Keep an eye out for certain journos linking him with one or more of: Boro, Sunderland, Birmingham and Coventry (if they fail in the play offs) this summer. I would add Charlton and Hibs too but won't, because they aren't seen as upgrades on Rovers. It will be interesting to see where he ends up. Derby is an easy assumption to make. It might happen as it sounds logical due to the Eustace link, but let's see.

Gutted to have it be another case of 'so near, yet so far'. No matter how much we try to take the "we'd have taken 7th at the start of the season" approach, it doesn't change the fact we were ONE damn goal away from making it today. It doesn't make it less painful either. From 5th in January to missing out like this. It's unacceptable for this to have happened again. We know who is ultimately to blame and can't let them peddle the "nobody expected the play offs in August" line. One goal. FFS. It doesn't get more 'cursed club' than that, for me. How many close shaves and "nearly" moments have we had under these wretches? Every time, the outcome is the same. Gallant failure. Opportunity blown. PR from club stooges. It's not necessarily the fault of the players/manager, though that's not to excuse Ismael's start, as this shit has been going on for years. This doesn't change for the better until we are rid of the lot of them upstairs and new owners are in place. In the immediate term, my stance is to look beyond the latest stooges, who are just shields, IMO. I have no interest in hearing from them. Forget the manager, the recruitment team etc. I'm looking at the key cog in the wheel. The one constant in a 15 year Venky circus. Get him out and it all begins to crumble. Hopefully, there are more 'Pasha Out' banners at Ewood next season accompanied by "Suhail Pasha, get out of our club". It's been a long time coming. On today's game...we just didn't have the quality required in the final third to find that winner. Sheff Utd were the better side and could have scored three if not for late blocks. Very disappointed with the contributions of Kargbo and Dennis, as others have said. The latter is a shadow of the player I thought we had signed and I'm glad he won't be wearing our shirt again. On a brighter note, our last few dashes with the top 6 show that underneath it all, our Rovers is still there. We have showed in patches that we are still capable of doing special things. However, it has always been fleeting, because of the way our club is ran. I fully believe our Rovers will be back when Venky's, Pasha and the rest are out of the building. We aren't far away from better days returning. It won't take long, nor much, for new owners to have us back to where we belong. Yasir, Rudy...do yourselves a favour. You pair aren't the issue, but are making yourselves the issue by the crap you are spouting. Have a think about the standards and history of this football club and ask yourselves...is this acceptable? Are the last 15 years seen under Venky's acceptable? I do not mean 1995 when I say 'standards', just to be clear. Pasha Out. Waggott Out. Venky's Out.

Funny how they want to make repeated comparisons with Leeds now to protect those above them. If you want to compare with Leeds, why don't we do it properly? I think Yasir and the clueless Pasha need reminding about the following: 1) In the 2009/10 season, the year before your bosses turned up, what Division were Blackburn Rovers playing in? What Division were Leeds in? I'll tell you: Blackburn Rovers - Premier League. Leeds United - League One. 2) November 21st 2010. Two days into Venky's owning Rovers. Where were Rovers in the League table and where were Leeds? I'll tell you: Blackburn Rovers - 11th in the Premier League. Leeds United - 5th in the Championship. Why did Rovers, who have no fans, have the upper hand and why were the scary, humongous, "they've got loads of fans", Leeds United nowhere near us? I'll tell you why: It's because one club was superbly ran by proper football operators and the other, wasn't. In the 15 years since, the roles have reversed. Why do you think that is, Yasir? It couldn't possibly be due to the same reason, but in reverse, could it? What a silly suggestion. It's probably because Leeds are massive, they have such a huge fanbase that Rovers can't even hope to compete with them. Nothing to do with how the clubs are ran. We ought to be grateful for having Pasha and Venky's around, I suppose. We've seen individuals at this club display a familiar trait of saying things along the lines of "that was 12/15 years ago" and "that was before I was at the club", when presented with certain facts. The length of time does not make those facts or our feelings irrelevant. The decline of this club, from what they picked up in November 2010 to this present day, has all happened under Venky's watch. Pasha has been here, officially since 2015, but was involved in the takeover from the outset. They are still here, going on about projects and player development, and are now trying to hide behind Leeds, which is why these points are very much relevant. They should be ashamed and embarrassed to be crying about Leeds, when you consider the above facts from 2010. They won't be, though. I get some of the claims about Parachute Payments, of course those clubs are at an advantage today. However, why don't you think about why Leeds and others are in a position to benefit from Parachute Payments in the first place? Leeds appointing Marcelo Bielsa was a statement. A statement that they were serious about returning to the Premier League. Can you see Pasha making such a move or recommending such to those in Pune? There's nothing stopping him from doing such things. You need to have football knowledge, ambition and a will to do such things, though. You're not telling me that you would swap Kroenke et al for Venky's and Pasha running Arsenal, Yasir. The team you support. Not a chance. Therefore, at least try to understand where we are coming from rather than the "some fans will always be negative" sentiment.

