Appleton's statement of intent (From This Is Lancashire)

At the time of writing this, 10 points separate Blackburn Rovers from the playoffs, with 18 matches to be played. Cautiously optimistic Blackburn fans are still hoping MA and his team can build on the recent 3-0 win over Derby and get some momentum building as the fight for the top six positions in the Championship gets more intense.

10 points might not seem like an insurmountable challenge, however, bearing in mind that Blackburn still have to play Cardiff, Leicester, Hull, and Watford away from home, plus tricky home games against Leeds, Burnley, Blackpool, and Palace (these mentioned teams are all hopeful of making the playoffs as well), then the chances of Blackburn Rovers making it into the playoff positions this season look increasingly bleak.

In the past two seasons, the sixth and final playoff positioned teams finished with a total of 75 points. So, theoretically and as a gauge, with 18 games left to play and 37 points thus far, Blackburn must take at least 38-ish points from their remaining 18 fixtures. That’s the equivalent of at least 12-ish victories, or, not losing more than 6 matches in total.

As mentioned above, with at least 8 it-could-go-one-way-
or-the-other matches to be played, Blackburn will be ruing the points they dropped while under Berg. I believe that on paper, Blackburn Rovers truly have the players to get back to the EPL at their first attempt, but MA has to starting instilling confidence and stability into the team, starting with Bristol City at home. @Brandsultants

An investigation is needed to determine what went wrong and the appropriate action taken.

This is not the first time there have been errors at the club on deadline day.

Lets us hope that the 2 deals can be resurected next week.
If so, we have been lucky.

I stand corrected then, must have been me being cynical thinking we are getting (and trying to force) rid of the players who are on high wages and replacing them with inferior / cheaper options. The Simon decision is bizarre to say the least - international, 27 year old and we let him go for nothing! Rochina, unpolished diamond but off he goes. Formica although not seen the best of him, still an Argentine international.
I thought Appleton said we had about 19 strikers? Is DJ not this??

We have tried to do all the business in the last couple of days and thats been the main problem. The players shipped out could have been done earlier and Robbo could have been given more time to sort his contract out with West Ham. Anyway it's easy for us to sit here and critisize as these situations are always very fluid at the time. It's probably not a bad thing to get them on loan first and see how we go and he can always look at other positions also during the loan window therefore it's not that bad, plus they have kept the main squad together and also sorted out the backromm staff over the last couple of weeks. All we need now Appy is some results.

he talks the talk but I am struggling to follow his train of thought.
'statement of intent' from the club.
Well if this says anything it says we are looking to reduce wages and get in frees and loans...... would not have any one he mentioned above.
Dosent fill you with confidence.
to get to the play-offs now is going to take a run that we have not been on since 1994.
No doubt we will be told he needs time and our patience but we have run out of time for this season ....... and I am very low on patience.

Statement of intent? That sounds very much like a kean phrase. It's okay saying that but when it doesn't come off its meaningless. Swapping Vucevic, rochina for two players we nearly got? Also this other I've never heard of on a free and saying we need defensive cover after the windows closed what intent does that state? What happened with Campbell going to Hull first? Was he a last minute buy for us? A lot of questions about rovers decision making as usual. Would have felt much more confident with a tough midfielder and defender in. Talking to a Burnley fan and utd fan and both said we need a tough midfielder. What do we know!!

Brandsultants wrote:
At the time of writing this, 10 points separate Blackburn Rovers from the playoffs, with 18 matches to be played. Cautiously optimistic Blackburn fans are still hoping MA and his team can build on the recent 3-0 win over Derby and get some momentum building as the fight for the top six positions in the Championship gets more intense.

10 points might not seem like an insurmountable challenge, however, bearing in mind that Blackburn still have to play Cardiff, Leicester, Hull, and Watford away from home, plus tricky home games against Leeds, Burnley, Blackpool, and Palace (these mentioned teams are all hopeful of making the playoffs as well), then the chances of Blackburn Rovers making it into the playoff positions this season look increasingly bleak.

