DE.

The idea of us paying more due to the international call up may have some merit to it. If there was any significant clause like that in the BB transfer Rovers probably thought they wouldn't have to pay it out for years, if ever.

I thought Mowbray had some idea of what he wanted at the beginning of the season, when we started off with our counter-attacking 4-3-3. Problem is it only worked against poor teams that didn't realise they needed to defend against us (and keep 11 men on the pitch). The better teams still beat us, and when the poorer teams realised we couldn't break down a solid defence our goose was basically cooked for this season as Tony had no Plan B. Instead he just resorted to a messy, possession-based smorgasbord of our past, stodgy tactics which made the first month of the season seem like some kind of collective hallucination.

So does that mean Brereton becomes the second Chilean to play for Rovers? I wonder if he speaks Spanish. Better be brushing up on it if not!

Honestly Chaddy he probably didn't have to - I doubt there was ever any initiative from India to remove Mowbray, Waggott or anybody else. I think people at the club saw the taps seemingly being turned off, Mowbray's general demeanour (probably expected the sack), took our performance this season into account and assumed he must be going. After a few years of relative stability it's maybe easy for some to forget we are still ultimately run by people who have absolutely no idea what they are doing and haven't learned a thing in ten years. If he is sacked it'll probably be part way into the beginning of next season, with pre-season done and the transfer window already shut, meaning the latest cheapo option off the scrapheap is given a much more difficult task as a result.

IMV it just shows, sadly, that even the people at Ewood (who a lot of this speculation probably came from) have absolutely no clue what is really going on. I doubt there was ever any intention to remove Mowbray last week or any time recently. It was just people at the club putting 2 and 2 together, whilst seemingly forgetting we are run by people who have no idea what they are doing.

I don't see why Arma would go along with a new deal if PL clubs are genuinely interested (or even Championship clubs who actually have a chance of getting promoted). Worst case scenario he's out of contract next summer, leaves on a free and gets a hefty signing on bonus and probably higher wages too as clubs no longer have to concern themselves with a transfer fee.

His Dark Side of the Ring episode is definitely worth a watch.

Spending was halted for Bowyer in summer 2015 - wasn't sacked until October. Turning off the taps alone is far from a good indicator of the manager leaving imminently.

If Mowbray is staying, as appears to be the case, then I fully expect Bennett to end up clinging on as well. I hope not but I have zero faith in this manager or our owners to make any decision that benefits the club at this point. The lot of them seem to be actively attempting to regress us as quickly as possible.

So next season will probably be the second season Bennett has been relegated with us, then. What a legacy. At least one of Lowe's relegations was from the PL.

I bought the original Death of WCW book something like 15 years ago, then got the updated version on kindle somewhat recently. It's definitely a great read and very funny. If you've ever listened to Bryan Alvarez on Observer radio, the writing style is very familiar. I actually think he narrates the audiobook, if I remember correctly. There's a more factual book about WCW called "NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW" by Guy Evans which is also really, really good. Goes into depth interviewing various people involved with WCW at the time, including Turner execs and television people. As for the nWo, still popular to this day actually. I went to LA in 2013 and wore an nWo shirt to a theme park there... fair to say a lot of people still have fond memories of those times! I was kind of shocked by the amount of attention the shirt got.

Well, it wouldn't be Venky's if the manager was removed at a suitable time. Even with Mowbray, Coyle was sacked towards the end of February when the transfer window was long closed and there were only a couple of months of the season left.

The tagline to "The Venky Years - A Rovers Retrospective".

Judging by his general comments over the past year or so, very possibly.

Got a very Bowyer's-last-season feeling about it. There were rumours all that summer that he was leaving and communications between he and India had stopped. The Sun also printed a story in August that he'd been sacked, with that story having presumably leaked from Ewood. It took until October for the axe to actually fall. Would not surprise me in the slightest if history ends up repeating itself here.

The way Coyle arrived, usurping a good manager in Neil Warnock, combined with the "SEM who?" lie will always grate. Obviously the team also performed poorly under him - but he was a shit manager with a below average team. It is what it is. When it was obvious things were not working out he was sacked - too late, as always, but at lightning speed by Venky standards. That's what separates the likes of Mowbray and Kean from all of our other managers - they've worked themselves into positions of absolute power where football results no longer seem to matter. Even Bowyer wasn't immune to that. That's why these comparisons between Kean and Mowbray are made. I don't think anybody will deny Kean was far worse (and anybody that does has forgotten how bad it was between 2011-2012, imo) but Mowbray has somehow gotten himself into the same bulletproof position. The Brockhall debacle just makes it even worse and propels him way ahead of Coyle on my list.

For me the Brockhall scandal will forever taint TM's time here. I can't believe he knew nothing about it. Not after they tried to pull the same stunt at Coventry. For me that's worse than anything Coyle did, although Kean still retains the worst manager spot by some distance.

Good news. Evans and Bennett next, please.

Tbf Accy are only 5 points and three places below Portsmouth, so it wasn't an easy game. Gutting to miss out on the last day after being beaten at home by a team with nothing to play for, though.

I'd say Bournemouth were the opposite, getting a top six place because of their squad as opposed to the manager(s). Not too dissimilar to Fulham last season.

Honestly this season ended up being much worse than I expected. I didn't think we'd get top six with the current manager in situ, but I expected we'd finish somewhere in the top half. 15th is an abject failure and should be grounds for the manager's dismissal considering how well Mowbray has been backed. That run of 2 wins out of 17 is something no other manager in the professional leagues would have survived, and showed how little our owners care about the club.

I'm sure there are plenty who would, that's the beauty of opinions!

Assuming Warne sticks around I'm sure they'll be back. They have getting promoted from League 1 down to a science at this point! Just need to have a serious review next time they get promoted to ensure the mistakes of the last three relegations are learned from. As for Mowbray, I just want him gone. I don't know if I can stomach another season of failure with him at the helm.

The threads should hopefully now be merged!

Damn, rumbled! I agree with you there, I actually think now that Wycombe have adapted a bit to the Championship they are better than Derby. Unfortunately their poor start doomed them. Thanks for the love, I'll try to overlook your affection for Rotherham but can't promise anything 🧐