Indeed. Lambert was a bolt out of the blue and they surprised us all with the appointment and opinion at the time was he was the best appointment this lot had ever made and would ever make. Surprise surprise all wasn't what it first appeared and he was off and we were brought back down to earth with an almighty bump with the disgraceful appointment of Coyle.

Its a possibility Mowbray is on a 6 months suck it and see arrangement. Mowbray has nothing to lose and a reputation to rebuild. Keep us up with a squad that is performing below its abilities and then step aside in the summer and he's back on the managerial bandwagon when most Championship clubs wouldn't have given him a job after Coventry.

Really hope I'm wrong and Mowbray is here for a 2-3 year rebuild job whatever happens between now and May but I've not got much confidence.

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

I just can't get past the nagging feeling that he's been brought in too late.

In normal circumstances, a draw at Norwich? Not the end of the world, we played well by all accounts, the team is improving, however due to the lateness of the change, is it two points that we will rue in May?

There will be bumps along the way with a new appointment, but the right man will get his ideas across over the long run, however there is no margin for error when you are brought in at the end of February.

Owen fecking Coyle! The 'owners' should follow Brian Clough's advise and sack Cheston and whoever else was involved in that disastrous appointment too.

I'm of the same view. I worry that despite Mowbray's good work so far that it will be too late. I think most people can see now that this squad is good enough and has been good enough all season to be better than bottom 3 Championship. Coyle actually deserves some credit for that as several of our better performers were recruited by him or given more opportunities under him (Guthrie) than previously.

The worst part of the whole thing if we go down will be knowing that we were good enough to survive, and have even ended up with a manager good enough to keep us up, but it came too late because of the terrible appointment of Coyle and sticking with him for far too long.

I can handle relegation if we're one of the worst sides in the league and the club has done everything to try and avoid it. But we haven't got one of the worst sides in the league, and the club certainly hasn't done everything it could to avoid this predicament.

At best the 'gentleman' Mowbray spoke to was Balaji, which I suppose is a start, but we all know that the only way to get business done with this freak show is to get answers from Mrs Desai, and it appears the only way she does her business is if people fly across the world to visit her and kneel at her feet.

Balaji doesn't have the cash to fund this club, hence the drastic cutbacks we've witnessed in the last 2 years after Mrs Desai realised promotion isn't quite as easy as signing cheques and adding to the debt every year.

Mowbray is in a no lose situation here though. He's already proving to be very popular with the supporters, firstly for being 100% better and more likeable than Coyle, and secondly for delivering an immediate improvement on the pitch. Everyone knows what the problem is here. If Mowbray keeps us up this season his managerial career will be revived even if he walks out in the summer. If he gives them a chance to do things properly, which Lambert wasn't prepared to do, then he might be able to cobble together a squad next season that can do better than this year, but if not and he leaves nobody will hold him responsible for the situation.

After the Coyle sacking he was rubbishing claims that Rovers already had a replacement lined up. Clearly the quick appointment of Mowbray was already arranged yet Nixon was saying people were being stupid thinking Rovers already had someone ready to come in. Showed himself up there big style.

The 'worst' part of the Mowbray appointment for me is the hope it gives. That will make the next few months more nerve racking and relegation, if it happens, even tougher to take. I won't hold Mowbray culpable in any way for relegation if it happens but it is just another case of 'what if'. What if they had acted sooner, what if they had never appointed Coyle in the first place.

Under Coyle I was bereft of all hope. I never believed from the minute he arrived until the minute he left that he was going to keep us up. I was resigned to relegation, and had even come to terms with it. Now, with the change, it injects that hope that will make it tougher to take.

I think Mowbray is a good fit for the club. He has certainly said all the right things and he deserves all our support. If nothing else just because he isn't Coyle. Refreshing to see a manager in a suit stood on the touchline barking instructions to the players from start to finish and being complementary about the club and fans.

If the worst does happen and we go down I hope he is trusted to try and bring us back up, and I hope he has the option to add to his coaching staff over time once he has settled in and decided what he needs.

