Dreams of 1995

I can't quite remember ever calling him for him to be sacked since that Oldham game in League 1. Earlier this season I said it was probably coming to the end of his career here and had the current state of the world not been what it now is I would probably say I'd go for a better manager now. However, the last couple of days has seen this board fall into a state of blaming Mowbray for every single thing wrong at this club and it isn't true. Most of what has been said doesn't sit right with how I see it, so obviously I'll say if I think different. In fact, I remember you bringing this up with me before and I corrected it then. 5 is a benchmark. It takes into account our relegation season, and takes into account the 2 years before Mowbray, which in my eyes are key to understanding how bad of a state the club was. Even over 3 seasons I bet our net spend isn't above middle of the table for the Championship. Those figures I posted doesn't even take into account the promoted clubs like Villa, Norwich etc who all spent fortunes in comparison to us. Just like Facebook is cringeworthy in its support for Mowbray there's a couple of threads on this board that has been hijacked and no good word can be said about the bloke - but posts based on extremely loose facts are liked in abundance because the underlying message is Mowbray out. Whether that post is true or not is irrelevant. Oops, didn't see the cheeky little edit, hardly a high horse Matty, there's been plenty of posts for the opposite side as mine, Mr Contrarian. I didn't want him sacked after a couple of games, although I do remember you quoting a loosely based comment from myself - no doubt you'll find - which even at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd time you've brought it up with me I denied I wanted him sacked.

That still doesn't detract from the fact that using net spend as an argument against Mowbray is wrong. He's been here 3 years, and on average over 5 years we have one of the lowest net spends in the league. I'm fighting a losing battle on here trying to defend the bloke. I'm certainly not going to be his cheerleader, but it's difficult to sit by and watch Rovers fans completely rewrite the truth to slam a manager that doesn't need a lot of help to criticise. I don't think he has squandered the money personally and I think there's reasons why we only sign certain players. I don't know why he gave Mulgrew and Smallwood contracts, but the only immediate thought is it was a bonus for a fantastic season prior, but now in hindsight that is a mistake. I didn't see many people complain about it though, and I'm certain it was blueboy who once brought up the old topics to show how many people praised them, who are now some of the people slamming him for it.

Revisionism at its finest. Coventry have been hit by SISU, not Mowbray's time there. In 2012 Cov went down to League 1; in 2013 SISU sold their rights to Ricoh; in 2015 Cov fans began seriously protesting against SISU; in 2015 Mowbray came to pull off a survival in League 1; the following season he had a shocking start and left and after 4 years of no money, administration and the relocation to Northampton they went down. Don't let facts get in the way of your Mowbray bashing you slip into every single post though ? Coventry fans were one of the few clubs who showed support for us in our protests against Venkys. Let's not rewrite history in an attempt to further a point.

The current season doesn't capture the true reflection in my eyes. West Brom's squad was already full of ex Premier League players and proven Championship players prior to Billic coming. Mowbray inherited Jason Lowe, Greer, Brown, Feeney and co. It needed spending just to get it to a level it could compete with Baggies, let alone surpass it. We needed to buy way more players than Leeds and Baggies following the end of Bowyer and the Lambert / Coyle disaster.

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/championship-teams-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/championship-last-five-season West Brom approx £70m net spend in 5 years. Blackburn Rovers approx -£17m net spend.

