v Millwall (h) - Saturday 19th February

[aletheia]

Saw the pictures of snow covered pitch at midday. Thought no chance.

Few minutes, later read on here that the game was on after a pitch inspection. Very surprised.

Parked up car at around 2.15 to hear BBC radio 5 say game off.

On drive home, wondered how long it would be and what line would be taken by club apologists, apparatchiks and spin doctors. Deflection to ref was my thinking-easy scapegoat. Waggot wasted no time.

At 12, if a pitch is covered in snow, how do you make a decision to go ahead? It must be with assurances from groundstaff/Rovers officials that the ground could be made safe and playable.

It couldn’t and wasn’t.

[RevidgeBlue]

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

 

 

JFHC.

If Waggott is saying "Give it a chance" then he's effectively admitting the pitch isn't up to the required standard.

The pitch should be pristine you imbecile!

(Waggott not chaddy!)

 

Edited February 19, 2022 by RevidgeBlue

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

JFHC.

If Waggott is saying "Give it a chance" then he's effectively admitting the pitch isn't up to the required standard.

The pitch should be pristine you imbecile!

(Waggott not chaddy!)

 

How is that possibly his fault! The owners offered funding for a totally new pitch, and then ended up not doing that. It is the owners fault, no matter how much you try and deflect.

[Darrenbot]

Everbody blaming the ref not wanting it,i'll say again the Club gave him the chance to call it off,how about clearing the pitch quicker or maybe look at the weather forecast and get a cover on it overnight.Or how about this,invest in a new pitch last offseason instead of penny pinching and maybe it wouldn't be in the state its in now.

[DeeCee]

Whatever the reason it was a piss poor way of doing things.

[tomphil]

Shambolic 

EFL officials and Blackburn Rovers hierarchy regularly get invited on brewery and distillery tours. Owners of these establishments safe in the knowledge there'll never be a chance of a piss up.

Gutted as i really thought we'd get something today and fully expect all results to go against us.

[RevidgeBlue]

11 minutes ago, Gav said:

Do you think these owners will pay for a cover? Or under soil heating to be turned on?

Sorry, couldn’t resist Rev 😉

If they'd been ASKED to provide a cover in case of emergency and refused, or, said that we were not allowed to turn the heating on to save costs you might have a point for once Gav !

Somehow I'd very much doubt it.

[chaddyrovers]

8 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It wasn't seemingly that the pitch wasn't clear, it was

The whole thing should have been handled better, I think it should have been postponed earlier or alternatively perhaps delayed, an inspection 45 minutes prior is not acceptable. But putting it down to the referee wanting to be "centre of attention" is a load of bollocks.

The pitch would have been clear by kick off which is all that's matters. 

The ref handling of this game and cancelling it puts him as the centre of attention. If want to ignore or blame someone else thats your decision. 

But its now 15.54 and its been sun shining for over a hour now. The sky is clear and yet the game been called off. what a crazy decision

Why not start the game and if its unplayable after 20 mins then call it off? 

Also was you in the ground at the time of the cancellation happened? 

Plus both managers and players wanted to play the game so what's the problem? 

[chaddyrovers]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

How is that possibly his fault! The owners offered funding for a totally new pitch, and then ended up not doing that. It is the owners fault, no matter how much you try and deflect.

The pitch was playable. 

[Ben Frost]

34 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Anyone blaming the referee is missing the point by a Country mile I think. Like a dodgy tackle in the penalty area, don't put the referee in a position where he even has a call to make. 

If we still have operational undersoil heating there's no excuse at all for the pitch to have been in the snow covered condition it appeared to be in at mid day and if we know there,s a particularly bad storm on the way, is it too much effort to cover the pitch temporarily?

THe pitch should have been pristine not marginal.

Your lack of understanding is breathtaking. Undersoil heating is to prevent the pitch from freezing. Having it switched on during heavy snow is an absolute no-no. 

As for not covering it, well that's a last resort for when snow is a certainty. Given that when I was out driving just after 10am and not one single road had been gritted, and the A666 through Darwen was gridlocked for 3 hours as a result, I'd suggest that neither Rovers orthe council had any idea that weather was going to happen.

[arbitro]

24 minutes ago, 1864roverite said:

Undersoil heating doesn’t melt the snow it merely prevents the pitch from freezing. Anyone who thinks there is anything untoward other than the ref deeming it unfit for play is way off the mark in the current woke down climate  ! Back in the days of old I’ve played on may pitches that these modern day ballers wouldn’t even walk in let alone try and play - Sunday football in 5 inch of ice and snow was the norm in Chorley leagues especially at brinscall

Correct. It only stops the ground from freezing. Quite often you have a nice soft pitch but the blades of grass are white with frost when the undersoil heating is on. It certainly won't melt snow or help dry a wet pitch.

[Gav]

For anyone moaning on the bus back to Birch Hall or Feniscowles, think about these guys. Diaz looks like he maybe out for a while.
 

 

[simongarnerisgod]

if both managers and players are happy to play on it,whats the problem,it`s not like the ref is kicking the bloody ball and tackling is it,all he has to do is mince about and wave a few cards,a definate case of "authoritarian snowflake" complex going on

[aletheia]

Other local games on.

