West Brom appointed a top drawer manager, paid the necessary and let him get on with the job. It isn't rocket science. When we came down we mucked around with Kean, Berg and Appleton before Bowyer got the job by default. If we'd have got a top manager in 2012 I'm confident we would have been back up.

I agree that a museum from a commercial viewpoint probably wouldn't be viable. But it could be done on non commercial lines. You don't need to open it up 9-5 every day of the week. Just open it on matchdays for a few hours before the game. Free entry to ticket holders, put displays up on our history, memorabilia from days gone by, shirts etc. I'm sure many Rovers fans would be happy to donate their stuff if it was looked after. Just move one of the club staff to the door to check tickets and the job is a Good one. Just another idea to generate interest, give people a reason to go to the ground, learn about the club, the club could use it to collect and store its history (I get the impression that the club has made no efforts to gather its memorabilia and I suspect Birdy has a bigger collection in his house). Wolves have managed it. A huge part of their marketing is promoting their 50s glory days and they have a museum and cafe. There always seems to be a can't do rather than a can do attitude around the club.

Hmmmm. Are you saying Blackburn is a small North West town or that Blackburn Rovers is a small North West town club? Either way, I'm not sure either is accurate. I certainly wouldn't describe Rovers as a small club and whilst we are constrained by heavy competition and a relatively small catchment area I'm not sure I'd agree even that Blackburn is a small town. The conurbation has around 150,000 people plus many more just outside it so we are not an Accrington or Morecambe here. The reason we have a 31,000 capacity and not 20-25,000 like our neighbours is because our ground was built for us to be the best in the country, and not for us to be mediocre like Preston, Wigan and Burnley have been. At the time it was built i think 30,000 was a sensible capacity for where we were. If JW had built it to 25,000 he may have been locking people out. Its too big now for where we are. The way to overcome that issue is to get promoted and grow the fan base. Sadly that sounds like.too much hard work for the Waggots of the world. I agree the Riverside needs work doing to it soon. It looks a mess, the facilities are letting the club and stadium down. To not even have every seat under cover and have no concourse is really poor. It doesn't help that when it was done in the 80s it was on the cheap and wasn't a complete newbuild. I wouldn't waste my time with a 'refurb'. I don't think it could be done to a good enough standard to make it worthwhile and with this setup would probably end up worse than it is now. With this lot we'd probably throw up a prefab thing like they have at Accrington. The last thing we need is it doing on the cheap as a patch up job. It needs completely rebuilding in line with modern specs to include internal space, concourses, disabled access, floodlights, the works. Might not be cheap but there are ways to get it done. Preston managed it with their pavilion not long ago.

We don't know what league we are going to be in

I think Dave Whelan's original plan after taking over Wigan Athletic was to buy Central Park from the Rugby club and refurbish/rebuild it into a modern ground for both football and rugby. He entered into discussions with the rugby club owner but in the end he accepted a higher offer from Tesco, so Whelan went off and built the JJB on spare land instead. When you are outside the main stand at Wigan that is obviously modelled on the Jack Walker stand with the glass and brick. As are the Centennial stand at Anfield and Park end at Goodison which were both built in the 90s. The rest of the DW/JJB is basic and functional. Better than many new grounds as it has 4 separate single tiered stands which are quite steep and close together which helps the atmosphere. Also still reasonably located in reach of the town centre rather than miles away.

What a hammering for Stoke. They, along with Huddersfield, Boro and Hull look like getting out of jail with Wigan's points deduction.

Birmingham owners are in the football manager mindset. Not happy with what they had in Rowett pushing for the top 6, tried to be clever and have got nowhere. Exactly what I spend my time warning against here. Keep it simple and focus on results.

Isn't Rob Kelly not still working with Rosler at Fortuna Dusseldorf? Why would he leave them to be assistant manager at Barrow?!

We just can't stay above Preston. It's like a curse, as soon as we get near they rebound with the necessary result to get back above again. I hope that our win v Cardiff and Derby's defeat along with tonight's turnaround isn't the catalyst for PNE to mount a late push. They looked down and out but now find themselves in with a chance although a tricky one v Forest coming up. With us waving the white flag on the play offs it would be the worst outcome imaginable if they managed to sneak back in with a late rally. Looking forward now to this points deduction for Sheffield Wednesday. With them and Wigan both getting significant deductions it could be a scramble to the bottom and the likes of Hull, Boro and Stoke could survive on a technicality. Even Birmingham would be still in danger were it not for the Wigan deduction.

