Noooo, they like us at the moment...we need all the positive vibe we can get 😉

Aye, but according to a source in the game, TM has his hands tied behind his back in that regard (i.e. someone else gives HIM the team sheet each week). Tombola yes, but not as we thewt it 🙂

I've never liked Derby since a horrible trip to the Baseball Ground in the 70s for an FA Cup tie, which Rovers lost on a sea of mud pitch with our fans crammed into a stupidly small space which meant any small folk like me saw shag all of the game. Shrek? Meh as a manager, but a very talented player in his day. Going on what Mick McCarthy said to me earlier this week, I'm expecting a no-show from our gallant troupers, and a shit-load more howlers from the gaffer's gob. Derby 2, Rovers 1 (HT 0-1)

Aye, so who does provide oversight on these contracts, as part of the fiduciary duty required in running a business in the UK (it's a legal requirement ya know)?

I guess we will never know, but if it was any of us, on a fabulous wage and very little pressure to do anything other than told, then perhaps we'd just keep the head down and carry on until the gig ran out. As for Mr McCarthy, he looked the picture of health and relaxation, and was under no duress to express an opinion one way or the other about TM to me. Anyway, I've done my bit - I've let you lot hear what was said when I spoke face to face to a real ITK today. He isn't as tall as I thought! Does he tell tall tales about his 'mates' in the game? Who knows! 🙂

Shock, horror, send for the head-doctor - I may be about to revise my opinion of Mr Tony Mowbray... I was talking to none other than Mick McCarthy today, and commiserating with him about his very recent experience with the Bluebirds. We chatted about the 5-1 reverse they'd suffered at Ewood, and he was saying that football is a strange business, as Cardiff had hit the post and had Nyambe clear off the line before we went on the scoring rampage at the other end, and if their two chances had been converted then maybe the score would have been reversed. Anyway, he seemed very chilled at the prospect of having more time with his grandchildren now, and quite unconcerned about whether the phone would ring again with another club offering a job.. and then he talked at some length about TM, and how he is well regarded in the game as being a good coach, and how he is being asked to walk a tightrope at Rovers, but with his hands tied behind his back and blindfolded to boot... I asked what he meant, and he said that despite the outward appearance, things at Ewood are definitely not what they seem, and TM is only making the best of what is a very poor set up - just like any of us would do if given an impossible task, with frequent curve-balls served from remote places to make things even harder. He wouldn't go any further in saying what this meant in concrete terms, but just said sagely, TM says things sometimes to wind people up behind the scenes, and is just as powerless in terms of the future of the club as any of us as ordinary fans. I'm going to put two and two together here and get an odd number .... but my guess is that the whole thing is a complete charade (still) run for the benefit of folk far away, who gain benefit when results go a particular way. That is just my view, but it fits the model that the newly unemployed but very chilled Mick McCarthy set out. So, for now I'm going to pot the juvenile name calling and gurn-referencing and concentrate on the bigger picture, to see if any patterns, any clues, any obvious questions emerge. Perhaps TM isn't the real scapegoat after all, but just another passenger on the bus like the rest of us (albeit with a better paid job!).

The enigma that is Moany Toebreak will gurn submissively on the sidelines for this one, that's for sure. It all depends which Reading side turns up - if we face the hapless rabble of two seasons ago we stand a chance (unless TM bigs them up so much that we crumble anyway). If the clinical team that started the great unravelling of our early season optimism last year rocks up, we are doomed to another footballing lesson, and a sinking feeling once again at 5pm Saturday. Either way, it's unlikely to be pretty. Diaz to net. Gally to flounder. Everyone else to make it up as they go along. 1-0 Rovers (Heart) 1-2 Reading (Head) 5-1 Rovers (Hell in a handcart). Mowbray OUT! Waggot OUT! Venkys OUT! Gurning, opposition-bigging-up buffoons OUT!

So, down to 13th and the clueless charade rolls on, complete with arm-wringing, mind-numbing drivel in pre and post-match media sessions, muchos gurning, baffling team selection decisions and a tactical vacuum on the pitch. I see Bruce got an £8million settlement to feck off from the barcodes, courtesy of his rich as Croesus new owners. I wonder what kind of feck-off money is in TM's contract - I would wager it isn't as handsome a lottery strike as the hapless Bruce commanded, which begs a befuddling question about why the Venksters don't just pull the plug on this buffoon and swill him down the bog. Reading up next - they are basically the same team that dismantled Rovers at Ewood in recent games, so perhaps the slide down the league will continue, based on the form of teams underneath us at the moment...there aren't many sides I'd fancy us to beat to be honest - maybe Cardiff (5 losses in a row) or Barnsley (5 losses in a row) but meh, do we really think there are any lights still on at Ewood these days? Mowbray OUT! Venkys OUT! Gurning Cheating Liars OUT!

