It is a flawed stat but is interesting. One thing about Gally is he didn't miss many chances - he just never ever got himself in a position to score them. How many times did a good cross come in and he'd be hiding behind a centre half? Or wouldn't read a rebound?

All of our recent activity (and inactivity) fully undermine our claims that we'd be a 'trading' club. We've brought in north of £40m, we have a chance (thanks to selling our 30 goal stalwart and our generational midfielder) to really reaffirm these claims and invest and we've done feck all. We've signed a loanee and an old plodder. If they were serious we'd be spending a few quid on players who can slot into the team but also have resale opportunity. If they wanted to progress short term and abandon the trading angle they could have signed some more established players of ability. They've done neither. Talks of FFP, attendances and the other excuses don't wash. We have been given this wonderful opportunity to move beyond our current malaise and appear to have blown it. If the window ends in the same vain, someone needs to hold the powers that be to account. Gestede - what happened to your promises of better communication and why hasn't the manager been helped? What is the truth behind the court cases and why does the evidence contradict the statements? Do they feel Eustace has been suitably supported? What has happened to the £40m and what would have happened funding wise had we not stumbled upon said goldmine? Do they feel a season ticket represents value for money given the inevitability of their inaction undermining our manager and squad in the second half of the season?

You're probably right. Think we dodged a bullet with West Brom (maybe a different story if later in window). Thankfully can't see any of the other realistic teams being in the market soon.

That's reassuring at least. Maybe they've learned from previous boom and bust years.

He's only on a 2 year deal isn't he? Not insurmountable for these clubs. I wouldn't imagine he's on silly money either. And I wouldn't say so but if he feels he's been poorly treated he might decide to take one. Imagine Derby have a few quid to spend. And they were just 3 examples, who knows what is around the corner? Even if he doesn't take a job, why treat him like shite? We saw what happened with JDT, he downed tools. I don't see that from Eustace but even marginal drops in passion and enthusiasm can feed down to the players and impact performance. My point is - we should be backing him and rewarding him for his good work so far. Not dragging our feet, wasting valuable points as the injuries mount and not delivering the players he is mentioning (in less subtle terms) in each passing interview.

The issue is that inevitably a job will come up somewhere and he might choose to jump whilst his stock remains high. Swansea, Derby, even Bolton (unlikely I feel he'd go there) all could be in the market for new managers soon.

Then it'll be 8th / 9th etc. Pretty much everyone is united in thinking Eustace has us punching above our weight. What everyone is less happy with is that we are once again surrendering our talented manager and strong position out of pure incompetence (if being generous). If we don't pull our fingers out we are again chucking away a great opportunity. 1 win in 8 only points one way, especially with the injuries mounting.

But that's when they convert to '7th is better than expected'.

The people who keep saying 'ah but we're 6th still' haven't learned anything from previous season. In previous years, we have kept saying that, then suddenly we weren't. Next thing we were 'only X points' off play offs. Or 'we have a game in hand'. Then it'll be 'we never expected to be here'. All whilst taking the attention off the negligence that leads to these annual falls off a cliff. Just back the fucking manager. We need 5 players. We aren't operating a trading model, we are operating a 'hope for a miracle' model. Wharton and Szmodics were both unique. We are a bad managerial appointment (Ie Coyle) off disaster. Why not just recognise and take advantage of stumbling upon a good thing (Eustace)?

Would love a punt on him. Not sure on the source though - 134 followers. That being said, we've long been linked with him so maybe there's a chance?

I think that's a stretch. He was cautious and too 'safe' but to suggest he chucked it and deliberately didn't win games feels like total hyperbole to me. There was perhaps an element of self-preservation in lowering expectations but if he achieved promotion he stood to gain a lot more than plodding in mid-table. He just wasn't a good enough manager to achieve it.

I was a big critic of Mowbray but wouldn't say he's half as bad as some comments suggest. He was unfortunate to have a relegation on his CV, results were okay that season when he came in after inheriting a total mess. Got us back up but still frustrated he rested half the team vs Charlton and gave up any hope of the title. After that, it was mixed. Some very famous death spirals, some moments of hope. Easy to forget his final season points total was identical to the following season under JDT. Although the complete capitulation made it feel a lot worse. I wish him the best, he's a good man. He did a very good job at Sunderland too. I'm much happier with Eustace but history will be relatively kind to Mowbray I think. Another poor appointment after Coyle and we could have really fallen into the abyss.

Working with Robins didn't go brilliantly for him at Coventry tbf

Not sure if I'm alone in this, but way before the penalty incident everyone is talking about there was a better shout for a penalty when Batth inexplicably pushed their lad when a cross came in. I'm sure it's been mentioned but we got away with that one imo.

I said Cantwell looked anonymous and since then he's contributed to all 3 goals. Love it!

Hedges his usual self. So one paced and just no guile or creativity. Dolan anonymous but same could be said of Cantwell and many others so far. We look really, really poor today.

Weimann up top, Buckley starts. New lads on bench.

He definitely did at Newcastle and it caused a blazing row. Asante may have just been more polite about it. Obviously there's no comparison in ability

Bellamy was played on the wing by some managers, and he's a bloody good striker. It happens, especially if they're fast,

I do think they've been much better at communicating the rescheduling compared to previous seasons, so credit where it's due there. I hope the attendances stay strong but there'll be a decent amount who will reconsider their options in summer after a year of potentially less convenient kick off times.

Of course people have a choice, but I also feel that the frequency of moved games will mean more and more people make the choice not to attend, which I don't think is good for Rovers or for the sport we all love. Due to being a more local game (albeit not for me), Preston being moved doesn't quite irritate me as much as some others despite making it very difficult/expensive for me to attend. But on a more general front, I worry about it reducing matchday attendances. Our attendances throughout the pyramid and the away followings we have in this country are the cornerstone of our game.

Hi Chaddy. Am I allowed to moan? I cannot attend this match as easily now as I'd be unable to travel back home after the match. I've seen similar posts from yourself, eg you couldn't understand people having sympathy for Cardiff fans after Rovers v Cardiff was scheduled for noon on New Year's Day. Some people have opinions on things because they're concerned it may impact others negatively even if it doesn't affect them. It's called 'empathy'. I felt sorry for Coventry fans when they moved their games to Northampton? Did it affect me? Not a jot. It's what makes us human.

Maybe a takeaway with their family is a bigger priority and more enjoyable than regular trips to Ewood? In a perfect world you wouldn't need to give up the odd takeaway and become entirely teetotal to support your football team.

15 goals in 23 games is very impressive, even if just League One. Do you think any of our current cohort would get close to that?

Still depressed today. We are moving in the right direction under our manager but it all feels very fragile and we've been here before. If he goes, we are back to square one. Little to be optimistic about.