Our record against local rivals over the last 6-7 years has been dreadful. Beating us may well be the only thing they have left to play for by then.

Rotherham's next 3 games are Villa at home, Stoke and Swansea away. I think they'll struggle to get many points from those, but would anyone be surprised if they did Villa and won? Just the sort of crazy thing that happens at this stage of the season that blows the relegation battle wide open.

We've got one slot to avoid as Bolton and Ipswich are doomed and will not catch us from here. There are 6 clubs from 3rd bottom upwards below us, including Birmingham who have been docked 9 points, QPR who are in as bad a run as we are, and Rotherham who have found wins very hard to come by. If we get sucked any closer to the bottom 3 than we are currently then I am going to start to panic. Reading/Rotherham turned us over recently, Millwall have just beat West Brom. Some people had the deckchairs out enjoying 'consolidation' in February seemingly unaware that safety hadn't been secured and that when you get into this stage of the season teams will fight for their lives and pull wins out of the bag. I suppose now is the time to wonder what might have been had Mowbray gone to Reading and played his best team, or if the team had shown some backbone after equalising v Reading and Rotherham rather than collapsing straight after.

It all comes back to Mowbray over-complicating things. I accept his footballing knowledge is vastly superior to ours but sometimes there's merit to be had in keeping the game simple and straightforward. Consistency in tactics, selection, systems, everyone knows where they are and what they are meant to do and can focus on doing it better. Instead I've no idea what to expect from one week to the next and can't believe the players really do. You need a new CB so sign one. Instead we sign a CM and experiment with converting him into a CB whilst he is on a 1 year deal and free to leave soon. We are short at CB so allow our only proven CB to go out on loan and instead attempt to convert a poor LB into a CB. We try to be clever by moving Elliott Bennett through 5-6 different positions on a match by match basis either out of determination to find somewhere in the team for him or to try and prove a point about how brilliantly versatile he is. We sign an assortment of attacking midfield players and forwards and then deploy them out wide - Armstrong, Antonsson, Brereton.

I would hope that having lost £150 million so far and facing the prospect of losing much more to come that eventually they would be motivated to do something. The fact they don't as they keep it going every year suggests they aren't that bothered about it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am convinced that our best and probably only route to any success at this level or above whilst we have these clueless absentee owners is to adopt a head coach and director of football style structure. It seems a lot of people are uncomfortable with such a structure and prefer the old school approach of the entire club being in the hands of the manager but I don't think that approach can work here unless Venkys concede power which after 8 years seems unlikely. The sporting director or director of football would be headhunted and tasked by the owners to oversee the entire football operation, working alongside the CEO and Finance Director. That man would be given an overall target e.g. to get to the Premier League and would be given a budget each year and control over the operation, with the ability to hire and fire as he deems necessary in pursuit of that end goal. This person would need to be someone who has worked in such a position preferably in similar circumstances at a high level English or European club before and knows what the job is about. Someone with clear credentials who knows the job and has the contacts to recruit accordingly. In terms of transfers the owners would effectively have no involvement in this other than to sanction budgets and expenditure and perhaps increase funding upon request should it be required. It would put a stop to this nonsense of the manager jumping onto a plane 2-3 times a year to go and meet the owners, the nonsense of him having to go and prove himself and build up trust and 'teach' them as it seems Mowbray has spent time doing. The head coach is based in the UK and spends his time coaching the squad and working with the Director of Football to recruit new players. He doesn't need to meet the owners or speak to them. The D of F can do that with Waggott and has the time during the season to go off to India to sort out budgets and update them. The other benefit of this structure is that if results nosedive as they have here recently there need not be the massive gaping hole created should the manager be sacked. The trust, remit, plan would remain in the hands of the director, the head coach would be changed in pursuit of this should results not be good enough. In many ways similar to what Norwich have done - they had the old school approach and it was in some ways successful for them under Lambert and Neil in getting up, but once Neil was sacked they took a step back, decided they wanted to go down this route and headhunted Webber from Huddersfield who was given a job and went out and employed Farke as head coach. Difference being that Norwich have local owners who take an interest but day to day the operation could be the same here. We appeared to be leaning towards such a structure when Paul Senior was appointed as D of F, although the timing - mid season - and whilst a manager was already in place hardly suggested a grand plan in place and his credentials and experience were dubious at best given he had never operated in that role before despite his ludicrous claims. However this was swiftly abandoned in favour of enhancing Mowbray's powers, the result being that recruitment has been entirely at Mowbray's behest and lets be honest it seems the majority of it he has got wrong. Who has been alongside Mowbray keeping signings in check? A D of F almost certainly wouldn't have allowed the fiasco with Brereton to happen, for example. The situation we're in now is exactly the one i was worried about months ago which I remember raising on here - the structure with Mowbray meeting the owners and having all power in his hands is fine - as long as results continue to be positive - but when things start to go wrong as they are - we are left in a precarious position. We're now terrified of making a managerial change as there's fear of who on earth Venkys will go for next and fear that the whole thing will then need rebuilding after Mowbray has gone. He was always going to go at some point sooner or later - whether that be tomorrow or in 4 years time - so the club should have a contingency plan in place at all times and be able to cope with such a departure - yet I doubt it does. All this nonsense with building up trust with the owners - presumably the new man whenever and whoever that might be - will have to go through the same process again of going off to India, meeting them, getting to know them etc. It is outrageous and unworkable. These days the manager/head coach cannot be the centre of the club. Especially not with foreign ownership and a lack of expertise at director/ownership level. So rather than just picking names of new managers out of a hat, when the time comes to bring a new man in I believe that we need to be putting in place this structure. This starts with someone going and finding a director of football who is going to take on this responsibility and letting that man deal with the owners and put his structure in place. Flowing from that would be a head coach and his staff - ideally along the lines of Wagner, Carvalhal or Jokanovic - or how about Stendel from Barnsley if they don't go up - or trust the D of F to be able to go and unearth someone from abroad who could do it. I won't hold my breath. It will be the same old boring rubbish when Mowbray does go. It will be Pasha and Waggott going and finding someone cheap and available who is prepared to go and kneel at Madame's feet and be a nice man and the circle will start all over again. The structure is inherently flawed and doomed to fail IMO and a quick look around rival clubs shows how far out of our depth we our with our cheap and cheerful setup.

