Miller11

He will love Venky’s… they let him pick all our managers!

Why should we “let the fee shit go”. We look to be heading into an embargo this summer, which may well impact on our survival in the second tier, so we have every right to question it. I’m happy enough for Brereton to be getting these opportunities (although I will be annoyed if its cost us another million quid to Forest), but I don’t give a shit about the Chilean national team in the medium or long term. I care about all aspects of my club though. And as for your comments about us being a stone in his shoe, and Brereton being surrounded by mediocrity… we have had hundreds of better players than Brereton even in my lifetime. He isn’t even anywhere close to being our best player currently. If he hadn’t got this call up he’d have only ever have gone on to be talked about in discussions about worst ever signings along with Kevin Davies and Corrado Grabbi. As it is, he will probably go down as in interesting curiosity and the answer to a trivia question in a decades time. You talk about him like he’s a stifled Pele. You are by your own admission not a Rovers fan. You are a Brereton obsessive, so stick to the Brereton thread. If a Preston fan came in here making comments like that they’d be banned from here.

Under a different manager, Ainsworth for example, I’d actually be happy enough with this. Excited even. No expectations of promotion this year, but I’d fancy us to stay clear of relegation if we kept hold of the likes of Nyambe and Rothwell, and players like JRC and Dolan to improve and excel. I’d see this as a genuine start of a “journey” and a long term plan I could get on board with. Unfortunately we’ve got Mowbray, who would certainly rather pad the squad out with never-has-beens and seems more interested in developing other teams players than our own.

The timing of all this hasn’t really benefitted Rovers. It would’ve been madness to offer him a new contract this time last year. Even 6 weeks ago there’d have been a decent enough argument not to offer him one this year considering his form over three seasons and our current financial position. We’d have likely been in a position where we only offered him a year extension on the same money due to the fact we’ve already invested in him so heavily. Now he’s become a hot commodity completely out of nowhere and he holds all the cards. If a bid comes in from a top flight club, or even a second tier club that harbours genuine promotion ambition, he will likely fancy it. Playing in the Copa America probably also increases the number of potential suitors dramatically. A Spanish team may fancy a punt. If we turned down any moves he isn’t going to sign a new deal, and would be hacked off. If there is no concrete interest he might fancy his chances of a decent Bosman move in 12 months. If there is no interest now, there probably will be if he has a decent season next year. If he is crap next year, he might stay. Not sure I believe the Leeds link, but you can bet his agent will be busy. If we could get near what we paid for him I think it would present a huge piece of good fortune for us.

What are Brereton’s attributes that would make him effective through the middle? He played on the left of a front 3 for Chile against Bolivia. They looked to change their shape slightly against Uruguay, but Brereton spent most of the game drifting wide and dropping deep looking to get on the ball. He’s far happier picking up the ball wide and deep and running towards goal than trying to get on the end of things in the box - he just doesn’t do this. If we go into the season expecting Brereton to lead the line as a centre forward, we are bang in trouble. Maybe the reason we saw some improvement in him last year was the fact he was one of a very small number of players Mowbray actually utilised correctly.

I was thinking that Waggott had been quite cute in really looking after the young adult age fans. I thought maybe he realised they were less scarred than the older fanbase and that they might be easier to get and keep onside. Seems I’ve credited him with far too much nous. The pro-rata credit thing I can almost see the justification if you got iFollow passes. The cost would cover your iFollow access. The multiple tickets in one household thing is a bigger issue as there is no benefit at all for any household buying more than one ticket and the club should show some reciprocal good will for those who did. The mosaic thing seems petty, and changing the age bracket seems sneaky and/or grasping.

