[Archived] Blackburn Bad Boys

[colin]

One of my mates is a Chelsea fan and he harped on about 'Look what Mokoena did to Robben' etc. There wasn't even a foul for that tackle(if memory serves), but it stills gets wracked up as being dirty play!

You're not wrong there DanLad, the ref didn't blow for a foul. And if my memory serves me correctly, the inevitable slow-motion replays didn't have any neutrals complaining.

But that was before the semi final.......................

[MCMC1875]

You can add Keeley, Faz and Jim Branagan to Hendry and Reid.

[Alex Rover]

Anyway, im sure that some of the relegated teams last year wish they had put the boot in a few more times if it were to keep them up - i think norwich were near the top of the fair play league

332376[/snapback]

We didn't put the boot in. You've been reading the Mirror too much.

Blimey even Rovers fans are jumping on the bangwagon

[Bobby G]

Interesting slamming yet again...

http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Stor..._570675,00.html

[rock steady]

Interesting slamming yet again...

http://www.teamtalk.com/teamtalk/News/Stor..._570675,00.html

332847[/snapback]

interesting that that article mentions frank lampard as a player "respected by fans all over the country for both talent and humility on and off the pitch"

people seem to forget that he broke xabi alonso's ankle last season with a nasty tackle, and i cant remember there being much uproar about it at the time. but everyone was outraged when robben got injured

[MCMC1875]

That's the thing about popular or un popular clubs isn't it?

Edited July 17, 2005 by MCMC1875

[bellamy11]

I must have missed all the fans congratulating Ruud van Nistelrroy for being a beacon of fair play. Don't 90% of fans in England think he's a diving, horsey-faced cheat?

[Scotty]

More insightful reporting from our media friends.

Football 365 want us to go down

[mjs]

Yet another misguided piece from someone who seems to think that we should all roll over and die. Obviously doesn't realise what a fantastic job that Mark Hughes did last season in keeping us up, otherwise he might just have realised that a bit of credit is due.

The majority of reporters/pundits/columnists etc. in this country have tunnel vision and don't understand that we can't all be Chelsea, Aresenal and Man U.

More and more clubs will play less and less attractive football because it is becoming the way to survive. It is the people running the game that deserve criticism.

And to basically liken Mark Hughes to Diouf is the biggest example of ignorance I have ever come across. An insult to one of the best forwards ever seen in English football.

Edited August 2, 2005 by mjs

[pick32]

that reporter is an absolute prick what a ###### were the (Please don't use that word again) does he get of

[Seggie]

What a great article

Teams fear us, the press fear us, why?

Because we are a small Northern Club in an unfashionable small town part of the North and we are capable of riling the likes of Arsenal Man U and more importantly precious Chelsea.

The press are finding it difficult to accept that a Premiership team is rolling back around 10 years and mixing it up to compete in a increasingly soft league. What the same press don't realise is if all Premiership teams had the worlds most skillful players and no one tackled it would be like watching Serie A and no one would want to watch it because the games are boring.

There is a hell of a lot more Premiership players than Christiano Step Over Sally Ronaldo, Wayne Caveboy Rooney, Arjen Rolling around in agony Robben and Thierry VaVaVoom Henry.

Also has anyone notced the storm caused by the press with regards to Roy Keane, this wouldn't have been made such a big deal a few years back its just that his type of player doesn't fit the Premiership image anymore.

[krislu]

More insightful reporting from our media friends.

Football 365 want us to go down

336186[/snapback]

Have you ever read such rubbish before?!

Under Graeme Souness's tender care Blackburn had become crap; under Hughes they have become downright unpleasant too. Not that the manager cares, judging by the signing of Craig Bellamy.

Looks like no-one will give us any credit, Mark Huges did a brilliant job when he took over last season! Anyway, this is nothing to get worked up about. I for one am looking forward watching us battle hard and dirty against the media sweethearts Arsenal, Chelsea and ManU this season..

[Duff's Minder]

The media need a bad guy and as a small town club we're an easy target. They don't actually believe all of it but it gives them something to talk about.

They do have a point about how unattractive we were last season (although the bully-boy thing is completely wrong) and I look forward to that changing this year.

[OscarRaven]

Look a lot of these so called pundits are just after a reaction to get people like you and me to visit there crappy little websites and rant and rave at their biased comments......

If u read these articles, firstly your encouraging them, secondly for gods sake don’t let it bother you..... we can all write tripe to wind up other fans. I can set up a website tomorrow and have fans ranting and raving at my articles.... who are these people ever heard of them? Exactly.

