JHRover

If we were a conventional football club with a transparent structure behind the scenes than I'd probably have lost patience in the manager by now, and would have no faith in him making the necessary changes come the summer. I'm not just unhappy with our results, but also our 'style' of play and clear lack of structure in the team. As it happens I don't think we are a conventional football club, despite what some people seem eager to believe, and as such I am continuing to make allowances for Mowbray. I don't believe the structure in place is really appropriate for a successful football club and although recruitment has been poor I wonder if Mowbray can be entirely blamed for that. I don't believe for one second that he was sat on a pile of cash all summer and then suddenly made up his mind to go for Brereton as his top target. He'll have had to jump through hoops for that cash and only have been able to spend it on a select type of player and deal. The remainder of this season is the time to assess and analyse. I don't accept we can or should just write off the next couple of months as going through the motions time and go into the summer in blind faith that something drastic will change. If this terrible run continues then Mowbray should be under immense pressure, particularly if we get any nearer to the drop zone. If we turn it around and go on to finish comfortable mid-table then we can put this down to a blip rather than something more serious e.g. him completely losing the plot as he has done previously in his career after a couple of years.

Think you've hit the nail on the head here. Whatever money was spent on Brereton appeared to materialise late on in the window when someone in India fancied a flutter on a signing that would turn out a significant profit. Within the parameters handed down and within a narrow timeframe and on a deal no doubt staggered over numerous years and weighted on various clauses the market and time wasn't there for us to cherry pick ready made players. We all know that the money should have been used differently, I suspect deep down Mowbray does to, yet won't ever admit it, because his bosses set a certain criteria and wouldn't see signing a 28 year old CB who had been around the block as a profitable exercise. You watch Preston and Wigan come to Ewood and then think of how ludicrous it is that we have spent that money on someone not ready to play.

Mowbray's comments come across as though he's some powerless bystander or he has just walked into the building and is having to work through with someone else's failing squad. We are led to believe that Mowbray has final say on footballing matters and it appears he has far more power at the club than most modern day managers or coaches who have to contend with sporting directors etc. There's none of that here, Mowbray enjoys the benefits of being the boss but also has nowhere to hide when it comes to responsibility. Recruitment, coaching, fitness all under his watch, nobody else's.

I worry that we're making our problems out to be down to individual ability and wrong personnel more than it is down to coaching and tactics. Yes we need to strengthen across the board but I truly believe that our biggest issue is our team approach - coaching, tactics, fitness. I believe this having watched us concede far too many goals for 3 seasons regardless of circumstances. We've done it against crap sides, League One teams, with a variety of players and formations. Nothing changes. Whilst we would like Lenihan back and another CB its worth pointing out we were conceding regularly with him and Downing here. The trouble is that addressing tactics and coaching deficiencies isn't easy with a manager set in his ways. The easy way out will be to sign a couple and hope things change. I don't expect they will as I've seen nothing to make me think we will be solid under this manager. I could accept a poor defence if we focused on being an attacking team and created and scored lots of goals but we certainly aren't one of those.

Its one or the other - either Mowbray had money yet decided to not invest whilst allowing numerous defensive options to leave - or Mowbray isn't being truthful about things and he didn't have money or wasn't able to use it or was told to let a few out for financial reasons. Either way it doesn't inspire confidence in the operation. If it was the first option then I'd expect Venkys to be having serious concerns about this manager given he declined funds and has since delivered horrendous results. If it was the second option then they're probably quite satisfied having a bloke in place who will put up with their nonsense.

Get more money if we don't agree to a recall clause. Lets not beat about the bush on this one, its the most logical explanation. The decision to allow those defenders out without the option to recall I believe to be at least in part financially motivated.

Fail to beat Wigan, assuming we don't pull out unlikely wins at Wednesday or Villa, and we're in deep trouble. Wigan at home should be the ideal fixture. They've won 1 away all season and that was way back in August or September. My worry is Wigan have threatened to turn it around. They led at Derby midweek and Reading today before losing both late on. They'll be fuming and will be looking over their shoulders. We don't have the ability to come from behind as those others have done.

Only positives today are that we aren't any nearer the bottom 3 than we were yesterday thanks to Sheffield United, and we didn't get hammered as we did at Deepdale. Groundhog day stuff again though. Our home form has now deserted us and was previously the cornerstone of our points return. Norwich, Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Preston. All the same old tale. Narrow defeats. Zero goals for us. Lots of possession but nowt to show for it. Wigan is must win. No ifs or buts. My guess is we will start slowly and salvage a draw and it will be dressed up as a win.

More home fans than the plastic people at Preston managed for a 3pm game at their place earlier this season. Interesting.

Of course the alternative explanation is he was instructed to let someone out to save cash and foolishly thought we'd get away with it

Preston are in for the play-offs and we aren't safe yet. So a lot to play for with 10 games to go. The positions could and were the opposite only 6 weeks ago but we weakened from being in a good position whilst talking about its and buts whilst Preston immediately strengthened on a sensible budget and have been unbeatable since. Their manager was talking of promotion when they started this run more than 10 points behind us whilst our manager talked about slowing it down and waiting for another year. Rubbish.

