Dreams of 1995

Bloody hell. People claim Mowbray is not the man to get us out of this league. A statement they claim is 'evidence based'. Now we have clamour to appoint Joey Barton. Not a single promotion on his record and 1 (2?) good seasons as a manager with one club. You can't write it.

Barnes? Don't he play for Leicester?

Jesus Christ. Just beyond stupid. Take a test, if he is negative then he should be allowed to play. Take it he hasn't trained for this self isolation period either? Absolute bobbins. I went for Nyambe because I was thinking about a bit more of a solid defender. With people claiming they tend to play on the break I thought his pace would be a better fit. But, if they sit back like suggested, there probably is calls for JRC as he's a better crosser. Tricky one. Douglas has to start. I wouldn't be too bothered if Buckley plays ahead of Johnson but I personally think Johnson's shithousery will be important in breaking up counter attacks and alleviate the pressure on Trybull. Key is to ensure we don't have a midfield that consists of both Johnson and Evans. Not enough about them two to accommodate on the same pitch.

Was it any good? I'm not particularly bothered by it but if it raises Rovers' profile in a positive way then sod it. I always said that Olivia would do what she can to distract Dack from football though. It's a good little earner for her now, but if she can get in touch with higher profile players (ie a bigger Premier league team) so they can film her and Dacky-wacky "mingling" with them she'll be encouraging it. Make no mistake about that.

I haven't seen Pears play but he's fairly rated, so it feels a lot better knowing we have him behind rather than Leutweiller. With any luck it's Nyambe in for JRC, same midfield with maybe Johnson dropping out for Rothwell and same front 3. Be probably our best team, keeper / Ayala aside. Confident about this. Not stopped being excited about a game so far this season. Reading is a big test though and we have come up short against Watford and Bournemouth this year. 3rd time lucky really. I want to be the team that debilitates this Reading squad and puts 5 past a once-solid defence. Brereton to continue his fantastic form too. How I wish we could be in the stadium and roaring his name right now. He deserves it really. The lad never put the price tag on his head, he's kept quiet amidst the criticism (although I don't think it as vocal as some but was clearly there) and now he is getting his rewards. A truly fantastic performance on Saturday and he seems to have got better when the squad around him has. Coincidence? Definitely not.

I don’t know, you do it more than most, are you happy?

Or, in the real world, fans happy that their team has won.

Same team with Nyambe and Rothwell in on Tuesday will do me just nicely.

Has Tony Mowbray just out Elliot up front and Gallagher on the wing? WHY

Who wants to share this humble pie with me on Brereton then? Anyone man enough? I’m ready....

Nice.

I didn’t think Bell had long left in him. He got dropped for Cunningham too. Let’s hope Douglas is good and stays fit. He’s in good company with a name like that at Ewood though. Trybull obvious choice for Evans. Wonder if Johnson will be the man sacrificed for Rothwell eventually? Happy with the squad today. Should win this one.

Some good points, well made Blue blood. I can't say I agree with you though. I think we have been consistent in terms of 'our level'. I never expected our squad to put on a 30+ wins a season. If you sat down with a paper showing nowt but the results you'd be right, but we should at least consider the squad he's had. He looks to be addressing the problems we have moaned at on here for time: we have had 2 new left backs in 2 years (albeit loans), we've got an entirely new goalkeeping dept, we have a winger and we have a new centre half. This summer has had some fantastic business given the circumstances and a lot of that is down to the work Mowbray puts in. The new scouting department bringing in Kaminski, which hopefully is an inspired signing. I understand your points, and I am far less frustrated at criticism as above than I am when I read the whole "pay-day" and pension pot accusations he has thrown at him. Mowbray for all of his faults isn't a chancer. It is, and always will be, refreshing to have a real football bloke in charge as opposed to the hatchet men we have had in the past. I honestly hope I can quote you at the end of this season and say "I told you so". I think we have a chance this year, at least with the squad at hand. I can't agree all the evidence stacks against Mowbray and I look forward to him proving you wrong ?

You could have left all of the above with a simple sentence. You might disagree, that's fine, but the question at hand is whether or not our club is in a better position now than when he came. You contradict yourself in every effort to be contrarian. "A better set of players than he inherited? Of course. Massively convincing? Not sure". Well, the term 'of course' would indicate you are sure. Our starting line up has Champions League experience, Premier League experience and goals in attack. Unsure what the last sentence even means. Our team is one of the youngest in the league with academy prospects throughout. We have had a few missing over the last couple of games and it has shown, so this idea that there's nothing be taken from narrow losses to two recently relegated Premier League clubs is absurd in my eyes. One of them featured a £30m club record signing...

