[Archived] Blackburn Rovers v Wigan Athletic

[braddock]

I'll begin the thread with an adaptation of a poem by free verse poet Mr Gee in order to both reflect on former Premiership glories and try and keep a greater perspective in difficult times.

90 Minutes and the drama:

I grew up hearing the stories of Garners former glories,

and watch my family contest with a fury over Hendry's drive and Shearer's scoring

and from the tears that glistened in my Fathers eyes

as they appeared they made me wistfully realise

that there's more to this beautiful game than just the money and the prize

so much more than the endless scandals that quickly fill headlines

so much more than designer sandals picked by footballers wives

i've seen Duffers left foot uplift a whole towns pride

and Tugay perform skillful tricks I couldn't conceive if I tried

you can't deny the passion of the drama that brings its charm into our lives

sometimes 90 minutes and the drama is all you need to feel alive.

On Monday the 7th of May 2012, Blackburn Rovers FC could well play their final home game in the Premier League forever more. This is a fact. It is not a fact that I take any pleasure in conceding, but it is a fact all the same. There are numerous ways in which we could slump out of the upper echelons of English football given the different games taking place the coming weekend and beyond but the thing that's constantly tying a noose in the back of my mind is that they outnumber the paths to survival, not only in number but also in realistic odds. One thing is for certain, we must beat Wigan Athletic, recently decreed by Michael Owen (a man I often look to as a great philosopher) on his Twitter page as showing 'Champions League form'. A team with whom we share many things in common, unfortunately however not in terms of ownership.

That isn't to say that I envy Wigan's position. I personally feel that they will succumb to the drop within the next half a decade unless they can move forward as a club. One thing they do have though is self awareness. It is not so much that they are aware that they are punching above their weight (as I'm not convinced that they are), rather that they are aware of the precarious position that their restricted football dealings puts them in and that they therefore strive to make the most out of their positive attributes in order to maximise the chance of survival and entertainment. There is a certain stability. There is a certain trust in place. There is a man at the helm who understands football. One also gets the feeling that if Wigan were to fall, they would stand a half decent chance of reclaiming their place. These are not things currently present at Blackburn Rovers Football Club.

Such dour topics will no doubt be discussed in greater depth (and naturally will have already been on the lips of many doomsdayers long before the last few weeks – they've been on them as long as I've been on the board and I was here before 'the takeover/invasion') in the final preview of the season and also across the board generally, and so I will instead concentrate herein on the game itself as a must win and former glories in the division we are currently clinging to, given that this could be our penultimate game on this stage.

With regards to the game it is part of the tragedy that this isn't even a six pointer for us. We aren't catching Wigan. They have yet to reach safety but they are all but mathematically out of our reach. But I am filled with some hope after seeing us battle to a 3-3 draw at their place this season. With home advantage and hopefully a greater willingness to scrap than our last fixture at White hart Lane I feel we could force a result out of this game. There's usually goals in this fixture, I remember the joy of Santa Cruz's hat trick in a bitter sweet game a few Winters back. And if there's one thing we've done this season (and it's possible that there has only been one thing) it is score goals. Wigan themselves have notched up a few recently but there is no reason why we can't burst their bubble. We are renowned (I use the term loosely, the media won't have realised this at all as we are only Blackburn Rovers) for being a team that struggling sides should relish to meet, but we are not explicitly known on this board as being a team who can prolong another teams good form. It may well be time for Wigan to crash back down to earth after their recent spell of success.

So who should we fear? Right now Moses has been popping up with a goals proving a few doubters wrong. Franco Di Santo has even popped up with a few of late, as if to compound the fact that they really are on a roll. They have many threats given the fact that they generally attack as a team. We have struggled against strikers in the mould of Rodallega in the past, former strikers returning to their former hunting ground (so it would be no surprise to see Di Santo nick one), pacey wingers exploiting the space given to them by the seemingly inbuilt back off approach that our defence and central midfield currently employs (which means Moses could have a field day), and in recent times even their central midfielders Watson and McCarthy have looked good in front of goal in recent years. Even bloody Caldwell has put one in! I'm unaware who will be turning out for Wigan in the game, as my gloom has meant that I have not been following as much relegation teams' news as I would have liked to recently. One thing I do know is that they have all been kept quiet in the past, and trips to Ewood have not been fruitful for Wigan in recent years. Whilst looking into recent fixtures between the two sides, most of my worst memories took place in away games. I've predicted one victory the season, and that was the home game to Swansea. I'm going to do the same for this game too. That's not sticking my neck out much you may think, as both games are games you'd imagine (or would have imagined throughout the earlier stages of the season) we should win, but I have not backed us to win at home against the likes of Wolves, Norwich, Bolton and QPR (two of whom we did beat) who I believe are of equal strength to Wigan Athletic.

