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.

So lets suppose after beating Bristol City and being in a rich vein of form and within a few points of 3rd place we had actually kicked on and dispatched poor Wigan, Birmingham and Huddersfield over Christmas and Dack had netted in each and hadn't got injured. Would the club seriously have gone into January with a 'plan' of selling Dack with the play-offs within our grasp? If the answer is 'yes' then we need shut of the lot of them, because no club in that position would even entertain such an idea, let alone base FFP compliance on it. If the answer is 'no' it shows that actually there is very little by way of a plan. I think that FFP is an all to convenient excuse for those running Rovers to hide behind at every turn. Whenever they feel like not spending anything, or selling off an asset or two, they just need to spend a couple of weeks laying the groundwork for it by trying to implant FFP in the minds of supporters. That way nobody will ever blame our billionaire, kind, benevolent owners. They want to do X,Y, Z but can't because of them nasty rules. FACT - only Birmingham have been hit with proper sanctions and that was after they took the League on and continued spending despite being told not to. Nobody else has suffered anything. QPR a measly fine after promotion was secured, Sheffield Wednesday are taking them to arbitration and others have found elaborate and creative ways around it. Having been told after promotion that we were building sustainably, avoiding gambling and were doing it long term to ensure stability if there is even a grain of truth that we are at risk of breaking these rules then heads need to roll.

Which do you think is more likely. 1) Venkys mysteriously and suddenly decide, after nearly 9 years of operating the club without one, that there is an immediate need to appoint a CEO. To this end they go off and employ an agency to headhunt someone to fill the roles and then after a lengthy process whittle it down to one bloke who was unemployed having had brief stints at other crisis clubs Charlton and Coventry. After lining him up by amazing coincidence he knows the manager well from recently working with him at Coventry. 2) Mowbray tells Venkys they need to appoint a CEO because the shell of a club they have created is struggling to function with Cheston out of his depth and Pasha doing nothing useful. He's well in with them. They ask him for suggestions because they couldn't pick their own noses let alone a CEO of a football club and so Mowbray puts forward his mate who he gets on with who needs a new job. Hello Waggott. Option 1 or Option 2? As I've said before I suppose it is progress of sorts that Mowbray has the clout to persuade them to do it and we are surely better off with Waggott than nobody as before. Arguably Mowbray has more idea than anyone else around when it comes to appointing high level staff. Still doesn't detract from the reality - that Mowbray was involved in appointing his own boss

Bit pointless if missing out on targets to the likes of Charlton.

There's no money, so no signings. IF Mowbray manages to get shut of Samuel, Smallwood and Brereton along with Cunningham's wage contribution off the books then he might be able to bring a couple of loans in but even then it will be last minute.com when loaning clubs get round to making a decision. Surprised people think it will be any different this year and waste time worrying about it.

I don't have a problem with it as such, as I don't think it is doing any harm, but I do wonder what the motive is behind it. I think it is unprecedented to see a club fund and manufacture a large flag of the manager. It is incomparible to those of Shankly at Liverpool and Ferguson at United where those flags were funded by fans as a tribute to legendary managers. Here the flag has nothing to do with fans. I assume that Waggott will have pushed this and authorised the expenditure. I think the big flags are a good idea but find it odd that we would decide to put the current manager on there. Perhaps if we were fresh off an unbelievable promotion but 18 months after getting us back out of League One I'm not sure is enough to justify such a tribute. As others have said I suspect there's more at play here. Waggott has said before that we are 'lucky' to have Mowbray and need to work hard to keep him here (or words to that effect) and I cant help but think there is a clear effort here to build up Mowbray's popularity and send an image back to those watching in India. It becomes unhealthy. It certainly isn't conventional.

It would be the coincidence to end all coincidences if Waggott's employment as CEO had absolutely nothing to do with Mowbray being popular in India. I don't believe in such coincidences. Not with our set up. If that means I'm suggesting Mowbray hasn't been honest then so be it. As I've said before, I'd sooner have Waggott here than nobody like we had before, and at least it seems Mowbray has taken action to bolster the boardroom.

And now look at them Some of our lot were glad to see the back of Allardyce.

Well then the message needs to get across that if they want to go cheap on managers then they are unlikely to ever get promotion. It is the most important position at the club. McCarthy is one option. I think he is realistic and could do a good job even if funds are limited.

We can afford it if spending £12 million on Brereton and Gallagher and losing £18 million a year, if it gives us a better chance of promotion. We can't afford not to. We need to get up asap not drift around aiming for top 10, development or gambling on inexperienced coaches.

Not good enough. With what is at stake you have to have it sorted before allowing departures. Why would Raya push to leave? Did he think Brentford were/are a better prospect than us? If so why?

Stoke were rooted to the bottom of the division and Sheffield Wednesday are (one day) going to be nailed for Ffp breaches. Perhaps that was why he avoided them. Apparently we have done things properly since 2017, have assembled a squad on an affordable budget and have ensured FFP compliance. Anyway, another 4-5 months have since passed and Hughton hasn't got a job. As above if he wants to return to management he's going to need to join someone soon.

I'm afraid that interview doesn't paint us in a good light and raises serious questions about our recruitment process. Your goalkeeper is part of the spine of the team. You build from there and set out with the expectation that your Number 1 is going to play every minute of a season. If a decision was made to cash in on Raya due to financial reasons or the manager not really liking him then that is part of life. So far that has been shown to be a mistake as Brentford are going for promotion and Raya is performing very well for them. But when a decision is made to sell then you ensure a competent PERMANENT replacement is ready and waiting to come in. You don't allow him to go, leaving just Leutwiler behind who the manager has never played, and then start trying to find a replacement. Then to start bemoaning that your targets changed their minds and went elsewhere leaving us with Walton on loan for the year just isnt acceptable. Keeper and central defence are cornerstones of a team. You have to get those right and then build on those. Mowbray/Rovers attitude to those positions and recruitment of them has been appalling. Where has the Raya money gone? Will we be signing a keeper in January like Mowbray said we would?

Neil Warnock - serial promotion winner. Has said he will work again, at least until the summer. If he does well he might 'get the bug' again and stick around for a promotion push next season. He's retired before and come back. Chris Hughton - unemployed- will need a job soon or won't manage again. Won't be getting a Premier League job. Gary Rowett- working wonders at Millwall- builds from the back and thrives on limited budgets- probably missed the boat with him but worth a try Carlos Carvahal - working in Portugal but would likely want a return to England. Twice finished in the play-offs in two full seasons at Wednesday. Knows foreign markets. Jaap Stam - unemployed, good record at Reading, experience of foreign markets Mick McCarthy- will be unemployed in the summer - got Ipswich in the play-offs with no money - would love to see how he got on with Mowbray's budget Those are just 'obvious' options who have been working at this level successfully recently.

Irrespective of results or performances? We lose the next 6 games and he stays? Why? You are comfortable with that? They must be very rich and very relaxed about things if another £20 million loss is fine as long as we achieve the meaningless feat of top 10 in the Championship.