Sadly I don't think there's anyone at the club who knows these things or has any interest in them. The only way anything like this would happen is if the Community Trust ran it (as they do with virtually everything these days) or if the Football League instructed them to do it e.g. Kick it Out day. Expecting someone at the Club to take the initiative in commemorating our former players is too much to ask, evidently.

I suspect because for the sake of this season we had to defend him and ensure he didn't go to jail. Also if he had been given a custodial sentence then his value would have plummeted. As the summer window comes into view eyes will be on a big sale if necessary and work building towards that begins.

Not quite. I accept they don't care what the fans think but they do go to significant lengths to build up an image of themselves. Time after time the manager or board members will credit the owners for their generosity, their support, tell us that they're desperate for the club to succeed. If supporters are led to believe that the problem isn't Venkys or Rovers but the source of all our ills is a player who has become a liability or a disruption and that player is subsequently sold then it is an easier sell, and avoids blame being laid at their door. If the player is as good as gold and worshipped by the supporters one or two would be peeved when he gets sold to a rival. We've seen it 4-5 times with Rovers players who attract interest from elsewhere. Marshall was the most obvious one - they managed to make him out to be a problem player, invented contract 'talks' that never came to anything so when he was sold to Wolves it was on the basis he was being hard work and our only choice was to let him go, when actually before that we'd been actively selling anyone who could raise a few quid. Even Rhodes ended up going to the press to express his unhappiness at their conduct and they managed to turn that around as Rhodes not wanting to be here and as a result we had to sell. Not saying that's what is happening here but I wouldn't rule it out either. If money is going to be tight and selling Dack is the key to raising funds or impressing the owners and persuading them to invest again then I'd expect to see more examples of his 'disruptive' behaviour going on between now and the summer, and also talk of him 'rejecting' a 'contract offer' which ultimately will convince people there's only one solution - a sale.

I agree with your figure of eight. However I don't think Venkys will, or certainly not at the calibre required. Downing, Rodwell, Reed, Gladwin and Conway are out of contract so there are five slots coming open, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Conway given an extension by default in the absence of us being able to find anyone else. A couple of those will be loans so my guess is a CB, CM and CF on permanent and then another midfielder and defender on loan. Doubt Venkys or Mowbray will have the appetite to make radical changes in fact Mowbray is probably afraid of doing this.

