Less than 100% fit? it’s not exactly a new subject either; Nov 20 https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18878617.injury-blow-rovers-defender-international-duty/ July 20 https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18155315.mowbray-offers-explanation-nyambes-recurring-injuries/ December 19 https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-mowbray-brentford-championship-19411373 March 19 https://www.namibian.com.na/186428/archive-read/Nyambe-commits-to-Namibia-unavailable-until-August October 18 https://the72.co.uk/116777/only-one-injury-doubt-for-tony-mowbray-ahead-of-blackburn-rovers-tie-with-bolton/ etc

Wharton might’ve been on our minds all along when looking at finding a new left sided one. It takes time but I think he has the potential to be as good if not better than Lenihan. As for Ayala - the jury is out on him for me at the minute. Similar to Douglas, I just don’t think he’s anywhere near up to speed yet.

How long have you been a physio man! We don’t know for sure exactly who’s fit and when they’re not injured.....

Same can be applied to managers. As for Derrick - he’s surely not good enough if we want to be promoted. He’s a decent player, he’s left sided but he’s always got a mistake in him.

Unless a teams spiralling backwards, I don’t see why you’d pot a manager mid season or outside a transfer window. Hence why I’d wait. In terms of your other points; “ffp is just a perfect excuse” according to plenty of people on BRFCS. Its a bit ironic. FFP can’t be used as a reason for us not breaking the bank on wages again, “because if we wanted too, we’d find a way round it!” - but it can be used as a stick to beat the manager with because he hasn’t got us promoted fast enough to keep our squad? Also the fact that the Dacks, Armstrong’s et al will likely fetch a lot of bob this time, as opposed to being shipped out under a cloud (Duffy, Cairney, Marshall etc) will probably give us more chance to build (similar to Brentfords current setup) As for Nyambes contract; he can only go abroad for free, and if he goes somewhere like the top divisions of Germany, Spain or Italy - I’m not sure how anyone could specifically blame the manager. Players hold the cards these days. Without any facts, and just assumption; many say he’s ostracised him to the point he wants out. Many used Benno and his inclusion as an example for this, but how many muscle injuries has Nyambe had? His latest from sitting in a funny position on a long haul flight!? The reality is probably more like his agent has suggested he wait to see where we’re going to end up. Everyone here would do the same.

@DE. Mowbray and Waggott have put their own structure in for that I feel, and it’s called Damien Johnson. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if TM took a step up or back next season if he can’t get us above the glass ceiling you mention. I also wouldn’t be too unhappy about DJ having a spin at it, providing he had his choice of new backroom staff if necessary. If we had Bilic in early January with a decent pot for a couple of signings - I would rate our chances higher than TM at this point. That said, I think it would be unfair not to give him till the summer UNLESS we’re clearly going backwards.

https://www.wsc.co.uk/stories/13698-tony-mowbray-has-tough-task-at-blackburn-as-venky-s-remain-focus-for-anger I remember reading this when he took over and upon searching again, just a stark reminder of what he took over and what we have now. Its a good example of why many, including myself feel he has a done a very good job so far. The club have built the expectation level through results and investment in the playing squad, good decisions taken in the transfer market and in academy - if we don’t make the playoffs this season I’d call it a failure. At that point I would consider a change.

I can’t understand how anyone could’ve watched the last ten minutes and thought the tactic was to hold onto a point.

Have to agree @arbitro his body language at times is frustrating to see, he is supposed to be “in control” and in no sport, employment, game - literally anything you need a team for, should the leader/manager be flailing around with his head in his hands, staring at the floor. I think last night might’ve been as frustrating for him as it was for all of us but you’ve got to be professional. Would’ve loved to see his reaction at full time tbh. There is the thing though, we’ve criticised managers in the past for seemingly not giving a shit!

The reason for that I think is game time since end of last season, hence why I’m hoping he gets back up to speed quickly. Stoke have back to back 0-0s so maybe they’ll get a hat trick !

Can you apply the same process of “stop or provide substance” to anyone who thinks long winded jokes about “the disciples of Jesus Mowbray” are in any way clever or funny? Nice one 😉

Yea it’s ridiculous how much Gallagher is a poor man’s Ben Brereton these days. I hope it doesn’t take him too long to get back up to speed because it’s a tricky role for a big lad, and his feet/footwork/dribbling at times this season created chances and goals.

I don’t agree with your view that TM is trying to settle for points, for example Bristol would’ve been a draw on that basis. I think his intention is clear, but his tactical decisions (like starting Buckley because he’s more “physical” against Rotherham) are hindering his intention. I would also give a huge slab of “benefit of the doubt” in terms of selection and rotation, in a season that seems to be 8-10 games a month continuously. He sees their fitness first hand, and saving Holtby for Saturday might work out well if we get 6 points this week. I do, however, agree on Armstrong being the main asset and reason for most of our success this season. Goal and assist last night again. No coincidence, his only real poor display I can remember this season was the Bristol defeat! I worry that a 10th placed Rovers in January are a lot easier to purchase a player from than a 5th placed Rovers. We do have quality in Dack, Travis and Brereton et al to come back but Armstrong is now our most influential player.

