Championship - 22-23

[Upside Down]

What a piss poor end to the season. 

Preston really is a pathetic excuse of a town and football club. 

[booth]

2 hours ago, Silas said:

How badly this near miss hurts will depend on how the playoffs go.

If Luton and Boro sail thro to the final, as expected, then it's quite easy to take.

But if other things start happening, it's going to be a bitter pill to swallow. 

I'm very uneasy that the pain and suffering hasn't finished yet, despite the final whistle being blown on our season. 

The thing that will hurt the most is if Waggot and co think they can go into another season coasting it. Much worse than Burnley easily going straight back up, being well beaten at home to Preston or Mowbray having success at Sunderland.

[superniko]

In the interest of Blackburn Rovers 23/24, hopefully Boro go up in the playoffs as they are the best team, on and off the pitch.

Luton I can see regressing next year, especially if they lose a few.

Coventry will likely lose Gyokores and maybe Hamer, and it's unlikely they will reinvest much of it

Sunderland will lose their loan players who have been the difference and have a full window under Mowbrays meddling.

Nothing to fear from those 3 if we actually back JDT this summer.

Add in that West Brom are now skint, Norwich and Watford are final year of parachute paymements so shit or bust for them and below us it doesn't seem many will make improvements. Swansea and Stoke probably the two, maybe Hull, as well as an inevitable good season for Ipswich.

Should be very open, if we fix our glaring issues (everyone on the board has pretty much agreed with positions that need filling) then I'd say Top 6 is an expectation next season (5 non-relegated teams finished top 6 this year).

[danger19_80]

1 hour ago, superniko said:

In the interest of Blackburn Rovers 23/24, hopefully Boro go up in the playoffs as they are the best team, on and off the pitch.

Luton I can see regressing next year, especially if they lose a few.

Coventry will likely lose Gyokores and maybe Hamer, and it's unlikely they will reinvest much of it

Sunderland will lose their loan players who have been the difference and have a full window under Mowbrays meddling.

Nothing to fear from those 3 if we actually back JDT this summer.

Add in that West Brom are now skint, Norwich and Watford are final year of parachute paymements so shit or bust for them and below us it doesn't seem many will make improvements. Swansea and Stoke probably the two, maybe Hull, as well as an inevitable good season for Ipswich.

Should be very open, if we fix our glaring issues (everyone on the board has pretty much agreed with positions that need filling) then I'd say Top 6 is an expectation next season (5 non-relegated teams finished top 6 this year).

Don't forget 3 of (likely) Everton, Leicester, Leeds and Southampton to throw into the mix. Will make it very tough.

[superniko]

Just now, danger19_80 said:

Don't forget 3 of (likely) Everton, Leicester, Leeds and Southampton to throw into the mix. Will make it very tough.

Yeah, most years the 3 relegated teams are competitive, but outside of themselves I don't think anyone is substantially better than us bar Boro. If Boro go up too then we have no excuses (providing we have a competent transfer window)

[sharpysharps86]

What an utterly bizarre season.

Going into it my expectations were simply 'don't get relegated'. Losing Lenihan, Van Hecke and Rothwell combined with hiring someone with no prior coaching experience in England could've gone south very quickly, especially when you look at how the summer transfer window went. If I'd known we were to finish 7th at the start of the season with no further context then I'd have been very happy with that return. However....

With how the season unfolded I can't help but feel a good chunk of disappointment that we aren't in the playoffs. I think we never dropped lower than 10th all season (correct me if I' wrong on that!), and spent the majority of the time in the top 6. To be 3rd in March after beating Sheffield United was uncharted territory for us as we're usually well and truly in our implosion phase by then.

Recruitment was poor overall. Hyam the only player to hit the ground running, while it took Szmodics a good while to settle. Of the players we brought in, these two were the only positives in the end. Morton flattered to deceive. Brittain was injured too often but I have hopes that he'll kick on next year. Mola was terrible.

Given the context of how we've missed out on the playoffs, it's hard to not look back at a series of awful refereeing decisions and plain old bad luck that cost us over the course of the season. Cardiff away, Huddersfield away, Burnley at home, Coventry at home, PNE away...the list goes on.

