TimmyJimmy

Agree in principle, that was great vision by Jack, but that vision was that WE should benefit and that one day WE might produce a Man U style golden generation for ourselves. When the charlatans took over that dream disappeared, we were never going to benefit from a major emerging talent, others were. We're less of a nursery now and more like a simple incubator. For those old enough, think Crewe. They produced some really good players but they were never going to play for Crewe. Agree that Academy sales keep some of the lights on but we get peanuts when the talents emerge and are told by their agents to not sign long term papers. Most of our kids come from far and wide, they're not all Wartons from Blackburn. They owe us nowt and aren't emotionally tied to the club. They're here for one reason only - we're recognised as a launch pad for better things elsewhere. So I repeat ... what's the point? This wasn't Jack's vision.

As I've said previously, the Academy is a business venture not a football venture. It runs parallel to the Championship side of things but are IMO only linked through branding. The Academy is a sausage making machine. It will (should) produce players who are solid enough in the lower divisions but will never set the world on fire. The occasional gem that gets snagged up in the net is soon recognised by other watching recruitment teams and are gone before we've even got a sniff of watching them contribute to a promotional push (ho ho yes I know, but we live in hope). The ones who make through to our first team are earnest tryers for sure but never amount to more than squad fillers. So ... what's the point? Venkys see us through the lens of a business (remember the renting players quote), they're just viewing the Academy as a machine to hopefully defray running cost, keep the cupboard stocked with pencils and bog rolls available in the visiting dignitaries toilets [the backroom guys get torn up newspaper pushed onto a nail]. Promotion will never happen because you have to buy most of it, talent acquisition, wages, coaches who can do the job etc., etc.. With Venkys in charge you can forget about every aspiration you ever had ... full stop. The Academy means nothing at all. I suggest we even stop thinking about it as a solution to anything.

The club have pushed us all over the edge, we're bipolar club supporters, extreme episodic bouts of mania and depression. The answer to your question depends on the day that you ask it. How can we be anything other than manic depressives in this mad house of a club, disappointment follows optimism, hope follows failure the only constant at the club is chaos. It's a rinse repeat situation. Follow the Rovers these days and you're signing up for a self inflicted rough ride. I salute you all but you're all mad as a box of frogs. Expectations for the season ... only that I'll be writing the same words this time next year.

Wheels wobbled on the truck when Baker left. Good player. They came off when Eustace bailed. We finished well, 7th hurts but not too shabby taken in context. One gets promoted from the 4 play off teams, it was never going to be us. Kargbo will come good, needs proper coaching. Dennis, please go. Dolan, please stay. Venkys do one, waggott etc do likewise. VI and backroom staff have earned the right to have a punt next season. Academy, look out we're coming for your kids. Onward and hopefully upward :-( yes I know, whistling in the dark but you know, Rovers supporter and all that. Laters.

Poor days are usually a required investment for the good days to come. The pain of growing into something worthwhile just has to be taken on the chin as we look forward to better times. The foolish approach is to suffer the pain and then let the finished product walk away for free. Dolan has found the escape tunnel, he's not for turning back. A lucky break for him, a win for whoever signs him and a kick in the b*ll*cks for us fans. It's been a rocky road with him so far but just as we see good days ahead we get the middle finger treatment. 'Twas ever thus.

Brill, many thanks all.

We're perfectly capable of winning this one, I actually think we will. Was surprised by Watford yesterday as they threw the kitchen sink at us like their lives depended on getting a result yet they had absolutely nothing to play for. I fear the same from Sheffield United who in theory should be putting the reserves out as they've nowt to gain from this match but risk injuries. So we know how that's going go don't we?!! Still, academic IMO as we are reliant on other results and not every other team is a West Ham. Rovers to win and not qualify.

Is there a short cut to get to 'first unread' or 'last read' in a thread?

So, the Crewe model then. We aren't a football club that wants to compete, we're a hot house for talent that we can sell. A plant nursery and not a garden. What's the point of being a 'supporter' when the only thing that matters is putting product on the shelves and rubbing hands together when it sells like hot cakes. What's that got to do with football? Surely just a Michael Porter business strategy. Football? What's that?? Look at all the cash that's in the till. I'm looking forward to standing in the pub in few years time watching Prem and Internationals on TV and saying "he was one of ours, oh and so was he, oh, him as well". Ah, pride, a nice warm feeling 😀 Great. That's what supporting a team is all about. NOT!!! Get these morons out.

I'm likely in a majority of one here but hey ho, opinions and all that - I think that TM saved this club, literally. Think about the open warfare we had before his arrival, manager after manager, agent vultures, scavengers and the toxic legacy of the recently departed he who shall not be named or spoken about. Things were as bad and corrupt as they could be. Tony brought stability and decency back to the club. I'm convinced there would be no Rovers (at least worthy of the name) today if he hadn't arrived. Pedestrian, yes, old fashioned, yes, top quality manager, not so much, but as a package of decent human being with morals and standards, yes in bucket loads. As said I'm sure everyone will disagree, fair enough but one man's view for what it's worth is that he saved us from extinction. Stayed to long, discuss, capable of promotion to the prem (no IMHO), odd decisions about players and their positions certainly but I'm still grateful he stumped when he did. I wish him all the best.

Got to say I've enjoyed the match. Good stuff. Shame we've pissed our play off chances away but nevertheless a good game. New contract for Trondstad please asap.