They don’t have the ability to invest like us or the quality youth coaching setup - that’s a basic reason for why both are less fancied clubs for promotion. But as you rightly point out, £ isn’t fool proof for victory. In terms of last night though, I would suggest the fact we had a little more quality in the end (Elliott, Downing, Arma) probably won the points on that basis. Certainly was no tactical change or style that won the day.

And referring to anyone who disagrees as a “disciple” is exactly the same.

Do you think Rotherham and Barnsley have such lofty expectations and aspirations? No? What is the reason for that?.. Oh yea, finances! 🤦‍♂️

Nothing worse than this sort of “I’ve watched football for 30 years” patronising stuff as if the rest of us haven’t. You’ve also followed by the use of the word “disciple” for anyone who doesn’t join in the daily / weekly complaint about something he’s said or done. Final paragraph, a humourless waste of my time. It’s just a long winded way of writing “everyone who disagrees is stupid”. As for last night, utterly woeful performance on many levels. As many “disciples” point out, if we aren’t meeting top six standard this season, it should be time for a change. A consistent level of performance like that would see us finish in the bottom 6.

Absolutely - the figures are for last season, and I would expect us to be more like 18/20m and further up in the same tally come next May. One of the reasons the expectation level is going up.

What is then? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8262315/Physios-191-000-kit-men-56-000-Crazy-wages-dont-add-EFL-clubs-brink.html These guys suggest 29k... Thanks MB for making such an important critique and contribution to the thread, proof that this place is the best for it.

That’s always been the (Indian) elephant in the room!

Well yea definitely skews the whole league wage / transfer value somewhat. The likes of Stoke and Huddersfield are still paying a few players premier league wages - I think we have a better squad than these including others like derby and Middlesbrough - yet ours costs much less. Even withstanding that; it would be seen as a massive failure to finish outside the playoffs. Testament to the potential and ability we have accrued over 5 windows for a moderate outlay at this level. As for Barnsley - you mentioned a decent VFM - maybe the trick or lesson we should see here is the opportunity to get a very experienced coach from a different country like Ismaël, who at 45 is in his tenth year of management in 2021, including teams in Europe like Wolfsburg and LASK. There have a been a few recently, Wagner, Jokanavic, Nuno Santo, Farke etc

They’ve won 9 games, regardless of form. In fact soft touch rovers “rolled” into Bristol on our own 7 match unbeaten streak - counted for nothing. If they carry on their PPG till the end of the season they’ll probably finish top ten. Not bad

? As for Rovers, very important time to get back into some form tonight. For all the talk of defending- we’ve only scored 1 in our previous two games, and something tells me we may need more!

About 15m in fees spent on our current champ attack (minus Harvey) Armstrong, Brereton, Gallagher and Dolan. (Dack still to come back, Holtby / Rothwell have played attacking roles but came on frees) Not to bad value for money in hindsight, especially if Gally continues to improve. All relatively young too. Wolves spent 15m on one player 3 years ago - Ruben Neves, to me that indicates the difference between 4 or 5 teams compared to the rest of the top half. The average wage for a champ player 15 years ago too- £3000 a week, now- almost £30k pw. So to me, the argument that “it’s a lot of money to us” never made sense because our expectations should be made by looking at our team compared to others. I would say we get a lot more value for money than others below; 1: Stoke City £94.2m 2: West Brom £92.2m 3: Swansea City £90.7m 4: Huddersfield £62.6m 5: Fulham £54.3m 6: Middlesbrough £48.7m 7: Cardiff City £48.4m 8: Derby £40.4m 9: Birmingham £38.5m 10: Reading £35.3m 11: Leeds £31.3m 12: Hull £31.1m 13: QPR £30.6m 14: Sheff Wed £29.3m 15: Nottm Forest £27.7m 16: Bristol City £27.2m 17: Brentford £17.1m 18: Blackburn £16.7m 19: Preston £15m 20: Millwall £13.3m 21: Wigan £11.7m 22: Barnsley £10.6m 23: Charlton £10.2m 24: Luton £6.2m If you look at the rank for wages last season, It shows just exactly what we’re up against, and it also shows how much of a divide in the league there is - due to parachute payments and the huge jump in revenue for one premier league season! I think the simplistic way of evaluating TMs progress with us, most of us would agree it’s potentially time to move on next summer if we fail to get top six. He has raised the expectations exponentially since he arrived. (For me at least)