The gallagher bashing is a bit ridiculous imo, not many young lads join a team and start banging them in first season. What I see is a determination to work hard and learn. Has he paid off the 5 mill fee - not yet, but I think he will. He dropped down in level and wage to get game time, he isn’t content on sitting on a bench. Is he the finished article- no. Is he a natural finisher- no. But if he was he wouldn’t be here. What I would like to see is for him to be taught to get into scoring positions, when to make runs etc, I think that’s what he lacks. At times he is trying to do too much himself by dropping back. But that’s what the criticism of Rhodes was- all he done was finish, we can’t have it all. I have seen him score some cracking goals, I’m convinced he will come good, I ask for a bit of patience with him. Brereton is a different kettle of fish I’m afraid..... for reference- gallagher has the same number of goals as Sam vokes this season who I regard as a very good striker.

At this stage of the season the table doesn't lie. We're past the half way point and 10 other teams have been better than us and accrued more points, that's just a fact regardless of any other speculations. It doesn't mean we can't go on to have a storming second half of the season and ultimately finish top six, but there's no real evidence pointing to that happening right now. What we've seen is the same old story of the team collapsing mentally when we get within touching distance of the playoff positions, only to start playing well again when we're back in mid-table with the pressure valve off. I'd like nothing better than for the manager and the players to prove me wrong, but unfortunately I don't think they have it in them.

I've heard this view a few times and I personally find it insane. Even if you get to the Prem and come back down having been battered every week, the financial reward for that completely outstrips any arguments for staying within this division. Going up would also give us extra funds (providing they were made available) to improve the squad, with the additional pull of Premier League football. So it wouldn't be a given that we'd come straight back down anyway. None of this really matters though because for the second season running we find ourselves in and around the playoff picture, but haven't took the initiative and properly strengthened in January. Yet.

That's convenient. Just after the window ends.

Mulgrew, Smallwood, Graham come to mind as feasible. I'd personally be upset if Graham featured on the list.

Mowbray makes it sound as if the difficulties encountered in the transfer window are unique to him and Rovers. How does anyone sign anyone Tony?

Exactly what people said about DG at the start of the league one campaign when he was left out. Remember that great run that actually almost got us into contention in November / December. Guess who started 5 out of 6 games? Against Preston he did more in two touches to bring others into the game than Gallagher had done in 75 minutes. He just doesn't fit in thanks to the spending narrative of the manager.

You’re being far too finicky mate. The PL is littered with very average teams. It’s been proven with the likes of Burnley, Brighton, Cardiff, Sheff United, Bournemouth, Watford and West Brom that you can go up with decent teams and survive for a few years on basic investment. In all honesty, I’d take a Norwich City situation. The finance and improvement of the squad could secure our long term future and even if we dropped straight back down the squad and club as a whole would be in a far better position.

Agree. Johnson has been another massively disappointing signing for me.

But what people cannot grasp is that those who see attending as a priority are already going. We are appealing to those who either dont see it as much of a priority or that cant see it as much of a priority. So there are 2 potential mindsets, feel bitter towards those we see as "less committed" which might create a feeling of entitlement but ultimately will achieve nothing. Or the club can really ask, why arent more coming and what can we do to get them back? Totally disagree that the club is doing all that it can to drag people in. Prices are no longer low, they have drifted up in recent years and are now middle of the road. Look especially at matchday tickets with a needless additional surcharge making it very unappealing for the type of less committed fan from making a decision last minute, may it be that their own game has been called off, maybe a family plan has changed, maybe the weathers nice and they think they fancy going, is the club pricing itself to attract that sort of person? Not at all. Not sure the product on offer is particularly appealing either, there is a whiff of stagnation at the moment. Agree with the red button, more a general point about the mentality regarding attendances. You say "pander" to fans but that sort of attitude from the club wont do anything to get people back.

This should have been done as soon as Mowbray arrived not 2 years later

The fact you keep repeating yourself to him doesn't mean you're right! ?

I'm sorry but to pay 5 million on a 24 year old striker and then have to teach him how to make runs and get into goal scoring positions beats the shit out of me.

If the summit of your expectations is not moaning and trying their best, and you turn a blind eye to strikers not scoring goals and the manager playing players in incorrect and uncomfortable positions then thats up to you. I want my strikers to score goals and I want players working effectively in their natural positions. More fool me. But it isnt needs must? We have actual wide men at the club. You are the absolute master at taking a point off tangent to hide something. Apparently being linked with players and then the manager saying that we are nowhere near asking prices is proof that the money is there to spend. If we cant judge or discuss anything "without knowing the full facts" whatever thag means then lets all not form opinions and instead close the messageboard. I can see with my own eyes that Gallagher cannot play effectively out wide and when he has been up front his goalscoring record has been dismal. But as long as he shuts up and doesnt publically berate the manager for it and he tries his best I am not within my rights to expect any more!

