[Archived] News Article -> Rovers away at Millwall in the Championship, 23rd April.

[Steve Moss]

In my opinion Venkys need to get the manager situation sorted NOW so he can prepare for next season NOW. Putting things off only weaken our prospects for next season.

And though I would wish for a manager with more fame (to attract quality players), experience (to better ensure we win) and strength of character (to control both the players and the board), the reality of the situation is how much cash is Venkys willing to throw at the Rovers? The answer may be not that much more. If so, then Gary Bowyer may be the most cost effective solution. Especially in that he's a Rover, cares about the club, wins his fair share of matches, and is relatively cheap which means what spare cash is available can be used to improve the midfield and defense, assuming we can keep our hands on the current strike force.

All in my inexpert opinion, of course.

Well done on the win and we are close to certain survival but.....................

Reading some of the posts on here I am really struggling to come to terms with some of the naive comments. Believe it or not we have already entered a critical period for next season and nothing at all has been done. Who is talking to the out of contract players? Who is deciding who stays and who goes? Who has identified any potential targets? Who is planning pre-season training? Who is planning the friendlies? Who is deciding season ticket prices? Who is targeting potential sponsors? There are lots of other things that should be happening but you can bet your bottom dollar they won't be.

We really need to hit the ground running next season and a good start is imperative. With none of the above being done at the moment I believe we will be in exactly the same position next season where we will be fighting to stay in the league and celebrating a win at the likes of Millwall like we have won the FA Cup.

+1.

I really wish Venkys' advisors tracked this board. They'd find a wealth of information and critical questions that need direct answers which would improve their reputation and might, barely, turn them into minimally competent owners.

Venkys should not be taking advice from Agnew (formerly in charge of the club mascot), Shaw (the shelf salesman of PNE fame) or Shebby Singh (who takes 5 weeks to select a manager only to sack him 2 months later).

Where did you get that rubbish from? We paid approx 1.5m for Dann. The 6m deal reported in the press included his wages over the length of the contract. It was reported like that at the request of Birmingham City who didn't want to anger their supporters.

If true that isn't a bad deal for Dann, who has been a good asset this season (though not last).

[DE.]

You can see at the end of that clip Williamson picking up the coin that was thrown at him and putting it in his sock cuts out before he gives the thumbs up, but hilarious nonetheless.

Edited April 24, 2013 by DE.

[Ricky]

I'm still trying to work out who the player who has been released is?? Robbie Cotton was supposed to be the brightest talent but hasn't pushed on yet, is it him??

[Tom]

Myles Anderson

[LeChuck]

Anywhere that shows Hanley's full run? Commentators on five live were going mental.

[m1st]

Well done on the win and we are close to certain survival but.....................

Reading some of the posts on here I am really struggling to come to terms with some of the naive comments. Believe it or not we have already entered a critical period for next season and nothing at all has been done. Who is talking to the out of contract players? Who is deciding who stays and who goes? Who has identified any potential targets? Who is planning pre-season training? Who is planning the friendlies? Who is deciding season ticket prices? Who is targeting potential sponsors? There are lots of other things that should be happening but you can bet your bottom dollar they won't be.

We really need to hit the ground running next season and a good start is imperative. With none of the above being done at the moment I believe we will be in exactly the same position next season where we will be fighting to stay in the league and celebrating a win at the likes of Millwall like we have won the FA Cup.

Yes. +1

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Why is everyone +1-ing that. FFS, there's like a stigma on here with ever being positive.

We're completely awful, have been for years now, very good chance of going down again, we win 1 game that puts us on the verge of safety, we're rightfully happy with that, and it's "oh how are you lot celebrating, don't you know what's happened".

Of course we do, but are we not allowed one night of happiness, or does everything have to be so doom and gloom for the next 10 years, no enjoyment allowed out of supporting us whatsoever.

Get a f-ing grip.

[DE.]

We're completely awful, have been for years now, very good chance of going down again, we win 1 game that puts us on the verge of safety, we're rightfully happy with that, and it's "oh how are you lot celebrating, don't you know what's happened".

Hmmm. Not sure about this.

I mean, yes, we are awful, agreed. But "for years now" ? We've been awful essentially since Venky's/Kean took over, which is just over 2 years. Before then we were just fine. The decline of the club has been extremely rapid.

Also, I'm not sure it's right to be "happy" about scraping survival in the Championship. Relieved, sure, but happy? Up until a couple of months ago we were still eyeing the playoffs! It should never have got to this point and it's quite embarrassing that it has.

[Silas]

Why is everyone +1-ing that. FFS, there's like a stigma on here with ever being positive.

