RoverKyle

I think it's actually quite positive that he's signed up after looking like he was gone. He needs a run of games though. Someone we've all probably written off but may well show us something if he's given the game time.

Looks quite smart to be fair.

That bit where Mowbray is scribbling away is absolutely ridiculous. I laughed out loud but really don't find it funny. That's our manager...

You're bang on mate. Although I'd take Rhodes back purely for sentimental reasons in the hope that we could get goals out of him again.

We're scarily close to seeing how he performs as our main man up front (assuming Armstrong leaves this summer). Regardless of what has come before (form wise, goal return, etc), we can't afford to lose him on the cheap at the moment. I'd be offering him a new contract this summer to protect our investment and seeing how he gets on next season.

Chuffed for the lad. Just watched his cameo on iplayer and he really impressed. Playing (& training) at that level is only going to help his club form and confidence. Nice to have something to be positive about for a change.

You're right. We could all agree to log back in at the end of July and there still wouldn't be much to discuss.

Whilst I don't necessarily agree with everything JoeH posts, I don't think beating him over the head with the data discussion every time he posts is particularly constructive. Or interesting.

I would to be honest. But I'm literally only basing that on what he was like a couple of years ago. Definitely a busted flush vibe about him now though.

Whilst I don't doubt the importance of data in football, I doubt the importance of its application at Rovers. For years we've seemingly picked transfer targets based on players Mowbray's teams have played against before, whether someone is a nice man or not, what said players wear when they meet the management team & players from Middlesbrough. We're presumably ignoring a lot of data based scouting to do that. There needs to be a whole culture shift at the club before it plays any significant role for us. For me, that starts with Mowbray and his mates leaving. There's almost no point bickering about that until it happens.

I really want him to do well but a lot will need to fall in place for Brereton to hit heights you'd expect from a £7m signing. He's quite good at running with the ball and taking on men but his shooting is completely sub par. He doesn't seem to have any ball striking ability. Most of his efforts are very tame. That's such a fundamental thing that he needs to be coached on.

Kaminski, Lenihan, Armstrong & Nyambe being the top 4 (in descending order) I believe.

This diagram only serves to highlight how poor my knowledge is of our squad numbers at the moment 😅

On JRC, not a player I'm particularly bowled over by, but it's important that we keep hold of the remaining lads that are in and around our first team. Hopefully Rothwell & Nyambe to come, although I suspect the latter will be the hardest to sort.

Grabbi, Murphy & Best for me. The money we spent on fees & wages for those three is disgusting.

I wouldn't want Hodgson. He's very much in the Mowbray mold, albeit has operated at a much higher level for most of his career. Maybe we can't be picky and he'd be classed as a coup at this stage.

I won't lose any sleep over Evans leaving. Flattered to deceive for most of his Rovers career. He looked good alongside Cairney when he first signed, but has only had fleeting spells of good form since. Out injured loads and reportedly one of our higher earners. It's time for us to move on but I wish him all the best. If Davenport can prove he's not made of glass, we've got a ready made replacement (or potential upgrade) in the squad already.

This rhetoric that we had to acclimatise to the Championship after promotion is a load of bull. We only ended up in L1 as our team massively underperformed under a hopeless manager (Coyle). The squad was more than capable of playing in the Championship, as evidenced by our decent form under Mowbray, before we went down. Throwing away the chance to win L1 at the end of the season was all on Mowbray and for me was the start of dumbing down fan expectations. I'd have kicked him out of the club a season or two ago when he made out that we needed to be worried about Preston. A game in which we went 2 up and ended up losing 3-2. That was my final straw but I will admit he bought himself some time with me last summer when he seemed to be building something. It's his negative mindset though that obviously flows down to the players and we see it every season in our dire spells after January. This journey that we're apparently on will only have a positive outcome if we replace Mowbray this summer with someone more capable and ambitious. We can't give him another window to waste resources and the opportunity for us to improve.

Both of those look spot on.

To be fair, they did end up winning the game. I agree with the sentiment though. I personally feel like we need to be looking for better, especially if we have any real ambition of getting back to the Prem.

On Pickering, I won't be judging him until I've seen him in a Rovers shirt for a spell of games. Our team is completely different to Crewe, so there's no point making comparisons other than to keep an eye on what his potential strengths and weaknesses are. He's not going to need to be mind blowing to be better than what we have at the moment.

Do we have a media team or are they all on furlough? I don't understand how this drivel is getting by them. Really wish I hadn't watched that interview clip. I'm livid.

Based on that, I'd happily see us seeing out the season with a couple of draws (hopefully enough for survival) and a good couple of slappings, to ensure that there isn't a discussion to be had in the summer. The season is done for me, so I literally don't care how we do now as long as we stay up. Won't be paying to watch it.

Performances v Results isn't even a debate for Rovers. Both have been woeful.

Press coverage does us no favours. We aren't looked on favourably as a club or a fan base. Not sure why, but there's definitely a vendetta against Rovers. We literally need positive reinforcement from a big name in the game like Shearer (who's effectively 25 years removed from the club) to get any sort of support media wise.