Despite the official attendance today there were around 30 or more empty seats in the immediate area of 5 rows either side of me. Vast majority have been occupied in most 3pm games this season. Then folk reckon needless early kick offs don't affect numbers attending. Rubbish.

Hang on, I thought Venkys never refused to sign cheques? If this happens I'll look forward to the excuses that Waggott comes out with. He'll be under pressure to shield our wonderful owners from any blame or criticism so prepare for some ludicrous explanation. We all know what this is about. Cost cutting. The ladies team will be a loss maker as it is at virtually every club given so few people pay to watch it and suits like Waggott and Cheston, under pressure from above, will quickly identify this as an area to cut. No surprises. We spend less on our pitch and infrastructure than Accy Stanley these days and it shows with the state of the place so it's no surprise they're cutting in other non essential areas.

Should be over 20000 if 7600 of that lot. Be very disappointed if not.

I don't know the answer but would suspect the place opens at 9am for breakfast etc. however will only serve ale from 10am.

When you're conceding 3 goals against Rotherham then any game is tough. Until or unless we sort out the defence and learn how to keep a few clean sheets we're going to struggle to win games. Unfortunately our limitations are such that if we aim to keep a clean sheet it will probably come at the expense of any attacking play at all as we will have to adopt an ultra'-cautious approach if we're to have any hope of shutting the opposition out.

When will Jacob Davenport be ready for first team action?.................

Norwich have already sold 21,500 season tickets for next season. Meanwhile tumbleweed at Ewood as we await a decision/announcement on tickets.

Nah, Bolton are bigger than Preston. Traditionally they may have been similar but the Premier League years have made Bolton bigger. I've always looked at ourselves and Bolton as being quite similar in terms of size, crowds, recent history, although we've got the added weight of having won the league a few times. Preston are an odd case. Because they are based in a 'city' there seems to be a belief that they should be 'bigger' than the towns around them - Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool and Burnley - yet the evidence shows that not to be the case. Actually their performance as a club over the last 30 years or so is more in keeping with Blackpool or Oldham than Rovers/Bolton. It must be strange supporting them and approaching pension age and not be able to remember a game in the top division, all the while the clubs around you are/have enjoyed recent success up there.

I've been quite surprised by the language the League have used in relation to Bolton. They've made it very clear that they're prepared to go to significant lengths to help Bolton and get their takeover through quickly. Usually in the case of takeovers they are silent on the issue until the deal is done and they've been waved through the 'fit and proper' test. I half wonder if this is because Bolton are truly on the precipice and there's a real risk of them not finishing the season if they don't get an injection of cash quickly. The League will go to great lengths to try and protect their image and reputation, particularly when it comes to media and commercial deals, and the prospect of a member of the Championship failing to complete fixtures or going bust probably worries them. I hope they go down and don't come back for a long time. They've got away with it for too long now and it isn't fair on those clubs who pay their debts and bills that some clubs are allowed to continually get away without paying up.

I have a question for the big club fan - will the special 'Pride of Lancashire' banner be making an appearance on Saturday? Special day out - special banner made for the occasion.

Of course the sign of a 'big' club accustomed to getting big away followings is for giddy fans to take the time to visit other fans forums, create accounts and type messages about how many fans they are taking to a one off game. Of course all this only facilitated by good old Rovers who are the only club in the Football League daft enough to hand over nearly 8000 away tickets and effectively set clubs the challenge of selling them all.

Presumably spent the last couple of days frantically trying to find a way to enable more away supporters to get in. I noticed that they've blocked off the end block of the Riverside as 'segregation'. I'm fairly sure there are season ticket holders in that block so just another example of the club showing a complete lack of interest in its home support. No matter, I'm sure those affected will happily shuffle along to other seats.

Time to brace ourselves for more chopping and changing. Expect a back 3 and then probably Bennett moving between 3 different positions within the first 30 minutes. If we start with our customary horrendous first half at home as we have in most home games this season we'll probably see a multitude of changes to try and overcome it. It might be fun for those who like to guess the team/formation or observe with interest as we juggle different systems and players but I'm really quite tired of it. I'd just like to have some sort of consistency with regards to selection and positioning. A favoured formation and starting XI that can have a run of games together. I expect Reed to be back in after his sabbatical, probably Evans too. I'm left with little alternative but to conclude that the manager still doesn't really know his best XI or formation. There really is no other logical explanation for the constant juggling and changes. The more frustrating part is that having spent £10 million in the summer we've ended up in a position where we've so few options defensively that we're now having to change systems to come up with something that resembles a defence now Lenihan is injured. I'm far from impressed about this, it appears to be either negligence or over confidence in the extreme to think that we could soldier through without sustaining any injuries, especially given the medical histories of Lenihan and Mulgrew.

Oh well at least Waggott and Cheston will be happy with the coin coming in from 7,500 away fans having their big annual day out. Caley will be happy as he can be back home in time for tea.