We're completely awful, have been for years now, very good chance of going down again, we win 1 game that puts us on the verge of safety, we're rightfully happy with that, and it's "oh how are you lot celebrating, don't you know what's happened".

Of course we do, but are we not allowed one night of happiness, or does everything have to be so doom and gloom for the next 10 years, no enjoyment allowed out of supporting us whatsoever.

Get a f-ing grip.

+1

[yoda's brother]

Why is everyone +1-ing that. FFS, there's like a stigma on here with ever being positive.

We're completely awful, have been for years now, very good chance of going down again, we win 1 game that puts us on the verge of safety, we're rightfully happy with that, and it's "oh how are you lot celebrating, don't you know what's happened".

Of course we do, but are we not allowed one night of happiness, or does everything have to be so doom and gloom for the next 10 years, no enjoyment allowed out of supporting us whatsoever.

Get a f-ing grip.

-1

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Hmmm. Not sure about this.

I mean, yes, we are awful, agreed. But "for years now" ? We've been awful essentially since Venky's/Kean took over, which is just over 2 years. Before then we were just fine. The decline of the club has been extremely rapid.

Also, I'm not sure it's right to be "happy" about scraping survival in the Championship. Relieved, sure, but happy? Up until a couple of months ago we were still eyeing the playoffs! It should never have got to this point and it's quite embarrassing that it has.

Yea tbh that's what I meant, two years.

I was happy we won last night. I'm happy we're probably not going down. I will also be relieved if we do stay up. I get what you're saying but it's much of a muchness for me.

But say Leeds for example.....they finally got promoted from League 1......do you think they would be like "we were in the Champions League semi-final a few years ago and now you're happy we're being promoted from League 1???"....maybe some of them did, and maybe they have a point.

But what then? From now on, because we're such a joke, we're not really allowed to be pleased with anything, as we still have too many issues. We're not pretending everything is fine, just putting all the b*llocks to one side for a second.

I get all the negativity don't get me wrong, I've been behind the protests from day 1 etc.....but when people moan about every single thing.......Shaw makes stupid comments about Berg not being first choice, fine....then on another occasion (can't remember which), he says what everyone would say in that situation, and people moan that he doesn't mean it?

Everyone slags off our players. We get Jones in who people rate and it's, "well it shows how far we've fallen that a Wigan reject is one of our best players"......there was even at least one negative comment after beating Arsenal ffs.

[DE.]

People can only stay positive for so long mate. You get bombarded with negativity day after day and eventually even the positive things are just footnotes on an overall negative page.

I wouldn't begrudge anybody taking some pleasure out of last night's result, absolutely not. But at the same time those who can't feel anything positive about the club right now are totally right to feel that way as well. When you consider the bigger picture, it's difficult to find much joy in winning a single match, whether it is a big step towards survival or not.

The only way to move forward as a united fanbase in a positive fashion, IMO, is for Venky's, Agnew, Shaw and Shebby to leave the club and never make themselves heard from again. Until that happens a dark cloud will hang over Ewood - and to be honest, I fear the club will soon be eradicated entirely should Venky's stay much longer. That fear casts a long shadow over pretty much everything else happening at the club, from the games themselves to the interaction between the fans both on match day and in general.

[Mike E]

Nicely put, SIAH. Such moaners may as well be saying 'well it was only 18 years ago we won the league, so we can't be happy until we win it again!'

[donnermeat]

I'm still trying to work out who the player who has been released is?? Robbie Cotton was supposed to be the brightest talent but hasn't pushed on yet, is it him??

Just read the LT an I think it's Christopher Dilo and Matthew Urwin. Apologies if this has been said on another thread.

[Silas]

I mean, yes, we are awful, agreed. But "for years now" ? We've been awful essentially since Venky's/Kean took over, which is just over 2 years. Before then we were just fine. The decline of the club has been extremely rapid.

People seem to have some nostalgic hazy image of how great things were pre Venky's. I feel it gets a bit blurred the more time that passes.

We were still struggling back then. Sam's skills were seeing us through but we were constantly fire fighting. We were playing a CB up top and lobbing the ball to him in desperation FFS. When I heard Millwall might be doing that last night I thought it sounded a bit desperate for a game, we did it for weeks at a time.

We had no funds, regularly got hammered, and with the shift in wealth in the Premier, were looking like being relegation candidates on a more regular basis than not.

And we have had some bang average quality throughout our squad for a good while now. The fact that we look back now with steamy eyes at players like Brett Emerton, a great servant but very limited player, says it all.

People have mentioned how JR has carried us this season, but we seem to have been lucky enough to always have some-one like that around which masked some of the rest of the team. Roque, Bentley's purple patch, Bellamy for a season, McCarthy's season. Hell, even Warnock's only 2 stunning seasons in his whole career.