Why does the evidence 'strongly' support this Blue blood? He's had previous promotions. The fact of the matter is that we had a mid-table squad last season. Our squad this year is improved but chances are we won't be as good as the likes of Watford and Bournemouth because they have had years of Premier League money and all that comes with it. I certainly don't think the evidence suggest he's not good enough to get us promoted - he's had one under his belt with us already! We've only had 2 seasons in this league with him.

Well, when Mowbray inherited the squad we had the likes of Wes Brown, Gordon Greer, Stokes et al kicking about. We were in the bottom three of the Championship, hardly a saleable asset in the entire Club and on our way down after a decade of waste and struggle. We now have, on paper, a very competitive squad with 2 decent players for each position and are looking more and more like an attacking football team. Results have been Rovers fashion but Forest aside we have lost to 2 relegated clubs and give them a good game whilst we were at it too. If you don't think the club has improved since the day he came then I am sorry but you are quite far removed from reality.

Newton Faulkner - Gone in the Morning

This is such a stupid argument and far too many people use it on here. What does it even mean? Is it some dig because he’s an older bloke or summat? When you get up to work, get paid and x amount of quid gets shoved aside in pension contributions - what are you doing? You’re working until your pension pot suffices. What you’ve just tried to use as a bit of a dig at Mowbray is what every other working person is doing in life too. Mowbray has worked in football for over 40 years for fuck sake and there’s posters on here who do nothing but moan about how this is his “last pay day for the pension pot”. Get over yourselves. It’s another job for him, and if he did get sacked or does leave I have no doubt he’ll be back at another club in a matter of time, being paid and...shock horror....building his pension pot. What an evil sod

Brereton to progress once again in my opinion. He looked decent against Watford going forward. Great goal too. You'd have to stick with 4-3-3. Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Williams Douglas Trybull Johnson Holtby Elliot Armstrong Brereton Our weak points yesterday were Bell and Evans. We'd have given a much better game if they weren't on the pitch. Why is Rothwell isolating by the way? Can't he just get a test to prove if he's positive or not?

Evans will play League 1 football once he is done with us.

Bell and Evans weak links. Could have told you that before kick off to be truthful. Douglas and Trybull each on the bench laughing their heads off. They’ll walk into this team if they have owt about them. How dearly we miss Rothwell. Think him, Holtby, Elliott, Dack, Armstrong and dare I say it BB will be big players for us this season in a settled side.

I used to walk down that alley way many years ago to school. Down from Marlton Rd, under the "mucky bridge", past the Aqueduct and down the alley towards St Barts. Maybe you have a different view of things as a kid but I certainly don't ever recall it being in as bad a state as it is now. Is that because the residents of the adjacent houses were prouder back then or because the council and club have both had their budgets cut in them years? I know which one I'd wager... Unfortunately for every story you tell about how you clean your flags, there'll be a story about someone who doesn't. Not all people will clean up after themselves but the surrounding businesses should be looking at maintaining the area to the best of their ability in order to attract new investment. As Blackburn Rovers are the biggest business in the area (excluding the likes of McDonalds or Aldi who are big business and have no real footprint on the local community) they should be taking the burden of responsibility and keeping all adjacent roads and alleyways as clear of litter and grime as possible. It will cost pittance in comparison to the thousands a week they pay players. As an aside, I always remember my Grandad regularly sweeping the alleyway at the back of his Marlton Rd house. Never see that kind of thing anymore and as I got older you could start to see the difference between his flags front / back and everybody else. As it has been said, a simple matter of pride. That maintenance guy sounds like most people you meet in life. "Oh, I think this area is our responsibility but that isn't". A man driven by numbers on a spreadsheet and determined to his very best at avoiding responsibility. Whether the rubbish is on the bays or the access road by it just get out there and pick it up.

Oh well. Another window over. I guess we will have to wait for our annual "I was wrong" by Mercer predicting 20 million pound savings, club tittering on the edge of oblivion and all his other doomsday predictions. Now we will "walk it". Man is a walking contradiction, but nevertheless it is hard to feel anything but joy at todays business so I won't spoil the occassion. Anyone else excited for the game tomorrow? Jesus, I've not felt giddy in a while.

Wait, wait, wait.... Have we just had a good deadline day?? Now for Bolasie, where have these links come from? I am in a state of shock I won't lie, roll on tomorrow!!!!

There’s absolutely no reason for any of the clubs to vote away their future right to eat at the big table. “Turkeys voting for Christmas” comes to mind. It’s an opportunist power grab by the upper echelons of the game, who make no mistake about it have ambitions beyond a meagre “English game”. They see themselves as Worldwide brands and are looking at using crisis capitalism to accelerate that. If this gets passed through I’ll be done with professional football. Sadly I don’t think it will matter much, but the best each of us can do is start to support our non-league friends and put our money where our mouth is.