Exiled in Toronto Mk2

Very much like a game played at Sett End but I used to enjoy being in those. The centre backs have been superb imo, and I like what Doherty has brought so far: a two-touch shot, well-taken disallowed goal and a cross inches from Yuki’s boot, plus he’s not afraid of mixing it with Coyle.

A rough and tumble game but right now I’ll settle for effort and commitment, which we’ve had plenty of in that half, which was played predominantly in their half. More successful tackles than I’ve seen us make in a half for a long time and Miller earning his spot by not backing down from Coyle.

If we don’t play them in a 3rd round cup tie when we have ten players out injured, we never will. Personally, I’d much rather watch all the academy lads bloodied this season than any of the Rudy dross

As one of the Academy’s staunchest defenders, I thought you’d be delighted to see a few of the youngsters getting stuck in to a strong Hull side. Otherwise, what’s the point of it?

“The academy is our crown jewel!” Manager picks academy lads ””This team is weak as piss!!” “An insult!” Best first five mins for months, at them like terriers, apart from Miller obv.

He was about two feet in front of me when he did that. Was that the game where Endean kneed it over the bar from an inch out?

I’d describe him as the love-child of Joe Rothwell and Bradley Dack. He had the up-off-your-seat acceleration and dribbling of Rothwell coupled with the audacious finishing of Dack.

Tony Field, Superstar, how many goals have you scored so far? Anyone who saw him in those days will have him in their top 5 favourite Rovers players, our first hero (along with Sir Roger) in the 1970s. Interestingly, I remember Tony Parkes writing that Field was unpopular in the dressing room, probably because of the arrogance that made him such a great player and fan hero. Pity his penalty expertise deserted him away at Scunthorpe when a win would’ve almost certainly seen us go up under Furphy.

You’re a smart bloke Rev, surely you can’t believe that a few hundred less people in a ground that’s 2/3rds empty anyway will do anything? We usually can’t agree amongst ourselves on here the attendance to the nearest thousand. “Turn off the taps” to billionaires? They get richer each minute by more than you and I have spent on Rovers in our lives. Now, a chicken on the pitch every week would make the news globally, and might, just might, get through to them because it mocks them, and their stewardship of the club, personally.

Excellent suggestion IMO. The two potential flaws in the boycott plan are a) it completely depends on action by fans not currently aligned with the coalition, and b) should it fail to be noticeable, it would be spun by the club as showing the coalition was just a splinter group unrepresentative of the fanbase. In-ground action by those who attend would negate both issues.

Which eyeballs and to what end? The local MP has lambasted them in the Mother of all Parliaments several times so I don’t think they are going to be bothered by a few social media posts. Awareness is only a relevant goal when lack of awareness in a specific target group is a barrier to success. Who would you want to become aware and how would you think they could helpfully act once they were aware?

Come on, Man. At least give it a go, it’d be worth more than all your other posts combined!

I would think all fans would agree with something along the lines of “15 years of Venky’s ownership has resulted in gradual stagnation, decline and loss of ambition. The lack of hands-on interest at the top and parade of chancers at the helm has combined to gradually erode Jack Walker’s legacy” as a start point, followed by asking what could/should be done. Where the debate with many is lost is two-fold IMO: “Pasha Out” is meaningless to anyone outside the coalition, and the maximalist position of Venky’s Out Now is better than not is an opinion rather than a fact. Yes they are bad owners but it could be argued there’s a lot of them about, hence multiple clubs’ fans calling for their owners to eff off. I think many people not aligned with the coalition, while not enamoured with the current situation, wouldn’t see Venky’s as a terminal cancer where any surgery is better than not when past Bolton owners did turn off the taps, the Oystons openly pillaged Blackpool and Darlington’s (or was it Hartlepool’s?) owner burnt the main stand down. Venky’s give us what appears to have zero importance to them - money - but give us nothing of what is more valuable to them - time - from which would flow attention, direction, engagement, humility etc. I would think most fans would agree we need both, but currently a lot of fans place significant weight on the money aspect and worry about losing it.

The last few pages demonstrate, to my mind at least, why the coalition remains a minority group. Endless circular arguments with Chaddy, rage-hating on fans who express a different opinion as tools or club plants, and no surrender from a maximalist set of views are not, I would contend, the way to build a mass, movement that the majority of fans can get behind. Rather than seek to demolish contrary opinions, looking for common ground might be more effective. For example, yes we had 20,000+ crowds per-Venky’s but that was in the Premier League. Ironically, if we were in the Premier League, crowds wouldn’t matter any more eg Bournemouth, Brentford, Bumley etc., The notion that there are 10-15,000 people desperate to come back once Venky’s eff off ignores that fact that many of them have moved away, died, lost interest etc plus that the hopper has not been filled with new young fans at previous rates for 15 years. In other words, it’s a complex multi-faceted issue that’s not black or white, and that’s before you get to pricing, sponsorship etc etc. The coalition cannot achieve its aims if it cannot engage with the stayaways, the die-hards and the people who currently disagree with it. “How do we get bigger” should, in my opinion, take precedence over “how do we get airtime?” The latter may well play a role, but it’s not an end in itself.

We’d have been better off playing the current QEGS first 11