Just now, Stuart said:

Johnson would be an improvement on Mowbray.

I like Mowbray for bringing a bit of dignity to the club. But, you’re right, I think he would. 

16 minutes ago, Stuart said:

A lot of teenagers only know Venkys as Rovers owners.

Poor bastards.

A lot of them won’t even have heard of Steve Kean.

Lucky bastards. ?

They have little or now expectation so think the lower Championship is good. Anyone who got to watch Hughes’ Rovers will think differently. Let alone Souness’. (Never mind King Kenny’s!)

I don’t disagree with that but having lived through Kean (and happier times before) I’m not yet calling for Mowbray to go precisely because I don’t trust that it will improve anything... 

Just now, Roverinbelfast said:

What a difference 3 points on a Saturday evening makes. Plenty of pkus points today in my eyes. Downing, travis, cunningham, gally, to namr a few looked fired up and hungry today. But it was a good time to be playing boro, i can't see woodgate lasting long. Onwards to the next one now. 

Agreed. Will be surprised to see Woodgate making it to October.

It was a bit awkward when he applauded the Boro fans singing “Tony Mowbray, he’s one of our own”...

Enjoyed that. We worked really hard. 

Thought Cunningham, Travis, Williams and Graham were particularly excellent.

I was at Fulham last week too and today confirmed what I thought then about Gallagher. Very hard working. Won important headers and made important tackles. If you forget about the transfer fee I’d argue he’s a real asset bought in... challenge will be where he plays. To be honest, I think you could put him in goal and he’d give it a good go tho! 

10 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

I do get frustrated with people confusing those who are ‘seeking improvement from Mowbray’ with ‘most of this board wanting Mowbray sacked’. 

As it goes, I’ve seen 1 or 2 at best making such a suggestion....

We do seem to concede a lot of late goals and have been doing a lot recently. It’s something which needs to be addressed!

Why in any walk of life would you not want the best for something you cared a lot about?

I think we should all seek improvement from Mowbray, so totally agree.

I think Ive made the mistake of thinking the volume of posts corresponds to the number of people wanting him to go....?

The disregard for getting us promoted last season is strange for me. Agreed, League one is not a great league but plenty before us haven’t come straight back up and you can’t ignore where momentum was heading before Mowbray took over. I was expecting us to head into league two rather than come straight back.

Yes, this is a depressing level of ambition but it’s a realistic one I think after what Venky’s have done to the club. At least we’ve enjoyed winning some games and a promotion under Mowbray. Consolidating in the Championship is a realistic level of ambition this season. I dread to think who we might appoint to replace him if he was fired....

1 minute ago, philipl said:

Crazy stuff on this thread.

Boy you guys were slow to get going when there was real shit at this club but once goaded you never stop.

Yes PNE and Wigan were awful and cost Mowbray a huge amount of goodwill he needed for the rest of this run.

But to be debating whether he should get sacked after what he has achieved at Rovers is just bonkers.

Especially when you look at the recent list of managers:

Kean

Berg

Appleton

Bowyer

Lambert

Coyle (displacing a good as appointed Warnock let's not forget)

Questions for you guys:

- be serious, is anybody going to chose any of the above as better than Mowbray?

- you are treating promotion from League 1 as an easy peasy splash in a toddler's paddle pool. Swap places with any of Barnsley, Burton or Sunderland just now?

- Between 0 and 100%, your level of confidence, Venky's to select a significantly better manager than Mowbray? 

 

My thoughts exactly. 

2 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Has Tony Mowbray become a managerial dinosaur?

Virtually all aspects of Rovers worry me.

I cannot see a pattern of play - I find most of our football drab and uninspiring (and to think some on here hammered Big Sam!).  I don't think Mowbray is tactically competent never mind tactically innovative and this shows in our game management.  We are overly cautious and rarely seem to take the game to the opposition - let then start feckin worrying about us for a change.  IMO, Dack apart, Mowbray's transfer dealing are very poor - I think Brereton and Armstrong are disastrous signings and there have been far too many Joe Averages such as Hart, Gladwin etc.  We constantly see square pegs in round holes - how the hell is that going to help either the team or individual players develop.  As far mental and physical fitness, we seem to lag behind so many teams.

Personally, I can't see how Mowbray can be trusted as the man to take us forward.  IMV, to give him funds for the transfer window would be foolish based upon on his record with us.

Some supporters detest change, hope things will change for the better, bury their heads in the sand,  Sadly for Rovers under Mowbray, I think we will tread water at best. 

It’s not about detesting change for me. We’ve had an awful lot of change over the last few seasons and in each case I’ve wanted it to come sooner than it did.

Mowbray seems a decent man who has done well overall for us since he came in. That means I intend to give him another few months to prove himself in this league.  I think he’s earnt that and I’m not convinced that a new manager will be able to change anything drastically in the short to medium term. That doesn’t mean he has mine or anyone else’s unlimited support though - if we continue to drop down the league....

Without trying to offend anyone, I think a thread about ticket prices would be the place to talk about that. I’d rather read about how we are all happy to beat a very good championship team. Im delighted for what it’s worth...

I had no expectations that we’d do anything today. A very good win against a good side. Think we should all just enjoy it.   Fabulous result and all down to the manager and the players. Nice to have an early Saturday win to set you up for the weekend ?

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

To my mind, our poor distribution showed the difference in class between the teams. Most players can perform the basics when not under pressure; when we pressed them their passing was crisp, sharp and accurate, when they pressed us in possession we were awful. The rebuilding project still has a long way to go.

