JHRover

I think Mowbray's future will be determined by himself. Regardless of what happens between now and May I think Venkys will be happy for him to continue and if he gets his meeting in India they will invite him to stay on. The question will be whether he wants to begin another cycle and spend the next 2-3 years going through another pointless rebuild working for lunatics. He was clearly fed up last season and ready to go, was kept on because the people owning the club are incompetent and has somehow managed to surpass expectations this season which might have reignited his passion. Then again it is relegation form since the start of the year. No excuses for that.

Yes he has a clear track record of this sort of thing. Anyone expecting him now, after 18 years as a manager, to suddenly buck that trend this season I suspect are going to be disappointed. This is the sort of manager he is. Very very frustrating because he has a lot of good attributes which is why he is popular wherever he goes and the media like him. He clearly has a good relationship with his players, he clearly conducts himself relatively well, he does a lot of good. But fundamentally he has a few major flaws which have always and will always prevent him from being a good manager. Others have come and gone with greater accomplishments in the game whilst Mowbray has spent the last decade floating around the Championship and League One. Time and time again showing lots of promise but collapsing as the season progresses. He has been unwilling or unable to get away from those peaks and troughs. It was pointed out last night that having been in the top 2 at the start of the month and well clear of 7th that by the end of it we could be in 7th or below. That is nothing short of a disaster, a spectacular collapse in the space of less than a month and there is no excuse for it. Any other club or manager it would be catastrophic yet here it just seems so predictable and shoulder shrug. The failure to strengthen in January a complete dereliction of duty brought about either by a manager who again has tried to be too clever or complicated about things or owners/representatives who have failed to provide the backing required at a key time.

Hopefully so, but I'll be very cautious on that front until I see a result. Wasn't long ago Waggott was going round telling people Lenihan was days away from signing. Should be an absolute no brainer - mainstay of the side and we've seen how much we struggle without him there and how little tenacity there is without him. Should also be an easy deal to do if he is happy as he should be given a rise commensurate with his increased value and importance. Lets just get it done and worry about other issues.

Thanks for that. I'm glad someone has gone to the trouble of backing up with evidence just what a bull5hitter Waggott is. It is all lip service - tell the people what they want to hear but with no plan or intention of ever actually doing it. He's got through over 4 years of employment at the club without delivering any significant improvements or changes. The pitch is one example which comes back to bite him on the arse quickly because you can't get away indefinitely with doing nothing. It will only get worse and eventually interfere with fixtures. Other areas are similarly neglected - club infrastructure, marketing, facilities, stadium, training ground - yet these are harder to see and don't stop games from taking place so easier to get away with. There's always a raft of excuses - Covid, congested fixture list, cost, weather - but all those things occur at every club and yet most clubs get it sorted. This summer's excuse will be the music festival which will mean that there is a narrow window in which to do any remedial work on the Ewood pitch before the new season - especially if we have a play-off match to host.

What is one of those? Do all managers/head coaches not work on the training ground? How do you measure or determine if someone has 'modern ideas'?

And Heckingbottom was rubbish at Hibs and Leeds. Mowbray was rubbish at Celtic and Coventry. Karanka took over from Mowbray at Middlesbrough and got them promoted. Warburton binned at Forest and average at QPR for a couple of years but has them in the promotion mix now. Karl Robinson and Gareth Ainsworth modern up and coming managers who in 20+ years between them have had 2 seasons in the Championship and been relegated in each. Lets look through the Championship. The only managers who don't have a 'failure' on their CV are those who haven't been doing the job very long. Wilder left Sheff Utd after a horrendous run of form. Still a very good manager thriving at Middlesbrough. Daniel Farke just sacked at Norwich after pitiful results. No doubt he'd be ok. Dyche won 2 games in nearly a year at Burnley yet he's great. Managers fit clubs and circumstances. A poor job in the past doesn't mean they are finished or yesterdays men. Nor does an unblemished CV for a relative rookie or bloke who has only had 1 job and never tested himself elsewhere mean he's great.

I think that's an exaggeration. To my mind he has done a very similar job to Gary Bowyer - brought stability, honesty, decency and a focus on the football along with mid-table finishes after taking over a mess. Up until this season he had done the same as Bowyer - got us to the cusp of the play-offs before sliding away quickly again. This season we've been better - but nothing won yet and if we slide back out of it we end up no better off than we started.

