The "number of fans" thing is a bit of a red herring when comparing us to other clubs. There's a whole host of factors that militate towards whether we have comparable attendances to them, not least town/city size, catchment area, recent performance, cultural demographic, ticket prices / affordability. Size of fanbase isn't a reason; Bournemouth, Brentford, even Luton recently managed it, why can't we?? Look at Wrexham now? Birmingham City, all clubs with historically low attendances & even less success / stature in the game, both likely to out-compete us next season. Even Wycombe have some major backing nowadays! What's clear & public knowledge is that Rovers are now down to just 4,000 adult season ticket holders. The other 5,000 are concessions, most of which have gone up multiple times annual inflation for 2025/26. That can't be far off the lowest number since season tickets became a thing. Engagement from the club to the fanbase (and I mean proper engagement, not social media floweriness) is as low as I can remember in the modern era, even going so far as to say that no more effort is going to be made to re-engage lapsed matchgoers; apathy rules, and being blunt that's myself included too, especially on Friday night, I was just too disheartened to get angry). These owners have undone EVERYTHING that Jack achieved, short of knocking down Ewood (but which is slowly decaying before our very eyes anyway due to lack of necessary maintenance) & cancelling the Academy. There are no signs of that changing under them. We're a zombie club with no drive, plan, strategy or direction amongst the board or owners. Is there any other club whose owner(s) has not attended in over a decade? That just says it all, whilst presiding over 2 relegations & not 1 single play off qualification berth to get back into the PL? If they can't be bothered coming, when money is no why should any fan who feels that their club, a fsmily & community hub steeped in pride & history in the global game, has been stolen from them? The status quo just cannot continue, and that starts with these owners realising they've locked everything up & that the decent things to do are either sell up to someone who does care (ideally), or at the very least appeal to the fans for forgiveness, appoint proper people at Ewood who know football & their roles as custodians of the club (i.e. not outside agencies), and give them the support and autonomy to start driving the club forwards again & stop this sleepwalking existence into oblivion.

The only criticism could be that some folk might argue it came across as a rant, but it's impossible to squeeze all relevant issues & feelings into 4 minutes or whatever, there's just so much to refer to; and you don't want to be sidetracked by the interviewer from getting facts across & wasting valuable airtime. But there were plenty of facts provided with evidence supporting them, including giving rational thoughts & context behind your own personal involvement back in 2012 etc re attending Parliament with Jack Straw etc & how that had some general impact on the debate re club ownership & the (hopeful) establishment of the football regulator, which will hopefully benefit your bread & butter football fans generally, not just BRFC.

You got a lot of points in that "interview" Glen - I think the interviewer got about 20 words in! Definitely highlighted the long term paralysis that the club has suffered & the lack of understanding, desire & ambition in the last 15 years. Lets see how much traction it gets, & what's in store tonight. Well done again, your passion & frustration really came across.

Good luck!

I've not been that active on here of late due to other stuff going on that took my focus sway from all things Rovers so i'm playing a bit of catch up. I must say, hats off to Glen & Co for efforts made these last few weeks to try to start to fashion a cure or this rot that has set in over the last 14 years. I don't have the bandwidth in my life atm to get too involved, but I am trying to get word about to the (relatively small!) people in my social circle who are interested that enough is enough! I'm quite a reserved person in general. I don't go in for public spats & vocal protests / marches / direct action as I feel they can be confrontational, divisive & often self-harming to the cause being supported. But this one feels different; it feels more structured, focused & strategised & aims (and so far is succeeding) to emphasise the sheer frustration of being a Rovers fan right now, and the futility of being a fan generally when we're powerless to affect things in terms of the overall welfare of the club as a community institution. The timing, it being 150 years since formation & 30 years since being Champions of England (and all the media spotlight that alonee has got this week), is perfect. Sadly, regardless of our history, as a club we're an irrelevance now to probably 50% of active football fans in this country, including probably 90% of U18s. "Blackburn Rovers? What, they won the Premier League? But they're crap!" I'm really in a quandary about all of this though, & I imagine my situation mirrors that of many. I'm a 40yr season ticket holder, have been going that long with my dad & brother. I live an hour from Ewood, so me going there with them is routine / part of my DNA, a family tradition. It's my club, our club, and watching it splinter & wither away at the hands of dome uninterested billionaires thousands of miles away is gut wrenching. That interview just proves to me, if ever evidence were needed, that there are no fit & proper custodians of the club anywhere within its corridors of power. I can't just give it up though, boycott, as I worry that if I do for any period of time I'll become one of those who finds something else to do instead. There's hope, finally, that things could change & this proves to be the time that life is breathed back into our zombie club. Roll on Friday, it'll be a passionate one for sure.

