Pearson needs time and a 'hands off' approach. At Leicester is paid off in incredible fashion because they stuck with him after a failed play-off campaign and left him to get on with it with trusted henchmen Shakespeare and Walsh. Where he hasn't had time or hands off approach like Derby and Watford it has blown up quickly. It 'could' work here as we have a very much 'hands off' structure however it seems that to get investment or support the manager needs to traipse off to India to talk to Mr and Mrs Desai. I somehow can't see Pearson doing that. I think it would be a bloodbath but he wouldn't cling on and hang about. He'd just walk out very quickly.

Cowley's Neil Rowett Hughes Howe Pearson Jokanovic

Another highly rated defender looking dodgy and poor at Rovers. Anyone still think this is anything other than poor coaching and management?

I haven't re-watched any of our matches this season but I think I'm going to have to re-watch last night, or at least the second half. It's like a blur. It was unlike anything that I'd ever seen in football in my life and I at least need to try and make some sense of what we were doing/trying to do. If this were a functional football club Mowbray would be in a meeting today or tomorrow explaining himself. Not at unaccountable be-your-own-boss Rovers though, apparently it is the uneducated masses who simply don't understand football. By the looks of what I've seen nobody - fans, media, players - had a clue what we were doing. Only Tony.

Of course it can. And if it does then you accept it hasn't worked out and you make another change. We don't have to stick with his replacement for a set period regardless of results. You make a decision that a change is needed. You should already have an idea of what you want. You go and get someone qualified and ready for the job. You give them the best chance to succeed. If it doesn't work you then fire them and get someone else. That's how it works in football. There are no guarantees. But confident, ambitious and clued up people minimise risks, and have the balls to admit when they've made a mistake and learn from it. With the attitude of the next man could be worse than the current one then no club would ever change manager.

Outthought and outdone by Alex Neil yet again. What's that now? 5 times in 6 games? He should have gone after the Preston embarrassment of October 2019 when Mowbray and his dithering team collapsed and chucked away a 2-0 lead at Deepdale. 16 months down the line and he's still here being outwitted by Nob Enders. Where I come from the mere prospect of losing a game to Preston was at one time inconceivable but thanks to this setup they repeatedly get the better of us thanks to clueless management, so much so that we are at best neck and neck with a clearly inferior squad of players but better managed and coached. This was all so predictable. I'm the first to accept that this is a results orientated business and on that basis was happy with our January points haul but anyone watching those games would have had concerns about our performances. I think we were fortunate to beat both Middlesbrough and Luton, were abysmal in the cup against Doncaster and bang average in the drab draw v Stoke. True to form a new month arrives with us in a reasonable position to kick on and Mowbray and his side bottle it like so many times before with pitiful performances against bang average and out of form QPR and PNE. I fully expect 1 point from 6 now v Barnsley and Forest, pressure to really mount from the fans and then a couple of wins once the play offs are gone to keep the heat off his back. I can't even begin to discuss the team and substitutions tonight. He surpassed even his own deranged track record on random decision making. I had to laugh to myself when Don Goodman began lavishing praise on Preston for their excellent tactics and performance in containing Rovers and seeing the game out. No Don. That was just a standard Ewood performance where we have shed loads of possession, do next to nothing with it and the opposition goalkeeper can have a sleep for an hour. It's only the first ten minutes and last fifteen that we apply anything remotely like pressure and even then it rarely sees us test their goalkeeper. Was the same against Luton, Stoke, Doncaster, Millwall, Barnsley, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, Sheff Wed, Forest and Cardiff. Infact this myth that we are a coiled spring of quality blowing teams away has no evidence other than a thrashing of lowly Wycombe on their first away game in their history at this level. Every other home fixture has been turgid. The Mowbray myth in full swing. What was he up to tonight? He had clearly made a decision pre-match that he was going to go and sit 10 rows back upstairs, on his own, not stand up or go to the touchline, and I didn't see him make any attempt to communicate with coaching staff or issue instructions. I've no issue with a manager sitting upstairs, or delegating to coaches to issue instructions, but it is like he is making some sort of point. He was at one stage for us a manager that spent the entire game prowling the touchline barking instructions, now he's slumped in his chair leaving it to Venus to sort out. Meanwhile in the PNE dugout you've got Neil and 3-4 other coaches including Thompson on their feet in the technical area all the game barking instructions. What do Johnson and Lowe do because they never seem to even stand up? We need a complete clear out, the sooner the better ahead of next season.