Always tomorrow, never today

Yeah, but it’s wrong and everyone can see it bar Mowbray. The galling thing is we have actual wingers kicking their heels, while Gallagher is out of position, like a fish up a tree. It’s not his fault he is picked there though.

Rovers close to appointing a head of European scouting. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18189615.rovers-close-appointment-boss-talks-overseas-targets/

They are better than us because they have more points than us. As a team they have all been more effective than we have over the past 28 games or so. Every team has to deal with injuries, that's why squad depth and not relying on injury prone players are a part of long-term planning. Lenihan and Nyambe being constantly injured isn't bad luck, it's natural for both of them. If we can't account for that then we can't chalk it up to bad luck, it's just poor planning.

If Armstrong is our number 9, fine, but then that means we need to play wingers on the wing and Gallagher needs to be on the bench.

The club isn’t a charity mate. People are banging on about Venkys who are £100m deep and still willing to spend but can’t even bring themselves to buy a cheap season ticket, half season ticket or whatever other deals they put on. Attending is a priority. Because we are supporters and that’s what supporters do at the most basic level. Plus the club needs to demonstrate generated income to move forwards under ffp. The club made massive mistakes. I stopped going myself for a couple of years. But they couldn’t have done much more in the last few years to get people back. If fans don’t wanna go, fine, I couldn’t care less. But don’t then whinge about missing out on a bonus crappy service like the red button.

Goal scorers are born not made. If you were watching the Shrewsbury v Liverpool game. Whalley was through on goal twice and never looked like scoring, Cummings comes on and with more or less two touches put two shots in the back of the net cool as you like.

Way too late for this window, all this should have been sorted out in November or December. Even if we had no money to spend there's an obvious and pressing need to shift out our deadwood and the window could have been put to good use by doing this but no doubt any half hearted attempts will come to nothing at this late stage. It really does make you wonder what Waggott does to justify his no doubt not inconsiderable salary when we cant even get our ducks in a row in time for the transfer windows. I'd say every one has been a disaster since he arrived. What else does he have to sort out all year?

People talk of him as young. Shearer had scored a hat trick on his debut, played for England, transferred for a record fee, got a career threatening injury, overcome a career threatening injury and was lifting the Premier League trophy at his age. Gallagher has already played more than half the amount of games that Big Al did for us - so it's about time he learned the basics of striking. ...of course I'm mischief making but it is all true.

You were criticising him, and pretty much writing him off already. Your saying strikers can’t learn and progress which is ridiculous. And yea not every striker is for scoring barrell loads of goals, it’s about how effective they are for the team. Also in his defence is that he is hardly getting great service from out wide

Look no further than a certain David Speedie. Instrumental in our promotion season to the top flight...sweet Jesus what an impact he made for one Season.How the ground used to echo to his name pre Shearer. The banner hung on the gates of the BBE terrace after his shock sale said it all: "Please Uncle Jack,bring David Speedie Back!"

Mulgrew surely. We need his wages off the books. I don't blame him for hanging onto a contact we gave him, but at 33, if he wants to play a bit more football in his career, he needs a fresh start somewhere new.

“When people phone about our players, you pick a number out of the air and that gives them an idea about what they might take. “Either negotiations start or you frighten them off with that number." Talk about amateur. No wonder other clubs are proving hard to deal with, "Oh you're calling about Richie Smallwood, (spins tombola), it think £6m sounds about right." Get rid.

If we are so good, how come we just played Wigan, Huddersfield, Forest, Preston and Birmingham (twice) and couldn't stuff any of them. We're a decent Championship side who is too inconsistent to challenge.

Its rovers mate, be told.

Groundhog day at Rovers with the same old excuses and soundbites coming from the club. Nearly 4 weeks into the window and only now realising that top targets might be too expensive. Have we done any homework? Pretending as though the Dack injury has thrown everything into chaos. 5 weeks nearly since that happened. It strikes me as amateur hour. Life on easy street with no funds and no pressure to deliver.

Can he play like that 3 games out of 4 or was that just because of the occasion ? He's certainly worth scouting to find out.

Josh Laurent was immense ... well worth it as he’s free in summer ... Probably end up being snapped up by Brentford!!

Sounds like Mowbray to me!

