Just noticed that Birmingham have lost their last two home games 4-1 against Middlesbrough and 4-0 against Derby. Very poor and unusual for a Karanka side who is traditionally defensively strong. They've actually lost their last 4 at home including Watford and Barnsley and going back further have lost 6 of their last 7 home games, the other a 0-0 draw with Millwall. They've scored 8 goals at home in 11 games. If we don't win this he needs sacking. No ifs no buts no excuses.

That's one extreme end of the scale. I'd just be happy if there was some level of interest, scrutiny, review taking place above the manager and for owners to think about us more than once a year.

What about the other 9 names I suggested after a quick google search? Are they all unobtainable or unaffordable too?

I'm sorry Chaddy but one players comments upon being given a new contract do not mean the manager still has the dressing room. The dressing room is a collective of 20-30 players. Of course publicly players will support the manager. I'm yet to see a player anywhere in the world who doesn't back his manager in public. Also, whether Mowbray still has the dressing room or not is irrelevant. Many, many times managers retain the support of the dressing room until the very end but still get removed if results aren't up to scratch. Mowbray is undoubtedly popular behind the scenes as he seems to be everywhere he goes. The evidence is in performances and results, not what Dack says in his club media interviews.

Some more Mowbray drivel in his post match comments. Apparently Ayala is struggling with the physical demands of playing for Mowbray and in our 'system' having been used to playing under Karanka and Pulis at Middlesbrough. Mowbray thinks it will take him time to adjust. Ludicrous. If he needs to adjust then why was he signed and why was our season built on that? How many players at his age with his injury record get fitter?

I'm not paid £300,000 a year so haven't been able to go away and research options in depth and scour the globe for candidates. But 10 minutes on my laptop in bed leads me to plenty of names who have been around the Championship, Premier League and Football League over the last 3-4 years who have better records or bigger achievements than Mowbray. Pulis, Hughes, Pearson, Bilic, Cowley, Cook, Wagner, Stendel, Carvalhal, Poyet, Sousa, Petrescu, Oscar Garcia. So there's 12 names I've just come up with off the top my head or doing a google search. All available, and I'm sure most would be very interested in the job here. That's a search limited to people with past connections to England and currently unemployed (apart from Carvalhal) with a decent track record. That's before looking further at in work managers here or overseas. Out of those I'd personally avoid Pulis, Pearson and Cook. I think Pearson, whilst entertaining, would be a disaster waiting to happen here with this lot. Pulis is too extreme and whilst he'd do a job and get results I'd avoid him with the personnel we have and position we are in. Cook is horrible although i can see the logic there. I'd also tread carefully with Hughes and have to listen to him in interview. If he really wanted the job and wanted to rebuild his career then maybe but I wouldn't go to him cap in hand or persuade him to take it. I'd also like to know what he'd do with his coaching staff given they are now spread all over the place. Bilic would be up there on my list but doubt he'd come here unless we paid him very very well. Cowley would be interesting and I would hope possesses the hunger and ambition to take us forward, rather than slouching in his chair picking his ears or walking around with his head in his hands. Of course the way we get a top manager is to promise them a massive bonus for promotion. The naysayers will cling to the idea that we are a skint lower league operation unable to afford a change but there are different ways to skin a cat and a £2 million bonus for promotion is one way of enticing a top manager here. We've already missed the boat on Mick McCarthy and Neil Warnock who were both available recently. One now managing abroad and the other taking Middlesbrough towards the play-offs in his first season. Both would have joined us earlier this year. If we were astute and clued up we would also be monitoring the situations with Wilder at Sheffield United and Bruce at Newcastle and preparing to move quickly for those when they leave their current positions, likely to be quite soon. But that would require a plan and forward thinking and opportunism. Last seen at this club about 25 years ago. It's all a pointless discussion but it is necessary because there are still the fools who convince themselves that Tony Mowbray really is the best manager in the world for Blackburn Rovers and we simply can't hope for any better. That's why names above need to be trotted out because he really isn't the best we can hope for.

