v Middlesbrough (h) - 29/12/22

[Miller11]

2 hours ago, imy9 said:

A reality check is needed.

look at the teams in first and second place in the league, look at the players and look at how much they have spent. Now look at the teams directly below us, Watford as an example, they have £40 million pound Sarr in the first 11, what’s our squad costing us?

what is your suggestion on how we compete with these clubs with parachute payments? We can’t outspend them, so going via the academy is the way forward and being smart in the transfer market. We have literally appointed our first DOF and a complete overhaul of the backroom staff, how much time should we give them Mercer, a few months? You have criticised most of the new players (fair enough) but the manager and backroom staff came late, if I’m correct the scouting came AFTER the window.

Our two permanent signings have been a success, Sammie has been hot and cold but the rest are loans, some work and others don’t.

my general point is that in my view we won’t see a JDT team until next season, I am happy with a top 6 place this season and some exciting young players coming through. This attitude of we should be in the premier league I don’t understand, what’s happened with Venkys has happened but this is not 2000’s anymore and we have to deal with the cards dealt in front of us.

Our current reality is that while we don’t have parachute payments we also don’t have overinflated premier league salaries that would swallow them up. We are subsidised to the tune of 20 million a year by our idiot owners with very few questions asked.

We have a category one academy that has paid dividends and provided a large proportion of our first team for a long time, and despite the lies we have been fed over the last couple of years, some of the best training facilities in the league.

We have been fortunate to have had several players at this level who score a lot of goals, including one currently.

You are absolutely right that competing with the very top teams in this division is a tough task. However, there is no reason we could t mKe the playoffs. Surely being one of the best 26 teams in the country shouldn’t be beyond us?

Nobody is demanding promotion, but it should be the aim. A playoff spot would be a good achievement and is realistic. The main barriers to achieving this seem to be lack of accountability and desire.

[garnersfags]

Just read the last 4 hours of posts on here, and not a single mention of tonight's game. Think there is a JDT thread somewhere....

I am going tonight, and looking forward to it.

It's important, when we've had a series of disappointing performances and defeats, that we make sure that we are there for the victories. 

I'm concerned about BBD, both from a fitness, and transfer perspective, but if he is out tonight, Gally will hopefully prosper, as he was as poor as ever on Boxing Day. 

There are a number of regulars who haven't played well or shown much bravery for a couple of months, so it is their chance to step out of the shadows.

I hope we take the game to them, as they will be fancying a smash and grab 3 points.

See you at Ewood, and Happy New Year to you all! 🥳🍻

[simongarnerisgod]

hirst will bag a hatrick tonight,left foot inside the post after nutmegging the lenihan,right foot first time shot that beats the keeper with sheer power and soaring header that bullets itself into the top corner💥 as you can see im`e kind of clutching at straws but you gotta be optimistic

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, Doogs said:

After the boring evening against Notts Forrest last week, I just can't be bothered making the effort tonight. So I will be sat at home with a beer round the fire. Won't bother watching on the red button...This is what  the special project has done for me.

3rd in the league! 🤣

[Sweaty Gussets]

2 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

3rd in the league! 🤣

Scary innit! The football's shite but being 3rd sets us up nicely for the 2nd half of the season. It's better than being 3rd bottom. 

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, imy9 said:

A reality check is needed.

look at the teams in first and second place in the league, look at the players and look at how much they have spent. Now look at the teams directly below us, Watford as an example, they have £40 million pound Sarr in the first 11, what’s our squad costing us?

what is your suggestion on how we compete with these clubs with parachute payments? We can’t outspend them, so going via the academy is the way forward and being smart in the transfer market. We have literally appointed our first DOF and a complete overhaul of the backroom staff, how much time should we give them Mercer, a few months? You have criticised most of the new players (fair enough) but the manager and backroom staff came late, if I’m correct the scouting came AFTER the window.

Our two permanent signings have been a success, Sammie has been hot and cold but the rest are loans, some work and others don’t.

my general point is that in my view we won’t see a JDT team until next season, I am happy with a top 6 place this season and some exciting young players coming through. This attitude of we should be in the premier league I don’t understand, what’s happened with Venkys has happened but this is not 2000’s anymore and we have to deal with the cards dealt in front of us.

