We were better defensively when we weren't playing 5 at the back. Along came injuries and he changed everything, everything went to shit and typically he kept doing it even though the players came back.

If you thought people were moaning about money being spent then you completely missed the point.

You can always tell it's coming when the draws start mounting up and certain posters start apologising for him. I reckon despite some bizarre formation, there'll be lots of effort from the team along with a bit of excitement here and there. That will be followed by either Mowbray being so slow to react with substitutions and/or going full Mowbray and replacing star performers with the likes of Poveda, Butterworth and Magloire.

Bollocks to turkeys on shelves… Tombola fiddler out.

If we finish mid table this year they’ll offer him another contract. Guaranteed.

Mowbray’s idea of a master plan is shambling along hoping no one notices he’s making it up as he’s going along.

Nothing has changed since Bowyer, 1 step forward 2 steps back. Except Bowyer was a novice.

Add up the games where he's gone full Tony before a ball was kicked and it's much more damning.

Mid table turgid Tony.

I've seen this script before. Lots of points lost leading to draws then the losses come. Tony's journey.

How many points is that lost?

2 points lost thanks Tony. Let's hope we can hang onto a point when we were 2-0 up.

Edun is a left back and midfielder. I'm just not sure why we are playing 5 at the back against Coventry. We've got Nyambe, Lenihan, Ayala and Edun (for Pickering) - so far that back line has looked solid (apart from the Pickering/Edun change). So why five? Bizarre decision.

Has 3-5-2 ever worked?

That's some of the dumbest shit I've ever read considering we're light on attacking options.

Yet there are potentially better options available than that forward line up. Says a lot about Mowbray.

I think a lot of people will be.

Butterworth must feel special after hearing that. Can someone give Mowbray a nudge and tell him that the lad is now 22? There's also McBride and Burns.

Is there any kind of movement at Rovers regarding a contract extension, or is it more terrible mismanagement? Raise his wages, three year contract - get a decent transfer fee for him, rebuild the team properly, pay for a decent manager to come in. Then I woke up and remembered who owned the club.

Need to give Butterworth a chance. Edun for Pickering. I hope Magloire doesn't end up playing again.

Fair enough, but for me it's difficult to separate it considering our paper thin squad right now and lack of money. Not blaming the player, blaming the manager and his silly journey.

If that's the only metric, then £7m has produced 19 goals in 3 and a bit seasons. From your own metric, it hasn't paid off. I wouldn't say spending the money would have worked out better (who could with Mad Tony at the helm), I'm saying spending £7m on a player that you're intending to develop, with a championship budget and a league 1 team is lunacy. No hypothesis because it happened. As for your own hypothesis that if we'd signed him last season then would it have paid off? I'd agree with that, it would be a big win. But we didn't. We've been carrying him for several seasons whilst defensively having a right mare.

Well that's fine if you're happy to exclude the context.

At the time of signing both players our "model" (we were told) was to gain promotion, not to develop young players to the detriment of the team, then sell them on when hopefully they get good. If you're seeking promotion, you sign players to improve the team, not to fatten them up to sell them on. The very reason our model (if there is one) has become this is because of a scattershot transfer policy. Signing two players, one for £7m and one a year later for £5m when we had a League 1 defence and a Championship budget was absolute lunacy. The whole concept of buying with the aim to profit on your players is a nonsense when any returns are a relative blip compared to promotion money, and the owners are billionaires.