We need to sort ourselves out and pronto. Yes every side has blips but ours is now at 6-7 games. Can't last much longer or it becomes a rut which ruins a season. If we put it behind us and get back to top half/top 6 or top 2 level form then we will be in the mix. We played Hull at the worst time imaginable. A couple of weeks earlier and they were shot at, and a few weeks after they are shot at. We just hit them as the takeover went through and McCann was on his way out. Can't worry about what others are doing because unless we get back to winning we are going to slip out of it. We've got away with it thus far due to having credit in the bank.

Undoubtedly he's brought a measure of calm, stability and sense back to the club from the chaos of Coyle. But I think that is more an ownership flaw than it is a Mowbray asset. He's clearly a decent bloke and a steady manager who most players are happy playing under. But those aren't particularly unique or rare traits in management. It's just we've been lumbered with 2-3 absolute jokers and frauds under these owners that steady away and a dose of integrity are welcomed. I don't think he's done a bad job. Decent even. Particularly in those first couple of years and this season. But at any other club I think we would have been sacked or parted by mutual consent quite a while ago.

So plans afoot for the annal trip to Pune to speak to the owners after the season has finished. His first trip since 2019. Positives to this - I think this is the best and probably only way Venkys are going to sanction any serious funds be that for new players or new contracts. Without that meeting with the top owners we will once again be relying on the loan market and selling players. Negatives - it basically means Mowbray is here next season as long as he wants to be. There's an argument that he has earned that this season but I'd rather wait and see how things pan out before then. There's no way Venkys are going to take him and Waggott out to India to tell them they aren't needed. I'd rather there was more to the process than 'cart on Tony' but doubt it with Venkys.

The biggest and most important deal the club could release is on season tickets for next year. It is those sales which will make or break our attendances next year (assuming we don't go up and get the tourists). That article explains all about what a good young side we have and how well we have done this season and how good our home record is. All agreed. So make hay while the sun is shining and capitalise on the feel good factor. Last summer we had miserable sales figures on season tickets and that is the reason why even after a good season we are still struggling to get much more than 11,000 home fans on watching. Hamstrung by poor sales of what is our bread and butter. All sorts of reasons why sales were so poor but I hold those at the club primarily responsible for a ridiculous pricing system and botched sales process, including putting them on sale far too late. If you can't sell season tickets when top of the league and with good home form then something is very wrong. Bundles don't work and the only way we are going to get substantial increase in numbers between now and May is if there are really cheap tickets or we get through to the last couple of home games in with a realistic chance of automatic promotion. Even then we are talking one off crowds on cheaper tickets. They should have one eye on next year and prepare for the worst, hope for the best. Prepare for us being in the Championship. Target those 3-4000 who have been turning up since December who don't have season tickets. Get them whilst they are turning up at Ewood. No good once we get to June/July and people are off spending their cash on summer holidays or are fed up with us missing promotion or selling our best players.

Would you be able to direct me towards any quotes from any member of staff at Rovers who said the pitch was 'totally playable' on Saturday? From what I can see no member of the Rovers groundstaff has publicly commented and Mowbray has had a moan and talked about wanting to play but I note he doesn't actually say the ground was fit to play. The only person who i can see has said the pitch was fit to be used was the Millwall CEO. There's a reason games aren't held or cancelled on the views of CEOs who unless I'm mistaken aren't qualified in pitch management and aren't paid to make difficult decisions based on player safety like a referee is.

I've got a bad feeling about this one. It seems to have all the ingredients for a disappointing night: - A while since we last played - Away from home midweek - Live on Sky - Sheff U are in decent form and strong at home - We've had goalscoring woes and Brereton is out We really need a result and a win if we are to keep the pressure up on the top 2 but just can't see it. We just always seem to struggle in these sort of fixtures.

Does the referee set the budget for the stadium and pitch, authorise annual repair/replacement works, monitor the drainage at Ewood? Its quite obvious the managers and players wanted the game on, along with the supporters. It is quite obvious the decision to postpone the game belongs to the referee. Once again you are focusing on the smaller picture - the events of yesterday lunchtime/afternoon and the decision making that led to the call off - and not the bigger picture which is why we are the only club in the top 2 divisions unable to get the game on.

Games off due to snow/rain were ourselves, Salford, Fleetwood and Harrogate in the EFL. 3 clubs recently out of non-league.

