Armstrong is very underrated on here but he can get a ball into the box and has a wicked shot on him. Hasn’t really taken off for him yet.

Did the date on the article give it away?

Fully agree with the last bit. However, history shows that Mowbray doesn’t reward the youth, despite not being good at recruiting from outside.

Probably do what he has done with every other player who has starred in CM and move them out wide so he can play Evans and Smallwood.

That’s pretty crap news. ? Not wanting to sound crass but it does make you wonder then if his absence has been a factor in our form?

Ouch. We’d better hope not!

As long as it doesn’t impact on Nuttall I’m fine with that. However, it’s a sorry state of affairs when a second choice U23 striker costs £6m - £7m at a midtable Championship club!

It’s all about balance though apparently.

Playing Devil’s advocate though, Brereton won’t get match fit if he’s only playing 15-20 minutes a week.

Lol at the bit in bold. We had Jordan Rhodes and many of our fans - including plenty on here - thought he was useless and wanted rid! Football, eh! Serious question for you though. In your opinion, given how quickly he decided to go (and assuming your Chairman didn’t snap Rovers’ hand off), what salary do you think Brereton will have moved for? Some Rovers think he will be on very little because of the high transfer fee. Significantly below £10k a week anyway.

I don’t think it’s fine at all. £150m in debt and needing PL football to have any hope of clearing it, and our fanbase halved and labouring but, no, let’s throw money at side-projects using Rovers so some overgrown kid can get his kicks.

You’ve forgotten the flex! Brereton’s only on ten bob a week.

This is just like under Bowyer. One win and it’s back to full-on superfan support. I’ll carry on supporting Blackburn Rovers and not whichever millionaire happens to have the closest view of the pitch. That said, Mowbray needs to build on this result now and not keep chopping and changing. Delighted with three points against the Baggies but he’s only one dodgy team selection of being right back at square one. A decent League One manager, an average Championship one.

He was afraid of being given a second yellow. Pitiful really. He looks knackered after a couple of minutes on the pitch.

The worst thing about that video is the name at the top of it.

There was a moment just after he had been (stupidly) booked where he needed to close down one of their defenders. He took an age to get there and when he did he was absolutely terrified to put a tackle in in case he got a second yellow and just kind of followed the player into our half. He got a bollocking straight after from someone, Evans I think, and he half-heartedly waved an imaginary card, as if to say ‘I might have got another card’. Imagine having so little faith in your own ability as a footballer that you daren’t put in a tackle in case you mistime it! Whatever Mowbray says publically that is a lad devoid of confidence.

You know I love you pb but this must be the daftest idea you’ve ever had!

It’d be a pretty sad day when your own brother doesn’t pick you! I fear that we are going to see history repeat itself with Smallwood. He is the kind of player you would love to be able to bring on to close out a game. Keep possession and play an agricultural game. Or, be a like for like swap for Evans. It was exactly the same with Jason Lowe and he became more of a target because Bowyer kept starting him than if he had been a solid squad player. The flipside was that some fans took his selection to mean he was a good player because he gets picked rather than what they saw with their own eyes. Then as he racked up hands that became a stat in itself! Then he left on a free!! Our brilliant, highly experienced captain! Made us no money and wasn’t worthy of a new contract! What a contradiction! ”As long as he wears the shirt I’ll back him”. Hard to argue with such belligerence, no, some don’t like that word so: misplaced loyalty. Lets hope Richie doesn’t become that man and instead continues to contribute at a higher level than we should expect him to.

Including yesterday, he’s played about 300 minutes. The equivalent of just over three matches. He has two assists. I’m expecting him to start against Newcastle but does need a run of starts to be able to judge fairly. That said I thought he was poor again yesterday. There is just nothing about him that makes him stand out.

He can score goals but he plays to his best wherever Mowbray asks him to - at the expense of himself - even at right back. We are a much poorer team when he isn’t in it.

Correct. And yet he didn’t say that, he said “we’ll see”. Having praised him, this surely is old school management, the idea of keep ‘em keen. Trouble is, I’m not sure this works with today’s youngsters. They want to feel wanted. It’s going to hurt Mowbray but he simply has to promote Travis over Smallwood who will now have to settle for being Corry Evans’ understudy or waiting for a dip in form or injury.

Maybe ‘sell out’ was a bit strong. And I forgot the West Ham game was on a Sunday. Surely we could must 15k plus for a Newcastle FA Cup game though?

I’d sooner lose a replay at Ewood than the first game at the Sports Direct Newcastle Outlet! On the plus side I could well see a home replay being £10 per ticket and a sell-out. Which of course means we’ll get hammered there!

I didn’t know he had been unwell! A rare away day trip for me this one. Not much expectation but just hoping that the lads who pull on the shirts put a shift in. It would be a good day if we can earn a replay at Ewood. It would be a great day if we could scab a win.

I think if we are going to build we need to have a positive January window and finish as strongly as we can this season.