Ah. Ok. So it's gone from being desperate to avoid making reasons to being flawed - I'm glad your melodrama gets under control eventually. Why is it passing the buck? It's a genuine trend since Venky's took over that money is not available for defenders, nor is permanent signings. The post where all the finances have been deduced is somewhere on this messageboard, I'd suggest taking a look at it and the money aspect before coming up with the idea it is a conspiracy. Venkys will not sanction money to buy defenders, either that or conveniently every manager they have ever employed doesn't look at bringing them in. They are all either freebies / loans except for Dann. Duffy cost us £400k if I remember correctly, so hardly an outlay on a decent defender, just a very good deal found by Bowyer's dad. Our net spend over the past 5 seasons is one of the lowest in the league. He also inherited a squad that needed a positive net spend just to get it back to a competitive level. In my eyes you are ignoring all of the context to the situation. If you are taking missing his own objective out of the equation then the stature of the Club under Mowbray has improved, no doubt about it, and the results on the pitch have shown it. I'm not buying his poor transfer record as he has made just as many good signings as bad ones, and ultimately we are hamstrung with who we can and cannot buy. Our owners are known for delaying in accepting any incomings, and our owners are known to spring a surprise outgoing on us throughout their time here. If we want to look at Mowbray's actions in isolation to the managers before him (Ie: ignoring our net spend in the seasons prior to him coming) then we should at least allow the bloke the courtesy of understanding the policy he has to work with. Quite frankly I will not blame a manager that comes through our door for transfers because I genuinely believe the Venkys have a say in practically every player we buy, whether it be through their agent friends or otherwise. How can he avoid them injuries? We had some freak long-term injuries this season man, this board was RIFE with praise for Mowbray overcoming them, then as soon as they took grip and fatigue of the left-standing came to a head all of a sudden all of that is forgotten. You are rewriting history again. We haven't progressed this season, I said as much. We have stood still but it is entirely what I expected at the start, save a brief spell of supporter pie-in-the-sky thoughts about Christmas time or whatever where I genuinely thought a shock play off push might happen. We were on an upward trajectory but our season came to a grinding halt around the same time the injuries really started to show our depth isn't what it should be. That isn't Mowbray's fault though. He inherited a thread bare squad, clearly has very very strict financial restrictions and ultimately has built a starting team that would wipe the floor with every squad we have had since our original relegation season. Which is why I said given a modest budget once again we would improve next season, but given the circumstances I don't think Mowbray is a manager who can get a squad undeserving of promotion up, which is what this squad is. I'm not saying don't put your opinion of but you post a lot and then try and use your opinions as the basis for all others. I don't need to accept your interpretation of things and then be asked "based on that do you think..". I don't think the same because I don't see it the same. It's the massive problem for football messageboards that every fan thinks their opinion is what should be used to determine all others, and probably the reason why you think people who support Mowbray do so for non-genuine reasons. Quite frankly the way you see football and the way I see football couldn't be more opposite and that's why this sport is so catching and keeps billions enthused worldwide. What I don't need to be told is that I'm saying or thinking something for flawed, non-genuine reasons, or whatever other term you dress it up as. If I'm actually wrong back it up with a fact, if not it is a difference of opinion and that's that. I don't think Gallagher is the guy to play right wing, or Holtby the man to play as a false 9, but likewise I'm not managing a club mid table in one of the most competitive leagues in the world. I don't particularly buy into Mowbray's style of football and would like to see us play with out and out wingers, an attacking midfielder and use Gallagher up front. Coyle had success with Gallagher playing that exact way. No I'm not worried. We are mathematically safe in the league, we are missing some players I think are key to our squad, and I don't particularly feel football should have continued as it has done anyway, not that it might have made much difference. I'm gutted we missed out on promotion but going into this summer transfer window I feel more positive about our squad than last. However, in my eyes no money needs to spend on the mid / forwards - save wingers - but I still don't think Venkys will sanction any money on our goalkeeper, centre half or full backs and ultimately this is why we will always struggle to go up

All subject to "successful trial events" whatever that means. Gives Waggot another excuse not to get his arse into gear, and try and get Totally Wicked to sponsor a goalpost or something.

You are asking questions you already know the answer to...

https://www.transferleague.co.uk/championship-teams-last-five-seasons/transfer-league-tables/championship-last-five-season Sorry for the double post but here is the net spend of the Championship clubs for the past 5 years. Coincidentally our average per season net spend is that elusive -£3.3m, which I'm certain a man with more accountancy experience than myself previously deduced is the amount we need to add into the coffers, on top of owners investment, in order to stick with FFP regulations. It also takes away the Brentford argument, but clearly Brentford are the outlier in that.

