Rich Sharpe

United Kingdom

Blackburn Rovers Reporter at Lancashire Telegraph

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Articles

Define: Blackburn Rovers

Oct 23, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

Rich Sharpe·Follow4 min read·--Didn’t win, didn’t lose. Didn’t score, didn’t concede. I wrote in a previous piece about how I’d find it hard to describe Rovers’ style. While I might not be able to articulate that, I’d say where they are as a team was encapsulated by the 90 minutes against West Bromwich Albion.
FAO: The Celebration Police

Sep 1, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

One of the many things about modern football I detest: ‘the celebration police’. Their job seemingly is to decide the importance/impressiveness/meaning of a result and the level at which that can be ‘celebrated’ for a team which isn’t their own. How about letting the fans of that team decide that?
I’m Getting Eusta This

Aug 24, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

To some people, being wrong is something they would never accept, willing to near points of delusion than ever admit their viewpoint could even be slightly off. I’d like to think I’ve always been pretty consistent in holding my hands up, owning any erroneous results or predictions (of which there have been several), particularly if in the end, there’s a positive outcome. And I think I’m nearing that point with John Eustace.
Yu, Me & A New Front Three

Aug 10, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

The jeopardy, dread and nailbiting tension of the conclusion of last season felt a lifetime ago as Rovers put smiles on faces to start their latest campaign with a deserved three points. Having gone 11 years without an opening day victory, Rovers have now reeled off four successive opening game wins, with this the most comprehensive of the lot.
Wham Bam, Thank You Sam

May 4, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

You may be surprised to hear that I've never written a film. But if it's like writing a column, I'd imagine you'd already have an idea of what you wanted to centre it around, a mic drop moment a mind, and then figure the rest out around that. Well, this was going to be a piece focusing John Eustace's claim that Rovers securing their Championship status would be a success and me making light of that with the view that the only thing to celebrate was seeing the back of this God-awful season.
Owls About That

Apr 21, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

The reasons Rovers find themselves in the position they do are plentiful, most of which filter down from the very top. As for on the pitch, taking seven points from a possible 30 against the sides directly below them in the table, winning just one of those 10 corresponding fixtures, tells its own ugly story. The latest episode came in the 3–1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, a desperately poor game decided by some even poorer mistakes.
I Tip My Cap To Eu…

Apr 13, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

Football, bloody hell. Rovers have had big wins in the not too distant past, they’ve performed well on some big stages, but to produce a display of that magnitude, under those circumstances, I can’t recall the like for some time. Many a top six push has come and gone on the back of not producing in the biggest moments, and under the most intense pressure of must-win games and derby days, they have been found wanting all too often.
Stadium of…Is It Now Alright?

Apr 1, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

Come on, admit it, you all saw that coming? I’ll be honest in that I was beginning to feel the permutation that would be required for Rovers to beat the drop was for there to be three worse teams, with the 50 points likely be required becoming out of reach.
All's Fair in Love & Draw

Mar 6, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

I was looking something up when I came across a Tony Mowbray quote from Rovers’ 2016/17 survival mission that ultimately ended in relegation. Rovers were unbeaten in the seven games immediately after Mowbray was installed as head coach, though five of those had been draws. Game number eight was a defeat against a Brighton & Hove Albion who would later go on to win promotion, after which Mowbray reflected: ‘it’s about the ones we win’.
A Night That Was Needed

Feb 28, 2024 | medium.com | Rich Sharpe

The messy and public departure of one head coach, the arrival of another, unprecedented (at least in recent years) squad churn in a January transfer window, greeting a new team-mate who ultimately wouldn’t be a new team-mate a week later, all amid a run of results that had plunged Rovers closer to the bottom three, plus the ongoing uncertainty over the funding of the club, it’s not been the easiest time to be associated with Blackburn Rovers.