I’m going to stop trying to explain it to you.

That’s all we are ever going to have.

You have missed the point I was making. If he wanted the money (for the two or three years he had left) then that’s fine. He had a contract, that was his prerogative. But... At that time (not any more) he could have gone on a free transfer to a PL club on at least the same money. He chose the former and now, post Sunderland - is struggling to find anyone willing to take him on. At 27. He could have been earning the money he was on for much longer had he handled it differently. In tandem, now that this bloke is amongst our team, our team spirit has noticeably declined. Next time you are at Ewood, just watch Rodwell warning up. Hardly any Rovers players speak to him. He comes across as a bit of a loner. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he has upset the spirit that was such a feature in this group. Whether it was his fault or not is almost irrelevant. He will be seen by some as someone out for himself. Of course there will be others saying “good on yer, about time a player got the best deal out of a contract” - but that in itself could create factions - even if unspoken. Yes, he had every right to point to his contract, tough it out and simply bare face everyone. Bad karma for all concerned though.

Saw that photo closer to the time. Didn’t know that you took it. Do you work at the club? You may well be right that his public persona is toned down but I still don’t think he is anything close to Warnock in private either.

Its not enough giving top sides a run for their money. When you drop points against lesser sides like we have they need to be robbed from elsewhere. We are having a terrible run of form that doesn’t look like ending soon. Just how much damage this 10 game run does to team could define our season. We are clinging not to us picking up points but to those teams at the bottom continuing to be worse than us.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think we are being particularly competitive but I can see how Mowbray might spin in. My biggest issue with today is just how mentally weak we are. That is where someone like Warnock would have you on your toes. I don’t expect he’d be offering out Werther’s Originals with a shrug and a “It was always going to be a tough ask t’day, lads. Keep your heads up”. Your concentration levels would be razor sharp for fear of having something thrown at you. Team spirit will get you so far then you need superior players and you build that team spirit back up. You don’t stick with the same bunch of lads out of loyalty. That’s not what professional football is - more’s the pity.

Same thing ruined Corrado Grabbi.

I guess it’s competitive if they don’t score until the 92nd minute?

This is what these results do to the team... Devastating. Talk of us “competing with teams” after a loss are straight out of Mowbray’s football handbook. It starts to sound hollow after a while. With Kean and Coyle it was easier in some ways because they were despised. Tony is still liked by Rovers fans and, I expect, the players too.

Serious question: what makes you think we won’t/can’t?

It’s unfortunate that we have a lot of tough games all at once during the busiest time of the football calendar. Normally it’s a good thing to have another game soon after a loss but if that is another loss then it can become a bad habit. Two defeats in the next two and it becomes difficult for TM to immediately turn that around into a necessary run of wins. Very worrying times. However our problems could run much deeper than that. Mowbray looks to be trying to protect his players but is not under any pressure as a manager. This is when we remember that we are not a normal club. We need fresh impetus from somewhere in January (or sooner) or the second half of the season could be very depressing indeed.

It almost doesn’t matter who is at fault. Footballers are on short contracts compared to the working person. It is a team sport and if you end up in a position where one man is more important than the team then it’s a problem. Rodwell, or his agent, must have insisted on the no relegation clause in his salary for it to be there. I expect at the time relegation was unthinkable - or, looking at the characters involved - it could well have been an over-sight. If you earn yourself a reputation as a mercenary (whether deserved or not) you may find your next contract hard to come by. He was in the right but he was maybe looking at it short term or has no plans to be in the game for long and was making his money while he could. I think Bains went about it the wrong way he suggesting Rodwell should tear up his contract and should have found some kind of way forward. Also compare and contrast with Pepe at Besiktas.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/17320535.leeds-united-3-blackburn-rovers-2-tony-mowbray-reaction/ “I’d rather talk about the positives of the team, how they dug in, how hard they worked and carried a cutting edge, not just the goals, but we had a chance when Bradley went through, and on another day it’s a different story.” Make your own minds up but it sounds like more of the same from TM. If he’s right then Leicester and Palace really shouldn’t have even bothered against City.

Wouldn’t surprise me if that graph was similar for every team in the bottom half of every division - maybe more. Goals tend to be scored in the second half of games as injuries and red cards happen and the game becomes naturally stretched.

This is not a knee-jerk thread. Anyone who posts that is just being plain lazy... - 1 win in the last 8. - 6 points from 24. - A mini crisis mid-season. - A manager making the same mistakes week in week out and sticking with what has worked in the past. No imagination - even in tough away games. - Players who are playing way below what we believe they are capable of. Players who should be in League One still. Not looking like a team and in fact starting to look jaded with the same League One set up but without the results in the Championship. We are not yet, in the main, talking about Mowbray being sacked. He has goodwill/loyalty credit from last season that is quickly running out. He has taken down once already on this division - whether his fault or not - and “here we go again” may well be in the minds of the players. Can he bring in a striker on loan so that the Brereton experiment can be taken right back to basics (while Nuttall is loaned out)? Can he find a way of balancing a midfield pairing which isn’t solely being deployed to protect a poor defence? Is Lenihan up to it? Is his coaching team running out of new ideas? Is it responding to what is happening on match days and looking at the personnel, formation and attitude/approach to games? Or is it just a case of “working hard in training” and hoping that the results come. What do people feel should be Mowbray’s target for the next 6 games? 10 games? Do we need a change in personnel down at Brockhall? How long does the patience last with Mowbray? Will we accept relegation and give him another go at promotion from League One? (I certainly wouldn’t). When does concern become a need for a change of manager? Rodwell has come in after being made a scapegoat at a freefalling Sunderland? They changed manager and things didn’t change. Do we need to get someone like Coleman in here and bomb Rodwell out of the club before we reach the same stage? (Leopards don’t usually change their spots - although he was harshly treated, his attitude was still very selfish - and non-team focussed. This kind of thing filters between clubs and there will be people wary of him, I’m sure. The team spirit that was such a feature of Mowbray’s team appears to have faded during the time he has been here. Coincidence?) Anyway, here we are. What do we change and when?

We aren’t getting the necessary results but we don’t seem to be performing either. An OG today, a penalty, a free kick then some rank bad defending. Not sure where we go from here. Based on his record in the market and recent form/selections, I just don’t see Venkys giving him cash to spend in January.

I noticed that two. He was almost joking with Biesla at first. This will have been a “target zero” came in his mind going in so no big deal. Cue “bitterly disappointed” comments after.

Pinball in the six yard box and the ball was being kept out of the next by last ditch blocks. Looked to have survived then the referee blew up to say it had gone over the line, despite no appeals!

This is exactly why I am become so disillusioned with Mowbray. By not going on the offensive he gives the initiative to the opposition, they know that they will get chances against us and don’t have to worry too much about us. Rothwell and Reed could tear this league up but Mowbray is busy turning Reed into a defensively-minded midfielder and Rothwell into a 15 minute man (if he’s lucky). Devastating resukt that for our confidence. Even 2-2 would have been a positive. Not we have nothing. Stop bullshitting about building something and show that you are actually building something, because our foundations are so fragile despite so much investment having gone into it.

Absolutely disgusting end to that game. The ref gave them the equaliser and our shocking defender gave them a ridiculous winner. No doubt that’ll be seen as a ‘good’ result “on paper against the top of the league” and “we’d have taken that before the game”. How can we not see games out? Spineless.

For fucks fucking sake

We are absolutely hopeless at closing games out from winning positions.

Need to see that one back. That did not look over the line.

Robbed by the referee!!! ???

Surely it’s time for Rothwell to be in the team...