The point you seem to be missing is - if we paid more, like Leeds have done for example , we could get a better class of manager. I would have thought that was obvious. If your manager isn't the highest paid employee at the club I think you're making a mistake. Do you think Mowbray is our highest paid employee ?

How many managers would say no to the sort of money we spent on Brereton ?

England was the best centre half I ever saw in the flesh bar none. I can't think of many as good that I've seen on TV - maybe DeSailly in his prime or Lucio who used to play for Brazil. He was a colossus. He had size ( 6ft 3 ins when that was unusual ), speed, two great feet, super passing ability both long and short, he could tackle and unlike most tall guys he had a terrific spring in his legs. I've seen him head corners downwards into the top corner of the goals ! He was a centre half without a weakness. Utd wanted him before Spurs signed him but Utd wanted to do a cash plus player deal and Spurs stumped up the full amount. When the " Rothman's Football Annual " came out in 1970 they started a tradition of choosing a UK best 11. Even when he was past his best he was chosen as the centre half for a few seasons. I was privileged to see him at his best for Rovers

This is what I don't understand. A bad manager can lose you more games than a bad goalkeeper, a poor defence, shot shy strikers, anything on the pitch you care to name. So why is it we're prepared to spend £7million on an apprentice striker yet when we come to the most important role in the whole of the club - the team manager - we want to do it on the cheap ? I just don't get that at all.

The game was much different then. You could get by with a much smaller squad. Having said that, as the earlier poster said, we were a couple of players short. The attack was brilliant and could score goals for fun. Defensively we were a bit lacking. John Bray at right back was on the way down and Mick McGrath at left half was also coming to the end of a great career. Two replacements there and a better goalkeeper than Fred Else and we would have been bringing silverware back to Ewood. Losing at Oxford led directly to the loss of Fred Pickering. That was a massive blow in itself but what was worse we blew a chunk of the fee on George Jones from Bury who was a bit of a Brererton type signing, in theory one for the future. That didn't work so well and we already had a ready made replacement for Pickering in John Byrom. We'd have been better off using the Pickering money to strengthen the defence.

Ah well, I've got the hardback version. How do they describe the diagrams on " Audible " ? No I didn't see the Netflix show.

This team could win them all or lose them all. They're only predictable in their unpredictability. Having said that aren't we due another death spiral ? How many points will we need to stay up this season ?

I've got this fancy gadget matey. It's called " a pair of reading glasses ". Sounds like you should invest in pair. I could read great without them until I was about 60. Now I need them for reading all the time. It can happen pretty rapidly . Did you get the hard back version ? I've got another, similar, one " Called Flat Back Four " by Andy Gray. That's interesting.

Yes that team would have graced Wembley in the final. As it was West Ham just about scraped past Second Division Preston in an entertaining final.

I'm back to reading " Inverting The Pyramid " again. It's a book about the evolution of football tactics basically. One of the famous managers in the book reckoned three years was about the optimum at any one club before things started to go stale and the players began to get tired of your voice. Usually he'd fallen out with enough of them by that time so they didn't like him as a manager any longer and that showed in their performances. He reckoned the two alternatives then were 1) Leave. 2) Get a new squad of players.

It comes from a pal who was a Darlington fan. Their deadly rivals are Hartlepools who are known as the " Monkey Hangers " in Darlo because allegedly they hung a monkey back in the day thinking it was a French spy. My pal called them " The Chimp Chokers ", so I just borrowed it.

Yes, what a bollock that was - Rovers not signing him. It was almost unfair when he was in his prime, it was like 12 playing against 11.

When you get to the point were you can't pay the bills even " unattractive " jobs have their pluses. If you wait around for too long in football management you can get left behind and out of the loop. Mark Hughes is in danger of falling into that bracket. We don't know who would fancy the job until it becomes vacant. There's a lot to like about managing Rovers at the moment. Expectations are very low for a start.

Roy Keane would be lying down in a darkened room after a bad loss. I remember Roy Keane playing like two men in that Champions League semi final when he already knew he was suspended from the final. That was the measure of the bloke. He didn't just give 100% that night he gave 150%.

Problem solved, lets sign the world's two best centre halves and we can forget all about miss matched mark ups at corners.

Re your second paragraph. That's one way of looking at it and in certain circumstances not an unreasonable one. That's more or less what Brentford have done. Sell your better players for big money and hopefully get good replacements at half the price. A lot is riding on your recruitment team though,

Exactly, what happens if two players run into your zone ?

This lot beat Bristol City ( who beat us in midweek ) quite comfortably yesterday. If it's the easy peasy Rovers that turn up we'll be in for a shock.

I'll have any you have if you're giving them away.

Yes, It'd be interesting. I think he's a bit shell shocked at the moment. It's getting to " Make Your Mind Up " time for clubs thinking about changing their manager. Apart from Rovers that is. If those other clubs are hoping to stay up that is. Maybe they're following the Dingles game plan - go down and then come back a bit stronger. It's not looking good for Dunny at Barrow as well. They lost again yesterday.

Yes, I'd examine it carefully, it might turn out to be a 10 Euro note.

If they can keep 11 on the pitch it'll be a tough game. If we get to play against 10 again we'll murder 'em.

If I lent Mowbray a tenner I'd trust him to give it me back. Do I trust him to get Rovers promoted ? I'm afraid not.

There's a " Maybe " missing of the beginning of the last sentence. I just find it strange that the guy who was achieving real success with what amounts to be the reserve team and was being looked upon by some fans as Mowbray's heir apparent was suddenly appointed chief drone pilot and sums man. That's not even a sideways move. Plenty of blokes with no real football background can and do get jobs sorting out stats, flying drones etc. I was expecting whoever coached the team at that moment to be down graded to that job and Johnno being appointed as Mowbray's right hand man with responsibility for sorting out how we play.

It looks good on paper but in concrete terms it's pretty meaningless. Especially if 3 or 4 off your better players bail out in summer.