You’re correct about our defence needing a lot of work if we are to be competitive next season. However I have to agree with Paul that there are lots of contributors to this board who are pushing a line that Mowbray does not want to get rovers promoted and in fact sees the club as some sort of retirement fund. I agree that that it’s a ridiculous suggestion and I can’t be bothered looking up the posts in question, but maybe those who believe that could remind us of their point of view?

I worry that our signings thus far may mean a possible exit for Dack. Didn’t Mowbray talk about trying a system without Dack near the end of last season? We’ve just signed another tall forward, another central midfielder and linked with more central midfielders than anything else. I’d hate to see him go but maybe it’s on the cards. Would people here accept that if it meant more funds to restructure defence? Personally I don’t think we can replace Dack and we’d probably struggle without him as the vast majority of our goals involved him in one way or another. On the other hand I might begrudgingly accept him leaving as I’m sure he’d like to test himself in the premier league and the money (say about £15m) could really help buy top quality at GK, FB and CB. Of course it’d be a disaster if either we sold him to a division rival or the Venkys took the cash and didn’t reinvest

Has anybody got an idea of how to watch this online? I’m not looking for illegal links of course ? but does anybody know if it’s going to be on ifollow or any betting sites?

Kalinic did pretty well after leaving us as well.

BUT.... if..... and...... maybe...... A lot of variables there. We should be happy with TM’s management as the facts show that we’ve ended the season in a decent position for a promoted team, and could finish above Preston after they splashed the cash. Next season we can expect more from a seasoned championship side and hopefully some quality additions

Would you be happy for us to pay £4m for him?

I’d like us to sign a good LB, Bauer plus another good CB, a good strong midfielder that can put a tackle in, and a striker to take the load off DG and in case BB doesn’t push on this season. I hope Travis, Rothwell, Nyambe, and Magloire can continue to develop and get first team minutes but we need the above if we want to consolidate in this league, never mind make a run at the playoffs. As its Venkys, who knows what we’ll end up with, but I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll have a productive season and move on from where we’re ending this season?

At the time Palmer left us, opinion here was that it was a mistake to not play him more and we’d regret not getting the best out of him. Maybe Mowbray is a better judge of talent than many give him credit for as Palmer has hardly set the league on fire since he left us

I think most people on this board know why your views have changed now. it was a rhetorical question sunshine.

So you don’t care about winning now but at the end of last season you had a meltdown because we didn’t go up as league one champions. Winning league one was as big an irrelevance as this game and we’re doing much better than the actual league one champions so I wonder what your angle actually is ?

Theres 24 teams in the championship so the top 6 represents the top 25% of the teams. You’re saying that with 60% performances it’s possible to get there. That’s the illogical part of your post. I’m not being a troll for pointing that out. I remember when we got relegated to the championship, on this site there was a lot of opinion along the lines of “I can’t wait to get out of this tinpot league”. The sad truth is we were there on merit and were relegated again soon after. No club in this league can say that they’re punching below their weight, certainly we can’t as our performances over the last two seasons have seen us at the bottom end of this league. We don’t have any right to outperform teams at this level based on us once being in the premiership. I think some fans forget that and it causes a lot of resentment and leads to some fans wanting our most successful manager in the Venkys reign to be sacked.

Yeah the Brereton signing has been a massive failure tbf. I hope he comes good eventually and justifies the financial outlay. It’s all conjecture but I wouldn’t be sure that Brereton was a Mowbray choice. Anyway, apart from that signing I think TM has done brilliantly. No other manager has had the same impact working under Venkys. The players seem to admire him, he has integrity, and he had some success in getting us back into the championship. Not so long ago it seemed like we were a toxic club in free fall. To turn this club around was an achievement that 6 coaches before him couldn’t manage. So yeah he’s overachieved with the hand he was given, especially since most of his tenure has been in league one where clubs bigger than us have struggled to get back out of.

I think we overachieved at the start of the season but I’m guessing you think a solid start means we should have been in and around the playoff spots? He may have said he’d like us to bounce through the leagues and yes, some teams do have great success after being promoted but that’s very much the exception rather than the rule. The slump is concerning but I think TM has earned the chance to build on this squad and try again next season.

