20 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Fun fact: Henning Berg was sacked after one win in ten.

Without a single transfer window to assemble HIS team. Compare that to how many and how much money dickhead has had. 

2 hours ago, WacoRover said:

Seriously, in these final eight games, we should take points in at least six of them. The only two I do not expect at least a point, are Cardiff & Bournemouth. 

TM: “... we also have to win this next football match.”

Three wins & three ties, at least. Then I will worry about TM’s fate. Nothing will happen until after the seasons final whistle, anyway. 

Yep I've said exactly this myself. That said, beat Wycombe and its pretty much officially dead rubber time so I wouldn't rule out points against Bournemouth and Cardiff either. There will inevitably be defeats somewhere though. Can see 4 wins from this set of fixtures, just hope venkys don't fall for the 'progress' bullshit from the spin doctors running the show. 

Shields gazette reporting Newcastle are in for Armstrong at £16m. But the sell-on will be written off as part of the deal. Don't think we'll get a better offer than that to be honest(assuming it's true of course). 

1 hour ago, EgyptianPete said:

 

Callum Davidson is an interesting option. Relatively new to management and won a trophy already in Scotland and not with the big 2. Plus Scots have a habit of making decent managers in this country for whatever reason. Not sure I'd want to risk it mind you. Didn't he play for Preston too? Maybe an alternative to Ainsworth for them, as the nobbers tend to take chances more with managers. We just take chancers as managers. 

14 minutes ago, Meesh said:

Some telling numbers already about how apathetic we feel about him being sacked in a normal fashion, i.e. now or ever.

I think @Hasta has it summed up. We won't sack the manager in summer. It's not the Venky way. We'll go through the usual rigmarole.

1. Seasons ends. Sharpe mentioned "trip to India in the next couple of weeks".
2. A month into the season ending, Mowbray goes to India, is treated like royalty, and sells his fantasy for the upcoming season to the owners.
3. Mowbray returns with contract extension in hand to dissuade any distractions throughout the upcoming season. The owners are supportive of the club, and we are reminded of how honest and humble they are.
4. Mentions of players on List A, List B, and List C. We use List D, but only as a last resort a few weeks before the transfer window ends.
5. We have 1,000 pages of potentially signing Marcus Maddison and Ben Heneghan-againeghan.
6. Pickering announced as our marquee signing, and Daniel Ayala announced as being like a new signing after returning from a close-season injury after tripping over his bottom lip.

Season begins. After a slight boost in making an effort, results are mediocre to poor, and we're floating above relegation. Social media on overdrive again, making Mowbray return to petulance: not bothering to stand on the touchline and direct the players, telling us that he's done everything he can in training, and making sure he gets back to passive-aggressive comments in the media directed towards the impatient fanbase who clearly haven't given him enough time to do the job.

18 games in, and fans are on the verge of being able to return to stadiums. Mowbray leaves by mutual consent. Venkys gutted. We appoint Steve Evans.

The end.

Actually, not the end. One last thing I almost forgot. I mentioned the "Venky way". The roundabout between Bolton Road and Alan Shearer Way is renamed to that in their honour.

Pretty good assessment but you missed a journey reset somewhere next season. 

I can see nobbers going for Ainsworth myself. Ex player and cheap. 

2 minutes ago, Dolly blue said:

....and, on North End message board they would be interested in Mowbray !!!!.. OMG 😱 

Job swap??? 

55 minutes ago, Exiled in Toronto said:

That sounds more like Nixon taking a high percentage flyer - the influx of foreign managers into the Championship is a trend plus old-stagers like McCarthy and Warnock aren’t looking. I think where he might be on the money was his story about Ayala being Mowbray’s epitaph. If I’d have been the one who approved the expenditure on a recruitment dept., and was approached by a manager wanting to overrule their recos and go back to his Boro pool, I’d have said “Are you sure you want to do this? Well, you’d better be right.” And he wasn’t. Being trusted is great till you bet that trust on an expensive, injury-prone striker.

I remember reading that but was it ever confirmed it was Mowbray. I know it all fitted in with the ayala signing but was unsure whether it could have applied to other signings by other clubs. 

16 minutes ago, dallydally said:

Hope you are right but frankly I doubt it

Seconded 

17 minutes ago, BigBar said:

I get people saying this could keep him in a job but I've concluded he is staying until the end of the season regardless. An honourable change seems the way it's going as they seem to like Tony and if he steps down/mutual agreement it keeps his stock higher than a sacking which probably suits both parties with nothing left to play for.

