DE.

Still too angry about our collapse this season to post anything remotely balanced. Glad he's gone, terrified as to who the idiots in charge will hire next.

Mowbray's contract expires. One week later, the club releases a statement: "We heard that the fans were keen on Gareth Ainsworth, but unfortunately we were unable able to agree compensation with Wycombe. However, we are pleased to announce Gary's long-lost cousin, Tony Ainsworth, who will happily work with our existing staff."

Mowbray has been working with Nyambe for nearly 5 years - surely it's on him and his coaching team if Ryan is still deficient in such crucial areas of his game? Then I remembered this is a man who never takes responsibility for anything.

Don't think Rothwell has enough final product to be a PL player. I guess we'll see, but I disagree with the idea he's become in any way consistent or reliable. He's only ever performed here in purple patches.

Pretty bad season for Leicester. Having a gander on their forums general sentiment seems to be that Rodgers needs to go.

Kind of feel like the relegation scrap is a win-win-win. It'd be funny to see any one of Bumley, Leeds or Everton drop.

Johnson had some effective games, more in his first season, and chipped in with a few goals. We definitely got him some time past his sell-by date though, and you could see this season that he's past the point of being able to contribute in any meaningful way at this level. Johnson at false 9 will remain as one of Mowbray's most infamous decisions and live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Financially the pair of them hit a pretty big jackpot even if it's come to an end now.

Lol, beat me to it... Integrity indeed. No different to any other manager mind, but it's interesting how he's hoodwinked most of our fanbase into thinking he's somehow special in comparison to the plethora of average managers out there who would act exactly the same and achieve exactly the same as he has.

Never heard the manager talking about the hierarchy bring a problem before he was frozen out. Maybe because it's worked to his benefit multiple times?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60019574 A reminder of where we were on Jan 24th... Luton were 13th. Millwall were 19 points behind us and finished level on points in the end.

Hopefully Mowbray's last game in the dugout.

Would be a perfect fitting end to Mowbray's time here.

Wonder if we'd be 2-0 up of we'd come into this game in 6th and needing a result? Gutted to see Luton in the playoffs alongside Forest, Sheff Utd and Huddersfield whilst we miss out for a 9th time since being relegated. It is so much to ask for one season where we sneak into 6th? Even Ipswich with barely two pennies to scrape together managed it once under McCarthy before sacking him and spiralling into oblivion.

He lost his place originally because he was injured though, and there's every chance he would have been back on the treatment table soon enough if he had been reintroduced. We don't know the exact reason as to why Ayala wasn't in the first eleven when he had presumably regained fitness, but either way it's a bad look for Ayala to have only played a third of our league matches since joining, and an equally bad look for Mowbray in giving him a three year deal on what we have to assume are relatively high wages. I'd happily move him on in the summer if possible, but I'm not sure if anybody would be interested in matching the wages we're giving him.

Ayala is well known for going missing during the winter months. If he was only being paid to play 50% of the season then fine, but he isn't. In fact I believe in the last two seasons he's made 30 appearances out of a possible 92, so it's more like 30%. A good player when he's fit, but completely unreliable.

Then you woke up and remembered who owns us.

At the time I thought Lambert was an ambitious appointment, but nowadays I'm not as convinced. He clearly had reservations about what he was getting himself into, hence the end of season break clause. There was something strange about that situation. How many clubs bring in a manager like that with a clause in their contract which allows them to leave after less than a year? For Lambert to then activate that, and apparently having already decided to do so by February/March, suggests either a mismanaged appointment process in which one or both parties lied about their requirements, or something else going on. Probably the former, but with the shenanigans surrounding the club since Venky's turned up I could believe something unusual was going on too.

They just don't care about Blackburn Rovers or indeed Blackburn at all as much as any of the fans. As has already been noted, we're just one of a portfolio of businesses to Venky's, and likely very low down on the priority list. It's a shit situation and a big reason that Venky's should be nowhere near running this club, but it's also the unfortunate reality and why I have little hope right now that they're putting any serious thought or attention into Mowbray's successor - let alone treating him with any dignity upon his exit. I imagine it isn't even a footnote in their various meetings.

That's my guess too. We've been down this road too many times in the past. An obvious candidate overlooked for a total rookie or unknown quantity willing to work cheap. It's been the Venky model for 12 years now. If we break from that model then maybe we can start to believe the people saying some positive changes have been made behind the scenes. If the standard model comes into play again, however, then we'll know nothing is different and our stagnation will continue on indefinitely.

Agreed. Stop bickering or be forced to stop. It's up to the pair of you.

If you aren't feeling nervous about a tight relegation battle I'm not sure what the point is of following the sport.

Leeds and Bumley will be very nervous now. Amazing how poor Chelsea were. Possible the sanctions are having an affect on squad morale, I guess.

Agree. It's funny how Mowbray's time here is considered the pinnacle of the Venky tenure, yet Bowyer's time here is now regarded as an abject failure and part of the club's destruction - when in reality as a total rookie manager GB finished higher than Mowbray ever has with much less to spend on transfers (albeit assumedly a higher wage budget). I'm sure a lot of the people doing so were likely praising Bowyer at the time as well, as I remember very similar sentiments about 'dignity', 'pride brought back to the club', etc being thrown around then too. The king is dead, long live the king I suppose.

Come on now. If BBD leaves it's the second season in a row we're losing the only player in the team who scores regularly, by some distance. We got lucky this season with BBD's pre-January purple patch cancelling out Arma's missing goals, but if he leaves that's a major loss no matter how you look at it. Lenihan has his flaws but losing your captain and a decent Championship CB can't just be dismissed as unimportant, especially considering our historical reluctance to invest in defence meaningfully. We'll also struggle to replace Nyambe's physical attributes at RB. Rothwell I'm not quite as bothered about, but by the same token I'm not convinced we'll replace with better. Khadra is useful but inconsistent, so I think we could find a loan of similar quality for next season if we're inclined to do so. Overall though we're talking a pretty big rebuild of the starting eleven with a new manager having to come in and assess everything very quickly. It's something we should all be very concerned about imo.