This is a game to enter without fear, unlike the Tottenham game (which admittedly was also a game which should have been entered without the level of fear it was entered with). It is a game where we must scrap for every ball. Reduce their time on the ball, and capitalise on our own usually brief possession. Utilise our star players going forward and hope that they will step up to the mark and deliver. We do have the ability to win this game, regardless of everything else surrounding the match and whatever else will come in the future outside the influence of this result. One thing to attempt to avoid however is a pyrrhic victory. We must win this game, but a lack of discipline is not something we can afford. At times it may well be necessary in order to tame a team who deploy such an attractive style from from back to front, but it should be tempered on our front as if we manage to put ourselves with some kind of shout for survival come the last game of the season then it would be wise not to have shot ourselves in the foot with unnecessary suspensions.

So, aside from the game itself, and despite the doom and gloom, as painful as Monday could be, we should still be proud of what we have achieved whilst in the top flight. We've seen some of the worlds best come to Blackburn, some produce the spectacular (Henry's wonder goal), others get marked off the pitch by Keith Andrews (Drogba in the shut out). It has been a delight to witness it all and I really do hope that it isn't all over. After all, we've had our fair share of great players in this league in our most recent stay here: African superstar Benni (big mac) McCarthy, Craig Bellamy, Damien Duff, Tugay Kerimoglu, Andrew Cole and a man perhaps destined to stay one league above us; Keith Andrews. We've seen part of the run that led to a League Cup win and we've seen others win the league on our patch.

But there are memories (less glamourous than those listed above) I have of times when we were not the plucky town team punching above our weight. I was at Grimsby when the ball squirmed through future Dingle Danny Coyne's arms. I watched Kaba Diawara mark his place in Blackburn Rovers rich history as the man to influence Anthony Modeste. I watched us play Burnley in their own league, rather than seeing them nip up to visit us for a season for a laugh or two. There will be many posters who will remember life before the Premier League, though unfortunately I am too young to remember these times. They were not great times in terms of the success of winning top level trophies, but they were not awful times and the thing that they had in common with the last decade or so was that they were experienced alongside the same level of love and support that I still feel for the club whilst seeing them battle it out against the countries greats. Relegation is not the end. Anybody who feels that way is missing a certain connection that I myself feel, and I feel sorry for them in that respect.

Whilst the club has devolved somewhat over the last couple of years this is a small part of our history and we will continue to march forward in time, be it uphill or downhill. We will outlive the current ownership as a club (I don't buy into the belief that we will cease to exist by whatever way), the only question is how low we will sink. For me though, the feeling I get what I watch Blackburn Rovers will remain.

This is why we must cheer on the team on Monday. It is not a time for protest (until after the 90 minutes is up if you must). Sure there will be an abundance of emotions stirring inside us if things start going against us, but whilst the game is under way we should give ourselves the best chance possible to get the three points, even if it's by a three goal flurry in the final ten minutes. People's respect for the players seems to have been fairly consistent throughout the season (unless they have crossed the imaginary line in many people's heads by praising the manager) and so it is those who we should focus our attention on. Simply hurling abuse at the manager or the owners during the game is indeed not attacking the players, but it is also not creating the environment in which they could well thrive. Home games are advantageous for a reason, and that is that support of a team can have an impact, even if it's simply on the referee. It is time to channel our frustrations during the 90 minutes into something that can lead to a positive end product, not adding to the already unfortunate (to say the least) circumstances. We should try and make it a day of hope for our future and our teams chances and of celebration for what we have already achieved against the odds.

Whatever happens on Monday, I will be coming back next season and my love for the club will remain, but I will be going down singing and supporting my team to the death and I would hope that many others would be willing to do the same.

The verse at the start of this post is littered with memories that I cherish and they will remain with me until I eventually lose my mind contemplating how Sam Allardyce can have the audacity to spout this stuff (which is largely true) without once drawing attention to himself and even pose for the photo.

Hypocrite

But it is worth noting, that they are not the only memories this club has, as many of the posters on here will testify. Football continues wherever you ply your trade and there are more memories to be made and more stories to unfold, some good, some bad. The one thing that stays is the fans.

