5 great adverts on the spin for why Mowbray should be sacked. Took him 10 losses in a row before walking at Coventry. Maybe we’re 50% of the way there..

Agree. Bad move if done by choice, not out of necessity. And more often than not you will do them more damage than good by chucking them in so early. Particularly with strikers. We will give him a better chance of success if we let him continue to develop at PL2 level for the next few months, then find him a league two (maybe one) loan next season to see how he develops at a proper level.

Permanent downgrade of assets/facilities to make short term cash which in relative terms probably won’t be much at all. Aware there are other threads but this is very relevant. Upgrading the coaching staff (very achievable without increasing expenditure much, or even at all) gives the club a much improved chance of getting back to the Prem in the next few years, eventually rendering any financial saving as part of this scheme totally pointless due to the money that comes with top flight status. Promotion is obviously never guaranteed. But that would be the sensible strategic play by any competent club in our position. It’s a no brainer. This scheme is just another symptom of absent owners, a clueless CEO and the halted progress of the football team. I would ask the club to draw upon whatever brains it has left before committing to this short sighted plan. Don’t believe the spin.

He said midweek there was ‘no reason’ he didn’t play and ‘not everybody can get in to the squad’. Now it’s ‘he had to protect him and he should be allowed to be left to manage as manager’. Poor comments, he’s effectively putting something that is accountable to himself on to the fans. All deflection tactics. Not only are we seeing a lack of attempts to change and improve things on the pitch, we’re seeing a lack of acknowledgment off the pitch. A bad combination, no wonder he is losing respect and credibility. It’s all very sad.

Most frustrating thing is there is nothing being done that I can see to address our issues. Either by the club, or by the manager/coaching staff. Philosophy, tactics, whatever you want to call it. It’s abysmal. Totally impractical. We are not set up to win football games. It’s become a joke. God I hope he walks. Nothing sensible about our set up at the moment. I long for a sensible manager.

Stale.

Regardless of whether this is something positive, something sinister, or whatever it is.. answers need to be given ASAP. As has been said this is a huge, huge asset to the club and any form of change should not be taken lightly.

I expected us to lose at Barnsley, but had that faint gut feeling Mowbray would do the typical 'pull one out of the bag just as things look really bad' as many of you will have had too. That feeling has totally gone for me. We have looked absolutely lost recently. I just can't see that changing in the space of a few days enough for us to put a real performance in. With that said, the only way I see us picking points up in the immediate future is if the opposition turns up and has a bad day, an early red card or some other huge swing(s) of luck. Forest looked unlucky to lose last time out against Swansea, I fear they will take the anger of that loss out on a flaccid Rovers side. 4-1 Forest.

Mowbray confirmed he left Nyambe out as ‘he’s got to select a team, one or two won’t make the match day squad’. He proceeded to play the crocked, long finished Elliott Bennett. Absolute disgrace for me.

Much worse than expected. Disjointed, hopeless rubbish. No reaction, no effort to improve it, just 90 minutes of crap. There are no signs of this getting any better. This is an unacceptable waste. MOWBRAY OUT.

Some posts today around the use of Nyambe, the use of Gallagher, our soft underbelly, Mowbray's demeanour, his use of loans whilst downtalking their concept, his repetitive mistakes etc reminded me of a past post of mine. Saddo I am, just to demonstrate the fact we're still enduring the same shite, I've dug it out - it's from a year and a half ago on this very same thread. He's been doing the same thing for years and years and years. He hasn't learned from the mistakes at previous clubs, he hasn't learned from them in his 4 years at Rovers. We are clearly wasting our time and resources. If we want to tread the mid table championship waters, keep him around. Slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww build. But ultimately, if we have ANY ambition of getting to the Premier League, he clearly needs potting.

Not to mention the Reading manager took over late August and has them almost challenging the automatics, the Barnsley manager took over in November and has transformed them from survivalists to play-off chasers. This mornings article is absolute job saving waffle.

