DE.

Southampton didn't sack him until January though. I'm not sure any promoted team has ever sacked their manager before the new season started?

Sometimes you get a small group of players who just click at the right time. The maturation of Wharton, Buckley and Brereton alongside Khada and Van Hecke improving has given us a massive boost alongside our fairly solid regulars. I honestly never thought I'd see Mowbray's 3 at the back system working, but here we are.

Apologies to posters whose posts were caught up in the collateral damage of cleaning the last couple of pages of arguments based on vaccination conspiracy theories. I would suggest the Coronavirus thread in ICBINF for discussion on vaccination that goes beyond talking specifically about how it affects Rovers and the match tomorrow. Thanks.

A bold appointment from Ipswich. I don't know anything about McKenna so no comment to make on his suitability beyond the obvious fact he has no first-team management experience which could make for a bumpy ride. Particularly with a squad critically low on confidence who were just comfortably knocked out of the FA Cup by Barrow, 19th in League 2. It'll be interesting if nothing else.

Pears has done far better in his recent appearances than I would have predicted. Fully expect Kaminski to be back in goal as and when he's fit though.

This is definitely our biggest issue at the moment. Both our RB and potentially our best backup RB are very injury prone. Travis can play there but we don't really want to be taking him out of midfield. If there's one area of the squad that desperately needs looking at it's that position.

Bournemouth were poor but at the same time in previous seasons this is a game we would have conspired to lose. 16 points from the last 18 now, is it? The 7-0 seems to have caused a seismic shift in space-time which has propelled us into a parallel universe where we can defend and the manager is consistent and sensible. Good times!

Not for long based on their current form!

Absolutely crazy how our form has turned around since the 7-0. Incomprehensible.

Robbo was still a titan compared to the dross we got between the sticks after him. Kean, Eastwood, Steele, Walton... some dark years for us goalkeeping-wise until Raya emerged and then Kaminski was signed later.

Regardless of the fee we receive, replacing 50% of our scoring output is going to be a hell of a task. Our signings (BBD included) tend to be bought with the longer-term in mind. Development to eventually sell on at a decent profit. It's not a bad model for a club in our position, but it doesn't leave me hopeful that we'd sign somebody who would come in and have an instant impact to replace what we'd lose with Brereton. Selling him in January has a high chance of derailing the first genuine playoff push we've had since the club was relegated. As a fan I can't help but be downhearted at that, regardless of what is put forward in regards to FFP, balance sheets and assumptions that the BBD money would be used to strengthen the squad for the future.

Even with his contract winding down, I can't see Mowbray leaving us to go to Ipswich at this point in time. Unless he believes this is the peak and and doesn't have faith in the team making the playoffs, it would be a very strange move to leave a team 4th in the Championship to take over a team in turmoil in the middle of League 1. Even if we finish top half and Mowbray's contract isn't renewed, he's probably done enough in the past few years to convince another Championship team to give him a shot. He's had opportunities to join Ipswich in the past when they were in a much better position and turned them down, so unless they're offering silly money for him to take the job it seems very unlikely to me that he'll be going there.

As far as Ipswich is concerned, this is the same fanbase that hounded Mick McCarthy out of their club and have been deluding themselves into thinking it was the right thing to do ever since despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Managerial judgement isn't really their strong suit.

WWE have apparently released Jeff Hardy. On Saturday at a house show there was a strange moment during a multi-man tag where Jeff rolled out of the ring and went into the crowd, and never returned. WWE pulled him from the road after that. Reportedly they offered him the chance to go to rehab and he turned it down, hence the release.

It's specifically called 'NHS app'. When you log in it shows your name, DOB and NHS number, then has options for the NHS Covid Pass, View your Messages, Linked Profiles, View your GP health Record and Order a Prescription. Along the bottom there are options for 'Advice', 'Appointments', 'Prescriptions', 'Your Health' and 'Messages'. This is on Android but I assume it's essentially the same on iPhone as well.

Yeah you can download the pass or print it out. I went abroad recently and had a printed copy, a downloaded copy and the app to cover all eventualities!

Roy's forte has generally been smaller, underdog teams throughout his career. He did well at Inter but they were very much in a rebuilding phase at the time with few real stars or big egos. None of Roy's jobs with bigger teams (us at the time, Liverpool, England) ended well. He was a very good manager for a certain type of country/club.

Yep, two sides to every story but he does say the first three seasons at Rovers were three of his happiest. It just sadly went downhill pretty rapidly after 94-95.

His book is well worth reading if you get the chance. Has some great details on his time at Rovers.

Yes, should read 'against Boro' rather than 'at Boro'... but if that's the only mistake I made typing that block of text I'll take it!

