I always felt that the run towards the international break (the last four games) would define our season. 4 points from Millwall, Bristol City, Derby and Reading. Just not good enough if you want to be in the playoffs. 5 wins or 4 wins and 3 draws from the last 7 is what it’s going to take. The fat lady has started her warmup!

As mentioned the summer of this year feels like a real ''reboot'' summer, perhaps even more so than last season. Lenihan, Nyambe, Rothwell all out of contract. Ben Brereton Diaz stock value probably at its all time highest. Khadra, van Hecke, Poveda, Giles, Zeefuik all returning to their parent clubs. Would love JPvH to come back, but he'd likely get a chance at a Premier League club, or even Brighton themselves, based on his performances from November onwards. That's 9 players that need replacing, a club captain (Lenihan), top goalscorer (BBD), top assist provider (Rothwell) and almost definitely the 'Player of the Year' (BBD or JPvH). Huge rebuilding job for Mowbray or the new manager. I wonder whether he'll see that as a challenge to far? Or whether he's already working on a plan for next season, see Hedges and Markanday. For added context, by the end of this season Mowbray will have managed Rovers for 264 (+/- 1,2 or 3 for any playoff matches). Assuming we stay in the division, if Mowbray is still in charge by the end of the 2022/23 season, he'll become only the third manager in 150 years of the club to surpass 300 games in charge. By the seasons end he'll be in sole possession of 3rd place. 1. Robert Middleton (1903 - 1922) 605 matches 2. Jack Marshall (1960 - 1967) 329 matches 3. Thomas Mitchell (1884 - 1896) 263 matches 4. Tony Mowbray (2017 - present) 258 matches * [as of 14/3/22] 5. Bobby Saxton (1981 - 1986) 257 matches Trivia time. Taking into account Don Mackay's (1987 - 1991) 232 matches, 9th overall, having a surname beginning with the letter M usually stands the manager in good stead down at Ewood!

Time to go full Magdeburg FC

Really do fear for the current Rovers side when we concede first. First goal massive in most Championship games, especially tonight. Score first and we're so hard to breakdown, with strengths playing on the counter attack. Go behind and the opposition will just soak up pressure and our sideways movement. Rothwell on a poor run of form, Buckley missed guilt edged chances. Pickering back is a big plus, Gallagher with another chance to show what he can do, Khadra largely ineffective off the bench, but good for 60-70 mins. Kaminski Nyambe - Lenihan - van Hecke - Wharton - Pickering Buckley - Travis - Rothwell Gallagher - Khadra

I've been on the forums long enough to remember a time where ''Sparky won't kick us on to that next level, we'll forever be missing out on the European places because of his style and tactics. 7th in the Premier League, we're going nowhere.'' or words to that effect. This season may well be as good as it gets for Mowbray, we are massively overachieving, maybe TM is just getting lucky, but to say we should ''move on'' even if we get promoted? Fans turning against each other? Mowbray 'milking' the club and saved from the scrap heap? I do feel as though the tone of this messageboard these days is in almost complete contrast to 99.9999 percent of fans I talk to.

Congratulations on 5 years Mr Mowbray. There's certainly been times during the five years (namely this time last season) that I felt he'd taken the club as far as he could, but you can definitely see that pride and passion is back in him this campaign. History will judge his reign, like it does for every manager, time and distance the true yardstick against which to judge any manager...good or bad. What I think has been blatantly obvious and what I personally will be forever grateful for is the steadying influence he's managed to bring. Back on 22/2/17 we were in free fall to League One, with Mowbray himself becoming Rovers' fourth manager in two seasons, following on from Bowyer, Lambert and Coyle...not to mention the debacle of earlier in the decade with Kean, Black, Berg, Bowyer as temporary, Appleton and finally back to ''give it a good go'' Gary himself. Its perhaps easy to take the period of stability as a sign of stagnation, but I'd argue getting the club back on an even standing, reigning in some expectations, whilst promoting the youth of the club has been exactly what was needed from his appointment and for that he's deservedly earned my respect. Should he take us up this season, or next, or in the future, that legacy will only be enhanced.

