Nobody was saying with this squad that play offs were realistic, but we were in a good position in January and failed to kick on. Look at us now, 4 points from a possible 30. Look at PNE in contrast, gone from strength to strength following a good January, when they were below us..... It’s the lack of forward planning that grates with me. Relying on defenders with bad injury records not to get injured was silly. So was loaning our loads of centre halves.

Being smug after a defeat. What an absolute goon. He's basically a paid troll.

He’s called Harold, I think. Prominent in memes etc as someone with an awkward expression....

Well then, our season seems to have petered out somewhat, we’re all a bit fed up for many reasons, but it’s Easter soon and we get extra days off work…. (Well, most of us do!) In our last match, at in-form Aston Villa, as many of us expected, we lost. Though admittedly, not as heavily as I personally would have thought! A Bit About Stoke-On-Trent At a music festival last year, my mate and I got talking to a lad from Stoke at the bar. He asked us what we knew of Stoke, I said ‘Alton Towers’ and my mate said ‘Rory Delap’. My mate had the better answer, it turned out, as Rory Delap was this lad’s childhood hero. It is known as ‘The Potteries’ as it is the historical home of the pottery industry in the UK. Locals are known as ‘Potters’ (indeed, this is the nickname of Stoke City FC) as well as ‘Stokies’. The Oatcake is a popular local food item, made from oatmeal, flour and yeast apparently! These can be eaten as is, or with a filling, i.e. savoury items, i.e. breakfast stuff typically, but also sweet items, such as golden syrup, jam, banana etc. The Oatcake is also the name of a Stoke City FC fanzine and also an internet message board for fans of the club. As I alluded to above, Alton Towers is a major national theme/water park, located in the village of Alton, just outside of Stoke-On-Trent. A Brief History of Our Opponents Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the club changed its name to Stoke in 1878, then finally to Stoke City FC in 1925, when Stoke-On-Trent was granted City Status. Their most celebrated player was Stanley Matthews and he served the club between 1932 and 1947, then again between 1961 and 1965, scoring 62 goals from the wing in the process. A special mention must also go to recently deceased former England goalkeeper Gordon Banks as well. He served the club for 6 years between 1967 and 1973. Like ourselves, they were founder members of the Football League and are the second oldest football club in the world, after Notts County. Their city rivals are Port Vale and between them, they contest the Potteries Derby. They currently play at the Bet365 Stadium (formerly The Britannia Stadium), having played there since 1997 when it was opened. Prior to that, they played their home matches at The Victoria Ground and had done since 1878. They haven’t really been all that successful in terms of winning trophies, if truth be told! They won the League Cup in 1972 and won the Second Division (Now The Championship) twice, in the 1932-33 and 1962-63 seasons. John Ritchie is the club’s all-time leading scorer with 176 goals in all competitions and he played for the club between 1962 and 1966 initially, then returned to the club between 1969 and 1975. Giannelli Imbula is the club’s record signing at £18.3 Million in 2016. Imbula is currently on loan at Rayo Vallecano in Spain, playing alongside Franco Di Santo, formerly of this parish. The lucky swine…… The club are owned by local businessman and owner of Bet365, (hence the stadium sponsorship) Peter Coates. Some Famous Stoke City Fans Neil Morrissey (Actor whose credits include Men Behaving Badly) Nick Hancock (TV Host from They Think It’s All over) Dominic Cork (Former Lancashire Cricketer) Adrian Lewis (Darts Player) Jeremy Bates (Former Tennis Player) Frank Gough (Former TV Presenter) Selection of Played For/Managed Both Paul Lambert (Managed Both) Mark Hughes (Managed Both) Peter Thorne (Played For Both) Shay Given (Played For Both) Jonathan Walters (Played For Both) James Beattie (Played For Both) Roger Jones (Played For Both) Ben Marshall (Played For Both) Mame Biram Diouf (Played For Both) Steven N’Zonzi (Played For Both) When The Two Sides Last Met…. Last time out against the lads in red and white from the Potteries, we almost did a classic Rovers in being 3-0 up and in dreamland, then ultimately drawing 3-3. This was down in no small part to Saido Berahino not being able to put a free shot from 12 yards out in the back of the net, with the scores at 3-2 to us in the 90th minute. So luckily, as it was, we actually won 3-2. We don’t like doing things the easy way, with clean sheets, incredible defending and such. That’s all boring! The last time we played them at Ewood, we won 4-1 in the FA Cup, back in 2015. Josh King had a blinder for us and scored a hat trick, mostly after Geoff Cameron was sent off for the visitors. Still, you can only beat what’s in front of you and as Stoke were then an established Premier League side, this was considered quite the upset. Overall Head to Head Record Rovers 43 Wins Stoke 35 Wins 15 Draws Although we don't tend to defend very well, I can honestly foresee a 0-0 here. Just as long as we aren't beaten again! I'm sure we could all do without that! If anything, we just need to arrest this slide and boost the morale around the place.....

Action Bronson- Chop chop chop

We're rubbish at defending with Conway and Bennett in anyway, so why not have a go with Rothwell or Chapman? Mowbray knew what these players were like before he signed them, it's not like this is new information for him! This is the second occasion he's managed Chapman, for goodness' sake!

He's just absolutely shameless. I can't stand Bolton, but what an odd approach to take. 'Yeah, I haven't paid them on time a few times like I agreed to, but so have other people'. Unreal.

The one that's still there you mean?

People wanted a poll, they got a poll. If Venky's are anything, it's unpredictable. The realism of the options is yet to be determined......

Absolutely, re the bit in bold. That’s what makes it all the more ridiculous that we didn’t strengthen in January, not to mention sending loads of defenders out on loan, whilst relying on players with chequered injury records. We play loads of defensive minded players, but we still concede loads of goals. How many late goals have we shipped? How many times after we equalise have we conceded? Why have these issues not been addressed? Despite our manager and assistant formerly being defenders themselves? He needs to improve very quickly and I’m concerned that he won’t be able to. I really hope he can as I like the bloke, but he needs to get a wriggle on.

In other words: ‘I’m shit scared of flair players. How dare they drive forward like that?’

Seemingly very hard work, that lad.

We couldn't beat an egg at the moment, mate!

The way we are going at the moment, I can't see us beating Bolton. In theory it would have been incredibly satisfying to do so and potentially relegate them as well.....

He probably won't pick any of them anyway and still play the old guard.....

We’re defensively terrible anyway, how much worse will we actually be if we do the unthinkable and pick an attacking wide player? One of my main gripes is for how cautious we are, we still concede lots of goals....

What Rich Sharpe of the LT said, actually.... ‘And the performance of the dynamic John McGinn just shows what an oversight it was for Rovers not to push harder for his services when he was available last summer.’

I desperately want him to turn it around, but I’ve also got grave concerns about the amount of goals we concede and his lack of willingness/ability to correct it. The fact him and his assistant used to be centre halves makes this no less frustrating....

To be fair, he’s no Richie Smallwood....

You thought wrong, obviously!

Because Palmer is good at football, he just needed to be managed better. See his current situation at Bristol City, making a difference at a team higher up in the league than us....

I’m not as clever as you’re giving me credit for, but thanks for the support!

I’d rather see him play...

I over estimated the capabilities of the site and also my own capabilities. Soz.

It’s hardly a meritocracy at the minute and that’s what’s doing my head in. How shit do the senior players have to be before they’re sacked off for the kids? The senior players can’t really get much worse than they are at the minute....