I think so. Even when he was subbed off it felt like a farewell to the crowd. Kind of felt sad in a way, as he has stepped up of late and has become an important squad member. It's one of those, where another player looks to be leaving just as he is showing some form. Not again, is my thought. Are there better players out there than Dolan? Yes. Will this lot replace him with better? That's the issue. If he is leaving, let's hope it is in spectacular fashion at Wembley.

A massive three points. Unbelievable to think we are still in it when it looked like the season was over. Have to give credit to Ismael and the team for the late surge, despite how his reign started. We owe Sheff Utd and Wilder one. Bring 'em on. Also, how brilliant would it be if PNE, yes PNE, were to help us make it into the top 6 and go down at the same time. Their forum would explode. Roll on next weekend.

Get in!

Superb finish from Cantwell!

1-0 Watford. We just can't get it done when it counts. The repeated tale of the last 15 years.

Sounds very quiet inside Ewood. Nerves all round, I think. Flat performance, apart from the final minute of the half where we picked up the pace slightly. Haven't looked like scoring though. Needs somebody like Kargbo to liven things up and Dennis to finish a chance off. Watford lucky not to be down to 10. Their centre back is a red card in waiting. We should be targeting him right from the off in the second half.

"I think our fans...they still have in their mind the Premier League title, which is great, it's 30 years ago when Mr Walker was spending a lot of money at the club to transfer, to bring players in. Premier League money, which is completely different. Now, we are in the Championship for over 10 years now, so you have to understand that you cannot just spend the money how you used to do and, erm, we have to be creative in the way we recruit players". (Gestede) I'm going to say this politely. I think you are being played, Rudy. Do yourself a favour and walk away. You do not have knowledge of the past 15 years at this football club, that's despite you playing for us. You have shown that you do not understand why many of us strongly dislike this hierarchy. IMO, you have been fed total rubbish and are making yourself look ridiculous in these interviews. There's still time for you to walk away, just like those before you did. NOBODY is asking any of you to do what Uncle Jack did. NOBODY is expecting fees of £10m, £15m, £20m to be spent on players. This is a false narrative. He mentions early on in the interview that the owners watch our games, they ask about players, the team and so on. How would Rudy know any of this? He said himself in the Big Sam interview, that he has never spoken with them directly. He is therefore, merely repeating what he has been told about the owners. In the three stooges interview, it was Pasha who said, with a chuckle, "I know people don't believe it, but the owners watch every game, they follow every game back in India". Waggott has said in the past, "I can't risk the future of the club by overspending". In this interview, Rudy says "we can't overspend and go for promotion as we would risk the future of the club". From now on, I won't be reacting to anything that Gestede says. It's obvious he hasn't a clue. I have said it before and some might not agree, which is fair enough. I don't think Rudy is a bad guy, but he is showing extreme naivety in this role. He has landed a great opportunity here, he's trying to learn the role, he's trying to communicate as he sees best, but it is coming across terribly. It gets worse with each interview because a) he is inexperienced and b) he is metaphorically reading from an oft repeated script. A script which makes certain people seem like poor, innocent lambs, who are being bullied by spoilt, entitled fans. Ratings are low and the script writers are worried, so the new angle it seems is to have viewers genuinely believe that we want a repeat of 1995 and nothing less. Unbelievable. Good work Eddie and the team on conducting this interview. You guys did well to keep it cool and professional.