As an aside, thank God Mogga was able to  persuade Graham and Mulgrew to stay. Graham looked real class when he came on, that cushioned header for Dack’s big chance was sublime - good work by the keeper who got a foot to the ball and put Dack off

They did look very good with their passing and also closed us down well. Fully agreed that Graham coming on changed the game for us.

I am reluctant to say this but I thought Dack was given the ball in good positions a number of times but chose to try and take on three or four players rather than pass to a better positioned teammate. He’s a great player at this level but it is frustrating to watch if he doesn’t beat seven players like he can sometimes occasionally do...because his instinct seems to preclude passing...

Just got away from the ground and a really interesting - and entertaining - match.

The starting lineup simply didn’t work. Armstrong just not capable of winning balls in the air or holding the ball up against a team like Derby. To be fair to Mowbray, he was decisive and took off Conway for Graham early on. How we weren’t two down at that point I don’t know. I thought all the substitutions - Graham, Bennett and Reed improved the side and the performance.

Slightly less positively, a team including Conway and Palmer is way too lightweight for this league. I’ve now see Palmer a few times and he’s full of skill but too much of a liability I think. I’d personally keep him on the bench.

Raya made some good saves (though distribution suspect at times) and I thought Nyambe and Bell were our best performers.

I was certain we’d lose at half time so I’m seeing it as a good point against a decent side. Thought Derby passed it well and have a decent noisy home support. They will be up there at the end of the season.

Overall, enjoyed waking away with the point, but our limitations this season are clear.

26 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Exciting team Mogga is putting together.

Nice blend of experience and talented youth.I echo what other posters have said I hope Brereton is given time to settle and doesn't have too much expectation from the fan base.

Mowbray has said it's about building brick by brick and added 1 or 2 pieces of the jigsaw each season. First time in ages I feel the club is going in the right direction.

Positive result Sunday and then the international break which is coming at the perfect time for us.If the injured players can be back by the 15th of September Mowbray is going to be spoilt for choice picking the first 11 and bench 

What’s particularly pleasing is that there is a strategy in place - young players, good team spirit, some who will command big sell on fees. We’ve spent the last few years trying to survive but Mowbray deserves all the credit for the approach now. This is EXACTLY what a team in our position should be doing.

49 minutes ago, JayDee said:

I agree he did a job for us. But I don't believe he would have stepped up to championship level and as such glad we didn't make the loan deal a permanent one. And scoring a goal in the Europa league isn't going to get me thinking we've let a world beater slip through our fingers 

Agreed!

14 minutes ago, JayDee said:

Leave it out, most fans couldn't wait to see the back of him. Let's not pretend he's the dogs bollocks all of a sudden because it suits the negative agenda that so many on here subscribe to lately 

A bit harsh. He did a job for us last year...

2 minutes ago, Tom said:

Happy with the deal personally, he has talent, Tony said it was a cheap deal and he can go at the end of the season if it doesn’t work.

win win for me 

I agree. Whatever your view on Mowbray - I’m a big fan admittedly - he seems to be a realist. I assume he has spoken to the player and various other contacts he has and decided it’s worth a try.

Feels low risk to me, with a small chance - worth taking - that we get someone intent on trying to re-prove himself and undoubtedly with natural talent. At the least some useful cover. If there is an inkling of him upsetting the strong team dynamic, I’d assume he will be binned quite quickly. 

In my view, Mowbray has earnt trust by building a team of players that is as cohesive as it’s been for years.

We’ve kept all of our better players and they’ve signed new contracts. Made a couple of decent additions. Still have the loan window available.

Thought we looked decent enough against Ipswich on saturday too, even if we do need some more strength in depth. So a couple of loans important.

Personally struggling to panic about this transfer window after some of the ones of the last few years.

10 minutes ago, Bepeja43 said:

Come back after pen is put to paper.

Just out of interest.. are you from our auditors or something? Lots of certainty on the finance front ?

This journo has strong West London football links - QPR and Brentford mainly - so I’d guess some truth.

7 hours ago, LDRover said:

I was beyond disappointed with the 'efforts' of Nuttall when he came on. For a young lad trying to make his mark to show such lethargy and lack of application is shocking. He needs bombing out quickly.

Not sure I’d agree with entirely. Thought he ran and chased things down. Just wasn’t very effective doing it...

5 minutes ago, rigger said:

Just got back, I enjoyed the game if not the result. If we play like that all season we will be fairly safe, maybe a bit more if we can cut out the sloppy goals (two examples yesterday). I was talking to some Ipswich fans in the pub after the game, and all where surprised by the Rovers aggression. They said that they did not mean that we where dirty, but we challenged for every ball and put in a great amount of effort. Being biased as fans are, I thought we should have won, they thought they could have won. Onwards and upwards. I also totally agree with earlier posts about mistaken substitutions. I thought Palmer was all tricks and flicks when he came on . We needed some one to get and keep the ball, maybe by drawing fouls. But what we got was possession being lost mid way into their half and them gaining impetus.

Have just about recovered after my trip back last night. This is spot on for me.

Thought Graham and Dack played well. The substitutions really caused us problems though. Palmer looked skilful but quite naive and gave the ball away a couple of times to invite pressure. I’m sure there is much more to come from him though.

Overall a promising start though and some potential for a decent season.

13 minutes ago, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Trust Tony or spend the summer watching your 94-95 season VHS

Can we do both? ?