Because the Championship is such a crazy league I will go to next season with the same expectation as the last, but the hope is that we are up there again and will have improved as a team. We've seen some brilliant youngsters step up and I hope we can build a team around the likes of Adam Wharton, Ash Phillips, JRC, and Hayden Carter. The summer will be interesting, the club have another rebuild on their hands with BBD gone, Dack and Ayala likely to follow. Uncertainty over Kaminski as well I'm sure after Pears took his place. It is perhaps less severe than last summer thanks to the emergence of some of the youngsters.

The biggest challenge will be sorting out our attacking players and bringing in a proper CM. I don't think any of our remaining attackers are good enough to start at the moment. With who we have left its basically Dolan, Gallagher and Hedges. That is a bang average front 3. I think we need a whole new forward line 😂😬.

I'd be looking to make Hyam the club captain. Travis has shown his limitations this season. He's been poor overall and for all the sh*thousing, he's really ineffective and makes some shocking decisions so I'm not even sure he warrants a place in the starting 11. If Brittain is fit then I'd be moving JRC into midfield at Trav's expense. JRC has gone from being the player that I dreaded seeing on the team sheet to my favourite player in this group. It's an incredible turnaround.

If there's any justice, then 3rd place wins the playoffs. I don't have any ill feeling towards Mowbray and Sunderland getting there, but that might change if they end up winning the thing!

 

[philipl]

Boro, Luton, Coventry and Sunderland- what a quartet!

Did anyone predict them for the play-offs?

[Mattyblue]

Sky will be praying for a Boro/Sunderland final so they can spend hours waxing lyrical about ‘north east passion’, ‘a hotbed’.

Pass the sick bag  🤮 

[philipl]

Looking at it from a Rovers viewpoint, we'd be really fancying our chances if we were in there.

Boro - won away but the Buckley ball bounce cost us a well deserved lead and all 3 points at Ewood

Luton - stupidly lost a game which should have been drawn away then Sammy's crossbar thunderbolt at Ewood cost us everything

Coventry - another stupid away defeat when a draw would have been a fair result and let's not talk about their keeper's expert handling in the 93rd minute at Ewood

Sunderland - one of the easiest wins of the season at Ewood and threw away a winning position with, wait for it, a 93rd minute clincher from a loan player's last ever kick for Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

I think I want to find a dark room for a quiet sob. 

 

[booth]

9 minutes ago, philipl said:

Looking at it from a Rovers viewpoint, we'd be really fancying our chances if we were in there.

Boro - won away but the Buckley ball bounce cost us a well deserved lead and all 3 points at Ewood

Luton - stupidly lost a game which should have been drawn away then Sammy's crossbar thunderbolt at Ewood cost us everything

Coventry - another stupid away defeat when a draw would have been a fair result and let's not talk about their keeper's expert handling in the 93rd minute at Ewood

Sunderland - one of the easiest wins of the season at Ewood and threw away a winning position with, wait for it, a 93rd minute clincher from a loan player's last ever kick for Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

I think I want to find a dark room for a quiet sob. 

 

I hope Boro batter Coventry in both legs, then we sign Gyokeres. Their keeper ends up sent to a none league team for letting in 10 at home. Cheating goalkeeping tw*t.

[Hasta]

13 minutes ago, philipl said:

Looking at it from a Rovers viewpoint, we'd be really fancying our chances if we were in there.

Boro - won away but the Buckley ball bounce cost us a well deserved lead and all 3 points at Ewood

Luton - stupidly lost a game which should have been drawn away then Sammy's crossbar thunderbolt at Ewood cost us everything

Coventry - another stupid away defeat when a draw would have been a fair result and let's not talk about their keeper's expert handling in the 93rd minute at Ewood

Sunderland - one of the easiest wins of the season at Ewood and threw away a winning position with, wait for it, a 93rd minute clincher from a loan player's last ever kick for Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

I think I want to find a dark room for a quiet sob. 

 

To be fair I felt we got what we deserved at both Luton and Coventry. We only had 3 shots on target across both games. They were two of those early seasons games where we had a load of possession around our own penalty box, got caught out a few times and failed to really create much going forward. Fortunately we cut those kind of performances out in the second half of the season.

As for Boro at Ewood, they had already equalised before Buckley bounced the ball off their guys bonnet. I remember because they scored that quickly in the second half I hadn't got back up to my seat.

Agree with the wider point though. Had we snuck in there I wouldn't be partcilaulry fearful of any.

