In view of the fact that our status is now mathematically secure and that we are the only club in the Championship to be in that position, we now have an opportunity to establish a head start over rivals going into the summer and next season. We need to be full steam ahead this week onwards with planning, recruitment, pre-season etc. so we can use this window of time to our advantage. Whilst the play-off chasing sides are preoccupied with trying to get promoted and those below us are still threatened with relegation we are able to focus all our efforts on preparation, in some cases we can have 3-4 weeks head start on other clubs. Whilst the next 4 games should be enjoyed and should be put to use by the manager to 'experiment' (if that's what he wants to do), the focus should really be on getting ourselves into perfect shape to start next season with confidence and momentum. I'm afraid sitting around doing nothing until June or July and then coming out with excuses about it being a tough market or how much of a struggle it is because other clubs have more money is not acceptable. We have an advantage, perhaps small, but we should be using it.

Us and Grimsby are the only clubs in the leagues who are guaranteed to still be in the same league next year.

Lambert is coming out with all the same sort of stuff that he was doing here. This is a great club. Fantastic. The supporters have been great. This summer will be a big rebuild. Too many mistakes have been made before I arrived. Supporters love to hear it and he knows it. O'Neill is coming out with all the same stuff at Forest only expectations there are higher and the fans harder to please. it will only wash for so long. Lambert is getting away with it because blame for their demise is heaped on Evans, McCarthy and Hurst rather than Lambert. They all expect him to come good. He'll get some stick if they're struggling in League One next season. Lambert's at a crossroads now. Having gone down with Stoke and Ipswich in consecutive seasons and only been in each of his last four jobs for about 6 months, he simply has to do a good job somewhere. Don't know whether his ego will be able to take being in League One but that's probably as good as it will get.

Think Wigan will be ok. Their home form is decent and they don't lose often so they should scrape the win that will probably do it. Rotherham's fixture list is tough. Wigan have PNE and Millwall at home to come, i expect they'll win one of those.

'Looking' to 'launch' 'information' in mid to late April does not mean people will be able to go and buy season tickets. To me that is a vague comment that may or may not result in some information being released before the end of the month. Meanwhile many other clubs have had them on sale since February with proper early bird incentives in place. If that's the way they want to do it then that's up to them but I wish they'd stop with the self-pity about income and low crowds. Do something proactive about it if you're that concerned!

I'd say in this day and age Armstrong at less than £2 million is a bargain. It's only because Venkys have been so tight on funds over the last 5 years that one or two are raising eyebrows at it. Normally someone of his age with his background would be well worth spending that sort of money on. All it takes is a decent season in the Championship and he'll be worth much more than that. His background and price range are the sort we should be going for as a club - experience of where we are at with plenty of scope to improve and develop.

Been linked with that job on and off for ages. Could be a spectacular success or horrible failure. He did quite well initially at both Spurs and Villa but then things unravelled. Helps when his mates Ferdinand and Ramsey are running things behind the scenes at QPR.

I think we'll be lucky if the club has even announced prices and selling periods by then, and yes I think actually getting them on sale is too much to ask. To me it is utter madness to not have them on sale by the day of the Swansea game at the absolute latest. No doubt we'll wait until that is out of the way and the season is over and then release them when many people won't be back at Ewood until August. I noticed on the Fans Forum minutes that Waggott said he expected prices to be announced later in April. That isn't the same as getting tickets on sale. For me there should be an early bird window which expires about now or late April, and then general sale is opened by the day of the Swansea game so that anyone attending that match has the opportunity to sign up whilst they are at Ewood, especially if that game is being treated as a cheap ticket day and there could well be people there who don't usually go.

That really hurts.

That's on the basis they expect to go down and be challenging for promotion and bounce back immediately. Give it a few years of stagnation in League One and they'll soon change their tune.

Doubt Venkys would want or have the sense to sell even if they were after buying us.

Coventry have said that they won't be staying at the Ricoh next season and are in discussions with two clubs about groundsharing next season. The League are due to have an EGM in 2 weeks where expulsion from the league could be an outcome if they don't have something sorted. Interesting that when the news about the EGM came out a few weeks ago it was rumoured that the League were insisting that they stay in the Coventry boundaries and played no more than 6 miles from the city centre, yet it now seems they are prepared to compromise on that and allow them to groundshare further away. Presumably another 'arrangement' like at Bolton where the league are terrified of cracking down and making an example of these clubs due to uproar from fans and the media so they'll bend over backwards to accommodate them even if it means their fans can't or won't go watching them. Meanwhile down the pyramid in non-league the small fish get landed under a tonne of bricks when they do something wrong.

