Anyone know why only us/Wigan and PNE/Bristol are playing this week? An already congested fixture list made more so whilst the dingles and others have a rest.

Dyche isn't the hot property some would have you believe or indeed he was made out to be during his time at the dingledome. I kept on saying that his near 10 year spell there wasn't because he was unusually dedicated and loyal to their project, but instead because very few serious alternatives came along for him during that time. He's now been unemployed for 6 months during which time by my count there have been 20+ vacancies arise in the top 2 divisions and none have gone to him. I think the likelihood of a PL club giving him a job is close to zero and someone like WBA is the best he is going to get - sorting out a struggling side making them harder to beat at a club that will tolerate dull football having been used to it under Pulis, Allardyce and Bruce. A Championship relegation scrap not exactly the 'future England manager' stuff some were predicting a few years ago. The struggles of Wilder and Bruce have surprised me but that doesn't mean they are finished or outdated. I see the latest 'sexy' name linked with everywhere is Rob Edwards - for some reason considered to be hot property after 1 good season at FGR and a short failed spell at Watford. He is portrayed as some sort of up and coming modern coach with very little to back that up whilst Bruce is seen as a dinosaur despite achieving more than most at Championship level.

I've seen a few on twitter complaining about the decision to allow independent travel on the basis there is 'bound' to be trouble. End of the day I'm a big boy and a free citizen. I can make my own decisions in life and don't need babysitting. If I want to go under my own steam I will. Anyone who doesn't feel safe or comfortable has a choice. Go on the subsidised buses the club are providing or don't go. Fed up with this nanny state attitude that everyone should be subjected to rules and restrictions because of a minority who might get into trouble. If you are daft enough to turn up in the middle of Burnley wearing Rovers colours shouting and bawling you'll find trouble and that will have to be dealt with by the authorities. I'll be doing what I always do - parking up, going for a beer somewhere if possible and minding my own business. I might even almost enjoy the day if I'm able to do these things that make away days worthwhile. I'd also love to know how many of the 2275 tickets actually find their way into the hands of season ticket holders with 1875 membership. Of course they will give some to players families but that should be it. No hangers on or exceptions. All us 1875 members have paid on the understanding that WE have priority not other groups.

Yep - jam tomorrow is the motto for these owners and their subordinates. Promising good or great things but not to expect them now but in time to come. Tomorrow never comes. I can't fathom making a decision now that we won't be doing much business in January. What happens if we are in the same league position then as now and need reinforcements? What happens if we continue to win 50% of our games and have a real shot at success? What happens if we lose players through sales or injurieS?

What can Hull offer him that we couldn't in the summer?

Or Rovers have gone cap in hand to United and asked if they can use their 'highlights' (very limited in content) because they've neglected to cover it themselves. Either way - are you satisfied with a meagre 6 minutes of highlights to cover a battering of Man Utd? I'd expect a bit more content than that from a home game especially when most people have been unable to go to it due to a direct clash with a senior fixture.

Pretty sure they've just taken Man Utd's coverage there.

Burnley have sold season tickets to home fans in the shed end of their ground, so the chances of them booting those people out to make room for more Rovers fans is zero. The only chance of it happening is if the police intervene but that won't result in anything other than a wider no mans land and less away tickets. There's nothing we can do about that. They are entitled to whatever ticketing policies they like. All we can do is return the favour when they come to Ewood. So where they should be given the exact same number they give us at exactly the same price what we will have is a shameless cash grab by Waggott where he gives them a ridiculous allocation, they can have their big family day out, kick a few season ticket holders out of the end blocks of the Riverside and JW stands, annoy your regulars and then wonder why people get fed up with it. For me I'd be giving them half of the bottom tier, surrounded by netting, and then the remainder of the allocation upstairs surrounded by netting, then put Rovers fans in the other half like we will have at their place.

I'd take Ayala out for this one, Hyam and Wharton at CB with Brittain and Pickering.

Amateur hour strikes again. And why are we only releasing tickets 2 weeks before the game?

Any chance of Rovers themselves actually providing any coverage of this game? I mean playing it at 12noon when the first team have a home game at 3pm is annoying to say the least but I'd have hoped at least we could have a replay or a decent package of highlights to get through instead. Yet there's nothing. We are having to rely on Man Utd's coverage. At what sort of club could you hammer United 6-1 and there be barely a mention of it from the club?

