Championship 23/24

[JHRover]

All these clubs seeing a surge in numbers and good old Rovers are (at best) standing still.

And to make it even worse nobody from the owners down gives a damn.

[Gav]

9 minutes ago, JHRover said:

All these clubs seeing a surge in numbers and good old Rovers are (at best) standing still.

And to make it even worse nobody from the owners down gives a damn.

I’ve been to Plymouth 5/6 times over the past 40 years and only once have we taken 1000+ fans.

Added to that, our home gates are very good on the back of 12yrs of these abhorrent owners.

It’s in the blood and no amount of mismanagement and incompetence in Pune will ever change that. 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Gav

[DE.]

Another interesting day in the Championship.

Birmingham's momentum slightly stalled with a 1-1 draw at home to Millwall. Still unbeaten and sitting in 4th, though, which they undoubtedly would have taken before the season started. Millwall meanwhile sit in 12th, with a mixed bag of results so far.

The surprise result of the day came at the Stadium of Light, where Sunderland demolished Southampton with a 5-0 victory. Rovers old boy Dack managed to get on the scoresheet. I've said previously that Southampton's defence needs to improve if they are to get anywhere, and today showed just how weak it is, against a Sunderland team who have been concerned about where their goals are coming from. They also conceded 4 against Norwich a few weeks back, so they've got some big problems to sort out. They've conceded the most goals in the division so far with 12 against. The result pushes Sunderland up to 9th, whilst Southampton drop to 7th with their first defeat of the season - and what a way to register it.

Swansea continued their poor start to the season with a 2-1 defeat at home to Bristol City. Swansea are yet to win a game this season and have lost three of their first five matches. Bristol City meanwhile have had an okay start to the season, in 8th with two wins, two draws and one defeat. 

Coventry and Watford shared the points with an entertaining 3-3 draw. It doesn't do a great deal for either club. Coventry have only won one match so far this season, drawing their last three, whilst Watford have only registered one point from the last nine available. They sit in 14th and 18th respectively.

Ipswich bounced back from their 4-2 defeat last week against Leeds with a 3-2 victory over Cardiff at Portman Road. They made hard work of it, being 2-0 down after 52 minutes, but rallied to score three in the space of twenty minutes and claim all three points. Ipswich remain in 2nd place having won four and lost one so far this season. Cardiff meanwhile sit in 19th having had an underwhelming opening five matches. 

Leeds were unable to capitalise on last week's 4-2 victory, labouring to a 0-0 home draw against Sheffield Wednesday. Despite being dominant Leeds were unable to find a way past the Sheffield Wednesday defence, which means they sit in 15th having only won a single match in their opening five games. It was Sheffield Wednesday's first point of the season, but they've only scored four goals so far this season, which will be a concern for them as they sit in 23rd with a -5 GD.

Leicester suffered their first defeat of the season, beaten at home 1-0 by Hull. Despite winning all of their matches prior to today, Leicester haven't looked convincing and have only managed seven goals so far - only one more than Rovers. Hull meanwhile, after losing their opening match, have picked up 10 points from the last 12 available and have climbed to 6th in the table. 

Boro's nightmare start to the season shows no signs of abating, as they were beaten 2-0 by QPR at home. Boro sit bottom of the Championship, having lost four games and drawn one. They are the lowest scorers in the division so far and joint second-worst in terms of goals conceded. They also have the worst GD in the division with -8. QPR rise to 17th, with two wins and three defeats in their opening five games. 

Plymouth beat Rovers 3-0. I don't want to talk about it.

Rotherham sprung a surprise by beating Norwich 2-1 at home. It was their first win of the season and helped them move up to 20th. Rotherham are scoring goals, but conceding 11 leaves them joint second-worst for goals conceded alongside Boro. If they are able to sort their defence they may be alright. It was Norwich's first defeat of the season, and drops them to 5th.

Preston continue to ride their current wave of momentum with a 2-0 away victory at Stoke. Having only conceded 3 goals so far, their defence is the bedrock of their current success. They've only scored one more goal than us, but as I continue to repeat like a locked-up madman, defence is the key to success. Preston in first and Ipswich in second is certainly not something many would have predicted for the first five matches of the season. Stoke seem to have the same issues as previous seasons - a talented but underperforming and inconsistent team. They've won two and lost three, placing them in 16th.

Finally, Huddersfield were another team who picked up their first victory of the season, managing to defeat WBA 2-1 at the Hawthorns. Some relief for Warnock after a difficult start to the season. WBA have had a stuttering start, with two wins, a draw and two defeats. They're scoring plenty, joint-third top scorers in the division alongside Southampton, but much like Southampton they have problems defensively and have already let in nine goals. It remains to be seen whether Corberan can tighten up their defence - if not then their current position of 11th will likely be close to where they finish. Meanwhile Huddersfield have clawed themselves out of the relegation zone and into 21st place.

