Since we were last in the PL the following clubs in the top 3 divisions have been taken over: PL: Newcastle, Dingles, Leeds, Everton, Liverpool, Leicester, Wolves, Villa (twice), Southampton, Crystal Palace Championship: Derby (soon to be twice), Forest (twice), Birmingham, West Brom, Reading, Fulham, Swansea, Blackpool, Peterborough, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Sheffield United League One: Bolton (twice), Wigan (twice), Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland (twice), Charlton (twice), Portsmouth, Oxford Why wouldn't or couldn't we be taken over? What would they bring to the table? Well some pride, brains, semblance of a plan would make a big difference to what we have at the moment,

Strange one really. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with Smith. Did OK with Brentford but they've progressed much more since he left them and Frank took over. Got Villa promoted but with that squad they had to go up. Since spent vast sums of money, narrowly survived the first season, good season last year and now that Grealish has gone sinking rapidly this. Not sure what Norwich are looking for. Smith doesn't come with the Allardyce survival expert reputation, they are highly likely to be relegated this year and if they were to go back into the Championship I'd rather have Farke in charge than Smith.

Ipswich have it sussed. £15 match for their Xmas home games or buy all 3 for £40. Seniors £20 for all 3. U23s from £12.50 for all 3. Under 12s are £1.50 per game. These are 'big' fixtures against Sunderland, Wycombe and Lincoln I haven't looked it up but I bet they are charging away fans more than £15. They are promoting and pushing it now - 6 weeks before the game - not leaving it until 2-3 weeks before. I bet they go close to filling their ground whilst we do the usual routine of charging through the roof hoping to milk the Xmas increase.

Maybe the other way of looking at it is that many people are deeply unhappy and concerned about this club and its future and will express that unhappiness despite being in a reasonable league position. Goes to show that dissatisfaction with our revolting owners goes way beyond matchday results or the XI lads who pull on the shirt on matchday. It also goes above and beyond the age of players in the team or whether they have come from the academy. If we were bottom of the league now and people were doing this the argument would be that the only reason they were moaning about Venkys is because we were struggling on the pitch. As far as I'm concerned this club is heading for the abyss whilst these people remain in control. It is a matter of when not if. I'll give Mowbray some credit here - he is overachieving at present IMO (shame about the last 3 seasons) and is keeping the club ticking over but we are on the precipice for as long as negligent owners remain and employ substandard administrators. Keep on losing season ticket holders by the thousands - where does the club end up?

I'm just curious why this is the only club in England that immediately goes bust the moment these wretched owners decide they've had enough. I say that because countless football clubs have had financial difficulties, administration, changes in ownership over the years and those that have actually gone bust can be counted on one hand - Bury, Darlington, Chester. The comparable clubs - Portsmouth, Leicester, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Wigan, Derby, Southampton - all still going, have come through the bad times, still functioning. Why are we so different?

Last week Mowbray was going on about how he reached his peak in his mid 30s. Yet last year he was going on about Mulgrew being too old to play even though he gave him the contact in the first place. Not as clever as he thinks he is but unfortunately so many just swallow whatever he comes out with and don't question a word of it.

The thing that irritates me more than anything is that there will remain a substantial portion of people who think the most recent decline is natural, inevitable, a consequence of our level or comparable to the 80s or because we have fairweather fans who don't want to watch Championship football. The evidence doesn't support that. If we go back to 2013-16, a period when we were in a similar league position to that we are now, a time when the Kean, Shebby, Berg, Appleton mayhem was in recent memory, we were getting as many as 11,500 season ticket holders and average crowds of 14,000+ That's a fact, there in black and white for all time to come. Upper BBE open, DE open for home fans, better atmosphere all round. What has happened in the last 4 or 5 years, which interestingly coincides with the time Waggott and Mowbray have been running the show, has been a substantial and drastic fall from those numbers. The standard of football hasn't significantly changed - still run of the mill Championship. Arguably the club has been 'better run' or at least I keep getting told. The scars of the Kean, Shebby much further ago. Yet down from 11,500 to 7,000. Quite an astonishing fall really and I suspect nobody else can rival such a drop off in season ticket holders whilst in the same division. Hull have had a collapse but that was from their PL days. But we are talking 40%+ fall in season ticket holders. Incredible. The complete lack of accountability or concern for such a significant and calamitous drop is astonishing. No action from the owners, same old management continue with excuses, on the decline goes. Where does it stop nobody knows but I'd rather not wait to find out.

