Huge result there for Hull. Crazy at the bottom. Everyone picking up points. Almost feel sorry for the bottom two who have had some great results yet can't climb out of it. Could well end up with it being 50+ to survive Thank god we won't be embroiled in it but it is more exciting than the Premier League

I've no problem with cherishing promotions which don't happen often. But using this as a reason to keep a manager in place more than 2 years after it happened no.

But unavoidable if the owners insist on investing only in attacking players and insist on 'leasing' the defensive positions. But of course that's just a conspiracy theory. In reality every manager we've had has just not taken the defence seriously.....

I think it is coming to the point where we need to stop harking back to the League One season. It was a good novelty season which saw us move in the right direction on and off the pitch for once. It was a good job done by Mowbray to get us straight back up albeit with all the tools needed to do so. Of course others have failed to do it - Sunderland, Ipswich - but many others of a similar stature did do it - Bolton, Wolves, Leicester, Norwich, Southampton. Either way I don't think that success 2 years ago should entitle Mowbray to endless time and goodwill. I think people are concerned because the squad is a complete mess. That is a result of flawed business over previous windows. We do have a good XI when everyone is fit but they never all are, Mowbray loves to chop and change and several are on their way through loans or contract expiry. Add to that the spectre of Venkys cashing in again on a prized asset or two and rather than a few additions we could be facing a revolution. The fact remains that 3 years into his tenure we are still reliant on players Mowbray inherited at the club - Williams, Mulgrew, Lenihan, Nyambe, Bennett, Travis, Evans, Graham. Other than Dack, Armstrong and Tosin the rest of those signed by Mowbray aren't really up to scratch. So really we have to ask if it is going to take us much further enduring another long transfer window to end up with more long term projects and non contributors.

Big win for Huddersfield last night just as they had slipped into it again. Stoke must be feeling very nervous right now. I still think it will be Luton, Barnsley and Hull that go.

That cannot be allowed to succeed. If it does then there will be many other clubs thinking of doing the same thing. We might as well do it too if there's no points deduction. Reality is that if Wigan aren't deducted points then a Luton or Barnsley who have managed to pay their bills so far will be relegated at their expense.

Think there's something in this. Add Stockport into the mix too. It seems to have followed the direction that those towns have followed. Once proud, independent Lancashire towns in many ways consumed and virtually reduced to suburbs of Manchester over the last 20-30 years. With behemoths of United and City hoovering up all the talent and young fans subsidising tickets and a few tram stops away who grows up supporting Oldham or Bury now? 100 years ago it was a no brainer. Support your town team. Now not so. Jump on the bus to the Etihad and watch Champions League football for similar to League Two.

New owners have to prove they have the funds in place to run the club for the next 12 months before the League approves any takeover. I'm not sure how the coronavirus excuse washes when the takeover was done in May well into the crisis so surely they knew what was coming. Can only assume therefore that the League haven't requested proof of funds or alternatively they have proved the funds are there but subsequently pulled the plug. Either way something doesn't smell right and it once again shows up the League as not being fit for purpose. Reading between the lines something very dodgy going on here and I suspect coronavirus is a convenient cover story.

It looks to me like what has happened at Wigan is what was about to happen to Charlton a few weeks ago, and still might if they don't sort themselves out At Wigan Dave Whelan sold to IEC who have the cash to fund them but have since decided they dont like pouring £10 million a year into a football club so passed the club on to this other bloke. Turns out he can't or won't fund it and the money hasn't arrived to pay bills so admin it is. Not sure how much is down to coronavirus or whether they were going into trouble anyway and this has sped things up. Covid is probably a convenient excuse to clear the decks and stop putting money in. I was reading earlier that their Hong Kong owners thought they would drastically increase revenues by putting a new tv screen in the ground and other random ideas to increase income and it hasn't paid off. Not sure who advises these people but Wigan Athletic with their 7000 a week crowds NW rugby town were always going to lose cash at this level. They were lucky to have Whelan for 23 years who put them somewhere they never should have been and it is perhaps inevitable they will sooner or later end up in the lower leagues. At Charlton when Duchatelet sold up he passed it to a group from UAE and people got excited thinking they were loaded. But they soon got fed up and didn't want to pour millions in so walked away. From a selfish perspective if Venkys are billionaires keen to see the club promoted and never refuse a cheque then we could come through this in a good place if numerous rivals struggle to pay.

Shouldn't be a surprise in the circumstances but still a shock to see a Championship club suddenly go like that. The interesting thing will be the points deduction. I understand that the rules are clear on a mandatory 12 point deduction for administration irrespective of circumstances. So whilst Covid 19 may be to blame the rules do not provide for any exemptions. They changed it so that if it happened after the end of March it was delayed to next season, but given the delay to the season will that still be enforced as if the season had continued and Wigan had 6 games left we would still be in March....

