This isn’t difficult. BB was 19 when he signed for Rovers. He is an England u17 and 19 international and has won some youth honours. He is very highly rated as a future top level prospect. He has no real first team pedigree and so was obviously bought for the future. He’s two years younger than Joe Nuttall and Armstrong. People are SO fixated on the money but when you buy a 19yr old what do you expect? He will be expected to kick on this season and be the main man the season after. If there’s no progression then absolutely begin to worry. But I feel the people who are determined to judge him now will end up feeling pretty stupid at some point. If this guy becomes the player they expect in the next two years he will be the one who fires us to promotion, worth anything in the region of £25m+

Just trying to keep things balanced in here pal. No point just picking all the negatives out of everything. Ying and yang! (? vs ?)

There’s a fine balance, but I’m positive we will recruit well. “We will sign some young ones that will bubble under and burst through and become first-team players. “We have to sign some experienced players to get the job done” - Mowbray. TM has just told Myers that Dack isn’t going either.... WOW! This sounds amazing! He’s come back from Pune absolutely buzzing and ready to deliver on his plan. Fans have to be made up with this...right?

Has Bony been linked? I’m not sure on him...

“To say they are the hardest working side since the Prem winners is pure spin“ Direct quote....?

No change in my view...and in relation to the point highlighted - WOW! ?

Nope, as per my actual comments (be better if you read them before replying). The players we have aren’t great. And Mowbray is no God. But his team DO work hard. I’m glad you are judging the manager on his recruitment and approach. This makes much more sense than calling for his head before a ball has been kicked.

??? How can it be spin? I don’t work for the club or have any vested interest in Mowbray. I’ve openly said the team aren’t brilliant players. I’ve also said that if he fails to sign the right players and cannot get near the top 6 then he’s completely at fault. BUT, I watched the Hughes, Souness and Allardyce teams and I genuinely haven’t seen a harder working team than this one in 24 years. I don’t care whether anyone agrees with me... My feeling is, we’ve got a good honest manager and a hard working set of players. So, regardless of who we sign I’ll pay my money and support my team. If you aren’t willing to do that then that’s upto you.

The fact you’re so personally affronted by my opinion says more about you than it does me. I haven’t called any one person out. If you can justify not going to the match then that’s fine by me. ?? Moreover, I don’t need to justify myself to any of you. I don’t constantly ask for justification on all the ridiculously emotional rants on here. This is about opinions.

Thanks ??

The irony in the tone of this post is sensational - Literally the epitome of trolling?

Thank you. This is exactly the case.

Hahaha firstly £10m is pretty low by today’s standards. The accounts say 7.6m? But whatever. Secondly, you’ve massively embarrassed yourself with the Hughes comparison as has been proven. You’d have been better comparing Allardyce’s team who had a similarly modest budget and achieved decent results through hard work and organisation. And finally...IN MY OPINION, Mowbrays team work harder than any team since 94/95. I’ve been a season ticket holder for all but 5 seasons when there was no need for me to buy tickets. I chose not to go during Keans last season.

Souness was disinterested. In May 2004 he was inconsolable following a defeat to Spurs which effectively cost him the offering of that job. Hughes picked up a FAR better team than Mowbray in October 2004, had a transfer window and finally finished 15th after being in around the relegation zone pretty much all season. Mowbray picked up an absolute basket case club with a team 23rd in the league and 3points adrift of safety on 22nd Feb. He averaged points of a mid to top 10 team without a chance to even change the team and went down on the final day of the season on the highest ever points to be relegated out of the Championship. I didn’t begin the comparison. But by humouring this terrible point I’ve pretty much proven that you can’t compare them because basically Hughes was was in a 10000% better position to succeed.

Yeah, Souness had been looking to leave for 12 months. He was disinterested. Hughes was in a relegation fight for most of his first season and managed to steer us clear of trouble. But then he got a shit load more of investment as per my previous post and added to the nucleus of good players he had was able to finish 6th the next season. That team did work hard. But they also had some absolutely CLASS players. Bellamy? Tugay?...

Souness wanted out for 12 months before he went. He was courting the Spurs job before Newcastle. But don’t doubt the quality of players that he left Hughes. Granted he made the best of them and added considerably but the foundations were there.

Omg...absolutely!! Completely forgot about Tugay, Flitcroft, Pederson, Nelson, Samba etc who were also there! ?

Hughes team was very good and as I said without doubt the closest to Mowbrays in terms of work rate. But don’t underestimate the work Souness had done using financial power from 2001. Cole, Yorke, Ferguson, Emerton, Reid etc were signed for fees on big wages and his (Souness) team had finished in the top 10 for two out of three seasons before Hughes came in. They’d also won the league cup. Hughes came in and signed....Savage, Bentley, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Ooijer, Benni McCarthy, Stephen Warnock, Dunny and Jason Roberts etc didn’t come cheap. Wages for some of those would’ve been astronomical. Most had seven figure fees attached too. Hughes and Souness certainly benefited and their league finishes reflected that. Yeah, Hughes finished 6th in 2006 as had Souness 3yrs before him. He also finished 10th and 15th during his time, as did Souness. The point I’m making is that there was nothing remarkable about those outcomes when you consider the investment. It wasn’t just ‘graft’. Mowbrays picked us up in a FAR worse position than Hughes. We came up and finished highest of the promoted teams and but for a blip after Christmas would’ve been flirting with the top 6 come May. The accounts say we spent £7m on fees or whatever but putting that into context in terms of what some of the teams spent on fees and wages it’s not much. They get through most games by working harder than the opposition. Hoping from a bit of quality from £750k Dack, 33yr Old DG or latterly a player we signed from Oxford named Rothwell! ‘Fans’ bleat on and on about Brereton who is yet to make an impact but I’m pretty sure that’s going to bite a few on the ass this season! So yeah, that just about covers it pal. Case closed. ???

Hughes team had plenty of quality and financial investment. Was probably the closest in terms of working hard to Mowbrays.

That’s correct.

Just opinions ladies, don’t get upset ?

Hey, @Sparks Rover - Whiteman back on now Adkins is out of the way at Hull? ?

I’m not re-writing anything. I’m not saying either that this team is anywhere close (in quality) to Hughes, Souness or Allardyces teams. I’m saying that imo this is the hardest working Rovers team since we won the league! This team comes up short in quality but never in work ethic...there’s no agenda (or narrative) here. I’m a fan like anyone else. I have no relationship with Mowbray or anyone still at the club.

Lots getting upset about the comment I made regarding fans not putting their hands in their pockets. I completely stand by it. There was a time during the Kean era that I couldn’t go anymore. The team had stopped caring. I could forgive them not being good enough but not caring was intolerable for me to see as a fan. I was worn out and I couldn’t relate to the club. The first shoots of positivity came when Mowbray arrived. An honesty. The team were working hard. They cared again. This is all any fan should need imo. Furthermore, Venkys seemed to change and the sales stopped. They began to invest. I’m not saying that any of this rights the wrongs of what went on. I felt that pain too but Jesus, get over it. We’ve got an honest, decent guy managing us, a group of players who may come up short on ability but work harder than any Rovers team since 94/95 and owners who continue to fund us. (To the tune of £17m last season alone). Maybe some still haven’t made their peace and I kind of understand that. But since when did who the club sign become the pre-requisite to whether you go to the game?

That’s fair. Want to hear Mowbray first interview back. He’ll give more away than Waggott.