I wasn't particularly excited about Hanley when he was initially linked, but right now it'd be like signing Virgil Van Dijk.

Anybody who bought the club would have to continue paying the debts, yes, but there's a lot of ways they could run the club differently. Hire an experienced, ambitious manager. Upgrade the coaching staff. Implement a solid boardroom and a structure above the manager which focuses on player recruitment and scouting, allowing the manager to focus on managing the team rather than doing everything else. They could have budgets set up well in advance, not requiring the manager and the CEO to fly over for face-to-face talks to beg for money every few months. The past is the past and continues to have a negative impact on our present, so no, we shouldn't just forget about it and move on. There's nothing to suggest Venky's have learned from their mistakes, they've just stumbled upon a vaguely competent manager who is willing to try and work in their dysfunctional structure and has been successful in returning us to the mid-table Championship purgatory we've been trapped in for six of the last nine seasons. If and when Mowbray departs we will be right back to the chaotic mess that's currently being hidden beneath the facade of stability that exists at present. We heard exactly the same nonsense during the Bowyer era. Stability. They've learned from their mistakes. We're on the up. Before long we had hired Owen Coyle and were nosediving into League 1. Another Coyle is just around the corner with this lot, which is why as much as I feel like Mowbray is not the man to move us forward, I genuinely fear what comes next.

TM seems to be betting on Gallagher being the man to replace Graham. Theoretically he could be moving towards a system where we play Gallagher and Brereton up front, but there's no evidence of that at present. If he's planning to transition into that next season he may find himself out of a job before he gets the chance to implement it.

I was going to say Jordan Rhodes in 12-13 but he was actually signed a couple of days before the window closed. So, probably Scott Dann back in summer 2011?

It's definitely one of the biggest problems. Nyambe - Lenihan - Tosin - Bell isn't a back line that fills me with any confidence but at the moment it's probably the best we can do. I see little option, barring a miracle in the next 24 hours, other than sticking with that and hoping Nyambe and Tosin in particular come good. I don't see how we can avoid damage on the left side as we have no remotely good options to play there. Just have to hope Bell's decision making improves if he's given a solid run of games. I'm not optimistic but what else can we do at this point? I fully expect to see Williams back at LB when he returns to full fitness, which isn't much better but probably slightly more reliable than Bell.

Nah, just the usual rage and despondancy. Should be fun.

Oh it's far more than that. £174m to achieve two relegations, seven managers in eight years, lining the pockets of multiple agents, employees and players who didn't give one useful contribution to this football club, turning the club and themselves into a laughing stock, decimating the fanbase and leaving the club in such a sorry state that it is now literally impossible to sell without wiping out the entire debt. Bravo.

Makes Mowbray's suggestion that he was just "emotional" with the "defenders are coming" remark look to be nothing but an excuse - which we all know it is, because he said we needed and would be getting defenders multiple times in various settings towards the end of last season. Does he think we're idiots with goldfish memory spans? It's really simple, if you don't want to be held to your word then don't commit publicly to anything you may not be able to deliver. And if you DO commit to something and fail to deliver, have the common courtesy and decency to be honest and explain why, rather than backtracking with excuses and nonsense like "I was emotional" and "defensively we're alright". I don't think anyone wants to hammer TM, but if the deadline passes and Tosin is the only defender we've brought in he has shown a huge lack of respect to the fans, and I don't see how anybody can trust a word that comes out of his mouth going forward. I certainly won't - and it really sucks for that to be the case, because I wanted to believe that Mowbray was different. It's increasingly looking like he's just like all of the others, just with a League 1 promotion to his name.

Yes, much like the current manager Bowyer struggled with changing tactics mid-match, making effective substitutions or strengthening areas of the team that desperately needed it (in his case midfield rather than defence). Plenty of attacking talent, not enough defensive steel. A story we've seen play out once before, and we know exactly how it ends.

It was @Don Said who provided the stat, although I did quote it. Obviously Venky's were preventing him from signing defenders back then too.

If that is true then the fans have a right to know, don't they? Honest Tony will surely let us know that the budget is earmarked for attackers only. Or he'll lie to cover for the owners and be no different to any of the other yes-men who came before him. Assuming this is true, obviously.