He's finished and the penny has dropped or is now dropping for 90% of people. The remaining 10% consists of those who genuinely think he is the best man in the world to manage us. I still feel physically sick after last night. I would have been disappointed with a draw in all honesty as it did us no real favours in the table but to lose the game having equalised was simply unforgivable. This coward of a manager will divert blame elsewhere but there is a pattern here and it comes back to him. Our response to scoring a goal is a mixture of confusion and terror instilled by a manager with no answer to it. Nothing is going to change. What will happen next is that we will bumble on to our next fixtures. Sooner or later, even by fluke, we will win a game. It might be against dreary Birmingham on Saturday or it might come from a dodgy penalty or fluke goal later in January but it will come because you persist with something long enough and give enough opportunities it will happen. Remember we are now at 1 win in 7 with some tough games coming but I'd be very surprised if it reached 1 in 10 territory. If we play them we'll beat Doncaster in the cup which will keep the wolves from the door for another couple of weeks. Just imagine if we got to 1 win in 10 or 11 games for the second season running and he survives it. Madness. Anyway, leave him in place long enough and we will win a game or two and as soon as we do the paper will go over the cracks and folk will be online saying 'I told you so'. Normal service resumed. Probably a few wins as Dack gets up to speed and Travis returns. But it won't last or get us anywhere because the same old underlying issues remain. We can see it because we watch football on a regular basis and detect these patterns and issues. I also feel sick at the thought of a 'CEO' here on £300,000 a year just because the manager recommended him who has never had to do the most important thing a CEO does. The biggest and most important job for a real CEO is to monitor results and performances and carry out change when needed, recruiting alternative managers to deliver improvements. He should live and die by that. Yet here we are, not a peep from Waggo. Happy to bombard fans with price hikes but will hide away from the real big decisions and stop on easy street until retirement arrives. Sick of it now. Massively underachieving and wasting a good opportunity.

An incredibly naive approach and attitude to the game. Just like Mowbray's delusions of replicating Leeds. He thinks he's better than he is and has repeatedly failed to learn from mistakes during his career. He's very lucky to be operating in the Ewood vacuum surrounded by acolytes who lap up every word and question nothing.

Be interested to see what happens if a season 'pass' holder rejects this and the 'offer' of £10 off next season and seeks a refund of their season ticket due to breach of contract after Rovers sold tickets on the basis of Huddersfield away being free. Expect Rovers would come out with some claptrap about the 'EFL' making the decision but where I come from Rovers have sold a product and are now backtracking on that at the 11th hour. Waggott will be putting tickets up by a lot more than £10 next season with the lure of returning fans so Rovers will be profiting from this. Any refund will be comfortably made up in due course through price increases and they've one less fixture included in the package this season. Stinks to high heaven.

Wow. Pulis sacked at Wednesday.

Personally speaking the opposite is the case for me. Having been a religious attender of every game prior to the pandemic the more and more time that goes by without being able to go the less I think I miss it. I've also come to realise that the parts I do miss the most are the social side of it rather than the experience of watching Rovers or football more generally, which tend to be stressful, annoying and frustrating. What I miss is the 'crack' of having a day out, a few pubs, the match day atmosphere. Given the above I have little to no desire to attend fixtures whilst subject to restrictions of any sort like we have seen at those grounds that have opened. I'm also appalled by Rovers' conduct towards fans over the last 6 months or so and certainly won't be queuing up to hand over whatever cash they want the minute restrictions are lifted. I will probably return to complete attendance again eventually but it's all a bit 'meh' at the moment. In terms of priorities I'll be travelling, booking holidays and visiting friends/going out for food and drink before worrying about buying tickets for Rovers.

I'm expecting a score draw here. Either 1-1 or 2-2. I don't think we are playing well nor have we got the capacity to go there and win or keep a clean sheet. Huddersfield blow hot and cold. They have been hot at home, beating most and have been cold away, losing most. I can't see us being the side to turn the form book on its head and win there. Conversely I don't think we will lose. I expect Huddersfield to be much more ambitious in their play than Stoke or Sheffield Wednesday which ought to suit us. I also think we are due a "positive result" (whatever that term means) so will come back with something for our efforts. Another defeat and even the ardent Mowbray acolytes may be questioning things whereas a draw will be hailed as a good result and so on we go. Expected trajectory of the game is that we start bright and go ahead early on before being pegged back once they apply some pressure and struggle from there.

I dont even think that is required. Of course if we manage to get a point more or a place higher it will be used by some as evidence of progress but even if we didn't get a higher finish or more points I still reckon there'd be arguments that our new style of play, more goals or more possession all point to progress.

Time to forget looking upwards. We aren't going to be troubling the play offs unless something radical changes. We'll be competing with Luton, Barnsley and Huddersfield to see if we can get a top half finish.

