[Archived] 2011/12: The Final Countdown

[broadsword]

Normal service is resumed. I would anticipate a loss against liverpool. If we go down, who will the pundits blame if they think mr kean's done such a great job. I guess they'll blame the fans

[Stuart]

It's not impossible that it comes down to the last day and who can lose by fewest between us at Chelsea and QPR taking on city

It's not impossible that it comes down to who concedes the fewest goals...

[Mercer]

Form, confidence, momentum and experience are key at this stage of the season in a relegation scrap.

We have now lost three on the bounce and you could argue a case for us losing the next three or four on the bounce.

Anyone recall last season's disastouus run when we picked-up just 4 points from 11 games following our home win v WBA.

Could be deja vu following our home win v Sunderland - a similar run to the aforementioned would give us just 32 points and that wouldn't be enough.

Wigan are the team down there impressing me at the moment and folk who expect us to rollover Norwich & Wigan need to get real. They are far better organised than Rovers with infinitely better managers.

For me, it's Wolves, Rovers for the drop and one from QPR and Bolton.

[patrickvalery]

Wigan are the team down there impressing me at the moment and folk who expect us to rollover Norwich & Wigan need to get real. They are far better organised than Rovers with infinitely better managers.

Entirely agree. Wigan will have renewed belief after their recent results and performance yesterday. Norwich are a very stubborn outfit too. These two fixtures have been considered our bankers. Well i can see both sides comfortably beating us.

If we can somehow get 3 points against Liverpool (which we won't) then i stand to be corrected. But i don't give us a prayer of staying up. But even if we miraculously pull it off, then what? Hoillet is off so bang goes our most creative player and only game plan. I hate myself for saying this, but i'd rather drop this year than get pulverised next season. Because unless Venky's find £50m down the back of the sofa and decide to chuck it in Rovers direction, we will be on the bones of our ass next year.

[den]

Just as an aside can ANY team which finished last season in a relegation scrap dispense with the services of their best 4 centre halves within 6 months and hope to survive? Sheer footballing suicide.

and with each sale, we had fans supporting those sales.

[Mattyblue]

'But we've done well in 2012'.

Form table since the turn of the year has us 3 points outside the bottom 3.

[Mike Graham]

and with each sale, we had fans supporting those sales.

And 7 of these loons still want to retain Coco when we get relegated.....bananas !

[broadsword]

It's my birthday on tuesday. I won't let steve kean ruin it, but no doubt he'll be trying his hardest to!

[Athlete]

Bolton were 2nd best against Fulham - they're poor the Muamba effect ma but got a tougth run in

be wearing off but they have on paper the best run in

Wigan - unlucky yesterday but got some tougth fixtures Man U @ home next followed by Arsenal away then Fulham away newcastle @ home cant see them picking many points up before they play us

QPR - the MH factor seems to eventually kicking in ( always takes MH around 8 games to get it going )but have a tough run in

Rovers - after yesterdays diabolical defending ( oh coco got rid of our 2 CD's ) and ludicrous comments by Kean need to get at least 4 points from the next 2 games or the championship is well and truly looming...

[roverandout]

basically i reckon we will need to win at least 3 games from our next 6 matches, lose at home to liverpool thats 3 in 5, no way will we acheive that with 3 certain away losses on the horizon, we MAY scab wins against norwich and wigan but i wont hold my breath but even that wont be enough, i beleive!!

[winstonsmith]

5 of our last 7 goals have been conceded through set-pieces. If Samba was still here, majority of them goals would not have gone in.

Dann is nowhere near PL quality and Hanley has a lot of learning to do before he gets to PL standard. Bizarre as to why we sold Samba at a stage of the season where we needed him the most.

Unfortunately, there will never be an improvement because Kean does not see it as a problem that needs rectifying.

Speaking to Sky Sports News yesterday, Kean expressed his disappointment at the way the first goal was conceded by saying that "it was not like us...we're very good at defending set-plays...we normally defend very well". (Kean must not have seen the Bolton match then - obviously, it was not just the players who did not turn up !)

