Mowbray has more or less gotten us back into the position we were in under Bowyer before Venky's pulled the rug out from underneath him. A squad somewhat unbalanced that doesn't play great football but can grind out enough results to finish comfortably mid-table if never really challenge for the playoffs. I think Bowyer had a better team overall (with less money) and that was reflected in slightly higher league positions than TM has achieved (assuming we finish lower than 8th/9th this time around). At the time the general concensus was that Bowyer had run his race and we needed to replace him to move forward. Obviously Venky's made the wrong choices and ended up relegating us with Owen Coyle instead. History could very easily repeat itself so personally I'm very wary of TM departing. With that said my ambition for the club remains the same as it was back then, so I'm at the point where I'm wondering if TM can realistically get us into genuine contention for promotion. I think probably not, but am I confident in our owners appointing the right person even if Mowbray left? No, I'm not. I imagine it would be chaos, confusion and disaster again. It's a tough situation to be in as on the one hand my ambitions for the club are beyond what I believe Mowbray can achieve, but at the same time I'm well aware that if he leaves we're more likely to spiral downward than push on - because if there's one thing Venky's have proven it's that they don't take the managerial position seriously and will always opt for the cheap route. Sometimes you get half-decent managers in the likes of Bowyer and Mowbray, other times you get a Kean or a Coyle (although one could argue Kean was not cheap at all retrospectively). What you never get is a manager that will get the club punching above its weight, which is realistically what we are going to require in order to get promoted. It's just a shit situation and I don't see it being resolved until Venky's are gone, and right now it seems like they are going nowhere.

@roversfan99 @chaddyrovers Any danger of you two leaving each other alone for a bit?

With JRC now injured, if Chapman doesn't make the 18 again I think it's safe to say he's as good as gone in the summer. Give him a chance from the start!

Mowbray's tenure is reminiscent of Bowyer's, except he has spent more money in the transfer market. I expect he will eventually leave under similar circumstances as, in my opinion, like Bowyer, he clearly isn't going to take us up another level. He's stabilised the ship, fair play, but at some point it is likely that we will stop treading water and start drowning. Many of the players we now need to ship out are his own signings. For all his talk of a long term plan, if he is here in ten years time we still won't be in the Premier League, or anywhere near it. His one promotion from this division pre - dates Owen Coyle's. Enough said. Add to this, some of the football at Ewood has been dire and is not going to fill empty seats anytime soon.

Exactly what I would do. IMO, Gallagher MUST NOT start whether it be out wide or as a central striker. I think Mowbray has dropped another huge expensive clanger with his signing. I think Johnson is washed up and finished. Thought he looked over weight on Saturday - unfit, slow and poor distribution. Fully agree. I'd like to see Chapman given a run of games. To me, the lad's got good natural ability, can make things happen and is capable of getting you on the edge of your seat. B0ll0cks to all this attitude business. IMO, Mowbray has totally mismanaged the lad and I would be p1ssed off if I'd been treated the same way. The lad needs an arm around the shoulder and to be told how good he is now and just how good he can be going forward - give him his wings and watch him fly. IMO, the lad has more natural ability than Brereton, Gallagher and Rankin Costello put together. As supporters, you want to be excited and sadly, IMO, under Mowbray we've seen too much turgid stuff and 'ale house' football - and some on here had the nerve to criticise Big Sam!

I think Bell’s been good in this latest run in the team, certainly not standing out as poor in my opinion I think he could be improved on but a handy option there

I for one am weirdly curious and excited for the rest of the season. Not because I think I’m going to be blinded by Tika taka style entertainment or because I think we’ll go roaring into the playoffs (those hopes were all but gone when Dack collapsed against Wigan and confirmed with the subsequent injuries to Evans, Holtby and Rothwell). No, I’m excited to see the development of our young players over the next 16 games or whatever. Our position in the league and injuries have inadvertently created an almost perfect climate for them. We aren’t going down and will potentially be out of the playoff race by March. Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis and Arma are flying. The improvement in those four grows week on week. I want to see JRC, Buckley and Davenport play 10 games before the end of the season. I wouldn’t even be adverse to Hilton playing a couple back end or Butterworth if he can get fit. They will be so much better for it in the long run. Let them get upto speed and let’s see what they’ve got to offer. To get one or two of these playing well and fully integrated into the first team would be brilliant for the club and reduce the volume of transfers needed in the summer. Also grows our assets and provides potential for sustainability. Get the young lads played I say. We’ll never have a better chance to have a look at them!

