It's difficult to maintain the mindset that something hasn't gone wrong...

21 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

If it was in any position other than central midfield or central defence, I'd agree. You would have to think A. Wharton or Garrett are going out on loan in the summer now, there can't be many games in their immediate futures.

Depends on how good he is. If he's just at their level then one of them will be out on loan - or we don't have to bring someone young in on loan next season.

If he's better? Then it changes the outlook significantly. 

19 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Maybe he's going to be an absolute class act, I've no idea, but this seems a strange one on the face of it. Surely the only position (along with central defence) where we really don't need to sign any new young players in the 19-year old kind of bracket. Wharton and Garrett coming through, Buckley and Travis have shown (well, mostly) that they can handle this level, two loanees who will regularly take up the two spots there for the rest of the season, and even other senior players who can fill in there (Edun, JRC, Mola, Dack if needs must). Where's the pathway for him? The two mostly playing there for the rest of the season will be gone in the summer, but still...surely at that point we'd want a senior player bringing in for reliability.

This is the type of signing that we'd potentially be jealous of if another club pulled it off.

A teenager that has garnered interest from premier league clubs and promotion rivals is just the type of signing we should be going for. 

There's definitely disappointment that we haven't managed to sign a striker, but this I hope to see signings like this on a consistent basis. I'd much rather this than a 19-22 year old on loan from a premier league club. This is our only chance of signing a truly 'special' player. 

4 minutes ago, J*B said:

Rochdale fans on Twitter are saying we’ve signed Ethan Brierley — have I kept everyone up to see we’ve announced a 19-year old kid from Rochdale? We’re about to find out…

Part of the 'project', but pretty highly rated:

https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-sheffield-united-plot-move-for-rochdale-star-ethan-brierley/

4 minutes ago, goozburger said:

I will leave it at that, but you have entirely misconstrued my argument.

👍

4 minutes ago, goozburger said:

Ali's generalisations about Rovers as a club, and the reactions to them, cause the focus to be lost upon the incident that happened - a stupid individual racist in the BBE hurling abuse toward Neil Etheridge. Instead of condemning the act, or even talking about an incident he himself may have been through, Ali chose to generalise about an entire group of supporters of what is widely considered a family-friendly club. Generalising is a trait of racists, so Ali is simply being hypocritical.

I use social media for updates on things I'm interested in - both for work and hobby. Social media isn't the problem. It's what is stupidly said on social media that is the problem.

He's being annoying and disingenuous, but not hypocritical. You can't compare some tweets about a football club/fanbase to racist abuse. Pretty simplistic to say that 'generalising is a trait of racists' and that means that any generalisation is racist.

As a fanbase, I do think it would be wise to not appear to be more worked up over some random idiot on twitter than we are over the actual racist abuse in the first place.

Interacting with him, editing his wikipedia, and even this thread could be taken the wrong way when there is little reaction and condemnation of the actual act that has started it all.

5 hours ago, Andy said:

Just seen this 😄

I'm not sure stuff like this looks great.

On 04/01/2023 at 16:17, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Wether we like it or not there is a culture of failure at Ewood Park. It came in through the door with the Chicken Chokers. We win a few and lose a few and that’s about it. Until that changes any talk of promotion is just pie in the sky. I really wish it wasn’t so but unfortunately that’s the way it is. It doesn’t really matter who is in charge at managerial level, we could have Pep himself,  we’d still be treading water.

The blame for the culture within the squad should fall firmly at the feet of any manager. The owners might tolerate underperformance, they might not change managers when we want, they might not invest exactly how we want, but they aren't there on a daily basis speaking to the players, putting messages out in the media, and setting standards. 

Mowbray may have realised that he was on the gravy train and was happy to not rock the boat, but he still has to take responsibility for that. Blaming everything on the owners is a colossal oversight and just plays into the idea that managers can come here and stay in cruise control. 