Braddock's prediction – Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Wigan Athletic.

I apologise for any errors in the opening post. It is late, I am tired and I did not read through the final draft as it's taken me long enough to type it out once. You get the general drift of it anyway.

Come on you blues.

[J*B]

What a weird situation. Theoretically, we could still stay up. In reality, i dont think we will.

How I wish we had Chelsea away before this game. If we lose, i fully expect chaos. We'll get hell from the media - but who really cares. We know what they've done to us, and they deserve both barrels. On the pitch.

[Mike E]

While I don't condone it, I can see a small and unsavoury pitch invasion (maybe 20-50) should we lose on Monday. With Kean probably needing Dan the Driver as a human shield.

[Tom]

[jim mk2]

Sentimental, rambling rubbish written by a twerp who has been barking up the wrong Venky's tree for the past 18 months and even now still feels the need to have a pop at the previous manager. Pathetic.

[steverovers]

What a load of sentimental rubbish

[matt83]

Well it started poorly, got worse in the middle and the less said about the end the better.

Buried somewhere in that long winded gibberish was don't protest until after the game well I for one will be protesting throughout the game and encourage others to do the same.

[Mattyblue]

Oh dear bradders, that was neither one thing nor another.

Still, good effort having the balls to take a morally superior tone after you bankrupted yourself backing that wrong horse.

[DE.]

I didn't actually think you'd even write a preview Braddock, so fair play to you for that at least.

I had a dream last night that we lost this match and were officially relegated. I was quite cut up about it in my dream, but I doubt I'd be so upset in real life because I accepted relegation a while ago.

I also dreamt I was on a train and the Raos were on it too. Balaji made his way through the carriage I was in and I accosted him and proceeded to give him both barrels regarding everything they've done since they came to the club. It all ended with me asking "why didn't you sack Steve Kean, why? Everyone was telling you to sack him, why didn't you do it?" ... I got no reply.

The dream wasn't really cathartic, mind, just a sad glimpse into the near-future (most likely minus me being able to give Balaji a piece of my mind, unless he happens to be on one of the trains to London I'm getting in the next month or so).

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

The football is a side show..unleash 'ell Rovers fans!

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

If we could take it down to the last day of the season it would be an achievement, but I dont expect to be supporting a premier league club this time next week.

I never thought I'd say this, but there is a part of me that wants us to get battered on monday. In a way I hope we go down in the most humiliating manner possible just to ensure that Kean and Venky's will leave. I want the outside world to finally understand and realise just how mismanaged this club has been over the past 18 months.

Its almost for the greater good that we go down. Another year in the prem wont change anything. This time last year I genuinely believed that if we stayed up Venky's would invest, Kean would leave and we'd be sitting here in midtable. I cannot for one second believe that will happen if we stay up this time round.

The championship is a lottery and if Venky's stay then we could easily fall straight through it, but its our only chance to get rid of them. With Venkys at the helm we dont stand a chance in any division that we're in.

Deep down I'm a Rovers fan and I realise that in going down there is no guarantee that we'll ever get back up. I do want us to stay up but failing that, I want us to go down and flush out everyone connected with Venkys because at least then we could have our club back in safe hands.

[ruggles1995]

I predict ugly scenes monday night. As much as I want to say we will win I can see us drawing and you get the general drift that near or less ever rovers supporter has given up hope and consigned to relegation. I actually cant but feel wantimg steve kean to get complete hell monday rather that worrying about the 3 points.... I know it sounds bad but I also feel consigned to the championship even if we beat wigan we will only get stuffed by a chelsea side and before any1 says they may have 1 eye on the champions league final remember we have the clown in charge and will set his team up to not leave our own half. And before any1 says Kean shouldnt get this much abuse because hes a human, well think about this, why should he have the right to emotinally destroy every human that syupports rovers, I think he has over stept the mark by flurting with our emotions, he has been winding up every rovers fan for the last 18 months. I could care less what happens to him monday.

[philipl]

If by any chance Bolton and QPR in their coming games don't reduce our probability of staying up to a number only cosmologists could identify, I still expect Steve Kean to screw up on Monday night and for all hell to break loose.

At least Braddock turned up which is rather more than is likely to be said of our performance next Monday.

[Mercer]

Feckin hell Braddock, there must be more words there (would guess over 2,000) than Rovers are presently likely to have in season ticket renewals and I have better things to do than read all that!!!