What good work is going on behind the scenes? I'm genuinely intrigued as to what this is and why this is any better or different to what any other professional football club does? Sorry if I've missed something but what I see is the very bog standard and basic stuff I would expect from any club at this level. Compare to what Accy Stanley do with schoolkids and it is not much. Giving out a few free tickets to local schoolkids is admirable but isn't going to make a blind bit of difference when the club is simultaneously destroying the bedrock of its support - season ticket holders - through a variety of ridiculous short sighted measures. To make up for the 2000 lost season ticket holders over the last couple of seasons it is going to take a hell of a long time and a hell of a lot of effort. As far as I am concerned the price for a season ticket holder, per game, should be no more than £15. That works out as £345 over the season. That is about average for the Championship. The club could then basically vary prices between £15 and £25 per game, protecting season ticket holders getting better value for money and a reserved seat whilst still being able to keep to sensible prices. Personally I wouldn't want to charge more than £20 per game ever but I also recognise that other clubs will screw our away fans and something has to be done to ensure away supporters don't just see Rovers as a cheap day out to travel in big numbers. It annoys me for example that when we go to Sheffield United we are likely to be charged £30+ and the same at Fulham when both their supporters have got into Ewood for substantially less than that this season. We dabbled with the 1875 membership scheme but didn't put it to use - the incentive to join that scheme should have been substantial reductions on the cost of match tickets but instead there was no such scheme. This would have enabled the club to offer tickets at Ewood to home fans for less than away fans. This is what Bristol City are doing next week where their supporters who are members get tickets for £5 less than Rovers fans can get them in the away end.

Anyone associated with the club and anyone of a PNE persuasion knows £30 is too much and that it will seriously limit the numbers being sold. But our esteemed £300,000 a year leader knows better. Unfortunately for us time and time again over the last 4 years we have been proven right and Waggott's policies have been proven wrong. Down to 7000 season ticket holders is his legacy and proof his policies had failed. I was under the impression he had realised the error of his ways and was trying to reverse it with recent price cuts and attempts to get people back. He gets a golden opportunity and reverts to type. It will be 16,000 if we are lucky and I expect another mad giveaway of a thousand or so in the family stands the week before the game to boost numbers from embarrassing levels. Good news for those working at Ewood who fancy a comfortable day at the office though.

Could do what Bristol City are doing next Saturday and charge less for home fans than away fans.

It's not 1995 anymore yet we're inviting the emblem of that era Dalglish down to Ewood and we are assembling a 'mosaic' on the JW stand of the title win. Always good to see people like Dalglish back at Ewood but imagine he is as shocked as the rest of us as to what has become of the place.

They will justify these prices on the basis that they are doing right by season ticket holders and that people have the option of getting it 'cheaper' by committing to a season ticket instead. Of course anyone with any sense knows that it isn't as simple as that and that many, many people have neither the money, ability or desire to commit to every game. If we believe the figures from the Sheff U game there were circa 5000 matchday ticket buyers on top of season ticket holders. Many of those people will have enjoyed the performance, result and atmosphere and need to be enticed back. The next home Saturday game is Preston. An attractive looking fixture that is perfect to try and increase that 5000 figure upwards. The challenge should be to persuade everyone who bought for Sheffield to do the same again and also to bring a friend or family member at the same time. Small increases and gains. Aim for 15,000 home fans from the 12,000 or so last week. Not brilliant if you achieve it but certainly progress and with a full DE would see 22,000-23,000 on Ewood and a cracking atmosphere. You could beat that if you were really determined and pushed it into new areas and marketed it properly but that isn't going to happen under this lot. £20 an adult anywhere in the ground. £10 for teenagers and £5 for kids with adults. Pack the place out. But no, Waggott decides to go with the £30 a head routine. He will be expecting a full DE of PNE fans and so will want the cash from them, in doing so limiting the home attendance. The thing is I think that he and Rovers want a limited crowd. I think they would much sooner have 15000 on paying £30 a head than they would getting 25,000 on at cheaper prices. Why? I don't think the club is set up or capable of hosting a crowd of that size, especially not in a local derby and the local plod will be sticking their beak in and setting all sorts of rules and demands on the club. I'm still surprised it is going to be a 3pm kick off, and expect that is on the basis we won't be selling 'cheap' tickets to fill the place. Imagine the stress Kayleigh and co. would have in the lead up to that one. Tinpot outfit run by tinpot administrators.

