John Eustace - our head coach

[chaddyrovers]

13 minutes ago, Andy said:

I'm not surprised that JE is considering his future already - the writing is well and truly on the wall as to which direction the club is heading.

The bigger worry for me is who'll replace him, considering Duncan Fucking Ferguson was Waggott's choice before Broughton arrived and pulled the plug at the last minute.

Once again, nothing will improve at the club until the underlying cancers are removed.

Who says he is considering his future? 

On Ferguson, It was Ancelotti who recommend him to Waggott personally by ringing him directly and speaking to Waggott. 

3 minutes ago, Gav said:

I saw an interview with Troy Deeney at the end of last season, he was watching Rovers training and is a very good mate of Eustace. 

Deeney was pretty unequivocal, Eustace was fully aware of what he was coming into when he signed.

‘He loves a challenge, he doesn’t want it easy, when the odds are stacked against him he thrives’

Make of that what you will.
 

Exactly, Eustace and Deeney are very good mates and he did say this. Eustace will have know the situation here before he joined us

[Mattyblue]

Translation = he needed the money.

[Forever Blue]

31 minutes ago, Gav said:

I saw an interview with Troy Deeney at the end of last season, he was watching Rovers training and is a very good mate of Eustace. 

Deeney was pretty unequivocal, Eustace was fully aware of what he was coming into when he signed.

‘He loves a challenge, he doesn’t want it easy, when the odds are stacked against him he thrives’

Make of that what you will.
 

I saw the same interview. The challenge that Deeney was on about was Rovers staying up. 
 

Eustace would have also seen the statement from the club about the funding issue being resolved. 
 

My guess is that like JDT last summer, Eustace is now realising he’s been sold a pup. He is quoted as saying he needs 4 or 5 quality signings. He wouldn’t say that if he didn’t think it was realistic. 

[Forever Blue]

16 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Exactly, Eustace and Deeney are very good mates and he did say this. Eustace will have know the situation here before he joined us

He did say it, but not in the context you’re implying.

[ABBEY]

1 hour ago, Forever Blue said:

Or he took the job based on promises around finance that have proven to be bollocks.

was he stupid or naive 

[chaddyrovers]

4 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

He did say it, but not in the context you’re implying.

People within football talk. Agents talk, managers talk. 

You honest think Eustace wasn't aware of the McGuire deal fiasco or the comments from JDT post QPR when he went into full rant mode 

[Forever Blue]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

People within football talk. Agents talk, managers talk. 

You honest think Eustace wasn't aware of the McGuire deal fiasco or the comments from JDT post QPR when he went into full rant mode 

That’s all irrelevant. What is relevant is if he was made promises when he took the job about budgets this summer. 

[chaddyrovers]

1 minute ago, Forever Blue said:

That’s all irrelevant. What is relevant is if he was made promises when he took the job about budgets this summer. 

No its ALL relevant. He and his agent would have done their homework on the club and what has gone on here. 

Who knows what promises he was made if any. The rest is all pointless speculation  

[Forever Blue]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

No its ALL relevant. He and his agent would have done their homework on the club and what has gone on here. 

Who knows what promises he was made if any. The rest is all pointless speculation  

Your last sentence is the relevant part. The rest isn’t. 
 

If he was made promises about budgets that aren’t kept he will be unhappy. 
 

He won’t give a shiny shite what has gone on before he arrived at the club. 

[ABBEY]

28 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

People within football talk. Agents talk, managers talk. 

You honest think Eustace wasn't aware of the McGuire deal fiasco or the comments from JDT post QPR when he went into full rant mode 

go right back to the moment the rats took over the ship

[JBiz]

Deserves a chance. Will see how things turn out but he’s playing a very thin hand.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, Inferi said:

Cannot agree. His interviews are very Kean-esque even though he hasn't directly praised the owners. Him first praising the quality of the squad and then resorting to cowardly tactics to grind out (mediocre) results. The "no excuses except every single excuse in the book culture". "No major surgery required". And more recently "Hedges is like a new signing".

“ Cowardly Tactics “ ? What the bollocks does that look like ?  I didn’t know the “ Queensbury Rules “ applied to football. You find a way to win, to keep us in the division. End of. That’s it.

[Inferi]

30 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

“ Cowardly Tactics “ ? What the bollocks does that look like ?  I didn’t know the “ Queensbury Rules “ applied to football. You find a way to win, to keep us in the division. End of. That’s it.

Cowardly tactics as in having a loser mentality. Cowardly tactics as in playing very defensively against poor teams even at home because of fear of losing. We didn't win many games.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 minutes ago, Inferi said:

Cowardly tactics as in having a loser mentality. Cowardly tactics as in playing very defensively against poor teams even at home because of fear of losing. We didn't win many games.

What did you expect with the squad we ended up with ? Take Sammi out of that team and we didn’t have a goal threat anywhere. 

[Inferi]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What did you expect with the squad we ended up with ? Take Sammi out of that team and we didn’t have a goal threat anywhere. 

Well, in Eustace's own words:

This football club has some fantastic young players, the recruitment has been very good, the coaching has been excellent and it’s my job to try and evolve that and put my own stamp on it.