I completely agree that it isn't all about getting in one or even two players. I've already said in the Mowbray Out thread that I'm 100% convinced we will never get into the top six under Mowbray because he simply isn't a brave or smart enough manager. Great at keeping the lads happy, talks a good game, has enough about him to get an okay points total, but that's his limit. If we have ambitions to go up in the next few years I firmly believe he will need to be replaced. The owners won't pick the right person for the job of course, but that's another debate entirely. With all of that said the point remains that Mowbray told us flat out at the end of last season that the defence as a whole had proven themselves inadequate for this division. They showed on Saturday that nothing has changed. The manager will be held culpable if it continues and rightly so - he can't feign ignorance because he's already said too much.

Mowbray has been here since early 2017 mate, and we've never defended well under him. It isn't going to happen without better players. Mowbray's tactics and coaching aren't going to improve our current lot. I very much doubt Walton and Tosin, with all due respect to both of them, are going to be able to change that. We need a proper, experienced, solid CB who can read the game and most importantly lead the team on the pitch. Time and time again we come unstuck because the players don't seem to understand the defensive coaching we supposedly do, and there's no older head on the pitch to be able to guide the team when the shape starts falling apart. The second goal on Saturday is a perfect example. We lose the ball, our shape dissolves, nobody reacts and when the ball ends up in the back of the net you've got Mulgrew staring at the ground as usual and Lenihan looking around, mouth agape. No leadership on the pitch at all and it's desperately needed.

If the window ends with no further defensive additions then, imo, Mowbray owes the fans a detailed explanation as to why he's gone back on his word. It's not just a few "negative" fans that are unhappy about this, even the traditionally glass half full types remember that "defenders are coming" quote and are upset about being lied to. Without a proper, fair explanation Mowbray will lose a lot of goodwill from a lot of people if the window ends like this.

Possibly. They do seem to come as a package deal so if one goes I suspect the other will be out the door as well. If we're still struggling to get anywhere near the top six during the 20/21 season though I suspect Mowbray and Waggott will not see the season out. That's assuming this season sees us in mid-table, obviously.

The only high value saleable assets we have, imo, are Dack and Lenihan - neither of whom we really want to lose. Travis and Nyambe could be in this bracket if they do well this season, but one seems to have had his fire extinguished by Mowbray already and the other is stuck behind Elliott Bennett. Everyone else either wouldn't raise anywhere near enough to be useful (would practically have to pay somebody to take the likes of Evans off our hands) or are happy to sit on their contracts as they know they won't get better deals elsewhere. I note Bell's contract expires in 12 months. Wonder if he'll be given an extension, or just allowed to go? If he is allowed to just leave at 25 years old then surely he shouldn't be our first choice starting LB as the manager clearly does not rate him?

IF Mowbray is under pressure from Venky's (and I'm not convinced he is) to achieve a top six finish and we're struggling at the wrong end of the table by November I think he'll be gone. That's roughly how long Bowyer got in his final season. This doesn't feel like Bowyer's final season to me, though. I remember there being a lot of speculation that GB was unhappy, communications with India had stopped, and there was even a false report from the Sun at the end of August claiming Bowyer had been sacked. They were a few months early. I don't get that vibe from the club at the moment so unless we are in real trouble around Christmas time I expect Mowbray to still be here at the end of the season even if it's another lower mid-table finish. If so then I believe the 20/21 season will be where the pressure really starts to pile on from the owners.

I don't think Turner will be as bad as they were in the 90s, but obviously as a big corporation they will still be very conscious of both their image and the image of their network. I get the feeling they're bringing AEW in as a "sports" type of show rather than a male soap opera - similar to how FOX want Smackdown to be presented. I don't think they'll want much controversy out of it, just good action and solid storytelling which keeps people coming back. In truth not too dissimilar to what WCW was between 1996-1998. I doubt there's a hatred of wrestling within Turner like there was in the 90s, I'd guess they just see it as a commodity with the potential to draw very good ratings with minimal outlay. Basically a fairly safe business move. The fact they don't own AEW means that they have totally different and much less responsibility compared to WCW.