For as long as I am being paid or until a better offer comes along. We should be thankful managers do stick around and try and work with them, otherwise we'd be back to the situation where we are going through managers like nobodies business. For every Paul Lambert there will be a Mowbray, who is willing to work in difficult circumstances. Some managers have made careers out of it. The lack of money to spend on defensive players is something that Waggot & co need to challenge Venky's about. I refuse to believe that this has been a problem for our managers dating back to their takeover without there being another reason for it.

Who decides if they are genuine reasons - you? As supporters we should remember that we are not experts and what we put across are our genuine opinions on the matter. We have no other motive other than support of the club as we have nothing to gain from supporting a manager, or not supporting a manager, or whatever. What is genuine is subjective to each person and this idea that some people are coming out with non-genuine reasons for wanting to stick with Mowbray stinks of self-importance, as if one has the right to determine the genuineness of another mans thoughts. No I don't. Bradley Dack plays attacking midfield and is a different player to Gallagher, Brereton, Samuel, Chapman or whoever else. His direct like-for-like replacement is Holtby and Buckley, which have both done reasonable jobs in replacing him, but have also been unfortunate with injuries themselves. Why would spending money in a different part of the pitch negate any injury to Dack? Had there not been Holtby or Buckley to replace them then the argument would have some weight about it. The truth is far from that though. If you want to discuss why we spent £12m on attackers but not defenders then in my eyes it is a different case, but one which ends at Pune. Again, who are you to unravel an argument? It's an opinion in any case. On the face of it Bradley Johnson was a really good signing, him not performing is down to him just as much as it is Mowbray. He had a good season for Derby the year before and I don't think anybody criticised him coming here. Hindsight is 20/20 and all of a sudden Mowbray is the villain in all of this. Now, the argument exists that Mowbray is the expert, and managers live and die by their signings, but that's not what is being argued here. The argument being put forward is that Mowbray could have done a hell of a lot more to prevent the genuine injury crisis we faced for a portion of the season - that simply isn't true. Why is blind loyalty a reason? How are you coming to that judgement? I've not seen a single post which would make me think that in truth - unless you are confusing one poster with the other thousands out there who don't want to sack him. You have made the comment that people who want Mowbray to stay are "not attempting to make construction reasons" but you've just made a post trying to dismiss them very constructive reasons for keeping him. Which one is it? Is the actual answer that you don't agree with the other posters' reasons, not that they aren't constructive, and not that they are trying to create hypothetical scenarios due to this blind loyalty you have determined is their reasons for their opinions? Yes I would. I think the squad now compared to the squad he inherited is a million miles away. We have some good midfield and attacking options, and when you talk to fans of other clubs they all speak of how much improved we are now. Mowbray hasn't necessarily wasted the money as the two "flops" are both still young and have time to develop into the footballers that these experts think they can become. I've considered all of your above but my opinion isn't the same as yours - you're making it out like your post above is fact and should be used as a basis for any Rovers fan to make an assessment of Mowbray. Back to that self-importance again. We have had average budgets for this league, not very competitive, we should be careful not to rewrite history. They were only weird to us because we went through a couple of seasons with virtually nothing to spend.

What a load of nonsense. There has been plenty of posters on here that have made very good posts to as why they want Mowbray to stay. It isn't their fault they are then rounded on by half a dozen replies, and can only really choose one or two to reply to without spending their entire day in a back and fourth with others. In your post all you have done is what you have claimed others have done - you have focused on the manner of those posters, created a hypothetical scenario and completely ignored some decent content that has posted because it doesn't suit whatever weird point you are trying to get across. If you don't like the people that want Mowbray to stay then come out and say it instead of trying to wrap it up in some convoluted bullshit.