Brilliant post which shows that things clearly for what they are. Rightly or wrongly Lambert's spell in charge is criticised, mocked and scorned by many as being dull, underwhelming or even a failure. Yet your statistics show that actually it was pretty much identical to what Mowbray has delivered, albeit condensed into 6 months rather than more than 2 years with Mowbray. I also feel that it is necessary to remember that Lambert never had the benefit of a summer window, transfer funds or a pre season to put in place what he wanted to do. Mowbray has had a lot of money, time and two pre seasons to put in place his vision and we look all over the place approaching his third. At a functional normal football club there would be an owner, chairman or director sat watching things, forming a view and then there would be an inquest with the manager asked to explain himself. Does anyone really think that ever happens at Ewood? What it boils down to is whether finishing a few places higher than last year is good enough in return for millions upon millions of investment. It didn't take baby steps for Warnock, Dyche or Wilder to get up. The only question on the minds of those running the club should be whether they believe promotion is achievable under the existing staff or whether an alternative would give us a better chance. I absolutely dread another transfer window of Mowbray's recruitment and lining up for the start of next season. We know exactly what will happen.

Mowbray got WBA out of this division in similar fashion to how he got us out of League One. Inherited a recently relegated side, put his arm around players, made them feel wanted, signed a few good players with a good budget and the quality shone through and got them up. In the Championship he doesn't have that quality here and doesn't have the budget to blow the rest of the division away. Ergo rather than change his approach to deal with this he just persists with his principles and experiments to the detriment of results. The talk of him playing nice football that is easy on the eye is a myth in my experience. More often than not it is dull, disorganised and predictable. One of my biggest issues is that at 0-0 at HT at both Wigan and Barnsley Mowbray is incapable of going into the second half to preserve the clean sheet away from home and win the game 1-0. It just doesn't happen. You know the opposition will score, you know we will find a way to concede probably in the last 10 minutes. We must be dream opposition for struggling clubs to play as we just can't deal with it. Pressure, expectation, just isn't something this team copes with. Very, very disturbing that Mowbray's mate in the boardroom still thinks he's our version of Guardiola and we are lucky to have him here. Disturbing that the club has paid for a flag of the manager to be flown pre match. Mowbray has well and truly landed on his feet at Rovers with this setup. To think he missed out on the Chesterfield job shortly before coming in here. Even now we've fans saying we should be happy because we've finished higher each season under him (we havent done yet). Nice bloke, done a lot of good but also left us a disorganized mess and this needs sorting with a manager who has a plan and focuses on results. Nobody at the club will think this because they aren't up to the job. Time for Big Mick and give him some of the cash Mowbray has squandered.

Well another trademark Mowbray week. Start it off in a good place, looking up the table, starting to be taken seriously as a play-off contender after impressing against a rival side in Bristol City. Ten days later two appalling defeats against two poor sides, two golden opportunities wasted, no goals, four against and ending up a disorganised rabble with baffling subs, lineups, formations. In the end he falls back on his career long solution of chucking an array of attackers on for the last 15 minutes in the hope that one of them manages to conjure up some magic, but in the end they rarely do and the scoreline gets worse rather than better as we look completely lost and are wide open at the back. He isn't going to change because he did the same thing 10 years ago at Celtic. He is either incapable or unwilling to do it any differently. He gets sympathy from me insofar as I am gutted that after such impressive performances we have now seemingly lost both Travis and Evans to injury for the rest of the season. Meanwhile who knows what is happening with Bell and Williams but i have my suspicions on that front. Point is that we all expected fatigue with such a schedule of games but to be missing so many so soon after 3 months without a game is a big problem. But at the same time this is his squad, and the woeful lack of contribution from his signings in Samuel, Gallagher, Brereton, Rothwell and Chapman means he shoulders the blame and must ultimately pay the price for it. We aren't ever going to get up from this division with this manager because we can't defend properly and can't achieve any level of consistency in selection, approach or performance. There should be an analysis taking place upstairs as to whether they are happy with that or whether their aims are going to be met by this group of staff but instead there will be nothing of the sort. Waggott will tell fans we are lucky to have Tony, they'll go and tell the owners everything is fine and dandy and ticking over nicely, Trav, Nyambe and Lenihan's values have gone up a bit more, happy days and off we go again.

Think Leeds might be tempted to.

