50 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Mowbray's exuces out already

 

'They have to have a slightly off day and we have to have a good day. And I think we could come away with some points '

Spoken like a true small time manager. Give the players an excuse to put in another half arsed display again, why don't you?

1 hour ago, tomphil said:

I reckon he might well be running it now or having a hand in it.  Remember when he came to visit for a game not long ago ?

Remember the front foot in your face performance and tactics Mowbray employed that day ?  Tactics we've rarely seen since, they know what they are doing down there, stringing everybody along.

He could well be. It just goes to show the difference that could be made if the owners applied a bit of pressure. If they were present at more games I don't think we'd see half as much of the weird selections and lacklustre performances that we have to put up with.

It's their lack of presence and the lack of accountability at the club that has caused the holiday camp mentality. At the moment it's far too easy for Mowbray to send messages to India via the press and simply carry on with the "we go again next week lads" approach.

1 hour ago, Roverall said:

Will they ever leave though? If they are as rich as everyone says they are, is it conceivable - though utterly bonkers - that they could just keep covering the losses for decades to come? 

I don't think they will be leaving anytime soon, sadly. There was talk that they want Balaji's son, who studies at Reading University, to eventually run the club. Does that mean there's another decade of this to come? An utterly depressing thought. We've got to hope that they either finally get fed up of losing millions every year and say 'enough's enough', or somebody makes them an offer that is too good to refuse (very unlikely, I know).

I long for the days when all I thought about was the football on the pitch. I never used to give the Walker Trust, John Williams, Tom Finn or Martin Goodman a second thought. That's because I didn't need to, as a result of the fantastic job they all did in making sure we were one of the best run clubs in the country.

Nowadays, I find myself becoming increasingly peed off with all of the charlatans that inhabit our club, the total lack of ambition and the absolute hogwash Mowbray comes out with. It takes the fun away from the actual football for me, because no matter what Mowbray says, the Coventry 3 do not want promotion to the Premier League and the owners clearly aren't bothered no matter how bad results get. What a crap situation this is.

1 hour ago, Mattyblue said:

 

-

‘Crooke - And I know you're not big on milestones but four years at a football club is a pretty big achievement, is there anything that stands out in your time as manager that you take great pride in? A proud memory or a favourite moment?’

Mowbray - No.

That reads like a sulky response to me. It's clever though, as I think he will spin it in his favour if pushed on it further.

"How about the promotion from League 1, Tony?"

"You could say that, but listen, this club shouldn't find itself in League 1, our aim is to be back in the Premier League and we are working towards that".

Cue the 'top man, Tony' posts on twitter/facebook.

30 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I keep seeing fans come out with this line as well.

No correlation whatsoever with our situation it's a bizarre comparison to make.

The Brentford one he keeps making is insulting really considering what they've achieved in recent years. 

Why doesn't he go the whole hog and say 'Barcelona lose games too?'. We lose at Barnsley, but 'never mind, Brighton beat Liverpool last week you know'. Makes sense. It's irrelevant whatever results those clubs are getting.

On the one hand "we can't compete with Brentford" and "we haven't been tearing it up in the Premier League for a long time", but then it's alright to compare our results with those clubs just to cover yourself, eh, Tony?

I've never seen a manager get so tetchy over even the slightest bit of criticism. Look at how prickly he gets with Sharpe and Bayes when they try and challenge him even just a little bit. He's contradicting himself on a weekly basis and to be honest, his ramblings are sounding more and more like the crook that went to Brunei.

I can't believe we are witnessing another situation whereby the manager has made himself unsackable and is now trying to treat the fans like mugs by talking constant drivel. I thought those days were over. I'm glad that a lot of fans are realising what's happening though, as his mask is slipping.

5 minutes ago, JHRover said:

It might not be anything to do with Venus.

Then again, its one hell of a coincidence isn't it?

You might be right, however, it certainly is a heck of a coincidence that this has happened at two clubs he has been at.

