DE.

If I was Mowbray I'd be getting our team back to what it was during our winning run, as close as possible at least with injuries/suspensions, and stick with it even if results don't come immediately. If Tosin leaves then we're probably screwed anyway but this insane chopping and changing has to stop.

I feel some sympathy for the lad in that he didn't dictate his ridiculous fee and I don't feel he's been managed well by Mowbray at all since he arrived, but he needs to be gone from here for a while. Get him loaned out, hopefully he'll start regularly elsewhere, score a few goals, clear his head and come back next season with a point to prove. Ideally under a new manager but most likely not. Instead I imagine he'll hang around here making random starts and appearances off the bench - most likely on the wing.

All because Millwall's manager did the genuinely honest thing of admitting he wasn't good enough to get them any further and let somebody else come in and sort them out.

Ship Walton back to Brighton with a defective sticker, stick Leutwiler in goal for the time being and pray we can find a half decent goalie in the next month.

I don't necessarily think Mowbray is below Championship standard but he's way, way below playoff standard. Lower mid-table in this division is his ceiling and will be our ceiling for as long as he's here. Could get a lot worse if the taps are turned off and we start selling as we did during Bowyer's final days.

We'll be lucky to see him score 2 goals this season let alone 20. Isn't it something like 1 goal in 30 league apps or something now? Makes Gallagher look prolific.

He ain't being sacked so it's just a question of what it takes for him to walk. It wasn't 9 losses in 11 last season, so... who knows. He seemed close before we went on our usual 'save the manager' run of form at the beginning of the month. With the pressure on Mowbray gone the players and manager have now reverted to type.

Because we never, ever come back from being behind against remotely decent opposition. Soft lads, soft manager. Take the lead against Rovers and at worst you're leaving with a point.

QPR 6-0 Cardiff, wtf

Fortunately I don't have Sky - and I'm not at home, so I'll just walk some dogs and chill.

Considering we literally never come back from going behind I think we can forget about today. Onto the next match.

We're already on one. 2 points from 9 is about to become 2 points out of 12.

That was my initial thought too. If there's any game for BB to be motivated you'd think it would be this one.

The Cunningham purchase agreement is just a rumour at the moment I think, although I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen. As for Mulgrew, I'm not sure Wigan could afford his wages if they got relegated. In fact I don't know if they can even afford his wages now, as we aren't sure how much they are contributing at the moment.

Mowbray himself said 70 points is the minimum target in September: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17930673.where-aiming-year--mowbray-outlines-rovers-target/ In that article he also talks about getting funding in January (which now appears to be backtracked on, a common theme this season sadly with the 'defenders are coming' fiasco from the summer).

Even though it's only one defeat in terms of points it's actually worse than if we'd won one of those matches and lost the other two. If the draws had been decent performances I think the feeling would be a bit different, but they were abject enough to feel like a defeat even though they weren't. At the very least we need a good performance today to get the wind back in our sails, even if we only manage a draw.

Fixed that for you.

Smallwood is proven in League 1 so I honestly don't think an extra six months of not playing is going to have any major impact. I reckon he'd have a fair few suitors in League 1, maybe even a couple of teams just promoted to the Championship if he's lucky. He could go on a free in January but depending on how much we're paying him that could still be a significant amount in lost earnings for him. This is probably going to be the highest paid contract of his career so it might not be easy to walk away from financially.

He seemed happy to sit out the first six months of the season despite being told he wasn't going to feature much, and having interest in the summer, so it wouldn't surprise me if he sits out the next six months as well. If he genuinely wants to play I'm sure there are clubs out there willing to bring him in at a much reduced wage. Either that or we loan him out for a % of wage costs (probably less than 40% if it's a League 1 club though).

Happy new year everyone, have a good night and stay safe.

If it's a lot lower he's probably better off seeing out his contract here for the last six months and then signing with somebody as a free agent in the summer. The wage on offer isn't likely to be significantly different and he'll probably get a higher signing on fee if he's a free agent.

We need to get back to playing the team and style that got us onto our winning run ASAP. Appreciate Dack is no longer around but put Rothwell or Holtby there and persevere. Continuing to fool around with our tactics and line up is only going to make things worse imo. We had a winning formula briefly and that starting eleven have proved they can win matches, so go back to that and hope that somebody can fill Dack's shoes.

There were plenty of people at the time who had reservations about the sale to Venky's though. Dave Whelan being a notable one saying something about the deal not looking or sounding right. The Trust were also due to sell us to Ali Syed, a total fraudster, until he was rumbled by a BBC investigation. As far as I can see they wanted out and were willing to sell to anybody willing to stump up the cash, the club that Jack loved be damned - and damned we have been. It's not like we were bleeding huge amounts of money at the time either - within the Trust's overall portfolio Rovers couldn't have been anywhere close to the biggest money drain. Weren't we operating at a loss of something like £3m or less a season with the taps turned off? With prudent financial management and continuing letting Williams and co get on with things the Trust could have made a lot out of Rovers once the PL TV deals went through the roof - and with Allardyce at the helm I think it's highly likely we would have stayed in the division at least until then. They were very short-sighted in retrospect, selling the club for a relative pittance just to be rid of it despite huge potential being on the horizon. Hindsight is 20/20 and all the rest of it, but I don't think I'll ever really forgive them for what they've inflicted on the club and its fans by selling to our current owners.

We already have the likes of Buckley, Travis, Rankin-Costello, Davenport and even Rothwell who are midfielders looking for a chance or who are already in the first team. I'd say we have enough young, hungry midfielders right here ready to make the step up.

You'd think we have enough bloody midfielders whether it be at first team or academy level.