Watch that and weep. Imagine Warnock in our dressing room after trash like that tonight when 3 points off the playoffs. Those players wouldn't do it again, that's for sure. Instead we've got merry go round Mowbray. Does anyone believe he gave the team a bollocking after the game? Anyone think he's distraught/devastated after once again wasting a glorious chance to move into the top 6? I dont. It will be 'hard luck lads' or oh well always next week/month/year. Plenty of time, nice lads etc. He's not a winner.

I said this after Saturday. Can see it coming.

I'm not a businessman but I would have thought having new shirts on sale now or asap would be a good idea, as would season tickets. Many people who have been unable to go on holiday, to matches or to the pub etc. over the last few months will have some spare cash to spend. As the lockdown relaxes and we get into July and August the chances are people will find other things to spend money on, including potentially taking the kids away on a summer holiday. I've lost track but I think we have at least another year of Umbro. Can't remember if Bet 10 signed up for 2 years or 3 or if they are carrying on. I saw something yesterday that the intention was to start next season in September to ensure it is finished in time for the Euros next June.

If we needed a new manager then yes, McCarthy and Hughton would be at the top of my list. As would Neil Warnock. I think all 3 are 'achievable' managers for us and all 3 with some reasonable support and backing would have us in or around the promotion picture. I anticipate all 3 will be in work in the Championship by this time next year and will be proving themselves as skilled operators. As i said earlier, i think our best chance of promotion out of this league isnt via Mowbray's fairytale ambitions of us emulating Bielsa's Leeds or Bilic's West Brom or unique club Brentford. It is going to be through emulating Warnock's Cardiff, Bruce's Hull, Hughton's Brighton or Dyche's Burnley. No frills, no ideals of nice possession football or outplaying the opposition and talking about how many chances we had. It will be through being defensively tight, really tough to beat, nasty, streetwise and being built upon having a settled XI who know themselves inside out, back to front and only changing things when we need to. Sadly I don't think Mowbray is the man to every deliver that, because he isn't capable of organising a defence along those lines, confuses himself with what he is trying to deliver and has these fanciful principles of football purity. It worked for him 12 years ago at West Brom because they were the best squad in the division. It won't work here, in my opinion, if we want promotion. But ultimately it depends on which way we want to go as a club. The above would be ideal if we wish to stick with a 'traditional' approach of allowing the manager to run the show including recruitment and essentially manage the club on the owners behalf as Mowbray has done. Many managers of the older school variety would relish such conditions, the freedom to run things as they wanted, dictate recruitment and not have to accommodate interfering directors. I've no problem if the club does want to go down the head coach route but I'll take some persuading that throwing experienceless Damien Johnson into the madhouse of the Championship tasked with delivering results under a 'head coach' structure will work in any sense of the word. Rather than following some grand plan of succession a la Brentford it will simply be the easy, cheap and popular in-house route that the likes of Waggott and Venkys would relish to avoid having to conduct a proper search and pay accordingly. The talk of copying Brentford is nonsense because as a club were are simply a million miles away from being able to implement such a structure. What Brentford have now has been almost a decade in the planning, a result of their owner having a well thought out plan of how to grow them whilst balancing the books and overcoming their small size, crowds and pulling power. To that end they have assembled a very well structured backroom staff and are the envy of the division. If it was as simple as jealous clubs wanting to copy them then everyone would have found out how to by now. We are just about as far away from that as any club can be. Rather than have a thought out strategy from the owners down and employ staff to deliver it, we have no idea at all from the owners, a manager who likes to tell people that we are copying Brentford but is ill equipped to deliver it. As Brentford showed with the ruthless sacking of Warburton after they got into the play-offs, if the manager doesn't fit the plan you get rid. Imagine if that had been here, You credit the scouting network under Mark Hughes as being good and having regressed since then. I would agree although i think we also brought in some good bargains under Allardyce using his contacts which did well for the club. The trouble is that i believe the excellent recruitment under Hughes and Allardyce were due to those managers, their contacts and skills in the market in conjunction with their team of coaches and scouts, rather than a result of Rovers and their structure. The only credit anyone above the managers gets is that they appointed those managers and backed them when they asked for the players. Brentford is completely different as the 'club' takes centre stage in identifying and recruiting talent, and that process continues uninterrupted whilst the head coach does his job on the pitch. Head coach moves on or gets fired - find a successor yet the plan and recruitment continues without disruption. I appreciate Mowbray's efforts at rebuilding scouting from the shell it was a few years ago. But I stop short of believing he has installed some super duper Brentford-rivalling network that is going to benefit the club with brilliant signings for years to come. My view is that he has assembled a scouting department, which is an improvement on what the owners had left us with before he arrived, but i don't think we are remotely near to most other clubs at this level and won't be any time soon. I also think when Mowbray goes there will be no plan for succession and the next bloke may well have a different view entirely and have to spend years changing things again. The 'European scouting' system Mowbray has talked about since his arrival and is now more than 2 years in the pipeline still hasn't delivered a single hidden gem signing to suggest it is working. The only 'European' signing we've made was Holtby although he was well known around the country already. There's more to it than that. It shouldn't take 2 years to deliver. I don't criticise Mowbray in that respect, nor do i want to give the impression I don't like the bloke. He has done well all things considered and if we go close but fall short this season i think it probably represents a decent season. But I've little faith in things going to the next level, more to do with the lunatics upstairs than anything else.

