“Why should the manager go to the club and ask about his future? It’s not my job to go and say ‘are you giving me a contract?’ That's an absolutely ridiculous comment. Of course it's his job to seek clarification on his future. We're 3 games away from the end of the season. How could any self-respecting manager NOT seek assurances from the owners. How can he plan potential transfers, plan pre-season schedules and any tours? Any half decent manager would be insisting on a meeting with Waggott, Pasha or whoever the fuck else is involved, with an ultimatum of "I need a clear answer by 'X' date or I'm walking now." A shrug of the shoulders, 'not my problem' is precisely the issue at the club. Imagine an Alex Ferguson, an Antonio Conte... a Sean Dyche even, taking such a half-arsed approach. Unacceptable.

For four months, not forever - he can demand whatever wages he wants and ask for a considerable signing on fee in June. And sorry if my memory is playing tricks on me, but wasn't it common knowledge on the final day of the transfer window that Bournemouth pulled out of the deal with Rothwell already on his way down there? The story I recall is that they plumped for Keiffer Moore instead? Has it since become common knowledge that our illustrious owners did indeed veto the deal? Is there any evidence for it? His Dad sounds like a bit of a clown to be honest. I bet he wasn't bad mouthing Rovers when we signed him and paid him a stack more than Oxford would have been doing - if Rovers did reject a deal for him then they were completely within their rights and shouldn't make any apologies for doing so.

Yeh I don't really go along with this idea that Rothwell has been a complete nonentity since February. He's the only midfielder we have that will actually go and get the ball off the defence. Travis is a workhorse and a breaker up of play, but he hasn't got a creative bone in his body. He might be inconsistent, and like all of our players he hasn't been able to maintain his strong form of the first half of the season, but I don't feel like he's been missing in action. As I say, he's the only one who consistently shows for the ball, travels with the ball and tries to make things happen. We were much improved once he came on and actually offered a bit of ball retention vs Stoke. Oh, and we'll be worse off without him next season because he'll be bloody difficult to replace.

With respect, The season ends in 3 games We are on the precipice of completely blowing a great chance of promotion having been second (and 10 points clear of 7th place).... 86 days ago The manager's contract runs out in about a month and we have no idea whether he's staying or going. We have at least 7 first team players leaving due to the end of a loan or contracts ending We're absolutely dead last in the form table We have no idea WHO would actually be responsible for the selection of a potential new manager Perhaps you'll excuse one or two for not entirely noticing or caring about the other aspects of 'football operation at Ewood'. The above are what people want to see and understand. Tangible results, real action, a clear and concise plan communicated properly to the stakeholders of BRFC. When all said and done, the reason we all sit in Ewood is to of course watch the football, but also to feel part of BRFC... feel of some value to the club - it's 12 years since any of us have had a fucking clue what is going on or felt like we matter one jot! I am reliably informed the Biryani is delicious, mind you.

Top class chairman would be my priority. Decent chance a good manager would then follow. Venky's biggest mistake in their entire ownership was belittling, ignoring and needlessly driving away John Williams, Tom Finn et al. Trusting Anderson was a disaster and something they've never ever recovered from. Agnew, Shaw, Cheston, Waggott.... Whoever else, they've all been hopeless yes men. IMO they're still nursing their burnt fingers and bruised ego's and have been terrified ever since to trust anyone. Bloody Mowbray got Waggott the job which is a disgrace in itself!

Haha, trick is to set your alarm early and enjoy an hour before she ruins your day! I’m about to weed and feed the lawn. Do take in to account though, that this is now… 14 years ago? The cost of football is more or less incomparable. Perhaps there is some ratio or formula would allow a comparison… rather like currency or monetary value over the years. Even so, if you’re outspending the majority of your rivals by double or triple, you should really be expecting to win the league. He did that, great, but let’s have the full picture if possible.

I haven’t analysed the League One spends in 2018 or whenever it was, but there’s good reason to believe that his two markedly successful campaigns as a manager have correlated with him having probably the highest budget and likely strongest squads in the league. Neither were a shock or an underdog story, so to speak. There is of course the argument that you still have to get it done. Souness would have had an enormous budget in Div 1, perhaps more than Fulham at the time, I genuinely have no idea. Although I seem to think they splashed big on Saha who was ridiculous in that league. Malbranque and Boa Morte too maybe?

This comment did prompt me to do a bit of research. Here are the final Championship league positions that season with the basic, outgoing transfer spend on playing staff. Source is TransferMarkt. Rather than plod through all 24 clubs Ive tried to take a cross section of those clubs who may have been higher spenders, I.e. former PL or larger city clubs. 1st - WBA - £20m 2nd - Stoke - £6.25m 3rd - Hull - £2.81m 4th - Bristol City - £3.78m 5th - Palace - £1.49m 6th - Watford - £9.38m 7th - Wolves - £6.75m 9th - Sheff United - £8.91 11th - Charlton - £12.18m 12th - Cardiff - £0.00 14th - QPR - £8.93m 17th - Norwich - £2.03m 20th - Saints - £2.81m 22nd - Leicester - £7.79m So, considering in the previous 3 seasons they had also spent a combined £30m with a net spend of £18m or so, it’s actually quite logical to think they may have had quite an expensive bench, certainly by Championship standards. WBA were big spenders and whilst TM clearly succeeded, it would have been a minimum expectation to get promoted I would imagine. He outspent all other clubs by close to double! This doesn’t take in to account net spend that season. They sold £29m of players in the summer, including a combined £15m on Diomansy Kamara and Jason Koumas, £5m on Nathan Ellington, £4m on Kusczack to United etc etc. But, on balance, £20m spend in the Champ at that time (on top of an expensively assembled squad from previous years) was quite a war chest! The following season they spent a further £22m but went down dead last with 32 points. So all in all, 3 seasons, £45m spent, one promotion and one relegation. Purely for our own nostalgia, in the 07/08 summer window Rovers spent £5.58m, most of which was on Santa Cruz. We finished 7th in the Prem. What a team that was!

