No you previously said that Hughton performs worse without Calderwood as his assistant. I'm not sure what that is based on or even if it is correct given he got Brighton promoted and kept them in the Premier League two years running with Trollope as his assistant. I've already said style of play is irrelevant Our performances this season under Mowbray have been some of the most dull, uninspiring, clueless displays I can remember in my life following Rovers. It is an insult to suggest we should exclude good managers from this club on the basis of style when we are performing as we are under a manager that claims to favour positive football. So what if he turned down Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke? Stoke are and were well behind us in the table, Sheffield Wednesday are apparently about to get nailed with Ffp sanctions whereas we have, apparently, built a solid base and are Ffp compliant. We should sell ourselves as a club to good.managers. Not sit back and expect managers to sell themselves to us. If we had vision and foresight we would know that McCarthy's spell with Ireland ends at the latest in June following the Euros and possibly before then if they don't qualify. Even if Mowbray goes nowhere soon we should be making plans for a future without him and getting an agreement in place asap. Garcia is Oscar Garcia. Ex Brighton and Watford. Available for an ambitious club. Warnock would come if we made him a good enough offer and promised him freedom to get on with it. We won't offer him that though. You seem keen on two people one of whom has never been a manager and the other who has spent 7 years at Wycombe Wanderers, mainly in League Two. No reason to think either could handle this job in the Championship.

Interesting that you don't want Hughton or McCarthy due to their styles of play yet you would be keen on Karanka or O'Neill who both had similar approaches in their previous jobs at Middlesbrough and Northern Ireland. Pearson is a head case who wouldnt work with Venkys. He would be gone quicker than Lambert. For me it would have to be: Hughton, Karanka, Carvalhal, Garcia, McCarthy (end of season), Stendel, Stam, Warnock. Plenty of options. All gettable.

I'm not absolutely sure that it was his choice. But that's a different story. I believe that his stubborn persistence with Gallagher at the expense of Graham is either him trying to keep the owners happy or is the owners insisting on his inclusion to protect their investment.

Mowbray a lucky man tonight. That 3rd goal saves his blushes and likely sees the circus carry on for a few more weeks. Obvious to anyone watching that game that we are a team in big trouble with a manager out of ideas. A competent executive structure would be highly alarmed by this afternoon, Waggott will be toasting the win knowing him and his mate are safe a while longer.

That interview is a disgrace. The entirely predictable excuses about injuries appearing when everyone knew we were short at the back and would struggle to cope with what we had. Mowbray then makes a veiled dig at people saying we should have signed more defenders saying he isn't prepared to 'stack' them up. Nobody is suggesting that. We went through the summer with Lenihan and Mulgrew as our only fit established CBs. We've done it on the cheap by trying to convert Williams into one. Added a young lad on loan and then replaced Mulgrew at CB with Cunningham at LB. Any manager with an understanding of these players would know Lenihan is a certainty to miss weeks of a season with his history. It would have been sufficient to sign two natural, experienced CBs who haven't spent their lives in the treatment room. Not one admission that his recruitment, management or coaching is in any shape or form relevant to our dire defence and results. If he couldn't address the defence last summer with what we had last season and the cash he had then he's beyond redemption and certainly doesn't deserve another shot at it. If he still believes that his transfer business in the summer was sufficient and that our struggles are down to injuries then he needs his head looking at.

Another dire performance from the u23s. Very few positives to take against a City side who have struggled this season yet played us off the park. Most worrying for me is the striking similarities in 'style' of play with the first team. Seems to me that the Mowbray 'philosophy' is entrenched in the u23s too. Sideways and backwards passing, no end product. Rubbish.

What happens if Ipswich go up on goal difference having had a walk in the park 5-0 win against Bolton or Tranmere stop up by a couple of points thanks to their walk over? It goes way beyond just the Bolton/Doncaster scenario. It impacts just every team to varying degrees but particularly those competing for promotion or survival. As I've said before - we go to Luton at the end of the season. Let's say we are 3 points above Luton with a +3 goal difference. Luton need to beat us by 2 goals to stay up. We don't fancy the risk so simply don't turn up. Precedent says they award Luton 3 points like they did with Brentford last season. We stay up on goal difference and don't get punished.