The only thing that might disrupt that comfortable arrangement is the presence of Pasha. If he's the one sending messages back to India then he might be able to bring a change. I think it was him who got rid of Bowyer and appointed Lambert despite us all being told Bowyer was safe through his relationship with Madame.

Maybe it isn't a conspiracy. Maybe it is. Who knows. I take what the club says with a pinch of salt these days. I wouldn't rule anything out. The fact we're discussing selling Dack and him being a problem after what has happened recently is convenient.

We've got about 300 pages on here discussing our major weaknesses and need to strengthen massively in the summer, yet I suspect our first priorities will be to cash in on arguably our best and most valuable player and sending Reed back to Southampton. Then no doubt there'll be folk stratching their heads when we're bottom of the league next season. Clubs that want to progress and improve keep their best players and work out ways to replace those not good enough. Dack is good enough so his position should be bottom of the list of issues that need addressing. We have to rebuild our defence, central midfield and find more goals, not offload our most creative player. As we can see though, the club PR machine is busy at work convincing people that Dack is a major problem and we'd be better off getting shut. Convenient really. Not Venkys or Rovers fault. Never is.

Interesting statistic. I suspect that won't be mentioned in the pre-match club and Telegraph propaganda. It will be all about Frank Lampard, what a brilliant side they have and how they're pushing for the play-offs and we should be grateful to be hosting them. They'll be more up for it than us as it's a must win for them to secure a play-off position.

I suppose it comes down to whether you merely want to accept the narrative provided by the club and don't have any doubts about the owners and regime they've installed at the club. Given what I've seen and heard over the last few years I'm not ruling anything out.

I'll throw another conspiracy theory into the mix. Mowbray has heard via Pasha that his budget for the summer is likely to be small. Numerous reasons why this might be the case - Venkys have lost interest after the success of last season - Venkys feel as though their fingers were burned last summer - Venkys have changed course again - we saw it with Bowyer and Lambert that they can quickly pull up the drawbridge on funding and leave the manager in situ struggling. As things stand the only way he'll win them over or get decent funds to strengthen is by selling to raise cash - see Lambert with Rhodes Anyone can see the only realistic prospect we have at this moment in time to do that is by selling Dack - perhaps not at the values suggested in January but probably still £8-10 million given his record. So begins a process of phasing Dack out and unsettling him to prepare for the sale - hence we've got the shenanigans seen yesterday. It won't be long before people on here and Twitter are encouraging the club to sell Dack as we don't need that sort of behaviour here and we can't tolerate it etc. But rather than it being a Dack issue perhaps it is a Rovers issue - that they're trying to sell him and force him out as it is the only way cash will be raised. Just a thought. It wouldn't surprise me. Remember the 'contract talks' that were supposedly taking place with him in January that have never come to anything? We've seen stuff like this before - ultimately the aim is to sell the player for big money whilst shielding Venkys and Rovers from criticism by turning the spotlight onto the player.

As the summer approaches I think Mowbray is picking his side with a non-football agenda in mind. The exclusion of Harrison Reed, who is arguably our best midfield player and as versatile and better than Bennett isn't to do with his performances or ability, it is to do with the strong likelihood he won't be here next season or has grown fed up with Mowbray's tinkering at his expense. His impending departure doesn't fit with Mowbray's 'commitment' mantra which he seems to attach great weight to which is why he starts Bennett and Smallwood. The curious case of Jack Rodwell - signed in the summer to play CB yet when Mulgrew gets injured he brings on Derrick Williams - again I suspect is probably motivated in part by non-footballing factors - does he trigger a new contract if he plays more games? The continual movement of Bennett around the team and his staunch refusal to ever drop him is becoming a parody now. I like Bennett - he can play in a few positions and his effort can't be questioned and I'm sure he's a 'leader' in the dressing room - but he's now played in something like 6 different positions at various times in the last couple of months - off Graham, CM, LM, RM, RB and LWB. Is Mowbray trying to show everyone just how versatile Bennett is by moving him here there and everywhere? Is he so determined to have him in the XI that he'll play him ANYWHERE? It's beyond strange but I don't believe it is actually doing Bennett or us any good. Like a few others he would benefit from having to earn a place in the team, be dropped if he doesn't play well or be given a run in his best position and play there for a while - you can say the same for Travis, Reed and Armstrong.

