JHRover

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.

Fairly sure it wasnt anything to do with the fans. Presume therefore that the club paid for it. Suspect Waggott or Pasha behind it.

Huddersfield have been having poor results everywhere recently, except when we turned up.

You are never going to get that information. So do you oppose any change until the club provides you with a portfolio of accounts and a shortlist of targets who have indicated that they would take the job before supporting a change?

The Mowbray flag was out pre match again yesterday. A sign there's no appetite at all for him to go. Where else would the club pay for a huge flag of the manager and wave it on the pitch pre-match? Looks good in India I suppose.

The sad/infuriating thing is that he and his superiors probably think he did a good job today. Got through a 'high profile' local derby fixture with no serious trouble or antagonism. Local derby and the referee seems to think it is his responsibility to keep things calm and avoid red cards if at all possible. I'm certain that was the reason he made a point of not booking anyone in the first half. If you wanted a bloke to allow the game to slow down and take any bite out of it he did a good job of that and he's probably pleased with himself for it. Preston were more than happy with that. The way we play we need the game to keep flowing.

Where/when did he say that?

Yes but 12 months ago I recall Mowbray suggesting that we should be looking to emulate Sheffield, now he's on about Brentford even though the two are very different

Plan B of sell Evans to Stoke might now be in doubt?

12 months ago we were supposed to be following Sheffield United. Now Brentford. Even though both have very different structures and recruitment policies. We aren't close to either.

Never really felt we would win the game after we conceded the equaliser. Truth be told in the second half we didn't do enough in front of goal to deserve a win. Yes we had the better of it but nowhere near enough to force the issue against a side happy with the point. Preston a poor side but we knew that already. Another opportunity for revenge and 3 points after an awful Christmas passes by. 6 without a win and an away game next at a decent side. I warned about Preston's cheating ways and true to form they delivered. Tried the dive for a penalty but thankfully the referee wasnt having it. One of the few positives I can attribute to the officials today. Absolutely appalling performance from the referee who should be embarrassed to collect a wage after that. The worst of the lot was when Johnson was clattered by Stockley and went to ground holding his face. Not only did the referee bizarrely decide not to give a foul but also ignored the head injury, allowing Preston to attack and only stopping the game when we had come in to possession. To come out of that game with 2 yellows to their 0 has to be one of the most ludicrous things I have ever seen. The lineman in front of me succeeded in getting through the whole game without putting his flag up and spent half the game explaining decisions to their manager in the dugout. Sadly we don't seem to be a win at all costs team. We'll huff and puff and keep going to the end but we won't turn to dark arts or cynical play or be ruthless enough to snatch wins from these sort of games.

Bit late for that having spent 2 weeks advertising that tickets wouldn't be available on the day and that a purchasing history would be required. Seems Waggott has misjudged it again and has had to back down in an attempt to get more through the turnstiles. Who decided/agreed to such strict rules in the first place?

Expect a penalty to go their way. This lot are well trained in going down and winning penalties, got it down to a fine art. Hope we are prepared and don't play right into their hands. Likewise if we go behind they'll be wasting time like it's going out of fashion.

Because they literally have nothing else to talk about. You'd have to be at state pension age to remember them even playing in the top league nevermind being any good. Dingles were the same until they got up to the Premier League and the myth is being busted. Bit like Leeds who as soon as they became rubbish spent all their time talking about crowds.

Its obvious that there's no money in the kitty for players. That's been the case virtually every January since Venkys turned up. Has to wait until the May annual review unless funds can be generated internally. So what we will have is some shuffling around to try and move a few out to raise a few quid off the wage bill in the hope we do enough to bring in a couple of loans the other way until the summer. Make do and mend. Doesn't take much to set rumours in motion about big names like Assombalonga and Darlow even though its obvious they weren't coming here unless their clubs agreed to an insane loan deal. We tried it on with Harrison Reed and Southampton again last summer only came up short because Fulham entered the race. Good policy if your concern is keeping the owners happy and saving them a few quid along the way but it won't work as far as promotion is concerned. This summer again will require a substantial turnover in personnel.