He must be on the lookout for another job after his Australian stint. His CV won't get him far so once again falling back on his friends at Sky HQ to do their bit. Hundreds and hundreds of managers have come and gone from PL and Championship clubs over the last 10 years and aren't heard of again yet this guy gets annual articles of sympathy and promotion. Of course it is also a coincidence that his agent was able to walk into the Sky Sports News studio and get a live interview absolving himself of any responsibility for the disaster at Rovers. Probably finds it odd that no club in Europe at any professional level will employ him as a coach. Strange isn't it. With such supporters as Moyes, Ferguson and co. yet can't get a job. Almost as though there is more to it than endorsements from fellow managers. I wouldn't wish him on anyone but the dingles and I'd like to think that his name is so tarnished on the football grapevine that he will remain unemployable despite the media mafia's attempts to rehabilitate him. Stuff like this the reason I'll never have a Sky subscription. Scum of the earth IMO.

What you need to understand Chaddy is that if any of those managers had been at Rovers they would still be here. Managers, provided the owners like them, survive here regardless of results or performance. The only think the top people in India are bothered about is having someone in place grateful to them and willing to do things their way, including flying out to India Other clubs won't tolerate poor runs of form and will make a change. Rovers will just sit by and do nothing because it is easier and cheaper to stick than it is to twist. This is why dysfunctional clubs - Cardiff being one - have had promotion to the PL recently because they make changes and try to get somewhere. Mowbray would have been toast last season at any other club and he knows it. He is very lucky to still be managing this club. Just because we keep him regardless whilst others get sacked doesn't mean he is better or that the Venky way is correct because in the longer term we know it will get us nowhere and we will be in a sorry state sooner rather than later with the contracts.

The difference is that whilst many of Middlesbrough's appointments haven't worked out that well you can see the logic in each of them and Gibson isn't afraid of quickly making a change if he thinks it is for the best. Since our dear Tony was sacked they've not done so badly on managers. Karanka took them to the Premier League. Monk only lasted 6 months but had them in the top 6 when sacked. Pulis took them to the play-offs in his first season and finished 7th in his second season. Woodgate was a sentimental appointment of a rookie but they realised their mistake and sacked him after less than a season Warnock came in and kept them up, finished mid-table last season. Wilder comes with a very impressive record. Karanka-Monk-Pulis-Warnock-Wilder were appointments of managers at the peak of their powers not have beens or nonentities like we've had here and stuck with for far too long.

Oh I agree. Dyche would not be seen as a sexy or ambitious move by a PL club these days. That's partly because of him being an ex centre half Englishman managing Burnley, partly down to the style of football he has become known for at Burnley. These days the high paid executives want to go for the foreign names This also ties in with the structure of the club - as you say at Burnley he has control over the operation - a very traditional and some would say old fashioned approach of having a manager running the show. Most PL clubs have moved away from that and diluted the manager's power so were Dyche to get a move elsewhere he would have to relinquish power and accept having to work alongside or below someone else who might not share his views. Add to that rumours of a substantial release clause in his contract and there's not much chance of a rival club making a move for him. I think the only way it would happen would be if he managed to drag Burnley back into Europe or towards a domestic cup. Those sort of headlines might tempt someone but finishing 16th or 17th and no cup run won't. As above, maybe he's happy with all this and staying at Burnley working relative miracles every year but most managers get fed up with it and want to try something more than that sooner or later.