Not going to happen in the Championship. In League One it might. We're going to lose millions a year until we get promoted or unless we sell a £15 million of talent each year. The academy helps but it's only part of it.

So we can't afford to get it wrong and yet you'd go with Johnson who has never managed before? We would either need to go down the route of experience of this level with recent success in it (not one season 10 years ago) or alternatively have the conviction to unearth a foreign gem like Norwich, Huddersfield and Middlesbrough did. The first of those requires a big chequebook as those managers are sought after and can name a higher prices, the second group require a plan and brains at the top of the club to know what to look for and cast the net wide enough to find it. Neither will happen.

It's the lack of evidence of any change that worries me the most. I accept bad runs are a part of football, I accept we don't have a particularly good squad for this level (although the manager is responsible for that). What concerns me however is that this has now been happening for more than 2 months and there's no sign of anything changing or getting better. We still can't keep a clean sheet - in contrast Stoke have arrested their defensive woes under a new manager and kept 5 in a row. If we started things off by being hard to beat I'd see progress. We aren't creating much or scoring many goals. We aren't offering anything. The whole thing is just so predictable, boring. Someone said earlier that we'd scored 6 home first half goals in 19 games this season. Make that 20. An awful stat. Once again though we had a positive first 10 minutes, 'nearly' scored and then regress and the opposition score with their first chance of the game. Almost an exact repeat of Preston, very similar to Middlesbrough and Bristol City. I'd love to see something, anything, to give me reason to be optimistic but the whole thing i find boring, predictable, frustrating and our slide towards the bottom 3 is alarming. The call for patience is only valid if there's confidence this is only a blip that will soon be overcome. Where is the basis for that confidence? If it clearly isn't working then 'patience' becomes negligence as we slide down the table to oblivion. Things need to change, and sharpish, if this manager can't or won't do it then someone else needs to. The worry is he's done this before at Boro and Coventry and arguably WBA where after a positive 12-18 months things have rapidly unravelled and he's had no solution to it. The cost of allowing him another summer to squander substantial funds is far greater than firing him and employing a better manager, or going back to League One, so the cost argument is a non-starter.

A healthy crowd on today. 17,500 with nearly 2000 from Stoke and 2500 given away still leaves 13000 home paying fans which is more than usual. Unfortunately it was another turgid afternoon of mind numbing inane football and no goals so doubt many will be counting down the hours to the next one.

Reed is out of favour because he's going at the end of the season. Either that or he's unhappy at being shunted out wide every week whilst Smallwood starts in his position. Either way he's now being 'punished' by gradually being phased out of the equation. He's gone from being a regular starter to a regular sub and now not even getting off the bench. Ultimate outcome is we're seeing arguably our best midfielder pushed out of the team whilst the usual plodders carry on every week. Sickening really. Mowbray has never really liked Travis and only ever put him in the team through necessity over Xmas and that he became undroppable through his performances. He's seized the first chance he could get to drop him out again. Both Reed and Travis would have been better options in that team than Smallwood, Evans or Bennett. He's burnt his bridges big style today with that selection.

Today might be a good day to announce season ticket prices for next season. The club is running this idea in the BBE upper and will have an extra 2500 fans at Ewood for what might be the only time this season. If they want those people to commit to coming back my first approach would be to give them all a leaflet with details for buying and an incentive to do it before the end of April.

I don't doubt for one minute that Mowbray would like those positions to be improved and would like to get those players in quickly in the summer. If he didn't after what we've witnessed this season I'd be extremely concerned about his judgment. But then we come back to the owners and the structure here. What Mowbray would like and what he is going to be allowed/able to get could be two very different things. Does he know what budget he has yet? I doubt it. Does he know what the owners will agree to? Doubt it. Did he know in April or May last year that the Ben Brereton money was coming? Doubt it.

Heading north to Scotland, Carlisle, Newcastle etc. tend to be better prices than going south. It' slightly cheaper when I'm booking trains to London to go from Manchester than Preston. Bizarrely it also used to be cheaper to get the train from Lancaster to London than from Preston to London, and also cheaper to get a ticket from Preston to Wigan and Wigan to London on the same train than one ticket straight through.