40 minutes ago, @roverseas said:

Forget about Barnsley, forget about the 3 game losing streak, forget about Nyambe contract situation... its all about Joe Lolley and getting one over Nottingham Forest after the last minute winner earlier in the season.  One game at a time.

 

 

 

Funnily enough, Joe has a bit of a soft spot for Rovers. He used to post often on the Rovers 606 pages and another Rovers forum (no longer active) with a bunch of us around 2008-10. He was a regular in the match day threads and used to cheer us on, even though he's a Villa fan. It didn't stop the rascal from diving or scoring a winner against us though!

Would love for us to sign him. He has lost his starting place at Forest. Has a cracking left foot and can play on either wing. Forest would want too much for him though.

As for the game, I think we are going to pull off a surprise win tomorrow. We always seem to do that when things look bleak and the fans aren't expecting anything.

3 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

I haven’t seen his name (& do not desire to read the whole thread), but how about Tugay? He has coaching/managerial experience at Galatasaray.

I really wouldn't want Tugay here under this lot. He is a club legend and there are so many fantastic memories of him in a Rovers shirt. Whenever I remember Tugay I smile as it reminds me of the real Blackburn Rovers, not this HSH infested impostor. The maestro doesn't deserve to be associated with these losers we have behind the scenes.

40 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Ok. That will do for me.

 

Who do we want?

I want Bilic or Hughes, but I feel it's likely to be Pulis due to his connection with HSH.

23 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Our front 3 look like strangers. No support from midfield. What do we do in training? 

It makes no sense, especially when you consider we knocked it around ok earlier on this season. Imagine how peed off our more creative players like Dack, Elliott and Rothwell must be with this. Danny Graham said on a podcast recently that Mowbray and Venus have completely different views on style of play, tactics etc. I'm guessing Mowbray is for the tippy tappy stuff, whilst Venus prefers a more direct game. I wonder if Venus has taken charge, so to speak, over these last few games? He has certainly been more active on the touchline recently while Mowbray has sat uninterested in the background.

So much for us trying to play a passing game. We've done nothing but hoof it for the past few games! Mowbray just makes it up as he goes along. What an awful team selection that was. Look at how many players have gone backwards these past 2 years. Mowbray, Venus, Waggott, the whole lot of them need to do one.

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Good thing about being on a journey, is you can re set the milometer anytime you want...

’“I think we’re really only 28 games into this journey, not four years”

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19095433.tony-mowbray-says-rovers-promotion-journey-just-begun/

I can't believe he has said that with a straight face. It reads to me like a plea to India. 'Don't sack me now, the journey has only just begun'. When we fail to reach the play offs this season it will be 'we are only a season into our journey to be honest, we've had to learn some harsh lessons, injuries haven't helped us, but we will be going all out for promotion next season'. For how long can a manager use the term 'journey' as an excuse for mediocrity? There has to come a point when those in Pune recognise this for what it is, surely.

Nyambe the fall guy again. What a surprise. This is the perfect excuse for Mowbray to shoe horn Harwood-Bellis into the starting 11 now.

4 hours ago, tomphil said:

If he said it was a banker then forget it....

On a more serious note that's the road they should go down instead of the lottery of HSH/SEM or whatevers scrapheap challenge.  Source somebody that fits the bill and might be doable. Might need a bit of compen but facilities/wage/budget/squad wise it's a step up to someone of his ilk.

There are others out there i absolutely cringe whenever i see 'who else is there' in defense of Mowbray. It's absolute hogwash and the easy lazy answer it all about how serious those in charge are of making the effort.

I don't want them to, but I'm expecting Venky's to go down the agency route. As a client of HSH, I think there is a good chance we may see Tony Pulis as our next manager. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. He can organise a defence, plus he isn't one for the 'softly softly' approach. Those two factors have caused us problems for years. It won't be pretty to watch, though.

36 minutes ago, tomphil said:

At the risk of the tinfoil hat but IS he actually running the show now ?

Rumours of players being brought in by recruitment dept. the signings of BB and Gallagher and the latters constant shoe horning in.  His general demeanor on the touchline and increasing nonsense spouted. Bringing on loan players when we are supposed to be chasing games etc.

