Well I for one enjoyed the last hour, thought we played some good exciting stuff. Nyambe and Armstrong really gave us width and both were great. The only issues for me were upfront. How will we get by without Graham? We’ve been doing that for a few weeks now, he looked really poor today. Dack has been largely marked out of games for a while too. Both of them missed clear chances they should’ve buried. Their keeper played well, we hit the bar, fizzed across some balls crying out for tap ins - exectutional issues rather than formation/tactics. Brereton looks better and more confident each time; if Danny doesn’t start finding the net soon there might be a change coming.

Even more disgracefully, he didn’t get on the field for a single minute in August!

Seems obvious to me Philip. No doubt one of the pieces of analysis the accountants would’ve done is classify the accumulated losses into wages and transfer fees. That will have shown pretty much a breakeven on fees and all the losses coming from exorbitant wages. Buying young prospects on low wages will, over time, most likely see a profit in fees and a sustainable position on wages. Spending the fees on ‘ready made articles’ would cripple the wage bill for years to come AND most likely lead to an ongoing loss on transfer fees. Of course, the success of the buy young plan depends on the nous of the manager to spot the right young talent AND his ability to get talent performing to its best. Mowbray is definitely doing the latter as shown by Mulgrew, Nyambe, Williams, Graham, Dack, Bennett etc all playing the best they have in their careers. Time will tell if he can do the former often enough. But I am convinced neither the manager nor the strategy will be changed anytime soon.

Perfect timing!

A dire game for the most part, mainly because of QPR’s spoiling tactics and several of our players being below par. For all the teeth gnashing though, if Graham has brought his shooting boots we’d have won at a canter. No doubt the decisive sub was young Ben, he made the penalty and him and Dack in the bottom corner the last few minutes was priceless. QPR didn’t have one serious effort on goal so I can’t see that we “stole the game”.

I think we all agree on that. He has more pages on this thread than consecutive minutes on the field! ? Another poster mentioned MGP, I’d forgotten Hughes didn’t play him for months till an away cup tie when he played most of the stiffs, scored a goal and the rest is history (kinda)

I think it would be more driven by Mowbray’s sense of loyalty and fair play than by the pen pushers Tony. I get the impression he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night bringing in a bigger earner. Plus none of his signings while he has been here come close to being finished articles, other than Dack who was still a significant punt we should remember, and did come minutes away from spending a chunk of this season in jail. I think Mowbray is a builder rather than an assembler, so I’m not expecting many signings to walk straight into the team.

I suspect the visits by the accounting firms has had an influence over how the club spends its money. £7 million on a young prospect is a big departure for us, but that £7m will i) be weighted towards performance-related factors and ii) be amortized over the life of the contract, so I’d be surprised if more than £1m hits the accounts in the first year. Given inflation trends in transfer fees, if he makes any kind of good impression, he’ll be worth 2x or 3x that in a year or two. The accountants will most likely have pointed out that such a scenario is financially much lower risk than buying proven players on much bigger wages. The wages can’t be amortized and, should they be higher than for our existing top players, there’s a multiplicative effect. Bring in a player on £30k/week and most likely you’d have to give Mulgrew, Evans, Dack, Graham and Bennett an extra £10k/week each, all that adding up to £4 million a year extra hitting the accounts. And the said proven player could break his ankle in the first week, or be another John Radford. I think this was a much a financial as a football decision

Unsall’s titbits have been on the money for years.

Will always remember QPR for the game in our relegation season to Div 3 under Quigley/Carey. Needed to win and lost 1-0 with an even worse ref than last Saturday, to which one fan, who had been stood right behind me in the Bburn End, responded by running on the pitch and kicking Phil Parkes in the nuts. Happy days!

Just watched the Reed interview on iFollow and he said something interesting re this debate, along the lines of the lads weren’t dispirited at half time, they were sticking to the plan, thought they were doing well and would at least get an equalizer. So there was a plan - I don’t know what it was even having watched the game - but the players did and seemed confident in it. If it was the case that half the time we pick up points in spite of Mogga, as I’ve read more than once on here, I very much doubt the squad would be as visibly behind him as they are.

Accountable to who? All the fan base? How would that work then? I’m sure they all conscientiously give their inputs as best they can to represent their views and the views of fans they know. If you believe those views aren’t representative then the onus is on you to volunteer and put your views across. Then I can harangue you for not representing my views! ?

If they had been elected there would be some clear cause for accountability, but they aren’t. It’s a forum of a cross-section of fans giving their own personal opinions and perhaps those of their family and friends. It’s better than the club asking no-one but not as good as the club asking everyone. They are no more accountable than respondents in a market research project are to the mass of brand buyers.

Have you ever considered that you finding it strange and confusing might possibly be caused by you not having studied hours of videos of West Brom, not having played in and managed c1200 pro games and thus having no idea of the purpose of the formation? By all means we should express surprise, it’s the automatic conclusion by many that the manager is clueless that winds up the more open-minded fans.

There was something quite exhilarating watching Palmer, Reed, Rothwell and Dack buzzing around their penalty area in the second half.

Course we would. Just like last Tuesday. Mowbray intimated Graham wasn’t fit - he did go off last Saturday clutching his back and was ineffectual at Swansea. Plus I don’t think he’d have got much change in the air against those centre backs, so might as well play it on the floor.

What an excellent point after losing the three key defensive players and playing with ten men and an outfield goalie. Until the Raya injury I thought we were going to win it. We were winning a hell of a lot of balls in the top third of the field and some of the stuff we played to feet was really good. Ref was worst I have ever seen. We should’ve had two clear penalties and them finish the game with ten men. As to all the woeful line up nonsense, I thought we looked a lot more dangerous than we did at Swansea. And the Baggies were poor because we won most of the second balls. A point at West Brom is a point won.

Definitely. Managers have been sacked for less than being 1-0 away to a team who were two divisions above us last year.

Looked like a broken rib or two.

2-2 would be a fair score thus far.

Until same time next week! I wasn’t expecting a result before I saw the team, and I’m sure he’s got the West Brom staff wondering what they are going to be facing. Come on you Blues, pass our way to victory!

I guess Jimmy Greaves wasn’t a striker either then, that was Gilzean. I’d be a lot less happy if Graham was in and Dack was out.

Apart from our top scorer last season and this.

My brother-in-law - a Baggies fan - is in charge of match traffic arrangements, so better leave home an hour earlier.