JHRover

They 'invest' in the pitches every summer by replanting them. The problem is that it is bare minimum levels and over a decade it catches up on you. Investment could mean a truckload of soil and grass seed. But that won't solve anything, particularly when the weather turns bad. About time we did more than the bare minimum and took some pride in the club.

They 'relay' it every summer, or did up until this summer (I'm not sure if they had enough time to do it this year with the unique circumstances). The problem isn't relaying it, it is the way it is relaid and money spent on it. My understanding is that there are different levels to relaying the pitch. The cheaper way is to scrape off the top inch or so of soil and replace it with new and plant new grass seeds. From what I gather over the last 5+ years the fund available for replacement of the pitch has been bare minimum and significantly less than elsewhere. Compare to clubs like Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton who spent £1 million+ on state of the art desso pitches and we aren't remotely close. When you look at the lack of care, investment and maintenance at Ewood with filth all on the walls outside the ground and weeds growing I think we can safely see where the blame lies for the state of the pitch. Do everything on the cheap and easy here.

I think it is irrefutable that Stoke have a squad that cost more money and have a bigger wage bill. The reason for that is they have owners who invest in their club to better it whereas we have owners with a very different agenda. But suggesting that this financial discrepancy is accountable for results or should put us into a different bracket to them is nonsense. They've been a calamity club since leaving the Premier League, burning their way through 3 managers in 3 years, twice battling relegation and have had a massive turnover in staff. Mowbray has been able to build us up with stability, time and a blank canvas with no deadwood or cutbacks needed. O'Neill has had all sorts to deal with, players who didn't want to be there and a sinking ship. He's put Mowbray to shame.

Great, roll on another 6 months whilst we try to change to this 'different way'. Maybe we need another couple of transfer windows to recruit the right personnel for this 'different way'. Always tomorrow, never today with this regime.

It is hard to believe. Especially as you say we've really laboured over the last couple of months - narrow and fortuitous wins over Rotherham, Millwall, Barnsley, draw draws v Stoke and Sheff Wed, defeat to Norwich. Away from home failed to score at Stoke and Bristol, 1 at Huddersfield. It says a lot about where we are at. We've got more goals and the divisions top goalscorer yet are mid-table and have been for months. I'm afraid that is unacceptable. It is underachievement. The double edged sword is that Mowbray deserves some recognition and credit for making us the top scorers and bringing in the players to do it but these things don't last long and you simply have to make the most of it while you can. Most managers in this league would kill for the talent we have in our ranks where goals flow.

Standard day at the office. 0 goals in the first half, again. Admittedly it looks like we were wronged on the Armstrong disallowed goal but other than that no real chances and certainly not enough for the home side supposedly looking up the league table. Devoid of creativity or intensity. Falling behind from minimal pressure, again from a cross into the box Laboring for most of the game trying to break down a solid defence, creating little and looking like ending up 0-1. From 70 minutes onwards and after a few changes we finally start to apply some serious pressure and thankfully this time managed to snatch a goal from it. In the end it is too little too late to go on and win the game, still haven't created enough after the equaliser to be worthy of a winner. We go home with a point that gets us nowhere in terms of top 6, another day of points dropped at home, quite abysmal for most of the afternoon and i can't argue with the scoreline. Mowbray escapes serious scrutiny as we 'put the point in the bag and move on' yet really all the same old issues are staring at us in the face. Raft of excuses - pitch, injuries, players not fully fit - all issues to varying degree under our control. The pitch issue in particular is almost entirely of our own making, created through a lack of investment and cost cutting now over many years. If Mowbray is fed up with it he needs to get on the phone to our great owners who never refuse a cheque.

Without a shadow of a doubt yes.

Alex Ferguson once said "attack wins you games, defence wins you titles". How right he was and how we could do with that attitude here.

What happened to Venkys agreeing to back Mowbray this window?

If anyone was in any doubt a quick read of Mowbray's comments will confirm he's lost the plot. He's not completely daft and knows he is underachieving and not delivering what was expected. At any other club in the world he would be on the brink or already down the road so these desperate comments reflect him feeling some heat. Unfortunately this is Venky Rovers run as a corner shop operation and he's as safe as houses. Ramblings almost as deluded as Kean's 'entries into their box' nonsense. Does he think we are all stupid?

Doesn't matter who is in defence. What matters is who is in the dugout.