2 minutes ago, Jimmy612 said:

Sadly with Dyche solidifying the Dingles in the Prem and thus pocketing another £200m and us only heading one way for 7 years, his statement there is becoming more and more redundant by the season.  Burnley have just spent £13m on a player - we've spent 250k in about 4 windows.

What determines the size of a club?.... the history, the fanbase?  For me, neither - in the modern day it's the finances, and Burnley are streets ahead of us now.

 

If finances were the only factor then Bournemouth and Swansea would be considered bigger clubs than Newcastle, Villa and Leeds, which nobody does.

There's more to it than that. Fanbase is important, but I'd say top of the pile comes achievements, honors, success and standing in the game.

I think if you asked fans of other clubs across the world the vast majority would consider Blackburn Rovers to be a bigger club than Burnley. Healthier finances and a couple of years of them scrapping in the bottom half of the Premier League won't change decades of history.

Got to say I enjoyed this comment on the Middlesbrough Gazette website after Mowbray was appointed:

Tony Mowbray will find it difficult to rebuild Blackburns fortunes in the 18 months he has been given by the Venky's.

Blackburn are still a relatively big club, certainly bigger than Burnley, and should not have been in this position, unbelievable that only 12 months ago they had Rhodes and Gestede.

They might have to bite the bullet this season, go down and rebuild.

Certainties for Division One champions next season though for me.

Good to see fans of other clubs know their stuff.

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if this is another short term appointment with a view to a longer term arrangement depending on how things go from now until May.

When Lambert got the job we were led to believe he had signed up for the long term for 2.5 years, only it then turned out he had sensibly inserted a break clause in enabling him to walk out if he wasn't happy with things.

I bet Mowbray is on a similar arrangement. It will be 18 months but a clause that either party can end it in the summer if they aren't happy. Mowbray has nothing to lose, he was unemployed, desperate for another crack at the Championship and Rovers is the biggest club he would get in his position. If he keeps us up in the next 15 games, which he is capable of doing with a squad I believe is underperforming in 23rd place, then he will instantly be rehabilitated and well liked by the fans. 

The way they've done it with the head coach structure with Senior sorting transfers from now on and Lowe/Dunn as the coaching staff in place before the new manager they will be able to chop and change managers relatively cheaply without needing to fire off several people every few months. Merely ring around the out of work managers desperate for a crack back in the Championship and offer it to one willing to work with the existing staff.

I really hope it works out, for all of our sakes. I think Mowbray is a top bloke and his interviews are refreshing and good to listen to. I'd hate it if he was the one with a relegation on his CV after Coyle has presided over such catastrophic results all season.

We needed to keep Cairney, Gestede, Rhodes, Hanley and Duffy yet they were quite happy to see the lot of them off despite the massive impact it was always likely to have on the squad. The outcome is likely to be relegation this season.

In particular selling both Hanley and Duffy last summer. Absolute madness to follow a policy of selling both your regular centre halves who had done a good job for the club with no back up around. If they were prepared to do something so dangerous to the squad, they'll have no qualms letting a youngster with half a dozen first team games go if the money is there.

So whilst I understand that keeping Mahoney is a good idea for most of us, for these people it will come down to cash and whether they can be bothered to offer him a new deal. They've shown that things like the players preference and impact upon the squad and fanbase is irrelevant.

I imagine the issue with Mahoney won't be who the manager is. It will be the nature of the contract offered to him and how much the club really wants to keep him.

If recent departures such as Duffy and Marshall are anything to go by, with players being messed about, painted as the problem, not offered new deals, or offered new deals on poor terms, then he'll be going.

If they get a sniff that they might get a few bob in compensation at the end of this season if someone else signs him then it will be game over.

So has he signed an 18 month deal or a deal until the end of next season?

After the initial bolt out of the blue shock this morning I am coming round to the idea of Mowbray. He seems a decent bloke who has been well liked almost everywhere he has been and has a decent record in this division. Things unravelled at Coventry though which is perhaps the most similar structure to what he'll be getting here with disinterested dodgy owners only interested in cutting costs and a joke setup with muppets running the operation.

I actually sympathise with him because it wasn't long since he was regarded as a top manager at this level after WBA and Middlesbrough, two locally owned professionally run clubs, fast forward a few years and he's having to work for SISU and Venkys to get jobs on what I expect will be low wages.

