Dreams of 1995

For the life of me I cannot understand why Brereton was brought on at left wing and Dack put up front. How backward is that? Does he not trust Dack to get back or not trust Brereton to play up front? Or both? Such a bizarre situation. Smallwood had a poor game. All three of their goals came from driving runs right through the middle of the park. It's shocking to see them goals conceded at Sunday League level let alone 3 in one professional game! It was an ok first half but after the 50th minute mark it has to be up there with the Bristol City performance. Awful. I think it's about time some players understand their position in this squad depends entirely on their performances. I'm not using him as a scapegoat but the bottom line is Smallwood hasn't been good enough this season to mean he is a guaranteed starter. It showed that when Evans went off we totally lost control in that midfield area. The weekend game is going to be even tougher. WBA score goals for fun and we concede for fun. Expect a high scoring game. It's one we can definitely win as I think their obsession with playing out from the back, despite not being much good at it, will suit the likes of Armstrong and Dack. If we perform anything like we did in that final 40 minutes we could well be coming back shipping another 3.

£7m is a lot of money to be "investing in potential". He obviously has the hallmarks of a good player and has represented England at varying age levels. There's a player in there for sure. I think one of the major worries for all Rovers fans is that the first real investment from Venkys since Rhodes may turn out to be a flop. It's constantly in my head and I find myself almost wanting too much from Brereton because of it. I get frustrated when he doesn't beat two men and score in order to justify his cost. Very unfair judgement but the truth. I'll be honest and say I'd rather the £7m was spent on proven centre back - they are usually cheaper and you could get a very good, established centre half for that money. Yet it wasn't and we are here now with Brereton. At 19 he could earn this club more than 7m in goals or future fees - however, he could also give Mowbray a bloody nose from madam and that has to be worrying even to the most fervent defenders of his talents.

BBQs can do that to a man Sparks Rover. We are better off selling him now - can't believe how damaging to team morale this man is!!!!

Took you back to that small town near Bradford with 0 points.

Do you want us to ask Mowbray if he can give Bielsa any coaching lessons during our next fan Q&A? He'll (Bielsa) will do well to learn from the best. T'ra.

Or he only takes jobs in which he has an excuse for if things go wrong? Don't succeed at Madrid, Barca or Argentina = sacked and derided. Don't succeed at Leeds, Bilbao (with their nationalist structure), Lazio = the complexities of the job at hand. You can twist any argument any which way my furry knuckled friend. I wouldn't even trust Bielsa to look after the sausages at one of Dack's famous Friday night BBQs. 7-0 Rovers.

Corrected for you Madon

I think this is about the time Leeds usually fall apart. Bunch of perpetual under achievers - their players aren't much better either. Lived with a lad from Leeds at university. Only person I've seen who went to the chippy and bought a paper and walked back with the chips in his pocket and reading the paper. Backward lot of people.

That whole tranquillity point got a little weird didn't it

So that's a vanilla slice for you and a pint of milk for Tommy Robinson is it

Did this actually happen? Would have loved to have witnessed that. Imagine if Nyambe bumped into him - that would be one long rant about his lack of positional awareness and communication. Frapuccinos flying everywhere. I bet JAL ordered a flat white with a white chocolate cookie whilst humming along to Half a Shilling.

Like me. If the coverage improved I'd say it would take something special to make me purchase a ticket next season.

I defended the pricing on the 3rd or 4th page. Just a little irking your belittling of the issue when it's something you don't face yourself. I don't see how what I just said means I'm trolling.... As for the simple economics it should be noted that Huddersfield, Burnley, Brighton etc all offered discounts or free renewal upon promotion!

Get it right blueboy please there's a good chap

I suppose it's very easy for you to completely dismiss the impact of rising prices when you don't buy season tickets or have the issue of rising match day tickets. iFollow will continue with the same price and you'll continue to use the service. Although I'm sure you have some gripes with that yourself and it would be as equally frustrating of me to belittle your gripes when I'm not a service user myself.

I think it's by the by that any opinion he decides to bash comes from the minority or the majority. The basis of this criticism against him is that the calls for sacking Mowbray and replacing them for Warnock simply don't exist. It's clear for all to see he's dug into the depths of twitter (or other social media) for a single (if it exists at all) comment that will provide him with the platform on which to write a column about how some fans' opinions simply don't come in line with reality - but of course his does. And they are right. Always. Regardless. As previously mentioned it's the epitome of lazy. It's obviously been a slow time for news regarding Rovers (thank god) and Smith is looking for anything to capitalise on.

Journalism is probably at the lowest level it has ever been and Smith is no different. His reports, opinions or whatever, are usually far wide of the mark. I think you know it too by bringing up the state of other journalists in comparison to him. There were, and are, a dozen "astonishingly wrong headed mutterings" to choose from but he chose to report a non-issue because it more suited the basis of his column. It's lazy, inaccurate and rightly deserves the criticism it gets.

I think I tend to follow Rovers quite well on social media and I have never once heard or read the suggestion of sacking Mowbray in favour of Neil Warnock. At least not often enough to suggest it warrants column space in the local newspaper. I think as a journalist at any level you have a responsibility to ensure your reports are fair and accurate. By putting forward a notion that enough fans have the view of sacking Mowbray that it warrants such a response isn't fair or accurate.

Personally I'm quite happy he's now able to identify with the club again regardless of his attitude towards the club before Mowbray came. If you'd like though I'm sure Neal can ask Sharpe to let you be involved in the article too? If that's what you want..

Before the start of this season I'd agree with you there DE but I think Evans has really stepped up this year. He's been one of our better players so far. He's stepped up to the plate and has had a few matches this year where he stood out. A far cry from the disappearing acts of years gone by! I think him and Rodwell could be a decent partnership in midfield- although that's totally based on Rodwell's single, but brilliant, appearance vs Bolton. However, you have to consider the future and if Rodwell continues in the same vein as last weekend would you rather him or Evans on the big wage? Can we afford both? I'd like to think we could but I also respect the wage structure in place. Evans has had form in the past of not performing under a big contract (you could argue this seasons up turn in form coincidentally, or conveniently, comes in time for new contract talks) and Rodwell too has form for not performing under big contracts, although, again, that is based on his time in a poisonous club like Sunderland.

That's ok if you are Real Madrid but we'd lose our best players every single year for free if that was the case...

Imagine you give the bloke a 6 year contract and we end up going on a 15 game losing run and a dressing room fall out? The pay off would be astronomical. Managers these days should be used to short contract lengths. 2 years, 3 at most.

I'd say playing a part in 13 goals in 10 games is getting more than involved in each game. ?

That's taken me back a bit. What makes you think that? And Kasey Palmer has scored 3 goals. He's not played badly.

There are lots of options out there in varying positions. It's of no doubt that, at this moment in time, there is an argument to be had that the £6m could have been spent better. Brereton may kick on and become the multi million pound player he's meant to be. However, you can't help but look around and see the business teams like Brentford, Norwich, Derby, Boro, Villa etc have done and be envious we spent such huge sums of money on a player that hasn't made an impact. Most may be loan signings but they are certainly loan with fees attached (Mount, Wilson at Derby or Kalas at Bristol City to name a few) they have certainly made better use of available funds. I hope Brereton kicks on and proves the doubters wrong. My only fear is that the first big outlay we've had in years under the Venkys may turn out to be a flop. It's far too early to be judging as such though.