Another top striker to have played for Rovers. Makes me both happy and sad to think of him playing for us. Just as he said in that message. Happy, due to the calibre of striker he was. He still had the class even in his mid 30s. Sad, because he was here during an abysmal time with darkness surrounding the place. Fantastic to see him support us. Hopefully, more to follow.

Said I'd do a summary for those who don't want to watch it but might be interested in knowing, so here goes: 10:15 - Rudy is asked why Eustace left. He said he doesn't know the exact reason why, but was told it was for personal reasons, to be closer to home. He then says he heard it was for some other reason, but that he believes it was for personal reasons. He doesn't seem to be in the loop, does he? 27:25 - Natalie asks him where the money is from Wharton and Szmodics and how was it reinvested into the squad. He says we spent around £5m across the summer and January and that was our budget almost done. He says the club could have communicated better their plans for next season with the fans, and that the fans may have then understood that the club did not plan to spend in January to push for a play off place. He states that the plan was to build step by step, to lay the foundations for next season. If we made the play offs this season, he said this would be fantastic but that it was not the main aim at the start of the season. Jam tomorrow? Just think...there we all are getting excited about us sitting 5th place in January. Eustace appears reasonably excited, the players reasonably excited. Eustace publicly states that he and the players want quality to come in. Plenty of us are thinking 'maybe, just maybe this time'. Yet this lot upstairs appear to have had no thought about promotion. An insult to all of us. They let Eustace go and brought in a manager with NEXT season's championship 'rebuild' in mind, whilst sitting 5th! Next season, folks. Don't worry. Actually, make it two seasons. We're building. Foundations, guys. Foundations. Bollocks. Mowbray was also building seven years ago. That's not on Gestede, but we have heard this for many years. This is going to be some mega project when it's complete. A project to rival all projects. Tossers. 31:50 - Natalie states that there is a disconnect between the £30m bought in and the £5m spent on new signings. The fans want that money reinvested, but you're (Rudy) saying Blackburn need that money to sustain: Rudy: It's not the plan at the start of the season that we are going to reinvest the money coming in straight into transfers. That's not the plan. We want to develop our own players, to buy cheaper players that have resale value, like we did with Szmodics. That's the model of the club. The plan of the club is not to spend money to go back to the Premier League and to win the Premier League again. Step by step we're developing the club again. We've got good foundations. We need the fans onboard". Firstly, if somebody has told you that we are unhappy because we want Venky's to win us a second Premier League title, Rudy, know that they are lying and have an agenda. No Rovers fan is asking for that. That aside, the ambition of this hierarchy is clear to see. Sell players, stay in the Division. What else can be said? Nobody mention the Brighton or Brentford model again. There appears to be no intent to do what those clubs have done here. The Academy route, IMO, is nothing but a cheap, money saving exercise, as Big Sam subtly suggests at one stage of this interview. 32:43 - Rudy reiterates the need to better communicate plans for the club with the fans so that we can understand: "If we are in the play offs next season, or even this season, that is fantastic. But that's not the first aim. We want to develop the club and make sure when we bring in a player that he's got resale value. That's how we're going to operate going forward. Then, when we've got more money coming in the business and we break even with the revenue and everything, then we can start to go higher and higher". Ah. A few more years, folks. I'm sorry, but everybody needs to relax and be patient. 40:38 - Rudy on minutes for Academy players: "Last season we only gave 142 minutes to Academy players under John Eustace. The plan for our squad is to give as much as we can. The year before that it was 2,000 minutes for our Academy players and almost 3,000 minutes the year before that. So, now we want to go back to those numbers". Seriously? Who gives a toss about that? It means nothing. The cream will always make it. Win us football matches. Win us promotion. Again, Big Sam says something like the Academy players should be a supplementary element, not the main focus of building a team. Sam knows the score and he knows you don't get anywhere by just focusing on kids. 47:00 - Fantastic point from Natalie. She says, Venky's bought a club in the Premier League with incredible history and during their tenure the club has just gone down and down. "What is down?" Rudy asks sharply. "Because we are in Championship fighting for play offs. I'm not sure it's that 'down'." Tell me you know nothing about the the last 15 years, or the stature and standards of Blackburn Rovers, without telling me you don't know about the last 15 years, or the stature and standards of Blackburn Rovers. Finally, Big Sam makes an important point to him: 47:45 - "if you get in the play offs this year or next, you have to win it. If you don't do that, you won't get there again". If this lot think they can wing a promotion somehow whilst just being bothered with player development and saving the owners money, then they have to be the most deluded set of individuals in European football. Despite everything Rudy has said here, my issue isn't really with him. He's the one facing the flak, when it should be Pasha out there answering questions. There are similarities here between Gestede and Broughton for me. The issues back then with Broughton and now with Gestede are the same, in my view. Those further up the chain.