Not having money for defensive signings is a trend spanning longer than Mowbray's time here. I keep referring to a brilliant topic on this board which showed our spend on defenders compared to attackers since Venky's came - there isn't even a comparison. It is becoming abundantly clear that money is not there for centre halves, for whatever reason. This again is an issue which extends way above our domestic management team, if you will, and appears to be a direct policy of our funders / owners. I don't think it would have been wise to sign a replacement for Dack. We had Holtby and Buckley, but nobody expected both of them to face injuries / knocks too. You bring a player in and then over the course of the season when Holtby comes back that player is a wasted wage. It's a very difficult thing to comprehend as a supporter, as we don't see the finances, but signing a player in January might have been the difference between not signing a player in summer. I'm not absolving any blame here but I don't think it is as black and white as what it is being made out. We still have some deadwood and if we had a healthy budget I'd trust Mowbray again to try and give us that extra push to play offs. I don't suspect we will have much money to spend and that would probably push me more to getting a manager who is more known for getting the best out of what he has. I think we could have dealt with our squad injuries a little better, and tried a few more of the youth rather than sticking with tried-and-failed players shoehorned into unnatural positions, but I don't think our injuries should just be cast aside when discussing why we didn't achieve the aims the club set out. Once again though, I don't think any fan expected this squad to reach the play offs this season, it was only when Mowbray came out and said that was the aim that we thought about it. In that respect, he's made his own problem.

But our injuries weren't par of the course. I think that is what Atko was getting at. To lose Dack and Holtby long to medium term was bad enough, to lose all 3 left backs in the squad was even worse. There was a time when this messageboard was very sympathetic towards Mowbray's injury problems. Over time that has changed to "well, he should have forward thought". I think it was about Feb / March time when our injuries were at their peak. I genuinely thought the break would see us through but results since then have been awful. Any team losing the amount of players we did this season would struggle. Lenihan has had time out, Evans, Dack, Holtby, Cunningham - they are the spine of the team really, or at least our better players, and we never really got to grips with replacing them. None of this takes away from the very real criticism of Mowbray's tactics or squad rotation but it does go a certain way to explaining some of our poor results. Some won't see it that way, the clamour for Mowbray out is well and truly underway but one thing I feel like needs to be kept repeating is that everyone else was surprised by the clubs aim for play offs this season. Most of us seemed content with a mid-table finish if I remember correctly, but the club decided to up the ante and have failed to deliver. I don't really think that is just enough reason to sack him though but then again we aren't living in normal times and, where this season the expectation would be to build on the last two seasons, finances will more than likely see us selling rather than buying.

On the face of it he seems a better manager. Done okay at Fleetwood, be interesting to see where he ends up at next. I’d rather it not be us who do the testing though....our next manager has to be an old boy, tried and tested, Mick McCarthy would do nicely in that regard. I think he’d have got this current squad up.

One thing we should never do is accept it Chaddy. We may grin and bear it for now but we'll never accept them or the model they use to run this club. The sooner they realise it the better too. They need to cut their losses, sell up and return our club back to us. I posted it many years ago and I'll say it again here - I would sacrifice our league position for getting rid of them if I had to, but I hope it doesn't come to that for us. We are a big enough club to come back from everything currently, but give them another 20 years and things may change.

Every manager we ever have would just keep walking away if that is the case. I used to say it about Bowyer too but nothing will change whilst we are owned by them. It's forever been the case. All this talk of walking for pride is no good to us as a club, however good it may look for the blokes doing it. I agree wholeheartedly that it isn't a difficult request to make but we aren't dealing in normal here. What Mowbray has said isn't lining up excuses, it is the truth, and we've heard it from every manager except Bowyer.