2 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Of course they are. You can’t be expecting to get a real picture of where the support is off a dozen reactionary posters on a message board… or from any messsge board.

No, because it was a critique of THIS messageboard and, in particular, this thread. So what goes on outside of this thread and this messageboard is sort of irrelevant. 

12 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

You could have written that this time last year just as the wheels started dropping off. And look what happened next.

Very different scenario.

I was firmly in the Mowbray out camp by this time last year as he had been in charge for several years and had time to prove himself, put his squad together, and get the team to play how he wanted to.

He also consistently came out in public to temper expectations and set the bar as low as possible for his own performance reviews. Not the same so far under JDT and we are only 6 months into his time here. If we fall apart this season and fall apart next season then I will have less confidence going into a third if we are hearing the same old noises.

12 hours ago, SuperBrfc said:

@Eddie Entitled? Give over. That's PR spin that the club would be delighted to see put out there as it puts the blame on the fans and shields the real culprits. The clueless at the top that have no ambition and will for the club to succeed.

We're in the playoff spots...

12 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

1) You mustn’t spend much time at Ewood/in the local area as a handful of posters on this obscure place in no way represents the general thoughts re JDT.

2) You mustn’t spend much time on other forms as they are *all* like this.

Neither are really relevant to my point.

13 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Why do our fans enjoy making the general fanbase out to be a torch bearing mob? 

I have not seen one person suggest that 3rd is not good enough. People can mention the entertainment value or lack of whilst acknowledging that results are the important thing.

@Eddie have you been to Ewood this season and if so, does the negativity there match what you have said on here?

Been to Ewood and been to away matches and no, it is more negative on here than it is in person - but that has always been the case. 

Anyone who finds the football dull shouldn't possibly find this week-by-week assessment to be entertaining.

I've never seen a set of supporters complain so much about a team currently sitting in third (when preseason expectations were not for us to challenge for the title). Hell, most of the negative people on here wouldn't have even given us a shot of the playoffs - there was a talk of relegation preseason.

We come across as such a bunch of entitled assholes. If I were a rival supporter reading this I would instantly put us at the top of the list of sides that I would like to see fail.

46 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Part of it is because outside World Cups the BBC/ITV pundits and commentators never get to do games with him playing, ergo they seem to be a little starstruck.

It is absolutely the same all over the world. I'd actually say that British TV has been a little more reserved.

I genuinely can't wrap my head around those advocating selling Brereton Diaz.

In a fairly open and mediocre league we are 4 points clear of 7th. The wheels might come off, but we don't want to guarantee that they do.

Will we go up? Probably not. But if we made it to the playoffs he is just the type of player that could be a match winner in the 3 matches that we'd need to win (or, I suppose, come out on top in).

You wouldn't hear similar talk from any other side in the top 10, yet we are convinced that things will go wrong. Believe it enough and they will.

The podcast that I'm a part of will be running a tipping competition for the T20 cricket world cup. 

Entries are 100 and 200 pounds. The 100 pound entry will be a straight pick competition (1 point for the winner of each match). The 200 pounds will be odds based. 

Just thought I would post it in here in case it interests anyone. Just put a message in the thread or send me a DM and I can pass on the details. 

6 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

There are plenty of clubs (example 1, Chelsea at the top end, or Watford with them being a Prem Club for most of the last decade) that defy the idea that stability and success automatically go hand in hand.

Tomasson like any other manager/head coach should need to justify extra time and extra trust in keeping him. 

I don't think Chelsea are a good example of how instability can breed success. They spend enough money to keep themselves in the top 4 and have had the odd random cup success in the last decade (obviously winning the Champions League was huge), but fundamentally their success this century is tied to the period of time when they had some stability. 

I guess the issue I take with the idea of having to 'justify extra time' is that it's not how I would treat anyone in any other job. I don't expect my employees to justify their continued employment on a daily basis. It frames the discussion as if the default position is firing people.

