Non-existent defence. This kind of performance will be a feature this season thanks Mowbray’s piss-poor recruitment policy. Keep getting rid of defenders and not replacing them and you have a poor defence. Who’d have thought?

Mowbray won’t change it until the usual time.

West Brom aren’t all that. Sounds like they are being given gifts by Rovers.

FFS

The depth of our squad is so poor now that the first team picks itself. Graham and Rothwell the only ones who can feel aggrieved or put any pressure on the starters. Very light on defensive cover. Hope Cunningham stays fit for the foreseeable! We have better defenders on loan than can make our bench. Let’s hope our decent run of form can continue.

So that’s a problem of Mowbray’s making... If he is undermined in bringing in his players then he should walk. By carrying on he becomes complicit. I find it hard to believe though.

And we won... Although ironically it probably kept Kean in the job longer. Had we lost, “fans” would have blamed protesters. Also disappointing were the lack of numbers who took part in the walkout. That was a real opportunity to make our feelings known in front of the cameras. (And another point gained).

To be fair Matty, there were thousands more like that than who joined us. 10,000 weren’t even there to watch Rovers, just PL football so in hindsight we were never going to get any help from them. There were times on those marches when I was ashamed of Rovers fans who cared more about the F than the C.

Exactly. I was ashamed of those fans who sat on their hands and watched these nefarious people do what they liked with our club - under the guise of “backing the boys”. I was never ashamed to support this club. Poor show Philip.

When a player performs badly, it’s the player alone. When the player performs well, it’s the manager? Let’s see if he gets a chance to play on the wing for the first team, or if a forward will take his place. Just a shame we didn’t get that kind of reactionary performance in a first team game on the back of some old school man-management. All we have seen is him perform we at a level we know he is capable. Still a long way to go before Mowbray can claim any credit with Chapman. Fortunately for Tony, if Harry doesn’t it will be entirely the player’s fault.

Is Mowbray getting the best out of his squad?

“Rubbish that Chapman”. “Just not interested”.

Is that your opinion or your assessment of Mowbray’s opinion? Personally I can see the need for a number one. Or at the very least a number two. Leutwiler should be nowhere near our bench but while we are where we are I’d accept him as a number three. We are supposed to have ambitions of top 6. At least that’s what our manager keeps telling us.

I expect if Bolton finish fourth bottom and survive by 1 point (and as a direct result of Bury being expelled) then the third bottom team would have a just cause to be very upset. They must punish Bolton in the same way as any team would be under normal circumstances. Otherwise there is a precedent set for clubs to cancel games whenever they feel it necessary. Boro were de facto relegated because they postponed a single match since the three points deducted would have seen then survive. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/25/football-clubs-condemned-to-relegation-by-points-deductions

Chicken and egg. If you bring in a player for the first team, you don’t put them in the U23s unless it’s for fitness purposes. Footballers are very sensitive creatures and Mowbray’s methods are from the old school, toughen-em-up and make-men-of-em text book. Probably why he has Venus and Lowe as his right hand men who I imagine think similarly. I agree that Mowbray says too much to the media though. He’s his own worst enemy at times. Still, at least it stops people from talking about his poor recruitment, team selections, tactics and formations (especially second half ones).

Do you have some proof of this? Pretty damning if true.

“I know the supporters like Harry Chapman and the reason he’s here is because I like him, but he has to get going, he has to get up to speed, he has to understand how our club works and the work ethic that’s required. “It’s down to him. I feel as though it’s ‘blame the manager that Harry Chapman isn’t playing’, but Harry Chapman has to look at himself really and get going, get himself moving and up to speed, up to gear. “There was potentially an opportunity for him to go out on loan to get going and to get started and to show another team that he could create and score goals, beat full-backs, put the ball in the box and other stuff he’s here to try and do. “I think between us we’ve decided that he’s going to stay and see if he can try and get in our team, in our squad. “There’s always a difference between how players feel they’re doing and how the manager feels they’re doing and at the moment there’s a little divide there between what he thinks he’s doing and what I think he’s doing. Ignoring how much he rambles on in interviews, and how little LT journalists (reporters) are able to paraphrase for brevity, that’s just a public dressing down of a player he scouted and then waited six months to go back and sign despite being injured and barely playing in between. You look at what happens to the confidence of young players when Mowbray loses interest and has other available options (or in some cases doesn’t and re-trains a midfield “soldier”). Brereton, Raya, Nuttall, Nyambe, Tomlinson, Wharton, Magloire, Chapman. Doyle and Platt could well have just had their development undone by being hung out to dry in the media recently. And he’s even speaking to an opposition ball boy about his values, instead of admitting that he selected our worst two centre midfielders as the engine room. Why aren’t they being told to “step up, get going, get in gear, get moving, get up to speed”? Surely they can take it? Never seems to look at himself does our Tony.

On the face of it, it’s all about money. We will only get cheap options. But then you think we paid £12m for two below average strikers and what kind of a keeper should have been within our budget.

Toughish draws for Barca and Real. Byes for City and Liverpool.

We live in a country where people are offended by what someone says and ambivalent about what someone does. There would be greater outrage if the EFL made an insensitive joke on Twitter than letting a club shut its gates.

And beyond, such is the network infrastructure.

“Strategy”

It will be very interesting to see if they are able to appeal. I’m suspicious that after weeks of issues the new buyer is able to come in so late (too late) which makes me question their motives. Moreover I’d question their ability to actually deliver, which is probably what the EFL did. I guess we will find out but I can’t see it at this stage.

Bloody hell - I had both teams to score in that one!

Would you want your council tax to go up to take on the debt management of a football club though? And one that is no longer in the football league?