In the past two seasons, the sixth and final playoff positioned teams finished with a total of 75 points. So, theoretically and as a gauge, with 18 games left to play and 37 points thus far, Blackburn must take at least 38-ish points from their remaining 18 fixtures. That’s the equivalent of at least 12-ish victories, or, not losing more than 6 matches in total.

As mentioned above, with at least 8 it-could-go-one-way-

or-the-other matches to be played, Blackburn will be ruing the points they dropped while under Berg. I believe that on paper, Blackburn Rovers truly have the players to get back to the EPL at their first attempt, but MA has to starting instilling confidence and stability into the team, starting with Bristol City at home. @Brandsultants

what about the points Appleton dropped in last home winnable games. We could have been in a good situation with those two wins.

Moan, moan, moan. Move on guys.

A STATEMENT OF INTENT.....that's all it was...this is like the statement of intent when the chicken crew took over....in my opinion the only intent was to spend nothing and that's basically what happened...they should be straight with us and tell us that they intend to spend little whilst ripping the soul out of our club.....i don't know if it's just me but i don't trust or believe a word that comes out of ewood any more....but with the way we've been treated in the past who can blame me....it's took 136 year to build the reputation and standing of our club, a club that has won silverware left right and centre, a club that has been at the fore of some major events within English football i.e foundation of the football league, the foundation of the premier league and so on. 136 years of fathers taking sons to watch rover/Olympic, 136 years of the club and the fans building a trust and in just two years it all gone.....thanks a lot venkys.....

We have to beat Bristol city today. If they get the players in on Thursday get them playing for the Ipswich game then Brighton arsenal if not cup tied. I hope they will they will be ready for hull I know it's only 3 games. we can do Peterborough and Leicester. Hull and leeds will be hard games then were into a run of Darby Bolton millwall burnley I just hope the players have gelled together for these games then might have a fighting chance for promotion.

Nope. When he came and I listened to him, against me better judgement I became a little more optimistic. But if he can get excited about the alleged in-comings it smells to me of a mid-table go- nowhere nothingness. Kean model No 2 folks!

The only consistent thing in football is that they all bring their mates with them - either as players or in the 'management team'.

eddyo wrote:
The only consistent thing in football is that they all bring their mates with them - either as players or in the 'management team'.

Agree, How about a name change to Portsmouth Rovers. I am surprised Rochina was allowed to go because he was one of the only players who could take players on and create something. Although he was not consistent you need some quality at some stages in the game.

Its obvious by now that Vukcevic wanted to go, he needed games for his international career. I struggle to believe that it was because he was not performing with the likes of Givet and Robbo and all the Portuguese players who had very little playing time/great performances this year. As for the statement of intent, this is a statement of failure to be 'frustrated' after what happened shows just how pathetic MA is and how much he must be getting paid, any manager with a passion would be furious and getting heads rolling. Venkys obviously have everyone under their spell (Cough Wages Cough) 2013/2014 in the Championship, we aint going anywhere.

I will be okay with our dealings in this transfer window, IFwe can actually bring in dj and thomas on loan and also bring in a defender and a decent midfielder with an engine in him.

Maybe next year we can start to kick on. I remember the last time we were relegated it took a long time to get going in this league.

Is Eckersley playing? wrote:
Nope. When he came and I listened to him, against me better judgement I became a little more optimistic. But if he can get excited about the alleged in-comings it smells to me of a mid-table go- nowhere nothingness. Kean model No 2 folks!

We had a smooth sailing ship with Williams and Allardyce. They were replaced by Kean who messed it up. Then we had caretaker consultant Shebby who made a big mistake appointing Berg. Now we have salvage hunters from Portsmouth and Preston steering the ship and making all the decisions. No shortlists, no interviews, no recruitment policy, just appointing who they want. Hope we dont go the same way as Portsmouth and Preston. Probably too much to ask Venkys to appoint good professional, experienced management.

