JHRover

Spot on. There seems to be an attitude towards sacking managers that it is a bad thing that should be avoided but in reality in the vast majority of cases it is an essential part of club management and is required to push the club on to better things. Managers go in cycles. Usually a couple of seasons. A few exceptions at this level like Johnson at Bristol but he's had them improving each season at the right end of the league. You even look at Harris at Millwall - club legend who got them up and kept them up but this season realised time was up and walked. Mowbray has been here now for 2.5 years so well above the average tenure. He's done well overall in getting us back up and keeping us up but it is quite clear now that things aren't working and the solution is likely to be a change in coaching personnel. Mowbray squandered a good opportunity in January and then in the summer to keep us moving in the right direction and pushing on by refusing to address our weaknesses and squandering millions on non-contributing players. Time's up now. But as we've seen and I've warned against for the last 18 months allowing Mowbray to accumulate vast power and control over the club means it is unlikely he will go anywhere unless he walks. The structure that has been put in place at this club is backward and so flawed it is untrue. All built on the basis that Mowbray is here and getting results on the pitch, which now he isn't.

So in a nutshell we do nothing, cross our fingers and hope things improve and we can limp our way to safety. Meanwhile another £20 million loss comes along. If we get relegated there may not be any coming back from that. I can't accept sitting back, doing nothing and hoping for the best.

Since the end of last season Swansea, Huddersfield, Stoke, Middlesbrough, Hull, Birmingham, West Brom, QPR, Millwall, Luton, Fulham, Reading, Derby and Forest have all changed manager. Almost all of those sides have improved or at worst stood still. Only really Middlesbrough gone backwards. There are loads of good managers in the world that would love the chance to manage Rovers. This narrative that nobody would come here or there are no decent options out there is a complete cop out. If it isnt working then you make a change. You don't stick with something that isnt working because you can't be bothered looking for a replacement. People like Waggott are paid fortunes to supposedly run the club. He should have a list of options. If he doesn't then he isn't really a Chief Executive.

So we are now at the point of trying to find 3 sides worse than us to ensure we don't get relegated. We've already lost at home to Luton and have to go away to Luton, Barnsley and Wigan. Would anyone put any money on us beating any of those away when the pressure is on? I think Reading have a better squad than people give them credit for. They spent a fortune in the summer and shouldn't be getting relegated. Middlesbrough are underachieving but have a chairman who knows the game and wants the best for his club. He wont sit idly by as they slide into League One. Others that we had targeted as strugglers- Charlton, Millwall, Birmingham and Hull - are doing alright. Not looking good for a side that cant defend, can't create and has zero consistency in approach.

How about Owen Coyle, He once got promoted too.

So did Paul Jewell at Wigan, Phil Brown at Hull and Aidy Boothroyd at Watford. Shall we give one of them a ring next time round?

Wigan are running a promotion for their Boxing Day game v Derby. Adult tickets anywhere in the ground £10, u18s £5 and u12s £2. Available now 6 weeks before the game. Promoting it to try and get as many in the ground as possible.

Same old stuff. Customary 2 goals conceded. Defeat. Next to no clear chances to score. 3-4 players who might as well have been stood next to me given the contribution they made to the game. Usual hard luck poor us excuse available with the penalty decision. No doubt Mowbray will be quite happy to only lose 2-1 against the Leeds juggernaut. Combine the narrow scoreline away at a side near the top of the league with the dodgy penalty and that should be enough to fend off any serious questions for another few weeks. The second we went 1-0 down I had absolutely no confidence or belief we would get anything from the game. I think we have sleepwalked into a relegation battle. I say that in past tense because we are in one now, this isn't something that might develop in a few weeks. Amazingly I see very little mention of the 'R' Word on here, in the media or in Mowbray's comments. I wonder when reality will dawn on these people and they admit to the predicament we are in. Probably too late. The writing is on the wall and has been for a couple of weeks now. The manager, other staff at the club and friends in the media just want to cart on and pretend all is ok with the world and we're just always unlucky. I suspect by Christmas we will be below Huddersfield and Stoke. I'm not happy with it. Relegation would be a catastrophe and I'm not prepared to put my head in the sand and pretend everything will work out fine because Tony is a nice bloke.

So some journalist at the BBC doing a bit of digging for his programme discovered he was a con man whilst Rovers well paid auditors, lawyers and trust were all gazumped by him? Difficult to believe but if accurate casts doubts on how competent those acting for Rovers were.

Well I'm not sure where that win came from given the balance of the match up until 60 odd minutes. Up until then Middlesbrough were by far the superior side and we didn't get going. Only the keeper with 3 or 4 excellent saves kept us in it. The removal of the 'first team' trio resulted in an immediate and drastic improvement from which point the game turned and Middlesbrough had no answer. Mowbray's trio have a hell of a lot to do before they can be relied upon to perform. In fairness there is a long history of senior players dropping into the u23s and not looking interested, treating it more as a run around whilst the younger players put more into it.