21 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

We cannot possibly give a manager 3 whole years with the only out being if it goes "catastrophically wrong." A managers future should always be an ongoing thing, whereby if progression couple with results is not forthcoming then the managers position becomes jeopardised. Further time needs to be earnt, alas under most owners it is.

Can't we? Stability would appear to be one of the few common factors when it comes to successful football clubs. Yet fans regularly advocate for handing managers short leashes.

Absolutely nothing wrong with our owners giving a manager time. That shouldn't allow them to lower expectations or to go into an entirely stagnant mode, but we shouldn't expect immediate results, nor get rid of managers because they haven't delivered incredible results within 18 months.  

14 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

My actual point was more a general musing about how JDT seems happy enough with the parameters the owners/GB/SW have set him, despite some optimistic talk about how he wouldn’t settle for a TM plod.

But how can you possibly be certain of what those parameters are? He had a healthy summer budget, had no pressure to shift players out, and is now in his first season in charge. Do you want him to appear under pressure? Do you think we could have brought a good manager in by telling them that they could face the chop within their first season (or even their first few months)? 

In order to make this job attractive it has to be seen as a project. The chance to take a couple of seasons to build a squad and challenge for promotion. Not only is that realistic, but it means that we get a manager - and players - who are actually committed to something beyond this season. 

I would be tremendously worried if he was talking about the need for immediate results. Implying that some window of opportunity was closing. 

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

In some 60 years of being a Rovers' fan, Hirst is right up there with the worse centre forwards I've seen in blue and white.  Feckin he'll even Big John O'Mara (similar build and style) got goals for us and I think he was widely regarded as a donkey by Rovers' fans.

How can you possibly judge that based on a handful of appearances? 

My guess is BBD would have been high on that list after his first few months? Jansen didn't look great at first. Kevin Davies was terrible here, but great elsewhere. 

The list is long. Judging players after a few matches (and even months) is a bit ridiculous. 

Gosh, some of you are hard to please. 

I know we've all grown wary of words like 'project', but this isn't an overnight affair. 

Look at some of the best managers in the world in recent seasons (Pep and Klopp included) and they took time to find their feet, build their squad, and install their system of play. 

To think that we will be able to do it in 6-12 months is simply unrealistic. But, who knows, maybe we will get lucky and sneak into the playoffs. The difference I want to see between the Mowbray era and this one is that I don't want us talked out of the playoffs by our own manager. Expectations can change and adapt over the course of the season.

As for why we are sticking to this style of play? Well, it is sort of the dominant approach to playing football these days. Some of our players are unsuited to it, but many aren't. I would rather have a mediocre season because we have a few square pegs playing in round holes than waste 12 months of development for our younger players on a system that they'll never use again. 

As for the value created by ball retention? Holding onto the ball is not the be-all-and-end-all, but intelligently moving the ball across your own backline and probing for holes will help you to create chances. We're not really there yet and we often choose the wrong pass and go backwards to avoid losing the ball, but in the long-term it could reap major rewards.

Basically, he's got 36 months for me unless something goes catastrophically wrong. Time to build a squad, time to implement a system, time to fail.

We have no divine right to succeed, but giving up on managers after only a few months is a one way ticket to a divine right to fail.

1 minute ago, simongarnerisgod said:

bowler signing for forest then being shipped out to olympiaikos in greece??????that makes no sense at all,i can only think their greek owner has bought him to improve olympiakos,he is a rumoured dodgy ****

Think it will be more about FFP and squad registration issues. They'll be loaning him out knowing that he is either a good asset in the Championship or a player that they can resell next summer if they need to. 

I do agree that Dembele would have made this a great window and made our squad undoubtedly stronger than last season.

As it is, we're in decent shape and it's a decent window, but it will rely on a lot of young player (including signings) stepping up. 

1 minute ago, Mellor Rover said:

I'd put good money on him getting 20 again this season if he stays. He's magic.

I'd bet on him to never score 20 goals again in a season in any division (and I think he will end up back in the Championship).