If we'd used 12m to sign a striker who scored and a decent defender and keeper and we would have been up there. It's really that simple in the last analysis. Most owners wouldn't accept that.

It's frustrating as we do have some good players. But I suppose every club mid table thinks that. I guess the owners will have some thinking to do. If they have learnt anything in the last 10 years they must know the last half a season has all the hall marks of turning into a relegation season next year. I'd be looking at giving Damien Johnson a go with a view to bringing an established manager if it doesn't work out. Has anyone suddenly got promoted after two mediocre season with the same manager?

I think it's pretty rare that championship players are bought by premier League clubs. How many were last summer? Anyone know? My impression is you would need to be really pulling up trees to go the Prem but I don't think any of ours are quite in that category yet. Probably the bigger danger is the club's coming down trying to take them off us. I think we've got a decent chance of holding onto all of them.

Agreed. He looks so poor to me. Can't believe we are now drawing. Mental.

Not looking to take anything away from the lads but reading are unbelievably bad.

Well you can swap round Evans or Johnson for Davenport and Rothwell or Downing for JRC. The point was more that's probably the minimum signings we want.

I think minimum we need to do with the team for next year to kick on : ----------------------New Signing Nyambe-------Lenihan----New Signing----New Signing --------------------Travis------Davenport ---------JRC------------Dack-----------Armstrong -----------------------New Signing Subs : New GK, New CB, New Full Back, Evans, Holtby, Gallagher, New Striker Squad : Williams, Bell, Johnson, Bennett, Downing, Buckley, Samuel, Rothwell, Graham Sold : Brereton, Smallwood, Mulgrew, Bennett By my count that's eights new players. A bit of a stretch but doable. Last few years we've signed about 5-7 first team players each summer. For example last year we got 7 - Holtby, Gallagher, Cunningham, Walton, Johnson, Downing, Tosin. A top gk, centreback, left back and striker would turn us into a top six outfit. Can Mowbray manage that though? Or will he spend all his money on more number 10s, holding midfielders and wide strikers?

That was terrible. Think Millwall watched a few videos of us and knew what to do to nullify our setup. They should have won by another goal on balance of decent chances.

Would be interesting to give him a run of games playing up front with Armstrong I'm a two. Might suit him better. ---------------------Walton Nyambe----Lebihan----Tosin----JRC ------------Travis-----Davenport --Rothwell-----------------------Downing ---------Gallagher------Armstrong

Don't really agree with this. Armstrong has always looked a threat if he could smooth a few kinks out of his game. A bit like Josh King you could see he has the potential. Gallagher and particularly Brereton are just not like that. They struggle to perform on a basic level game after game. I'll be delighted if they do pull it together but both look a lot closer to a Grabbi or a Best than an Armstrong or a King.

It's not the worst thing in the world to keep Mowbray, he's got some plus points. But if we had a decent amount to invest you would look for someone better. The squad is all over the place and we wasted a huge amount of money on Gallagher and Brereton. He's signed some good quality - Armstrong and Dack principally - but his recruitment on the whole hasn't been of the standard to get promotion, and he's been lucky to get a few top players through the academy to help cover some major holes. That said I think we are weeing with the willy we have so we have to hope Tony learns a few lessons and make a better fist of whatever budget is provided next time. If he signs another wide striker, holding midfielder or number 10 I might weep but won't be surprised

The most important thing about today I think is the result - along with Cardiff - have cemented Mowbray in the job. We lost three on the spin before cardiff and if we had gone on to lose the last two games as well Mowbray could have been potted. However 2 good results and there is no doubt he will be here for next season. So question is how do we kick on? We've got to find 5 quality first team players minimum. Principally a goal keeper, a centre back, a left back, a left winger, a striker who actually scores goals. We need to sell Brereton and figure out what to do with Gallagher. We also need to balance the squad out with much better cover. We have 4 number 10s (Dack, Holtby, Rothwell, Buckley) and 5 holding players (Travis, Evans, Johnson, Davenport, Smallwood) in the squad but only 3 centrebacks (2 if you exclude Tosin on loan) and one left and one right back. Which is absolutely crackers. We can't go into next season with wingers playing at full back and strikers on the wing. Big big decisions required.

I'd keep him over Gallagher or Brereton.

To be fair Graham did play as a false nine and spent a bit of time on left wing....

All of that true, plus Gallagher, Brereton and Bennett are all awful and they didn't play. Samuel, Graham and Rankin-Costello was a significant improvement. I think same players we would have won at least one of those games.

Oh well...

We're looking decent. I'd bring on Davenport for Johnson. Travis looks fitter and Rankin-Costello can get up and down which makes a big difference.

I agree that Mowbray looks like he's out of ideas and energy too. I think he would walk away if paid off, maybe for less than the full term of his contract Also for Venkys it's a pretty bad situation. They're losing money hand over fist, just invested £12m in near worthless players, and probably their only real concern is to reduce their year on year losses. But realistically to avoid future even more severe losses they need to invest more money in the hope we get promoted. It's a toxic cycle.. At some point which cannot really be that far away they are going to say fuck this and then it will really kick off. I think all fans should mentally prepare themselves for when we go bankrupt. Arguably the best thing for the club would be to wind the wage bill down further to a level supportable by the club's income and take our chances on unknown talent and the youth team. Not the most glamorous future but it will keep us alive when Venkys fuck off.

I would give Damien Johnson a whirl with someone lined up in the background if it doesn't work out. Managers and players coming back very very rarely works out.

I think Brereton isn't a footballer. He's absolutely shocking. I've followed Rovers since about 1993 and I would say he is our worst signing in that period if you consider relative cost to budget. Gallagher does have something about him though as we know from his first spell. But he isn't a right-fookin-winger.

I think we have a decent chance of getting a good manager in. Spine of the squad is strong (Lenihan-Travis-Dack-Armstrong) with some good young players coming through (Nyambe, Buckley, Davenport) and some good supporting players (Evans, Downing, Holtby). A lot of managers would look at that squad and think they can do something with it. In a way I feel bad for Mowbray. He's done a lot of good things. But transfers since we came up we have been really poor - not managing to address key areas of the team like striker and centre back and wasting a lot of money. Also tactically what he has tried has not worked at all. We're a solid mid table side so he has improved us over where we were when he arrived. But I do fear we will start to go backwards next year unless we make a change. I think he's jumped the shark now, and its just a matter of time.

I don't think Travis was fit to be honest.

Fair point but I just think they will look at the money spent on Brereton and Gallagher, the state of the squad and the run of results and decide to change.

Venkys have a lot of tolerance but I don't think they would take six losses in a row. Just a personal view.

Not much point in this game for us anymore. I'd just get Davenport and Buckley on to see how they do. As for Tony we have 3 tough matches after this one. If we lose all three he could lose his job.