With ticket sales as they are they'll only need about 6 coaches for the whole lot of them. Portsmouth properly suffered through their financial chaos - relegation down to League Two, administrations, points deductions. It seems Bolton have so far got away lightly. Relegation to League One is the least they deserve after what has gone on this season. It would be a travesty for the league if they had found a way to survive ahead of those who pay their bills. The interesting bit will be the summer - income dropping, players will be looking to get out, potential embargo (if the league get round to it). If they haven't got the takeover done by then I can see them dropping a lot further.

Interesting to see that many Wigan fans are at the end of their tether with Paul Cook and want him gone either now or at the end of the season. A quick scroll through some of their forum pages and the majority seem to be completely fed up with him, his excuses, their performances and results and are unhappy with his team selections and overall approach. Then a few saying they should hold on or he hasn't done too badly if he keeps them up. Now granted they are in more danger than we are and their poor run has probably been going on slightly longer, but by the same token many would argue he at least matched if not bettered Mowbray's performance last season in winning the league on a smaller budget and has had to contend with a lengthy takeover. They're now on something like 1 win in 11 and 2 wins in 25 or something ridiculous like that. Point being that pressure building on the manager and criticism of him and question marks over his future is not some irrational behaviour demonstrated only by Rovers fans, that fans everywhere will criticise and the pressure will build regardless of past achievements and popularity. If it is clear things aren't working questions will be asked. Nothing also to do with Rovers fans being 'spoiled' 20 odd years ago either. Here and now if it isn't good enough complaints will be raised.

On which occasions this season with Reed and Travis in midfield (either as a central partnership or with Reed on the right) have we been 'annihilated' on the counter? I can't remember us receiving many comprehensive beatings in games they have both played in the side, nor in those heavy defeats do I believe they would have been averted had Smallwood/Evans been there instead. Brentford maybe but that also included Evans in CM so can't really lay the blame at Reed's door for that one. Same at Sheffield Wednesday. On recollection our 3 most recent and arguably convincing wins of the season were Hull, Wigan and Derby at home. In all 3 Reed and Travis started in midfield, in the latter two they were the CM partnership and against Hull I think Evans started with Travis with Reed on the right. 3 x clean sheets, 8 goals scored and comprehensive victories, 2 of them - against Derby and Hull - were against good or in form sides. I could completely buy into the argument that Evans and Smallwood are better defensively and protect the defence better than Reed and Travis but I can't see the data or evidence backing that up. Not only have we played better football but we've also managed clean sheets with them in midfield. For Bolton and Swansea home games and QPR away I think there will be a lot of unhappy supporters if we start either of those games with Smallwood/Evans if not enforced. He might get more sympathy at Forest and Norwich due to the standard of the opposition and us being away from home but at this stage in the season it would be nice to show some attacking intent in all our remaining fixtures with little to lose and also show some evidence of moving things on rather than going back to the tried and tested. Swansea ended up murdering us at their place with Evans and Smallwood in CM.

A funny old night in the Championship. At one stage Wigan, Reading and Rotherham all winning and Millwall/QPR picking up a point. Eventually it didn't end up so bad for us. Wigan are on thin ice and apparently have Norwich and Leeds coming up in their next couple of games so a win from somewhere for Rotherham and things could get very interesting. Reading managed to salvage a point at Norwich, it seems they're going to scramble out of it. I'd guess it will be one of Rotherham, Millwall or Wigan to join Bolton and Ipswich. QPR probably will be ok. Rotherham have it all to do with their remaining fixtures being tough and their away form poor.

I think Reed will only be convinced if he is told by Southampton that he's got no chance there and then is told by Mowbray that he's going to be played in his position with us every week. I doubt he'll be keen on coming here to play wide every week. Southampton will have a rebuild this summer under Hasenhuttl so whilst he might want to have a look at him I'd suspect he'll struggle to get much game time with them. The galling part will be if we fail to bring him back but then he turns up elsewhere in the Championship. He should be priority number one and the frustrating thing is that Venkys found millions under the mattress for Brereton yet Reed represents a far safer investment.