Eckerseley words fail me with regards to what a miserable and pessimistic person you are and before you come back with some ill explained response don't bother because I won't be logging back onto the page to read this page littered with tripe

moh wrote:

Is Eckersley playing? wrote:
Nope. When he came and I listened to him, against me better judgement I became a little more optimistic. But if he can get excited about the alleged in-comings it smells to me of a mid-table go- nowhere nothingness. Kean model No 2 folks!

We had a smooth sailing ship with Williams and Allardyce. They were replaced by Kean who messed it up. Then we had caretaker consultant Shebby who made a big mistake appointing Berg. Now we have salvage hunters from Portsmouth and Preston steering the ship and making all the decisions. No shortlists, no interviews, no recruitment policy, just appointing who they want. Hope we dont go the same way as Portsmouth and Preston. Probably too much to ask Venkys to appoint good professional, experienced management.

Agreed MOH . Trouble is the type you (and I) want won't come near this club and its shambolic set -up.

ashton_9 wrote:
Eckerseley words fail me with regards to what a miserable and pessimistic person you are and before you come back with some ill explained response don't bother because I won't be logging back onto the page to read this page littered with tripe

That tripe. Includes yours

It would have been a statement of intent, if you'd had signed somebody but you didn't. To me the statement says, slash the wage bill further to the detriment of the first team squad.
They haven't learnt their lesson from last time, letting Samba go and not getting a replacement. Relegation was the outcome. Your supposed to get your players in first and then let those deemed surplus go after. That way if your signings fall though, you don't get left with your pants round yer ankles like you have.
A relegation battle is now more likely.

Ossy blue wrote:
I stand corrected then, must have been me being cynical thinking we are getting (and trying to force) rid of the players who are on high wages and replacing them with inferior / cheaper options. The Simon decision is bizarre to say the least - international, 27 year old and we let him go for nothing! Rochina, unpolished diamond but off he goes. Formica although not seen the best of him, still an Argentine international.
I thought Appleton said we had about 19 strikers? Is DJ not this??

So once again, they are only good when they leave
None will be missed in this league, they are not good enough including.Rochina, who is only on loan and can be brought back
This division requires hard running and pressing the ball when you haven't got it. Anyone watching the games at Ewood will have seen that is how the other teams play, especially the top 6
Ruben has not learned to pass nor realised he wont get past 3 players intent on closing him down
Leave it to the manager eh?

crankitup wrote:
A STATEMENT OF INTENT.....that's all it was...this is like the statement of intent when the chicken crew took over....in my opinion the only intent was to spend nothing and that's basically what happened...they should be straight with us and tell us that they intend to spend little whilst ripping the soul out of our club.....i don't know if it's just me but i don't trust or believe a word that comes out of ewood any more....but with the way we've been treated in the past who can blame me....it's took 136 year to build the reputation and standing of our club, a club that has won silverware left right and centre, a club that has been at the fore of some major events within English football i.e foundation of the football league, the foundation of the premier league and so on. 136 years of fathers taking sons to watch rover/Olympic, 136 years of the club and the fans building a trust and in just two years it all gone.....thanks a lot venkys.....

What a load of emotive, sentimental claptrap. You were not around for the 1960 Cup Final debacle then, including the tickets scandal and Dougans tricks
This club was never perfect, we won the Prem then we fufu'd it way
Never the noble proud beast you try to make out..
Just our Rovers, warts inc.
Read up your club history before you spout, or are you another Dingle?

MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Both were at Brockhall most of the day? not according to what DJ Campbell said on the BBC website He was in Hull for 5-6 Hours had lunch then decided to drive home as Hull couldn't sort out a deal no mention of him being at Blackburn

Yes Rovers statement of intent is to deal in loan players and free agents,my great fear is now we will become a mid table championship outfit ,which I think the Venkys will be quite content with despite all their bluster and hot air about bouncing straight back!

