It's good to have two goalkeeping options and you and make a case for either one.

I think JDT was right to stick with Pears even once Kaminski was fit (that's without speculating on any of the internal politics); however, I would have dropped him after the Huddersfield match. 

5 hours ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

In 5 years Mowbray couldn't even get 25% out of JRC than what tommason has got out of him this past few months.

Both jrc & carter would be getting released by the club this summer if Mowbray was still in charge

I think this is the most important point and one of the biggest differences between the two regimes.

No one is going to be able to convince me that these young players would have played as important of a role under Mowbray. Several of them would have been loaned out or frozen out and would be off to join lower-half Championship sides or League One sides this summer.

Then throw in the difference in messaging. JDT was cleary extremely disappointed that we missed out on the playoffs, but still took time to acknowledge the support. Mowbray would have stood there with a frown and told us all how much we had overachieved to even be in the playoff race. 

43 minutes ago, JHRover said:

One is the claim in the Fans Forum that budgets have already been set for next season. At a normal club you might celebrate forward planning but here it means that Venkys (or more likely their financial gurus) have already determined that the Club is getting very little if anything beyond essential funding. 

I don't understand this criticism. Considering the fact that shortlists and transfer targets should be determined at least a month or two before the window opens, then it makes sense to have budgets set long before the season is finished. These might involve setting multiple potential budgets depending on how the end of the season goes, but I can't understand criticising the club for proper planning - especially when you consider how out of character it is.

In all honesty, it feels like either approach would be criticised. Had they announced that budgets had yet to be set then there would be people on here questioning why we were leaving things so late. 

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Morton wouldn’t get grief from one stray pass if he was running the show like Wharton was, why would he? Morton gets grief because he lacks bravery on the ball, shirks challenged and gives it away constantly.

 

I'm beginning to remember why I stopped posting on here. I'll see you all in 5/6 years.

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Yes you’ve used one stray pass as a basis of a post to knock him down a peg or two, and yet you are accusing others of going overboard?

Yes, he controlled the midfield last night, not for the first time either.

I'm not knocking him down a peg or two. Do you think he's reading this? 

I'm pointing out that if another player (namely Morton) had misplaced a similar pass then that is all that would be in his match report on here. So, no, I'm not using it to be critical of Wharton (who I think had a very good match), but rather to point out some inconsistencies in how people assess performances. 

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Who thinks he’s 10 out of 10 every time?

Sounds like you were looking for a pass that went astray in order to post said comment.

He will give it away from time to time because he takes risks and is always looking to get on the ball and play forward, that comes with the territory with such players. Morton takes far fewer risks and still gives the ball away on a regular basis.

He’s 18 and if you can’t get excited about a Rovers fan already controlling a Championship midfield you might as well give up.

Looking for a pass that went astray? It's a pass that stood out to me in real time (not rewatched the match or the highlights).

I think 'controlling the midfield' is too strong of a statement. He had a good match and he's an exciting prospect, but the way people talk on here you'd think that development is an unrelenting upward curve and that the only way players improve is through the 90 minutes spent on the pitch.

I just grow tired of the endless highs and lows of this messageboard. Wharton is currently the 'it' player who can do no wrong, his time to be critcised by the blinkered masses awaits.

More importantly, many that are so 'excited' by his potential appear more excited by the prospect of his development being an opportunity to criticise JDT and the coaching staff. It boggles the mind. 

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

I just dont get this huge disparity between last season and this, to me they are so similar. Both seasons in which we maintained top 6 places for the majority of the season only to stumble badly in the last few months. This season, a run of 7 without a win when it matters, all the usual hard luck stories, late goals, missed penalties, whatever, and just a realisation that we aren't up to it. Big if but if we draw and win, we will finish on the same points with not far off the same squad, with both seasons seeing younger than average sides each week.

For starters, last season we became only the third side in Championship history to be in the promotion places at the turn of the year (all three have been managed by Mowbray). So, with that in mind, the second half of the season collapse was far greater.

As for the same squad, we lost several key players and have had to rely on youth far more this season. Throw in that last season benefitted from what will undoubtedly prove to be BBDs career-defining purple patch and you can consider that another place to fill.

Most importantly, JDT talks about the future of the club with optimism. He's been realistic in his assessment of our promotion credentials this season, but he doesn't talk about us just being a small club that is realistically unable to compete with other teams in the division.

