Fortunately we're in a league where even a stupid team selection like today's has a chance of winning. We shouldn't be left hoping the opposition has an off day every week, but that's how I feel every time I see Mowbray's team selections.

You know it. Have to hope the defence are up to it and we scrape a 1-0. Can't see us getting anything more than that. If we concede first we will lose.

So as it turns out AEW have gone the route of pairing Sammy and Tay up, but somewhat inexplicably have put them into a babyface position. It's a very WWE-esque monkey's paw version of doing the right thing the wrong way. I'm not sure why AEW thinks 'beautiful people on national TV talking about how much sex they have' is conducive to a babyface reaction. Tony Khan isn't usually that tone deaf. They're now feuding with America's Top Team who are categorically heels, so until that feud is done Sammy and Tay will have to remain faces, even though it does them no favours. I can see a WWE style reaction from the audience where they end up cheering the heels over the faces in this one, however, as the heels are more likeable and interesting than the babyfaces.

Objectively around 6 is probably right. Personally I'm closer to a 3 or a 4 though. Aside from the second half of our L1 campaign and the odd month or two here and there per season I've found Mowbray's tenure to be dull, frustrating and baffling in equal measures. Defenders are coming, Brockhall, accusing the fans of thinking it's 1995, encouraging arguments on the terraces, making every opponent out to be superior, death spirals, players out of position (in particular strikers on the f'ing wing), throwing players under the bus unfairly, admitting to letting the dressing room police itself, stupid quotes such as not looking at the league table, refusing to ever take responsibility for anything bad, record bad runs, a record home defeat... well anyway, I've said many times that I look forward to him leaving and I stand by that. I don't find Mowbray's Rovers very enjoyable to follow. Appreciate others seemingly do, but I just don't believe that this manager will ever achieve anything for us in the Championship beyond mid-table. We've seen smaller clubs on smaller budgets get playoff shots in the time we've been in this division, so why should we accept mid table as our ceiling? I want a manager at the helm that I have some faith in. Mowbray simply doesn't learn from his mistakes and it's obvious at this point he is too stubborn to change. Does that mean I trust Venky's to find a better manager? No. It's Venky's. It still wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if TM is offered a new contract even if we drop out of the playoff spots. In fact that is exactly what I expect to happen.

Taking full seasons into account Mowbray has never come close to relegating us, regardless of the death spirals and terrible runs of form and numerous negative records set during his tenure. Poor manager, yes, but not on the level of Kean and Coyle, both of whom effectively doomed us to relegation with their decisions and results. Kean moreso than Coyle obviously, but I'm absolutely sure we would have gone down under Coyle's "leadership" if he'd been allowed to continue wrecking the club. Frustration towards Mowbray is completely understandable in light of recent events, but equating him with Kean or Coyle is nonsense. He's more on the Bowyer level of not good enough, but not a total disaster either. Mowbray's place in Rovers history is complicated. Got us out of League 1 at the first time of asking and signed some very good players for us. Achieved some excellent results and during certain periods we've played some good stuff. However was also unable to save us in 16/17, set a number of terrible records including our heaviest ever home defeat, has almost surely blown our best chance of promotion in a decade and is likely to leave us with an emancipated squad in need of a hefty rebuild. The Brockhall saga is also a black cloud over his reign which I won't forget. A lot more detail could be added but I suppose my view is that Mowbray's tenure is ultimately a mixed bag, whereas Kean and Coyle's tenures brought nothing but negative, severe consequences which set the club back immeasurably.

I can see us and QPR both missing out at this point.

We collapse like this every season, and every season Mowbray lays the blame at the players' door. The fact he can't recognise that he is the one constant, and the main problem, says it all. Or maybe he does know and is just deflecting. Depends on how much you buy into the 'nice guy Mowbray' narrative I suppose. At the very least I assume the statue is now on hold.

Mowbray is a poor manager who never learns from his mistakes due to his arrogance and obtuse nature, but nowhere near Steve Kean in terms of damaging the club. It's hard to imagine any manager will ever surpass Kean as our worst and most destructive managerial appointment. We're owned by Venky's though, so you never know. Seeing Luton in 3rd now is pretty sad. This isn't a case of us not being able to compete and slipping down to our 'natural position', this is simply gross managerial incompetence.