Next up for Rovers is Boro at home. What odds on Boro picking up their first win of the season at Ewood? Let's hope we come back from the international break in better shape and continue to extend Boro's miserable start to the season. 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by DE.

[Mattyblue]

We have a pitiful 9,000 ST holders, it’s of course understandable why after 12 years of these abhorrent owners, indeed fair play to every one of the 9,000 that have stuck with it, we know exactly who is to blame for these numbers and it ain’t the supporters… but ‘very good’ in the context of the booming division we are in (and the rest of football) it ain’t.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

6 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

We have a pitiful 9,000 ST holders, it’s of course understandable why after 12 years of these abhorrent owners, indeed fair play to every one of the 9,000 that have stuck with it, we know exactly who is to blame for these numbers and it ain’t the supporters… but ‘very good’ in the context of the booming division we are in (and the rest of football) it ain’t.

Irrelevant as I've told you many times Matty, only relevant to Waggott.

Success on the pitch increase the gates, increase the gates and season tickets increase. 

6000+ at Sheff Utd in FA Cup last season, the biggest away following in decades, season tickets played no part whatsoever, its all about a successful team.

[Mattyblue]

You consistently miss the point on this issue, Christ knows why as it’s been pointed out to you on many occasions (and not just by me).

I’ll explain again…English football is seeing its biggest league crowds since the 1950s… but not here. The vast majority of those clubs are doing feck all on the pitch either, not stopping their crowds booming.

So why aren’t ours? You had the answer and the culprits banged to rights in your previous post.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

16 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

You consistently miss the point on this issue, Christ knows why as it’s been pointed out to you on many occasions (and not just by me).

I’ll explain again…English football is seeing its biggest league crowds since the 1950s… but not here. The vast majority of those clubs are doing feck all on the pitch either, not stopping their crowds booming.

So why aren’t ours? You had the answer and the culprits banged to rights in your previous post.

Our gates are slightly up, season ticket prices are up too, away support is better than under Allardyce in Premiership at times. 

You don’t understand how our support works, look at history, it always tells the story. 

Give the Blackburn public a successful team to support and they’ll come out in big numbers, season tickets sales and prices are irrelevant as Sheff Utd away last season proved. 
 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Gav

[Mattyblue]

Apart from the Coyle season our Championship gates are exactly where they’ve been since 2012 - c14k. This was pointed out to you the other week, unsurprisingly you ignored it. The away support is excellent, never said otherwise, but that’s a totally different issue.

I certainly do understand the support, you are just struggling to understand the argument. I totally agree re success, if we got into the play off semi, would we see a big crowd? Yes, Wembley? Massive. Premier League? Would be just like the old days. Who would possibly argue differently? Every club is exactly like that. Success increases gates, true since time immemorial.

However, 90% of the time clubs aren’t particularly successful, right now 90% of clubs aren’t particularly successful, yet crowds are stil booming across the game, ours aren’t. Surely you can see what I’m driving at?

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

So you claim we’re getting the same gates today, we were in the Premiership/championship in 2012? After 12yrs of shite you expect those gates to have increased because the trend nationally has gone up?

Edited September 2, 2023 by Gav

[Mattyblue]

I don’t ‘claim’ anything, those are the facts (obviously I’m talking Championship, I.e 2012/13 onwards by the way, the PL is always a different issue entirely).

No, where have I said I expect to be having bigger gates? We lost nearly half our ST holders in the summer of 2012 after they inexplicably kept Ke*n on that summer (clubs normally keep the vast majority of their ST base post relegation, ours haemorrhaged) and we’ve never recovered. Totally to be expected when the team has largely treaded water ever since.

So what do you do when we have so much lost ground to make up? Just wait and wait and wait and wait forlornly rattling around in a ground that often has 17/18,000+ empty seats until we miraculously pull off a promotion or do you do look to do something proactive about filling plenty more of those seats in this very long meantime?  

Alas, these owners have decided to employ people who are happy to wait and wait and wait and wait, revenue targets seem to be getting hit regardless, so that’s that really, why do they give a toss either way? But that’s a choice that’s being made, it doesn’t have to be this way.
 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mattyblue

[DeeCee]

2 hours ago, Gav said:

I’ve been to Plymouth 5/6 times over the past 40 years and only once have we taken 1000+ fans.

Added to that, our home gates are very good on the back of 12yrs of these abhorrent owners.

It’s in the blood and no amount of mismanagement and incompetence in Pune will ever change that. 

 

Think it was 1148 today.

[Upside Down]

So there's great attendance figures everywhere and we're taking good numbers away.

Just Ewood that's 2/3rds empty every week.

I wonder why that would be 🤔

[Hasta]

16 hours ago, Gav said:

6000+ at Sheff Utd in FA Cup last season, the biggest away following in decades, season tickets played no part whatsoever, its all about a successful team.