I agree with this. I think considering Travis began the season in the u23 setup, broke into the team the hard way, seized his opportunity and has ranged between excellent and competent at worst in the Championship means he gets my vote. A significant step up made successfully. Just a shame it took so long and only happened one Smallwood was banned.

Very pleasing and impressive performance. One of our most consistent over 90 minutes and among the finest of the season. I was afraid that we were never going to score as time wore on or even a slip up would allow them to snatch one. Thankfully we got there and I was very pleased to see Rothwell score. Before then he'd had a few excellent opportunities and missed them and I was worried about the impact it would have on him if he didn't get some reward for his efforts. I was concerned at seeing 5 changes as I worried about more tinkering and large scale changes but tonight it was what we needed. Williams and Lenihan looked solid and reliable, dealing with what came their way. Not just good in spells but good for almost the entire match and certainly full value for the win. Good to see us attacking with intent for a second goal rather than trying merely to protect the 1-0. Reed and Travis excellent in CM and its a real shame we haven't seen more of them together there. If O'Neill and Keane are watching videos of our last two games during their preparations for Saturday they won't have a clue what to expect. Chalk and cheese stuff. The contrast between the approach on Saturday and that tonight unbelievable. A massive win to take us to 50 and almost certain survival now. Mowbray's had some stick since Saturday so he should enjoy praise tonight. I hope he can maintain that sort of approach and level rather than reverting to the other side of our Jekyll and Hyde character.

Isn't that against the law as well as being in breach of contract?

What happened last season isn't really relevant in terms of whether we were any good or how we went about it. End result was promotion. Job done. Pats on the back all round. Corrected the calamity of 2016-17. Mowbray has been praised for that, well paid for that and presumably had some sort of bonus for achieving that. Now we're in April 2019 and in freefall. I don't see why what happened more than a year ago has anything to do with where we are today. Since then we've dished out new contracts, spent £10 million on players and not had to sell anyone, so circumstances have been as good as anyone could really have expected. At the time of writing we are in a right old mess however people want to try and dress it up. Some have faith Mowbray can and will turn it around, others don't have that faith. I'm somewhere in the middle- I'm not particularly confident he can or will do but I'm not clambering for his sacking, though admittedly if I had any confidence in the club to conduct a thorough and coherent search for a better manager then I probably would be, and if this continues much longer then I probably will be. I like Mowbray and appreciate the job he has done overall but no manager anywhere should be immune for criticism or the sack especially as the club is plummeting and performances are dismal. The club comes first and individuals come second. Or at least it should do.

If they had started off this way with away fans upstairs and kept home fans downstairs in the other half then they shouldn't have needed any segregation anyway. I can see merit in it if it enables home fans on 4 sides of the ground or enables us to charge away fans more than home fans but neither of those are happening and they still have to open the downstairs area for disabled. There must have been 40+ in there on Saturday.

Whatever happened to Josh Vela? Was highly rated at one time and still quite young.

Can someone better versed than me in these sort of things help with a few questions: 1) Am I correct in thinking that when Venkys inject cash into the club and this is done via issuing shares of £1 value that the shares issued are in Venkys London Ltd and not Blackburn Rovers Ltd? As such the number of shares in BRFC remains the same and the number of shares in VLL increases massively by millions a year? 2) When they pump cash in do they always do it by issuing shares in VLL? 3) In terms of the £138,941,619 'investment' in BRFC Ltd - this is the number of shares in BRFC owned by VLL or was close to it last time I checked - has this gone up under Venkys or was this the number of shares bought from the Walker estate? 4) Am I correct in thinking that should Venkys want to sell BRFC then they could do so at whatever price they wanted, including effectively giving the club away, by signing over VLL's shares in BRFC to another company and absorbing the shares in VLL (worthless without ownership of Rovers) as a cost to them?

For some reason their fans seem to think the league should ignore the rules to make them more attractive to potential buyers. Conveniently their next court hearing won't be until after the season has finished, so no liquidation until then. Is it really too much to ask for the League to enforce their own rules rather than attempt to wriggle out of their responsibilities? It seems they are determined to do whatever they can to ensure that Bolton fulfil their fixtures this season, including lending them money. If/when they go down it will be interesting. Last time round they were in a similar boat to us with a squad too good for League One and not much by way of competition other than Sheffield United. This time round might not be as smooth a ride, especially with 3-4 of Ipswich, Barnsley, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Charlton probably in there too.