This will be on an email to Venky HQ. Another non result or performance based box ticked.

We must have some of if not the best training facilities in the country, never mind the Championship. Why then when it freezes are we seemingly unique in having to go and train on our home pitch and in doing so cause further significant damage to an already poor surface? All about the excuses. Get beat tomorrow and he'll blame the weather affecting preparations and the poor Ewood surface. All starts with a lack of investment and penny pinching. If Ewood had been maintained properly we would be able to cope with a busy schedule and training on it a few days.

Can we get a new management team and then let them decide on new contracts?

We should win as we have a stronger squad and our home record is solid against the middle or bottom sides in the division. But notwithstanding the Deepdale fixture earlier this season our record against the noisy neighbours is poor in recent years, and they will be desperate to make up for the pasting of earlier this season. Of bigger concern is whether we are embarking on yet another spiral having played quite poorly now since Christmas, having a few fortunate results and then hitting the buffers at QPR. Rebound with a win and it can be put down as an off day or blip but what we cannot afford is another spiral of 3 defeats or 5 games without a win like we often have.

The biggest frustration with Venkys is that it is clear that the money is there if they want to spend it and the costs of bankrolling the club every year is evidence of that. These guys must have serious cash to be able to keep on pumping it in 10 years on with so little going the other way in return - no major sales, no real interest in the game, local connections or even commercial benefit. My view has been and will be that the ideal outcome here is for Venkys to stay BUT put in place a proper structure to enable the club to thrive. Unfortunately whilst improvements have been made in that we now have sensible and straight people in place the structure for me still isn't there. It is still run as a corner shop operation where personal trust and friendships are more important than performances and results. The more time that passes the more it becomes clear that they aren't going to change - they aren't going to relinquish power to the UK or appoint innovative, ambitious, capable executives - they just want a manager they trust with their money and go with his recommendations on everything else which is how we've got Waggott shuffling papers around and setting ticket prices. It feels like we have half the job sorted - incredibly rich owners willing and able to keep us operating to a decent level - but still too foolish to use their resources to install a real top drawer structure that will last and enable serious inroads to be made towards promotion and survival at the top level and this bizarre arrangement where the football squad get ample resources and investment but the club and facilities get nothing. Very strange. With £15-20 million a year going in and no big sales we should be blowing the likes of Barnsley, Preston, Luton, Millwall completely out of the water and be strong contenders in this league, yet there's more to it than just throwing money in every year and 'trusting' the manager because he's a nice man. You need to know when to make ruthless decisions and back experts to carry out those decisions to keep on an upward trajectory.

Well Bournemouth have made my week with that result. I'll be honest I feared a good cup run for the dingles having scraped past MK Dons, overcome a weak Fulham and been drawn to Bournemouth at home who are managerless. Get through and it is suddenly quarter final time with no crowds, no Liverpool or Arsenal and strange things can happen. Thankfully no such problem. Funny to see quite a few clarets going mad at Dyche for his approach tonight. His record in the cups especially against lower division sides is woeful.

I see 'dinosaur' Mick is off to a good start at Cardiff. In free fall and now two wins and two draws from four games. I'll have anyone a bet that they finish above us come 46 games.

Good news for the likes of Sunderland, Ipswich and Hull, bad news for the likes of Accy and Crewe? Always surprised that they were able to bring it in so quickly and with so little fanfare.

One thing I can say with some confidence is that the emotional harm and upset caused to me and thousands of other lifelong fans over the last decade is almost certainly greater than any upset billionaires on the other side of the world writing off losses that will probably not have put so much as a dent in their vast fortune. I also think that the money I spend every year, along with thousands of others, in supporting the club is probably a greater percentage of my limited income/net worth than £15 million a year is to billionaires.