For once Chaddy I completely agree with you. I think Mowbray's astonishing admission that he had advised and encouraged Harvey to move to Sunderland is very concerning and appears to confirm a suspicion I had with him some time ago that he was not entirely focused on BRFC and it maximising its potential and I think he was more interested in being 'uncle Tony' and making sure 'his boys' did alright out of it. He sounds quite proud of his role in encouraging Harvey to up sticks and leave, almost as though he is seeking credit for it. Really all it does is show us and his new club that he needs keeping a close eye on otherwise he could be advising a whole range of people to leave. It is unforgivable when he is taking a wage out of the Club but that's what happens when a manager has too much power, there is a power vacuum above him and is left in place to do as he pleases. Any serious board or ownership would have dealt with that situation and axed Mowbray if he had been encouraging important staff members to leave but not Tony - he probably knew what was coming and wanted to ensure they were all set up and looked after each other in their next job. Stinks but not the first time eyebrows have been raised. I hope he fails miserably. His comments are unprofessional and insulting to the Club that paid his wages for 5 years.

And he was the captain of that 'tanker' when he said it. Doesn't say much for himself and his abilities when he's been at the helm over 4 years yet has such little confidence in his own performance that he's looking in the rear view mirror at League One clubs.

That's certainly a question I hope people behind the scenes at Rovers are asking following this public admission. Tony and Veno had a cushy number with them running the staff and Venus having some sort of 'director of football' role alongside being assistant manager. It really doesn't take much of a leap for Mowbray to advise players to turn down whatever the club were offering and look elsewhere. If there's any truth in that I would hope the Club explore the possibility of legal action against him. Those departures have cost the club millions in lost assets. If that is a result of him advising people to look elsewhere then damages need to be looked at.

As I said earlier I'm fairly sure if anyone at Rovers was bothered enough by this they could take some form of action against Mr Mowbray for a public admission that whilst in the employment of Rovers he was advising or encouraging other staff members to move elsewhere. It is a stunning admission of acting in contravention of the interests of the Club employing him. Incredible, incredibly dim that is, for a manager to admit doing such a thing in public. That's Mowbray though. Thinks he is clever, thinks he can outwit people but really he's a very stupid man who puts his foot in it with his comments. Even if nobody at Rovers can be arsed doing anything to upset St Tony, this admission ought to also have the effect of sinking his career. I mean who in their right minds would employ him again after admitting doing this? Yeah we'll give you a job so you can spend your time advising our valued staff to move elsewhere. Sounds good.

He's a t0sser, just glad that even his biggest fanboys will be able to see it now rather than holding him up as some sort of saviour or deity who can do no wrong. He's not as clever as he thinks he is. Admissions such as these would not only land him in hot water with Rovers (if anyone there cared) but would also make his new and possibly future employers question if he is the sort of character you want involved at your club. In his desperate bid to win over his new fans he runs his mouth off and everyone can see he wasn't acting entirely in the interests of his employers. It might win him a few points with the 'massive club' buffoons but shows him for what he is - bitter and deluded. I praise the Lord we don't have to listen to his drivel twice a week and his wandering around head in hands routine. Good riddance and let's see if Sunderland put up with his record breaking collapses for 4 years.

The 'beauty' of the new system with a Director of Football is that in the event JDT does turn out to be a dud then we can quickly and easily make a change without ripping everything up and starting afresh. I hope he does well, and he deserves a fraction of the unlimited time and opportunity Mowbray was given, but there are no guarantees and the club has to be ready and willing to act if needed. That's the Championship. Some appointments work out well, others don't. If JDT doesn't that isn't evidence Mowbray should have been retained. I see some of the Mowbray acolytes are on twitter today reminiscing of the good old Mowbray days. Short memories given the horrific results and embarrassing behaviour Mowbray delivered after January.

When the club and fans believe our catchment area and potential ends with BWDBC then we might as well give up. Unfortunately that's precisely where the goons at the club are going. I won't accept that though and hope nobody else does. We have a huge catchment area across Lancashire. Just because they can't be arsed tapping into it doesn't mean it isn't there.

I think we will get bullied here. Bad memories of January. They've had a decent start to the season - only one defeat - but yet to win at home. It matters not what form we are in, who we have available or their form as no matter what we tend to struggle there.

Seems to be an assumption or suggestion that it is either Venkys and their money, or no money and the club has to be self-sufficient and deal with all the issues that comes from that. Of course there is another option - getting new owners who want to invest and develop the club. Then we get the 'yeah I'm sure there are loads of rich people out there wanting to buy a 2nd division club losing money' Well we had all this bollocks when Bolton, Wigan and Blackpool were going bust under previous ownership and all found new owners and have bounced back. We've had countless takeovers across the divisions in the last 10 years at non-PL clubs. So it doesn't have to be Venkys or bust. It can be someone different to Venkys, perhaps not with as deep pockets but deep enough to fund a loss making club and more importantly people who actually want to be here and want the club to succeed. The new reliance on the academy I don't think is a Venky strategy. I don't think the owners care enough to take an interest in such things. I just think it is the inevitable consequence of their cost-cutting that the academy grows in importance.

