It seems to be forgotten time and again because of the transfer fee we paid for him, but Ben Brereton only turned 22 a month ago. He has a lot to learn, but still time to develop. We still think of Lewis Travis as a youngster, but he's 18 months older than BB, as is the likes of Harry Chapman. Heck he's only a few months older than Rankin-Costello. John Buckley's only six months younger. I'm only mentioning these as we're talking about young players gaining experience, learning their trade, developing in their game. BB has time to improve. These next years do really need to show his improvement, sure, but we have been blinded by his fee too often at times. He's still a young lad in footballing terms. Of course, these next couple of pivotal years of development will no doubt be overseen by Tony Mowbray. So, good luck there Ben...

Thomas Frank hopes Brentford’s promotion helps other clubs to dream There seems to be some words missing from that headline, it should have read... "Thomas Frank hopes Brentford’s promotion helps other clubs to dream, but knows that Tony Mowbray will prefer to lower expectations in a continually transparent attempt at self preservation owing to his own managerial mediocrity."

Don't get your hopes up. Especially as it might well be either that or the Venky's might use the cash to extend their contracts... The latter certainly seems by far the most likely scenario.

Optimists, get over it. It's getting embarrassing the way some of you are trying to decipher some shitty tweets. It's over...he'd have gone by now if he was leaving. We all know it deep down. Mowbray's here next season. You know it, I know it, we all know it. Twas ever thus. Don't torture yourselves. Oh...and do you know how many ITK posters there are on BRFCS.com? Nada. Zero. Zilch. Why? Because Venky's Rovers ain't a normal club and never has been...

Have we progressed at all in the last 12 months? Or are we in exactly the same position as we were last summer? I know lockdown led to groundhog day...but following Tony's Rovers makes it feel like it's Groundhog Year.

Deal for Chapman at least make some sense but Bennett...nah. Chapman scored 7 league goals in 17 appearances in League One and is a different player than the rest of our squad. If players go away and play well on loan but then are not given the chance to do it then what's the point sending them on loan at all? Carter and Wharton have done well on their loans, next season hopefully they'll both be decent squad players. Bennett? I know he was injured a lot...but two starts all season in the league?!? At least Johnson started over 20. The Chapman deal makes sense as long as TM integrates him into the squad fully this time, Johnson...well, perhaps make sense for another year if we're losing Downing, Evans and Holtby. But Bennett? I don't see how that makes any sense from a footballing basis. It's up there with the extension Smallwood received only to play zero games... Is he just good a good cheerleader in the dressing room? Is that it? Certainly seems to suggest TM is going nowhere. Absolutely no chance, his feet remain firmly under the table.

To be fair, rather than needing to be The One, he just needs to do better than Bell and Douglas to be considered an improvement. Like Kaminski found, it's sometimes a real benefit to be presented with such a low bar to improve on the previous incumbent.

Looking back, it's a shame to say that outside of Steve Kean, the Ray Harford appointment was the worst in Rovers history in terms of the long-term health of the club. It seemed the right decision at the time, but it heralded our descent from the elite. The woeful start to the season led to that CL campaign which was over way before the 4-1 Rosenberg win and Batty was off. From finishes of 4th, 2nd then champions to missing out on Europe all together. Shearer left and by the time Harford left, we were in a relegation scrap and needed Tony Parkes to rescue us, again. Alas, taking us from champions to in the relegation scrap in just over a year...a disastrous appointment. Such a shame, a great assistant to Kenny but...what could have been if we'd gone for a bigger-named manager? We were, after all, English champions in the champions league at the time. We could have had our pick. Ah well, all water under the Aqueduct bridge now...

It'd be a surprise if TM left now. Didn't go during our death spiral of one win in 15 (and that's ignoring the previous spirals) which seemed to say it all. Some pinned their hopes on the end of the season. It's been a week since our final game and he's still here, dumbing down expectations and planning for the next season. Whose job is it to sack him? Waggot. By the time the new season starts it'll be back to the "Give him a chance, get behind the lads" at the games, so even the stick some think he'll get will have died down by the start of the season. At best, it'll be fans arguing amongst themselves in the Blackburn End. We've been here before. If we ever get rid of Mowbray, we'll be in the relegation zone by then. Exactly where he joined us...five years on the TM roundabout. Still, he'll have been well remunerated so, it'll have been a profitable half decade for him. He'll leave happy, telling himself he did a good job. Wonder if anyone in Pune even knows where we finished this season?

Fair enough, happy to agree to disagree with your first point. I also disagree with the second paragraph. Nothing wrong with different opinions. When it comes to Ben, we'll see in the next few years what he turns into and if, indeed, he's even at Rovers by then. Alas, Mowbray is not a manager to improve players. How many players have actually improved under him in his four years+ here? So perhaps you're right and he won't be anything other than a mediocre Championship player. Other than AA, TM hardly seems to have what it takes to inspire players to improve, does he?

