DE.

The compacted fixture list at the end wasn't ideal for them, sure, but I still think it's more about their team just not being Championship standard - as it wasn't the last two times they came up and went straight back down (assume they had more normal run ins then but can't remember). They were in the relegation zone for most of January, February and March (granted 3/4 games behind everyone else, but still, even with 3/4 losses at that point in the season we wouldn't have been there) so I don't think it's the run in that is the primary cause of their relegation, unless you count the entire last half of the season as the run in. I am fairly comfortable with that opinion having browsed their forum for reaction, but I can assure you I have no vendetta against Rotherham and think they're in a good position to bounce back again along with Wycombe.

Well, I decided to check the Rotherham forums to see if they were of the same opinion, but most of them seem to be of the same opinion that they just haven't been good enough. "Our season summed up in that one game. Chances galore to get the job done and in the end we've paid a heavy price for missing them." "Poor finishing all season, League One quality players not being quite good enough." " Same old, same old.................. Why didn't we keep stopping the game with subs and not wait until it was too late...............if's and but's It's a sorry end, i've had enough of false dawns and silly promises, after watching since 1962, i've done now being a regular season ticket.....just pick and choose..........................................." "Basically what everyone else has said is spot on. Summed up our season, just not quite good enough. It can be a cruel game at times and today is a fine example. Given the respective budgets we can hold our heads high, to compete and fall just short is gutting but yeah." "Warny's lack of tactical knowledge let us down again I'm afraid to say 15 mins left we had to put fresh bodies on up top to give them something to think about but instead he let Cardiff push on ..... I do not understand what more warny has to do to show his followers on here just how poor he is tactically." "What is the point of rotherham ever being in the championship if we don't invest to try at least for top half of the table,having league 1 and 2 players hasn't worked before but yet that's what we always do. We lack the quality and it shows down to bad recruitment/management" I mean I could go on, but honestly I don't think my opinion is that offensive and seems in line with a lot of Millers fans. I certainly don't think it's enough to accuse me of having a vendetta, anyway.

They ultimately played the same 23 teams x2 as everybody else. Excuses about run-ins are just that, imo, masking the fact the team hasn't performed well over the course of a season. I'm sure they'll be back again for the 2022/23 season. Whether we'll still be in the Championship is another question.

I have more sympathy for them than the likes of Rotherham or Sheffield Wednesday. They improved as the season went on and started adapting to the division. If they manage to keep Ainsworth and their squad together there's no reason they can't bounce back at the first attempt.

Every time we're "in the mix" we fall away in spectacular fashion, so it really wouldn't make any difference.

Rotherham had it in their own hands and blew it. No sympathy for them. 3rd relegation in 5 seasons, something not quite right there. They finished below Wycombe ffs. Even the likes of Burton managed to stay up for one season, and Coventry managed it quite comfortably this year. Sheff Weds similarly threw it away. In the end Derby simply had more bottle than the teams around them. Some appalling teams down there though. Keep in mind we went down with 51 points in the 16/17 season. Four years on and we've managed a whole 6 extra points than a season where we were managed by Owen Coyle until February.

They ultimately finished below Wycombe on 42 points - a tally that would get you relegated almost any season. Just not a Championship calibre team.

Imagine having a striker who's scored 27 league goals and finishing 15th. Oh wait.

New manager and maybe we learn to play as a team rather than rely on one player to score most of our goals. TM still in charge and we'll probably go down.

Wednesday equaliser...

Even better!

Lad's a cheapo buy from the Dutch league. Performed above what I would have expected for his fee and where he came from, but if he was that good we would have had some competition for his signature at the price we purchased him for.

Akinfenwa and a returning Rudy gestede.

You've got nothing to apologise for mate, I think most of us have had those frustrated feelings of wanting us to get tanked just to show the current manager up. It's inevitable when a manager becomes bulletproof and has incredible arrogance on top of it. We haven't seen something like this since the dark days of Steve Kean, and it's amazing that Mowbray has brought people back to this point. A damning indictment on his tenure here. Hope things improve for you soon!

So we'll end the season on a run of 9 games without a clean sheet. 18th in the table as it stands.

If they want to bring somebody in then they had better do it sharpish. A lot easier to convince someone to invest when you're only one division apart from the PL, rather than two divisions apart - and if TM stays it's highly likely imo that this time next year we will be two divisions apart again.

2 wins from 17 is enough for me personally to be comfortable that motivation is not in high supply at Rovers, not to mention the multiple death spirals of the last few years. Listening to Mowbray's interviews he doesn't strike me as particularly inspirational, but maybe there are others who think otherwise. Also worth remembering he admitted not too long ago to letting the dressing room effectively sort itself out - easily forgotten amongst the various nonsense he has spouted recently but imo one of his most baffling and stupid historic quotes. One thing that can be agreed on regardless is that the manager is ultimately to blame. After four years the buck stops with him on everything.

I would say the whole team has become subdued at some level due to Mowbray's tactics/style, and his inability to motivate. It's very difficult to judge any of the players with the current manager at the helm, as he regularly rotates half of them for no reason, plays some out of position and seems to have no clue about defensive shape. For most of these players we'll only know how good they are when they leave - or when TM is replaced, although right now the latter seems like a distant dream, making the former sadly more likely.

With the way Mowbray supposedly wants us to play, our fullbacks need to be athletic if not super speedy, so being slow is a problem. Crossing is irrelevent due to Armstrong being our focal point and Brereton/Gallagher rarely being in the box to get on the end of anything. Defending ability would be nice but arguably pointless under a manager who has never in his entire career been able to set up a team to defend well.

Bell is terrible. Douglas has proven over his career he has much more talent than Bell, but I don't think our style of play suits him at all. He's too slow and one of his primary attributes, crossing, is wasted here with our tallest strikers out on the wings and Armstrong in the middle. Just another muddled signing from TM that makes no sense.

Considering this is a man who said Harrison Reed needed to learn how to play midfield from Evans and Smallwood, I can understand why people think Travis may have been Mowbrayed. Personally I don't think Travis is that much better or worse than when he debuted - maybe a bit more cautious but that tends to come with experience, and with less of a need to prove himself now that he's considered a regular. That probably isn't Mowbray's fault, but it is up to the manager and his team to help Travis improve rather than stay at his current level. Based on what I've seen from our team in the last four years I don't think TM is the man for that job.

Looking at our defensive recruitments over the years I'm not sure we can afford to be picky. Chances of us getting anyone better in are slim to none imo, which isn't me saying Lenihan is a great defender, but noting our current bulletproof manager barely pays attention to defence (despite once being a defender) and has arguably never brought in a decent permanent defensive signing. Tbf the players should be used to these crashes under TM as it's been a staple of his tenure here ever since we've been promoted back to the Championship. I don't think the players have faith in the manager getting us promoted, but I think they're happy enough to bob along in the Championship on decent enough contracts because hardly any of them are winners with any real ambition. Meanwhile if we do drop most of them know they'll get a gig somewhere else or they'll be able to keep sucking Rovers dry even if they rarely perform well (see Evans, Bennett, Bell, etc).

You can cherry pick a couple of L1's brightest prospects and potentially strike big, but build your entire transfer strategy on it and you're going down. With that said with Mowbray at the helm we're going down regardless, so w/e.

Two poor Championship teams sharing the points. In 2021 I imagine us and Rotherham have similar points hauls? Either way we'll be in their shoes next season if this joke of a manager is kept at the helm.

Worked out well for Ipswich - and by worked out well I mean they got relegated in embarrassing fashion and are still struggling to get out of League 1.