Barnsley away is a fixture that holds a special place in my heart. 30 years ago a visit to Oakwell marked my first proper away fixture, my only previous experience of away games being Lancashire cup ties at Blackpool and Preston. There was a big game feel that day and Rovers turned out in numbers with the season reaching the business end, as well as offering us a chance to get a first glimpse of what seemed like our 25th new signing of an extraordinary season. The more cynical onlookers suggested that Duncan Shearer had only been bought to neutralise the threat of Swindon Town in the promotion race, but we didn’t care. Since Newell has been carried off as we battered Newcastle at Ewood, things hadn’t been clicking, and it only took 25 minutes for the signing to look inspired. A long diagonal ball from Alan Wright was flicked almost perfectly into Shearer’s path by Barnsley defender under pressure from Speedie, and he steered it in on the turn. A chant that would become commonplace in about 6 months time rang out, but that was this particular Shearer’s only real contribution in Rovers colours as he joined the failed attempts to replace the injured Mike Newell Club with Roy Wegerle over his 6 appearances. Some pretty crap defending later and we’d conspired to lose the game 2-1, this fixture being the second of 6 defeats on the bounce and part of a longer wretched run of form the modern day Tony Mowbray might even struggle to survive. It all worked out ok in the end though. Shameless plug - re-live this game and this season, as well as many others, set to a soundtrack of the day withSound of the Season at Rovers Radio - select PODCAST from menu Barnsley’s own moment in the sun came 5 years later as a second place finish took them to the top flight of English football for the first, and to date only time in their 134 year history. Under Danny Wilson, Barnsley developed a much admired and very successful passing style, and Neil Redfern proved a much more effective spearhead of their attack than the fat Dingle they binned off - I can’t see the Padiham Predator playing for anyone where it’s just like watching Brazil! Our next trip to Oakwell came in November 1997, for what was a real game of two halves. After ourstrong start to the season, a Sherwood goal in the opening period we completely dominated led me to believe a win would be routine. However, Barnsley’s second half display was at times sublime… all one and two touch stuff, little flicks, brilliant movement, spectacular efforts, and we came away grateful for the point knowing there was more than a little truth to the chants. Fast forward. Last year represented Barnsley’s best ever finishing position since that solitary Premier League season. A fifth place finish and a narrow defeat over two legs in the playoff semis making a mockery of the narrative that you can only reach the top 6 by being a “big club” or spending big money. Their owner, Chien Lee also has stakes in 5 other clubs scattered throughout Europe and iscredited, if that’s the right word, with bringing a “Moneyball” approach to his clubs. Andy Holt was battering him and this approach on Twitter this morning. The multi ownership is worrying, but football has to be unique in its constant search for and celebration of “investors”, but then complain when they look for a return… but I digress. At ground level, it’s a bit more nuanced. While their style may have suggested an analytical andstatistical approach, playing the percentages is nothing new. The signing of Daryl Dike, a catalyst of their good form in the second half of the season,also flew in the face of their supposedly rigid model. Yes, he’s young, but his loan was never going to become permanent after a $20 million buy out clause. For the past couple of years though their recruitment has been far reaching, picking up young players cheaply from all over the place. Valerien Ismael was an inspired appointment, andreplacing him was always going to be a tough task. Markus Schopp hasn’t had the easiest time of it so far with injuries (and Visas!) and results have been, at best, mixed. Expect them to play a 3-4-3 formation with Cauley Woodrow at the top, but the team and tactics have not been settled thus far, so the rest is anyone’s guess. They play Stoke tonight which might give some inkling. Mowbray must have been given some food for thought after the Hull game. The Armstrong shaped hole hasn’t been addressed, and I expect we will see various different solutions throughout the season. I’d like to see this line up against Barnsley: Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Pickering Travis Rothwell Dolan Butterworth Brereton McBride I know there is no chance, but we obviously lack a centre forward, apart from Gallagher who is injured and of questionable quality particularly for our style of play. Elsewhere on the pitch we seem to haveenough options, or at least we will when some of the injuries return, but Armstrong going has left a void. Hal Robson-Kanu anyone? The back 4 and midfield picks itself, though I have been impressed with Buckley so far, but not as a wide forward. Prediction: Score draw. Our last two performances haven’t been without their issues, but a 4 point return added to our early season haul has given us a points tally far greater than I’d have expected at this stage. With the transfer window now out of the way, and a manager who is going nowhere for the moment, we arewhere we are. It’s great to see we actually have some really talented players and a team who are easy to get behind for 90 minutes - I plan to switch off from all the other shite and do that on aSaturday. That’s not to say that everything at the club is wonderful, far from it. Our pathetic CEO ought to have a look at how Barnsley, a minuscule club in comparison to Rovers, are now averaging higher attendances than us. A fantastic early bird season ticket offer (that had run its course way before Waggott thought about putting ours on sale), providing real value will have helped.