[Mattyblue]

Reads like standard boilerplate BS from an incoming manager.

What did you expect him to say? ‘Pretty poor bunch this lot, terrible recruitment, but I’ll give keeping us up a go’.

[Andy]

Sometimes it's better to say nothing than risk sounding stupid.

[Mattyblue]

They all say that stuff, PR guff, part of the media training. It’s why I don’t listen to manager interviews (I made an exception for JDT), so only poor results get me riled, not the claptrap they come out with too.

Edited July 21, 2024 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

Those tactics might grind out more points in the first half of this season than the much more open tactics of last season despite the sparse lightweight squad.

That's why he's here and that's what the grifters who run the club are banking on although all that depends on Szmodics as well.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

45 minutes ago, Inferi said:

Well, in Eustace's own words:

This football club has some fantastic young players, the recruitment has been very good, the coaching has been excellent and it’s my job to try and evolve that and put my own stamp on it.

What do you expect him to say ? “ Jesus Christ, what a load of wasters I’ve walked into here. If I keep this lot up it will be a miracle “ ?

[Inferi]

12 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What do you expect him to say ? “ Jesus Christ, what a load of wasters I’ve walked into here. If I keep this lot up it will be a miracle “ ?

Does it have to be one extreme or the other?  It's just one of the things that made him sound like a yes man.

[JHRover]

Eustace will have taken the job because despite what these horrible people have done the name of Blackburn Rovers still carries a lot of weight in the game. 

Someone in his position after a little over 1 year at Birmingham City to be offered a 2.5 year deal to come here, established Championship club. On the surface a complete no-brainer. 

Potential new staff members and players will of course assume that even with a very limited budget there remains a determination to get somewhere and some degree of ambition and a plan to make it work. It won't become clear to them until their feet are under the table and the games start that there is zero ambition, zero plan, owners who are beyond belief when it comes to a lack of interest and a board of directors dominated by shadowy characters none of whom have ever spoken publicly (some I'm not sure have even been to Ewood before).

Then there's the other slippery character labelled as CEO but is more of an administrator measured purely on his cost saving schemes who I wouldn't trust to go and buy me a Lancashire Telegraph if I gave him a couple of quid.

I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that in the chaos (self inflicted) of late January and early February, after they forced the last manager out yet still dragged his exit into a multiple week long process, and with Broughton half way out the exit door, there will have been a degree of panic and with that a 'tell him what he needs to hear' approach.

Obviously telling the truth as to the real situation isn't what is done here. We've seen that with the lies and deceit towards paying supporters and probably players over the last 12-18 months since this crisis escaped the bag. First they pretended that it was all due to changes in Indian tax laws, then it became clear that it was actually due to the owners being under investigation. They've claimed also that the court hearings are a minor issue, not really anything to be concerned about, a formality, yet it is obvious that isn't the case.

So absolutely 100% believable that they will have painted a rosy picture to Eustace, allowed him to believe there would be jam tomorrow if he kept us up, money will come, this lot never refuse a cheque. All sounds fantastic. I bet JDT got similar, as did Broughton, Lambert, all the rest. 

Then we get the moving goalposts, silence.

Some types of manager are fine with that, they've a contract and will sit tight and collect their money and hope it one day changes for the better or they get a better offer at some point - Kean, Bowyer, Mowbray

Others simply won't put up with it and will actively seek a move away - Lambert, JDT - because they know they can get work at a professional football club so why allow this mob to make a fool out of you

It remains to be seen which group Eustace will fall into, but I certainly bet thoughts have or will soon be going through his head.

I'm certain it is one of Waggott's favourite schemes. Tell potential players/agents, managers that we can offer x,y,z or will be able to offer something later, get them in the building, under contract, committed to some degree, then change it and shift the next move onto the employee - take it or leave it and call their bluff. Hope they just shut up, take the money and put up with it.

With the way they have run the club and treated paying supporters I cannot imagine how bad it must be to actually work for them. Awful, awful people. 

Edited July 21, 2024 by JHRover

[Upside Down]

I've no problem with setting up to grind out results and be hard to beat as long as the objective is to win the game.

For me, setting up not to lose and being happy to just take a point from a home game against Plymouth Argyle is not good enough. That mentality will only lead to one outcome.

We'll see how he does this season. Hopefully he gets the bollocks to call out those above him who have more than likely once again deliberately lied to the incumbent head coach. Hos stock will still be high after keeping us up last season so he needs to be lining up a move elsewhere soon before his reputation gets tarnished by the corrosive toxic substance that is venkys.

 

[Mike E]

53 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What do you expect him to say ? “ Jesus Christ, what a load of wasters I’ve walked into here. If I keep this lot up it will be a miracle “ ?

I heard that in Cloughie’s voice. He’d have said, meant it, and turned it into motivation.

I wish Clough-type managers were still around. Think closest we’ve had in recent years (not even that recent) was the pound shop Clough: Ian Holloway.

[Andy]

Just be honest/genuine or say nothing.

It's insulting to the fans to be anything but the above.

JDT managed it just fine.