Who cares? Sod them. Keep paying the bills, stop meddling and leave us to it. I'm glad they don't talk to us anymore. If this young Balaji turns out to be as big of a dick as his fat dad then I hope Waggot puts him in his place. Frankly the day Madam or Balaji steps foot in Ewood Park again will be a very, very sad day. They don't deserve it. I only hope their son has more worldly sense about him and drops the caste-system ingrained sense of privilege his horrible relatives hold. I don't blame Balaji jnr at all for what has happened. He'll have his chance, like everyone deserves.

What was the Premier League Pledge again?

Get yourself to that bloody lake again will you Biz, I've never seen you so stressed

The viewing figures just show you have more fans, as you should being a one club city. It's totally unfair to offer yourselves more money when smaller clubs have been consistently more successful than you over the space of a decade or so. Money shouldn't be offered based on viewing figures but on success. In that respect you deserve what a mid table Championship club should get, 25,000 fans or not.

A postponed meeting doesn't cause an issue for concern at all. At the end of the day if it's not reasonably practical for both sides there is no reason why, in the modern age, communication can't be done online. We aren't in any urgent need for a face to face meeting anyway. We are doing fine.

Yep. Let's make sure we get an eight years head start on the rest of them - that should see us right. Talk about completely undermining the meaning of competition.

Him being a key player is a stretch! We'll need a first choice centre half signed soon. If @philipl's transfer policy statement is true and the £7m investment in Brereton was part of a long term strategy I hope we see a similar sum soon spent on a defender. Do that and suddenly this squad becomes the real deal. Of course, though, I'd spend near enough £10m of todays money on Harrison Reed before anything. What a boy.

Woah. This got a bit weird. I didn't realise your desperation to be aligned with the man - I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause offence...... I don't think I have moaned once about Waggott or season tickets ?. I don't get the "people like you" comment. Unlike yourself I have no need to be identical to another poster. I have some issues with the club that others don't; I like some things about the club that others don't. Again, going back to my original point, that's life - we will almost never all agree. It's weird to group me with other posters just because I don't buy your whole "we are victims of moaners" stance....... Quite frankly though I couldn't care less if Parson agrees with you on another topic. It doesn't somehow validate your opinion over others. It just means you share an opinion with a likeminded fan. Hooray for you. As a final note, I think we should dispel this myth that if you aren't happy with the ST prices and aren't happy with Brereton you aren't a "very positive person". It seems a rather judgemental thing to do to define a persons character based on a few posts on such an emotive subject as football. It's like you are trying to validate your own opinion by proclaiming yours is positive and others is negative. It makes no difference. A right opinion could also be a negative one and vice versa. It's coming across as a desperation to be right instead of understanding others think differently. Anyway, back to Brereton, he's rubbish and we are going down. Mowbray out. Waggott out. Free Season Tickets for all. T'ra!

Nope. Mowbray is just better than Bielsa.

Rather the contrary, unsall. Both "sides", if you will, simply have differing opinions on a player. Whenever a fan has an opinion that some may construed as negative certain posters bombard them with reasons why they should "trust Mowbray" (like they don't already..) and tell them they should listen and learn from and, ultimately, take from any interview/match/report what they believe should be taken. As an example, Chaddy is telling Mercer he should "listen to Mowbray" about how BB is learning to play the 'Rovers way' in order to "learn" - which is slang for "form the same opinion as me". Whereas Mercer has deduced, like others, that spending £7m on a player in the current climate that can't grasp the way we play after this many weeks is rather a waste of money. Two people have seen the same games, listened to the same radio interviews and concluded differently. Such is life. There is only one side calling the other ridiculous, wrong etc etc. It's ridiculous that grown men can't debate without victimising themselves. There's no "shouting down" - there's disagreement. Either learn to discuss the differences and grow thicker skin or post on boards like TheRovers where every post is "In Mowbray we Trust" with little to no discussion about the club and its players. It's getting rather boring now. Edit - as a completely different point I don't understand the obsession with yourself/Chaddy constantly listing Parsons in with this "group" that you are trying to make yourself into. I can't even remember the last time Parson made a post in this topic - or indeed any discussion outside of his well valued mini-match reports - let alone merit a mention in a discussion between positive/negative posters. It's odd ?