The way that we can compete with these clubs is by effective player trading, continuously and consistently earning profits on players and then reinvesting a percentage of that immediately, making any idea of a "project" with a start and end date a nonsense as it is always happening, in which case you don't need to write off seasons. Brentford are a great example, as soon as they sell a big name, they invest a decent chunk of that money on a new player. They were competitive with the likes of Hogan, Gray and Watkins leading the line and ended up going up with Toney having made massive profits even before that season. Had they not gone up with Toney, they would likely have sold him for a massive fee and spent another big chunk on someone else.

That will never happen under Venkys. We have signed players that have appreciated in value in recent years and they have made it up as they go along. Mowbray signed Armstrong and sold him at a huge profit, then they refused to reinvest any of it. With Brereton and Rothwell, they were developed to sell at a profit, Venkys intervened and refused to sell, so instead a big chunk of over £12m to reinvest has instead disappeared. We also have repeatedly assembled and destroyed backroom staff teams throughout their tenure which is why I am not remotely excited by the supposed new team we have, it will likely be skeletal within 2 or 3 years.

We are clearly at a disadvantage to some teams with parachute payments, although we have an Academy as good as any and we aren't saddled with Premier League wages, so we do have advantages. 

Because there isn't anything like a consistent attempt at efficient trading, it is little wonder that we tend to fall away. Our squad is particularly weak and thin at the moment with 5 of the 6 summer signings ranging from woeful (Hirst and Mola) to underwhelming (Morton and Szmodics) and made of glass (Brittain) leading to an over reliance on the academy leaving players like Vale and Garrett who clearly aren't ready to play at Championship level getting regular involvements.

When Mowbray implied that Rovers fans were living in the past, he was quite fairly lambasted. The idea that our fans think that we should be in the Premier League is simply not true.

[Gav]

57 minutes ago, booth said:

Mowbray said he didn't want a striker so you can chalk that one down to him.

He wanted an attacking player with Diaz unavailable, Dembele was bid for, wages were the problem and why we needed to sell Rothwell to fund……

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/transfer-news/blackburn-rovers-bournemouth-dembele-transfer-22940383.amp

[roversfan99]

He turned down young strikers on loan, that is on him. That has manifested in some peoples minds that he turned down decent money to pay fees for some reason. He wanted to sell Rothwell to reinvest and wasn't allowed.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, Bohinen1983 said:

Does anyone know if I can pay a tenner and watch tonights game on NOWTV?

It's on Rovers TV everywhere UK included

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by AllRoverAsia

[M_B]

52 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Then grow a pair and let the Burnley defeat go for now as the one consolation is we get another go at them this season.

The Burnley defeat has naff to do with playing Boro tonight.

No, I know, that's why I replied how I did to the original comment. 

You've replied to the follow up. 

I'm absolutely sick of reading how every decision Tomasson makes is compared to what Mowbray did or what he might have done, it's completely irrelevant and what's more, it's pathetic. 

On tonight, it's about time the club woke up to the fact that this might be the best chance in ages to reach the play offs. They need to wake up and smell it. One poster has already said he can't be arsed going tonight because of what's being served up. 

When the management are coming out with defeatist interviews like the ones yesterday, is it any wonder Waggott struggles selling tickets? 

 

 

[garnersfags]

Back to tonight, we need to remember how to play cohesively, as a team and squad that has trained together continuously for 6 months, many of them for 4 or more years. 

I know JDT is actively preventing this, but I still think that we should be able to lift our head up, see the run of a team-mate, and play a relatively straight pass for them to run on to...

It's hard to watch our inability to do this, game after game. 

Having said all that, if, and it's a very big if, JDT can bear to play the side that won SIX GAMES ON THE SPIN, we will win tonight, an then win on Sunday.

C O Y B ! !

[Aqualung]

Can't be arsed staying up till 3am to watch rovers tv here in Thailand. Too much to do tomorrow. 

But I'll bet when I'm having my post breakfast dump and reading the Let or the BBC results page, I'll know not to read the current match thread. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

20 minutes ago, Aqualung said:

But I'll bet when I'm having my post breakfast dump

That's a lovely image at tea time. Thank you🤣

[rigger]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

hirst will bag a hatrick tonight,left foot inside the post after nutmegging the lenihan,right foot first time shot that beats the keeper with sheer power and soaring header that bullets itself into the top corner💥 as you can see im`e kind of clutching at straws but you gotta be optimistic

Optimism for me, is that Hirst isn't in the squad.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Tickled me 🤣

[Aqualung]

18 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

That's a lovely image at tea time. Thank you🤣

Even better for you if you are into that stuff.... Here we have to use a bum gun first.... Jet wash your arsehole... Then deposit bog roll into a bin. 