Ossy blue wrote:
I stand corrected then, must have been me being cynical thinking we are getting (and trying to force) rid of the players who are on high wages and replacing them with inferior / cheaper options. The Simon decision is bizarre to say the least - international, 27 year old and we let him go for nothing! Rochina, unpolished diamond but off he goes. Formica although not seen the best of him, still an Argentine international.
I thought Appleton said we had about 19 strikers? Is DJ not this??

Number 10 is a different position to striker, a number 10 is a player that plays behind a striker, a forward. Formica was a forward at Newell's, Rochina was too at Barcelona B team.

CKR can play as both a 10 or a right winger, so it suggests that when DJ Campbell joins, CKR moves to right winger and Campbell plays alongside Rhodes. Thomas would then play as left winger, dropping Olsson to the bench.

Can I just say that what happened to us on deadline day is nothing compared to other deals. Deals at clubs like Lazio, Sao Paulo, Fulham etc fell through for much more banal reasons. (Lazio and Sao Paulo are much bigger clubs than us).

Patjim Kasami didn't move from Fulham to Perugia because of a Wi-Fi problem.

What happened is being blown way out of proportion by the people who obviously want a negative atmosphere around the club.

So what if we have to loan them? If we buy them permanently and they flop on high wages, then what? What do we do if we don't get promoted?

Instead of a lot of you being so black and white about matters, think about the ramifications of your wishes.

Nuttall Street wrote:
MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Absolute rubbish Nutter St
Negative nonsense, I am off to the pub for my pre match drinks
Get down to Ewood and Support

I thought we were trying to add quality to strengthen the team? These names seem ..well hardly inspiring.
The only one I would welcome is Jerome Thomas.
DJ, good enough for Champ but he's 31 and IF we ever get up he won't play much.
Williamson - yuk! I remember him playing for Mansfield Town. Now 30yo, Very average at best and he was released by his last club Portsmouth. Cheap, cheap, cheap!

Glad the DJ Campbell thing has not happened..

Are we really going to hand a 32yr old (in Nov) a 3 and a half years 27k p/w deal?

Especially considering Best is due back, we still have Gomes and Badf@nny as back up, and have just signed the kid from Everton.

Makes no sense whatsoever to this kid, but then again neither has most of the past 27 months tbf.

Will P wrote:

Ossy blue wrote:
I stand corrected then, must have been me being cynical thinking we are getting (and trying to force) rid of the players who are on high wages and replacing them with inferior / cheaper options. The Simon decision is bizarre to say the least - international, 27 year old and we let him go for nothing! Rochina, unpolished diamond but off he goes. Formica although not seen the best of him, still an Argentine international.
I thought Appleton said we had about 19 strikers? Is DJ not this??

Number 10 is a different position to striker, a number 10 is a player that plays behind a striker, a forward. Formica was a forward at Newell's, Rochina was too at Barcelona B team.

CKR can play as both a 10 or a right winger, so it suggests that when DJ Campbell joins, CKR moves to right winger and Campbell plays alongside Rhodes. Thomas would then play as left winger, dropping Olsson to the bench.

Can I just say that what happened to us on deadline day is nothing compared to other deals. Deals at clubs like Lazio, Sao Paulo, Fulham etc fell through for much more banal reasons. (Lazio and Sao Paulo are much bigger clubs than us).

Patjim Kasami didn't move from Fulham to Perugia because of a Wi-Fi problem.

What happened is being blown way out of proportion by the people who obviously want a negative atmosphere around the club.

So what if we have to loan them? If we buy them permanently and they flop on high wages, then what? What do we do if we don't get promoted?

Instead of a lot of you being so black and white about matters, think about the ramifications of your wishes.

nice post Will P and very to the point. The moaners on here see every little issue as a major disaster, mountains and molehills spring to mind....the intent is to get a good team and squad together and MA is doing that. Three points today will help us on the way.