I see that Steve Gibson was proactive at Middlesbrough. He heard that Wilder was open to the job, heard that rivals were on the lookout so dispensed with Warnock and got him in during the international break. Some may say harsh on Warnock but he was out of contract and likely to retire in the summer whereas Wilder can commit to a few years. You don't let good options slip through your fingers and sometimes you have to move quickly to secure them whilst available before someone else gets them. This is why this notion that we are just waiting for Mowbray's contract to run down before bringing in a new manager is fanciful stuff. Would be no surprise to see a rapid improvement at Middlesbrough and for them to get into promotion contention in the next couple of years. Then come the summer all the naysayers will be out with the usual 'but who would come here' when we talk about making a change. Well a brilliant option has just passed us by because a rival is on the lookout whereas we are not.

Yep spot on re. Dyche. People keep hailing what a great job he is doing and how he will end up walking if the new owners don't back him in the transfer market. I think not. The reality is that he's just had no better offers which is why he's still at Burnley. He gets to run the show as he wants to with his bank balance looking very healthy after he keeps them up each season but then has to repeat again next year. He seems happy with this arrangement. Most managers get fed up of performing miracles every year and want more. See Hughes here, Allardyce at Bolton, Curbs at Charlton, even Pulis at Stoke, Lambert at Norwich - back in the day they'd get a move to a bigger or richer club and have their chance to replicate it elsewhere. Not for Dyche though because the better jobs all pass him by. Villa is the sort of job he should be in line for to prove if he is as good as they say he is at a bigger richer club. Yet he's nowhere to be seen in the discussion whilst they are linked with the usual Terry-Lampard-Gerrard trinity and a selection of foreign names.

Mowbray has until the end of the season anyway. Nothing me or anyone on here thinks or does about that is going to change it. The only way he isn't is if he gets fed up and walks and I think that is unlikely unless the fans really turn whilst on another death spiral after Xmas. I didn't change my view on him after the 7-0 thrashing and I haven't changed my view on him after Saturday. It really irritates me seeing people on Twitter and Facebook on the lines of 'where are the Mowbray haters now?' after the win. I'm still here, my views have been formed over 2-3 years not 2-3 games and I don't change them overnight. I want him gone, have done for 18 months to 2 years now and that will remain the case. The only way he will really prove me wrong is by either getting us promoted or into the play-offs. As it happens I'm more pleased with his performance as manager right now than I have pretty much at any stage since his appointment. I certainly think he's getting more out of the squad than he has at any other point and this is probably the first season where we are 'overachieving' in the table at the moment. Lets not get carried away though. I am pleased with where we are in the table more because I expected a relegation battle this season, but it is an incredibly tight division and it won't take much to be 7-8 places lower down the table like Preston. If we can sustain it then great but we've been here before.

We can't change manager because we are a town club. Makes sense. Just hope Mowbray has found the philosophers stone and can live forever so he doesn't ever need to retire, otherwise we would be in trouble as no other manager would be able to work here.

There's certainly an element of extreme delusion in what he says. The bit about not bringing Pep Guardiola in and the next manager after him being in the same position is all to bolster this notion that he is the only man capable of managing this club in its current form. Now I know the job can't be easy working for these scumbags but the club is doing him a favour by still employing him, not the other way around. Yet I keep on coming back to something I heard from Waggott back in 2018 along the lines of we need to do x, y, z to be able to keep Tony Mowbray at the Club. These buffoons i think really do believe he is a top drawer manager that we are lucky to have. He's not a good manager. He's competent. That's about it really. But it seems to me that he genuinely thinks that he is doing us a favour not throwing in the towel. We promoted Gary Bowyer from the reserves and he did as good as if not better job with less cash to spend.