How anyone is still talking about the playoffs is beyond me. The only time this season I've given it serious thought was after Bristol City away when I thought that maybe, just maybe, we'd turned some sort of corner as that wasn't the kind of victory that we usually got. Then, when we had chance to actually enter the top 6, we of course stunk the place out in home games v Wigan and Birmingham and it became clear that we'd just end up plodding in mid-table.

Surly we can give the cocker the benefit of the doubt. I find it quite heart warming the effort and passion he puts in and the little things like cocker makes him even more endearing because of the misunderstanding of words. #COYB #comeonyoucockers # mexicanpals # blackburntilidie

You picked a different formation and different personnel prior to the game.

Bennett gets no grief at games, I’ve not known a manager as backed as TM since Mark Hughes. The internet is not real life and it annoys me when narratives are then spun in column pieces and by prominent Twitter fans that Rovers supporters are a mob of foaming at the mouth abusers. Absolutely not the case, in fact I’d go as far to say we are more patient than most.

Something often conveniently forgotten! TM has never had us in the top six during his entire time here. Not even for one match.

Even though we hadnt been in the top 6 at any point during the season? Baring in mind that Dack got injured on the 23rd December, on matchday 23, and Holtby, Rothwell and Evans were injured very recently.

I think we all know now, this match will be a bore as our esteemed manager will choose a team to negate Hull who are suddenly the best team in the UK with only Liverpool able to compete with them and only if they are lucky. We therefore need to concentrate on defence leaving no one in midfield to create anything going forward. Hull will score in the 70th or 75th minute. Mowbray will panic and substitutes will come into play, leaving 4 out and out strikers in the mix but no one to create anything for them. I am extremely fed up and don’t see a way out of it.

I've read up until page 17 of this thread then got frustrated at all the OTT criticism again. It was always going to be a tough game against a pre-season favourite in good form, even without our injuries, so why are people upset when that's what plays out? I don't buy the theory that we set out just to avoid defeat. Yes we worked on trying to nullify their potency, but that's not the same thing. We were actually the better team for the first 15 mins I thought. But overall it was a poor game, from both sides, shorn of any real quality. Neither team did enough to win it IMO; they passed it around more fluently after that initial spell, but mostly without menace. But for Travis unluckily playing Bryan in on the left when trying to intercept his pass, it would have finished 0-0. We could have drawn or won had Lenihan's goal been given (which looked fine to me but I've not seen a replay). If we'd have got the lucky deflection that Bryan got, or the offside decision goes our way, we win the game and are cockahoop like Fulham were as they knew they were given a tough game. It was those kind of fine margins that made the difference on the day. The criticism I do agree with from yesterday is Gallagher out wide (which generally doesn't work and for which TM understandably gets criticised; maybe Bennett would have been more effective there seeing how Chapman is clearly out of the running) & Johnson, who I thought was a liability & overall I've been so disappointed with him, as I think we all are. Tuesday's game is massive. Win and we're still well in the playoff hunt. Draw or lose and away at Charlton becomes must-win to keep hope's alive. I'd like to see Davenport in place of Johnson, and either Bennett, JRC or Chapman in place of Gallagher. Perhaps rotate Gallagher, JRC & Armstrong by playing Gallagher up top, JRC wide right with Armstrong in a free-ish no 10 role. Let's try to be optimistic eh? We're far from out of the playoff hunt but listening to many on here you'd think we were knocking about in 20th place.

Mowbray shouldn't be given the opportunity to form a squad for 2020/2021. He's failed and should be removed from his post.

Chaddy, please knock it off. Match threads a day before a match are very much about team selection. Thus, the comparisons are relevant. We can't open a new thread for every little tangent. If you don't like the direction the conversation is going, then feel free to remove yourself from it.

