sure he’s 100% “aligned”.

It’s even worse than that. All 3 of them refused to answer one of the incredible soft ball questions - they wouldn’t commit to which signing they were most excited by. Although Ismael did trot out the Scott Wharton is like a new signing cobblers.

They really do think we are stupid. A completely transparent unsubtle propaganda piece that will appease a good chunk of the social media masses, but you don’t have to scratch very deep to see much of what the more observant fans were thinking was bang on the money. Wage bill cut, wage structure problematic, all about “sustainability”.

In the latest episode of Jobs For The Boys… Jordan Rhodes has been appointed our new Loans Manager

His full name is Suhail Anwar Pasha Shaikh. He was regularly referred to as Suhail Pasha in the early days, then more commonly Suhail Shaikh. The former seems to have stuck with fans.

Pasha definitely is.

Might ask when he is serving his ban from the training ground for refusing to play while a contracted Rovers player.