Wild Rover wrote:

Nuttall Street wrote:
MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Absolute rubbish Nutter St
Negative nonsense, I am off to the pub for my pre match drinks
Get down to Ewood and Support

wild Rover....you seem dead set on trashing other peoples opinions....maybe YOU need to count your fingers

Why is that MA and BRFC just can't help themselves by digging such a big hole of bad press. The entire transfer widow scenario has been yet another PR disaster as for as the fans are concerned. If whoever is in charge of these things knew there players to ship out (eg Robbo), why wait until the last minute? Likewise with the intended deals incoming, instead of getting sucked into the SKY media hype and broadcasting speculation doomed to failure. All of the above is totally avoidable with better club management. And still they bleat on about reaching the play-offs? 3pts and a decent convincing performance at home would be a start!!

crankitup wrote:

Wild Rover wrote:

Nuttall Street wrote:
MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Absolute rubbish Nutter St
Negative nonsense, I am off to the pub for my pre match drinks
Get down to Ewood and Support

wild Rover....you seem dead set on trashing other peoples opinions....maybe YOU need to count your fingers

To be honest, Wild Rover only states HIS opinion which is that what Nuttall St wrote was rubbish, an opinion to which he is entitled and an opinion with which I wholeheartedly agree. I don't appreciate being told what "I will put up with", I really couldn't care less what Michael Appleton looks like, how is that relevant in any way shape or form? Clearly Nuttall St has his opinions of our manager but please don't assume we all share them.

Wild Rover wrote:

Nuttall Street wrote:
MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Absolute rubbish Nutter St
Negative nonsense, I am off to the pub for my pre match drinks
Get down to Ewood and Support

I hope you enjoy the game. Better get a few stiffners under the belt first though.

Inthepointyend wrote:

crankitup wrote:

Wild Rover wrote:

Nuttall Street wrote:
MA, this is the worst bull, and the most obvious bull, I have heard from a football manager since the days of Steve Kean, or Mama Desai's philosophy of passing football! The window has been a shambles demonstrating a lack of resolve and a snowstorm of incompetence.
Although I have been very disappointed by your appointment as manager I had been encouraged by four actions in your early days:
1. You have blackballed The Global Adviser or been blackballed by him. Either way that speaks well of you.
2. You have told Venky's through the medium of the Press that Rovers are better off if they stay away from Ewood Park.
3. You have highlighted for action the imbalance in the squad (how could such a ludicrous position have ever come about) and the poor quality in certain areas, and
4. You seem for the last two games at least to have galvanised the players.

However, your lack of experience has been found out by the transfer window failures. Whether it is your direct responsibility to complete the signings or not they are crucial to your success on the playing field and you should have been "riding herd" on those whose responsibility it was to make sure it happened. (You were ready enough to trumpet in a Steve Keanesque way your Mr Mobile Phone from Portsmouth.) Now that it hasn't happened you should be at the forefront of efforts to get rid of the bumbling buffoons who made such a mess of the window and not talking b0ll0cks that every fan can see through and which is destroying the initial good impression you have managed to build up. It is possible that you may be good at rallying the players, but your lack of experience is showing badly in your management off the field. One last thing. For heavens sake stop talking rubbish about hopes of the play-offs. The form required from here to achieve that is very obviously beyond Rovers and following the window is even more out of reach. You look like a manager who lacks experience focussing the club on a target in which failure is all but mathematically guarranteed. Worse still you look like Steve Kean. The fans will forgive a lot, but they will not put up with that.

Absolute rubbish Nutter St
Negative nonsense, I am off to the pub for my pre match drinks
Get down to Ewood and Support

wild Rover....you seem dead set on trashing other peoples opinions....maybe YOU need to count your fingers

To be honest, Wild Rover only states HIS opinion which is that what Nuttall St wrote was rubbish, an opinion to which he is entitled and an opinion with which I wholeheartedly agree. I don't appreciate being told what "I will put up with", I really couldn't care less what Michael Appleton looks like, how is that relevant in any way shape or form? Clearly Nuttall St has his opinions of our manager but please don't assume we all share them.

