DE.

What? When were we ever League 1 fodder?

I was fairly unhappy with his overall transfer policy before the BB/SG purchases and my post history will back that up (although I'm sure you have much better things to do than trawl through that). For me personally those purchases make a bad situation much worse, but I can't speak for how others would view it. Just my personal thoughts on our transfer business since TM arrived, it may be a little on the harsh side. As a reminder of our permanent signings since returning to the Championship... Summer 2018: Joe Rothwell Jacob Davenport Adam Armstrong Jack Rodwell Winter 2019: Ben Brereton Harry Chapman Summer 2019: Stewart Downing Bradley Johnson Sam Galagher Lewis Holtby Winter 2020: [no transfers in] So, based on that am I confident of a long-term restructuring? Unfortunately no - and that is what we bought with a reasonable budget in place. This summer could potentially be a lot more difficult - or it could be the same as usual, I don't know. Either way at best I see us bringing in a couple of older heads on free transfers and a decent loan or two to just about keep the defence ticking along without actually improving it. I think expectations of genuine playoff contention with the current owners and management (at both board and playing level) is extremely optimistic at best.

Problem is even if there are reasonable deals out there and we do have some kind of budget I'm not convinced Mowbray is the man to bring in the players we need. Not a single good permanent defender in the entire time he's been here, £12m flushed down the toilet on BB and SG, made a total mess of the goalkeeper position last summer, has made a habit of giving contract extensions to players who are at their limit in terms of usefulness... the only decent signings he's made recently are loans or players at the tail end of their careers. Decent fella and so on, but I won't be surprised if we are struggling in six months time. I just hope by then it isn't already too late.

Considering the amount of reinforcements we require just to stand still (thanks to multiple seasons of wonky transfer policy) and the likelihood of a small/non-existent budget I do not think that is a realistic expectation in all honesty. If TM remains I would be delighted with another mid table finish as I would be expecting us to be scrapping it out further down the table.

The usual win once the pressure is off. 34 year old DG still our best striker which is obviously worrying. We desperately need a new keeper this summer. Please don't let Gallagher or Bennett start again for the rest of the season. Happy for Rothwell to sit out the remainder as well tbh.

This may have already been posted but...

That's my thought as well. Next season could be a very painful one and if we end up back in the same position as we were under Bowyer in 15/16 before he was sacked then all of Mowbray's work is effectively undone. Worrying times.

Not going to regurgigate all of my thoughts from yesterday but basically I think his time here is up. Every manager has a finite lifespan at a club and I firmly feel Mowbray has reached his. He can't get a consistent tune out of this team and never really has been able to. Even in L1 our performances fluctuated drastically, the only difference is we were much better man-for-man than practically every team we faced so even a poor performance often resulted in a narrow win. The Championship requires more tactical nous and transfer market know-how than I think TM has to offer. He hasn't been a failure by any stretch of the imagination (except BB and SG which are two horrendous mistakes), but to me it's quite clear he can't push us any further forward. Time to say thanks and move on. I have no faith in Venky's making a better appointment but treading water is no good either. I think we end up in the same place whether we stick with TM or make a poor appointment, so rolling the dice seems to be the best option. Just my opinion as far as future prediction is concerned though, obviously.

Is there proof the two events are linked or is that just speculation? I haven't been following it closely but a month (actually longer, 03/10 - 16/11) seems like quite a long time for such a plan to be executed. Not saying it's beyond the realms of impossibility, just strange that Harris would resign that early and have to wait that long if that was the plan.

I agree, I want him gone at this point, but I don't think it's going to be the answer to all our problems. The issues unfortunately run much deeper than Tony Mowbray.

What worries me about TM leaving is that because we have this outdated structure where everything at the club revolves around the manager, his departure means we essentially start from scratch. Theoretically the new manager could pick up where TM left off as far as scouting initiatives, etc, are concerned, but it makes it a lot harder for the new incumbent to hit the ground running when he has so many tasks to deal with. If we were smart we would have evolved the structure of the club to allow seamless transition between managers, but we have the exact opposite which makes things a lot more difficult - and that isn't even taking into account the likelihood of our owners hiring another dud like Coyle.