Come to think of it I'm struggling to see what Brereton brings us over what Antonsson did. Similar pace, although Brereton might have a defter touch, neither can hold the ball up and were more comfortable with it in front of them. So far the big - and most important - difference between the two is the goal scoring record. Let's hope BB can bang a few in succession and put the doubts at ease like Antonson did.

Anyone seen our Christmas fixtures? My god. It's so important that we win 4 of our next 6 at a minimum because we play Leeds, Norwich and Sheff Utd over Christmas and New Year. Remain in the place we are at now and we will have a real chance of promotion. If anything it will benefit us getting the likes of Leeds and Sheff Utd out of the way.

Williams has really surprised me this season. I think he is a terrible left back but he is much more comfortable at centre half. Whenever he has had to fill in there he's done so with confidence. Fair play to him as I honestly had him down as one of our worst players over the space of two seasons despite that rather strange vote as Player of the Year in the dreaded relegation season! He's found his place at centre half. Keep him well away from left back.

This is the question, den. Mercer is trying to put this across to chaddy but is seemingly banging his head against a brick wall. He's not shown much in his time here and for some reason the only thing that stands out in my head is that it takes him 4 minutes to tie his shoelaces. When we had Chapman on the wing when the ball got to him I could almost feel myself rising out of my seat. Now, he is a different player to Brereton granted but the point remains that Brereton on the wing doesn't fill me with any excitement. Neither does his hold up play and the time he had a chance to knock in a header a week ago he put it straight at the keeper - not good enough. Mercer is right in saying that even if you are 19, 16, 24, 32 there will be a few moments each game where you show that little bit of quality. So far I am yet to see that in a Rovers shirt. But look, with all that in mind, we have a young lad here that has won the world cup at youth level - 2 if you include Armstrong - and is clearly a lad with "potential". I don't agree with the posters that believe we should look at the player and fee in isolation. Ultimately, though, if we buy a player for £250k or for £25m, I still expect that same level of determination and effort. I don't think Brereton has so far done anything to make me believe he isn't putting in any effort and I do think he has the interests of himself and the club on his mind - I just don't think he's displaying the characteristics that will make him good enough to play at this level for long. Even the most ardent Rovers supporter has to agree that he simply isn't displaying any real qualities right now. Every player hits a spell of bad form. I only hope this is his. I want a real kick on over the Christmas period to justify the £7m we will begin to pay in January.

£7m is a lot of money for a potentially good winger or a potentially good striker. Mowbray must have seen something because there was a winger being touted from Peteborough for £2.5m that is an actual winger and has scored and created goals for 3 years in a row. Plus we'd have had £4.5m to add a centre back for the inevitable injury problems we are currently/will continue to struggle with. I think Premier League clubs sign potential for £7m. Modest Championship clubs with strict wage structures and tight budgets should probably be looking at where such a player plays best and understand what role the £7m player is going to play. At the moment I simply don't see where Brereton is going to fit in. Armstrong and Bennett on either wing and it looks like Mowbray prefers Conway and Reed over BB also. I don't think it's so much a criticism of Brereton but more a confusion at where this £7m has been spent on. Our bench? Depth? We've spent a lot of money on a maybe striker/maybe winger - but even then we don't know which side he prefers. A lot of maybes but one thing is for certain - it's cost us millions.

Are you talking about Raya?

I genuinely think we can and that's a good thing. I wouldn't be doing though. What is the news on Lenihan and Mulgrew?