Do I blame him for coming here? Certainly not. Out of work for 6 months after leaving Coventry bottom of League One - he needs to get back to work and repair his reputation and the chance of getting back in to the Championship might not come back up again any time soon. If he keeps us up his reputation will be enhanced again. 

I am a little concerned about the staffing appointments, but I suppose only time will tell. If it is the case that Mowbray has set out to appoint from within so that he can tap in to their existing knowledge of the club and squad and hit the ground running then that's fine, makes some sense. If however, and I'm suspicious that this is the case, that Lowe and Dunn were always going to be promoted, and have been waiting in the wings for some time for this, and managerial candidates were told that they would have to work with them before getting the job, and Mowbray was willing to do this despite preferring to have his own men in place, then this could be another disaster. No manager or head coach will last successfully at a club where he can't even be trusted or backed to recruit his own coaching staff. 

The 'Head Coach' title is unsurprising. This is what Senior has been angling for since he arrived. Again only time will tell but given no money is going to be spent either way we can probably forget squad strengthening any time soon. Despite being 'manager' Kean was a head coach as he took instructions from above as to who he was selling and signing.

I wish him the best of luck, hope it works out, but expect either way it won't last.

Just now, rog of the rovers said:

Mowbray at Coventry 2014/15

Went in with 14 games to go. Aim - To keep them up.

P14 W5 D4 L5 Pts 19

4 Clean Sheets

4 of 5 victories away from home.

Lets say with the added game for Rovers he ends

P15 W5 D5 L5 Pts 20

Would 49 points keep us up?

 

Definitely. Anything over 45 would probably do it.

This maintains my theory that appointments now have to have a promotion on their CV to get the job.

Lambert with Norwich

Warnock with QPR

Adkins with Soton

Coyle with dingles

Mowbray with WBA

Someone somewhere has decided that experience of winning promotion from this league is essential. Its a shame they didn't insist on that back in 2012 when Kean went and they were spending money. These days its irrelevant really who is in the dugout. Cheston has made clear the 'ambition' at this club is to cut costs and recent managerial appointments show this.

Just now, Dunnfc said:

It makes me almost apologetic for dismissing Adkins.

 

That's why I was almost keen on him. I knew he was the best we would be looking at and expected last minute disappointment.

Most worrying for me is that Rovers appear to have set their stall out to ensure that the new manager was willing to work with existing club staff. That isnt how business should be done and is a recipe for disaster. If they have decided Mowbray is the best man for the job then on their head be it, but any new manager should be given the option to bring in his own team to work with him. That's probably what ruled Adkins out because he would want to bring in Crosby alongside. It smacks of cost cutting and forcing staff upon the new manager when the new manager should select his own staff.

We know for a fact that the club is exerting significant influence at the Telegraph. As the Telegraph are wholly reliant on the club to spoonfeed them interviews and information they have probably been threatened with a ban from press conferences if they don't print favourable interviews or change things to suit the club.

It clearly isn't a Telegraph interview. They way its written suggests that whoever was doing the interview was probably some 3rd party 3rd rate news channel and they've probably then let the Telegraph copy it word for word to fill up column space rather than do some proper reporting such as an investigation into who Suhail Pasha is and what he's up to.

instead they let the club edit their stories, change photos to keep the club happy and now fill up space with a publicity stunt for the cretin Kean.

I bet they're having a right laugh at the furore it causes with Kean's controversial comments as people click onto their website and post comments.

Meanwhile on the other side 'what a time' to be a Burnley fan write their Burnley supporting staff.

He must be on the look out for a job. He went to Brunei to let the dust settle but after 4 years in the wilderness he's still stuck in the wilderness in a micky mouse league.

What a disgrace. I jokingly predicted that they would alter the photo when they realised they had revealed Pasha, but I didn't think they would do it so quickly.

Pasha must have a direct line to Telegraph HQ and have the power to get them to change their stories to his liking. I presume this is the reason he has avoided identification by the local media for so long.

We already know Rovers can edit articles to their satisfaction before they go to print, now it seems they can even alter photos to prevent Pasha's identity going public.