Yes I would. Why? Because if we sell those players we have that other clubs want we end up on a slippery slope and as we saw in 2017 it could easily end in relegation. It will certainly ensure we don't win promotion which should be the sole ambition here. Forget the side show about player values, individual development or styles of play. It is all a distraction. The only thing on minds should be assembling a squad good enough for promotion. The first thing you do is not just sell anyone decent out of fear of losing money. If he stays another year and we do well and get promoted we are in profit. Speculate to accumulate. Living life in this league afraid of spending money and constantly looking to sell assets will ensure we don't get promoted. We have enough work to do this window thanks to our flawed transfer strategy (which you repeatedly defended last summer) which means we have no keeper, one CB and no LB or wide men. Why create more problems?

Mowbray was in the press today saying he doesn't know his budget. So I'm not sure on what basis anyone is saying we have to sell players. If Ffp is delayed or deferred then in effect we get a bonus season. Everyone is affected by the same rules so sickening stunts like.selling our assets.to Brentford or Fulham like we've done recently will be unjustifiable. Last we heard Venkys were billionaires desperate and determined to invest in the club and get it promoted.

I'm guessing so that Middlesbrough can drive home after the game without needing hotels and without arriving back in the middle of the night

I'd prioritise getting promoted and ensuring we have a squad capable of doing so e.g. keeping our best players and adding to them rather than worrying about what we might or might not be able to fetch for our best players.

in theory yes if they were determined enough. I'm sure there will be some other excuse though.

An enjoyable and welcome win. Impressive in many ways against a Cardiff side in fine form on a ground we struggle on. Armstrong proving his values once again. Travis and Johnson very good. I agree that the presence of Graham in the starting XI makes the difference. A typical Rovers performance timed to come off the back of 3 abject results and to bounce back with an impressive and deserved away win against a good side. Mowbray has been doing this for more than 2 years. I wish it would change but we seem to go around in these circles, ruing missed opportunities against the weak sides of the league.

Ffp won't exist this summer. How on earth is it going to be enforced with no crowds and incomes dropping through the floor. The only reason we have to sell players is to raise cash. Nowt to do with Ffp

If we look at the pattern of the Bowyer era and compare to Mowbray it is almost identical. The only difference really is that Mowbray had to bring us up from League One whereas Bowyer rebuilt from the Championship. Either way both got on swimmingly well with the owners, including regular India trips, reasonable financial backing and saw positive progress for a couple of years. Then at the end of Bowyer's 2nd full season the phone went dead, the money stopped and his demeanour changed, and he was gone before the end of the year. It all sounds eerily familiar to me especially when I listen and observe Mowbray. Patterns emerge. I've no doubt Mowbray told them last summer that he was confident in reaching the playoffs after their significant outlay and to fall short may not go down well with them Of course in a normal world the solution is to replace the manager and back the new one but here it is to just refuse to pick up the phone and leave everyone in limbo. They clearly think a lot of themselves so telling Mowbray that there isn't any money or that we have to sell an asset to cover it whilst reality probably hurts the ego of the billionaires to whom no cheque is too much. This latest one may be Covid 19 provoked but the end result is.harm to the club at a time when in theory we should be perfectly poised to kick on next season with astute additions. Let's see what Bristol City do but I bet they won't cut corners. They are mental, but I do worry about what comes next. All self inflicted.

Bang on. It seems at some point in the last 5-10 years the ideal football manager template has completely changed. Once upon a time it was go and appoint the best qualified man for the role with the best track record and let him get on with getting results however he sees fit. It seems due to a combination of Brentford envy, influx of foreigners, people on their laptops playing football manager and the age Old desire to 'bring through the youngsters' that nowadays different is better. If you are foreign, untried, untested, have worked in a youth team or have a reputation for nice football you are ideal. If you are British, over the age of 50, been around numerous clubs and focus on short term results then no good. Some people never learn. Including our owners.

Read Mowbray's comments today and weep. I think we are back in late Bowyer/Paul Lambert territory with a wall of silence from India, no communication and likely no budget. Mowbray isn't completely daft and will know what to expect. His comments are to me of a man who is preparing the fanbase for an unpleasant summer with little to no money. I spent all last summer complaining about using the loan market to fill crucial positions like GK and CB. I was worried back then that we would face this situation yet many told me I was overreacting and there was nothing wrong with using loans if it saved us money. Well here we are. The spine of the team set to depart, a manager who is a failure in the transfer market and owners who are back to not communicating.