Weren’t you telling us all he’s already signed for another club? Apologies if I have the wrong person.

Well that isn't a very good comparison then is it.... The two players you referred at Preston and Forest are loan signings from PL clubs, so surely best to make the comparison with the loans we've had. Your list above... I'd probably agree with most, certainly not Tosin who's excellent. I'd probably put Giles down as 'misused' rather than poor... TM trying to get him to play RW has been ridiculous. I'd also argue Elliott was misused to an extent as well. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending TM - this isn't me trying to justify he continues as Rover manager. I just think of all the elements of his managerial tenure, his loan signings probably haven't been so bad.

Whilst there's plenty of room for justified debate around Mowbray's ability as a manager, criticism of his loan signings is a bit of an odd approach... we've fairly consistently signed players from the top clubs around England. There is a question whether Mowbray has utilised them to their best effect of course... Elliott Harwood Belllis Khadra JPVH Tosin Harrison Reed Branthwaite Giles Whilst some of those haven't worked out as well as hoped, many have been arguably our player of the season or at least a high performer for large periods of seasons. In my opinion his permanent signings require far more scrutiny.

Absolutely agree, it's a horrible situation..... there's lots of examples of clubs parting ways with a 'safe pair of hands' in order to progress their ambitions as a club. Brighton sacking Hughton was certainly seen as a risk, but Potter has done well.... Saints canning Adkins after two promotions was seen as madness until Pochettino proved himself. There's probably plenty of examples in the Championship as well if anyone can be bothered to have a think. So you roll the dice.... the problem with Rovers is that I would expect a shite appointment, purely based on the last 10 years and the lack of any kind of know-how throughout the senior management. Those on here saying 'anyone could do better than Mowbray' either have very short memories or haven't been paying any attention for the last decade. Probably the same people that said anyone could do better than Bowyer, whilst totally underestimating the incompetence of our ownership.

Not sure - I think much of the fan base have had enough of TM now.... thing is, there's never been a really defining moment on the pitch whereby the crowd have turned.... last season was behind closed doors let's not forget. I felt it might have been on the way at the Sheff United game when we conceded in 30 seconds.... that was a really defining moment for TM, and proved to be a springboard to a fantastic 2 months. I think we're beginning to move towards another moment like that.... the first half of Derby showed signs. A negative result/non-performance at Coventry followed by a goal for Blackpool at Ewood and I think you'll start to see a turning of the tide as promotion slips away. Many fans won't want to turn yet, whilst the top 6 remains a possibility.

Completely and utterly irrelevant..... in fact, you've reiterated my point a thousand times over. You, Me and any other fan of Rovers aren't remotely involved in the process of appointing a new manager. So whilst many of us clearly see value in a change, we must confront the elephant in the room... the selection process will be handled by the very same people that appointed the 7 (not including Lambert) managers that you didn't want.

Good question though, isn't it? Whilst a lot of Rovers fans (myself included) will agree Mowbray's time is probably coming to an end, you CANNOT just remain oblivious to the terrifying fact that the next appointment is likely to be the responsibility of some combination of Waggott (if he stays on), Pasha and our illustrious owners. Which of that lot are going to make a sensible appointment? Just to jog one or two memories; Steve Kean Eric Black Henning Berg Michael Appleton Gary Bowyer Paul Lambert Owen Coyle Tony Mowbray Love him, like him, loathe him.... or wherever you sit in between those, Mowbray has done alright, probably verging on decent in his first 3 full seasons. Last season ended in disarray and anger, this season might slide in to a huge case of what could have been, and there's no doubt the longer he remains, the more he appears to tarnish his time at the club. BUT, which of the 8 above have (or could have) done any better? Maybe make an argument for Bowyer... Some might argue for Lambert, but the reality is he couldn't stick the owners, and that HAS to be another warning sign for those who think any half decent calibre manager would simply stroll through the door. It is a bit of a classic case of look before you leap... except in this particular case, us fans are blindfolded and those holding the safety net aren't offering any clues whatsoever as to where the fuck it is.

Going in as Bruce's assistant? Don't envy him that journey everyday... the M6 is an accident waiting to happen.

Not a chance

Crikey, I'm glad you aren't the manager! What is it... 11 clean sheets in 15 games? Forget that, put Jones straight in... hardly kicked a ball for 3 years.

Laughed Steve Waggott, as he submitted an audacious £200m bid for Mo Salah at 10:37pm.

Had no idea we were guaranteed promotion with Rothwell in the side. Do you think someone should tell TM?

I’d say on this it’s the other way round. Mowbray isn’t perfect, but you have to take each situation individually, and on this one I don’t think he’s done a lot wrong. You, Rev and others want to dig him out for everything.

Literally same interview we’re discussing he said Hedges isn’t a replacement for Rothwell. You seem to have very selective hearing regards this subject.

You and I are not privy to Rovers transfer discussions or plans…. So this is purely conjecture. He also said Joe Rothwell will NOT be leaving unless we get replacements in.

I’d sack Park on the spot if we didn’t have options lined up. A player with 4 months on his deal and clubs interested?!?!? Get real about the players thoughts on Rothwell…. But let’s be realistic, there’s no way we’ve considered a single replacement for him 🙄

Obviously. They can’t very well release a statement saying “available to the highest bidder”. Every player has his price, end of discussion. If a club has met Rothwell’s price, we should sell, or at the very least consider the offer and the further options to strengthen the squad. Stubbornly sticking your fingers in your ears is something the owners have done for years, and it’s not very often resulted in the best course of action for the club.