We've done all we can

As a club we've done 'all we can'

Decent option but a bit of a gamble. Done very well with limited talent at international level and made them hard to beat but never done it at decent club level.

We also gave him a new deal after promotion. I'd expect his agent to be kicking off big time if he was on a fraction of the wage of new signings.

No way is Gallagher on 3x the wage Dack is. But if true that is going to come back to bite us big style.

6 years from now at this rate we'll be more than a quarter of a billion in debt.

One reason we shouldn't forget what Kean and his mates did. Some say we should just forgive all the misdemeanors and move on. Whilst I can be persuaded that Venkys may have been naive and didn't intend to cause damage for personal gain I will never accept Kean was the same.

Aye they'll be having palpitations as it is at the prospect of nearly 20,000 turning up. Expect a story in the Telegraph offering advice on what to do on the big day etc. Any more than that an Caley and co. will need time off with stress. Absolutely no appetite at Ewood even from the bean counters to see 25,000+ on or even try and get to it. If PNE were to bring 7000 that would mean we'd need to get an extra 5000 or so home fans on. A challenge but priced well and promoted as Derby day and it is something to aim for and would be a brilliant atmosphere if we got close. They know PNE will bring a minimum of 5000 for the annual family day out whatever the price so maximising income from those will be the priority. Not really bothered about filling the home ends. A extra few thousand on the home gate would require effort, cheaper tickets and aggravation for those who just don't want it.

They'll be down to 11-12,000 if they stay at this level long term.

The only credit I can give Rovers is that it isnt just us. Swansea away in December I expect will be £30 adults for a midweek game on TV. At least a day and a half off work. 5 hours each way travel and the best part of £100 for ticket, travel, programme and food/drink. Or sit at home for free on the red button. Takes some justifying a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Birmingham charged us £15 the other week so if Waggott really does base his prices on what the other club charges our fans e.g. Leeds then what will his excuse be against Birmingham? He just makes it up as he goes along. Some Rovers fans are still falling for it.

Looking at Stoke's recent managerial appointments they've either gone for British and experienced (Pulis, Hughes, Lambert) or up and coming (Rowett and Jones). In their predicament now I'd expect them to pay big to get someone with experience. I'd be surprised if McCarthy would do it given his Ireland commitments. He'd be better off focusing on that job and then weighing up his options in the summer once the Euros are over. I think their fans would go beserk if they appointed Pardew although I actually think he'd be a decent appointment for a struggling Championship side. Very experienced and a decent record at most of his clubs. O'Neill I think is finished as a manager. I think Stoke might roll the dice with him if they run out of options but I'm not even sure he'd bother taking it now. Why waste time in a Championship relegation scrap at his age with his achievements in the game? I still think Stoke will come up with the cash to persuade Hughton to take it. Hughton won't get a Premier League job and if Stoke offer enough money I think he'd be tempted. Failing that perhaps Michael O'Neill would be tempted. Looking down the divisions nobody really stands out as an obvious option. Ainsworth doing well but completely different game taking over a club like Stoke mid-season. Hopefully they get it wrong and tie up one of the relegation slots and make our task easier.

I think it was a legal obligation that they had to subsidise the club through profits from other areas as per instructions from Jack Walker. It wasn't an 'opt in' if you fancy doing arrangement. I think blaming the economic crash of 2008 is off point slightly. Whilst it may have contributed to their urgency in trying to get rid they were after selling the club before the economic downturn began. They never really wanted the club and didn't have any interest in it. I get that. Unfortunately there was the inconvenient matter of their obligations and duties under the trust fund which made their personal preferences irrelevant. Jack Walker didn't 'mess up'. He was far too astute and clever to make such a simple error. This is a guy who years before he died paid the best lawyers and advisers around to get his affairs in order and ensure there was continuity after his death. The arrangements he put in place were done properly. It was the execution of them that came up short I believe because the people responsible for doing it had other ideas.

And you think handing over Jack Walker's club at a knock down price to Indian poultry tycoons with no interest in football or past experience of sports ventures nor any successful business in Europe who were being heavily led by a well known agent was the behaviour of people who cared about the club? How do you explain the Ali Syed fiasco? It took Goldberg at the BBC a matter of days to discover he was a con man. Any due diligence by the Trust would have found the same skeletons. Truth is they hoped it could all go through quickly and smoothly before trouble began. Remember Sky Sports cameras outside the BBE when they were getting out of the minibus and going inside to 'view the books'. Wonder who arranged for the cameras to be there rolling at the right time. I guess the same bloke as has been well in with Sky and Talksport from the word go.

Only have to look at the state of the areas around Ewood to see what little pride the council have in the area. 'No money' they cry yet found plenty under the mattress for the caravan site, white elephant bus lanes and squads of wardens out on matchday trying to catch people for parking.