Well Reading have appointed Ince on a permanent basis. So that's good news. One less rival to compete with in the manager market and a side I'll be betting on going down next season.

The biggest shame from all this is that I believe good managers would come here and are interested. In the case of Carvalhal, it is clear that someone at his end is pushing his name with a view to returning to England. Yet the impression I get is that Rovers are once again on the back foot and will basically squander any prospect of landing one of these decent managers. People like Farke and Carvalhal there for the taking and basically inviting interest. Then we've Waggott and Suhail opening envelopes and applications on their desk and wondering what to do. I suspect Carvalhal will end up at a club in the Middle East on Big money having grown tired of waiting for us to get our act together. We'll be scraping the barrel pretty soon, which is where the friendly agents come in.

Well it must have been quick - they sacked him after 7 games I wouldn't be deterred by his role with Ghana. I'm sure he'd give that up if it meant he got a good management job and if not he could probably do it anyway during the World Cup break.

I don't see the harm in going for Carvalhal, if he's interested in coming here. For sure his CV is stronger than most linked or would be interested, and he comes with a track record in this division working for a similar club with similar ownership situation. Hand him a 2 year deal with a big bonus for promotion, back him as far as we can and see how it goes. If it works fantastic, if it doesn't we review at the end of his contract. At least we've tried something different from the usual names. I'd personally prefer Farke as I think with the right structure he would be better at building something that lasts, but other than him Carvalhal has probably the best credentials and would enthuse me the most.

Bielsa is just not going to happen. The bloke is 67 and it was mentioned whilst at Leeds that he had an eye on retirement and going back to South America. At Leeds he was on astronomical money and brought loads of staff along with him. These are two things that would ensure that it didn't happen. I doubt he'd be interested even if we offered the money.

Yes I think the only thing keeping me optimistic that it won't be is that HSH don't have any remotely acceptable options at this time. That list that people have helpfully put on here recently only has 1-2 names that would be even associated with a Championship job. So they've got their work cut out there in orchestrating that one.

St Tony was a miserable failure at Coventry in League One yet that wasn't a barrier to him getting the job here nor did it prevent him doing a good job. So I'm not sure why a short spell at Forest should rule Hughton out. Especially if he wants to prove a point after that debacle. Not interested in his age either. The two of the biggest balls up in this club's history were sacking Allardyce and turning Warnock down when Allardyce was mid 50s and Warnock late 60s whilst dreadful appointments of Kean (early 40s), Berg (40s) and Appleton (30s) show age is immaterial to this search.

Yes correct, I did think Mowbray was staying and I remain of the view that the Club itself had no plan for his departure and that the late meetings and discussions were to try and to see if he would agree to carry on. For one reason or another he had made up his mind by then and nailed his colours to the mast so instead they made it sound like a mutual agreement and are now scrambling around with no clear strategy. I agree with you we should go down the Sporting Director route if we want to avoid high turnover and radical changes every time a manager departs. But to do it we need a qualified Sporting Director and that person needs the power to direct. If we get someone unqualified or they don't have the power to sign players etc. then its a waste of time.

Soon be Sunday papers and we can find out Nixons latest rumours

If an external appointment is coming then Adkins and Grayson would be two likely options IMO. Both available, cheap, desperate to manage again and would jump for the Rovers job. Would accept whatever boundaries this lot wanted to impose. I think the Sporting Director thing is a red herring. They might want to appoint one but won't do that any time soon (unless it is an internal reshuffle) and it will just be left to drag on for months.

The promotion season has been and gone now. 4 years ago which is an eternity in football. Good achievement, well done, pats on the back and deserve a crack at the Championship, which he's had and then some. Mowbray's a very lucky man that a whole 4 years on from finishing 2nd in the 3rd division with Blackburn Rovers that fans are still harking on about that being his big accomplishment, seemingly getting extra credit because there are some examples of other 'big' clubs who haven't done that. Also no mention of mighty Rotherham who bounce up and down with regularity with a fraction of what Mowbray had here.

