Another Mowbray signing who will leave for nothing.

Reading looked very solid to grind a point out at Swansea tonight. The way their manager spoke after they beat us it sounded as though the bloke would walk here if offered the job. He talked the club up far more than Mowbray and his disciples ever do, he certainly didn't sound like he thought our natural place was mid table in the second tier and that getting into the playoffs would be punching above our weight.

Tony thinks he's a good guy, just like he thinks he's a good tactician and just like he thinks he can take this club to the Premiership. The problem is that Tony is completely deluded and blind to reality. Pulis has achieved far more as a manager than Tony ever will and those words directed towards Pulis are very disrespectful.

He doesn't fit into a 4-3-3 or whatever system it was we were supposed to be playing after he came on last night. If you want to get the best out of Dack you have to play him as a number 10.

One of Mark Hughes, Tony Pulis or Nigel Pearson would be my preference. But you'd also hope Mr Waggott is doing his job properly and will also also be looking at what we could bring in from overseas for example I had never heard of the Reading or Barnsley managers until they appointed them but both are doing excellent jobs so far. We could certainly do a hell of a lot worse than Paul Cook and he would improve us straight away as he would sort out the defence. Finally if you want to go down the route of a young up-and-coming manager then someone I'm a big admirer of is Michael Flynn at Newport, he's worked wonders there the last few years on a small budget.

On the bright side for Tony he has now beaten two teams above us in the table as we now languish below the mighty Barnsley and the Nobbers.

What on earth was he doing bringing Buckley on at full back (at least I assume that's where he was meant be playing) even if Nyambe was injured did he learn nothing from Buckley's pitiful showing at Brentford as a full back. I have no idea what system we were supposed to be playing after the subs and not for the first time in recent weeks the subs have confused us more than the opposition. It was always a worry that when Dack came back that he wouldn't know where to play him and we would just end up playing with no shape or system and that is exactly what has happened. Holtby again was pathetic he was rightly dropped for poor performances yet as soon as Tyrbull wasn't fit to continue he was the first player he went to. Why not give Davenport a go, the poor lad scored at Brentford and since then has been given a grand total of 3 minutes of first team football. Nice to see Gallagher on the score sheet, whoever would have guessed that he would be more effective playing through the middle of the pitch.

What has happened to Darragh Lenihan. In our relegation season he was one of the few bright spots and putting him at centre back was one of Coyle's few success stories. Lenihan has not improved in the last 4 years if anything he has gone back because now he is being expected to lead the defence and he isn't up to it as he is still rash and hasn't matured. You'd have though that as a very solid centre back himself Mowbray would have really improved Lenihan as a player. But just looking through all the defenders we have had since Mowbray became manager the only one who has improved is Nyambe. Ayala for years when fit has been one of the best centre halves at this level but bar one half at Brentford he has been shocking for us, Douglas came with a good reputation but is as bad as Bell (another who he hasn't improved) he obviously hasn't always been that bad and I've watched Fulham a few times this season and Tosin has looked a far better defender for them in the Premiership than he did here in the Championship. I don't know what he says or does with the defenders but he just doesn't seem to improve them and in some cases he regresses them. You won't get promoted unless you have a solid backline and he is just not capable of making one.

What can you say really, everyone can see that he has taken the club as far as he can but nothing is going to change. Tonight with some of his bizarre decisions he reminded me of Souness when his tenure was coming to an end. Thankfully with Souness we got lucky and Newcastle did us a favour no other clubs are coming in for this chump and even if they did he wouldn't leave his cushy number here where his mate is CEO. He will still be here this time next year only we won't be bouncing around mid table with him we will be in a fight for survival after many of our better players have left for clubs and managers with some ambition.

Because when Hughes was in charge we were a top half of the Premiership club and the players coming through the system were not of that calibre. If the likes of Travis, Buckley and Lenihan had come through the system 15 years ago they would have been no way near good enough to make it at first team level. Mowbray is managing a mid table Championship side and we have players of that calibre coming through the system but Nyambe is the only one even close to being Premier League standard. One of the top players coming through the set up when Hughes was in charge was Joe Garner he was no way near good enough for us with where we were at the time as his career has shown but were he coming through the system now he'd be much more likely to play for the first team because he would be playing at his level.

Sheffield Wednesday another once great club starting into the financial abyss thanks to a foreign owner who knows nothing about football.

Says me. He took just 4 points from 11 games at one stage towards the end of the 18/19 season, at any normal club a manager would get sacked for such a run of form. Mowbray knows that he is lucky to have survived that as well because when he took 6 points from 10 games as Coventry manager he resigned stating he was an 'honourable' man. Sadly that honour seems to have left him as his only interest now is his own self preservation.

And were you a professional sportsman at 17?

At any normal club he'd have been potted at the back end of the 18/19 season. This bloke has the easiest job in football, he's got no fans in the ground for the foreseeable future, he's got clueless uninterested owners, he's got his mate into the CEO position and he has a local press that just swallow up all his excuses and don't ask him any difficult questions. We could lose our next 10 games and I'd still expect him to be in a job. The only way he goes anytime soon is if he resigns and he isn't going to do that despite his claims of being an 'honourable' man.

It's not.

I'd give him a rest thought he looked a bit jaded on Saturday, which is no surprise given the fact he is 17 and has played a lot of minutes over the last few months. I think that he will almost certainly have to be rested for one of the games this week.