A consortium made up of the Sultan of Brunei, King of Saudi Arabia, Emir of Qatar and Bill Gates could publicly ring Venkys every day for a month to try and buy the club and they'd refuse to even answer and Rovers fans would still believe nobody was interested and Venkys are the best we can hope.for.

Looking forward to the fireworks from this one. Quite clear the League are fuming with the outcome of this 'panel' and will be pushing an appeal all the way. This will be because member clubs especially those in League One will be kicking up a fuss about it. This isnt something that can be kicked into the long grass and be left for another year like Birmingham was. It needs dealing with quickly as the competition is being affected and teams will suffer the consequences over the rest of the season.

Can't do that. Except Brighton did. And Wolves. And Villa. And QPR. And Leicester. And Bournemouth.

Bolton will survive now. Only 3 places to climb above and Southend and Wimbledon are garbage. That's before Bolton add more players in January. This outcome entirely predictable in the hands of the weak and spineless Football League. I just hope other clubs test them by kicking up a fuss or even copying Bolton and not fulfilling fixtures. Conceivably in some rare cases it could help teams to not bother turning up for crucial games and take 3 points to the other team and a suspended punishment. The League once again do nothing and hope that everything will go quiet again. Meanwhile clubs like Stanley could lose their 3rd tier status this season as a result and with it the crippling financial consequences. Bolton will be celebrating at getting off scott free for their misdemeanors. And what's the point in an 18 month suspended sentence? Do they really think there's any chance of Bolton doing it again within the next 18 months? Disgusting.

Looking forward to watching us 'trying' to 'impose ourselves' at home on a Barnsley side bottom of the league.

Enough money to give a contract to a perennially injured League One standard player who plays in a position we don't need out of sympathy/loyalty yet not enough money to keep our 15 goal set piece specialist/captain who actually plays and in a position we are short on numbers. Something doesn't smell right.

I try to imagine Mowbray's Rovers up against Cook's Wigan in a dogfight and know which one I'd back. I can't stand Cook who I think is a repulsive individual but he will battle and fight for everything and use all the dirty tricks going if needed. Meanwhile whilst weve got a stronger squad of players we have a 'nice guy' mentality and 'principles' to stick to.

Not saying he hasn't been backed with cash, but perhaps he's had his hands tied in other ways. Perhaps its just because I'm trying to convince myself that no manager would ever be so stupid as to do what we have with spending nothing on the defence and everything on the attack.

It wouldn't surprise me if Venkys had done 'their thing' with Mowbray - promise the world, talk the talk, agree to certain things - only for that to not materialise down the line and he feels let down by it all. It wouldn't be the first time a manager has boldly talked of big plans and investment one minute and then down the line appeared fed up, annoyed, confused. Venkys will cart on because the cost and hassle of making a change doesn't appeal to them and the only ones who can make a decision couldn't care less about what is happening. All that doesn't take away from the fact that he has had a good budget by Championship standards, has recruited poorly in 90% of signings, failed to improve a poor defence and is presiding over a prolonged poor run of results. Managers are judged on results and performances not how nice they are or if they rejig the scouting department.

I think the only one of those that would be both willing and able to come back here and work under Venkys is Gary Bowyer. The rest have far too much money, pride, pedigree to need to waste their time here.

Expect another familiar tale. Positive first 10 minutes where we have them on the rack and apply pressure. They hang on in there and weather the storm. Score with their first chance of the game. We feel sorry for ourselves but rally after half time. Have nearly all the possession and pressure but cant score. Eventually get the equaliser and go home with a point. Manager can point towards another 'dominant' display.