Ok so after yet another non event first half at Ewood I have finally got round to doing something I've been thinking about for quite some time and have reviewed our home first half performances under Mowbray's management going back to the League One season. I've done this because I have formed a perception over the years that our home games will more often than not follow the same old route where we might start brightly and apply pressure for the first 10-15 minutes but then after that we regress into nothingness until half time. We seem to create very little, if anything, after the first ten minutes at home. As a season ticket holder at the Darwen End of the ground my experience is one of very few goals or excitement as we usually shoot towards that end first whenever possible. We only seem to click into gear later on in games often when it is either too late or the opposition have got the lead. So I go back through the record books. Since we went down to League One we've had 80 league games at Ewood. On only 33 of those 80 games have we scored in the first half. So in well over half our home games we've failed to score in the first half. Indeed in those 33 games we have only managed to score in the first half more than once on 8 occasions, and only scored more than twice on 1 occasion (this season with 3 vs Wycombe). IN 80 HOME LEAGUE GAMES ACROSS 3.5 SEASONS WE HAVE SCORED 41 FIRST HALF HOME GOALS. Now, I get that games are 90 minutes, not 45. I get that you're of course only looking at one side of the bargain here and not factoring in clean sheets or second half goals. But it shows that over a long time now we have proven ourselves to be ineffective, blunt, and altogether not good enough at doing the business in the first half of games. The majority of the time we are abysmal, creating next to nothing and allowing the game to pass by without doing enough. It is therefore no wonder when the likes of Sheff Wednesday turn up, limit us and keep us at arms length for so long. Time after time we fall behind to next to nothing pressure wise and end up clicking into gear in the last 20 minutes when it is too late.

Pulis' record at Middlesbrough over 18 months was far superior to Mowbray's here. That's if you focus on results which is what this game is all about. It might be boring on occasions but he got them into the top 6 in his first season and just outside it (7th I think) in his second season. Despite that he was let go and wasn't given the opportunity of year after year to gradually improve them. He missed his target of promotion twice so was let go. He's no doubt envious of Mowbray who is now into season 3 of Championship football and 4 of permanent management here and has never really done any more than flirt with the top 6 yet still gets an easy ride by nearly everyone because he 'plays nice football'. He won't be the only one. I suspect half the managers in this division look at him and think he's got it great here.

No nearer the play offs now than at the same point in the previous two seasons. Soon to be half way through the season and haven't occupied a top six position for more than a few days several months ago. All the excuses known to man will get trotted out. Reality is we haven't made progress in the areas that really matter. Nothing will happen because too many people are comfortable with the good ship Mowbray on course for mid table drift every year.

0-0. Pulis will take heart from the near successes of Rotherham and Millwall at Ewood. His methods of making them hard to beat and tough to break down will be starting to take root by now. We need an early goal but we tend to struggle to get those at Ewood.

I mentioned those clubs because they are the current competition and who we need to finish above. I note you recognise that the likes of Luton, Wycombe and Barnsley have been League One regulars. That's correct. Yet we have spent a hell of a lot more than them and are next to Barnsley and Luton in the table. Why is that? I'd wager our annual losses are well over theirs combined. There are many others. Yes some clubs have spent more but clubs like Stoke and Derby did so under previous managers going through relegation or instability. Mowbray hasn't had to deal with either of those issues recently. He's on a great number here.

Mowbray has had funds that many managers at this level could only dream of. Preston, Huddersfield, Cardiff, Swansea, Luton, Wycombe, Sheff Wed, Barnsley, Coventry, Rotherham, Millwall- these clubs are nowhere near us on spending on new players. Virtually all have had to make significant sales or cuts over the last 3 years. We haven't. When you combine with the time, freedom and control Mowbray has enjoyed here he really does have a job the envy of many. Most managers would have sales forced on them, have to cut the budget, or take over shambles like Pulis has at Wednesday or O'Neill did at Stoke. Or deal with loony owners like Birmingham, Reading and Forest. The benefit of Venkys is they are able and willing to write off £20 million a season to plod along because they like Tony and enable us to sign and retain players that many rivals couldn't get close to signing and paying. Remember when Preston tried it with Armstrong and Mowbray came and blew them out of the water. We are clearly much stronger than such clubs financially as we ought to be with these owners but at the moment and over the last few seasons that isn't being reflected in the table.

Normal people wouldn't i agree. But in the parallel universe of the billion dollar football industry I'd expect that to be on the table ahead of postponing or cancelling fixtures and causing chaos with TV contracts and fixture calendars.

Brilliant news. Best for a long time.

I'm not entirely sure he would easily get another Championship job these days. Plodders like QPR or Birmingham maybe but I think Mowbray would find his hands well and truly tied at those sort of clubs with hands on owners. I expect it would be a decent League One job for him. Ipswich a likely destination or Hull. Rotherham maybe. He'd be a dream for a hands off owner wanting a steady pair of hands and trustworthiness around or an older school Chairman who doesn't want to be bothered with a Director of Football. He certainly wouldn't be an appointment that would get pulses racing anywhere else in the Championship.

I don't think delaying things for a month will really achieve much. I don't think they can do it in Prem/Champ as they need the season to finish in time for the Euros. To be honest I'm surprised that they aren't looking at a way of private paying vaccinations for the football industry to protect against people getting the virus and let them carry on.

Stoke have sold 18000 season tickets. We've sold 2500. I blame Waggott for that. Not Covid.