If you had a time machine, you'd not only strengthen with those names mentioned, but fly to Madeira and influence a young Cristiano Ronaldo, then hop a flight to Argentina and speak with Mr and Mrs Messi. They'd both be about 8 at the time 😆 The Zidane talk is a great story, but I always feel that in 95/96 we'd have been not many places higher than we actually were, Zidane would have got a move to European giant within 12 months, especially post Euro 96. Graeme Le Saux and Jason Wilcox injuries, Alan Shearer's influence and power in regards to the return of Mike Newell, David Batty's lack of trust in Ray Harford, squad depth stretched thin in a European campaign, numerous things went against us in 95/96.

February Frustrations Rovers in the Championship, under Mowbray, in February (Feb 17 - Present) P 22 W 3 D 7 L 12 F 21 A 31 Pts 16 GD - 10 Last victory in February, 15th, 2020. A 0-2 victory away at Charlton with Buckley and Adarabioyo on the scoresheet. But as of right now....Sack him? 😆 Oh I do love that ignore button!

Based on the press quotes looking thin on the ground! Hedges and Giles likely to come straight into the mix, particularly if Khadra doesn't make it. Zeefuik at LWB likely? Rothwell hopefully able to slot straight back in, and BBD available from the start.

The Ecuador and Peru draw early this morning keeps their hopes alive, but very slim. Chile would need to beat Brazil in Brazil AND the in from Uruguay to qualify automatically, and even then, that would probably only be good enough for the Inter Continental playoffs. BBD at Qatar 2022 seems unlikely.

Unless you're a Bills fan and its 3am in the morning! 😪 Glad Rovers won yesterday to drag me out of the doldrums! Pity the only thing Josh Allen did wrong in the whole game was to call tails instead of heads, shame such a game had to (effectively) be decided on a coin toss, but those are the rules. Bills Super Bowl window is open and no doubt the Chiefs and Bills will be meeting a lot more in years to come.

The big green box from Time computers wasn't exactly aesthetically pleasing, yet it didn't spoil the feeling of promotion or lifting the League Cup, nor the memories. The whole situation has me thinking of Helen Lovejoy 😂

Certainly been a good advertising campaign already! 4 pages is more than most pre match threads these days! 😂

As a clothing decorator myself, if they're going to allow fans a chance to get the new sponsor on their existing shirts, that can only mean a box transfer over the existing Recoverite logo. There is a facility to peel off the Recoverite logo, but would leave glue marks anyway, thus meaning a logo without a white (or most probably black - as is their complete marketing colour palate) box would just look awful, as you'd still be able to see where the old logo was. Also, unfortunately, the Recoverite logo was on two lines (with the snowflake logo above the text) meaning an even bigger black/white box needed to cover the existing logo. Very rough guesses attached. The black logo patch should look nice on the red/black away shirt, but will look rather jarring on the yellow 3rd kit I'd imagine. As a side note, Rovers wore yellow away at Cardiff when they could/should have worn red and black. Rovers record in the Red/Black halved away kit is P3 L3 Pts 0 (Blackpool away, QPR away and in the FA Cup Wigan away) Whilst in yellow the record is P8 W4 D3 L1 Pts 15 I wonder if internally (maybe even the players) the yellow kit has almost become the choice away kit, due to results and superstitious staff/players......or maybe I'm reading too much into it? 😁

Easy to forget how young Dolan is. Only just turned 20. Similar sort of season to last year for him thus far, burst out of the blocks quickly with some impressive performances and goals, through the festive period however, has stalled with the COVID isolation, loss of his place and therefore lack of production. His time will come, much like BBD or Armstrong, probably next season or 2023/24 the season whether he'll kick on and 'make it'. Premier League level youth players like Khadra, Poveda, Elliott, Markanday give him an idea of the standards he needs to reach.

