JHRover

That alone is a concern. At a normal club Mowbray's performance over the next 3 months would feed into whether he remains at the club into the summer. Nothing wrong with wanting him to be and planning on the basis he will be but there's a lot of games to play yet and if we go on a repeat of last year and collapse over February and March I would expect that to be factored in rather than just completely ignored because we have injuries or have given up on promotion in January. I look at Preston who we were almost at the point of overtaking not long ago who are now back in the play-off picture. I don't think their manager told their players that their season was over and to look to next season.

We aren't a small club. Our average crowds are mid range in this division. Leeds are an exception to the norm because they have a catchment area of millions of people behind them. It hasn't helped them because they've been outside the top division for 15 years. Similar can be said of Forest and Sheffield Wednesday. It proves fanbases are a secondary issue.

This is exactly the issue. If I could see a really good squad being progressively assembled with a couple of steps forward each window then I'd be more comfortable with the 'work in progress' theory. But I look at the current state of our squad and our transfer dealings and have little faith in us doing the necessary. I look at this summer with trepidation. I see a major overhaul required with a number of key positions needing attention just to replace those we know are unlikely to be here next year. We've already got the excuses lined up with Ffp concerns, and a manager/structure that struggles to get business done. All well and good talking about developing youngsters but that carries immense risk of backfiring. I'd rather not gamble with our League status to do it. Unless we radically change our approach I foresee difficulties in the summer and beyond. Will the manager have any idea as to his budget or otherwise at this stage? Unlikely. Which makes me wonder how much of a plan there can be.

Predictable and dull. We offered nothing until behind, I believe Mowbray set out purely to nullify Fulham, keep it at 0-0 and nick a goal if possible. Fulham aren't that good despite the hysteria. Their fans singing 'how sh** must you be, we're winning away' sums up their away record. We showed them too much respect. Lack of options a concern but that situation has been building for weeks and we've just wasted a transfer window so hard luck stories are completely unacceptable. I'm looking at our remaining fixtures and am not expecting many wins. We won't have the bottle at places like Charlton or Wigan whilst home games v the better sides will likely see a repeat of today. I'll be glad when we reach 50 points but won't be relishing the summer window

Waste of time doing that. 99% of fans won't see it and nobody names pitches after players. If he doesn't want to rename the Riverside then commission a statue or gateway outside the ground. That requires effort/money so I won't expect that to happen.

Not this nonsense again. How do all the other clubs in the Championship and below sign players if it is so difficult? Our wage bill is mid-table. Our CEO has said the same. Our losses indicate that to be the case. Without sales we have, allegedly, spent £15 million since 2018. The 'woe is us' attitude that we are poor victims of clubs, players and managers moving goalposts and taking the mick out of us i just don't accept. As above - other clubs at this level, including ones with inferior resources to us, are able to get their targets in the building. Two years running now we have failed. Once you could put down to bad luck or misfortune, but twice in a row suggests there is a structural failure with our recruitment department.

No, Senior brought in as a troubleshooter, advises to get shut of Coyle and eventually they heed that advice and act after months of doing nothing.

Yes but the point is clear. Venkys take no interest in results, performances or the fans. They'll only make a change when someone has the guts to recommend it to them and even then it takes an age to happen.

Fake news that Shaw was taken to court for acting without authorisation from upstairs? Fake news that Kean and Lambert resigned so there was no 'bullet' to speak of? Fake news that Bowyer and Coyle left the club very soon after the emergence of third parties Pasha and Senior after the owners had done nothing for months? Maybe Venkys did 'authorise' the sackings but the push for it came from people they brought in.

Funny one but Venkys don't sack managers. They didn't sack Kean even though he was loathed and wrecked the club. He walked after they brought Shebby in. They didn't sack Berg. Shaw did. They didn't sack Appleton. Shebby did. They didn't sack Bowyer. Pasha did. They didn't sack Lambert. He walked. They didn't sack Coyle. They brought Senior in who got shut or recommended Pasha to get shut. Either way nothing happened for months and then within weeks of Senior arriving he was gone. Venkys just want someone in place who will tell them what they want to hear, stick up for them, fly to India a couple of times a year. Not particularly bothered about results, performances or league position.