What fans? There haven't been any fans in Ewood in over a year. Check out the LET and they still love TM the man. Venkys don't give a damn about you or me or anyone on BRFCS.com. Never have done, never will do. The owners don't care what we think. The Kean saga made that clear.

I'll ignore the rather high likelihood of this being a rhetorical question and instead take it at face value as a mathematical inquiry. So...What's 10 minutes compared to 10 years? Well, 10 minutes = 10 minutes. 10 years, however = 5,256,000 minutes. Therefore, ten minutes is 5,255,990 minutes less than ten years. Alas, Venkys have been in charge for longer than ten years, in fact for almost SIX MILLION MINUTES of purgatory. Try not to be a little sick in your mouth when chewing on that statistic!

Not sure if this has been mentioned before in this thread (it's quite long at 52 pages) and I'm no longer a wrasslin' fan but back in 90s Monday Night war times I was. Anyway, I highly recommend "The Death of WCW" book. I got the Audible and I have to say...it was hilarious at times, especially toward the end when it related all the comically bad decisions leading to the demise of WCW (the highlight has to be the super shit Vampire Blood "storyline") and there's also some interesting takes on kayfabe including, of course, the Montreal Screwjob. Anyway, it has to be one of the funniest books I've experienced recently in any genre and it also seems a different world...remember how huge the NWO were for like...two minutes? Lol...strange as it seems, but WWF (or was it WWE by then?) was VERY VERY worried for some time. Good docu on the same lines here - WWE The Rise & Fall Of WCW

Well, this thread has been a good 10 minutes we'll never get back, hasn't it?

He's no world beater but he's played better many times than some posters on here have given him credit for (he was better than Mr. Expensive-Promotion-Supposed-Set-Piece-Specialist-Douglas all season) and exactly what do we want from a a backup left back who should mostly be on the bench? Pickering will be our first choice left back. Williams is now stateside so....surely Bell as backup makes sense? Like you said, our priorities for bringing in players this season should not be in spending money on backup left backs.

I've said it before, I'll say it again...the "bombshell" this summer will TM penning a new contract. We've all been here before, we've all had this sinking feeling... Don't tell me it doesn't feel, what's the word...inevitable? We're a joke club, we really are.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree with this and don't know what the issue is with someone who is still a young player. He was one of our best players for most of last season and he only celebrated his 22nd birthday a couple of weeks ago. He's almost four years younger than Sam Gallagher, he's six months younger than supposed player-in-the-making Jacob Davenport (who can barely get in the team) and 18 months younger than both Harry Chapman and Lewis Travis. Just because we paid a lot of money for him doesn't change the laws of physics. He's just turned 22, he's showing a lot of potential and he needs to be given time to grow into the player he has the potential to be. Yes, we all expected a lot more considering the ridiculous fee, but let's remember he was a callow teenager when we (over)paid that. Rovers fans need to leave Ben alone and allow him to develop.

There's never been any indication that TM was under any kind of pressure. As much chance as him receiving a contract extension being the scenario as him leaving, tbh. Actually, it might be a more likely summer bombshell considering our terrible owners. BRFC does not operate like a normal football club nor has it since 2010.

Hope. Don't do it to yourself, it's self abuse! The reality that we don't want to have to face is... TM is more likely to get a contract extension than to be sacked this summer. It's happened before under these clowns.

Good finish from Elliot...but the comparison of him to Lionel Messi by the iFollow lads was perhaps just a tad over the top! 😄 Still, it's all looking good for Liverpool now we've paid good money to help develop him for them. And now....HAT TRICK FOR ARMSTRONG!

Brereton's having a good game, looking a handful, got himself a goal. So, what do we see??? Tony takes him off. We truly have the worst manager in the Championship and it's not even close.

I'm more pleased to see us giving that young lad Downing some experience. He might be some real player one day, that one.

Those substitutes sum up what Blackburn Rovers has now become under TM.

Yes, I'm not a Rovers supporter in the same way I was pre-Venkys and I know many who feel the same. This isn't a premiership thing as many of my favourite days supporting Rovers were under Don Mackay which was pre-Jack when we were skint. We could be Bolton? I wish! They might have been through the wringer but now have a club which they can believe in. I'd swap us for them without a second thought. My fear is that we won't end up like Bolton but like Bury. These multi-million quid losses can't go on forever. When they finally get rid of Brockhall and have lost all interest... Will there even be a club left to save?

To be fair, he seems a defeated man. He's tried all he knows what to do and it hasn't worked. He needs a rest but knows this is probably his last job at this level and with this kind of salary. He ain't walking. I reckon there's a good chance this will be his last job in management.