Something doesn't smell right, is he just a coach now ?  Is Championship Manager the real life version in play again ?

I had a similar thought last night. He didn't seem to know anything about the initial interest in Harry Pickering. The way in which we rushed into signing Brereton out of the blue, the constant use of Gallagher on the right wing, the 'let's throw all our attackers on and see what happens' tactic. It stinks and actually does feel like a real life game of Football Manager being played out. Another thing, why does this stupid false 9 tactic only seem to appear when we are closing in on the top 6? It cost us last night and at QPR. I remember a game at Wigan last season when we were in a similar position, he tried to go with Holtby as a false 9 and it failed miserably. It feels like we revert to Armstrong down the middle when we are a safe distance away from the play offs. Get within 3/4 points of the play offs and suddenly Dack/Elliott/Holtby/Whoever is played as a false 9. Why?

I remember hearing Glen mention on a podcast that when the rat was manager he would send the team sheet to Balaji for approval and he would make amendments to it. I'm not saying that's still happening today, but if somebody was to tell me that Balaji is the one who is picking the team and Mowbray is just the coach, suddenly all of this garbage would make sense.

4 hours ago, Darwen Rover 007 said:

Get the Barnsley manager in.. he would jump at the chance to join us! 

Not just him, the Reading manager would jump at the chance of joining us too based on how he spoke about us. There will be plenty of other managers too. Mowbray has conned many fans into thinking we are some small time outfit lucky to be in the Championship. "This is our level", "Who can do a better job than Mowbray?". Absolutely infuriating bullshit. The man has zero ambition, no winning mentality and no desire to get to the Premier League, yet people are fooled into giving him more time until the summer, give him till December etc. He is never going to get us where we need to be, no matter how long he is given.

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Mowbray mentioned that Travis and Dack will start on Saturday which I agree with to get them match sharp, he did suggest that Dack might still not be ready to start games (the usual intensity waffle) so maybe he wont start the following weekend but it seems a perfect chance to give them a start v inferior opposition. A few of the senior players have been given a few games off, I would certainly rest Armstrong and Elliott and give Pears a run out. Davenport should also get another start to potentially make a play for a start again with Travis v Stoke. That would potentially mean being unable to give Trybull/Downing/Buckley a start but so be it.

Defence is obviously the bomb scare, especially if a loanee isnt brought in by the weekend. I dont think we can risk Lenihan or Nyambe if he is even available so it will probably mean 2 left backs who dont cover themselves in glory on either side and 2 kids in the middle, which could be a big problem even v lower league opposition. V Oldham last year Grayson and Platt for example looked well out of their depth and Carter did at the end of the season. Johnson isnt able there either.

There was mention on the club feed that it is free to air via the FA app but it seems unless im missing something that you can only watch it via phone/tablet which is a shame.

You will be able to watch the game on the FA website via their FA Player. However, you need to make an FA Player account first in order to do so. I have just signed up now.

Arsenal are looking to loan William Saliba out to a Championship club. Would be a shrewd move if we could pull it off. I think Nathaniel Phillips would be a shoe in if it wasn't for Liverpool's injury problems at centre back. Currently, they only have him and Rhys Williams as options to play alongside Fabinho so I can't imagine that one happening.

Lenihan should be the first one out of the door. Absolute shite. He has been costing us goals and points for 3 years yet starts every bloody game. There is no chance of promotion with him in our backline. Get him out and get a proper defender in his place, Tony. FFS!! 

1 hour ago, darrenrover said:

Anyone else had an issue today? I paid my tenner and watched the first half fine. At halftime my screen went blank, when I tried to refresh or return to 'match day' I got a box stating Access Denied and asking for subscription again.

I went on the chat function whilst listening on the radio and after about 15 minutes of them looking into it, I got a box of instructions which by the time I'd carried them all out the game would be over, so I asked for a refund. At this point I got another box with the email address.

It's probably done my blood pressure a favour as it happens, in respect of the match but that's not the point. Terrible customer service.