Having calmed down, it's looking more and more like Rudy is the latest fall guy in the metaphorical firing line. That interview is infuriating, but I think it suits a few out there for us to be laying into Gestede tonight. A lot of what he says echoes what Broughton was saying two years ago. Things like "we need to be clever in the market to go up as we don't have the budgets, we need to develop our own, we need to add squad value etc". This suggests he is following a script. It's the script writers and the ones feeding it down that we need to get after. Other complete nonsense from him displays his naivety and how wet he is behind the ears. Comments such as: "the fans should be grateful" "there would be no matches at Ewood on a Saturday/Tuesday without Venky's funding" "the club's plan is not to spend to win the Premier League again" Wake up, Rudy, and read the room. The latter quote is a frankly absurd suggestion that I think someone (not Gestede), somewhere, is trying to put out there to discredit us fans with. IMO, much like the "fans have a dark agenda" seed that was planted years ago. Find me one Blackburn Rovers fan who is unhappy with Venky's because they won't lead us to a second Premier League title. They won't find one. It sounds amazing though alongside the "it's not 1995 anymore" line. Remember, for all the nice man stuff, the man who said that is part of the same umbrella. Saviour? I don't think so. Whether intentional or not from him, the end result is that it made us all look like extremely 'entitled' fans for wanting Venky's and their stooges out. There have been so many campaigns against club owners from fans over the years, but how many of them have had this much PR around them to try and protect them? When has an agent ever gone on TV before to defend an ownership and hit out at the fans of that club? When have we seen another Rudy type at another club going on podcasts/interviews etc telling fans to "be grateful"? I have never seen such things until this ownership rocked up. It isn't normal.

So much to say about that load of shit from Gestede. Will provide a short summary later for those who don't want to watch it. It was obvious that the hostess and Big Sam saw straight through his bullshit. Fair play to Natalie for putting the real questions to him on behalf of us fans. She said it as it is: "They (Venky's) bought a Premier League club with incredible history and during their tenure, the club has done nothing but go down". Gestede trying to argue "but what is down, fighting for the playoffs in Championship isn't that 'down'." Fuming after that, but good on the podcast hosts for their line of questioning. Big Sam, of course as a former manager here, knows about the standards of this football club. More and more people are seeing through the bullshit. Carry on wheeling him out, Pasha. There's no hiding place left for you.