There’s a few reasons why I get “uptight” about it. I must have missed the subsection in the FFP rules where £7 million “gambles” were permissible and don’t impact your sustainability. It’s become a favourite tactic of Waggott to try and keep the fanbase subservient by dangling the threat of FFP sanctions or financial oblivion over us like a shit sword of Damocles. The first time the radio silence coming out of Ewood is broken, I guarantee Waggott will be attempting to guilt trip hard up Blackburners into parting with £399 they can ill afford. Does it become our business if the club decide to, I don’t know, claw back some off the losses they have made on failed Venky gambles by flogging the training ground? Somewhere today, just like yesterday and every day before for the last couple of years, some Rovers fans will be peddling the narrative that “we will be the next Bury/Bolton” without Venky’s, or “we wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for them. There’s a whole bigger discussion to be had about why this is a load of old bollocks and a lazy argument that’s insulting to all involved, but in short, they aren’t protecting us from oblivion, they are the cause of the prospect of it. We as fans also stand to lose a lot more than Venky’s thanks to their constant and continued mismanagement of all things Blackburn Rovers. They clearly don’t care that much about the relative pittance they continue to piss away year on year, but there will have to come a time when that changes. It would’ve happened by now if they weren’t more bothered about losing face that hundreds of millions of pounds. Meanwhile our pride has taken a hammering already, thousands of fans have disengaged with something they loved deeply, and we’ve had to endure dumbing down of every single aspect. We are in danger of losing OUR club.

I didn’t watch the whole game very closely, but from what I saw it looked like Brereton was playing the left side of a front 3, as he tends to for Rovers. His movement was a lot better, and that header in the first half was what I’d like to see more of from him. The movement of those around him helped too - the midfield were willing to get up and beyond him and give him an out ball. He was a willing runner as usual, and it was a nice tidy finish Plenty of things to knock Mowbray for (spending 7 million on Brereton in the first place is probably one of them), but lets acknowledge that he has utilised Brereton fairly effectively this season, hence the upturn in his form. Probably the one player our system suits. The lad is most comfortable wide in a front three, and it plays to his attributes far more than playing centrally would. There an argument for him playing as a target man here I suppose due to his height advantage, but not against seasoned Championship centre halves. It’s still surreal to me, so it must be mental for the lad. Looks like he is grabbing the opportunity with both hands though, fair play to him.

No problem with that between them as mates. Fans referring to him as a club legend is what I was referring to.

Few other points worthy of discussion… Waggott came out during the 2019-20 season and said he had “gone to bat” for the fans and kept the prices down. Did he fail to do that last year and this? If this is some sort of compromise and Venky’s wanted even higher prices it’s really worrying. It also begs the question of why Venky’s are involving themselves at that level and what is the point of Waggott. I think it’s also pretty transparent that Waggott thinks upping the price in the Riverside means people will move from there to another area if the price is the same. He just doesn’t get it. He will be hoping this is the case so he can bang on about his crackpot pipe dream of a hotel “like we had at Coventry”.

The whole narrative of a price freeze is misleading. When the prices were hiked last year only 2.5k renewed, many of which will be concessions. The majority of existing season ticket holders didn’t bother - wise decision in the end as they wouldn’t have got to go all season. Those in the Riverside will now be expected to pay £399 as opposed to the £319 last time, if they want to renew.

Middlesbrough is A++ ⭐️⭐️

😂😂 yeah, I did feel that was personal! On a serious note though I know people who split season tickets due to work commitments, as well as parents who take turns in taking their kids. #milkthedwindlinghardcore

Wow!

That’s really poor. Am I right in thinking you didn’t get ifollow codes last year as a young adult either?

Add to that this modern day obsession fans have with players joining the coaching staff or “staying on in some capacity”.

The term ‘Legend’ once again being overused today. Bennett was a decent player for a spell during his time with us, but a liability for the last couple of years due in no small part to Mowbray playing him at right back. Decent servant through the clubs lowest point in decades. Seems a very good bloke, but I’m not sure there’d be this outpouring if he wasn’t so active on Twitter.

Liked this post, but it’s the wrong reaction. It’s awful that long-standing fans are now feeling like that, though completely understandable given the last 11 years. The fact you still care enough to come on here is a good sign though.