Steve Kean was doing a good job in the eyes of many outside Ewood Park. Those who witnessed the horror First hand knew different. I'm not comparing Mowbray to Kean but I'm not really bothered what People outside the club think of us. We shouldn't make our decisions as a club on perceptions or what appears nice. Even today many people seem to associate Mowbray with nice football. I'm not sure why because in 3 years I've seen little of it. It seems to be a legacy of positive publicity from his time at West Brom. The club should purely focus on the here and now. Forget about upsetting people, being nice, or perceptions. Make decisions based on the needs of the club. Remember when Southampton fired Adkins after back to back promotions to get Pochettino. Talk about bold, brave and ambitious.

If we are so far down their list of priorities that they can't even find the time in their diaries to hold a conference call to allocate budgets for next year then they simply have to go. If they have so little interest that we have to wait months for any communication then we need new owners. We aren't a video game that can go.in the drawer for a few months until they have the time to play with it. We are a multi million pound professional football club in one of the most competitive leagues in the world. I very much doubt a recent injection of shares represents them taking any interest. Rather I suspect it is essential equity to enable the bills to be paid and will have attracted minimal attention from the top dogs in India. I appreciate there are many issues for them to deal with and their.core business needs looking at but I can't believe the efforts some go to in order to try and normalise what is unacceptable.

This is my concern. There's nothing we can do about that lot gaining Cat 1 status. But we can sure as hell make sure we don't let ours go. Sadly I suspect it will only be a matter of time. Not because it isn't sustainable but because of chronic neglect and lack of investment. We've managed to hang on so far due mainly to the facilities in place pre Venky era but haven't made significant changes since they turned up. We've also had Waggott mention a few times about struggling to keep up with the requirements. Subtle hints maybe. Irony is that with People like Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis being our most valuable assets the academy deserves all the investment it gets. It would be another great slap in the face if the academy that Jack Walker delivered as his legacy slips to a lower category than the hillbillies up the road but it feels inevitable with this dreadful regime.

No other football club would even consider moving their manager upstairs to director of football and promoting their reserve team manager to the dugout. It is a non starter for countless reasons. Just imagine if Bristol City or Birmingham did the same in the coming weeks. It doesn't work. People continue to hope it does because they think we look better or get rewards for trying it, or that it increases the chances of youth progressing (though actually there's no basis for that) As I've said many times I'm not sure what relevance Johnson's record with the reserves has to do with anything. If that qualifies him to be manager then why not re appoint Gary Bowyer? He had a good record with the reserves, and has already proven he could step up to the first team. You can show ambition without needing to delude ourselves that it is 1991. What is wrong with targeting a proven successful manager and paying him accordingly? Most other clubs do it.

Its just depressing when reading Mowbray's comments. I could accept the rubbish performances and missing the play offs and even the manager having another chance next season if he was going to come out fighting and promise a new approach, ruthless action to change it, acceptance that it is last chance saloon time. But his latest comments are just awful. Basically incremental improvements are great, a dollop of 'making players better' to appeal to the money men, I work hard, I make people better. Talking again about this style of play which he obsesses over despite it being meaningless if we get put away by sides like Barnsley. I'm not interested in 'dominating'. Why can't he just focus on sorting the shambles of a defence out? Back at 2+ goals against per game now. It is also quite clear from the comments that he is sending veiled messages to India and hasn't actually spoken to the owners directly. 'I'll be waiting on a call and seeing what their expectation is and what they want to do' This has to be one of the more disturbing comments I have heard from Mowbray. Remarkably similar to the stuff Lambert used to come out with when he was waiting on answers from India but only got silence.

Wagner will be lucky to survive at Schalke after a disappointing season. We could position ourselves ready to strike. You seem eager to rubbish every ambitious suggestion. No wonder we end up with the jokers of the world like Coyle in the dugout. Stendel was sacked by Barnsley for non football reasons and didn't have long enough to turn around Hearts who were bottom when he joined. Gus Poyet - not my cup of tea but has a good record and is high profile and available. Methinks you will just try to find any reason imaginable to rubbish any suggestion. I came up with 16 suggestions all with proven track records. Yes they may cost but what's the point in going cheap on the most important job at the club when £150 million in the red?