[roversfan99]

Probably highlights that Mowbray is perhaps not the joke of a manager people perhaps thought on here last season, done a superb job to get them in the play offs with a very young squad and no fit striker off the back of a few years in League 1.

Up there with the likes of Robins, Edwards and Carrick with as much of a genuine shout for manager of the year, with a shout for Warnock who did a superb job as a firefighter at Huddersfield despite being labelled a dinosaur. 

There was a great chance for a play off place there for us that we fucked up.

[Mattyblue]

Of course he’s isn’t. It’s only this place that loses its marbles over him.

[speeeeeeedie]

26 minutes ago, Hasta said:

To be fair I felt we got what we deserved at both Luton and Coventry. We only had 3 shots on target across both games. They were two of those early seasons games where we had a load of possession around our own penalty box, got caught out a few times and failed to really create much going forward. Fortunately we cut those kind of performances out in the second half of the season.

As for Boro at Ewood, they had already equalised before Buckley bounced the ball off their guys bonnet. I remember because they scored that quickly in the second half I hadn't got back up to my seat.

Agree with the wider point though. Had we snuck in there I wouldn't be partcilaulry fearful of any.

It was a strange season.

Christmas Day was the halfway point of the season with 23 games played.

Rovers were 3rd. 39 points, 13 wins, 10 losses, 0 draws. +1 GD (27, 26).

I thought performances improved after Christmas but results were worse. Only 30 points earned over the same amount of games.

Second half; 7 wins, 7 losses, 9 draws. -3 GD (25,28).

A similar amount of goals for and against in both halves.

[booth]

16 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Probably highlights that Mowbray is perhaps not the joke of a manager people perhaps thought on here last season, done a superb job to get them in the play offs with a very young squad and no fit striker off the back of a few years in League 1.

Up there with the likes of Robins, Edwards and Carrick with as much of a genuine shout for manager of the year, with a shout for Warnock who did a superb job as a firefighter at Huddersfield despite being labelled a dinosaur. 

There was a great chance for a play off place there for us that we fucked up.

There was a great chance for a play off place last season that he fucked up.

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, booth said:

There was a great chance for a play off place last season that he fucked up.

Very similar situations over both seasons, both managers deserve criticism for certain tactical choices in that time having done so well initially. But both have had limitations based on how the club is run above them.

[booth]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

Very similar situations over both seasons, both managers deserve criticism for certain tactical choices in that time having done so well initially. But both have had limitations based on how the club is run above them.

Yep. And one had five years and a lot more money to do it.

[Silas]

18 hours ago, booth said:

The thing that will hurt the most is if Waggot and co think they can go into another season coasting it. Much worse than Burnley easily going straight back up, being well beaten at home to Preston or Mowbray having success at Sunderland.

That's the sensible, big picture, forward planning view.

I can't bring myself to look to next season yet, until this one is fully wrapped up.

It's not just the Mowbray factor, if Coventry somehow do it it's going to break my heart. What an opportunity wasted.

But if Boro cruise to the trophy,  it won't feel like we've missed out on much. Other than a potential first trip to Wembley.

[Groundhog]

Mowbray has only "succeeded" this season due to teams around him falling apart. It's been a shocking race for the top 6, more like "who wants 5th and 6th the least" rather than a race. They've shown a slight uptake in form compared to everyone else and they've snuck in, that's it. Hyam doesn't score an own goal against PNE and Sunderland are 2 points outside the playoffs, hard luck. 

I'm sorry I don't get the love in from the media, he's probably good with young players, always lets his teams go out and play but when the going gets tough I don't think he can handle it. 

Just like when were in the top 6 last season in January, I feel like we were there in spite of the manager, not down to his tactical genius, he had no clue how to fix it when results started to wobble. With Sunderland, it's a fair achievement considering their injuries, but it's the same situation - those players have dragged themselves up there due to some sort of siege mentality not because Mowbray is a genius - they've got some talented loans too. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Groundhog

[booth]

4 minutes ago, Groundhog said:

Mowbray has only "succeeded" this season due to teams around him falling apart. It's been a shocking race for the top 6, more like "who wants 5th and 6th the least" rather than a race. They've shown a slight uptake in form compared to everyone else and they've snuck in, that's it. Hyam doesn't score an own goal against PNE and Sunderland are 2 points outside the playoffs, hard luck. 

I'm sorry I don't get the love in from the media, he's probably good with young players, always lets his teams go out and play but when the going gets tough I don't think he can handle it. 