I'm afraid that £15 million+ per year is the going rate for a top end Championship club these days. The only way of avoiding that is through regular player sales like Brentford or Barnsley with extremely shrewd management or parachute income. We've had neither and so need owner investment to this level, in much the same way as Forest, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading and Bristol City similarly rely on substantial owner input to plug losses. The annoying thing is that Venkys picked us up on the cheap, £40 million for an established PL club inclusive of external debt is a bargain. A decade on and you'd be looking at £200 million now if WBA and Swansea sales are anything to go by. For £200 million and sensible management they could have bought us, cleared the debt and put £15 million a year in on top of the PL riches. But instead that's now what they have to do just to keep us floating around this division. If they'd have come looking for a club in 2020 rather than 2010 then they'd have run a mile. But if they'd have bought a mid table Championship club and wanted to try to get promoted then they'd have needed £20 million a year to have a chance so I don't think this is unchartered territory. Its the going rate. Difference is that most rivals have given up after a few years and have sold up to someone else yet Venkys keep on going. Other owners appear to have an interest in the game and attend matches whereas ours don't. It actually doesn't concern me as much as it perhaps should. Why? Because it is 'debt' to them and there is simply no way they will ever get it back. They need to accept that and they seem to have done so without running so they must be comfortable or realistic about it. The bigger concern for me is if and when they give up who we get to step into the £10 million a year minimum requirement void to keep us going. I've no doubt there will be people interested to try and get us promoted in a season and make their money back. But as a long term Championship club maybe not so simple. It is also difficult to reconcile a £200 million 'investment' yet not even able to maintain our stadium or pitch to a decent standard. With that sort of spending we should be the envy of the division.

Funny isn't it. I think everyone or close to everyone accepts that Mowbray has done a good job here. Lots of talk about rebuilding the club, growing assets, stabilising us. All correct to varying degrees. Gary Bowyer did a good job too. Infact in terms of league finishes he did better. He got 2 and a bit seasons to carry out his rebuild from keeping us up after a complete shambles, but was then sacked as it became clear we weren't going anywhere. The vast majority of fans were supportive or accepting of that decision. He was fired after 2 close play off finishes. Why does Mowbray deserve longer? What has he delivered that makes him so much more deserving than Bowyer? Why was removing Bowyer completely fine but removing Mowbray is some dangerous, risky, unfair decision?

I really wonder at times what Mowbray's focus and priorities are as manager of this club. He doesn't strike me as a 'win at all costs' manager, prepared to do whatever is necessary to go home with 3 points in the bag. Of course he "wants" to win every week but if he doesn't he doesn't strike me as someone who will have a sleepless night over it and he isn't prepared to compromise on his "principles" to try and do it. Another example yesterday - there was no doubt, none whatsoever, that the lad from City was going to make an appearance at some stage. Mowbray has tied himself up by bringing him in having promised Man City he will get game time and I'd expect the loan agreement to contain penalty clauses if he doesn't play. Even if not he won't want to jeopardise things with Guardiola. He will want to send him back in the summer with Guardiola purring with delight at his development at Rovers, earning Mowbray and the club positive PR and putting us high on the list for future loans. Thats all well and good. But the minute the manager starts making selections and substitutions on the above basis is the point at which results cease to be the priority, because decisions are being made with a focus beyond the game and result. If we'd have been 1-0 up instead the City lad would have come on and Nyambe would likely have been the sacrificial lamb. Mowbray will toddle off to India and tell them tales of how he has built up links with Pep, Jurgen and Carlo and how we will get more emerging stars on loan in the future but at the same time we stay in the Championship and alienate our own academy products making way. Nyambe will leave for nothing or a token fee which makes the building talk nonsense

A predictably mundane performance with precious little to get excited about. Unusually slow start but we recovered and looked the better up to half time. Having said that to win a game you need to create proper chances rather than just lots of possession and with the exception of Elliott's missed chance from Armstrong's pass I can't really recall any other really good clear opportunities to take the lead. No worry, 0-0 at half time was fair enough and nothing to be upset about. Second half I thought was very poor. The usual self pity talk after conceding a scruffy goal but these things happen when balls come into the six yard area. We don't do it enough to the opposition as we keep the ball in areas where you don't hurt them or where mistakes aren't game changing. After they went 1-0 up the game was never in any doubt. Armstrong's 20 yarder well saved being the only time their keeper has really been called into serious action. Mowbray rolls out his tombola after 65 minutes, but after witnessing another random selection of substitutions it is difficult to believe there is much method behind the madness. It strikes me as just throwing on as many attack minded subs as he can in the hope they produce something through volume of numbers. It rarely works but you only have to look at the chances created in the last half hour - you would expect a top 6 chasing side, top goalscorers in the division, chasing an equaliser against a side that hasn't won at home in nearly 3 months to be bombarding them relentlessly, putting them under intense pressure and forcing them into last ditch defending and their keeper into a string of saves to keep them at 1-0. But no. Nothing of the sort. Infact I doubt QPR will have had an easier last 30 minutes all season and managed to waste away the final 30 minutes with relative ease. Where does this leave us? No different to this morning. We aren't getting the top six under this manager and that has become apparent over 3 years not a few games. He simply doesn't have the tools in his own locker to do it. A familiar feeling of getting within a result of the top 6 spots and looking forward with optimism to now a new month and a familiar sort of result to bring the good spell to an end. These sort of results aren't fatal in isolation - the key is how you respond to them. Anyone can have an off day from time to time although the best sides have them only very rarely. The problem is that under Mowbray these sort of days usually usher in a spell of 4, 5 or 6 game winless runs where we build up a large block of points gap to the play offs then have to have another good run to claw it back. I now fully expect another 3 games without a win and will be very pleasantly surprised indeed if we win any of them. As for the Nyambe substitution - shocking.

