Hart was never good enough. It still surprises me that so many Rovers fans thought he might be a viable option for us in the Championship. Not a chance. Unsurprisingly he's gone to a mid table League One club. Bizarre signing to begin with and not one that I think Mowbray was responsible for.

If by management you are referring to people who work at Ewood Park or Brockhall then it doesn't really matter whether they are impressed or not. Mowbray sits above the lot of them and has more sway with the owners than the rest put together. The only people Mowbray need worry about are the nutters in India and I doubt they've even heard of Gallagher and Brereton.

Ryan Woods joining Millwall on loan. Decent addition.

Almost but not quite the same. Travis was a standout performer in the u23s for a long time before he got into the first team and was attracting serious interest from Leagues One and Two before he got his opportunity with us, since when he has rarely disappointed. He also had a part, albeit small, to play in our League One promotion. I watch quite a bit of the u23s and in my view Davenport rarely stands out as anything exceptional and really is only being mentioned now because of our injury woes rather than consistently stellar performances in the u23s.

Ffp rules Tough time to do business Targets too expensive Have to move some others out first Injuries have changed things Mulgrew returning unexpectedly complicates things January isn't ideal Might have to wait and hope prices drop later on in the window All set for nothing happening and pick your excuses out. Meanwhile just about everyone else will take action to try and strengthen.

A bit like Raya was to blame for so many goals last season? I agree he isnt great but we really aren't blessed with depth and having him out on loan with our numbers in defence seems odd. As I've said before, if nothing else I'd chuck him on for 25 minutes in games we need a goal in. He's more likely to whip a free kick in than the rest of our team are going to score from open play.

Let's see what happens to Derby. Big brave talk on the League media platforms to show everyone how serious they are about breaches. Not quite the same as actually enforcing a significant points deduction. When Birmingham did it they waited months and months until Birmingham had no realistic chance of promotion or relegation and then did them for 9 points which Birmingham were more than happy with. Suspect something similar will occur with mid table Derby. Imagine the trouble if a deduction relegated a club or cost them promotion. A legal minefield awaits.

Clubs that mean business dont advertise for those jobs. They know who they are looking for and go out and headhunt them.

Trying and failing by the looks of things. Never expect anything today, it's always milk and honey tomorrow under this regime yet tomorrow never comes. The owners have been here nearly 10 years. Mowbray 3. To still be talking of developing scouting now is laughable. They dismantled whatever we had and neglected it for years. Irony of all ironies is that in Bowyer and his mates they had a happy camp and a very good scouting network making them money on the cheap.

All has a familiar feel to it. Going back to last January it was all quite similar to now. Slightly different in terms of our current form is wretched whereas in 2019 it was very good but all in all we are in a similar position in the table and all rumours and soundbites coming out are similar. I suspect we will be lucky if we sign anyone and all the excuses are ready made. No pressure to do anything and dormant owners who won't even think about Rovers until Mowbray turns up at the bungalow in a few months to try and persuade them to throw some summer funds his way. As you say, all very dull and if you can't or won't strengthen in January the likelihood is you won't ever get promoted.

I think that is a really poor interview. Mowbray makes it as clear as he possibly can that he doesn't want Mulgrew back and he will only feature if he absolutely has to. It seems there has been some sort of breakdown in relations. For all Mowbray's talk about 'playing higher up the pitch' I think there are other factors at play here. This is just the latest in a long line of almost unbelievable contract/transfer sagas at the club. Captain on day 1 v Charlton, new contract last season, yet the manager bombs him out on loan to Wigan on deadline day, player opts to cut that short and now manager provides this odd interview. Something doesn't smell right.

Confirmed that Charlton have given us the full end of 3100 tickets. Wouldn't surprise me if we return a few and they sell to Charlton fans. Saturday 3pm game, no strings, no bundles, no memberships, no surcharges, just 5 quid for all anywhere in the ground. That's how you do a ticket offer.

How can those clubs not be facing Ffp issues? All have massive wage bills, similar gates or have come out of the Premier League and need to make massive cutbacks. There were reports of Bolton facing sanctions from the League for not turning up for games yet they got away with it. Why worry about such things when punishments are few and far between. If we reach Mowbray's target of 70 points we won't get play offs so a 9 point deduction and clean slate wouldnt hurt us.