Enjoy your dinner mate. 

Let's hope we don't get dry bummed by Boro. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

23 minutes ago, Aqualung said:

Even better for you if you are into that stuff.... Here we have to use a bum gun first.... Jet wash your arsehole... Then deposit bog roll into a bin. 

Enjoy your dinner mate. 

Let's hope we don't get dry bummed by Boro. 

Fuck me, you're grim. 

[Hasta]

Where’s Vale? 

[Sweaty Gussets]

6 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Where’s Vale? 

Day after Forest game he was back 'on the grass' training for the first time since his injury, so probs still getting up to speed. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Sweaty Gussets

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

No, I know, that's why I replied how I did to the original comment. 

You've replied to the follow up. 

I'm absolutely sick of reading how every decision Tomasson makes is compared to what Mowbray did or what he might have done, it's completely irrelevant and what's more, it's pathetic. 

On tonight, it's about time the club woke up to the fact that this might be the best chance in ages to reach the play offs. They need to wake up and smell it. One poster has already said he can't be arsed going tonight because of what's being served up. 

When the management are coming out with defeatist interviews like the ones yesterday, is it any wonder Waggott struggles selling tickets? 

 

 

He was here over 5 years he was the previous manager there are going to be frequent comparisons on both sides of the fence.

The rest i totally agree with but we do have a good home record results wise and if we win tonight yet are still a bit shit i won't care too much.

If you want promotion it's all about results, not too long ago we were dominating possession every game, creating numerous chances yet losing by the odd goal and finishing 15th.

Winning crap football for me any day over that nonsense.

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

No, I know, that's why I replied how I did to the original comment. 

You've replied to the follow up. 

I'm absolutely sick of reading how every decision Tomasson makes is compared to what Mowbray did or what he might have done, it's completely irrelevant and what's more, it's pathetic. 

On tonight, it's about time the club woke up to the fact that this might be the best chance in ages to reach the play offs. They need to wake up and smell it. One poster has already said he can't be arsed going tonight because of what's being served up. 

When the management are coming out with defeatist interviews like the ones yesterday, is it any wonder Waggott struggles selling tickets? 

 

 

I actually think last season was a better chance. Not only were we higher in the league, but we were playing better and looked more likely to continue doing so.

[tomphil]

To finish in the top 2 last season was always going to be nigh on impossible but to not finish in the top 6 was quite pathetic really.

[chaddyrovers]

8 hours ago, rigger said:

Markanday has shown nothing as a wide attacking player. He lacks the ability to beat a man with, skill, pace, or physicallity. What he has shown, is that if he is played centrally he has a good shot on him.

Hirst hasn't even shown that he is a footballer.  

Markanday isn't a striker. He role is playing from the right, cutting in onto his left foot. He does have skills and some pace. 

[Dan]

2 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

hirst will bag a hatrick tonight,left foot inside the post after nutmegging the lenihan,right foot first time shot that beats the keeper with sheer power and soaring header that bullets itself into the top corner💥 as you can see im`e kind of clutching at straws but you gotta be optimistic

How much Sherry did you put in that trifle? 😉

[chaddyrovers]

Looking forward to tonight game and watching Rovers live again. Rovers to win 2-1 with Gallagher and BBD scoring. 

3 hours ago, Mercer said:

Understand some of that but in the main it's irrelevant and as Souey often said 'you wee with the willie you have'

Key points for me:

Is the manager getting the best out of what we have - no

Do we look organised and hard to beat - no

Do we play attractive football - no

Do we have an identity - no

Has the manager been effective in player trading - no

IMO, JDT is a bullsh1tter - he does it nicely though!

Just what has JDT brought to the party?

I've marked his card and I very, very much doubt he is the man to take us back to the PL, however,  I would be delighted if he proves me wrong and I would be the first to hold up my hand if he did.

Yet, we are 3rd in the league with a new footballing management structure in place where the head coach and DoF have been 6 months, recruitment staff about 2 to 3 months so I would say we are well ahead where I thought we would be. JDT need time and patience to build his own team playing in the style he wants us to. I see this season has transition season in the long term plan of getting promote and staying there.