I think the seeds were there. Venky's decline has been catastrophic, shambolic, and a travesty, but I just don't buy we were as stable as a club back then as some of us think, John Williams and all he brought to the table excepted.

Just an opinion though.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Looking forward to it too - as long as England play to their capabilities and win of course.

Not looking forward to the dreaded news in June that Rovers have started pre-season training.

Used to love football but this Indian lot have killed it.

Mm, me too I'm afraid,

Are you absolutely sure about that? Worse than some of your seasons in the 60's and 70's? Come now I don't think so.

It is though fair to say you are one whole point above us, some achievement. I mean even though you were at one point 3 leagues above us and this shaping up to be our worst (actually maybe next to worst thinking about it) season since we were promoted to this level 14 years ago.

The gap is closing said Claret Ducky, Blue and white Neo replied 'there is no spoon'

Take it from me, first game in 1961. This is the worst team I've ever seen. Edited April 24, 2013 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[DE.]

People seem to have some nostalgic hazy image of how great things were pre Venky's. I feel it gets a bit blurred the more time that passes.

We were still struggling back then. Sam's skills were seeing us through but we were constantly fire fighting. We were playing a CB up top and lobbing the ball to him in desperation FFS. When I heard Millwall might be doing that last night I thought it sounded a bit desperate for a game, we did it for weeks at a time.

We had no funds, regularly got hammered, and with the shift in wealth in the Premier, were looking like being relegation candidates on a more regular basis than not.

And we have had some bang average quality throughout our squad for a good while now. The fact that we look back now with steamy eyes at players like Brett Emerton, a great servant but very limited player, says it all.

People have mentioned how JR has carried us this season, but we seem to have been lucky enough to always have some-one like that around which masked some of the rest of the team. Roque, Bentley's purple patch, Bellamy for a season, McCarthy's season. Hell, even Warnock's only 2 stunning seasons in his whole career.

I think the seeds were there. Venky's decline has been catastrophic, shambolic, and a travesty, but I just don't buy we were as stable as a club back then as some of us think, John Williams and all he brought to the table excepted.

Just an opinion though.

I would agree that we always needed to handle decisions very carefully due to our status - but we were a stable and well-run club. There's nothing hazy eyed about that, it's a fact. Pail Ince's reign of terror aside we did very well for ourselves for the majority of our decade-long return to the Premiership. This was mainly due to shrewd and well thought-out business decisions. There were errors and the lack of funding from the Trust was always putting us in jeopardy of being left behind by our rivals, but it's harsh to claim we were not a stable club before Venky's took over IMO, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we were doing fine, considering our league form, our squad and our position at the time.

[colin]

Silas,

Your opinion and I respect it, however to my mind the current state of Rovers is down to Venkys and no-one else.

When football was "invented" in August 1992 (that's a joke BTW) Rovers had just been promoted to the newly created "Premiership." The club has been there ever since until last season, except for 1999 to 2001 when we went into division 1 (AKA The Championship.)

That's 18 years in the top flight plus a brief drop of a couple of years into the second division. Not bad for a club & town the size of Blackburn.

Since Venkys took over when we were, once again "punching over our weight" and were 10th Venkys sacked Allerdice and installed that Keaneer Kean we escaped relagation by the skin of our teeth. Then we lost most of a well respected board of directors, finally got relegated, and now it looks as though we have just escaped another relegation by the skin of our teeth.

The club is a laughing stock, support is draining away, Venkys & Shabby are jokes within the football world.

[Silas]

Silas,

Your opinion and I respect it, however to my mind the current state of Rovers is down to Venkys and no-one else.

When football was "invented" in August 1992 (that's a joke BTW) Rovers had just been promoted to the newly created "Premiership." The club has been there ever since until last season, except for 1999 to 2001 when we went into division 1 (AKA The Championship.)

That's 18 years in the top flight plus a brief drop of a couple of years into the second division. Not bad for a club & town the size of Blackburn.

Since Venkys took over when we were, once again "punching over our weight" and were 10th Venkys sacked Allerdice and installed that Keaneer Kean we escaped relagation by the skin of our teeth. Then we lost most of a well respected board of directors, finally got relegated, and now it looks as though we have just escaped another relegation by the skin of our teeth.

The club is a laughing stock, support is draining away, Venkys & Shabby are jokes within the football world.

Yeah, fair play, I agree with all you and DE say, not arguing it. We were well run and everything was going well for a long time back then. I know that. It's more the presumption that things were going to continue that way.