More likely to be Venus as D of F with Johnson as head coach

Rich Sharpe's article has all the usual hallmarks of a club that hasn't got a clue what it is doing. I look forward to being proven wrong but where do you start with things. They've known for months that there was a strong chance, or even guaranteed chance, that Mowbray was off and that they would have to find someone else. So I'm sorry, this tale about Waggott sitting at his desk sifting through CVs from all over the world and then sending a few to India for them to mull over is just ludicrous. Then the 'Sporting Director' thing. If they want to go down that road, and I think they should because I've long believed this is the only way we can operate with these owners, then that person needs to come in first and then lend his expertise to appointing a manager. On what planet do you appoint a head coach to work under an as yet to be identified Sporting Director and then bring one in who might not like or be compatible with the head coach? It sounds to me like Pasha quite likes the Sporting Director idea having tried it before with Paul Senior, but hasn't got a clue what he is looking for or what it needs. We don't need or want an agent, part time assistant manager or over promoted coach doing this, we want a proven experienced operator who knows the job and can recommend a manager. No rush.

Not sure how Carvalhal can be blamed or measured on what the Sheffield Wednesday owner has done or spent. Nor am I sure how relevant it is that he has had a lot of jobs in management. Being a continental head coach and working in Portugal/Turkey it is inevitable that you move around jobs every couple of years - that's how they do things there. Doesn't make him a poor manager. Mourinho rarely lasts more than 2-3 seasons in a job. Conte the same. Would we turn our noses up at them if they wanted to come here? Have to laugh at seeing people on twitter arguing that Carvalhal would be a bad option based on him having managed lots of clubs across Europe and having spent well at Sheff Wed. Quite insulting really this a bloke who achieved miracles at Rio Ave and has had Braga in contention for domestic and European silverware. Sometimes I wonder what it is some people want from a manager. Seems some would rather a Tony Mark II - a bloke who will go on a 4 year journey to nowhere whilst the club burns through £15 million a year and ends up losing key assets on free transfers whilst we watch Luton and Huddersfield pass us by. Not for me - I'd sooner we went out and got a big hitter who could teach the people at Brockhall what it takes to win and who will deliver higher standards and a fresh approach. So what if he is using us to get into English football - this can be mutually beneficial and if he walks or gets a better offer after couple of years so be it - we find someone else. Some people seem to mistake stability with needing to have a manager in place for 4-5 years. A club can be perfectly stable whilst changing managers dependent upon results.

If Venus, Lowe, Benson or Johnson are staying, either because the club doesn't want to cough up to pay them off or because they are nice people who work hard and therefore can't be removed, then there's no point in worrying about who the new manager is. It won't be anyone decent or with any credibility. The players will be returning to Brockhall in 5 weeks time and it will be the same names, faces and voices telling them the same things as last year.

A helpful reminder today in the Telegraph that Nyambe and Lenihan's contracts are set to expire imminently. Miraculously however it is now claimed that finances aren't an issue with Lenihan, and that the delay on his part is wanting to know who the new manager will be and whether the club has serious promotion aspirations. This is odd, because for the last 18 months we have been told by the press and Mowbray that the stumbling block is purely financial and that Rovers had done all they could do on that front. Now all of a sudden it seems to no longer be a financial matter but hinges on the managerial situation If true this just further emphasises the critical importance of making a good appointment and quickly. Both because the new man will want and deserve the opportunity to keep these players rather than have to replace them in limited time and also because the financial and footballing benefits to keeping them significantly outweigh the inconvenience or risk of making a fast appointment or of paying more to get a better manager E.g. if Farke hinges on him being able to bring all his own staff but in doing so would persuade those players to commit new long term deals the millions that could save us would be entirely worth it. I doubt such calculations are taking place and the focus will be on someone willing to work with Venus, Lowe and Benson. Aka a desperate option or a rookie.

The D of F setup actually makes perfect sense, especially at a club such as ours with lunatic owners in another country and the factor of the productive academy too. The D of F gets his feet under the table, directs Football, sorts out the recruitment department, hires and fires the head coach and coaching staff, sorts out the communication issues with the owners, assembles a squad with the budget he has. The head coach spends his time and energy working under the D of F concentrating on the first team and everything that comes with that. The head coach then doesn't need to bring in his assistant manager to act as a hybrid D of F, the head coach doesn't need to fly back to India every 12 months, the head coach doesn't need to assemble the whole football structure with his mates. Head coach gets poor results = head coach gets fired and replaced yet the show continues with zero disruption to recruitment, coaching staff, background staff and overall plan and strategy The madness of this club is that Mowbray has been allowed to assemble the entire operation and now he's off the whole thing could come caving in. This obviously requires a proper director of football who actually knows the job and has the right experience. So that rules out moving Venus upstairs to keep him on the payroll or promoting someone else from within or going for some snake oil salesman like we had last time round.