Yes, I experienced the very same. Got a message on screen at half time saying 'you don't have permission to view this content' and it asked me to subscribe again. I used the chat to get them to resolve it and was given generic instructions i.e clear cache, turn router off/on etc. I was told that they are looking into it as a number of customers have had the same issue. The stream didn't return and I had to listen to the second half on the radio. I will be emailing them for a refund.

3 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

RE Singh, many a story to tell, from him wanting to pay for the marketing of protest, to board wranglings to sacking players by Phone, I'm sure we will touch on this.

Agnew once said to me "Twitter and BRFCS Won't sack me" As he set us up in a meeting where he brought Jack Straw in to try and make us go away. He also rang me before he went to Pune, stating he wanted a fan on the board, would I consider halting all protest and walking away from the supporter campaign!!!!!!

Action group received a few legal letters, but strangely I never got "ONE", Although my life and that of my wife and children was threatened, whilst we were both subjected to being assaulted, my wife at the time was holding our 8 month old baby. I had to move seats on a weekly basis at Ewood, but my whereabouts was given to people out to cause me harm before match day, and then on match day, through the clubs security. Scratching a scab they say?  A lot more was at stake back then. I think the owners received a snow ball, I got a black eye or two, a beat up wife and child and a threats to burn my home down with me in it.

Thanks for your detailed response, Glen. Singh wanting to pay for the marketing of a protest against his employers/friends is bizarre to say the least. It shouldn't surprise me though as it looked like he was winging it on a daily basis.

That sounds absolutely awful, Glen. I had no idea things got that bad. No fan in the modern day should have to fear for their safety or that of their family inside a football stadium. The only reason I asked is because I've often wondered if those making the threats were connected to the shadowy agency in some way. It sounds like this was fellow fans who were anti protest, possibly put up to it by somebody at the club? 

Those fans who are praising Venky's for backing us financially (mainly on other sites) would do well to remember just how toxic they allowed things to become during those first three years. Thinking back on those days brings back too many bad memories.

31 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

Looking forward to sharing some stories of how bad it really was, be interesting to hear the type of things people would like to know. 

The protest

The investigation

Transfers

Board room battles

Communication with the owners

Manager merry go around

Takeover talks 

Hopefully will get an opportunity to touch of things people were not aware of,

Hi Glen. I'd like to hear about any crazy things you heard Shebby say in relation to Rovers/football matters. He made himself out to be an expert but the way he came across at KGH says otherwise. Were there things that he said to you that left you baffled or concerned? I'd like to know what his views were on Rovers' transfer dealings back then too.

Also, could you expand on how farcical the situation was at the club with Agnew and Shebby in the same boardroom? I listened to the Nick Harris Podcast the other day and he mentioned how Agnew would decide one thing, Shebby another, and nobody at the club would know who to follow as they didn't know who was in charge!

Finally, could you tell us about some of the intimidation tactics that were used by others to try and stop you from protesting or putting the dossier together? A couple of posters on here alluded to receiving letters/threats. Fair enough if you can't or don't want to go into it.

Cheers.

Just now, Blue blood said:

The whole of that season was crazy. Like you said we had an amazing start. 

We hammered champions Arsenal on their patch before they returned the favour to us later on. 

There were some nutty high scoring games - lost to Leeds 3-4, beat Leicester 5-3. 

We got into Europe in the last game of the season beating the Barcodes with a thunderbolt free kick from Sutton. Will certainly remember that one for a long time. 

I absolutely love that season. So many great memories. I don't know if it was because I was 8 at the time, but being at Ewood that season felt special. The atmosphere, the quality of football, it was just brilliant. I personally feel that was the peak of the Blackburn End in terms of noise and support. As a kid sat in the Riverside, I was amazed by it. One game that always sticks in my mind is the 3-2 win against Everton in 1997. We were 2-1 down and Neville Southall looked unbeatable that day. Rovers threw the kitchen sink at them in the second half but couldn't score. How thrilling were those last 10 minutes though? Duffer gets us level, then I remember us going all out for the winner. When Sherwood headed in the winner the place erupted. How I miss those days.