No one has said it's his fault we went down, the question was asked "Where were we headed when he took us over"? The answer was League 1 and the fact was stated that that is exactly where we ended up anyway! Obviously there is context to that but those supporting Mowbray don't like context when it doesn't suit ie citing our League position after a win which might temporarily push us up a couple of places up the League. The fact we might be say tenth iin any given week is cited as irrefutable evidence of huge strides being made despite the fact we may be only three points off 15th or the football is dire or we've just had another disastrous transfer window etc. The fact we might occupy a respectable position in the League in any given week apparently stands on it's own and can't be challenged. But mention the fact that Mowbray failed in his initially assigned task of keeping us up, that raises howls of derision and has to be put into context!!

I know you ignore me as I have different opinions to you sometimes ... but you really could be describing Bradley dack when he was at gills. What did you think of dack and his brushes with the law ?

Apathy spreads in Blackburn quicker than the plague when it's obvious there's little ambition other than just to tread water. Sadly it's one of those areas you have to keep spiking the interest alongside keeping it affordable and what's affordable round here is often viewed as cheap in other places. It's never been any different you need a manager with profile and ability to get a few players in that catch the imagination. Especially when you have a half decent source of finance. I know Archibald type signings are impossible these days but those who remember how Don Mackay breathed new life back into the club when he first came, with very little finance, will understand that's what the club is crying out for these days. Just something to jerk it back into life, TM 7 co threatened that with bouncing back from lge 1 but it quickly became job done. Back where we were so foot off the gas. Lambert threatened it when he came in but it quickly fizzled out with the Rhodes fiasco etc but as the Oxford game showed there's enough out there to get far better gates than we are doing. They need something to buy into though, buying crap players and wasting money then looking for every excuse in the book doesn't cut it.

Sam’s removal was part of a cataclysmic event that we still haven’t got close to recovering from a near decade later. He continued to manage at the top level for years after. TM is a solid enough Championship manager. There are many out there of his ilk, at this level if the team stagnates or declines, you roll the dice, that’s the Championship. The fact you think a Steve Evans type would get appointed (and you’re right, they might) so we need to keep TM just in case the fools do something ridiculous says more about the club then the fact we’ve got a gem of a manager ( to turn a phrase) we need to cherish.

Lol Brian Dick. I have a strong suspicion that MM has ripped jeans btw. Not a Rovers player even without the attitude. Swans around waiting for the highlight reel chances, doesn’t track back, he’s a luxury not many can afford in this league. Think what you want about their chairman - but no reason to doubt what he says. MM has reckoned he’s worth 15-20k p/w for a couple of years, not sure he is. (Obviously if we’d actually signed him I’d be sucking Waggott off, mind)

Re FFP- aren’t you forgetting that we spent £12 Million on two strikers- one that plays on the wing (despite us having actual wingers at the club) and another that barely gets 5 minutes at a time? Stoke have spent the most in the league and they’re only just outside the relegation zone. PNE have barely spent anything and they’re in the top 6. Perspective indeed.

Yes be upset, of course. But let's get some perspective & proper context into how it's expressed; we've just gone 4 games undefeated, 2 wins & 2 draws, despite tough injuries sustained in 3 of those games. We've gone 4 months undefeated at home. To then lose narrowly to Fulham is no disaster. Thing is, when we win games or go on winning runs there's too many who argue it's in spite of Mowbray: "OK so we've won, but it's only 'cos he listened to us fans. He won't win the next one 'cos he'll pick his favourites again or spin his tombola, so he's taken us as far as he can and he's only in it for his pension". But when we lose games it's because of him, even when (like yesterday) he's picked an 11 that most people thought was decent; "it was inevitable we'd lose today with him in charge, he can't set up a team to win games, that's why he's taken us as far as he can". Every defeat is followed by "he needs to go", how on earth can that be rational when we've had more wins than defeats? Why can't people accept that in football, not everything goes to plan and that there's stuff that goes on behind the scenes that we're not privy to but which will be absolutely at the heart of his decision making? Yes I'm sure City fans are concerned at the moment; they've put up a meek defence of their title having also endured a poor summer transfer window and injuries to key players, just like us. They're much further away from their target than we are from ours, yet even though they've lost a quarter of their league fixtures (not that dissimilar to Rovers' record of having lost a third of ours), their fans aren't calling for Pep's head.