Dear Pointyend, in my post I wrote about three things essentially? First, that MA is inexperienced. Secondly, that he frequently tries to dress up poor situations optimistically,. Thirdly, that it is extremely unlikely that Rovers can now produce the transformational performance that will get them from where they are into the play-offs. You describe these as opinions, but, surely, these are hard facts that cannot be disputed.

It was 2 deals that didn't go through so what most of you moaners didn't want them anyway there aren't any good springs to mind some on here said when we was after them and the same people said earlier on in the season our squad was to big and the wages would cause a problem MA get rid of some players gets them off the already bloated wage bill and your still moaning about it and people stop using that every manager is like kean when you people saying it know full well before MA was manager you said no decent manager would want to come here that being said what was you hoping to get? you people need to get a reality check and re read most of your posts and most important shut the f up about kean you cant compare MA with kean because kean is in a class of 1 at least MA knows the squad was to big and has been sorting it so give him a break unlike kean did on him its keans fault we have about 19 strikers you people say not MA fault.

azza234 wrote:
It was 2 deals that didn't go through so what most of you moaners didn't want them anyway there aren't any good springs to mind some on here said when we was after them and the same people said earlier on in the season our squad was to big and the wages would cause a problem MA get rid of some players gets them off the already bloated wage bill and your still moaning about it and people stop using that every manager is like kean when you people saying it know full well before MA was manager you said no decent manager would want to come here that being said what was you hoping to get? you people need to get a reality check and re read most of your posts and most important shut the f up about kean you cant compare MA with kean because kean is in a class of 1 at least MA knows the squad was to big and has been sorting it so give him a break unlike kean did on him its keans fault we have about 19 strikers you people say not MA fault.

Hmm .. well yes and no. Im not one of those that brandishes MA as a SK clone and have been impressed with the frankness and honesty of his assessment. He even appears to have sorted a leaking defense out temporarily. However stating that these names were a 'statement of intent' is not right. Yes, Jerome Thomas would add something to our side. The other two, especially Williamson I very much doubt it. Instead of DJ why not a badly needed defender which even MA identified as a weak spot in our squad? Also why not cut our losses on all these Portuguese players (with the exception of striker Nuno Gomes who does have skill, finishing ability and experience) to amend the wage bill and cut the numbers?
Not saying Appy is a crap manager at all but there are still question marks over his transfer policy. My two cents.

"I think it is a real statement of intent from Blackburn Rovers as a football club."

Yes, it's a real statement as a football club, as opposed to a post office, or a giraffe

If the statement of intent was : "I intend to be a mug all my life"

Then Appleton has made a valid statement. (whether as a football club or just a sh*it spewing quadraspazz)

Who is this joker? And by the way, Henning Berg was too good for you. Where is Kean when you need him? You hounded that great man out. Happy now? Where was the respect for the hairless lion heart, the truth sayer, the tactical warrior? You hounded him out. No respect no class, no toilet roll. You got what you deserved - to be covered head to toe in projectile diarrhoea out of Kean's @rse and Shebby's mouth.

You aren't worth the toilet seat that Kean sits on.

Err.. yeah good one K-Dog. Very original.

Anyway real fans might want to see this.
http://www.dailymail
.co.uk/sport/footbal
l/article-2272514/Ni
ck-Harris-Why-wont-F
A-tell-whats-going-B
lackburn.html#axzz2J
mIbKtSW

It took 2 years to get rid of our Premiership squad and replace it with the present low quality squad. Some of this deadwood have contracts. It is not easy, or quick, for Appleton or anyone else to move out the non performers and replace them with better quality. It will take time, probably 2 years.
We should forget promotion this season. Let us concentrate on building up a decent squad that can achieve promotion, and then stay up.
This squad cannot do that. It is not good enough.

Why we go behind Lee, he is not playing with any club and not FIT to play 90mts, So is a waste of time to give space with quality players now, IF is in this case we should go for young proven, hungry Midfielder lads like Matt Ritchie, Will Hughes and forward like Matt Smith(from Oldham). Develop these lads to higher quality for comming years.