Its opinion (and like it or not everyone has got one) not fact.

[Alan75]

Oh they arent all bad. Some are very bias towards Rovers.

Apart from followers of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, the majority of supporters appreciate that unless there is a massive cash injection in to their club, there is very little to choose between the rest; whose main aim each season is to maintain Premiership survival.

Whilst I could sympathise with Souness's objectives, as failure to maintain Premiership status has a major financial impact on a club, this lack of ambition by the manager, had to reflect in negative performances by the team, which did not help to encourage attendances at Ewood.

Gone are the days when clubs such as Blackburn can aspire to winning the Premiership, however it is refreshing after the pre-season objectives of the previous manager, to hear Mark Hughes state that this coming seasons objectives is European qualification.

Most football supporters live in a fantasy world, they live in their childhood dreams of scoring that winning penalty at Wembley, they never dream of relegation; that's why supporters such as Jack Walker bank rolled the club, because he wanted to full fill his dreams of seeing a successful team. Hughes could have quite easily read from the same script as Souness, so that anything more than survival would be an achievement, but Hughes has been bold and stated his ambition to take the club forward, a factor that every supporter wants to hear.

Unlike their previous manager, Hughes is relatively quiet and doesn't court publicity, however, when he does speak to the media he makes the right noises that the fans want to hear. A prime example is this summers transfer dealings, whilst other clubs are publicising every move they are making and their managers are quoted daily in the media, Hughes has gone about his duties quietly in the background until a press conference is called to announce the signing of a player.

John Williams the Rovers Chairman and the board of directors should be given credit as well for backing their manager; how many supporters would have considered that Bellamy would sign for Rovers following all the publicity of him discussing terms with Celtic and Everton.

During last years close season, Blackburns transfer activity revolved around relegated Leicester and Leed's players Paul Dickov and Mateo, and ageing Spanish midfielder De Pedro; not exactly mind blowing signings to encourage season ticket sales, which wasn't helped by the departure of Cole on a free transfer to Fulham. Yet this year the signing of Bellamy has got the fans buzzing already, there is a feeling of optimism around the place, helped by the encouraging ambitious comments from Mark Hughes.

With the acquisition of Bellamy and Stefki Kugi, Hughes has addressed the problems of last season striker problem; Bellamy will give the team some pace up front whilst Kugi is a big target man that has been lacking for a number of years. Rovers also have the return of Matt Jansen after his 5 months rest from football, who hopefully this season can resurrect his career.

Rovers have however lost the services of Jon Stead, who despite only scoring twice last season, I personally preferred to Dickov. There again I suspect Stead was sacrificed in order to finance the incoming transfers, as I doubt anyone would have paid £1.8 million for Dickov.

Although the club have stated that there is a need to off load one or two players, in order to reduce the wage bill, I suspect that there will be some more transfer activity before the start of the season, as there is in my opinion a lack of cover in the defence, i.e. only one recognised right back, and, apart from Tugay there is very little creativity in midfield.

The label placed on the Rovers as "bully boys" by the media regarding their style of football at the end of last season has once again surfaced following the signing of Craig Bellamy. Yet anyone who cares to look at the stats on Bellamy will see that his on field disciplinary record in regards cards issued is well below the average.

In the modern game of football, it appears to have become acceptable for players to use bad language, deceit, cheating, pushing, spitting and indulge in mass brawls. Yet, when Hughes made Rovers more competitive, in an attempt to avoid relegation, Rovers were painted as the villains of the league.

Rovers didn't do themselves any favours by coming bottom of the fair play league, but a great deal of the yellow cards issued were for dissent, eg Tugay sent off for handling the ball. Im not trying to say that Rovers are little angels, they are no different from the rest, one only has to look at the stats for the so called star players in various teams. Vieira was carded 12 times and sent off once. Roy Keane recieved 12 yellow cards, Frank Lampard 8 yellow. John Terry 7 yellow.

Whilst in Hughes first season, Rovers may not have been the most attractive team in the premier as he commenced restructuring the team to give them more battling qualities with the acquisition of Nelsen and Savage, which helped to eventually keep them clear of the relegation zone. For the coming season Hughes has already started to strengthen the front line weakness and I expect to see more entertaining games at Ewood, although I suspect for some of our away games he will revert to a single striker up front.

Mark Hughes is saying the right things that the supporters have been wanting to hear for a few seasons. After a number of seasons where the managers objective was to avoid relegation resulting in negative play, I'm optimistic of a more positive attitude from the team and who would argue with Hughes that we should be aiming to achieve European qualification.