I thought yesterday highlighted the unbalanced squad that TM has created. Obviously he will point to injuries but look at it: 5 strikers in the squad yet we only ever really start with one up front. Out of those 5 strikers Armstrong is the only one who is competent out on the wing but TM chooses to play Gallagher and Samuel Samuel was naff in league 1 why is he even considered for selection at this point? Gallagher on the right wing is and has been all season embarrassing. It doesn't work yet TM keeps trying it, he's probably tried it about 20 times so far this season. His only good game was preston away when he played through the middle. He's been rubbish has gallagher but TM isn't doing him any favours. Brereton - we don't even need to discuss. I haven't got the energy to detail how spectacularly bad his signing is. It says a hell of a lot that Samuel came on before him. Chapman is the only winger in the squad yet can't get near the team - waste of money Mulgrew and Smallwood taking up wages due to TM overvaluing them. Johnson - isn't suited to playing a passing game. waste of money With 3 of our ideal back five (Walton, Tosin, Cunningham) only on loan, we've got major surgery to do to the squad with little resources to do it. By my count in the summer we need a 2 keepers, a backup right back, a left back, at least 1 maybe 2 centre backs. a wide player and a striker. possibly even another centre mid if age catches up with Downing before August. Worrying stuff.

The team that should play and the team that will play are two different things. For example, anyone with two working eyes knows that Sam Gallagher our wide is wrong, but it won’t stop him being selected there. I think where that is concerned I’m at the ‘acceptance’ stage of grief.

Very fair analysis. Most of our recent sackings, Coyle, Kean, Appleton and Berg were obviously sacked because of rank incompetence, they were clear cut decisions, the managers all had very few defendants and it was very black and white. With Mowbray, not only does he have credit in the bank from the promotion 2 seasons ago, but we arent doing disastrously bad, which has been the benchmark in the past. There are some very constructive reasons to suggest that Mowbray might well struggle to push us on and things might soon fall into stagnation rather than progression; imbalanced recruitment, an inability to spend any serious money, and not only are we not firmly in the targeted top 6, but we never once have been, so we arent a serious, credible contender for our season expectations. The recent injuries muddy the waters further as they eliminate any chance for the manager to realistically make that added push (something that hasnt as yet been seriously threatened) or alternatively prove without excuse that he is not capable of doing so, it creates a period of limbo where people can not be expected to withhold opinion but equally its harder to make definitive conclusions. With the promotion goodwill and because we arent in a disaster or a tailspin, quite a few people are not willing to entertain the thought of change and will perhaps be overly defensive about even the more illogical things that he does.

At £2.5M a far more realistic gamble than Brereton at £7M!! In my opinion, hardly a gamble at all whereas Brereton was a reckless gamble which has failed miserably. A club like our's should be looking at the best players in League One. Dack hadn't played in the Championship either, I take it you're happy with that signing?

In fairness considering we're having to resort to playing JRC out of position in the Dack role he probably would be straight into the side at present purely due to injuries. Granted Mowbray normally has an incubation period for new signings but I get the feeling much like Cunningham earlier in the season he may have had to adopt a 'needs must' approach with Maddison with Dack, Holtby and Rothwell all on the sidelines.

Positivity is great, negativity is fine if that’s your bag too, everyone is entitled to a view What annoys me is the tweets and posts that are obviously passive aggressive, purely sarcastic and lacking any real point other than to score points

After a brief lapse following a win v Barnsley, you have reverted back to literally just being a soundboard for everything Mowbray does. Everything is defended and twisted even when there is no logic to it so theres no point continuing. Mowbray failed to save us from relegation but then got us promoted. Cant accept the negative, only the positive. Armstrong has been massively improved but has a flaw that needs improving. Cant accept the negative, only the positive.

When I’m enamoured with 11th place in a dorm table then it’s time to give up

exactly and still some fans complain about him. blimey you are willing to take anyone. Next you been willing to Keith Tracey next ? I agree on the team lets not re writing history again. he got 22 points from 15 games. That's over a season would have got us 67 points. He had a poor squad to play with. He injured it during the game didn't he? Blimey you are obsess with Armstrong being offside but over looked Graham was caught offside during the last game.