The writing was always on the wall that we were going to struggle to maintain that level, I think John Williams even said it himself in an interview once. Just look at Bolton and Wolves, similar clubs to us, both relegated. And Wolves's predicament now. All done without Venky's. Wigan will no doubt go down this season after a good run up there. It's tough to keep fighting with the big boys. Stoke and Sunderland have spent fortunes and very nearly slipped towards the trapdoor this season.

That's all I am saying really. There was certainly no guarantees over our future IMO, and the notion that we were a stable top 10 or even mid-table club seems flawed to me. We could well have been heading on a not too dissimilar path regardless, the annoying thing about Venky's is that it has all been so avoidable, and through their sheer incompetence they have compounded the already fragile situation we were in.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Silas

[chris_h]

I'm still trying to work out who the player who has been released is?? Robbie Cotton was supposed to be the brightest talent but hasn't pushed on yet, is it him??

Can't be Cotton. He's the 'next Steven Gerrard'.

[Kamy100]

Millwall v Rovers Highlights:

http://www1.skysports.com/footballleague/championship/video/8670058/Milwall-1-2-Blackburn

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

The best thing I'm taking from the result last night is it opens up a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel again. At least now we've got a second chance at getting it right next season. It'll be tougher because I expect our wage bill will have to decrease over the summer, but if we can drastically improve on the managerial situation we've had this season, that should more than compensate. Bowyer is the difference now, he's set a high benchmark which I'd hope will force Venkys into either a high quality appointment, or make them stick with Bowyer. Either way I think we can at least challenge for the play-offs next season (provided we keep Rhodes or sell him for a lot and re-invest the money).

Of course there's nothing to say Venkys won't make the same mistake again, and the re-introduction of Singh into affairs suggest they're already going down that path. But at least we've been given a reason by Bowyer and his stabilising of the club to hope they won't.

Also, wanna say a massive thanks to Gary Bowyer for saving our season. Him and Rhodes are the guys I'll really be clapping on the lap of honour on saturday.

[EgyptianPete]

People can only stay positive for so long mate. You get bombarded with negativity day after day and eventually even the positive things are just footnotes on an overall negative page.

I wouldn't begrudge anybody taking some pleasure out of last night's result, absolutely not. But at the same time those who can't feel anything positive about the club right now are totally right to feel that way as well. When you consider the bigger picture, it's difficult to find much joy in winning a single match, whether it is a big step towards survival or not.

The only way to move forward as a united fanbase in a positive fashion, IMO, is for Venky's, Agnew, Shaw and Shebby to leave the club and never make themselves heard from again. Until that happens a dark cloud will hang over Ewood - and to be honest, I fear the club will soon be eradicated entirely should Venky's stay much longer. That fear casts a long shadow over pretty much everything else happening at the club, from the games themselves to the interaction between the fans both on match day and in general.

Then lets take a leaf out of Borussia Dortmumd i think 5 years ago they were nearly bankrupt, looked to me last night like the players and fans interact a fantastic atmosphere at the end of the game, i am not saying we can be the same but maybe the club needs to look at how they managed to get where they are, Schuster perhaps.

[longsiders1882]

Mm, me too I'm afraid,

Take it from me, first game in 1961. This is the worst team I've ever seen.

Yeah but he said worst season, not team. Didn't you bounce between division 2 and 3 in the 70's? Surely seasons where you were relegated to the third tier have to be classed as 'worse' - though I accept possibly my favourite season was when we were in the 4th division so what do I know.

Either way, we are back to 2 bald men arguing over a comb as one poster so succinctly put it, we have both been @#/? this season and look like staying up by the skin of our teeth - though we are still slightly in danger of dropping.

[DE.]

Then lets take a leaf out of Borussia Dortmumd i think 5 years ago they were nearly bankrupt, looked to me last night like the players and fans interact a fantastic atmosphere at the end of the game, i am not saying we can be the same but maybe the club needs to look at how they managed to get where they are, Schuster perhaps.

Considering Dortmund were and are one of the biggest teams in German football, average 80,000 fans a game, and despite the debt problems have still qualified for Europe in most seasons since 2003, a comparison seems well wide of the mark. They also never had Venky's, which is a handicap beyond any normal criteria. Despite their financial problems they have only finished lower than 9th once since 2003 in the Bundesliga, which was in 2008 when they finished 13th. They were never relegated, with 07/08 being the closest they've come by some distance.

They seem to have got out of debt primarily by loaning money off Bayern Munich and selling their stadium. Probably not something we're going to be able to emulate. Getting in a good manager helped them, of course, but considering they were still qualifying for Europe most seasons it would appear they still had a fairly decent squad.

Edited April 25, 2013 by DE.