The problem we have here, which is going to only get bigger as more time passes, is that we have allowed Mowbray the manager to build the club and direct the club on and off the pitch exactly how he wants it, in his image and with his close input. This goes beyond appointing the coaching staff, scouts, CEO, Venus as Head of Football, it also reaches every corner of recruitment. Now all that is fine as long as the results keep coming along and we keep making positive progress. I think the vast majority of fans would agree that our trajectory has been overall positive under Mowbray and that we are in better health football wise now than we were under the wretched Coyle. Clearly the central component of this was getting promoted back at the first opportunity. But the flip side is that there will now be a reluctance to make a managerial change moving forward even when it might be necessary for the benefit of the club. Why? Because Mowbray's departure would leave a gaping chasm at the club and probably see things unravel on and off the pitch. Because of that people at the club and in the fanbase treat such a notion as something horrific and to be avoided. It shouldn't be like this. Changing a manager, whilst not ideal or enjoyable, is necessary at all levels in football. Yet we have hamstrung ourselves by building a Championship football club on the manager's shoulders.

'Defenders are coming' became 3 players on loan, one of which is a keeper inferior to the one we sold. It is now nearly 12 months since Mowbray promised defenders and come the summer we will have Lenihan, Nyambe and Williams as our senior contracted defensive players. We've made no progress there, other than Nyambe improving his game and Lenihan clearly being very important to us. We can debate whether Tosin and Cunningham represent improvement on last season, I accept they probably are, but the reality is not enough to get us where we want to be and unlikely to be back. The GK fiasco is a major concern. Mowbray now talks about signing 2 keepers in the summer. But why should I believe that after what happened last year? Time and time again he's made these sort of promises to the fans and then what actually happens falls some way short. I don't see a medium term plan. I see a club operating on 12 month cycles trying to manage as best they can with what is allocated by the owners. There remains a clear and obvious policy of not spending on the defence or goalkeeper positions, preferring to make do with loans for 6-12 months, whilst allocating all our resources on projects up front.

Not sure that tonight really takes us any further than we've been at the last couple of meets. Seems to be 'business as usual' with very much the same stuff coming out. Owners are committed, manager and CEO only want to be judged on what happens whilst they are here, money available but not being spent (heard that one before). I agree with Mattyblue that the slip from Waggott about the academy is potentially concerning if you interpret these things at face value. Clearly if there is a view to ending Category A status this is completely at odds with the recent proclamations about developing youth and FFP worries. As we've done to death on numerous occasions, academy expenditure is exempt from FFP calculations so if there is a reduction in funding to the academy that will be entirely of Venkys own volition. Strange thing to do if they are desperate to invest. Then again maybe just a poor choice of words from Waggott. Not sure re-use of pint glasses and concerns about contamination or the location of away fans during games are really issues that should be dealt with at these meetings. These are bi-annual precisely because they should cover much more than the usual gripes and matchday preferences.

Again, I think hoping those 3 were adequate replacements for Dack was foolish and naive. Buckley has looked out of his depth, Holtby not put a run together and the manager clearly doesn't fancy Rothwell. Doesn't really matter now though. Just looking forward to Mowbray and co. moaning about our injuries and the cycle will be complete.

Derby just signed Groningen captain from the summer. FFP clearly causing them massive problems....

When did Dack get injured? We had time and opportunity to address his absence and failed. Anyone who has paid any attention to Holtby's career would know he's an injury waiting to happen. One hell of a gamble. A serious club would have gone and signed a Dack replacement the minute his injury was diagnosed. Instead we've done the usual routine of shuffle around, make do and mend and now we will suffer the consequences of that.

An entirely predictable development. Whilst unfortunate only an idiot would have expected us to navigate the rest of the season without long term injury. Unfortunately for Holtby and the reason he is at Rovers is he has never been good with fitness and injuries. If our solution to the Dack injury was to sit back and hope Holtby picked up the slack whilst playing 20 odd games without injury then someone needs firing because it was never going to work. Like early last February we were punished by losing Lenihan, the same has happened now. You get what you deserve and we've asked for this.