Just like when were in the top 6 last season in January, I feel like we there in spite of the manager, not down to his tactical genius, he had no clue how to fix it when results started to wobble. With Sunderland, it's a fair achievement considering their injuries, but it's the same situation - those players have dragged themselves up there due to some sort of siege mentality not because Mowbray is a genius - they've got some talented loans too. 

His insistence on not bringing in a striker here is a big reason for Sunderland getting into the play offs.

We were a 16 goal striker away from being above them.

[phili]

14 minutes ago, booth said:

His insistence on not bringing in a striker here is a big reason for Sunderland getting into the play offs.

We were a 16 goal striker away from being above them.

I see he is now saying it's never too early to gain promotion to the premier league, which is surprising after saying he had to calm Venky's down from going for a double promotion as we would be promoted too early in the journey. As we all know Venky's then lost interest.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, speeeeeeedie said:

I thought performances improved after Christmas but results were worse. Only 30 points earned over the same amount of games.

Yes that's true. Early season I was going into work on a Monday forever telling the supporters of other clubs that we had won but didn't play that well and were once again a bit lucky. I remember chatting to a supplier from Birmingham after the Birmingham game at Ewood saying we were pinned back and hanging on and lucky to escape with the 3 points. There were a few of games like that.

Whereas recently Huddersfield, Coventry, Preston we definitely deserved the 3 points based on our performance but the early season fortune had forsaken us.

I knew walking back to the station at Preston that what I had witnessed was the moment it had slipped. I couldn't see 6 points from the remaining 3 games and that's exactly how it panned out. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Hasta

[roversfan99]

We had a 16 goal striker and still didn't make it.

[XLM]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Very similar situations over both seasons, both managers deserve criticism for certain tactical choices in that time having done so well initially. But both have had limitations based on how the club is run above them.

Very similar outcomes and January windows. Very different story on the pitch.

This season we got better as the season went on. We got so much more confident in possession, the style of play became much clearer and we actually started dominating games rather than scoring with our one shot and holding on. Unfortunately we used up all our luck pre World Cup and it came back to bite us in the last month. Over the whole season we weren't good enough to be in the top 6 but by the end of the season I'm convinced we were easily one of the 6 best teams.

Compare that to last season where we looked good until Christmas and faded badly towards the end. In both results and performances. Again, we didn't deserve to be in the playoffs over the entire season and we definitely weren't one of the best 6 teams in the league by the time the season was over. So much so that most probably fearer for how we'd fare this season.

You can see what we're trying to do now, what we're trying to be. That was never the case in 5 years under the old manager.

A few astute signings in the summer, JDT still being here and I will be counting down the days to the first game.

[roversfan99]

18 minutes ago, XLM said:

Very similar outcomes and January windows. Very different story on the pitch.

This season we got better as the season went on. We got so much more confident in possession, the style of play became much clearer and we actually started dominating games rather than scoring with our one shot and holding on. Unfortunately we used up all our luck pre World Cup and it came back to bite us in the last month. Over the whole season we weren't good enough to be in the top 6 but by the end of the season I'm convinced we were easily one of the 6 best teams.

Compare that to last season where we looked good until Christmas and faded badly towards the end. In both results and performances. Again, we didn't deserve to be in the playoffs over the entire season and we definitely weren't one of the best 6 teams in the league by the time the season was over. So much so that most probably fearer for how we'd fare this season.

You can see what we're trying to do now, what we're trying to be. That was never the case in 5 years under the old manager.

A few astute signings in the summer, JDT still being here and I will be counting down the days to the first game.

I don't think it is about luck and I don't think in the main that our confidence has led to any more of an attacking threat. We have also gradually lost our earlier ability under Tomasson in which our game management was excellent, indeed that has become a weakness. We had collected 5 points in 9 games prior to yesterday so I couldn't justify an opinion that we are know one of the top 6 sides in the league.

I think a lot of both seasons has coincided with Brereton and his form. Last season, he thrived in that 3 at the back formation and his injury really knocked us off stride and even when he returned he wasnt the same. This season his form has gone off the boil. The worry in both seasons is the inability of the supporting cast to step up. We need to not only replace him which will be impossible but also add more goalscorers and I fear aided with no money and a director of football with more questions than answers that the necessary attacking overhaul will not arrive.