Admiral Nelsen

The end to this season is reminding me me plenty of the Bowyer season where we almost got in the play offs. I remember watching us put 4 past Birmingham away in the first half and being more concerned about 4 or 5 other teams results than enjoying ours! In the end though it didn't matter as the horrible Yeovil and much much worse Sheffield Wednesday results took it beyond us. I expect this season will be the same with Wigan and Barnsley, but it looks like they're doing a good job of just about keeping our hopes alive by a slither until the final moment.

I'd have no qualms at all with either of those getting it, especially Armstrong the way that he has kicked on, but I've voted for Darragh. I remember seeing our win percentage with him and without him in the team a couple of weeks ago. These things can be misleading, but even so I really think Lenihan is the one player in the squad that we miss the most when he doesn't play.

Game of opinions, but I really don't see it that way at all. I do think that he has worked really hard on his technical play and he can do a pretty good job of keeping possession high up the pitch, and it might be easy to exaggerate how bad his final ball tends to be (happy to say it's no worse than Bell's, more often than not). Even so, I can't agree that we can call his crossing good, definitely a weaker part of his game as I see it.

Can't argue with that. I suppose the way that the game is going fullbacks are increasingly less likely to get away with just being good defenders and not need to offer a significant attacking threat. Having said that he has clearly developed in running with the ball and keeping possession - he probably only needs to become adequate at his final ball and other clubs might be looking in his direction. I wonder if a player like Andre Ooijer would have had any sort of career as a right back in the modern game. Good defender and technically v. decent, but his instincts are so much that of a defender that he might've not even have been given the chance there to begin with.

I like Ryan a lot but I think this is a fair assessment of where he is at present. Progressing nicely but not yet PL standard. He does seem to be playing slightly within himself post-lockdown - not in a way which is a concern but still a slight drop off. I wonder if this might have something to do with him managing his body with all the extra games. He's talked about his tendency to pick up muscle injuries in the past, maybe the extra games in a condensed period means that he wants to reduce the risk.

All debates about the merits of playing him wide aside, he clearly has the pace and power to make life difficult for full-backs. Good on him for making the difference today, next season we'll have to expect him to deliver a bit more frequently.

Players who have (correctly) come in for a bit of stick showed glimpses of their potential today. Even apart from the goal, Rothwell looked as productive as he has for some time. Gallagher showing that he has the attributes to cause full backs issues, even if his position isn't out wide. Disappointed, as even three wins will probably see us fall just short.

And they've just gone behind!

Just had a look at Derby's remaining fixtures and they've still got Leeds and Cardiff to come. Even a draw today would make it difficult for them.

Think we spent a couple of million on Scott Dann, but next to nothing since relegation. Suppose if you're being charitable we have actually proceeded more than our fair share of young defenders who were of a decent level in Nyambe, Hanley and Lenihan. Beyond that, you're probably looking at Duffy who was what, 400k?

I think the four wins will probably be enough now that Cardiff have lost. Mammoth task which at the minute seems beyond us, but if should be get the better of West Brom today then I'll probably start believing again!

That's Gally with a hat-trick tomorrow then!

Interesting. Out of curiosity what do you think he is good at? I've never seen him play beyond the odd highlights package. At a higher level you could easily describe MGP (or even David Beckham) in a similar sort of way, but they managed to make up for it in other ways. Something similar here or is it just a knack of getting into the box and scoring?

Absolutely, definitely not advocating him as Tosin's replacement for next season. I don't think I caught the original post on Wharton, so I could be missing the point, but I was just saying that I wouldn't be reading too much into his lack of game time at Ewood - not so often you get a Phil Jones who can take to such a demanding position so well at a young age.

Time will tell, I haven't followed him other than knowing his promotions so I can't call it either way. Having said that, seems to me as though there's a pretty big middle ground between Travis is & where Tomlinson seems to be - there's room for Scotty to be a relative success if he finds himself in that middle ground.

I can't say one way or the other if he'll be at the right level, but it's different for central defenders. There's no luxury to introduce them gradually and allow them to learn on the job in the same way that you can for other outfield positions. I would've thought his lack of appearances for the Rovers 1st team reflects both his position & that the management think he's going to develop more playing mens football rather than them thinking that he's never going to make it.

To be fair, miles out of town is exaggerating. You're right that it's not that bad to get to from the trains, but moving it to a retail park was a retrograde step for me. There's just something a bit more soulless about having a ground in between a gym and a cinema when the alternative was a stadium with a century's worth of history, right in the community and surrounded by heaving pubs on match day. Time plays tricks, but I believe there were plans drawn up to do up Central Park and turn it into something more befitting a modern stadium, before the land was eventually sold to Tesco. Not sure if that would have been viable if the football team would've shared the ground, but I find it really hard not to look at that decision without thinking what it could've been like.

Dunny's was one of my all-time favourite players to watch & I wish him every success, but unless his managerial record ends up being genuinely outstanding I would be dead against him coming back as boss, if only because of what it might do to his legacy. You see it all the time at other clubs, we even saw it here with Berg although he was sacked before the fans turned on him. Fan favourite players returning as managers almost never works out and usually involves some bitterness at the end on one side or another. Hopefully he finds the Barrow job less of an ordeal than Oldham was, and if he ever returns to Ewood, that it is in another capacity rather than the gaffer.

He comes across like a little boy lost when in front of a camera these days. Obviously not the biggest thing when it comes to his management potential, but an amazing contrast to the arrogance he had as a player, at least in his younger days.

People can surprise you, but I can't see Fowler being anything other than a total disaster for some reason.

I agree with plenty of this, including that we probably could have expected a few more points last time out given how we started. Having said that, I still think that looking at the big picture, we have improved from this year to last, and that it's really hard to see a good case to get rid of the manager whilst that's true.

That's completely valid and a totally justified fear, but equally I think it's unfair to bin off Mowbray until that actually materialises! Especially when you could easily say the same for virtually every club in the league. You're right that promotion, rather than linear progression is the name of the game. Linear progress does however count for 1) an indication of how far away we are from 'actual' success, and TM's record shows that we're probably going to be reasonably closer than last year, and a hell of a lot closer than the previous 2/3/4 years. Because of this, it also matters for 2) how easy it is to attract/keep hold of the right players. Even if this means that you lose players along the way, like you say, a team that finishes just outside the 6 looks a much better proposition than one that finishes 14th. I'm getting slightly away from my main point here; I accept that there are good reasons why some fans might have issues with Mowbray - but getting rid of a manager is an enormously unsettling thing for a football club, and for me should only happen where there is good evidence that you need to change. At present, when we're making progress, I don't see anywhere near enough evidence that we're in that sort of territory.

Hardly glacial. Remains to be seen where we'll end up this year, but promotion from L1, 14th in the Championship, and then lets say we stay where we are in 10th this year? This is more than just trivial levels of year-on-year improvement. A horrible transfer window/reduction in budgets could undo everything, like you say, but this is the sea in which almost every club at our level swims. Maybe the level above too. Doesn't seem like a good reason to get rid of the man in charge, especially when he has a record of bringing in players who can improve us, even if there are a couple of expensive mistakes too. I get that there are gripes with Mowbray, the SG & BB signings being the obvious ones, but I really don't get where the clamour to get rid comes from after looking at his record overall.

Seriously? Proud Preston indeed.

I'm with you with most of that, but I'd still see Walton as being under-par. I think our stronger defence says more about about getting a stronger partner for Darragh (and perhaps Lenihan staying fit for longer). Walton will take some credit too, and I do like some things about him, but he's made one or two too many errors. By no means a disaster, but equally I think we need better.