There was definitely an air of inevitability about last night's result. The more astute amongst us (not me!) have spoken about the Mowbray Death Spiral, as a pattern that is woven inextricably into the manager's modus operandum. I think there is something concrete in that, and the only disappointment is that the concrete isn't a lifejacket taking Mowbray and his cronies to the bottom of a deep ocean. The season plods on. Down to 11th, relegation form on the pitch, dwindling crowds, key players eyeing the exit door... Yup! Sounds like a Gurning Chump's wet dream... Venkys OUT! Mowbray OUT! Gurning cheating liars OUT!

Shhhhiiiiiiittttt!

799 Rovers fans there apparently, out of 11500 crowd. Decent

Johnson on for Travis

They've took the plastic pitch up then...

Ffs Rovers, get him a Spanish speaking personal trainer, pronto & start selling Chile shirts in the club shop - let's reflect the lurv back, whilst we still have BBD il nuevo on our books...

Is it raining in The Chalfonts Tony ? 😄 Ruddy pouring down here in monsoon season, but great weather for cycling to work 💪 Have you got to many games in the smoke recently? Cheers! M

A lot depends on whether the Gurning Chump goes with the team that started against Coventry or the one that finished the game. As it could go either way, I'm going to predict we will score, but we will also concede. Ratio of one t'other I haven't a cuckoo's clue.

Why he bothers with this back three bullshit is way beyond me. I guess we can look forward to counting the cost again at 1650. Baffling! Frustrating! Predictable 😋

His job is 'striker'. He is very much doing his job this season so far, domestically and internationally. Fair fecks to BBD and long may the fairytale continue, especially if it is in the mighty Blue and White shirt of the Rovers.

What a great finish for his goal! He certainly put himself about for 90 minutes, based on those edited highlights. Add another zero to the cheque needed to prise him from the mighty BRFC in January... but on form alone, I'd be astounded if nobody came in for Ben at that point. Will we get our money back? Should we sell in any case? Who knows, but his performance against Paraguay will not have done his stock any harm at all. Viva Diaz!

There is a (marketing) theory that businesses that lose customers due to poor service or defective product can regain and solidify their connection to those lost by identifying the specific causes of dissatisfaction and then over-compensating to ensure the customer feels 'special'. Unfortunately I don't think Waggott or anyone else down Ewood way has actually got any meaningful marketing or management qualifications, hence this band-aid for an arterial bleed approach, which of course is doomed to be a pathetic failure... The only thing that could possibly make a real difference for most disconnected fans at this point would be a sudden and lasting change of fortune on the pitch - the kind of thing that used to have us traipsing all over the place in the glory years of promotion from the 3rd and 2nd Division... What a shame that the gurnmeister demonstrated his complete inability to build and maintain any momentum once again with our two most recent reverses. Get shut of the Moggasaur. New Blood, New Thinking, fans back in their droves... COYB!

Actually, what we can concluded is that the ARE very good at funding at the current level. It's just that no-one has a cuckoo's clue why...

Lol, no, not a shred of evidence left in the place... No management oversight locally, no place at the table with football's elite, no Ronaldo (in any guise), no Premier League status, no significant fan-base relative to the size of the town anymore, no apparent clue in the transfer market, not one iota of a consistent style of play (unless you count baffling as an authentic choice from the dugout), no visibility or direction from the owners, no clue as to what comes next. No, nay, never - not a shred of fooking evidence that something dodgy is going on at Ewood 🤣

And that is what is actually funny in all of this - the incompetence and indifference of the Loons just costs them a lot of money, year in / year out. If they had a shred of insight or interest in football, they could easily set up the Rovers to be a well run, competitive outfit with a good chance of progressing onwards and upwards. But instead they CHOOSE to hold the club underwater with the dead-weight of expectation dragged further under by the lack of appropriate management. Baffling, strange and as annoying as fook, but it is what these morons CHOOSE to do. Nobody really knows WHY. End of. Perhaps we never will - and for that reason alone they should just go. Now

Yes, the thought of things going 'full Mowbray' is a worry. Ye would think that something in the back of his mind would say, we've done well in a good few games with a settled backbone and consistent side, so maybe keep a steady hand.' Then of course, as he comes to in a pool of gurn-dribble after his latest Lemon Drizzle binge, his first thought is, "ah bollox, I think wiz need to out-clever those canny Blackpool donkeys; bring me my tactics board and a pound of haribo'

Haha, I can imagine the conversation at the Award Board, "student # 234255 scored 75% across all assignments, but must be considered a fail, as he knows shag all about real football"