[americanrover]

good post^

[DudeAbides]

here here...

[ihtd]

If i am totally honest, i vould give a flying **** what pundits think of our club, were the ones who go and watch them week in, week out and we kind of have the right to rant and rave about our own club. I would rather watch us battering the hell out of Arjen Robben and staying in the Premiership, then us being the tippy-tappy football and getting relegated. I love the fact that our players are prepared to go in where it hurts to win a game for us, i love the commitment from the vast majority of our squad.

People are only looking to pick on us because were not the ordinary, we don't conform with the rest. I would love us to play good football but as long as it means success for us and the players give 100% every week but until then if it means occassionally hurting a few opposition players i am happy.

[colin]

That Football365.com article is deeply depressing. It's web site I look at often and enjoy its refreshing comments on the game. When a scribe of Philip Cornwell's calibre sinks to parroting the red-top media's perception of us then it is a bad day for Rovers.

Maybe he was just having a lazy day.

It look likes the label is sticking and we better get used to it being repeated ad-nauseum, until we win a place in Europe via the Fair Play League.

At least it replaces the "They Bought The Title" tag.

Which, of course, cannot ever be aimed at any other club.

[Bobby G]

We bought it, but Arsenal and their millions didnt.

United with their millions didnt.

And Chelsea with theirs didnt?

I could argue that teams such as Newcastle, Spurs, etc have spent much much more almost on par with the top 3-4 teams and dont have anything to show for it over the past 10 years!

At least we managed to "buy" it, others are wasting their money for nothing!. Buying right is a talent!

[bob fleming]

I think you'll find, Bobby G, that Colin was being sarcastic regarding that old chestnut.

Football365 can please themselves. The choices were very simple last year, toughen up, get fit, get aggressive and maybe, just maybe, we’ll stay up. Or stay unfit, don't challenge, defend like clowns, get relegated and kiss goodbye to the Premier League, maybe forever. The consequences of us being relegated don't need spelling out.

Sorry about that Mr Media but we stopped up.

As others have pointed out we can expect a lot more of this rubbish throughout the season, every foul, every booking, every aggressive look on one of our players faces even, will be highlighted. Heaven knows what will happen if we have a man sent off or concede a penalty. I think the press will have to create some new words to describe their disgust.

Give us £100 odd million to spend on "top" players and we'll have a chance to play the sort of attractive football that Chelsea and Arsenal play. That ain't gonna happen, so unfortunately they’d better get used to our "style". We'll not be alone.

Besides it's all a load of old nonsense anyway, we weren't that bad, the one incident that the media will pick up on more than any other is the Todd collision with that young lad, the salt of the earth, Van Persie, regardless of the fact that he was cleared by the F.A. I'm not sure if Van Persie has been cleared by the Dutch Police yet but there you go (I think he has but we'll not mention that little incident ever again, alright Arsene?).

[philipl]

The last I read was the Dutch Police have not dropped their investigation and I believe Van Persie is still bailed. Arsene Wenger has been moaning that he wants the whole thing out of the way before the season starts whereas it looks like the next formalo steps will be in late August.

I agree that the whole media has decided we are the dirty uncultured yobs of the league and nothing is going to get in the way of the story.

I always believe that the number of bookings any club gets unnecesarilly (talking back, kicking the ball away) reflects extremely badly on the club management. For all Souness' disciplinary streak, I thought the stupid bookings we got when he was manager were simply sloppy and as stupid as some of his outbursts from the touchline. At least we won't be getting any more bookings because the ref is fed up with the abuse from the idiot in the Rovers' technical area.

Some managers use their players to intimidate officials but Rovers just seemed to mouth off to no particular effect.

Here's hoping Sparky keeps the lads focussed aggressive.. and disciplined.

[MCMC1875]

'A northern horde of uncouth garb and strange oath'.

.....ah well, nothing changes.

[Wolverine]

No one likes us, we don't care!

The media are pitiful, and its about time the Press Complaints Commission had a bloody great shake up of the whole shebang. It won't happen tho, will it? Not while the media are controlled by the people who run the country... And by that i dont just mean the governmrent.

Sod 'em all - that's what I say. Keep up the passionate approach to the game and lets reflect that from the terraces. Make Ewood Park a hell hole for visiting teams...

[Blueheart]

Blackburn Bad Boys...maybe a better title would be'' Thugs r Us '' ...hey but who cares so long as the players are giving their all for the club and keeping us where we belong.

We will certainly give those fancy dans a run for their money, they will really know they have been in a game after they have played us !