I read Le Saux's book recently, from the chapter on his departure: Was disappointed that Kenny moved upstairs and Harford was taking over. Le Saux liked Harford but didn't see the need to change a winning formula. Harford was a lovely bloke but too nice to be boss. Robert Coar upset the squad by saying we'd won the league a season too early, which Le Saux perceived as showing a lack of ambition and gratitude. He took it as an admission Rovers couldn't deal with the success of 94-95 and were unprepared for a title defence. He says the club had no ambition beyond what had already been achieved - proven by the decision not to improve or strengthen the squad. Says that the club felt like it had lost ambition and it filtered down to some of the players as well. He says it became a less hard-working, less driven place without leadership. He also says the players didn't believe Rovers could sustain the success they'd achieved and some had their heads turned by offers from clubs they felt had more potential. After a couple of months things started to get 'niggly' between players and cliques started to form. Players who pushed the boundaries (he names Sherwood, Batty, Sutton and Newell) got away with more than they would have under Kenny. Colin Hendy and Kevin Gallacher had a rough time with the other players. Hendry and Newell 'had a ruck' in training. The unity of the team broke down and the players began turning on each other. Le Saux says after three incredible years at Rovers everything had now changed. He had argued with Batty previously about passing to each other, and Le Saux says after he nutmegged Batty in training Batty had 'come after him' for the rest of the session. The next game Batty accused Le Saux of being selfish and they argued at half time. Finally, in Russia against Spartak, Batty and Le Saux ran into each other trying to get a ball, and the infamous scuffle occured. Le Saux broke his hand punching Batty. Harford had a go at them at half time and said he was ashamed of them. Meanwhile Sutton and Fazakerley began arguing over how poorly we were playing. Blames our pathetic showing in Europe on the club for not bringing in international class players who had performed at the highest levels. Felt the team were too young and too inexperienced to handle the Champions League. When Le Saux suffered his horrific injury at Boro at the end of '95, he says Rovers' physio Steve Foster didn't know what to do and 'panicked'. Says the Boro physio took over completely in that situation. Le Saux nearly fell off the stretcher on the way off the pitch because they hadn't strapped him in. Le Saux was devastated about missing out on Euro '96 and the overall seriousness of his injury, but says Rovers didn't offer much support. Says that the club's attitude towards him "beggared belief". Says the Rovers physio made no attempt to contact Le Saux after the injury. He says he never heard from the club either. Most of the players came to see him, but nothing from the chairman or any Rovers officials. Bryan Robson & the Boro staff sent Le Saux a gift basket, which to him made Rovers' lack of compassion more hurtful. Does say that Kenny and Ray phoned, but nobody else from the non-playing side. The club didn't even ask him how he was going to get home from hospital. Says that after this experience he was 'emotionally' finished with Rovers. He refused to work with Rovers' physio when returning from injury. Says Rovers 'knew what they had done' and were 'shame faced about the way they had abandoned me'. Knew he didn't want to be at the club from his first reserve game back. Le Saux makes it clear he doesn't like Tony Parkes. Says he felt that Parkes was 'on a power trip' and felt like Parkes disliked him because he had stated he was unhappy with the club over how he had been treated after his injury. Says Parkes saw him as 'disloyal'. The lads' nickname for Parkes was 'BBC' - Balls, Bibs, Cones - 'because that's all he used to do'. After telling Parkes he no longer wanted to be at the club, Parkes told Le Saux that if he was permanent manager he'd let him rot in the reserves. At one point Parkes and Le Saux supposedly nearly came to blows before the players intervened. Jack tried to convince Le Saux to stay and flew over from jersey specifically to talk to him. By this time Le Saux had already handed in a transfer request. Jack was upset and took it personally, because he considered Le Saux 'one of his boys'. Le Saux was offered a lot of money to stay but told Jack it wasn't about the money. Says Jack 'took it quite hard'. He says the club wouldn't accept he wanted to leave which made things difficult. When Hodgson arrived Le Saux made it clear he was going to be leaving, and that with his negative attitude towards the club Roy wouldn't want him around. Believes at that point Roy told the board to let Le Saux leave. Rovers originally priced Le Saux at £7.5m. He claims Arsenal, Chelsea, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan were all interested, but that the interest faded after Rovers attached such a lofty price tag. Le Saux initially refused to be in the team photo for the 97-98 season, then eventually agreed to be on the end 'so that they could crop me out once I'd moved'. He says he has 'no regrets' about leaving Rovers as he'd fallen out of love with the club. Although he always felt valued he couldn't forgive how he'd been treated after his injury. He says he may just be naive, but it genuinely shocked him how little the club seemed to care about him as a person. Obviously the above is all from Le Saux's perspective, but gives an insight as to why he ended up with a chip on his shoulder in regards to the club.

He and his agent are also likely to get a bigger piece of the pie in terms of signing on fees due to there being no transfer fee, so there is an incentive for the player and the agent to run down the contract if they so desire.

If we do somehow get promoted there's no way Mowbray would be sacked. I wouldn't go as far as to say it would be unjustifiable if somebody with a better track record at PL level was brought in, but it would be very, very harsh.

Having seen first hand how much hard work goes into keeping this place going, thanks to all of the guys who work behind the scenes. Also a shout out to anyone else who volunteers or has voluntereed for any worthwhile cause.

Ayala tends to take the winter off so probably not something Mowbray will have to worry about until February at least.