I think something along the lines of the Deepdale Pavilion stand would be right. It shouldn't be any smaller than the existing Riverside though probably no bigger than 5000-5500 capacity. The JW stand is 11,000 so building something less than half the capacity of that would still see a very lopsided ground. Also I can't recall many, if any, construction jobs in recent times that have reduced overall capacity. More or less the same or slightly bigger with more leg room and space would be right. It needs to be brought in close to the pitch and made into a steep as possible so to close that side of the ground in, make the atmosphere better. Close in the corners, get rid of the walkway and make it near the pitch. Get rid of the floodlight pylons, big screen and toilets. Incorporate all those into the new structure and fill in the corners like West Brom have. Get a new modern big screen, or two, as ours is out of date. Incorporate modern disabled facilities into the stand ready for the PL as without those we are going to have to do something elsewhere. The existing disabled 'facilities' aren't up to scratch nor are the media facilities so a proactive club would be addressing those at the same time. So all the usual excuses about not needing the capacity can be overcome because we do need to improve media and disabled facilities if we want to be in the Premier League. Burnley were forced into throwing up those horrible corner disabled stands which just look as tacky as anything as does their lean-to tunnel. A new stand provides an opportunity to get up to scratch in one. Also once done we should tidy up the area behind the stand. At the moment it is horrible and nobody in their right minds would go round there. Ewood is effectively a 2 sided ground where all home fans gather at the BBE or JW stand. It should be tidied up, opened up and made into an area for fans to go pre and post match. Put bench seating by the River, a fan zone, etc.

It will be his 9th transfer window as manager of the club and we will have two established CBs under contract one of whom has spent most of the season injured, one LB who hasn't yet played at this level or for the club and no RB. Any suggestions of a long term slow build are demolished by the above. As for contract extensions we've had a lot of talk about talking. It shouldn't take 6 months to sort Armstrong out just like it shouldn't have reached 18 months to go before we try to sort it out.

I doubt with people like Allardyce, Warnock or Hodgson it really comes down to cash. Of course it helps and in Allardyce's case the prospect of a huge bonus to keep a side up must be attractive rather than sitting around at home bored. But they will all surely have more money than they will ever need by now. If they weren't all very good managers they would have likely retired years ago if they had been tradesmen or worked in industry. No I think its a way of life that they just become addicted to and can't resist it. Spending all day every day immersed in management for 20-30 years and being good at it must be like a drug. The adrenaline, pressure, adulation, being 'the boss', fans and players respecting you, proving people right or wrong. Spending your days out on the training ground having the fun and 'crack' of working with footballers every day. Probably beats sitting in the garden under lockdown. Looks like a job too far for Allardyce and I was amazed he took it but again just don't think he can resist when a club rings him up and begs him to join them. Ego and money help.

By the same token look at Burnley, Palace, Brighton....would you swap? We were streets ahead of those clubs until Venkys ruined us and now we are well behind. There will always be examples of clubs that have or are currently having a worse time than us. Just like there will always be examples of clubs who have passed us by. Fact is we are a shell of the club we were and will remain so under this regime. I struggle to express gratitude that we are a mid table Championship side unable to maintain our stadium properly but celebrate that at least we aren't Bolton.

Will Lampard not be expecting better than Bournemouth at this moment in time? Having just left Chelsea and been far from a disaster there I'd have thought he'd be looking at a PL job like Palace or something rather than another Championship job. Easy to see why linked though, especially with Uncle Harry just down the road putting a word in.

Well Bournemouth have just sacked their manager after a spell of poor results. Looks like they aren't going to sit back as they slide out of promotion contention. Always a risky appointment. Another example of an assistant or coach promoted to manager that hasn't worked out.