It’s All Going Wrong For Valerian Ismael: Blackburn Hit With Pitch Investigation

The EFL is Investigating Blackburn's Pitch Issues and It Could Cost the Club

Four fixtures were meant to go ahead in the sixth tier of English football tonight, but thanks to Storm Bram, three were called off. Fortunately, pitch inspections took place early enough to save anyone from wasting their Tuesday, and quite frankly, most had anticipated this outcome as soon as the weather took a turn for the worse.

No one blinks an eye when a National League North club based on the North Yorkshire coast is forced to reschedule a fixture, but for Blackburn Rovers, there is no excuse.

Despite the club assuring its match against Oxford United will take place tonight, there are evidently no guarantees in Valerian Ismael’s camp this campaign.

📰 Pitch Update.

Following discussions with the match officials, who are satisfied with the playing surface at Ewood Park, tonight’s game against Oxford United will go ahead as planned.

Blackburn Rovers wishes to stress that the club shares the frustrations felt by supporters… pic.twitter.com/r4bsyuyyW3

— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) December 9, 2025

The Rovers took Ipswich as their first victim in September and furthered their purge against Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, just days after the rescheduled fixture was played.

Anyone lucky enough to witness the ball glide across a sodden Ewood Park will realise that the referee was right to call the game off on both occasions. It was a simply unplayable surface.

The EFL’s Very Own Detective Case

The Football League are now on a mission to get to the bottom of this Lancashire mystery. No other ground in the Championship is facing such issues as Ewood Park is, and the reason for that will not go unanswered.

Daily Mail’s Mike Keegan reported that the EFL board will be investigating last Saturday’s fixture and why torrential rain stopped it from passing the 60-minute mark. It was further stated that if the club fails to meet requirements, Rovers could be hit with a misconduct charge under EFL rules, a substantial fine for some blades of grass.

The ground that once saw the Premier League trophy within its four walls will now be attentively examined and questioned over whether it is up to the league’s standards.

The scenes at Ewood Park yesterday when the manager said he was bringing the sub on #EwoodPark #Blackburn #Rovers #Abandon #Rain pic.twitter.com/D6Hxe5vFAH

— Magpie Drawings (@MagpieDrawings) December 7, 2025

Ismael’s Response

The Frenchman made his intentions clear that he would rather invest money into the pitch in order to secure the club’s future at the ground, as opposed to spending in the winter transfer window to aid the present state of the club.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Ismael said: "The fans, when they pay to see a game, they want to see 90 minutes in full and not have to go back home with a big big frustration.

"It's a terrible situation, an embarrassing situation and not a nice situation to have. We've got enough issues this season."

The 50-year-old emphasised the theme of embarrassment in his interview regarding the situation. It’s evident that he has never experienced a relegation campaign in the English game, as finishing in that dreaded bottom four cannot be topped on the humiliation scale.

It goes without saying that no club should have to mine into their allocated transfer budget to prevent a waterlogged pitch, so why wasn’t this issue addressed already?

More Abandonments Than League Wins

AFC Fylde, Fleetwood Town, and Morecambe are all fellow Lancashire clubs, no further than a 45-minute drive from Blackburn. All three play between the fourth and sixth tiers of England, and are notably located closer to the coastline that looks onto the Irish Sea. Yet, they all managed to successfully play out the full 90 minutes of their respective home fixtures last Saturday.

🚨 Blackburn #Rovers have had more abandonments at Ewood Park this season than they’ve had league wins. pic.twitter.com/5Bo3AknTc1

— allrovers (@allrovers_) December 6, 2025

Postponing fixtures midway through the contest not only wastes everyone's time but also adds extra minutes to an already packed winter fixture schedule, and fans have had enough, calling out the owners for a lack of investment in their 135-year-old abode.

Major work has not been done on Ewood Park since 1995, a year after Rovers lifted the Premier League title. Their current owners, V H Group, or the Venky’s, took over the club in 2010 and have hardly touched the stadium since.

Since Venky’s purchased Blackburn, the club have suffered relegation from the Premier League and the Championship and are toying with a return to League One as they remain just four points from the drop zone.

Feel for the blackburn fans, there owners seem worryingly similar to chansiri, clear lack of investment, name plastered all over the stadium #Rovers #swfc

— OwenC17 (@Owen_wawaw_s6) December 6, 2025

Once a Premier League regular and Northern giant of the game, Blackburn Rovers have suffered from underinvestment for over a decade and are a shade of the pioneering team of the early 2000s, which challenged for European football on multiple occasions thanks to a strong influx of spending.

After over two months of waiting to finish that elusive game in hand, once again, the Rovers have fallen behind and have serious ground to make up, fixture- and pitch-wise.