Very well interviewed.. Great to see that it is still going-long after Sham had to try and field Bryan Hamilton's moral indignation/uproar on Radio Lancs. He railed against that 21st Century Fox front cover with the picture of the dirty toilets in the Blackburn End! The club soon fixed the toilets though lol

Peterboroughs chairman is an absolute bell end to be fair. Everytime he was asked about him especially after they kept him he was bigging him up, saying he was a Championship player so everything he does is a PR exercise. We can only see how he does in this League but he would walk into our team.

I see JRC has pulled a hamstring. Makes you wonder about our training methods.

I think he’s done fairly well and I’m certainly not clamouring for his sacking. Yet, if we are down the bottom 6 next season, then for me he should go. That’s football, no sentiment, all about what’s best for the club. He’ll be pushing 4 years in the job (a long stint by modern standards) and things can go stale, players stop listening and all the rest of it. However, part of me would be thinking what clown they’d replace him with and I’d be erring to keep him on. And that’s not normal.

If the message is lack of ambition, then interest and attendances will only drop. Managed decline...

On 51 points. Goal difference vs Notts Forest, 15 games. Of which he lost 3. He gained us nearly 50% of our points that season. We were gone, he took it to the last minute. If someone took over Wigan RIGHT NOW would you say they “took them down”? Similar situation. This is a ridiculously bad faith argument. Seems there is enough to criticise TM for without rewriting history.

League One. Which is exactly where Mowbray took us. ?

And it shows ?.

Id take Feeney over Gallagher on the wing any day and thats saying something. But its an unfair comparison because Gallagher is not a winger and has never had a good game there.

Mind blowing your criticism and downbeat attitude of Rankin Costello but Chapman is being talk on here like the next Lionel Messi. Jeez. He got injured during the game on Saturday but carried on.

And now Costello possible hamstring, think we’ve done extremely well considering half a team out, you conveniently forget when PNE had a couple of injuries they lost 4 in a row, there’s no team in this division that has had long term injuries as we have had, and re you saying TM saying we should be in the top 6, and if he isn’t he’s failed, crazy statement. If we hadn’t got all these injuries we probably would have been in the top 6. Still think Mowbray can do a job here (obviously in a minority on here) always worry about who would take over.

Thanks for a well reasoned reply - I'll try responding in the post to help link up the discussion. Walton - the loan element is a big problem as there aren't too many benefits for us to it. But again the best I hear about him is "not as bad" which is hardly a ringing endorsement! When the debate is over how bad a player is rather than how good - and I think it would be hard to argue he has been good for us - you know that you've got a duff one. Fwiw he's not as bad as I initially thought imo but is still pretty poor. Far too many errors costing us goals, plus very few games where he has had a positive contribution. I struggle to see how he is anything but a failure given his performances and circumstances of him being here. Samuel a little bit more grey. Did ok for us a year before, but not looking like he will kick on. £500 k for a league 1 team was no small amount and one of our big 3 signings that year, so perhaps the expectation would be he would have made more of a contribution. For a 1 season, decent player I'm not sure it's a success story. Probably on reflection I'd say that's a pretty neutral transfer. Hmm not sure I agree all his signings did contribute. Hart, Harper, Whittingham and Caddis all spring to mind as not really making much odds as to whether we were promoted or not. We didn't hugely use our loans from higher table teams to full advantage. (Armstrong and arguably Antonsson aside.) A lot of the key players who carries us to promotion were already here: Raya, Nayambe, Mulgrew, Bennett, Graham, Lenihen. Could he have started building for the championship in those years - perhaps not (although to his credit Dack and Armstrong were so can't see it as a total free hit and he did ok at it.) That said given he had nearly a year and a half preparatory time pre championship with his team, he really should have been in a position to know exactly what was needed and to hit the ground running. Given we've not really challenged playoffs with such a huge prep time doesn't suggest he's doing that well or used that time effectively - especially when you consider how threadbare the squad will be next year. Perhaps disappointingly is the number of players who aren't really decent championship standard. I agree the playoff type players to give you that push were hard to get in league 1 but the rest of the squad being a solid and decent platform for them could have been. That a number of them aren't but are on decent contracts taking up wages is a problem. Smallwood with new contract, Bell, Samuel, Williams aren't really the type of players needed for a promotion winning squad. Factor in how unbalanced the squad is too and you wonder what TM has spent the last 3 years doing to be in this situation. Last season we went on the worse run in living memory and blew the January transfer window. I can't think of any manager who would have survived such a run. Also whilst the outcome was ok, the manner involving a second half of the season collapse was utterly disappointing leaving us wondering what might have been. As for this season the excuses you offer - and I agree the injuries have been terrible and a huge blow - are also criticisms of TM. He blew the two transfer windows, no one else. He is the one who brought in misfiring strikers so that we are dependant on our creative mids for goals. He is the one who has an unbalanced squad - we lucked out with injuries in the first half of the season that our paper thin defence wasn't exposed more. Injuries have made a huge difference - it would be daft to say otherwise - but had TM done his job a bit better in getting in scoring strikers or used the windows better they wouldn't have hit us quite so badly. Again this defence is a criticism of TM. He can't win against the weaker teams (you could factor in the Wigan home and arguably Brum game too - I'm not at all sure it is behind us.) Its a huge weakness of his. Am a bit torn on the increased value too. Probably overall - although we won't see that £12 mill back for our strikers - but whilst the squad has improved it is still horribly thin and unbalanced going into next season. Also whilst credit has to be given for improving our situation somewhat, given that Coyle had to sell his best players and had no money to replace them, it's not the fairest of comparisons. Also given we've had 3 seasons of TM, I do worry how slow the progress has been. Defence and up front and keeper don't look much better, if at all. Midfield is I will agree. Finally and this is a tad unfair as off topic slightly but ties into the behind the scenes stuff - am not sure we are better off. It's clear dark forces are still at work at Ewood - 3 managers from the same agency being an example of this - so I do wonder how much better things actually can be. Not TMs fault at all this one, but I'm equally sure he can't improve that situation either. Anyhow that's a heck of a ramble. TM isn't terrible and often it comes across that way in my posts. Not the intention - I dont think he is very good at all but he is a bit better than some of the non managers we've had in my lifetime. I feel that if we were a normal club with standards and hadn't been so horrifically treated no one would be happy with TM or the job he is doing.