Again I'm struggling to buy into this 'multi window' build talk. Of course in an ideal world this would happen, and come 2024 we'd end up with a strong, talented squad capable of hitting promotion. I've no doubt JDT and Broughton would like to run things this way. I just don't think it is feasible or realistic either in this league or with these owners. It is clear they have imposed quite a strict wage structure (not sure how that fits with suggestions Lenihan was offered over £20k a week which is clearly inconsistent with everything else that has happened here in recent years). This wage structure is what has resulted in an exodus of players, a huge turnover and increasing reliance and focus on youngsters from within or those from League One/bottom end Championship clubs. Nothing wrong with having such a structure but its existence means we are going to continue to struggle to retain key players on contracts, and also means we are going to be vulnerable to other Championship clubs who are willing to pay more. I'm not on about parachute rich clubs which is fair enough but mediocre sides like Middlesbrough. Come January or the summer there will need to be significant steps taken again just to replace outgoings. For example next summer as things stand (if not before) we will lose numerous players including Brereton and Ayala who have been key this season. It's just a never ending cycle and that's the way it is at this level. I don't think we will ever reach an 'end point' of the journey because there will always be changes, wanted and unwanted. You have to go for it each year and give it your best shot, not plan on doing it next year or the year after, because something will happen before then that isn't expected.

You've missed players out there though. Last season we had Rothwell, who at least for the first 30 games was a big player for us. I wouldn't class Giles as being a forward option but he is proven Championship quality as evidenced by his time at Cardiff and Middlesbrough, only Mowbray had no idea what to do with him and decided to try him on the right wing (bonkers). I have no idea on Hirst - I hope JDT has seen something there as Broughton's comments unusually made specific reference to JDT wanting him which hasn't happened on the other deals. But it is an unknown - we hope we get 2nd half of the season Pompey out of him but could get Rotherham. The stuff about player development or the potential emergence of players down the line you can apply to any club in any league - you can't go into a 46 game season on the premise that yet more players will eventually step forward from the academy. That's why I've gone for a 6/10. I'm not being overly criticial with that and it isn't a poor window - less than 5 would be poor - but there are question marks on depth and quality which prevent it hitting an 8 or 9 which would suggest a very good window. If we had brought another couple of 'big' signings in then we'd have probably got there but didn't.

If I was to rate the window out of 10 I would probably go for 6. Positives Kept Brereton, without him serious trouble scoring goals and he is the 'star man' capable of hitting 20 a season. Some cash spent replacing the major departures - Nyambe, Lenihan, Rothwell - with permanent signings rather than short term deals or loans. No unexpected or unwanted departures beyond those we knew were going to happen at the start of the summer Defensively we seem to have weathered the crisis and now have good options there. The return to fitness of Dack and meteoric rise of A Wharton do a lot for us that we might not have expected to have at the start of the summer. Negatives The cash paid out has essentially just replaced the 3 out of contract players we couldn't keep, so cash that whilst welcome should have been spent significantly strengthening the squad has instead been used to replace those we lost for nothing - a big hole in the finances in several ways I remain concerned as to our attacking options and prowess beyond BBD. Hopefully that will change but feel we are short. Full back positions - not entirely comfortable but hopefully we've enough. I'm not sure anyone can seriously put forward a strong argument that we are STRONGER now than we were last season in terms of options. Dack's return to fitness a big step and -hopefully- Adam Wharton is a major bonus for us - but we have lost quality too - Khadra and Rothwell two big ones. It remains to be seen. My hope / expectation is that we have a better manager, and provided he feels he has been backed and not let down this window he is capable of delivering more than Mowbray served up. If he doesn't feel he has been backed then we are in trouble as this guy won't be taken for a ride.

Just hope JDT is happy with business. After signing Hyam the other day he suggested he wanted another 3, and we've got 2 in Hirst and Mola, so short of what he was expecting. Perhaps retaining Brereton will be a bonus but get the feeling he wanted more. I don't think we've added enough but happy to be proven wrong on that. I was skeptical as to last summer's dealings and they worked out ok.

We seem to have got over the trauma of letting 3 players walk this summer for £0 when it would have been very easy to keep them all under contract / sell them earlier and together would have raked in £10 million. It seemingly hasn't made much difference to our finances either because we've gone out and spent further millions replacing those 3 players. So probably £15 million laid out or lost for what might or might not be an improvement. If the people owning or running the club were interested in its financial state we wouldn't have seen this happen. They can clearly afford to run the risk on Brereton.