Walton - 5. He's made some fantastic saves in his time here, made a few clean sheets and generally been okay in the air which is a rarity for modern goalkeepers. That said far too many clangers in the midst of that for me. No real change on Raya from last season, who has upped his game even further this. Bad decision but not Walton's fault of course. Tosin - 8. The only reason this isn't a 10 is because he isn't our player. I've enjoyed watching him play for Rovers and will be gutted he is to go on to bigger and better clubs. He's exactly what I want in a centre back these days, and his forward passing is something we will miss. He found Dack time and time again in the hole and continues to do so, it's just a shame the rest around him don't match his vision. Downing - 7. Been a joy to watch his twilight days, and I remember seeing him down the Villa when I was younger too. Always liked him and think he's an exemplary professional. I'd give him another year personally as he's one of a few we have who can deliver a deadball almost perfectly every time. Johnson - 4. Such a good signing on the face of it but no wonder a progessive manager like Cocu got rid. Attitude seems wrong and fitness all out of whack. On his day unplayable and I love his shithousery, but need to see more of that to give him a better rating. Holtby - 5. Not done enough for me to replace Dack. Got a few goals and shows some brief glimpses of quality but need to see it week in, week out. Holtby should be our star man but we are all left wondering when Dack will come back to replace him. Gallagher - 3. This boy will come good, I am sure of it, but this season hasn't been good enough at all. He's missed chances and seems to run himself into the ground every game. Maybe making less gut wrenching runs back and trust the full back, but that's hard with Bennett, and conserve some energy for the final 3rd. There's a player in there though and when he plays well he's a cut above in my opinion, but that inconsistency is why Saints sold him and why his goalscoring record is dodgy.

No. More likely something to do with them being arseholes and the fact there's a small matter like a global pandemic going on

TM doesn't need to do anything to put the blame back onto the owners. If there's a fan out there that blames Mowbray for our delayed budgets / going into the summer unknown then as a collective we should tell them to take a look back at the last decade. This is a Venky problem, always has been and always will be. Mercer, give it a rest, not everything is the blokes fault. You are on overdrive lately. We've not had a budget on time since they came, it's hardly an excuse, it's the truth.

Whaaaat? Is Mowbray getting the blame for Coventry City now? I think the blame for that lies at Sisu's door, not at the managers.

That's a compromise I'd be willing to make. The Rao family in conjunction with Coyle.......

Bullshit. You would say that because you've had a beef with Mowbray for over 12 months. The argument you've put forward is lacking in context, probably deliberately so "IMO". When Neil Warnock took over Boro (22nd June 2020) Boro had 41 points, level on goal difference - or better - than those around them. Boro were within 3 points from Wigan in 17th place. When Tony Mowbray took over Rovers (Feb 2017) we were second bottom, 3pts away from Bristol City and a huge 6pts away from next best placed Wolves, Blues, Forest and QPR even more out of reach. The team we had was awful compared to the Boro team, and to top it off our goal difference was worse than every club around us except Burton's who were level with us. The two situations are incomparable. Mowbray came in with the likes of Greer, Brown and Lowe; Warnock has Dael Fry, Fletcher, Patrick Roberts (!), Howson, George Friend. These are players that have played in Europe / Premier League in the not so distant past. Again, it wasn't Mowbray who relegated us, it was Coyle, and quite why you'd want to absolve him of that blame is beyond me Should also note that of the teams around us when Mowbray took over Forest are now play offs, Wolves are in Europe, Villa Premier League. Warnock has Luton, Barnsley and Hull to contend with - different league altogether.

Tony Mowbray didn't get us relegated. Owen Coyle did. People that go around throwing their toys out of their pram blaming Mowbray because he's upset them are doing themselves no favours - all they are doing is taking the blame away from chimp features.

What else is a 2nd choice goalkeeper going to do? Goalkeepers know their place, and those that play 2nd choice know full well what they’re going to. It’s not a normal position. Senior 2nd choice keepers are a must though, and having one you can depend upon is the difference between winning trophies and not in most cases.