"So young" Kaminski (29) Lenihan (28) Van Hecke (21) Wharton (24) Khadra (20) Travis (24) Rothwell (27) Giles (22) Buckley (22) Gallagher (26) Dolan (20) Pickering (23) Dack (28) Is that really a team so young they can't handle Paul Ince's Reading? Give me a break. If anything I'd say that's almost a perfect blend of ages.

It's obvious now we were a one man team. As soon as Brereton stopped being available we crumbled, and in most games we fail to score, even against terrible opposition.

The league table makes for grim reading now. Amazing how swiftly we have thrown away everything gained during the first half of the season.

I would say "imagine that" but as we've just seen it happen... yeah. Embarrassing doesn't even cover it. Shame on the manager and the players (Kaminski aside). The only minor positive I can take is that maybe this puts us one step closer to Mowbray being out the door. He's ruined yet another season with his bullshit and I don't think I can stand another season with him at the helm.

Dismal first half, again. Turns out beating a rubbish Derby team wasn't a sign of the corner being turned after all. Reading are poor too so we still have a chance to take the three points in the second half. A shame that we seem to be back to square one performance wise though.

Called that a few days back! This manager never learns. It's a miracle we are where we are in the league. Or a massive indictment on the standard of the division in general as far as managers are concerned.

QPR have DS'd worse than us over the past few weeks. Their momentum has stalled massively and I imagine they'll be out of the playoff spots very soon.

The players certainly made their point in the second half, regardless of what was or wasn't said at half time. I don't think we'll see anything as jaw-droppingly stupid as Johnson at false 9 again this season, but am still fully expecting Sam Gallagher to be wide right on Saturday.

It was certainly curious as Mowbray very, very rarely makes subs at HT, let alone two. A message was sent from one side to another at HT. Whether that was from manager to players or the other way around, it saved us from another disaster of a result in the end. We can only hope some lessons were learned because we have no room for error now - as it stands top six is not even in our own hands anymore, so picking up as many points as possible during the run in is absolutely essential to give us any chance of getting over the line.

Mowbray's post match interview is bizarre to say the least. Can't really blame the players if they did question the manager at half time, it's long overdue considering how 2022 has panned out and Johnson as false 9... I don't even know what to say to that. As loyal as the players have been to Mowbray you have to think there's a point where the more ambitious lads at least say enough is enough gaffer, you're making a pig's ear of this and you need to have a rethink. Mowbray doesn't like being questioned and is pretty thin skinned so it would explain his second half demeanor and post match interview if something like that did happen. A combination of indignation and embarrassment. Anyway, we move on to the next match. Hopefully this marks the end of the latest DS and we go on a solid run now. We'll need to considering how many points have been squandered lately.

Great to finally get out of the horrible rut we've been in. Just have to hope the past three months or so haven't done too much damage. Our buffer is gone so it's about handling pressure now, which typically hasn't been our strong suit in the past.

For anyone that has the WWE Network, the Razor Ramon documentary is on there. Well worth a watch.

What's funny is I rewatched the Nitro where Hall debuted recently (27 May 1996) and that show absolutely sucked before Hall arrived. WCW in general was pretty poor until he and Nash turned up. The product changed rapidly after that, and eventually became something totally different. Hall and Nash really did start the transformation of American wrestling into the beast it became in the late 90s. Without the Outsiders' invasion WCW never becomes cool and Vince never has a reason to start the Attitude era. I know ECW was pushing boundaries at that time but they were far too niche to ever have a major impact on the likes of WWE. Hall's place in history alongside Nash and the nWo really can't be overstated.

Gutting. Scott Hall was a huge part of WCW when I first started watching wrestling. An incredible performer who had the entire package, just couldn't tame his demons until his career was over. In the conversation for straight up coolest wrester in history, and definitely one of the best to never hold a world title in WWE or WCW. With his issues during that time period you can understand why both companies never put the main strap on him, though.

Grabbed a PS5 today, preparing for PSVR2's launch later this year!

Good old Shelfy "going rogue", then proceeding to keep his job for another three years.

Yeah, although from memory it was a very small amount.