Trouble is you'll get your usual 500 or so away day regulars and the other 500 or so London/South based Rovers fans. These people will go to all the London and SE away games anyway, whether it is £5 or £25. Then you might get an extra few hundred who are enticed by the bargain tickets who fancy it. Probably not much more than 1500 actually go because as good as the price is it is still a long trek, expensive travel and a full day job for what amounts to a fairly nondescript fixture. I'd love to see the results at Ewood if we made say Bristol City at home £5 anywhere in the ground for any age group, started selling and advertising now, especially if we were pushing the top 6. Sadly that's isnt ever going to happen. Charlton can do it but we can't.

I think all clubs are going to have to realise that prices for match tickets are going to have to radically reduce, never mind increase further. With the increase in internet and TV viewing and growing prices its only a matter of time before going to watch games becomes an expensive luxury and the younger generation don't bother with it. Anyone who goes to midweek games will see this unfolding. People like Waggott can come up with whatever numbers they like to try and justify £30 second division match tickets. It can't last.

We got trains from Manchester for £35 with a railcard but booked a few weeks ago.

There's no reason why this can't be done or alternatively a statue or bust putting somewhere to commemorate Parkes' contribution to the club. The Riverside isn't sponsored by anyone although they did do that odd thing and remove the RFS signs and replace them with Venkys earlier this season. Remember the spell when someone upstairs decided to rename the Blackburn and Darwen Ends after Clayton and Douglas. Fitting tributes which were done well with big signs and murals of them up. Be nice if similar could be done across the front of the Riverside. I always wanted us to use the top of the Riverside to mark each of our trophies but this is probably more appropriate.

Fulham's away record is mediocre. Won 5, drawn 5, lost 4. 20 points from 42. A bit better than our away record but not much. We are unbeaten at home in months. It's an opportunity to close the gap on those above us.

Are you referring to me or Venkys?

The answer to the question is yes - we can make the play offs. Beyond being achievable with the points remaining it is also a wide open division and in the end you could pick any 2-3 from about 10 who will secure 4th, 5th and 6th spot. In the position we are the manager, his staff and the players should be targeting the top 6. If they don't believe that is achievable or don't do everything they can to try and get there then they are probably in the wrong jobs. If you aren't going to target it from this position then you never will. Nobody aims for midtable in this league. As I've said before being 4, 5, 6 points off the top 6 isn't really an achievement at this stage. Obviously better than being 15 points off but the reality of the play-off system and the congested nature of this league is you will always have 10+ teams in early February threatening to get into those positions. Most won't last and will fall away. That isn't to say that people DEMAND promotion, or think they have a god given right to success. But if you don't aim for it you won't get it. That's why I get annoyed with Mowbray and his 'target' of 70 points or 'better' than last year - both are ultimately futile targets - it matters not whether we get 71 points or 51 because come August we will be kicking off on 0 points with 23 other clubs. What matters is getting promotion. If Mowbray doesn't feel that is achievable then he should move on because it is achievable and it is quite probable that sides like Forest, Preston or Swansea will be getting into the top 6 - i don't accept they have anything we don't as a club. Notice when Warnock went into Cardiff who were bottom of the league he didn't sit there talking about increasing point returns each year or a 3-4 year build. He didn't have time for that. He wanted promotion and did it in his first season. I could accept the gradual improvement idea if there was a reason to believe that foundations were being built and a class squad being assembled whereby each window we address deficiencies in a carefully thought out way - but that isn't what is happening. Our transfer policy is chaotic, limited and shoddy, and we face a summer of wailing about FFP whilst trying to once again rebuild GK, defence and attack because these areas have been neglected. That's before dealing with sales of key players which will come sooner or later. Once all that happens it is then we start the 'consolidation' stuff again and around it goes in circles. Can anyone genuinely say that we have kicked on and improved from last season or learned lessons? Cos I can't see much evidence of it. Will we get into the play-offs? Probably not, for a range of reasons stretching from injuries to the manager to a thin squad and a refusal/failure to strengthen just like last season.

Yes but most clubs have at least one senior keeper on their own books. We don't. All well and good moaning about other clubs, players and agents. The summer window lasts for months, we should always have lists anyway. In the end we are a big club in one of the biggest leagues in Europe. Not being able to sign our own keeper is ridiculous. Build from the back is the way it should go yet for starters this summer we are going to need 2x keepers a first choice CB and LB. We know that right now. So no excuses when it doesn't happen.