Apologies in advance for the length of this… Towards the end of the Bowyer years I just got up and walked out of a game in February because I realised I’d had enough at that point. Couldn’t tell you what tipped it, not the worst situation we had been in before or since, but I’d had enough. I had some health issues and stuff going on in my personal life and Rovers were exacerbating my worries rather than providing any escape, let alone enjoyment. From being active in groups, protesting etc I just walked away for the remainder of that season and into the beginning of the next. My season ticket went unused - couldn’t give it away. I barely kept up with what was going on in the papers and here, didn’t even listen to games, only really checked the results. I went the longest I’d ever been without setting foot in Ewood despite living abroad for several years (until Covid at least). I attended the meeting at Blakey’s the following September and that reignited my desire. I was attending meetings, protests and games again, a lot of my time and effort went in to this primarily because I was completely pissed off with the whole situation. The anger is better than the previous numbness though. For 6 months or so I just didn’t care. I’ve only actually bought only a handful of tickets since then and now. Members of my family or friends don’t make their plans to revolve around Rovers games these days and more often than not there was a spare ticket. On at least 3 occasions someone I know has spotted me in the queue at the ticket window and given me a spare they have had going begging. This suited me as I did begrudge parting with my money when the club was being mismanaged like it was. At times I’ve had stick from some quarters for that stance, from people who had been supportive to me previously. That’s fine, but it’s also part of the reason I won’t pass comment on anyone else’s decision to attend or not. Besides, the people who have just drifted away into indifference are the ones everyone, especially those within the club, need to be worrying about. At least when people are protesting/boycotting they care enough to make an emotional decision. I know loads of people who have just stopped bothering even before covid. It’ll be even more now. For what it’s worth, I’ve found my boycott pointless for the most part. I’ve been quite stubborn with it, and when I did nearly waver and buy a ST 2 years back but I felt that Waggott failed to follow up with assurances he gave. Lots of times I felt I’d cut my nose off to spite my face… Times I haven’t been able to sit with my brother, my Dad (who is adamant he isn’t renewing this time) and my mates. Missing out on away trips. Then a very slight upturn after the lowest point the club had sunk to in my lifetime was enough for “boycotters” to be widely criticised. It became hard work. Having barely left the house in the last 18 months, and despite being in a poor financial situation due to Covid I really want to have something of a social life again and am fully intending on buying a season ticket (my “not a penny more” approach is gone as I bought every game on ifollow this season). Things are crap… not the worst they’ve been. I think Mowbray is past his sell by date and Waggott is useless, but it’s just more of the same under Venky’s. But I do want to go at this point. A boycott makes as much difference as £300 for a season ticket makes to the black hole that is our finances - none. Barring any idiotic decisions on pricing - a distinct possibility, I know - I’ll be buying one. I’d have done so by now if they’d pulled their finger out.

Yeah, they will need to take down all the Umbro signage and replace it with Macron.

She also failed to follow through on any of her promises or assurances made on and around that night and blocked me on Twitter!

One Tugay goal that never gets the credit it deserves was the one against Basel in the UEFA cup at Ewood when we wore red at home. The touch, the turn, the way he just lifts it in the top corner from 25 yards. Ridiculous goal. Doesn’t get the hype that some in the premier league do, but probably his best.

The Walker family certainly contributed. Couldn’t wait to offload us and practically gave the club away to the idiots. If they’d continued to put in £5 million a year for another 3 years, or even just allowed us to increase the debt level from 20-35 million things could’ve been oh so different. They didn’t even need to be benevolent, just respectful. I’m confident John Williams would’ve ensured we retained our top flight status even if he was instructed to make savings, and 2013 saw the TV money go to absolutely mental levels. The deal doubled from 1.5 to 3 billion. Their short sightedness and lack of respect for Jack’s legacy opened the door for Venky’s complete incompetence to set us back decades and cause probably irreparable damage. Shameful from all involved.

I don’t know why I put myself through it, but here’s a selection of comment from Twitter. I expect Facebook is even worse.

It’s been a few months since we’ve had to hear sections of our fanbase saying “thank god for Venky’s, we’d be doomed without them”, so there’s that to look forward to for the next week or so.