It’s funny how refs decide to pick on poor old Rovers.

[Darrenbot]

1 minute ago, simongarnerisgod said:

if both managers and players are happy to play on it,whats the problem,it`s not like the ref is kicking the bloody ball and tackling is it,all he has to do is mince about and wave a few cards,a definate case of "authoritarian snowflake" complex going on

Does he get paid double if he does the rearranged match? Maybe he's short of funds.

[rigger]

Do the refs assessors in the stands, make a report on his handling of the situation. Again if so letting this information be known to the paying public would be a pro-active move.

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

The pitch was playable. 

You cannot possibly know that, even if you was sat in your seat ridiculously early. The issue was not snow, it was water.

5 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

If they'd been ASKED to provide a cover in case of emergency and refused, or, said that we were not allowed to turn the heating on to save costs you might have a point for once Gav !

Somehow I'd very much doubt it.

This is from a fans forum from May, this proves that although a total relay was planned, it was the unwillingness of the owners to follow through with that intention due to cost, which was £2m:

"TS stated that at the last meeting the club were in the process of tendering for a complete reconstruction of the pitch at Ewood Park. SW added that a preferred supplier had been selected with a budget of close to £2m. Unfortunately, the economic situation in India and the amount of ongoing support the owners had been making through the pandemic meant that they were unwilling to approve the expenditure for a full refurbishment."

I know that this doesn't fit your agenda that the owners are changing based on whatever whispers and that Waggott and Mowbray are to blame for everything, but there you go. Black and white.

[Exiled_Rover]

25 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Tom, the pitch would have been cleared by kick off and given the current weather of bright sun shine. 

The game should be played instead of being cancel. 

Why not start then game and if it become unplayable then but is that pitch any worse than our home game against PNE? No chance but thats game was played. 

The game against PNE shouldn't have been played, imo. 

[arbitro]

2 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

if both managers and players are happy to play on it,whats the problem,it`s not like the ref is kicking the bloody ball and tackling is it,all he has to do is mince about and wave a few cards,a definate case of "authoritarian snowflake" complex going on

Whenever I did pitch inspections I always insisted,  where practical on both managers being there and got their input. Ultimately it was my decision but getting something positive or negative from them certainly influenced my decision. 

[arbitro]

1 minute ago, rigger said:

Do the refs assessors in the stands, make a report on his handling of the situation. Again if so letting this information be known to the paying public would be a pro-active move.

No.

[Gav]

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

This is from a fans forum from May, this proves that although a total relay was planned, it was the unwillingness of the owners to follow through with that intention due to cost, which was £2m:

"TS stated that at the last meeting the club were in the process of tendering for a complete reconstruction of the pitch at Ewood Park. SW added that a preferred supplier had been selected with a budget of close to £2m. Unfortunately, the economic situation in India and the amount of ongoing support the owners had been making through the pandemic meant that they were unwilling to approve the expenditure for a full refurbishment."

I was only joking with Rev, but that clearly shows where the blame sits for todays postponement in my opinion, no real surprise. 

Edited February 19, 2022 by Gav

[speedies gonna get ya.]

8 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

The game against PNE shouldn't have been played, imo. 

Totally agree. I'm obviously glad it did go ahead in the end but it could have really gone against us. At the time it suited them more as they lumped it to Evans under Mcavoy. 

It hadn't really rained much for the days leading up to game. Then really heavy downpour few  hours before KO and pitch can't cope. Got a feeling we may be here again unfortunately this season. I've never known the pitch hold water like this before. It's always been prone to it but never become waterlogged so easily before. 

[J*B]

20 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

The pitch would have been clear by kick off which is all that's matters. 

The ref handling of this game and cancelling it puts him as the centre of attention. If want to ignore or blame someone else thats your decision. 

But its now 15.54 and its been sun shining for over a hour now. The sky is clear and yet the game been called off. what a crazy decision

Why not start the game and if its unplayable after 20 mins then call it off? 

Also was you in the ground at the time of the cancellation happened? 

Plus both managers and players wanted to play the game so what's the problem? 

What would you be posting on here if Rovers where winning 3-0 after 17 minutes then the ref called the game off? How do you expect the Millwall players would have been reacting if the ball was being slowed down by a waterlogged pitch? 

The thing to do was delay kick off, not start and see how we go on. The Millwall fans where already here. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. With Brereton injured, Dack a couple of weeks away and Ayala out I found it interesting that Tony said in his interview that he asked the Referee “to prioritise the safety and well-being of the footballers”, that doesn’t sound like “play the game” to me, it sounds like someone being very clever in his wording to the referee knowing his two star players are out injured…

[RoversTilliDie]

3 hours ago, Geoff66 said:

I am just having a coffee and then a long trek to Ewood. Not that confident at the moment Diaz out the others firing blanks. Hopefully a rovers win and back on track.

Well i am back home called off at the last minute, look on the bright side Diaz out injured millwall on form with a classy winger and bournmouth would have had 3 games in hand if we had failed to win.

[tomphil]

Really is something when it comes down to if the ref fancies it or not.

If there were no doubts at 12.30 there shouldn't have been any at 1.4. Quite simply somebody should have shown a pair of balls  one way or another by 1pm and stuck to it.