Lynch clears the primary criteria of being free, British and over 30, so it might be a goer. Transfermarkt has left back down as another position he plays, which would also be a plus in Tony's book.

I don't agree with regular blading, but I agree that on blowoff matches, cage matches, etc, is definitely adds to the story. I'm honestly struggling to remember any case of intentional blading from the time WCW landed on TNT, up until about 2000 when Russo arrived. I think there might have been a couple of instances on PPV, but I never remember seeing intentional blood on Nitro. I can remember it happening accidentally in a few matches, and the cameras would zoom right out for the rest of the match which made it really obvious that somebody had gotten colour. My view on chairshots to the head hasn't changed, but if Cody chooses to do it then there isn't really anybody who can stop him. I'd be very disappointed if it became a regular thing in AEW, but again with Turner in play I think it's highly unlikely. Once they start on TNT in a couple of months they will need to fit into Turner's corporate structure and Turner aren't going to take kindly to the type of negative press chair shots to the head would bring. They aren't ECW and don't need to go down that route. I don't think there is or ever really was a huge appetite for the ultra violent stuff feds like ECW, XPW, CZW, etc put out. If there was then ECW would still exist.

Also must be British, and ideally played for one of the manager's former clubs. Second part can sometimes be bypassed if the player fits the rest of the criteria.

It's only the Carabao Cup tbf, and they won their first match of the season away to Brentford, so a bit early to be calling doom on them yet!

As far as I'm aware they don't have a national TV deal. They're owned by a wealthy broadcast company called Sinclair who have local stations but nothing national, so they're effectively on syndication which is obviously quite an outdated model in the modern era. They've tried internet broadcasting to get higher penetration but it hasn't really worked out for them, primarily because of numerous technical glitches and the fact ROH has always been a niche product with little mainstream appeal. They were beginning to gain some traction through the Bullet Club/NJPW angles but obviously that is now dead in the water. Blood has been in and out of wrestling, generally depending on the political climate. There have always been and still are federations where excessive blood is common. In the late 90's both WWE and ECW were full of blood, although WCW was always a lot more restrained with blading. Nowadays it's very rare to see intentional/real blood in WWE. TNA/Impact has some but not a lot, and it's to be determined how AEW will handle blood - their PPVs had some of it, but I can't see the folks at Turner being happy with regular blade jobs once they are on TNT. I suspect it'll be similar to WWE with some accidental blood on occasion and intentional blading on a select few PPVs, but otherwise minimal.

It's possible Smallwood simply doesn't want to drop down divisions at this point, particularly if it would lead to a pay cut. If he believes he can win his place back here then he's within his rights to say he's going nowhere, and I get the feeling that's pretty much the case. Otherwise surely one of the clubs pushing for promotion in L1 would have signed him, as he's a proven commodity at that level.

A very good point. The debt is not going to decrease unless we find a way into the Premier League, it's only going to increase. At this point whether Venky's have £200m or £300m debt to Rovers is irrelevent, as if they pull the plug and want their money back then I doubt anybody would have paid £50m worth of debt on the club, let alone £200m+. Let's not forget that this is all Venky's fault, too. Their horrific mismanagement of the club has essentially left both Blackburn Rovers and its fans hostage to these distant owners who have never shown they care one iota about the club's legacy or the love that the supporters have for it. It was their decision to sack Allardyce and bring in Kean. It was their decision to hand the reigns over to SEM and allow us to fall into a pit of disorganisation on and off the field. It was their decision to hand out ridiculous contracts and agents fees, skyrocketing what was at the time a somewhat manageable negative net balance. It was and still is their choice to never hire a proper manager, always relying on cheap, out of work chancers or untried rookies and therefore never giving us a fighting chance of moving forward. It was their choice to consistently fail to hire a proper board of directors at Ewood Park, relying on the likes of Paul Agnew, Shebby Singh and Derek Shaw. I could go on and on but just typing this is raising my blood pressure. They are the sole reason we are in such a sorry state and I will never feel any gratitude to them. I hate them for what they've turned this club into and I hate that if Desai wakes up one day and decides she's had enough the club may very well cease to exist.