No it is not. It is because they are born with some form of condition - a medical defect if you will. It is never down to simply bad luck. A doctor won't go: "Well, Geoff, we don't know why you were born with a gap in your spine and you can't walk, just bad luck I guess" - they'll diagnose Geoff with spina bifida and begin to treat, to the best of human capabilities. Only you have rationalised it as "bad luck". The rest of the more morally in tune of us attribute it to a medical diagnosis. The idea that it is simply "bad luck" only exists in your head because it provides some justification to as why past life sins could be just as acceptable. It's a strawman argument. The rest of it is just pure nonsense and probably warrants a discussion in I Can't Believe It's Not Football section but it definitely deserves a mention for being one of the more ridiculous of sentences posted on here. Shocker.

Yes. The idea that one will face an eternity of punishment based on the mistakes made whilst in existence is weird. What's more, the notion that a perfectly innocent child that would love nothing more than to be abled is to face a life time of invasive care, medical treatments and struggle is simply because he was a bad person previously is terrifying. What awful things could we then do to that child if we are to treat him as such? He/she is innocent and deserves all the compassion we afford able bodied people. One of the many rules that defines British culture, or indeed the majority of world culture, is that they are "innocent until proven guilty". In the case of a young disabled child there is no crime for which he has committed and is therefore completely innocent. I can't even believe I am having to justify any of this. In the case of somebody omitting a sin (crime) in this life then it is in this existence in which we punish them (jail, community service, fines) and not in an "afterlife" for which they, or we, have no control over. Learn about context man and stop pushing the "I know more about cultures than you" card.

Or 5 at the back, or 6 in midfield, or 2 up front, or 4-4-2, or 4-4-1-1, or 4-3-3, or the christmas tree, or 4-5-1, or 5-3-2, or 4-2-4. Don't forget to cover all eventualities Chaddy, then in 6 months time you can tell us how you told us how Lambert would play. Alternatively, what I'd do is wait and see what he says in the Ipswich Observer and then say that's how he will play. Always works for me. I'm never wrong.

I think the implication that somebody is disabled through a fault of their own, yet one they can't control, by implying they've been sinful previously is utterly abhorrent. It completely trivialises the struggling somebody is going through; it almost washes societies hands to provide reasonable allowances (care, benefits and compassion) by laying the blame at that person. It opens the door for poor treatment of that person, as seen in the South East Asian cultures which endorse such a belief. The mere thought of blaming a disabled person for his own disability knocks me a little sick. Imagine being told that your child is born with a disability because he was a bad person previously - imagine being told that YOU were born disabled because you were a bad person in a previous life. The notion basically paves the way for the almost sub-human treatment of the disabled because it puts the idea that that person is to be "punished". That ideology has no place in British culture - which is just as much about compassion for all people as it is freedom of speech - and as such you should not be openly endorsing such a belief when in a position of responsibility as Hoddle was.

I thought that Mike but on another thread Biz told us about this lake of tranquility he floats around sometimes. I was more hoping somebody could borrow me their high horse for me to ride there.

I'd say I have sufficient knowledge on the world to know that a belief in which a disabled man must have done something sinful in a prior life is disrespectful regardless of whatever culture or religion it is born from. They might accept that viewpoint in parts of South East Asia but ultimately he was the manager of the English national team and it was he, not us, that should have researched and understood the English culture and concluded that such beliefs aren't in line with ours and respectfully kept his own views to himself.

I think some people need to ask Biz if they can have a float around the lake of tranquillity with him. It's got a little emotional in this thread. Imagine a world in which we all conformed to a single opinion and didn't express our thoughts in a way in which we saw fit....it would be like a bloody university campus on here! From now on I propose we submit our posts to prior approval to the Thought Squad to see if it is sufficiently sensible, open minded and intellectual enough to put forward. This would ensure no thoughts differ from that of the Thought Squad's - which, of course, differing opinions are all closed minded, lazy, incoherent and downright insulting to the reputation of Sir Tony. Oh my God...how do I reach this damn lake???