It's the mental side of the team that is a worry and it has been for years now. We haven't got enough " winners " at the club. That starts from right at the top.

This whole learning the way we play shit is driving me mad. I have watched every game this season and still have learnt it!!!

I never thought I'd type the following words, and I'll bet you never expected to read them, but "there was an interesting article in the Metro yesterday".? ? It was on the subject of FFP and made the point that we are not alone. We weren't mentioned specifically, but the article pointed out that even the teams at the top of the table - West Brom were cited- haven't looked that brilliant this season. At the time the article was published yesterday morning, the author said that Championship "teams have so far made a grand total of eight permanent signings between them in this transfer window, and there is one major reason for that - FFP." "... so many clubs are struggling to comply with Financial Fair Play Rules that significant signings are nigh-on impossible - and it is showing on the pitch. "A rule designed to improve competition and stop clubs going bust is instead a cap on ambition and also creates a huge gulf to the Premier League for those who do go up. "Do they splurge the cash like Aston Villa - with all the problems bedding in north of £100 million worth of players in one fell swoop brings - or not, like Norwich, and ensure relegation would not be a financial catastrophe? "The intentions of FFP may be honourable but, right now, fans of Championship clubs are being short-changed." I've quoted so much of the article, not to point any fingers at anyone in authority at Ewood, but to point out that we're in good[?] company in struggling with the shackles of FFP. Who knows: Brentford's approach - buy them cheap; sell them at a significant profit - may be the most effective way to get us back to the halcyon days of the 1990s. But that would surely require a good, reliable scouting network across Europe. And that seems as likely to appear at Ewood any time soon as those defenders we were apparently promised were "coming".

I don't have access to the red button, don't have sky. My point being I can't see a massive surge in tomorrow's attendance without it. So means nothing to me. 45 years supporting through thick and thin. The Loons are just thick. I'd like to be a bit thinner. They have sucked the life blood out of the club. Do you know what, if they fucked off in the morning for a quid, I'd be there. Anything but them.

Mulgrew is back.

all this talk of european scouting is pointless,for whatever reason,we can`t even arrange a loan deal or transfer from this country,mowbray in the telegraph,bemoans the difficulty in getting a deal done,ffs tony,other clubs don`t seem to have a problem,quite how you are going to get deals done from europe is beyond me

Prob best all round if a few others take this advice. Seems as though the answer to every question on every thread at the moment is how bad Mowbray is, what a waste of money Gally and Brereton are and how we don’t have a pot to piss in...so repetitive in fact that I’d be expecting bans for “inflammatory behaviour” if I hadn’t seen who continually ‘like’ them...??

@roversfan99 @chaddyrovers You two wanna get a room? ?.

Can't be a dingle then !

You wouldn’t pay 4 million for a lad on 15 goals so far this year and on course for 20/25? Younger than when grab an went to forest so 6 million who you linked despite a poorer record? What did you describe the Brereton fee again as? A steal was it?

Patience is a virtue. Look it’s the same story throughout the championship, there is simply hardly any clubs awash with cash. Even Brentford who made millions in sales are not spending because they have had to stump up a wad for their stadium move. Rovers need to shed the squad and allow the youth to flourish

Doesn't say much for Rhodes does it if Sheff Wed are looking for a striker ?

That should really say - " Mowbray on not improving the squad ".

I still really respect GB for lifting some of the gloom from what was the darkest part of our darkest period, and really felt for him when he was sacked. But having seen what some of the players we had during his tenure have gone on to do, it's difficult not to admit that he is tactically limited. Quite surprised that it's still being exposed at such a low level though. Hope he turns it around, as I still think he did much much more good here than bad.

He had a really good game. Players who can run with the ball from the half way line to the penalty area will always hurt teams no matter how good they are. He's been around the block a few times though.The thought went through my mind that he might be the sort of player that can raise his game for the big matches but not for the bread and butter league matches. If he can do as well in the tie at Anfield will be interesting. I thought Ebanks-Landell played well at the back. I didn't realise he was 27 though.

Presumed lost at sea or captured by Somali pirates , he was on-board the same vessel as the 50 million war chest.

Weve not spent any time in the play offs in the last 18 months and have spent very little time in the immediate vicinity of them, and when we have, we instantly fall back down. Chuck in a couple of major injuries and no money to make reinforcements and its realism rather tham negativity as to why people consider our top 6 chances to be very slim. Armstrong and Nyambe are important players but certainly would not get into every team in the league. Downing has been good, Holtby has yet to consistently impress for various reasons. I suspect that neutrals would not consider us a major threat.