There has always been this constant drip, drip, drip of little lies such as these from Kean in order to insinuate that he is doing much better than he actually is doing. Apart from insulting the fans intelligence and being bloody annoying - this has the effect of lowering standards. If we are doing all right, what need is there to do better ?

[m1st]

If "we normally defend very well", Coco; can you explain why only Wolves have conceded more Premier League goals this season?

Would not playing our best centre-halves, then selling them, have anything to do with it?

[blue_n_white99]

Unfortunately, there will never be an improvement because Kean does not see it as a problem that needs rectifying.

Speaking to Sky Sports News yesterday, Kean expressed his disappointment at the way the first goal was conceded by saying that "it was not like us...we're very good at defending set-plays...we normally defend very well". (Kean must not have seen the Bolton match then - obviously, it was not just the players who did not turn up !)

There has always been this constant drip, drip, drip of little lies such as these from Kean in order to insinuate that he is doing much better than he actually is doing. Apart from insulting the fans intelligence and being bloody annoying - this has the effect of lowering standards. If we are doing all right, what need is there to do better ?

Trouble is were are not doing alright and all these so called experts/pundits/Kentaro ass kissers are as deluded as coco if they think or say otherwise, however I should not expect any of these scumbags to rock the boat and jeopardise the boys club revenues.

[TBTF]

Lets face it= THE WHOLE CLUB IS IN COMPLETE DENIAL from owners to manager to players to board of directors.The only ones who can see whats going on and have been doing for some time is the fans.But we are to blame !!!! Its just a disastrous ,disastrous mess

[FourLaneBlue]

Just as an aside can anybody think of another club that deserves to be relegated as much as we do? The decisions taken since the Slumdog millionaires trapped up have been suicidal. No other club with the exception of Wolves (in sacking Big Mick with no replacement lined up) comes even close to the breathtaking stupidity displayed time and time again by our owners.

Does our manager deserve to be relegated? Yes. He's woeful.

Do our owners deserve to be relegated? Don't even need to go into that. Yes.

Do our players deserve to be relegated? Afraid so. With a few notable exceptions, they haven't been playing for the team/manager/whatever all season. Proof - the league table. For a squad with more talent than that. Most will bugger off at the end of the season, unless they are crap in which case they will stay. A few can hold their head up high, but many can't.

Do our fans deserve to be relegated? Yes. This is simple as plenty always supported Kean and plenty were against him. Therefore, they were not united all season. Whichever way you might think we should behave, there were always many against that view. Divided we fall.

Does the town/ local area deserve for its one Premiership to be relegated? No.

The real losers in this will be businesses reliant on the club, people who will lose their jobs, or have lost them, through no fault of their own, local kids who gain hope from having BRFC in their town and Blackburners/East Lancs folk who will no longer that club that gives them and their community respect and recognition nationwide and further afield.

It's because of these last people I hope Rovers stay up. The locals and, yes, the fans as well as they didn't ask for this to happen. As for all the rest mentioned beforehand, they can sod off.

[John]

Lets face it= THE WHOLE CLUB IS IN COMPLETE DENIAL from owners to manager to players to board of directors.The only ones who can see whats going on and have been doing for some time is the fans.But we are to blame !!!! Its just a disastrous ,disastrous mess

The Rao family, Kean/his agent, and even the board have taken the complete p**s out of the fans since day one.

One example, the Salgado situation - Kean doesn't tell the truth, Hunt doesn't tell the truth on the radio.

Kean's general comments made to the media illustrates he is taking the club for a ride.

JA interview on Sky, taking the club for a ride, you can pick so many holes in what he said.

Rao family - new contract for Kean and "brilliant manager" comment, surely not being serious.

Such a sorry , sorry tale....

[darwenfish]

Well said FourLaneBlue you have summed up my feelings exactly.

