Utter nonsense. With the passage of time we'll all continue to wonder why we spent the last 4 years back in the Championship treading water and seemingly making no effort to get promoted, while the manager spent every interview talking the club down.

Absolutely, there’s no way I believe JDT would let a death spiral happen. Either he’d stop the rot or have too much honour and step away, unlike the last muppet.

People in this thread get so wound up about this 😂 Who cares what pundits/analysts call things? There’s loads of terminology from 19th century football no longer in use, sport evolves, what’s the issue?

I actually used to feel quite sorry for Andrews. I mean he was shit and had no business being in the Premier League but as you say, he always tried, just woefully out his depth. Can't have been easy week after week knowing 20k of your own fans all think you're crap. The money probably helped mind

Rothwell is criminally overrated by some people in here. He was a decent Championship midfielder who I’d be be happy to still have but that’s about it. His end product was often poor and like some else mentioned his running up dead ends often left gaping holes in midfield. Buckley has a much higher ceiling and will go far further in the game. I’d be genuinely shocked if Rothwell makes any sort of impact in the Premier League, whereas I’m sure that’s where Buckley will end up (ideally with Rovers!).

Still had Covid restrictions on attendance during that tournament didn’t we? That said, still a great stat!

Showed a lot of bottle to come back from the disappointment of the equaliser. Men should take note…

Number 9 for England (White?) has a worse first touch than Sam Gallagher. Dreadful

“Crap heavy metal” 🤦 You mean Thunderstruck by AC/DC….

Lenihan having a poor game from the 20 mins I’ve watched.

Sam Gallagher is stealing a wage. Atrocious. We were well off it overall but thought we were good defensively. QPR are shit, we need to improve significantly.

I’m genuinely really excited for today. First time in a long time. Park the frustration at lack of signings, new manager, fresh start.

Well what the hell do I know. He’s put together a side that’s come out playing like City…

Well the good news is that Kompany sounds well out of his depth based on the pre match interview on Sky. Hopefully carries forward into the game!

The women's game has come on immeasurably over the last 10-20 years, but it's the goalkeeping that continues to lag behind. I think it's purely biological, largely based on height but also reduced explosive power. At the end of the day, you very rarely see a male professional goalkeeper below 6ft, indeed most these days are probably 6-2 and above. I'm not sure what you can do. Realistically they should probably have smaller goals but then it becomes a different sport and less easily replicated at grassroots level, which no one wants to see.

This is me. As I said a few weeks back in the season ticket thread. As I struggle to make mid week games, a season ticket is essentially no use to me. If Rovers had been a bit more creative and offered a more flexible ticket they could have had my cash up front. As it is I'll continue to buy match tickets as I when they come up for sale.

Really looking forward to this. Appreciate we haven't got in the numbers we'd like but can't wait to see the lads back at Ewood. New manager bounce, feel good afternoon, 4-nil Rovers.

Awesome work. Random thought, if you know the time the tickets go on sale for the next home game (WBA?), could you take another snapshot to give a "final" season ticket count?

Not our way. We want to generate hype, disappoint people and then when the hype dies down we'll flood the store with shirts and sell 'em off for £20 in May next year.

I used to love listening to Radio Rovers on the way to games as a kid, the signal got stronger as you travelled over the hills from Rossendale - you knew you were on your way! Couldn't stand Wendy though, far too shrill for my liking. Those videos are so sad. Through the 90s and 00s there was a constant sense of optimism and excitement around the club, even when we were back in Division 1. Now it's just constant cut backs and lowering of standards. It makes no logical sense given how much is being pumped in each year to keep us going.

Doesn't the Swedish season end in December?

For a Championship full back who is already 24, I'd say deal. He's not going to the very top of the game is he? He should be looking to get the best contract he can financially.

I've never understood this nonsense about agents being "greedy". It's literally their job to get their client the best possible deal. Football fans are far too emotional about players. At the end of the day, football is their career. It's a very short career, and they really should try to make what they can. They're a long time retired. Now if it turns out that he can't get what he wants elsewhere and he signs for us, fantastic.

Annoyed to see him go but not because I think he's irreplaceable (he certainly isn't) but it's one more hole that needs to be filled, 5 weeks from the opening game of the season. As others have commented, the three leaving are not devastating losses in terms of raw talent and individual impact but it underlines the chronic mismanagement of the squad that they've all been allowed to leave for nothing in the same window. Will we be able to replace the quality, probably. Will it cost more than having offered them decent terms a year ago, almost certainly.

I've been toying with returning as a season ticket holder for the first time since 2012 (when I moved down south, not just because of the bald git). Doing the maths though, I just don't see how it makes any sense. Presumably, there will be a lot of midweek games (moreso than usual) due to the World Cup. Work and distance make that a difficult one. There's essentially no difference between me having a season ticket and going to 15/16 games versus just buying match tickets for said games. So whilst I will be there on Saturdays bumping up the attendance I'm not going to bother paying upfront. Now if the club wanted to be clever, I'm sure they could increase their upfront/guaranteed cash flow by thinking outside the box and offering a weekend only ticket or a 16 game ticket etc.