Mowbray spent his last two seasons here desperately trying to reduce expectations as much as possible. We were to be grateful for every point, thankful for every player that decided to turn up, and hopeful only for the prospect that we might maintain midtable mediocrity.

JDT might not get us up, but he's been a breath of fresh air and I think that's reflected in a lot of areas of the club (including players choosing to resign). 

3 hours ago, Penwortham Blue said:

One plus for me is that JDT doesn’t belittle our club. He looks like he enjoys the job and is privileged to have it, despite his fantastic career and world class pedigree. The journeyman from Middlesbrough, seemed to resent every minute he spent here and that he was doing us a favour and and made you feel like slitting your wrists in his pre and post match monologues.

Spot on.

Think a few on here are going a bit overboard with just how good he looked and has looked this season.

He looks a very good prospect, but he's got a long way to go and if other players put in a similar performance they'd be criticised for aspects. Take that through ball that he missed to Hedges last night, had Morton misplayed that pass we'd have 100 posters on here talking about it.

Hopefully he can cement his position in the team and he's a player to look forward to, but reading this you'd think he was putting in a 10/10 every match. 

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Hard to directly compare because as you say different divisions

Dunn’s direct running, quick feet and goals reminded me of a young Gascoigne. 

But has to be the most exciting product since Duff and Dunn (well, Jones, but defenders don’t quite get fans going the same!).
 

Yeah, the assessment on how 'exciting a prospect' he truly is will be based on how many steps forward he can take.

Junior Hoilett was an incredibly exciting talent, but never went on to fulfill that potential. 

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Tomasson has overseen a terrible run when it matters which is being viewed totally differently to when Mowbray did it and he probably will get less points over a season.

Of course it's being viewed differently. It's his first season in charge and he's not talking about our fate with total indifference. 

Thought it was an excellent performance. If we play like that in the final two matches we will make it to the playoffs. If we play like that in the playoffs we will have a chance at promotion.

Not quite getting the rub of the green at the moment and missing that extra bit of quality in the final third and with the final ball, but more positives than negatives from that performance and it's a huge improvement over what we saw against Burnley the first time around.

I wouldn't call this a must-win, I think it's closer to a must not lose as that would put things totally in our own hands. With that said, we'll still be in with every chance even we we lose by a cricket score.

1 minute ago, martonrover said:

Five points from a possible eighteen.

If we were sixth with upwards momentum it would feel very different.

It’s just the same old story.

Except it isn't, because we weren't in the playoffs with a handful of matches to go last season.

It's not a great run, but there have also been good performances within that.

This is the Championship. No easy matches. No gimme 3 points. Plenty of surprises. I'd rather be in our position than Preston's, or Sunderland's, or Norwich's. Beat Coventry and a playoff place is well and truly our's to lose.

Plenty of time left to go, points to be won, points to be dropped. Some of the reactions on here are, quite frankly, embarrassing. 

We are ultimately having to deal with the difficult reality that Brereton Diaz is now more Brereton than he is Diaz. The team is significantly better without him and he really doesn't deserve his place in the side at the moment, but it is difficult to drop a player who most would regard as our 'best' player.

I don't think things are nearly as bad as many make out and we are still in the playoff spots. Imagine how Norwich fans feel this weekend. 

There are certainly a lot of podcasts out there, but not sure how that makes them hipster (and we've been around for a fair while).

Plus I used to be on the BRFCS podcasts back in the day when podcasts were far less common. 

He's a hipster? Or podcasts in general are?

Little bit of shameless self-promotion, but we recently had The Atlantic's Raphael Honigstein on to talk all things German football. Topics included Tuchel's appointment at Bayern Munich and their relatively short leash with managers, parity in the Bundesliga and the 50+1 rule, Klopp's future at Liverpool, and the state of the German national team.

I know a lot of members on here have an interest in football that stretches beyond Blackburn Rovers, so do give it a listen as we always appreciate the support and any suggestions on future guests or topics. The interview starts at about 30 minutes in:

And if I'm plugging something, you can also follow us on instagram or twitter: 

https://twitter.com/TheBigChillPod

https://www.instagram.com/big_chill_podcast/

Hope that a few of you enjoy it.

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

There are many damning facts associated with the last twelve years. Two relegations, countless useless managers and executives, millions squandered, a shrinking supporter base and many, many more facts that prove they have been a disaster.