[BigAlan]

It's pretty damn clear that the fans have been hung out to dry, not Kean. He is the one that walks away never having to work again after all this is finished. The clubs is in complete disarray and us fans haven't got anywhere to turn or an empathetic ear in the world. We've tried backing the team and Kean. We've protested with all good reason, if maybe a little early. The media was never going to take a protest so early in the season seriously, not a criticism I was there, but looking back it actually won Kean more supporters. We are now in complete free fall, maybe even the players have been coaxed into believing the fans are the problem, who knows? They all rarely applaud us these days. Even our local paper lets all the bullshit that comes out of the club slide. It's all a huge cluster**** and where it ends is just impossible to predict. how these people sleep at night is incomprehensible, honesty seems to be a high priced commodity these days. Arseholes

[Stuart]

Does our manager deserve to be relegated? Yes. He's woeful.

Do our owners deserve to be relegated? Don't even need to go into that. Yes.

Do our players deserve to be relegated? Afraid so. With a few notable exceptions, they haven't been playing for the team/manager/whatever all season. Proof - the league table. For a squad with more talent than that. Most will bugger off at the end of the season, unless they are crap in which case they will stay. A few can hold their head up high, but many can't.

Do our fans deserve to be relegated? Yes. This is simple as plenty always supported Kean and plenty were against him. Therefore, they were not united all season. Whichever way you might think we should behave, there were always many against that view. Divided we fall.

Does the town/ local area deserve for its one Premiership to be relegated? No.

The real losers in this will be businesses reliant on the club, people who will lose their jobs, or have lost them, through no fault of their own, local kids who gain hope from having BRFC in their town and Blackburners/East Lancs folk who will no longer that club that gives them and their community respect and recognition nationwide and further afield.

It's because of these last people I hope Rovers stay up. The locals and, yes, the fans as well as they didn't ask for this to happen. As for all the rest mentioned beforehand, they can sod off.

Good post FLB but I disagree about the fans deserving relegation.

We've been played all ends up by those in charge. Devisive tactics using fans' loyalty of the club against them.

[FourLaneBlue]

Good post FLB but I disagree about the fans deserving relegation.

We've been played all ends up by those in charge. Devisive tactics using fans' loyalty of the club against them.

Yes, I changed my mind halfway when realising that no fans, on whatever side of opinion, wanted this.

Then again. Fans never deserve relegation. Dishonest fans of other clubs might pretend so, but they are just hypocrites. The fans of all clubs complain when the manager is not good enough. If they don't, they obviously don't want the best for their club, and perhaps they care more about their own self-image as a "true fan" that never complains more than they actually do about their club. Rovers fans are just like fans of all other clubs, most will complain if they think their club is bring taken for a ride. Some won't, as that is not their style.

Neither deserves relegation, however.

[philipl]

Ending this weekend on the same points but with our distance from QPR on goal difference having increased was not something any of us forecast!

We were horribly bad at West Brom...

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Bolton were the biggest losers this weekend. We had a decent opportunity which we wasted. Relegation is going to end up a lottery. Any 2 from 4 could go. Wigan look like putting up the hardest fight.

Even if we stay up Id be astonished if we weren't in this same position in 12 months time. Kean is just a useless manager out of his depth, Venky's are the villains here. Disgrace.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Ending this weekend on the same points but with our distance from QPR on goal difference having increased was not something any of us forecast!

We were horribly bad at West Brom...

In the scheme of things it could have been a lot worse.

Overall winners this weekend have been Wigan and QPR - who both had matches they probably wrote off - but didn't lose any further ground. QPR playing with 10 men at Old Trafford may yet help us - though Swansea at home isn't their hardest match of the run in.

Losers were undoubtably Bolton losing a "winnable" home match - though when you are at the bottom there is no such thing as a winnable match.

Rovers away at WBA - I hoped for at least a point - most worrying is the number of matches where we would hope to get a result are reducing.

[JAL]

Getting the feeling now from people around town that theres an air of resignation to Rovers fate.

[Audax]

I guess the Rovers are fortunate not to be behind 17th place by 3 points, it could have been a lot worse after this weekend's games, everyone loss. Wigan are playing well but I believe their whole schedule is a bit tough, playing Newcastle and Fulham too who both racked up big wins Saturday I believe.