Drink it in lads, this is a rare event!

Super Card needs to be a NJPW Wrestle Kingdom style two-nighter imo.

These have all been good signings in general (although in Holtby's case limited due to fitness) but also worth noting all three are short-term. I expect Downing will get extended for another season and I believe Holtby is contracted to 2021, but sadly I expect Tosin will be playing a league higher next season unless we manage to go up ourselves. I think our 'build for the future' signings are still very debatable as to whether they are good signings or not at present. Bell, Davenport, Samuel, Chapman, Brereton, Gallagher, Rothwell... all either failed to impress, barely featured due to injury/not good enough or only had purple patches of good form. So far Arma is the only younger signing I'd say has really come through for us and looks like he could really push on. The rest of our younger players (Travis, Nyambe, Lenihan (not young anymore though), Buckley, Rankin-Costello) have come from within so not applicable in this instance.

No Undertaker v Sting? You lads disappoint me.

Tbf I can remember almost everyone being stunned at how little Cairney was sold for. Absolutely disgraceful that imo, total panic upon realising we were in serious trouble FFP-wise. Evidently nobody was keeping an eye on it until it was too late. Also I would argue the reason Cairney was so ineffective for us was because Bowyer kept playing him on LW where he was nowhere near as useful as when he played through the middle. Problem is at that point in time we didn't really play with an 'in the hole' Dack-type of forward. It was more about putting in crosses than playing through the middle, so for Cairney to get in the middle Bowyer would have had to sacrifice one of Lowe/Evans/Williamson and that was not going to happen.

To be fair to Tony it's been some turnaround in the past couple of months. On October 22 when a BRFCS poll was put up for him to stay or go it was 203/21 (90%/10%) in favour of him leaving. I imagine if we redid the poll now it would be drastically different. Not saying anybody was wrong to want TM out at the time (I was one of them!) but it's quite remarkable to see the turnaround since then. Not that he's achieved anything yet and we could still end up finishing in mid-table obscurity, but I don't think many of us would have believed at that time we would be in genuine playoff contention by the end of February. Have to admit I'm not sure exactly how he's done it, but Mowbray has come back from an abyss that many managers never escape from in terms of fan perception and team performance. I think a lot of it comes down to the players genuinely liking him and wanting to play for him, despite some of the odd decisions he makes.

Just a quick reminder that robust debate is fine, but throwing insults into the mix not so much. Play nice please.

I have no idea regarding the Dack story. Seems like it's just speculation but certainly wouldn't surprise me. IMV Tony has been quite lucky to be in a position where he hasn't had to sell any of his star players. We kept all of our decent Championship players when we got relegated which gave us by far the best squad in L1, and since getting promoted we have exclusively added to the squad to the tune of £14-15m without the requirement to sell anybody. Most managers would be very happy with that arrangement so you can't really criticise Venky's for that. With that said we saw with Bowyer how the taps can be turned off in an instant, so I'm expecting the worst at some point. We're never far away from falling off a cliff edge with the current owners at the helm. They can't help but push the self-destruct button every few years just to remind us how incompetent they are.

It's been a while since we've had to sell a 'crown jewel'. I don't really count Raya as by all accounts that was the manager's decision, not something forced upon us. In fact since Mowbray arrived have we had to sell any star players at all? I can't remember any off the top of my head although I may just be forgetful. As far as Brentford are concerned unless they get promoted their model is only successful from a financial standpoint. If the goal is to get promoted they haven't gotten there yet.

I think it's completely fair to say we are progessing under Mowbray compared to where we were when he arrived. The pace of that progression is up for debate but as it stands we're looking good to potentially finish higher in the table than we did last season which can't be seen as anything other than an improvement - particularly with so many top players injured. Ironically we seem to do better when we have injuries but that's another topic for discussion entirely. I'd say we're more or less back to where we were under GB at present. Probably a slightly less talented overall squad but essentially right back to playoff hopefuls who never quite break into the top six. To get back to that position from where we were at our lowest under Coyle is an achievement and it would be churlish imo to suggest otherwise, it's just a case of whether Mowbray can push us beyond that barrier into genuine playoff contenders rather than pretenders.