All the faux hype coming from the club about exciting rebuilds, new players fitting the VI style, projects (yawn) is getting really tiresome. Bottom line ..... we have no money, Venkys don't give a crap, our board is piss poor. There's a pecking order in all things, football is no exception, except for the once in a lifetime 'golden generation' fluke you have to SPEND to get anywhere and we won't. We're supposed to get excited about being allowed to watch an event at: - Glastonbury Pyramid Stage - Etihad Stadium - O2 Apollo - Butlins DJ Sets - Blackburn Empire Theatre What's your pick for an enjoyable night out. We're supposed to get excited by an open mic evening at the Dog and Duck!? Really!!? We're buying no one of note, we're going to sell any prospects that we might have in the Academy and we'll be thrilled and excited to welcome a handful of 35 year old has beens and B List loans. Another project to get us nowhere. What happened to my club Venkys? What did you do!!??? WHY!!!!!???????

Venkys are a terminal illness that's not going away and there's no escaping whats inevitable so might as well buckle up and try to enjoy the football. An appalling state of affairs but I'm with you, let's win this and worry later.

Cometh the hour cometh the man 😉 I bet you won't be able to help yourself just like the rest of us poor saps.

Agree with everybody else. Detaching myself from the madness I've been awake all night trying to think it through. I put myself in the shoes of everyone at the club, could I do anything better: Waggott/Suhail/Gestede - hapless yet well meaning incompetents. Besides their lack of skills they have no levers to pull. Their hands are tied by the instructions from Pune. They could improve by being honest and communicative but that won't actually change anything just make us more informed. The players - sorry they are just not at the required level. Nice guys, good pals in the changing room everyone gets along and is having a good happy clappy time. Bottom line is we need new players. VI - A silk purse / pigs ear problem. He took on a well placed but going backwards team, the rot had well and truly set in before he took over. Is he competent, is he the right guy, I've no clue but he is an experienced manager and a good ex player so at worst should be meh. Unarguably there's a ton of constant injuries to key players, how do you stop the rot when the club won't buy players but wants to promote kids. He's not doing well and is looking really bad but no one coaches to go goals down in the first few minutes of a game, that's on the players (or lack thereof). Venkys - I can stop right here can't I. Unfathomable ownership. They couldn't do more wrong if they were actually trying. Every decision they take is wrong. We don't even understand why they want to be in charge. Footballs worst owners bar none. Their exit is the only chance the club has. They're just hopeless. The fans - How do we feel about ourselves. Are we better fans by staying away bankrupting the club, admin, start again or by staying away do we still qualify as fans and have a right to an opinion. I love Rovers always have always will yet even I don't know who I am any more and which camp I sit in. Such is the Pune effect reaching into all our lives. What happened to the fun of the weekend, a few pints with your mates, banter before the game, the game, the working mens club after, few more bevvies, a good argument about the match, fish and chips, home, get ready for work on Monday. Seems so long ago.

No words. Goodnight.

Will the players applaud the crowd as usual after the game.

Not quite comfortably numb yet but working on it, what else is there.

Tried that, doesn't work.

Win the battle lose the war. Started the night on G&Ts but now I'm hitting the cask strength Scotch, still not helping.

I want to give whoever threw that snowball a smack. Venkys really really hate us. Is there any explanation that makes sense.

Unfair mate. Apathy - lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Really?! Read my posting history. I believe in defining the hell out of the object, defing the success criteria, listing the options evaluating each and deciding on the way to go. The object is Venkys out, do you really believe protests of any kind will make a hapeth of difference. It won't. Like a mate of mine used to say about his job, working in this place is like peeing in your pants, gives you a nice warm feeling inside but no one ever notices. There are better ways than protest. Stop attending may work.

Hey I'm not criticising, each to their own, if you think it will make a difference then go for it. For me when I watched that interview I was just struck by a) how lost they all looked and b) how they had no idea how to move forward. I'm reminded of that Churchill comment about nice guys which I'm paraphrasing as: They're modest men with much to be modest about! They are labouring under a system of delegated budget limits. Put the two things together and what do expect to get. Exactly what we've got. Chasing them down is just flogging a dead horse mate. Venkys leaving is the only thing that will make any difference at all, and that's not happening.

To what end? They ain't going nowhere and they already know how we feel about them. John Williams, Bob Coar and St Jude would struggle under this ownership. Flogging a dead horse perhaps, have an extra pint at the game instead.

Watched the interview, there's just so much you could write about it but a message board isn't the place to write essays so I'll try to precis what I think but I know it's going to be a dissertation, apologies: - As strangers and away from football I'd happily have a drink and a game of arrows with all of them, they 'seem' decent guys. - Witnessing their work over the years the kindest word I can find though is naive, a stronger one is incompetent. - The admin cock-ups of the last few seasons is unforgivable and as owner I'd fire Waggott/Suhail Shaikh, although I shouldn't have to as they should have walked by now. - That's easy for me to say though because they have to earn a wage, feed and shelter their families and with their track record other opportunities would be few and far between. - How would a competent board deal with Venkys ownership, it's an impossible task, no one could succeed, it's a hiding to nothing, another reason to walk. - Venkys run things as a star/hub business model, each business has a Venky family appointee with delegated authority to do what it takes to 'twine the handle', manage to pre-assigned budgets and they take update reports periodically to consider the various additional funding requests. - Venkys have zero understanding of football, they treat it like any other business in the group. IT IS NOT A BUSINESS VENKYS, ITS A FOOTBALL CLUB! - Anyone who thinks success comes from running a development model and 'renting/leasing' players is deluded and shouldn't be anywhere near a football club and certainly not OURS (yes it's ours not yours). - What I want from an owner is honest dealings, transparency, share our passion for the club, respect it's history and strive for the highest level. Excite us and give us a reason to buy a season ticket - Venkys don't and never will understand this and for this reason the Waggott/Suhail/Gestede axis will never get beyond painting happy time pictures and future promises of excitement that can never arrive. The only fix is for Venkys to sell. Nothing else works, nothing else matters. As passionate as I am about the club even I couldn't run it properly with those people in charge.