Huddersfield sign Andy King. Fulham sign Jordan Archer. Anything happening at Ewood or is Mulgrew 'like a new signing'?

How did Millwall, Reading, Huddersfield, Stoke, Barnsley, Forest, Birmingham all manage to fire off managers?

Wednesday blow hot and cold. They've had some fantastic results recently like Forest and Leeds away but also some poor results in there. I don't fancy us to get anything, but don't think it will be comfortable for them. I reckon 1-0 or 2-0, perhaps 2-1. Hillsborough is one of and possibly my favourite away grounds in this League yet over the years this has been a poorly attended fixture. In theory it should be a popular one for Rovers fans yet we always seem to end up playing them in the second half of the season, often midweek, when we've nothing to play for. £30 tickets don't exactly help either.

Interesting one. If Mulgrew has decided to return and Mowbray hasn't requested it then I can foresee some difficulties arising. Waggott, Cheston and co. Will have budgeted for Mulgrew being out of the way until the summer. His return will cut off any contribution from Wigan towards his salary and leave our budget even more stretched. The whole deal had a whiff of something not quite right to start with and I dont buy the party line that it was purely due to him facing increasingly limited game time. I'm of the view that someone had to make way to accommodate Tosin and Cunningham's wages and in the end, after a summer of shenanigans, Mulgrew was the sacrificial lamb. Completely out of the blue, and Mowbray had made him captain v Charlton. Not sure what his return means. Apparently Evans is out for the foreseeable with a horrific facial injury so perhaps he is bolstering numbers there too. Personally if nothing else I'd use Mulgrew as a last 20 minute sub just for his free kick ability.

I cant imagine being dragged out of the Premier League by Kean and his cronies will have gone well either but they sat back and let it happen. I doubt they've even heard of Ben Brereton.

Must be good employing your own boss, telling your bosses what your target for the season is, adjusting that target when it becomes unlikely to be reached, meanwhile they underwrite another £18 million of losses before it starts again with a trip to Pune in May when they can be bothered to discuss things.

Last January we were just outside the play-offs and the carrot of promotion was dangling there as it is now. 'Only 3, 4, 5 points off' as though similar won't be said about another 9-10 sides between now and May. Last January we could see defence needed work, the club went one step better than strengthening and actually weakened the defence, derailing the entire season. Similar story this time around only most attention is being paid to attack given Dack's injury and pitiful record of other attackers at the club. Will the club strengthen? Won't hold my breath. Got the excuses lined up though - tough time to do business, have faith in those already here, FFP, wages are expensive.

We've got Brereton (0 goals) and Gallagher (1 goal) along with an aging Graham. Would I take regular 20+ a season man back here? You bet. Trouble is with this manager he would over complicate things and probably ensure Rhodes struggled to hit the target through odd formations and positions. Ain't going to happen either way.

So why waste weeks pursuing him?

Unfortunately they already own the ground albeit under the same company as the club and ACV or no ACV they can move the ground off to another company if they want to, it just might take a bit longer or require more creativity than previously.

You would think that would be the case. You would also think that a large chunk of that £12 million is based on certain milestones being reached. e.g. goals or promotion or England caps, or at least staggered enough to ensure no Ffp risk. Chuck in Raya's cash and I very much doubt losses on player trading are anywhere near as high as some are suggesting. I expected such stuff to emerge. They don't like spending, especially not in January as shown by the level of outgoings in the past. When Lambert was here their 'big spend' consisted of selling Rhodes and then allowing loans for Graham, Gomes, Watt etc. I firmly believe that people like Waggott are just human shields placed to deflect blame and attention away from upstairs. To be honest I can't really take what he says too seriously. FFP is a godsend for Venkys. In one swoop they can convince thousands that they are ready and willing to spend but are prevented from doing so by third parties.

Venkys don't want to spend. We hear this claptrap around every window that there's money there to invest and they want to do it and the weeks tick by and nothing happens and then the excuses come along. Difficult time to do business, not spending for the sake of it, deals fell through etc. Granted if they gave Mowbray £10 million to spend I'd have little faith in him finding the right players to improve us and would more likely squander it on a couple who would make a handful of substitute appearances. The club is run as some sort of distant franchise which is allocated an annual budget at the summit meeting and that's your lot, unless in exceptional circumstances when special requests can be made.