Egypt was a lot worse in all honesty. The people in America seemed mostly harmless if a bit out there, whereas some of the Egyptians could get quite scary if you tried to brush them off. Lovely people in general though!

If you'd seen the kind of people offering it to us I think you'd understand (goes for both the weed and poetry tbh). Definitely a memorable experience.

Completely agree. I've been harping on about our dysfunctional structure since the Bowyer days (well, even before then, but the Shebby/Shelfy/Agnew BS was a whole new level of insanity). 5 years since GB was sacked and we're back in more or less the exact same position. Much like GB, Mowbray simply has too much on his plate and as a result ends up getting blamed for things that really should have little to do with him - particularly schemes like the European scouting initiative which he should have input in but not be spearheading. This is why I can't really take seriously the suggestion that Venky's have learned anything. Until club duties are more evenly spread out and not all placed squarely on the manager's shoulders we're still nowhere close to where we need to be as a well-run club. I genuinely do appreciate TM's efforts but he shouldn't need to have so much responsibility on top of his first team duties.

Feels like ages since we had a player who regularly scores those types of goals from open play.

Warburton and Franke got Brentford into playoff contention faster than Mowbray has for us though. Regardless of that the big difference between Brentford and ourselves is that at Brentford the owner and his staff are dictating the policies, whilst at Rovers for some reason the first team manager is doing that job for the most part. At Brentford the removal of a manager merely changes the playing side of things (much like Watford) whereas with us losing Mowbray would potentially cause a complete implosion as he is both manager and club visionary. Our structure is fraught with significantly more risk than Brentford's because of that.

Brentford changed managers multiple times though, so how does it make sense to compare that situation with people who want Mowbray to move on?

I must have missed something as I have no idea where Powerrr is this week. Not sure I'll bother watching Circle Squared, unless it's worth checking out?

Big statement there Chadster. Not sure who "footballinsider247" are or indeed who their "source at Brighton" is (possibly a drunk local) but I'll be very surprised if Walton isn't playing Championship football next season again, whether it be here or with another club around us. Two loan spells at Wigan and a loan spell with us (as we sit in upper mid-table) doesn't spell automatic move to become No1 at a PL or Bundasliga club to me... but fair play to Christian if he does pull that off, it'll be some achievement! I actually wouldn't be surprised at this point if he's our no1 next season, possibly on a permanent if the fee is reasonable.

At the very least it's an area we'll need to look at in the summer. Tosin likely won't be here next season unless we get promoted, whilst Lenihan is injury prone and our backups of Williams, Nyambe and Mulgrew aren't really up to standard at CB (and we also don't want to be pulling Nyambe away from RB which he has made his own). Williams will probably stay and I expect Mulgrew to go so we will at the very least require one new first team CB (assuming Tosin doesn't return) and a decent backup CB who can challenge for a first team spot and fill in comfortably when Lenihan is out injured or suspended.

Which means you agreed with my original point!

Maybe we just went at a bad time, but we were coerced into buying some rap albums on burned CD-R's, offered weed at least half a dozen times, attacked by a dog (fortunately small) and nearly dragged into performing some strange improv show on the beachfront as well as read some poetry by somebody I had never heard of. I was exhausted by the time we left.

The fact she's willing to go on a wrestling-based holiday at all makes her a keeper. There's so much to do that honestly you shouldn't have any trouble filling your schedule for six days, especially when you've got a bunch of wrestling events included as part of it anyway!

Venice Beach was dodgy enough during the day, can't imagine what it's like at night. The Transformers ride at Universal Hollywood might have been my favourite part of the whole holiday tbh, although I'm guessing it isn't there anymore.

We're talking about two different things here though. I'm directly refuting the suggestion that funds are being withheld from TM as it doesn't tally up with anything he's said in the past. What you're talking about is his decision to spend the potential extra money available which is a different topic.

Completely agree. Bowyer had us on the brink of the playoffs as well but we were still a basket case despite the cries of 'stability', which was proven when Bowyer left and everything collapsed. Fool me once...