You have probably given it your best shot and well done for that but, as I've flagged before, IMO, MB postings should be kept to 500 words or less for impact and if you can't get your point over within that, then why bother.

No doubt Kean's ramblings will be equally long should we suffer probable relegation on Monday night.

[Majiball]

Robbo

Lowe Dann Givet Orr

Hoillet N'zonzi Peds The real Olsson

Vuckevic

Fat boy

[eire3382]

Has there ever been a match which has such emotions.

When we went down against UTD under Kidd I was fully behind the team and manager (mostly) and was deeply upset.

Now, I have accepted that we are going down with over a month. So all I feel now is numb.

As far as protesting at the match, we have to; as we will be waiting a hell of a long time to get such media spotlight again. I have my ticket (breaking my rule ala paying to match keans team) and will be there to support the players but give hells abuse to the manager and owners. This is our last chance to highlight to everyone that the club needs change, if you don't protest then don't complain this time next year when we are heading for league 1.

[Parsonblue]

While I fully appreciate the time and effort you put in writing this piece, and congratulations for that, I must admit that I find it difficult to take seriously. After attacking a previous manager who took us to the comfort of a midtable position you now implore the supporters not to attack the present manager and owners who are taking us down.

Many of us have travelled this road before Braddock and believe me there is nothing glorious in seeing your club slip down the leagues. There is no "special" feeling of watching mediocrity season after season knowing that there is no hope of anything better on the horizon. You do it out of habit and because you feel a special bond with your local club. However, Venky's have broken that special bond for many and the habit, once kicked, is not easily taken up again. As in the past, the crowds will dwindle, the flame of hope will dim and club will, once again find itself consigned to the pages of history and the odd quiz question - "name the only Premier League Champions to have been relegated twice?"

The diehards will still be there recalling the glory days of the past while the edifice that Jack build crumbles around them. Oh happy days. But, hey, Braddock, let's not protest for fear of upsetting our manager or owners. Let's not protest in case of the rest of the world believe us to be ingrates who don't appreciate the wonderful job that Kean has done.

Personally, I'll be there on Monday shouting my disapproval of the manager and owners and come August, if they are still here, I'll be at Ewood continuing to voice my discontent with the clowns from Pune. However, come August, once we are out of the Premier League we will be out of the national spotlight and nobody will care what happens to Blackburn Rovers apart from those of us for whom this club is more than an Indian plaything.

Wigan represent everything that we use to be and their heroic fight against relegation has been inspirational. How fitting it would be if they clinched their Premier League place at Ewood on Monday night whilst condemning us to relegation. I'm sure Dave Whelan will have mixed emotions sitting in the directors box but I suspect our cowardly owners won't even have the guts to witness the final act of their destruction of Jack's legacy.

[callumrovers]

I really want to show my hatred for venkys and kean on Monday night, could i get away with bringing a banner in?

[broadsword]

Doubt it.

How much would a blimp be?

[Tom]

Feckin hell Braddock, there must be more words there (would guess over 2,000) than Rovers are presently likely to have in season ticket renewals and I have better things to do than read all that!!!

You have probably given it your best shot and well done for that but, as I've flagged before, IMO, MB postings should be kept to 500 words or less for impact and if you can't get your point over within that, then why bother.

No doubt Kean's ramblings will be equally long should we suffer probable relegation on Monday night.

I fully disagree with that sentiment and this messageboard would be a worse place with a limit enforced

[Amo]

I fully disagree with that sentiment and this messageboard would be a worse place with a limit enforced

What about on a braddock by braddock basis?

[sharpysharps]

I think it'll be a 2-2 draw, and we'll be relegated, and there'll be nowhere for Kean to hide.

[47er]

While I fully appreciate the time and effort you put in writing this piece, and congratulations for that, I must admit that I find it difficult to take seriously. After attacking a previous manager who took us to the comfort of a midtable position you now implore the supporters not to attack the present manager and owners who are taking us down.

Ditto totally.

[Boz]

Braddock there is a major difference between now and other times when we've not been in the top tier, please believe me I was there in the old Third Division with only four or five thousand other souls. Back in the day we had owners, a board, managers, players, supporters all appearing to be pulling in the same direction, communicating with each other and explaining themselves, with above all else DIGNITY. Something sadly lacking from our current owners, Board of Directors and manager.

[SouthAussieRover]

Stop insulting Braddock.

Chaddyrovers will get upset.

Fair do's though Bradders. I didn't think you'd do it. To all of you dissing him (including me) who's going to do the previews next season?