I was giving my ratings some serious thought on the drive home. Big fan of this feature!

Bad first half. Confused formation and lacked any real shape in midfield and up front. Thank god Brereton gave us a single Diaz moment, because that fantastic strike aside he was dreadful tonight. He can’t play centrallly, particularly on his own. Always happier moving away from goal without the ball, too much dropping to look to get it into feet then turn and run. He’s a wide forward. The changes were spot on tonight - credit where it’s due, mirror opposite from Saturday, Mowbray got it right this time. We immediately looked better organised and players seemed more comfortable in their roles. Without a focal point up top we should never have started with the 4-3-3. Back 4 we’re very solid. Special praise for Lenihan who I thought was exceptional in his defensive work tonight. Butterworth was superb. Looks like he just needs minutes and a goal, we’ll have a very tidy player on our hands then. Could fill the hole left by Dack very nicely for now.

Any chance we see JRC tonight? I haven’t seen much of Mowbray’s ramblings over the last couple of days. I’d bring him in for Gallagher and try Brereton central.

He was anointed by the local press and a section of the supporter base immediately upon signing. Therefore an acceptable performance will always lead to affirmation articles like this. He will also get a certain level of praise for simplynot being Amarii Bell, who I don’t believe was half as bad as some make out. As has already been mentioned, a lot is asked of our full backs. I think Pickering will bring a lot going forward, but still looks to be getting up to speed in terms of the defensive demands. Early days yet, so that’s fine. Be interesting to see what happens with Edun.

Embarrassing dive. No need to be doing that Dolan. The whole “entitled to go down” thing is ridiculous. If you are making a conscious decision to go down under contract it’s a dive, and it’s cheating. For all the moaning about refs that goes on, often justified, their job is made all the more difficult by players trying to deceive them. Clubs, fans, players and managers need to stop seeing this particular form of cheating as an accepted part of the game.

Presumably if he doesn’t hand it back into Waggott first thing tomorrow morning, signed and accompanied by a heartfelt thank you note, he should be immediately transfer listed and dropped?

There’s some ridiculous slating of Nyambe going on. Granted, it’s mostly from people who have stated they only watched very limited highlights. I know it’s the done thing these days to attribute blame for every goal we concede to a single player, but singling out Nyambe for their first is lazy at best. We didn’t deal with big switch, then let their man waltz around and put in a really dangerous ball. It’s horrendous defending a ball like that as you are moving towards your own goal, and the forward player is always favourite! Nyambe has had his critics since he broke into the side as a 17 year old, and many of the people who were critical of him then stubbornly and inexplicably remain so. To claim he has made no improvement, lacks effort, or has never had a performance above mediocre is fucking ridiculous, frankly. Why aren’t any of the other nearly dozen out of contract players being questioned over their commitment? I know Pickering was anointed by the local press and others as the answer to all our problems, and there are some really encouraging signs with him, but defensively there are a few questions, which is absolutely fine considering he’s just played just his 6th game at this level. We were far more solid down our right hand side than our left yesterday, as we usually are

I really, really wish I was.

Looks like our strikers won’t be working on putting the ball in the net, much more important they learn to block crosses judging by Mowbray’s latest…

What sort of idiot thinks it’s a good idea to sacrifice a midfielder to play 5 at the back? Who in their right mind thinks a 5-2-3 is a sensible formation in any situation? The minute that happened we were bang in trouble. If he wanted to go 5 at the back, fine! But take one of the front three off. Gallagher and Brereton were both dreadful today, and if they score 20 between them this season it will be a minor miracle.

What Will Waggott Tax This Week

I’m really enjoying the new layout and content. Cheers for all your efforts to everyone involved!

A little off topic, and a little late, but I meant to mention this on here as soon as I saw it. If you didn’t catch Walter v Ilja Dragunov from the most recent Takeover, go out of your way to watch it. Incredible match.

That’s the big question. Instead of people obsessing over who we missed out on, serious questions need asking. Typically nobody will be held accountable. It appears on the surface yet another absolute failing in the fundamentals of the day to day running of a football club.