Things were worrying enough at Rovers prior to Covid with a diminishing season ticket base, falling attendances, disinterested absent owners and an altogether poor product at Ewood. Covid I fear will accelerate things significantly. All clubs will be affected however many will be resilient, be able to bounce back quickly or to a good healthy level on what they were before. I expect this is going to hit us harder than most. For example I think our season ticket base will be decimated, and as we've discussed for years and years we aren't a club or in a region where we are able to quickly bounce back and significantly increase sales overnight. It is a slow, arduous process to grow a fanbase at the best of times but in this competitive area even more so. What incentive are we going to be providing to get the people back? Another price rise to watch Mowbray's men for another year? Do me a favour. The climate we are facing will challenge the most skilled and creative of minds, there are boards and owners out there far more clued up than those here who will find it a huge challenge, but when we are stuck with Waggott and Venkys what hope do we really have. Waggott had set us on a downward trend before Covid despite promotion which takes some level of ineptitude but with Covid it isn't even worth thinking about. I think the full extent of what we are facing will only become clear when we look at our season ticket base in comparison to rivals and how much worse off we end up than them. My expectation is we will end up in the top bracket of most significantly affected when it comes to numbers through the door. The worst part for me is that there will be a whole raft of Rovers fans who ignore or turn a blind eye to our in-house negligence and failings and instead just accept a raft of excuses and 'but Covid' as an explanation for everything even though others will manage to deal with it much better. Then there will be the '80's gang' who will just point to poor attendances 40 years ago as some sort of basis for poor crowds now, even though that isn't relevant in any shape or form. Really, really worrying and another reason we need to see the back of Waggott and co. and get an ambitious, creative and fresh approach from someone else to run the club, ideally without Venkys dragging us backwards.

Slightly off topic but if anyone follows Andy Holt on Twitter I noticed that someone had donated a Rovers season ticket from 1891 to him and he is going to be putting it in their display cabinets when the ground is reopen. Not sure why such things are ending up on display at Accy Stanley rather than at Ewood but kind of sums things up.

Depends if by experience you focus solely on the number of first team appearances or include career games and years on the clock

As it stands neither will be. That might change and they might sign new deals but once again all has gone quiet on that front and the club really needs to be making contingency plans for them not being here. We can debate another time just how outrageous and damaging it will be to lose them both for nothing but in terms of dealing with their probable/possible departures it is just more work on an already limited budget. I'm not sure which other defensive academy lads you expect to come through to play regularly in the Championship by the summer. Mowbray has already proven he has no intention of playing Carter preferring to send him off to Burton Albion and bringing in someone younger and less experienced from elsewhere. I can't think of anyone else looking like being remotely ready for this level of football.

But come May Ayala will still have 2 years to run and a dodgy injury record and Wharton will be barely half way through his absence with serious injury. Williams, Bell, Nyambe, Douglas, Braithwaite and Bennett all on their way meaning at least 6 decent defenders needed in the summer. 2x RB, 2x LB and 2x CB.

😄 I stopped short of casting any judgement on the player. As I've already said, he might be class. But he's here for 4 months. We are still lumbered with Mowbray and co. and because of that we aren't going up, so its ultimately window dressing for little benefit to Rovers.

I'll have a bet now that Kipre doesn't arrive and I doubt anyone else at CB will. We might get Pickering if Crewe get desperate for money but more likely someone else will gazump us.

A deal such as this Branthwaite one is win-win for Mowbray and Rovers. 1) Everton will be delighted to send him here knowing he will get first team minutes at a mid-table Championship side. Ideal for his development rather than sitting on their bench or with their U23s. 2) Due to the above Everton will be willing to do a deal for little cost to Rovers as we will be doing them as much of a favour as they are doing us 3) Rovers get to 'address' a problem position for the remainder of the season without having to pay any fee, without any medium or long term commitment to wages and with minimal contribution to wages (no doubt covered by the outgoing Chapman). 4) Rovers get to foster positive links with local Premier League sides which I suspect is a core element of Mowbray and Venkys transfer 'strategy' to recruit heavily using loans. On occasion this can be good - see Harvey Elliott - but it is short termism in action and personally I find it a tad embarrassing that we are operating in such a way for essential positions. Not a recipe that will deliver promotion. Expect to see us secure a 'prestigious' friendly with Everton come the summer though. Doesn't really get us anywhere either way. It's just a complete shambles from back to front really.

Wharton won't be fit until December and even then will need matches to get up to speed. Would be insanity to pin any hopes on him for next season as most it will be gone by the time he's ready to play. I agree that Bell and Williams will be no great loss but they will still need replacing at some point as will Nyambe and also converted defenders Bennett and JRC who are also out in May. A lot of work to be done yet we are wasting time and money signing short term loans now.

And will also have lost Bell, Nyambe and Williams along with Braithwaite (if he arrives).

Branthwaite is the sort of 'back to reality' signing we're used to here after talk about Whiteman and Pickering (Christ, players from Crewe and Doncaster are now out of our reach). Short term cheap loan for a PL teenager to fill a gap until the summer. Short term, unproven but most importantly cheap and requires no commitment from Rovers. Ticks all the boxes. He might be decent, he might not. We will still concede with alarming regularity. Come the summer he will be off and we will need more defenders. So predictable and to be honest depressing.

And I'm pretty sure that Waggott hasn't been attending games during Covid or certainly not all of them which usually means it is just Cheston and Silvester representing the club.

Mowbray has had fortunes to invest compared to Alex Neil with very little or nothing to show for it in results and league positions. We blew them out of the water when signing Armstrong and there's no way they'd have been able to afford Brereton, Gallagher, Ayala etc. Once again if it is true they have more money than us then what's the point in Venkys?

I've already named a dozen managers who are available who i think would progress us. If you go back through my posts. If I was being paid £300,000 a year I'd be able to find more.