Ditch the 4-3-3! Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Bell Davenport Downing Dolan Rothwell Brereton Armstrong

Another poor and disjointed performance, which is now becoming the normal, sides have worked out how to play against us and we don't seem to have an answer aside from individual brilliance of how to break sides down. I thought that we would win today before kick off but from the first few seconds I thought different as soon as I saw we started with Armstrong and Gallagher wide and Elliott up front. A classic Mowbray cock up by trying to be to clever, Armstrong has scored a shed load of goals this calendar year playing as a striker, Elliott has scored and made goals playing from the right and Gallagher is a striker and never will be a wide player. It's no coincidence that since Gallagher has come into the starting 11 we have won 1 game and the winning goal in that game came after he went off, even today the equaliser came when he was of the pitch. I'd have no problem with Gallagher starting up front but starting him wide completely unbalances the team and has done for the last 18 months that Mowbray can't see it or refuses to see it just about sums him up. The defence was poor today all 4 of them. Nyambe struggled up against Odubajo and for perhaps the first time this season even came up second best. Lenihan was about the pick of the defenders but that doesn't say a lot he just hasn't looked settled all season. Ayala and Douglas for me are both equally culpable for the goal, I have no idea what Douglas was doing and Ayala just needs to attack the ball even if it means cleaning his own man out. Surely Douglas has to be dropped next game, he's Bell but with no pace. In midfield I completely forgot that Johnson was on the pitch until he got taken off, in games likes this I'd much rather see us go with an extra attacking option over a holding midfielder. Holtby was crap again we'd just as well keep him on the bench to bring on should the opposition have a man sent off. He just looks like he is going though the motions out there no fight and desire shown from him. Lovely goal from Rothwell who was easily our best player today, the only starting midfielder with any life in him. A big mistake not to start Downing today given how we all knew the game was going to play out, he showed his value in subs appearance in other similar games this season and did so again today. On the bright side we have now beat a team above us because after todays results the might of Barnsley are now above us. Although it doesn't say a lot for Tony's slow build approach as Barnsley's manager has taken them from a side that stayed up due to Wigan's points deduction to a mid table side in just a few months, Mowbray has had nearly 4 years. Surely even he must know deep down that its time to go.

He was 45 and the day after the test finished played a Gillette Cup game for Somerset and scored a half century in it. A dreadful cricket wicket that was not fit for cricket. On a good cricket wicket with an even bounce there wouldn't have been any controversy abut the bowling.

Kaminski Nyambe Lenihan Ayala Bell Johnson Trybull Elliott Rothwell Downing Armstrong

I'd be stunned if over the last 3 season since we have been back in the Championship there are 10 clubs with a higher net spend than us for starters Preston, Rotherham, Wycombe, Luton, Barnsley, Millwall, Coventry, Birmingham, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday will all have a lower net spend. The likes of Bristol City, Brentford, Middlesbrough and Swansea will all certainly be less as well as they have sold some of their key players for big money. Maybe Forest as well given the money that they received for Cash, Brereton, Appiah. Huddersfield probably have a lower net spend as well and they spent one of those 3 years in the Premiership.

Whenever Evans has been fit this season he has been in the squad. He's started 5 games, come of the bench in 2 and been an unused sub in another. So it is patently false to say that he is nowhere near Mowbray's favourite squad.

Your net spend is going back nearly 6 years to when Bowyer was manager. I said look at our net spend since we got back into the Championship and if you do I expect that we do have one of the highest ones of all the clubs that have been in the division for those 3 seasons as well. What makes our net spend positive during that 6 year period that you posted is because of the period where we sold the likes of Cairney, Rhodes, Gestede, Duffy, Hanley, Marshall and King. Whilst replacing them on the cheap with the likes of Guthire, Akpan, Delfouneso, Williams, Feeney, Stokes, Greer and Koita. Since Mowbray became manager we certainly have a negative net spend as unlike Bowyer and Coyle he hasn't seen his best players sold and he has been given funds that they could have only dreamed of to improve the squad on top of not losing his key players.

But he isn't operating on one of the smallest budgets the likes of Preston, Rotherham, Wycombe, Luton, Barnsley, Millwall, Coventry, Birmingham, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday haven't spent anywhere near spent anywhere near what we have over the last few seasons and then there are other clubs who we can match in terms of budget. The only 3 sides who I'd say financially we can't get anywhere near are Norwich, Watford and Bournemouth but that is always the case with the 3 recently relegated clubs. What Mowbray has also had that most other managers could only dream of is free reign over signings, he has also been given funds every window and has not been forced to sell any of his key players. There aren't many manager in the Championship over the last 3 seasons who could say all that. I expect that if you looked at our net spend since we got back into the Championship there aren't many teams who have also been in it for those 3 years that have a higher one. You take sides like Bristol City and Brentford who have both over recent seasons have spent decent money but they usually end the window in profit as they always sell their best players, Mowbray has never had to do that and has always been given money to improve the squad as well.

I think if Gallagher was played through the middle over a season he would get you 10-12 goals. He has the attributes in my opinion to play either as a lone striker or in a front two but he has has no real attributes to be a wide right player and even less to be a wide left player. I could understand playing him wide slightly if we played a lot of long Crossfield diagonal balls but we hardly play any long balls let alone diagonal ones. Just looking back at those goals shows you that if you get him in the box and central to the goal then he is a threat. His goals this season against Coventry and Luton showed the same. Thinking back to his goals last season against Swansea, Reading, Stoke, Luton and his first at Preston again it was the same thing balls played into the box and Gallagher scoring when he is in the box a central to the goal. Since he returned to the club we haven't seen anywhere near the best of him and we won't see it until whilst Mowbray persists with playing him wide, play him up front either with or as an alternative to Armstrong then we will see his best. It's not rocket science even Owen Coyle could manage to work it out.