It’s a very fine balancing act. A lot of the recent signings from WWE have been absolute must haves for AEW, but had they known they were going to get Punk, Danielson, Christian, Cole, Black they may have thought twice about the likes of Andrade, Spears, Henry etc. Owens, Zayn and Wyatt probably all fall into the must have category too, so I think there needs to be a period of assessment. Let the roster find their levels, and trim some of the fat. Off the top of my head, Luther, Avalon, Stunt, Spears, Kiss, Hager, Janella, Nakazawa, Sabian, Taylor, Angelico, Evans, Cage could all be cut with no harm to the product. Sorry to say, but at this point binning off Jericho and Matt Hardy would probably be smart too. AEW’s profile is raising at a rapid rate, purely due to these acquisitions. It’s on a steep upward trajectory, and though there is still a gap between them and WWE, the fed is in serious decline. There’s an obvious outcome if this continues. I was thinking about parallels with WCW in the early 90s earlier, and while there are some, the differences are much greater. AEW has a rabidly loyal fanbase - to a large portion the company can do no wrong, even if they were to become completely overloaded with ex wwe talent (a danger/possibility), the fans wouldn’t care. Conversely, WWE has irritated, alienated and turned of viewers en mass over recent years. Probably their biggest issue is their complete lack of top level stars. Reigns and Lesnar aside, what are the options? Beg Cena for a full time return? Wheel out Undertaker? More Randy Orton? One thing is for sure, there is no Rock equivalent on the horizon, and no Austin type scenario in a rival promotion for them to build around. To me, they have to implement a drastic culture change… but I still think they are gearing up for a sale, which may be hurried somewhat due to AEWs rise. Maybe TK will buy Vince out?!

Haven’t watched the PPV yet, but I’ve read up and I will be viewing. I’ve been largely frustrated by AEW so far, but with recent developments I am hoping that changes. Punk is a massive coup. Clearly on a different level to anyone and everyone else there already. The reaction he got and the buzz that he has created were enormous. A notch below Punk, but again above all the rest of the roster they now have Danielson too. I never really got a lot of the crowing around signing the likes of Andrade or Miro, but these two are absolute game changers. I think what has limited AEWs growth so far has been Tony Khan’s pandering to the self indulgent EVPs and Jericho. Keep Punk and Danielson away from them and they will absolutely thrive. I hope to god it’s time for a Fozzy tour, because Jericho is an absolute hindrance and has basically become Hulk Hogan circa 2000. Omega should now find his natural level - the midcard, and Cody can carry on in his own little bubble. The Bucks sabotaging of the tag division might be more of an issue, but at least the belts are off them now. Adam Cole, I’m fairly indifferent to, but he’s no doubt a good hand. Ruby Riot is a very solid addition - competent workers are severely lacking in that Women’s division. I can see them getting Charlotte Flair in the not too distant future, and that will elevate things a thousand fold. Ironically, the AEW roster is now in need of some serious pruning. The deadwood that should never have been signed in the first place need to be released, then some of the others that have been used more thus far need phasing out over the coming months. I also hear JR is being phased off commentary - please Tony, put him in a backstage capacity. Let him help with booking and in particular finishes. Vince has to take notice now. Everything is aligning now for AEW to provide genuine competition, providing Tony Khan can listen and learn a bit more. It’ll be interesting to see if/how Vince reacts… or even if he is capable of doing so. It might accelerate the sale of WWE I believe they have been working towards. Interesting times!

Doubt over Mowbray’s future? That’s utter rubbish Chaddy. If you genuinely think they have limited what they are prepared to spend on transfers because they aren’t sure what they will do with a manager in 9 months time you should be calling for them to sell up. If they don’t think he’s up to the job, they should sack him. If they believe he is capable of fulfilling the objectives they have set, they wouldn’t be withholding otherwise available funds and making the job more difficult. Of course, anything is possible with them, but this narrative you’ve jumped all over is anything but a reasoned, informed management decision - which you seem to be trying to make it out to be.

Wouldn’t put it past Waggott to bring back clubcall and tell everyone it’s their duty as fans to ring a premium rate number to hear from anyone at the club.