He's definitely feeling the love in this photo!!

If it happens, you just have!!

Re Hyam - silly boy really, looking at replays. Needs a talking to, whether or not it gets retrospective assessment (can it be? Not sure if ref blew up or not). Dennis - first challenge directly in front of me; was late & painful, but low & clearly an attempt to get the ball. Yellow fair enough imo. His 2nd yellow was too far for ne to see clearly, but both players went in high in an honest attempt at the ball. Arguably unlucky, but can see why it was given. Not covering himself in glory so far isn't Dennis, tbf, but could still be an asset. Yuki - looked v close to being a pen, but I guess those go either way. Goal - again looked close, angle not good for me to know for sure & replays I've seen inconclusive. Felt like a winner though! Nunez - could easily have had 2 yellows himself for 2 hefty challenges in succession; didn't even get 1!! Overall - take the point & move on. Keeps Norwich at arms length. We've got 3 massive games to vome before the break 6 points or more is imperative imo.

Without wanting to join the ITK club(!), one massive issue with Gueye is his confidence having grown & it's abundantly clear how settling in has helped that happen. I used to work with the fella who has been hired by the club in the last few months to teach Gueye & Yuki to speak & understand English. He says both of them are lovely fellas & that their enthusiasm is genuine and that both their grins are infectious, but also that they are keen & quick learners. I sent him the video of Gueye's recent interview & he was well chuffed with how Gueye comes across in that. We can only hope that the more he learns the language, & he and his family get settled in to England, the more improved & consistent performer in him will continue to emerge.

Let Boro have Boateng, he's one of their ex players!!

It was a really solid, professional performance yesterday against an in-form side with their tails up. We didn't panic (aside from the Forshaw backpass at 0-0 & a Pearsism at 1-0), kept our shape & widened the pitch more, mixed up short & long balls, & were able to up the tempo 2nd half which Plymouth couldn't cope with. I thought Forshaw & Travis worked well together. In fact, I think me & Travis would play well together, which is a mark of how good Travis has become because tronstad, Buckley & Forshaw all look better next to him. Ribeiro looks great, a proper swashbuckling up n downer, love him already. Samderson looked decent but wasn't really pressured. Kargbo looks a real live wire & has pace to burn. Gueye was quiet but still had influence, Dolan was electric 2nd half & unlucky not to get MoM. Everyone else was solid 7s bar ACD, who had some good moments but looks a little lost at this level generally. Hats off to David Lowe in particular. He's clearly respected by his fellow coaches & the players & now I think the wider fanbase can see why. His under-the-radar persona led many to wonder what purpose he serves, which in turn fed into unfounded criticism. The same applies to Benson in many ways. I'm really pleased for Lowe that his stock amongst the fans has sky rocketed & I hope it leads his detractors to think twice about casting unfounded aspersions & his, & others' value behind the scenes.

I don't think we should be looking at just a short term appointment, but getting a longer term successor will be harder of course. I get the rationale given where we are in the table at this time of the season, and agree we don't want someone coming in & changing things drastically. But having a short term vision is what's put the club in the disastrous shambles behind the scenes as it is. If this shitshow has done anything positive (besides hopefully galvanise the players in adversity), it's shone a light back onto how badly run the club is in the eyes of the outside world, with most comments this last week being along the lines of how crap must it have been for Eustace to do his job here day to day to cause him to jump ship like he has, a move which is pretty much unheard of. I'd hope (maybe forlornly) that makes one of SW or SP to sit up & take notice, realise that for the benefit of their boss's reputation (and therefore their own comfy existence) they need to up their game in terms of day to day ops, structure, financing etc. order to attract the best candidate for the short, medium & long term & to actually follow through by not treating the next incumbent like shite, marginalising them in terms of recruitment & moving the goalposts. It's the hope that kills. So far as candidates are concerned, I'd be happy (or at least content) with either Carsley, Allardyce, Cooper or O'Neill. Gerrard would be a big gamble, as would Challinor & Wicky. Absolutely no to Rob Edwards (flash in the pan), Wellens (poor in all but one job), Rooney (obvs) or Boateng (no experience). I'm almost certain it'll end up being none of the above!!!