Nor does anyone else. Many have been selling throughout the pandemic. I'd buy one now to use when fans can return regardless of when that might be. Would you? Isn't it worth doing to get people tied down and their cash in the bank?

Done

Chance would be a fine thing Why are season tickets not on sale now? Do we not want money coming in?

I dont know whether to laugh or cry with Mowbray's comments. Our route to promotion is unlikely to succeed if we are trying to copy the top 4 for style. Leeds and West Brom have appointed world class managers and have spent millions on players to go with it. Fulham have a ridiculous squad and have spent fortunes on the best players around. We can't copy Brentford because their operation is on another level to the rest of the Championship. We are incapable of replicating that, but if Mowbray wants to try then the first job is for him and Venus to resign so the club can appoint a head coach and director of football. We need to be trying to copy Burnley, Cardiff, Brighton and Hull. Limited sides that got promoted through organisational ability, good management, a set way of playing and minimal disruption to it. Mowbray thinks he is better than he is. I'd just like him to put a side out that can defend and is hard to beat.

Sooner or later big decisions and gambles have to be made. If not then we can forget promotion. Ever. Let's suppose we were 8 points clear at the top when Dack got injured. Would you have been happy doing nothing and jeopardising our best chance at promotion just to make sure we didn't run any Ffp risks? Do we never sack a manager ever again because doing so might push us towards the limit even though not doing so could cost us League status or a chance of promotion? All the clubs charged with breaking the rules have avoided punishment simply by taking the League on and challenging it. Their owners will have paid fortunes for good lawyers to advise them and clearly think they have a case to run. We are one of the few who meekly accepted our punishment, slashed our squad and got relegated to League One as a result and now use it as an excuse for everything rather than just admit the owners don't want to spend more. 'Compromised the entire football club' is a slight exaggeration. I don't accept that is what doing some business in January would have been. But yeah, if I were running the club and we were sat on the cusp of the top 6 in January with the star man out for the season and numerous other deficiencies in the squad I would have worked to address it in the window rather than hiding behind theoretical future problems from rules that other clubs have got away with breaking. Looks like Derby with their Rooney stunt are going to show us that finding ways around these rules and taking them on is the way to go if you want promotion as they steam past us towards the top 6. They might go up, in which case they're laughing to the bank whilst Waggott wails about the same rules Derby broke. I wish Venkys and their cohorts would grow some balls and take matters into their own hands rather than sitting on them moaning about everything.

1) FFP rules are almost certain to be ignored or delayed due to Covid 19. UEFA have already confirmed their rules will be and the EFL are likely to follow. If they dont it is going to be impossible to enforce the rules given the collapse in income clubs have had. 2) If the rules aren't ignored and they try to enforce them then we will not be alone in having difficulties. Everyone will. 3) Derby, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham have all broken the rules and yet none of them have been punished. Why are we worried about it? 4) We can afford refunds to supporters. We have chosen not to offer them because that is Waggott and his approach in a nutshell. Meanwhile Mowbray splurges tens of thousands of pounds on the likes of Sam Hart and Richie Smallwood to not play for us. 5) How come every other club, including those closer to Ffp threshold and those who have many more season ticket holders and stand to reimburse far more than we do, manages to find the money needed to do so? 6) When people refuse to renew in part due to Waggott's disgraceful approach to refunds, the Season ticket base will diminish further, causing further problems re. FFP in years to come. Short termism at its finest here. 7) If serious about going up and determined to do it, with owners keen to spend, we would have gone and got a replacement for Dack in the position we were in. If not willing or able to do so from just outside the top 6 at Xmas with the best player out long term, then when?

Take the Dack situation in isolation and ignore all the other issues in our squad. We lost Dack v Wigan well before the transfer window opened. We knew the moment it happened that he would be out for the season, possibly longer, and that we would have to cope without our best attacking talent. I simply can't believe that we just sat back and allowed another window to pass by without any attempt to fill the Dack void, even just with a loan. Given the position we were in it seems senseless to not strengthen.