You comment about not staying in the Premier League was conjecture to try and justify your point of view. The facts don't lie.

I was just expressing my opinion, same as you are. There's plenty of conjecture in your comments.

46 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Conjecture. 

You're on a messageboard, it's virtually all conjecture. 

Do you feel like you're speaking exclusively in facts?

2 hours ago, 47er said:

The Trust has to take its fair share of the blame for what we've been through for reasons we've gone over many times. Not least their willingness to sell what Jack had built up to anyone who'd pay whatever their motivation or suitability.

However, before Venkys took over we were a stable EPL club with no reason at all to think we couldn't stay there.

 

 

We would have stayed there for a bit, but like all clubs of our size we would have eventually had a bad run and gone down. That's the way it works. Name a club of our size that has maintained an uninterrupted position in the Premier League for 20+ years.

A couple of bad transfers, a couple of bad injuries, a run of bad luck and bad form and you're gone. It would have taken longer, but it would have happened. 

Now, what is undoubtedly the case is that we would have been in a better position to bounce back and it is less likely that we would have found ourselves stuck down in here - and relegation League One would have been inconceivable. 

It was a mess. It was a nightmare. But we're actually a fairly stable ship at this point and we've got to move on.

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

We were eighth in the Premier League when they showeup and had £20m debt throughgood management. Jacks legacy was intact when they came - to say anything else is nonsense. 

People very easily forget the slow rot that was setting in and the lack of investment that was coming from the Trust. They wanted rid as soon as possible, it's why we landed with Venkys. 

4 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Respect Jack Walkers legacy? They have peed all over it.

Jack Walker's legacy was ultimately most let down by his own Trust. A family that lost interest in the club that he loved and stopped putting anything more than the bare minimum into the club.

They had every right to do that, it's their own money and it was a business that was always going to be unprofitable, but the legacy stopped there.

2 minutes ago, arbitro said:

What about the impact on the local economy? Around  50000 fans would visit Blackburn over a nine month period and the majority wanted food and drink. Local businesses were generally the beneficiaries. Also the number of people employed by the club  both full and part time.

This badly advised rhetoric has worn thin now. They were told in the letter which is in the public domain that what they were doing was wrong and contravened regulations. This was sent by John Williams, Tom Finn and Martin Goodman. They ignored it and got rid of those three instead. 

Respect Jack Walkers legacy? They have peed all over it.

Funny thing about successful people, they tend to trust themselves and the people they place trust in.

Like it or not, this is a highly successful family which will have assumed that they could make smart decisions in this world as they had in their other businesses. This confidence and their decision-making will have been influenced by the advisors that they chose - or who chose them.

I can't understand anyone who puts the initial period down to anything other than incompetence. Had it been something more calculated then there would have been a sale or administration by now. Had it been something more malicious than there would have certainly been administration by now.

14 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Any reason they don’t fund things not impacted by FFP, I.e a crap pitch and an infrastructure falling to bits? I mean it’s the ‘decent thing to do’, no?

Cost?

I really don't think that we can complain about the money that they put into the club and there is nothing better out there (as far as we are aware) at the moment.

Unless some extremely wealthy (and by that I mean in the ultrawealthy multi-billions category) is going to appear then we would be really dumb to hope for anyone else to step in.

People can say that they'll never forgive or be angry at them forever, but like @philipl points out, their ownership of the club for the past 6/7 seasons has actually been quite good.

There comes a moment in time when we all have to start with a clean slate and judge the environment based on its current makeup. 

Let's also stop pretending that relegation was an impossibility before they stepped in. They undoubtedly hastened our demise and made some incredibly dumb decisions along the way, but we may have well found ourselves in the Championship with a Trust that had lost all interest in us.

11 hours ago, K-Hod said:

Madrid just turn up when it matters, that’s the concern for City. Modric and Kroos both play like they’re still 21, yet they’re still well into their thirties.

Apart from in the league, where they are 12 points behind and have lost their must-win match with Barcelona.

Chelsea are decidedly average, it's why they're 11th in the Premier League. City won't have seen anything from Real Madrid this season that will scare them and they're a fairly weak opponent by Champions League semifinal standards.

City have one foot in the semis, a few toes in the final, and a few fingers on the trophy already.