If the Telegraph had anything about them they would inflate that photo, cut Senior out of it and stick Pasha's face on the front page of the paper.

They are complicit in the stitch up.

This March 2017 date keeps getting mentioned seemingly for 2 reasons. Firstly because that is when the overdraft arrangement with the Bank of India is due for renewal, and secondly because that is the latest we can enter administration whilst taking the points deduction this season rather than next.

I'm yet to see any evidence which suggests either of those aspects are of concern at this point.

The Bank of India overdraft facility has been up for renewal every March since they started using the facility to fund the club. In every set of accounts they mention this and say they expect it will be renewed as usual. The exact same thing is said in the recent accounts of both Rovers and Venkys London. There is also a mention that if for whatever reason the Bank of India doesn't extend the overdraft facility then alternative sources of funding are available.

The point about needing to enter administration this season to avoid a deduction next season is irrelevant. Venkys have shown they will not make decisions for the good of the club and the chances of them changing their plans just to make life easier for Rovers are slim. If administration is even an option it will only happen when they have to do it, not when it makes most sense for BRFC IMO.

It's quite clear that we are now little more than an accountancy irritation for them which they are keen to ensure is brought down to the bare minimum losses.

Of course anyone with any interest or sense would understand that even a small investment of cash at this stage could save our skins and more millions off the value of the club, but not these people.

Plenty of skint clubs around in the Championship, yet they all managed to find the cash from somewhere to bring in a number of players to add to their options for the run in.

I bet Burton and Wigan can't believe their luck that Rovers have made next to no effort to strengthen this month. Makes their task of surviving that bit easier.

The minute Warnock and Lambert arrived at their clubs that was Cardiff and Wolves out of the relegation picture. At the moment the only things keeping us alive are the Forest madhouse and Bristol City's implosion, both of which can be rectified through a change in manager.

I'm not really bothered what the other teams are doing. Until we get our own house in order what our rivals get up to is almost irrelevant.

These owners and the people running this club have made their position quite clear in the summer and in January. It seems they are quite happy with the job Coyle is doing, are happy with being in the bottom 3 all season and see absolutely no reason to make a change or allow some new signings to come in.

That's their decision. If that's the way they want to play things then I'm not going to waste my time concerning myself with what other clubs are doing, especially as all these other clubs are making efforts to survive which we are not.

We're on course for about 40 points at most this season which gives you no right at all to expect survival.

As I've already attempted to explain in the past, the cost of maintaining a remotely competitive Championship club, even one content to just tread water and avoid relegation every year, is huge.

Rovers are not the only loss making club in huge debt in this league and it is only going to get worse as the years go by as bigger wage bills come down from the Premier League and more foreign investors get involved to try and get there.

Even for Venkys, after 5 years of languishing in mid-table and bottom half of this division at a cost of £20 million per year is massive, with absolutely no guarantee of success if spending increases and people like Lambert saying it will need another £20 million or whatever even to get into contention for promotion.

Go into League One and the game changes completely. No other rich backers, most clubs get by on gates of 5,000 a week. The Port Vales and Southends of this world are easier to compete with than the Derbys and Wednesdays. Relegation would enable another scale back on the wages. From £30-50k per week in the Premier League, to £10-15k a week under Bowyer, to £5-10k a week now, to less than £5k a week in a lower division.

Each step along the way it becomes easier to absorb annual losses for a group of people who clearly didn't get into this to invest substantial sums every year. The limit of their 'investment' in recent years has been to pay the wages they committed to and to keep the doors open at Ewood Park. Keeping things ticking over to avoid a humiliating, power losing and potential legal action series of events should they refuse to pay the bills.

Rather than try to keep up with other clubs through serious sustained cash investments which EVERY other club that wishes to be successful does, the alternative is to put the club somewhere that requires the bare minimum 'investment' and effort to maintain. League One and League Two make it easier on every level if you aren't interested in anything but cutting costs.

The big elephant in the room is the Category A academy and the substantial annual costs of running that, but presumably that would be another area earmarked for closure if relegation took place.

I'm not suggesting a deliberate strategy of relegation, but can see why they aren't doing anything to avoid it as that would require CASH, which they either don't have or won't spend any more of.