We need their cash because they put us in a financial black hole. We were chugging along OK until they came in and burned everything to the ground - so forgive me if I don't fall at their feet in reverence. The least they can do is keep the lights turned on considering the destruction they've wrought in the past decade, during which the "highlight" has been promotion from a division we hadn't been in for decades previously.

A competent club would take this as an opportunity to jettison the current lame duck manager and get in a replacement for the final few games of the season, bed him in with the current squad and give him a chance to experiment in the last few competitive games before the summer. Unfortunaely we have Waggott and Venky's, so, as you were.

Indeed, worst run of any manager since Venky's rocked up I believe - including the likes of Kean and Coyle. Fortunately for TM we had a points cushion which meant we were never in any serious danger of going down, but there will come a time when we don't pull up out of these nosedives. Removing Mowbray at that point will be too little, too late, though. He's proven time and again that he cannot solve the issue of our see-sawing form, and it's time for a change. We all know it could get worse and Venky's could appoint a joker, but Mowbray's race is run here and I'm convinced it will end badly if he stays.

Waggott isn't going to remove his mate, so unless Venky's get involved (and they probably couldn't tell you where we are in the table, let alone current results) we're relying on Mowbray to do the honourable thing and walk. Seems unlikely but if we lose 5/6 in a row he may feel he's lost the players and go. I believe in the past he has suggested he'd resign in such a circumstance, although the proof will be in the pudding as to whether he was telling the truth or not. Finishing in essentially the same position as last season is unacceptable considering the fees spent on the likes of SG and BB, with no remit to sell any of our major assets to fund signings.

Stoke already 2-0 up against the mighty Barnsley.

It's a shame there aren't any fans at Ewood, as growing fan unrest seemed to be the only thing that really pushed Mowbray close to the edge some months ago before the last death spiral ended. I foresee this one continuing at the very least until we play Reading at home, by which time we could easily have lost six on the bounce.

I have zero confidence in that team getting any kind of result. That's not to say it's impossible - in this league even poor teams have a chance of upsetting better opposition - but there are so many players there I have no faith in. Walton, Bennett, Johnson, Rothwell, Gallagher... the rest are capable of putting in decent performances, but for those five it would be the exception rather than the norm.

Millwall were fortunate to have a genuine bloke in Neil Harris who saw he had reached his limit at the club and stepped down to allow them to progress. Very very few of those sorts in the modern game.

Some very dark stuff clearly going on here. For Wigan's current "owners", whoever they may be, to put the club into admin and bring all of this inevitable attention to the situation is telling. If the alleged bet on Wigan's relegation is legitimate then I imagine there are severe consequences involved for certain people should Wigan avoid relegation.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/nov/10/blackburn-venkys-dave-whelan-wigan Those who don't learn from history...

There's every chance we won't win another match this season. Mowbray's death spirals tend to last between 1-2 months, so there probably isn't time to pull up out of this one before the season ends. Wigan are on a roll, so they could definitely finish above us. We could easily end up finishing in the same position as last season.

Every manager has a lifespan at whatever club they're at and Mowbray has reached his. He had a big chance this summer to seriously get us into playoff contention and he completely blew it. We've been left weak in numerous positions across the pitch, either because the players brought in aren't good enough or have never been used in the right way. I fear for what comes next under the idiots in charge, but Tony is done here. Unfortunately I'm not convinced he or anybody above him realises that yet.

Ain't no spiral like a Mowbray spiral. Probably not enough games left to swing it back the other way either, so I imagine it's going to be a depressing end to the season.

Well, at least no Rovers fans had to travel to see this. The line-up and performance is a slap in the face as it is, let alone for anybody paying for the privelege of going to Barnsely to support the lads and being served up this shit as thanks.