One less option but not sure how much of a loss it is considering how ineffective he was in his 2 starts. Chapman has to start.

It’s not the defeat what has got people irked. We are going to lose and can’t beat everybody. There is no shame in losing one nil to a very good Fulham side. It’s the manner of the defeat. The attitude to the game. The fact we where already defeated before we kicked off and did everything we could not to lose and lost anyway. The over cautious negative approach to games. We arnt going down and have the feintest chance of getting in the top six (theoretically) so what did we have to lose by going all out for a win. I would have rather lost by a couple more by trying to win

There was one point on Saturday when Bell picked up the ball on the left with loads of space and I thought to myself, he will check back any second and go back again like he always does. He didnt, he proved me wrong, instead he ran forward and just straight off the pitch.

Seemingly, despite Venkys money and ambition, yes, FFP is something we need to worry about. The person responsible needs to be removed from their position. Whoever decided that we should gamble our future on two lads and play the out of position needs to be replaced. Our manager said, and continues to say, that top six is the aim yet we are woefully under resourced to cope with injuries - it is by some miracle that our defence isn’t in tatters. That’s just not realistic but it continues to be the message coming out of the club. The only mugs falling for the rhetoric are in Pune. We are continuing to reward failure and the one person in place to ensure that targets are met is allegedly waiting for the manager to come to him to tell him he’s had enough before he will even begin looking for a replacement. Chuck in the Bennett situation and we are captainless, leaderless, and rudderless - and have no contingency plan.

They should rename it after him, and then sponsors can still be used. '... are proud Sponsors of the Tony Parkes Riverside Stand'. PNE do it. https://www.google.com/search?q=sir+tom+finney+stand+outside&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjppunBusTnAhWXwoUKHUvbAqcQ2-cCegQIABAC&oq=sir+tom+finney+stand+outside&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-img.3...2264.5242..5523...1.0..0.173.891.6j3......0....1.........0i30j0i24j33i10j30i10.4F0qK5ndcps&ei=Mvk_XunFPJeFlwTLtou4Cg&bih=782&biw=412&client=ms-android-ee-uk-revc&prmd=imsvn&safe=strict#imgrc=YoQKKCqiaJcrmM&imgdii=AN-o5a6pVIZTFM