DE.

Haha, his persona is actually based off an anime character so you aren't far off. I believe his OG theme song is the anime's opening theme too. Only in Japan could you base a character off a cartoon, use the cartoon's opening as your theme and still get insanely over. The women do often seem kind of squeezed onto the normal Powerrr show, so maybe giving them their own spotlight will help. I had no idea their women's roster was that big to be honest, I thought they only had about six people. Cornette had that old school sound which worked well with NWA stuff, but Bennett is a better overall commentator imo. I've really enjoyed his work so far. As for Joe Galli, yeah, he's pretty good. Plays the old school JR/Schiavone play-by-play role well, and doesn't come across as annoying or naive. The only thing that bothers me slightly is that he has one eye slightly higher than the other... I didn't notice it at first but now I can't unsee it

I also noticed Jushin "Thunder" Liger has now retired. He had one hell of a career, including overcoming a brain tumour in 1996 to continue wrestling. I remember seeing him in WCW as a kid, although at the time I really had no idea who he was, I just thought he had a cool outfit. He actually wrestled Brian Pillman on the first ever WCW Nitro in 1995. Kind of a shame AEW didn't throw Liger Vs Pillman Jr out there for their first show, but I guess that might have been a little too on the nose. I can remember watching Liger briefly in TNA as well. He had a match with Samoa Joe at Bound For Glory in 2005. The match itself wasn't anything special but I thought TNA did a great job with Liger's entrance. They even used his OG theme song, and I think they might have been the only major American company that did that. WCW had their own theme for him and WWE used a theme that was similar but not the same. Anyway, it was always cool to see Liger and hopefully he gets to enjoy his retirement.

NWA is definitely back to firing on all cylinders after a rough few weeks during the Cornette controversies. Honestly though I don't think they miss him. Stu Bennett is doing a great job. I'm not really sure they need the female only show - frankly I don't think many of their women wrestlers are very good, with the exception of Thunder Rosa - but I guess nowadays it's just something you have to do.

No need for concern, he'd be dropped soon enough for "not working hard enough defensively" and be told to study Armstrong and Bennett's game to improve. Of course he'd also need the obligatory 2 weeks to a month to "settle in" and study our very complex system of play - otherwise he might start passing to his own team mates by mistake and make incisive runs that actually lead to something.

Honestly based on recent matches probably better he does that then tries to pass it out from the back.

It was similar last season wasn't it? Am sure we were something like joint top with Ipswich.

Yep, it really is an simple as Brereton just not being anywhere near the standard required and a mistake from the manager in identifying him as a target to spend £7m on. No more no less. The only time I've felt there may have been ulterior motives at play was earlier in the season when Sam Gallagher was starting no matter what, often out on the right wing, and wasn't being dropped despite repeatedly poor and ineffective performances. In that instance I did feel terms may have been given to Mowbray before signing off on Gallagher's fee - namely that he actually plays and benefits the club, unlike the £7m signing from the previous season. I still think that might be the case but with that said I still believe SG was identified and signed by TM without any input from the owners.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport/football/transfer-news/signing-ben-brereton-opportunity-good-1946842 https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17336084.mowbray-happy-patient-brereton/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45334243 https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/blackburn-rovers/news/mowbray-delighted-for-wonderful-footballer-brereton_357023.html Anyone suggesting Brereton was forced on Mowbray is talking out of their arse I'm afraid. Conspiracy theory BS. Just accept the manager made a balls up. It happens. Unfortunately for us it coincided with £7m being flushed down the toilet.

There is literally no proof of this being the case. The manager has said time and time again that he makes all the decisions and has no interference from above.

Didn't realise Meadows worked for the Birmingham Mail.

Eh? Gallagher is 24.

Unfortunately it doesn't translate to the pitch.

You could argue moving here hasn't done him any favours either tbh. He didn't do particularly well during the time Mowbray was here in 2017 and is really struggling again now.

He definitely seems to have regressed. A season in the stiffs last year won't have done him any favours for sure. I think that was probably more damaging than his Birmingham spell. The brutal truth is that the only time in his career Gallagher has scored a decent amount of goals was when he played under Owen Coyle's kamikaze tactics. As soon as Mowbray came in during 2017 Gallagher's goals dried up and he's gone downhill since then. Armstrong is a better player and had a better record when we signed him, so I'm not sure how Gallagher cost nearly three times as much.

I'm sick of Mowbray throwing our players under the bus in public to be honest. I'm not sure why he needs to go into such detail, most of this should be kept in the dressing room. Maybe one of the players should do an interview trashing Tony's stupid rotation policy and turgid footballing philosophy. I'm sure he'd appreciate that.

He's certainly better than the Canadian, although that isn't saying much. New keeper desperately needed but unlikely to come as we're now pleading poverty despite having thrown £5m away on Gallagher in the summer and Mowbray insisting he'd be able to ask for January funds in September. But I guess FFP just snuck up on us between now and then. Crafty.

Gallagher is 24 so should really be starting to show what he can do. Instead he looks a million miles away from the finished article. Very poor business I'm afraid.

Leutwiler being given a contract extension was ridiculous. Nowhere near Championship standard and he's all we have to rely on if Walton gets injured or suspended. I'd rather have one of our youngsters on standby in all honesty.

Not sure why people think Mowbray would make a good Director of Football. Poor transfer record, comes out with all sorts of nonsense quotes, playing style is horrendous... not sure exactly what he would be directing on. Club Ambassador would be a better role for him, if anything. Chances are when he leaves he'll just be gone though.

Hyperbole on Twitter? Say it ain't so.

I've just moved the Breregate posts to the Ben Brereton thread - please continue that discussion there!

I can tell you one position he isn't, and that's a wide forward/winger, so putting him out there repeatedly is ridiculous. I hear he had some good performances as a wide forward for Forest but he's never had a decent game for us playing there and if Mowbray hasn't figured that out by now then that's very worrying.

Part of the problem is that putting in a shift is the bare minimum. Old Browny used to put in a shift but he was utterly useless. Compare to players like Paul Dickov and Robbie Savage who didn't have the natural talent of a lot of their colleagues but found ways to impact the game through their sheer tenacity and desire. If Gallagher can't find a way to turn his hard work into goals then we have wasted another decent chunk of money.

Not going to happen for the lad here is it? I've said it before but he desperately needs a loan move away from the club as it seems to be dragging him down personally as well as professionally at this point.

The death spiral continues. Classic Mowbray.