Steve Gibson and Middlesbrough saw through the bullsh!t he comes out with and realised that they were on the road to nowhere with him at the helm - actually worse than that the longer he stayed in charge and imposed his 'vision' on the club the worse they got so they were looking over their shoulders at relegation by the time he was potted. He was replaced with Aitor Karanka who took them to the PL within a couple of years. That was 8 years ago. In the time since then he's had a short doomed spell in League One with Coventry, sending them to League Two whinging and whining about not having enough 'men' in the squad he assembled. He was succeed by Mark Robins who in the time since then has hauled the same Coventry, with the same nutjob owners and the same issues behind the scenes, all the way from League Two to above us in the Championship. Then 5 years managing this club, the pinnacle of which was getting a massive and mind blowingly expensive squad out of League One, and is now leading us to club record defeats and complaining that the squad he assembled has too many boys and not enough men.

I think it is fair to say that his head has gone. He appeared to lose the plot and throw in the towel at the start of the year, inexplicably was allowed to continue through the summer but now it is different - rather than the defeated shoulder shrug it is antagonism of the support base. He seems to be following the Kean guide book on how to divide and conquer the support base. I wonder if he's been taking advice from the same people as Kean once did. Imply that anyone unhappy or critical of dismal performances/results or who questions his position is negative, not supporting the club and therefore by extension not a true fan. Encouraging supporters to rise up and combat 'abusive' fellow supporters - abusive of course being expressing unhappiness at being humiliated. Suggesting that unhappiness with Wednesdays debacle is a symptom of a modern social media disease - nonsense - in decades gone by there would have been a mob gathered by the reception waiting for him after the game. Distraction tactics by referring to other clubs that are of no relevance at all to our situation The perennial tale of us being 'young guys' not men and still learning how to play football - who has been running things for the last 5 years? Heaven help this club. The only thing I agree with him on is that once he goes it will be some other substandard manager sat in his place making similar excuses working for the same pondlife.

Absolutely shamless the lot of them. Brace yourselves for the usual pre-match boredom today. Self-pity about injuries and suspension. Soundbites about 'putting it right' after Wednesday. A few dollops of what a massive, brilliant force Sheffield United are, how they have parachute money so we can't compete (since relegation they have won 5 out of 16 in the league and those were against Derby, Pboro, Hull, Barnsley and Stoke) Going back to the start of last season they have won 12 out of 54 games, losing 36 of them. I fully expect a backs to the wall win or bore draw which will erase the 7-0 from consciousness and reset the clock. The only way serious pressure begins to build on this guy is if we get walloped again which is highly, highly unlikely going off their record and law of averages. A narrow defeat and the Mowbray disciples will be out to tell us how the players are still fighting for him, odd random results like Wednesday happen and on the show goes.

I keep coming back in my head to just how ridiculous this whole scenario is. February 2017 - facing likely relegation they finally sack Owen Coyle - he should never have been allowed anywhere near Ewood yet he got the job before far stronger and more suitable candidates for reasons unknown. He was then left to wreak havoc for 8 months, condemning us to League One when a blind man could see in August/September where we were headed. Thanks Venkys. In comes Mowbray. How, why, who knows. A bizarre appointment in itself given his history. A bloke who had been on the scrapheap for 6 months after leaving crisis club Coventry City facing certain relegation to the 4th division, who hadn't worked in the Championship or equivalent/higher for 4 years since being sacked by Middlesbrough yet in he comes. Reports that he was a contender for the Chesterfield job yet was overlooked in favour of Gary Caldwell. Yikes. By virtue of the fact he wasn't Coyle and had some degree of managerial ability there was the inevitable upturn in results and improvement in atmosphere and through that, despite relegation, he was afforded respect and admiration from most people who were willing to allow him a proper shot at it in League One. Here we are, 3.5 years later, he's still plodding along. He isn't a good manager, never has been, yet some would have us think he is absolutely indispensable to the club. Just what does it take to sack him? He's wasted millions of their money with little to show for it He's failed to get us even in serious contention for the top 6 let alone promotion. He's taken us on one of the worst runs of form in our history and has now lead us to our worst defeat. What hope do we have? I think the worst part of this is that this sub-par managers, whether it be Kean, Coyle or Mowbray - people who really shouldn't have even got an interview to manage this great club - are in situ for years, able to deliver any performance imaginable and it matters not one jot. Talk about landing on his feet. From being unemployable at Chesterfield to unsackable at Blackburn Rovers. It really leaves a sickening taste in the mouth.