Come off it. The pitch is Rovers' responsibility. As is Ewood Park. If there is an issue with either of those then the blame for it lies at Rovers. Correct - the referee has to assess the surface and determine whether it is fit to play on. It seems he did that and decided it wasn't in a good enough state to start the match. I would say that photographs and cameras and the view of things from the stands might be very different to the actual condition of the pitch when walking/running on it. Maybe the referee has got it completely wrong here. Maybe he has made an absolutely ludicrous decision when the pitch was absolutely fine, in which case he should be dismissed. But isn't it strange how every other club in the land managed to avoid getting such a referee and he happened to turn up at Ewood, a ground we know from experience has been deprived of investment over the last 10 years. Anyone who has been to or watched games at Ewood in the last 4-5 years will have noticed a clear deterioration in the surface and its ability to withstand heavy rain/snow. These call offs are becoming more frequent. Up until 2010 I can't remember games being called off due to the weather, or perhaps on very rare occasions, yet now it is becoming at least a once a year event. It won't get better - only worse. Waggott knows investment is needed - he has admitted as much yet failed to deliver it. If Waggott admits money needs spending on something you know it is in urgent need.

By the time we kick off at Sheffield we will have played 1 game in a fortnight since losing to Forest. In the same period Sheff Utd have had 3 games in the last 7 days. So as tough as it will be I would hope that one advantage to our recent lull in fixtures and them having to catch up games is that we will be fresh and ready for a 90 minute effort. I will be concerned if they appear more energetic or fresh.

Maybe they need the money to sort their pitch out then they can play home games after a snow shower.

Last time I checked referees don't call games off at 2:15pm unless they have to e.g. there is a serious issue with the playing surface. I agree it is baffling how the referee could be apparently happy with the surface at 12:30 and then 90 minutes later it is so poor the game cannot start especially given the lack of rain/snow after 12:30 but that is by the by. We have joined esteemed company today along with the likes of Salford, Harrogate and Fleetwood as the only FL sides to fail to start due to the snow. It seems some people want to make this into some elaborate conspiracy about the referee. I do my fair share of criticising the officials and make no apology for that but even I am struggling to see a good reason why the referee would call the game off without good reason. Assuming he didn't, and assuming the pitch was actually in a dire condition at 2:15 then we have to turn our attentions to the other issue here which is how/why Blackburn Rovers' once standard setting pitch is now struggling to cope with a few hours of snow and resulting in games getting called off. Lets remember it is a little over 12 months since heavy rain put paid to our home game v Swansea and we got the BS from Waggott about a new surface coming in the summer. This is a long running issue IMO. Caused by neglect and limited investment over many years. The focus should be on those running the club - owners and executives - whose decisions have let to this embarrassing situation. Some of us have been warning about this over many years. Now the outcome is there for all to see. Venkys Out. Waggott Out.

Can't agree. If we have ambition we don't rule anyone in or out of the race. Still need to be getting 2 points a game from now until May which we are well off at present so doesn't really matter either way.

We are the club that complains about FFP and falling attendances. I've just suggested one simple, easy, obvious option to try and increase sales - put them on sale a lot earlier than June I've got evidence that a League One club in a similar sized town in a similar part of the world can and do manage that and it is clearly working - they have shifted over 4,000 by mid-February and sold substantially more than we did last year despite just getting out of League Two. Instead you want to make it into some sort of point about a 'desperate need' for 'immediate cash' Maybe they just have more idea than Waggott and Venkys? Sales numbers would suggest so.

Head in sand

Speaking of which Bolton (mid table League One) have just announced they have passed 4000 season ticket sales for next year. Adult prices start at £219 under their early bird scheme. Generally speaking in life the larger the sales window the more people are likely to buy. Limit to a short window and people might not be able or willing to find the cash. I'm sure people will be along to tell me Waggott is right for leaving season tickets until June when everyone is off on holiday spending their money elsewhere but Bolton prove there is merit in getting them on sale now. Why wait until we've potentially missed promotion and have another underwhelming summer? Is it not better to get peoples cash now whilst they are enjoying it? Today there may be 5000 home non season ticket holders in attendance. I'd like those people to get season tickets.

Yep, draws all the way for me, as many sides as possible drop points. Fulham v Huddersfield I would also like a draw, but if Fulham win at least it sets Huddersfield back further, assuming we win.

It would have been better at Xmas to have simply put tickets on sale in the 3 home stands for all remaining games right through to Bournemouth at the end of the season all at £20 a head. Then push, promote, advertise the hell out of it. I've never understood this obsession with leaving it until 3 weeks before a game before announcing prices and starting sales. I get it for the away club in terms of setting their allocation and sending them their tickets and them having a sales period but at home at Ewood we know we can work on the Riverside, JW and BBE and try and get them filled.