@RoversClitheroe I suppose it really depends on what you’d like or expect to happen. There are key issues that the Trust can always work on that are laid it in the constitution. Things like contributing to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance headed up by Tracy Crouch MP being an example. As JHRover has just touched on, we are asking, as shareholders, why a shareholders meeting cannot be held, because there’s no two ways about it, it ought to be happening. Questioning the way the club is run, seeking fan representation and looking out for supporters interests will always be part of the remit, and at the moment there is real concern around the general decline around the club, cost cutting, apparent lack of a plan etc. And this was highlighted in the open letter to Venky’s shortly before the recent board elections. The feedback on that was largely supportive of the Trust’s message, but far from unanimous. Regarding your specific points in the opening post, there would be nothing preventing us from putting out a statement today asking for clarity around what happened during the window, what discussions took place during that wretched run of form, and highlighting our concerns about the lack of long term strategy and planning. For the Trust to take this a level further, and by that I mean taking up a stance in opposition to the clubs management, board or owners, we’d need a clear mandate from the membership. Take the recent Brockhall saga. The trust polled it’s members asking what they thought of the clubs plans. Broadly, a third we’re in favour, a third against, and a third we’re unsure. The right approach therefore was to ask questions of the club regarding it. A lot of work went into this alongside the Brockhall residents committee, that’s a relationship that is continuing and may well be key over the coming months. Personally, I’d have liked to have been down at Brockhall with a banner, but to have done that under a Rovers Trust banner wouldn’t have been right at that point. The Trust’s inbox isn’t overflowing with requests from members to take Waggott, Mowbray or Venky’s to task, and looking elsewhere there are plenty of people that seem satisfied or even pleased with our dealings in this transfer window. If this changes, so must the Trust’s stance. It’s one member, one vote. We need to increase membership, certainly. And I know I speak for everyone on the board when I say it would be great to have some more active members who want to get involved. Loads of work to be done, we would love to co-opt some new board members and work with as many fans as we can on various ideas and projects.

I’ve recently rejoined the Rovers Trust board. We had a board meeting last week were all these things were discussed, amongst other issues. Clearly the Trust needs to be a lot more active and visible - this will come. We are working on a number of things, and this thread and the ideas are now being shared with the board. Trust hat off, this is me speaking personally… I’m infuriated by the clubs total disregard for the rules around fan consultations, and I’m going way back before COVID here. They have never fully met the standards set out by the EFL, and it’s only the toothless nature of, and reluctance to accept any responsibility by the EFL that has prevented punishment against the club for their failings. As a start, fans could individually pressure the club into holding the proper, inclusive meetings with the owners or their representatives twice annually as they are duty bound to do. Of course the second part is getting organised and enough people there willing to ask tough questions, rather than being happy to be regaled by Mowbray (who shouldn’t even be there). Trust hat back on… there are moves taking place. I don’t want to sound like Waggott with the whole “we will look into it”, but the ideas outlined here will be taken on board. We need to be far more open in our activities and let our members know exactly what’s going on - I’ll strive to ensure that happens.

I’m definitely more disappointed at the loans we have brought in than the failure to bring in another forward. Poveda and Khadra just look like two interchangeable, nondescript attacking players who will force Dolan down the pecking order and stop Rankin-Costello being picked in his actual position. Van Hecke will push Wharton and Carter down and finish Magloire’s Rovers career, and may very well lead to a change in system. Hearing “he can play right back” fills me with dread. Clarkson is the slightly romantic one as he is a Rovers fan, but John Buckley is a Rovers player who will see less game time due to this signing. The odd loan to help push you on a level is fine. Filling your team out with (almost) as many as possible is counter productive. Any benefit to us is minimal and short term, the parent clubs will benefit a lot more. And if we had to bring in this lot, why haven’t we loaned some of ours out? Oh, except Chapman, who was as stupid to sign a new deal here as we were to offer one. I’ve heard the “sell him on for a fee” argument, but seriously, what do people think he will be worth in January when he is free in Summer? Less than the extension cost us I’d wager. For a very slight bit of balance, Edun looks to have a good pedigree and attitude and is a good age. Smart move strengthening a position we were light in for minimal outlay on a long term deal. The sort of deals we need to be making in the current climate. Anyway, pressure is on Gallagher and Brereton to step up now. Although god only knows where they or anyone else will line up going forward.

Glen has had more fingers pointed at him (and worse) than most. I took it as him referring to Sharpe and Crooke as apologists. I agree with your point though, but it works both ways. Fans who are boycotting, or “negative” get mocked, blamed and abused in certain quarters. The more positive element get more stick on here. A bit more unity would be brilliant, but it’s a big ask.

To be fair to the local journos, Waggott is a vindictive little man who would likely ban them from the ground and sever all communications if they upset him. That would likely lead to them getting the bullet from the near dead publications they work for.

Then I find it very plausible!