Yep. I've said previously I think he'll be here till season end and then he will be gone. I just hope today won't keep him beyond this season 

47 minutes ago, Ulrich said:

Travel to the UK from India, is actually possible at present, according to the government website. 14 days quarantine is required, so he could actually be here. Please Pasha sack them all ASAP 👍

Just out of interest, does anyone actually know how long since he allegedly arrived in the UK. Reason being, if he has to serve 14 days quarantine, maybe his remit is to come and wield the axe, but he's doing it face to face. Not wanting to get folks hopes up as I don't believe it myself, but was just a passing thought as I try and think positively on my 134th day of furlough. 

36 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

I don’t know how he will be able to carry on his job after the inevitable defeat at Carrow on Saturday. Surely it’s time. Let’s not let this get nasty.

He will carry on. His excuse for Saturday is that Norwich were in the Premier league last season. They have parachute payments, we simply can't compete. We may have conceded four but they just have Premier league quality all over the pitch. There recent results prove this. Still makes a change from covid, the pitch , injuries I suppose. I dare say he'll still throw in the bollocks about it being a journey though. 

43 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

We now have nothing to play for,most of the sides we are now to face have everything to play for.

Genuinely worried as to where the next points are coming from.

I wouldn't worry too much about this season. I had money for us to go down at 100/1 but I'll not start spending as I now believe firmly we will be safe. One win will do it I'm sure. Wycombe and sheff weds won't catch us and there are too many other poor teams below us. They won't all accumulate enough points in the remaining games. One of them will take the final spot. Next season with this clown still in charge, we will be in big trouble though 

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

The games Mowbray refers to "at the start" were Wycombe and Coventry. 2 promoted teams who I would day were naïve in their approach to playing against us and the league in general. It's outrageous that Mowbray can just get away with spouting it game after game unchallenged. The chances of us hammering anyone now look fairly non-existent.

Mowbray out  

They were also reduced to 10men 

4 hours ago, JacknOry said:

Not sure why the Cowleys would go in at Pompey tbh. If they waited around a bit they would get another Championship gig. Ideally here but Venkies either sack 17 managers off in 3 months or keep them here forever. We have the latter at the moment. 

oh to have a CEO with the power and guts to sack off his best mate.

Apparently its a deal to the end of the season initially. So may still be available. 

If he doesn't go this week then he is here for the rest of the season. My big fear is that after Norwich we have some fairly "easy" fixtures coming up. By which I mean they are at least 50/50 games. Only Cardiff and Bournemouth are fixtures where I would consider us to be underdogs. With these fixtures, and the fact they are pretty much dead rubbers now, I can see him collecting enough points for the owners to believe his inevitable bullshit that they have turned a corner, and to give him the opportunity to build on it next season. The only hope is whether Tony is brave enough to stand up to the fans in the stadium, because i can't see anything but hostility towards him. 

Just now, BigBar said:

Why am I watching this?

Glutton like the rest of us 

Pears will be playing next match. Great opportunity to get his mates son in. 

5 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Rovers have 71% possession, 1 shot on target.

That's quite an achievement.

 

He'll be all over one of those stats in his post match interview. 

Commentator mentioned an ex Burnley player playing would be getting booed right now if crowds were in. I'm not sure they'd have time with the amount of grief TM would be getting 

3 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I didn't even pay to watch this..couldn't be arsed. Doesn't sound like I'm missing much. It's just not worth watching, unfortunately

Red button me I won't pay but yes you're missing f**k all mate 

5 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Maybe £15 million would be the most we would get anyway. Talk of 25-30 is fairly unrealistic, even if he had longer on his contract. 

Maybe he will sign a new deal 

Can't see him signing a new deal. If he has Premier league interest, which it seems he does, why would he re-sign with us. Best we can hope for is an auction. Brighton and West ham reported to have an interest and a return to Newcastle has been bandied about. If they can all avoid relegation this year(obviously west ham will) it may be our best chance of getting top dollar. 

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I never said he was shit. Just extremely greedy and not a team player at times. You're misunderstanding. It's not "an agenda". Just that he's open to criticism too. You could see his game change around the Bristol city match, some refused to acknowledge that. Now they still won't. My point on scoring so many at the start is simple, we were flat track bullies then, the entire team. Got found out then, him included. 

I have no doubt he could get back scoring at a good rate in the correct system. I also think he will be here next season, because I can't see a PL club pay what we want due to his all round game not being good enough for that level. 

He's pretty one dimensional this season. Not of the worldies like last season. In fact whether it's the system or what, he barely even make use of his pace anymore. 

I look at him and Shane Long, 2 speed merchants, both very different strengths to their games after that. Who will have the better career? For reference Long has played over 300 PL games. Will Armstrong get there when say Rhodes struggled? Time will tell. 

I don't think he will be here. We won't get what we currently want for him, but at the same time can't afford to lose him for free the season after. He will be gone for £12m tops. 

As for Mowbray, I also believe he will be gone in the summer, unless we have a remarkable end to the season. 

Apparently Brum are looking at Pulis till the end of the season. 

What did Hughes say today? Missed it!