The Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette released her third album “Jagged Little Pill” in 1995 to much critical and commercial acclaim, forging her reputation for many years to come. A session guitarist called Shearer was involved in the proceedings as well!

The third single from that album caused much angst to students of the English language as the track, “Ironic” proceeded to outline what might more accurately be described as a series of unfortunate coincidences.

If Blackburn Rovers were ever to release an official club single, a cover version of “Ironic” with lyrics suitably amended would be high on my list of suggestions. Why? Well, just this week, the club announced that its head of recruitment had left thereby kick-starting a recruitment process for a replacement head of recruitment.

Nothing too extraordinary about that, people leave jobs all the time but the heavy irony here is that Rovers brought back John Park this summer, for a second stint at Rovers clearly believing that a man who had worked at the club previously from July 2021-June 2022, knew the hierarchy, understood “the project” and therefore would settle in faster and be more productive/effective.

However, five short months later, Park leaves Ewood for a second time “by mutual consent” a phrase which in the world of HR can cover a multitude of options. What caused the breach this time? As fans, we can speculate but the optics are far from good as another head of recruitment needs to be found just a few weeks before the window opens whilst the first team clearly lacks quality and depth in key areas.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to lose one head of recruitment is unfortunate, to lose the same one twice looks like carelessness.

On the field, a welcome boost to fortunes before the international break saw Rovers finally secure an away win in Cardiff. The volume and loyalty of Rovers' away support never ceases to amaze me. A 12:30pm kick off is challenging for a home fixture, when it’s a 200+ mile journey and the game is also live on Sky TV, then fair play to those hardy souls who turned up.

They were rewarded with a Rovers performance that showed the best of John Eustace’s passing style, especially with two similar goals which saw the ball worked patiently from side to side, stretching the Cardiff defence to create a tap-in from close distance. Lewis Baker scored by passing the ball delightfully into the corner to make it safe, but it must be said that the ten minutes or so preceding that third goal were, to put it mildly, hairy.

Never underestimate Rovers’ ability to create tension where none exists, here substitute Joe Rankin-Costello donated Cardiff a penalty which shifted the momentum hugely. That Rovers withstood the barrage is a feather in their cap. The relief when Baker’s goal
went in was palpable and the last few minutes to the final whistle could truly be savoured.

This week the BBC announced that Gary Lineker was standing down as presenter of the flagship Match Of The Day programme. Lineker was only the programme’s fifth regular main presenter but it’s the third name on that list that springs to mind whenever I consider a home fixture against Portsmouth.

It was May 1985, Rovers were in fourth, Pompey two points behind in sixth in the second division and three games left. Third-placed Man City were three points ahead of Rovers so all to play for. Some say they went to Ewood and saw a boxing bout but occasionally a football match broke out! The match was televised on MOTD and presenter Jimmy Hill really went to town on Rovers.

The incidents are available to view in all their glory on YouTube – I strongly recommend the search term “Blackburn Portsmouth Jimmy Hill” and as you watch Hill dissect the violence, play the “how many red cards would that be in the modern day” game..!

Hill suggested that Randell should have walked for a sly punch (he should) and then Keeley and Wood put up a better fight than Jake Paul and Mike Tyson only to collect yellows – astonishing by today’s benchmarks. 

Branagan somehow escaped a second yellow for a jiu-jitsu move, then Keeley “risked starting another war” according to Hill with shall we say a high, late challenge that “left its mark” and finally saw the referee locate his red card, not before time. Highly recommended to any teenagers who think today’s players are not protected sufficiently by modern-day referees!

Rovers have had quite a few notable spats with Portsmouth over the years, the most recent Ewood encounter being in the League 1 season when Rovers eventually ran out comfortable winners 3-0, but once again not managing to finish the game with a full complement of eleven. What are the chances of more red cards on Saturday?

Equally, what are the chances that Rovers recruitment in January will deliver what’s required? Let’s leave the final word with Alanis and hope that Eustace isn’t provided with 10,000 spoons when all he needs is a knife.