Season feels just about done, well before Easter. We were fairly quick off the grid but now the tyres are balding and the wobbles look like they’re about to turn in to a crash. My interest/passion isn’t anywhere near where it usually is. I can stand being rubbish. I often enjoy watching Rovers through the scrappy periods. But I can’t stand watching this manager waste what should be a top 6 squad. Tactical incompetence, beyond frustrating. Will we see our 6’5 target man out on the right wing? Will we see our 18 goal striker stuck to their right back in an attempt to exploit non existent space? Will we see our star attacking midfielder playing in a totally pointless false 9 role, starving him of being able to do the things he does well? How many goals will we concede from set pieces/crosses? Will our right back be replaced by a central defender whilst chasing the game for no apparent reason? Barnsley look a good side, making the most out of their resources. I really like Mowatt in midfield. He’s out of contract in the summer, if they don’t tie him up I would be all over him to partner Travis. We are still a soft touch defensively and despite outsiders thinking otherwise we are far from clinical in attack. Expecting Barnsley to win by a goal.

No other words worth posting. The justification has been done previously. Don’t waste your time, akin to the waste of a squad going on down at Ewood. MOWBRAY OUT.

Correct

McBride looks promising. People will no doubt compare him to Nuttall but he’s got much more about him. Finishes well, good touch and hold up play, runs the channels well and as you say he’s filling out. Pike can’t be far away from the squad either.

Happy with Pickering. Not too fussed around him being loaned back for the next few months. One less major headache in the summer, good planning.

I kept an eye on this - ended up going for over 450 quid!

Back to back 1-0’s. Who’da thunk it. 3 points - Happy Saturday.

I think the biggest purpose he's served when starting this season has been to mark their tallest player when defending set pieces, which has bailed us out particularly when playing two centre backs from Lenihan/Wharton/Johnson. Now with Branthwaite in the side (6'5) that need isn't as urgent. It just seems insane to play him over the likes of Armstrong, Dack, Rothwell, Elliott or Brereton. I doubt you would see any of the teams at the top of this league sacrificing their best players in order to squeeze a Gallagher in.

I like this side, the set up gives us the balance we have often missed.... but I'd put Elliott in for Gallagher. No need to rest particularly with no midweek game either side. Elliott is quality and there is no need to sacrifice that quality when we are chasing points. Bar the odd anomaly, we win games when we score first and we lose games when we concede first. Get our best players on the pitch from the first minute and hope that the quality shines through. Travis and Davenport is certainly a midfield two worth running with. Dav has a lot to prove, but that combination could both take pressure off the defense through protection and gives the attacking players a platform to go and do their thing. Harsh not to include Rothwell but he can be a gamechanger off the bench, and moving forwards will start more often than not when inevitable injuries crop up, he can slot in to most of those midfield/wide roles.

100%. The 433 was useless but the last half an hour with Dack behind/around Armstrong with two out wide and two solid midfielders sat in front of the defence was much better. Lets just hope we set up the way we ended next game. Anyway, great 3 points and good to win 1-0 away.

Whilst this almost feels like a typical game in which Mowbray pulls a result off just as pressure on him has ramped up, I expect us to be bullied and beaten by a Warnock team with a spine based around some real grafters. As for system debate, something has to change. The 4-3-3 seems to invite soft goals and has looked poorer and poorer as the season has gone on. Added, it will take 2 goals tomorrow just to average a goal scored per game over the last 10 games, so defending the 4-3-3 due to us being top scorers (something like a quarter of these came against 10 men) feels redundant. We see a lot of the ball and create a decent amount of chances, but more often than not the chances are half chances, we also seem to have lost the ability to get it forward quickly and shoot before the defender has a chance to get in to position and block it in recent months. Other sides (Watford, Swansea, Norwich etc) seem to regularly create more nailed on chances to my eye, and find a way to mix it up and beat defences that 'sit in' more regularly, granted I have no data to back that up. Whatever we do, if we are to even get a sniff of top 6, the defence has to be improve immediately. We then have to pair that with finding a way of getting Travis, Dack, Elliott and Armstrong playing together at the same time. It's a gamble on the fitness of Travis and Dack, but without that gamble I don't think we stand a chance. I would argue developing the 4-2-3-1 looks like a sensible way of doing that on paper. A 3 at the back system would probably allow our attacking players to get in to a shape that best suits them however our defenders would likely get crucified. Sadly, as has been the problem for years, and looking at some of the goals conceded in recent games against Stoke, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Wednesday and so on, I think it will take more than a change in shape to give us the platform to go and win more games than we draw/lose.

‘We will absolutely respect the Jack Walker legacy’

Dire set up in both sides of the pitch from Rovers. More proof of a total refusal to address historic defensive issues by the manager. We can’t even do the basics right. Total waste of a crop of decent players at this level. Best chance is to put the manager in a taxi heading away from Ewood for the second half, let one of the coaches have a go at the second half. Mowbray out.