But practically all of the 6000 were season ticket holders. So they were already committed fans. It’s nonsense that is peddled that a load of glory hunters who don’t attend Ewood suddenly rocked up at Bramall Lane. 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Hasta

[Gav]

15 minutes ago, Hasta said:

But practically all of the 6000 were season ticket holders. So they were already committed fans. It’s nonsense that is peddled that a load of glory hunters who don’t attend Ewood suddenly rocked up at Bramall Lane. 

How do you work out that practically 6000 were season ticket holders 🤣

Utter nonsense Hasta with respect, tickets were on open sale.

[roversfan99]

They did go on to open sale, but I am sure that most were bought before that point.

[Gav]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

They did go on to open sale, but I am sure that most were bought before that point.

The initial allocation was around 4800 if memory serves me correctly and they went on open sale, I bought extra tickets in that period myself, then an extra 1000  were made available, so its nonsense they practically all went to season ticket holders. 

 

[Hasta]

5 minutes ago, Gav said:

The initial allocation was around 4800 if memory serves me correctly and they went on open sale, I bought extra tickets in that period myself, then an extra 1000  were made available, so its nonsense they practically all went to season ticket holders. 

 

Around 4000 were sold before open sale. So about 70% of the 5,700.

I doubt there were many people at Bramall Lane who hadn’t already attended Rovers games that season. The way some people talk it’s like we took thousands of day trippers who didn’t bother attending any other games and only went cos it was an FA cup quarter final.

Great effort for a 12pm kick off live on tv with no trains BTW.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Hasta

[Mattyblue]

There are also those fans that just go to away games anyway, not for ‘glory’, but because ‘Ewood’s shit’ and they want a day on the piss etc, always at PNE, Wigan etc.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

1 minute ago, Hasta said:

Around 4000 were sold before open sale. So about 70% of the 5,700.

I doubt there were many people at Bramall Lane who hadn’t already attended Rovers games that season. The way some people talk it’s like we took thousands of day trippers who didn’t bother attending any other games and only went cos it was an FA cup quarter final.

Great effort for a 12pm kick off live on tv with no trains BTW.

I don’t buy into the day tripper theory either, although we had 2 Wednesday fans with us.

Yes phenomenal effort by our fans and shows the club still has that pull, if the side are doing well. 

[Mattyblue]

No arguments there (just like there wasn’t last night), big events create big interest, that’s football fans the world over.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Mattyblue

[bazza]

On 28/08/2023 at 12:39, Norbert Rassragr said:

I'd need to check to see if I'm right, but I believe Queen Victoria was still alive the last time Preston win a league title or cup. Unless they won the Anglo-Italian Cup, Texaco Trophy or that one the lower two league divisions play.

 

On 28/08/2023 at 18:58, wilsdenrover said:

Won the FA Cup in the thirties (I had to check too)

George Mutch, penalty. 1938

[BRFC4EVA]

Something else I obviously missed over the summer was that con merchant Russell Martin getting the Saints job. After 2 years of midtable mediocrity with Swansea, conceding groundhog day over playing it goals every week, with their fans constantly asking for his head, he's somehow been rewarded?! I assume cos he 'tries to play the right way'. 

Certainly makes Southampton a lot less likely to go up imo-bear in mind they've already scabbed a couple of late goals.

[DE.]

2 hours ago, BRFC4EVA said:

Something else I obviously missed over the summer was that con merchant Russell Martin getting the Saints job. After 2 years of midtable mediocrity with Swansea, conceding groundhog day over playing it goals every week, with their fans constantly asking for his head, he's somehow been rewarded?! I assume cos he 'tries to play the right way'. 

Certainly makes Southampton a lot less likely to go up imo-bear in mind they've already scabbed a couple of late goals.

Certainly doesn't seem like a smart appointment. A relegated club should be looking for a manager who can get results, by whatever means necessary, to get them out of the division at the first attempt. It gets more difficult every year afterwards. Martin didn't pull up any trees at Swansea, and if I was in charge of finding a manager, "playing football the right way" would not be a top priority. 

With that said, the likes of Scott Parker have achieved promotion, so with enough budget most competent managers should be able to at the very least have a recently relegated club in the top six. It remains to be seen if Martin can get it together at Southampton, but defensively they are atrocious.

[LeftWinger]

13 hours ago, BRFC4EVA said:

Something else I obviously missed over the summer was that con merchant Russell Martin getting the Saints job. After 2 years of midtable mediocrity with Swansea, conceding groundhog day over playing it goals every week, with their fans constantly asking for his head, he's somehow been rewarded?! I assume cos he 'tries to play the right way'. 

Certainly makes Southampton a lot less likely to go up imo-bear in mind they've already scabbed a couple of late goals.

He's hardly torn up trees at either MK Dons or Swansea. No idea why people rate him so highly. His win percentage over his career is 37.3% compared to JDT at 47.7% for example. 

[Mattyblue]

He plays football the right way, supposedly…