Carvalhal's CV is impressive, even if you ignore the years prior to Sheff Wed he has done good jobs everywhere he has been since then. Even Swansea he took over a side that look doomed and went close to keeping them up (probably a similar situation to Mowbray here in 2017 yet Mowbray got a new deal whereas Carvalhal didn't). Yes he spent heavily at Sheff Wed but have to assume he will not be expecting that sort of money at his next club. He will presumably know the parameters before declaring an interest. It baffles me how some people would overlook his credentials IF he is interested. Not my first choice but can't think of many stronger CVs. If we want to experiment, develop, float around mid table or get relegated then we need to look for another Mowbray who will shoulder shrug for 4 years and everyone can laud being a ''wonderful human being" Unfortunately in this nasty cut throat business you need a winner who is going to drag a club up with him. If that means someone like this, who has a couple of seasons go at it and then leaves if he fails then so be it, plenty more fish in the sea afterwards and at least we've tried. Think he will be out of the equation though. Too bold, too ambitious for this setup. Think they will want a nice chap who will play the uncle role at Brockhall and accept Venky nonsense and budget shenanigans.

Don't get the Ferguson thing. Is it because he's scary and jumped around like a nutter when he held the reigns at Everton? Anything else that might suggest he is up to the job of managing Rovers?

Yes, he was excellent at Blackpool, Leeds and Preston, and also got Huddersfield up in his sort time there. I wouldn't hold his Sunderland spell against him as everyone struggles there and they were a sinking ship when he went in but since then it has been a succession of ill fated spells. I wouldn't describe him as a failure at Bradford, Blackpool and Fleetwood, but certainly nothing there to warrant getting the Rovers job. He always had Glyn Snodin and Ian Miller on his coaching staff until those most recent couple of jobs when he has worked instead with Dunny. Not blaming Dunny for the downturn but sometimes managers just aren't the same after losing their right hand man.

4-5 years ago around the Coyle/Mowbray arrival time I'd have been all over Grayson here as his stock was high at Preston. But not any more. He seems to have lost his mojo and it would be a ludicrous, yet typical parochial Rovers appointment. Wouldn't surprise me if Mowbray has dropped his name in there as they seem to get on well.

It comes down to risk. People can label the likes of Hughton as boring or yesterdays men, but the simple reality of the matter is he's won automatic promotion twice in the last decade and also led a shambolic Birmingham side to the play-offs. Therefore, if you are wanting to do similar, it makes sense that you would look at his record and think he has what it takes to repeat it or go close. Of course someone in the lower leagues could also do this, and might even do it for less money or playing nicer football, but there is a much greater risk, because they are in the lower leagues for a good reason - either they are still on their way up and have it to prove or they haven't got the accomplishments behind them to walk into Championship jobs. The reason people like Hughton, Warnock, Bruce keep on getting job after job isn't because Chairmen are all boring, lazy, unimaginative. It is because Chairmen want a solid, low risk appointment in the hope of getting promoted because these managers have proven time and time again they can do it. Daniel Farke is a proven promotion winner - nobody can beat his record in his last two Championship seasons - and he's available. So if a club genuinely wants promotion they shouldn't look any further and should give him what he needs to do the job. But we are the sort of Club that looks a gift horse in the mouth or will baulk at a manager making demands on finances or staff. This isn't because we can't afford it or can't attract these people, £15 million a year losses show we can afford it. But people along the line try to win brownie points and try to be too clever about things and more often than not it backfires.

But then the whole process of analysing track records and styles is pointless, as in the case of Ainsworth where the is clear evidence of using an old and experienced squad and unattractive football we can just ignore or overlook those issues because we hope he will do it differently here. Any other manager in the world could try to do things differently. Trouble is we don't know if he can, because he never has before. Most won't be bothered as winning football trumps pretty football but I'm just going off the ingredients Mowbray said we needed which I assume Venkys and Pasha will want from the next one. Especially a close relationship with the academy.

All those who attach importance to developing youth and relying on our academy or playing attractive football are going to struggle to reconcile that with a desire to appoint Ainsworth. If there is one manager and team that doesn't play that football and doesn't have a young side it is Wycombe. Of course he 'might' change if he comes here but so might anyone else in the world. Seems unlikely to me if he's done it a certain way at Wycombe for a decade and it works for him.

I've booked trains but am wary that I'll have to check nearer the time, cba with a bus replacement service.