Lowe clearly making a point re poor recruitment in support of Eustace by not picking any of the new signings apart from Ribiero, & that only cos Beck is injured.

Bit in bold sounds familiar... save for it was the lack of VAR that did for us on Sunday!

But if he did that, he'd just get labelled a "yes man", or a "Venkys stooge / sympathiser", & "willing to put up with their nonsense in order just to feather his own nest" a la Mowbray

But he gets airtime, and some folk will believe what he says. It all adds to the skewed narrative that Venkys aren't the problem.

As a slight aside, I heard Clinton Morrison on the radio last night say, "but when a club like Derby County come along, it's hard to say no." I mean, wtf??? I'm old enough to remember the playoffs when it was us v Derby, and also Jack Walker v Lionel Pickering. Who, I hear many say? Exactly. He was their version of Jack at the time, but Jack swotted him away & he was barely heard of outside of Derby again. Now they're poaching our manager. That's what Venky's have reduced us to & I will never, ever forgive or forget how they've trashed Jack's legacy.

He'll probably lose more than that in his pay off from Leicester.

That may be true, but the whole point is that up until January 1st we had been deeply ensconced in the top 6 most of the season, with a reasonable gap to 7th & below &/or with very winnable fixtures to come, only for the club to the fail to support Eustace with proper fresh investment (both in terms of cost & timing) in January to enable him to properly rest & rotate those who were ailing from having played too much football due to the squad depth being shallower than the sea at Southport. All whilst we've had >£35m added to the coffers, during a period when there's "no impediment to the owners continuing to fund the club". Most commentators in football feel JE has worked wonders in the circumstances, and I think most people who know the game properly and who understand the background at this club, think it's all stinky bollocks. Because it is.

That's 3 things.... but I agree with your overall point!!

Boro's storming window resulted in two own goals last night from newbies....

Well subject to all necessary papers being submitted & approved, my take on the window is that the club have done the bare minimum to support JE and the players. There's plenty of Championship experience in the signings made, some PL experience too, as well as some complete unknowns. Who knows by June which signings will be successes & which will be failures? I suspect there will be some considerable variance on this board between expectations & reality. Certainly the squad is stronger if only because there are more experienced bodies for JE to select from. Whether or not our 1st choice 11 is improved is definitely debatable, especially with Gueye's recent upturn in form, but then that 1st 11 proved itself to be good enough for top 6 anyway under JE's management, which is more than most expected it to be. And is that what January lends itself to anyway or is it as much, if not more, a chance for clubs to plug holes from injuries & suspensions as a long season unfolds? Of course the real issue here isn't anything other than the problem at the top. It's not Forshaw's fault he's not better than Travis, or Sanderson's that he's not as solid as Baath, or Kargbo's that he's not played atvthis level before. It's not them towards whom any dissatisfaction on here ought to be levelled at; nor the recruitment team; nor indeed other fans who try to see the upside of the business we've done. It's the owners & those who advise them. It's them who've sanctioned a massive £800k outlay on new players against >£35m generated in player sales; it's them who find themselves in court unable / unwilling to support the club; it's Waggott who says there's no impediment to the owners paying more when there clearly is (be it imposed on them or self-imposed). I'm not going to rate the individual players on a 1-10 basis now, I'll do that at the end of the season. But so long as they try their best and give 100% to the cause I'll support them, even if they fall short, because they're just symptoms of the real, deeper lying problem.

Well, no... "The deal is subject to approval from the relevant football authorities." We all know what happens now...

That's Bad.

Good Freudian slip there.