I don't mind if the manager has a preference over where away fans are and is searching for every minor advantage to make us better at home. Martin O'Neill did it at Villa and moved away fans from behind the goal in the lower tier to the side stand thus ensuring home fans were behind both goals. Derby and Middlesbrough have done similar and shoved away fans to the corner to enable home fans behind each goal. Sadly all the evidence suggests the opposite - that the moving of away fans upstairs has not only worsened the atmosphere at Ewood with the large lower tier empty but also has seen results deteriorate from this time last season. More likely Waggott has to get approval from Mowbray for such a thing.

Quite a problem that it is now more than 18 years since the owner/largest shareholder in the club actually wanted to own it, wanted to improve it, wanted to better it and acted on that. I don't need to repeat things about Venkys and their complete lack of interest or pride in Rovers (can't even be bothered to come to the UK to watch the odd game). But even before Venkys we had reluctant and disinterested owners who had no interest in the club or growing and improving it. Admittedly they had the sense to employ capable people to run it for them but they were at best caretakers holding the fort whilst trying to get rid of the club.

It will be something like a family ticket for 4 costs £50. Not much else to learn from those minutes really.

Barnsley might bring 1000 or so to boost it a bit. Especially if they get a new manager by the weekend.

Incredible how much time has been and gone under their ownership. At my age I was too young to really enjoy the golden era of the early to mid 90s and wasnt old enough to be able to go to the European games abroad in the 2000s. The point at which I was able to travel and immerse myself in Rovers was in the late Hughes era of 2007-08. Unfortunately for me 9 of the 12 years since then have been dire. Bad timing. As for Venkys - I can't think of a single thing in 9 years that they have improved at Rovers. 9 years and god knows how many millions of pounds and not a single element of the club is better than it was when they arrived. Financially it is a disaster zone. Footballing wise we are nowhere near. Comercial/Corporate - regression Infrastructure- zero investment beyond essential maintenance and it shows Boardroom- almost an insult to compare to what it was. All the while smaller clubs without the 'benefit' of billionaire owners and Walkers legacy have caught up and overtook us. Simple question for Waggott at the start of the next consultation meeting - Steve, please can you name one single thing at Rovers that has benefited from Venky involvement in the last 9 years? If not, why should we be grateful at being £150 million in debt to them for it?

If Mowbray isnt going any time soon I'd be on the blower now to Mick McCarthy offering him and Terry Connor a job after the Euro playoffs are over to start in the summer.

Our Championship status. At the moment, as dull as it is and as obvious it is that a change in the dugout is required, we still remain a member of the 2nd tier, one good season away from the Premier League. Unlikely to happen under these idiots yes, but possible. A return to League One would be horrific in many ways. The job of being Rovers manager is one for an experienced gaffer who knows the duties, expectations and pressure of being a boss at this level or higher. Particularly when handling the extra baggage of the idiots in Pune and the sham board of directors. Weve seen this with the spells of Kean, Berg, Appleton and to a lesser extent Bowyer. I've no doubt that they will be desperate for Johnson to step into the managers office after Mowbray. I think this will be for a few reasons. Firstly he's already here and under contract which removes the need to conduct a comprehensive and potentially expensive recruitment process. Secondly they appear to still have delusions of being able to circumvent the transfer market by using all our own homegrown players and enhancing their values ready for sale. Sadly that isnt compatible with success on the pitch and will likely relegate us sooner rather than later. No other club does it. Do we know better than everyone else? Almost certainly not. Only a few clubs have gone with the promote a reserve coach to manager routine and none have lasted or ended well. The best there has been is Bowyer here and most people wanted him gone after a couple of years. I worry that the worse it gets under Mowbray that it will become more acceptable for us to take the easy option with Johnson and for it to be sold to the fans as a logical step. I don't dislike the bloke and saw what a good job he did with the u23s but my interest is in what is best for Blackburn Rovers not for one mans career or as a reward for hard work. The manager job is crucial and we need to explore the world in search of the best man for the job. Not just take the easiest option because we've a nice bloke who did well with the reserves already here.