Back in our promotion campaign of 2000/01 we had a healthy cup run, all the way to the quarter finals, losing to eventual runners up Arsenal, who probably should have won, remember Michael Owen's late brace in Cardiff? We despatched of Chester City at home in round 3, beat then Premier League Derby County 5-2 at Pride Park in the fourth round replay, before needing a replay at Ewood to see off promotion rivals Bolton Wanderers in the sixth round. In fact we played Bolton at the Reebok twice in the same week, Saturday in the FA Cup, where it finished 1-1, though Rovers went down to 10 men after Flitcroft was sent off after just 9 minutes! Before famously, thumping our nearest rivals to automatic promotion at the time, on the following Friday night 4-1. I suspect Souey's teamtalk was simple. If they can't beat 10 of you, what will they be like against 11? Adding 5 games to our ''busy'' schedule didn't seem to cause any issues to that squad. Winning is a habit and winning breeds confidence and competition. A Rovers victory tomorrow with a series of strong performances from fringe 1st XI players like Ayala, Gallagher, Dolan, Butterworth, Edun etc... would send out a message to those currently in possession of the shirts.

Mowbray usually makes a sprinkling of changes, so expecting four/five. Amazing to think the Daniel Ayala (arguably our best player for the first 10 games of the season) hasn't played much recently due to the great form of the back three. I'd suspect he definitely comes in, Dolan and Gallagher too. Pears for Kaminski also seems an obvious one. With Pickering carrying a knock I'd suspect. Pears Nyambe - Lenihan - Ayala - Wharton - Edun Johnson - Buckley - Travis Dolan - Gallagher Subs - BBD, Khadra, Kaminski, van Hecke, Butterworth, Rothwell, Davenport.

Pears has played 5 (and the remainder of the Stoke game) matches for Rovers and kept 3 (and a bit) clean sheets. He may not look the most convincing, but he's got a decent record! 😄 Like everyone delighted with the result and enjoying the recent run. Long may it continue! Still sticking to my 10 points from the festive period of games as being what I'd hoped for, so over halfway there. A huge January coming up!

In a different thread I spoke about 10/12 points over the December/New Year run of fixtures. Last weeks victory at home in some respects makes this a bit of a ''free hit'' so to speak. Expectations are low, would be happy with a point, delighted with a win.

I'd guess Poveda and Clarkson may go back from their loans to free up some spaces? Another striker, full back and central midfielder would be on my list. Dack to come back also. Could really do with Rankin-Costello staying fit as another fullback option.

I think the Preston managerial list is a good indicator of who we'd be looking at should Mowbray be shown the door, or leave at the end of the season. Ryan Lowe (links to North West - Scouser, ex Bury) Callum Davidson (obvious links to Blackburn Rovers - former player) Gareth Ainsworth (obvious links to Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn lad and fan) Michael Carrick (links to North West - ex Man Utd coach)

In modern day management won't Mowbray succeed all of the fitness responsibility to a dedicated fitness coach? Totally random (yet somehow still interesting) stat alert. This is the time of year that we usually do well. You don't want to face us between 1st November and Boxing Day under Tony Mowbray. Blackburn Rovers record (November to Boxing Day from 2017 - present) P45 W24 D12 L9 F75 A54 Pts84 GD+21 Automatic Promotion form for us!!

I'd take 11 points now if offered!

I also do think this is the start of a season defining run of six games. Particularly in regards to whether we can sneak into the playoffs, or whether we'll revert to type and close back into the pack. Preston [17th] (h) Bournemouth [2nd] (a) Birmingham [14th] (h) Hull [19th] (a) - Boxing Day Barnsley [23rd] (h) Huddersfield [8th] (h) - 2nd January 2022 Brentford [48pts], Watford [47pts], Reading [47pts] and Bournemouth [42pts] occupied the playoff positions after 26 games last season. 4 out of 6 at home, 18 points available, given the above stats, and the fact Rovers currently sit on 33 points, you'd think if we still want to be in the playoff positions/contention after this period you'd have to get 10+ points. Meaning 3 wins and a draw the minimum requirement. After those the FA Cup returns, the transfer window opens, maybe some departures? Maybe some arrivals? Dack should be back in January also.

Over 20 years since Rovers last beat Preston in any fixture at Ewood Park. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1108526.stm Admittedly we didn't play them for 14 years between 2001 - 2015, but since the 15/16 season. Rovers v PNE at home P5 W0 D2 L3 F5 A8 Pts2