This makes no sense. 6/10 for effort is never going to get you anywhere near the top of any table. Are you serious with this statement as it’s not logical. The best teams in a league end up at the top, and the worst teams in a league finish bottom. That’s the whole point of a league. The relegation season we were one of the worst teams, we then spent a season in the league below and eventually came up as one of the better teams at that level. Common sense would suggest that means our level is lower championship. Sad but true. We have no right to be near the top of this league and apart from a couple of good runs we’re performing about how any neutral observer would expect. Good luck to us if Mowbray goes, I can’t see anybody achieving much more than he has with the tools he’s been given.

No ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983–84_British_Home_Championship

Salt n pepa and heavy d up in the limousine

Perhaps a good way of understanding how Giggs was able to play to that age is by considering that he was one of the best players of his generation, if not all time. Robert Huth is not. And given that he has not kicked a ball competitively for over a year now it would be foolish to think that he can make a meaningful contribution at this level. Stop being silly. Sometimes I think all those bottles of red have gone to your head.

hmm well I would normally resort to something nautically inspired in that case...

Yep Game of Thrones is filmed all over Northern Ireland and has been great for our local economy. Hopefully this will attract a few tourists after they realise that some of the beautiful scenery is here. Ha I had the same problem with True Detective on Sky Go. Terrible when you try to do the right thing but end up downloading anyway huh. I think 4od probably have it from the first episode though. There are some great British movies out there. Certainly the UK is not the best for blockbusters but Dead Man's Shoes and Trainspotting are two of my favourite films and couldn't have been made anywhere else.

Melissandre is the hottest woman on that show other than Margaery in my opinion. Anyway... I binged on Fargo last night, not being sure of it after the original movie was my favourite film. I think it is brilliant, the best show on TV now for me. Billy Bob Thornton is amazing in his role and Martin Freeman does a good job as well. There are loads of nice little nods to other Coen movies (white Russians on special offer, the hotel receptionist very similar to the one in No Country, Lester needing unguent somewhat urgently and the policewoman's dad being a cameo from a CIA man in Burn After Reading) and the last episode had a good touch which linked the series to the film. I was worried at first that it was too similar to the film and had nothing new to add to a classic but they have captured the dark feel of the movie and expanded on several of the themes.

Na you're alright mate I was kidding. I couldn't believe how good it was so I guess it stands to reason that it might go downhill in the second half. I found a similar experience when watching Hancock - brilliant first half and then it goes to hell fast.

Hmm I wish you hadn't said that TJ... I watched the first 90 minutes and then had to go and was planning to watch the second half this week. The first half was much better than I thought it would be, Jonah Hill was very good in it.

TJ I too gave up on Walking Dead after a couple of episodes of the new season, it is just a bit stale now in my view. Was a great wee run up to the end of the third though. Donner, Curb is fantastic, I still get a kick out of rewatching em but seriously Arrested Development is on a different plane of existence to any other comedy out there, movie or TV. It's deceptively clever despite having a joke every minute or so and deserves greater recognition; it was cancelled midway through the third series but maintains a cult status. Here's a wee taster

Thanks guys. Leaning towards True Detective as it is the only contemporary one and I would like to start watching something that is on now so I can talk about it. Figure I'll start on House of Cards or The Shield next as they seem a bit more exciting than Mad Men (apologies TJ!) Watching these shows with a friend and he has already seen Dexter and Sons so they are out the window at the minute unfortunately. TV shows are amazing these days, I never think that I will be able to enjoy another one after each masterpiece finished but they just keep on making such involving and rewarding shows. I heard an interesting speech by Kevin Spacey where he claimed that TV offers a much more involving experience than Hollywood (specifically on Netflix) as there is the time to build a cast of well-developed characters with no fear of alienating sponsors or justifying massive budgets. I think he might be on to something. And to any of you looking for good comedy check out Arrested Development. It has to be the funniest, cleverest comedy there has been. I have watched each episode countless times and it just keeps on being funny.

I finished the Wire this week and got that bittersweet feeling you always get when an amazing series is finished. It is now part of the holy trinity for me (Breaking Bad, The Sopranos and The Wire). I am looking for a new series to get in to - any suggestions? I have heard The Shield is good and similar to The Wire and a lot of my friends are into True Detective...