I don’t think it’s even just BB, I think it’s that we had £7m to spend and spent it very unwisely. If we hadn’t spent that money I think there would be a lot more patience and understanding. This is pressure (or justifiable criticism) that Mowbray has brought on himself - or someone else has put on him. If Brereton was only a loan signing, with no agreement, nobody would be saying we should break the bank to sign him permanently in January. He’d be expected to head the way of Gladwin or Hart. People are just putting on a brave face and making excuses.

Decent full backs are something we have missed for a long time.

We were 7th, and 7 games later we are 14th and likely to get zero points in the next three games. Worrying times. Glad we finally agree on something though. ?? Merry Christmas.

We are only halfway though and we are dropping like a stone. Luckily (fingers crossed) there are some awful teams down there.

More like “worrying”.

Hard to say. Probably not... Pass 1 Pass 2

100%

Brereton would disagree I’m sure. Both he and Nuttall are vying for one spot in the team (on the bench) and Brereton is getting the benefit of the doubt. Assuming there are no behavioural issues the difference between them is the cost and the consequence of failure. Writing off £7m or writing off some development costs. Dropping Nuttall is the easier option.

Only when we pay double the going rate for a decent Championship striker.

So why not be patient with Nuttall?

Palmer should be nowhere near our first team but the difference is that he hasn’t cost 75% of our Summer budget on his own.

Which is why the money matters and why I think the U23 spell option will be a conundrum. Hopefully Joe can go on loan early January and avoid destroying two players in one move. A mess is the right word to describe it, Matty.

Don’t disagree. But that will take some serious swallowing of pride by Mowbray and he does seem to be a very stubborn bloke who will stick to his guns no matter what. I wonder if he will pick Evans and Smallwood again in the centre for the next game. I suspect he will.

The other danger with Mowbray sticking with the old guard is that it doesn’t give a lot of confidence to any potential targets in January - or even the Summer. On the one hand he could be saying to every prospective player “you have to earn your place” - and I’m doing so put off any prima donnas in the making - but on the other it could look like he has his favourites. He should have upgraded on Smallwood by now but continues to pick him and even rewarded him with a new contract in the Summer. Rovers even published recently: “Tony Mowbray says Richie Smallwood remains a key cog in the Rovers machine, and adds that he doubts many have the same determination as the number six.” https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/october/richie-brings-the-soul-to-our-team/ If Mowbray continues to build teams around League One standard players then the inevitable will eventually happen.

After that QPR win we were 8th, one point off the play-offs, ten points off relegation. 7 games on and we are 14th, seven points off, twelves points off relegation. The poorer teams aren’t getting better but we are getting poorer than the better teams.

I was with you until the last sentence. I don’t question his intentions (his integrity) I just think he is wrong.

But it does make a difference. The price tag makes it necessary to make it successful and reduces the time that a player has before they will be judged. If he wasn’t ready or didn’t fit into Mowbray’s system then it was very poor scouting indeed. Right now, Nuttall should be on the first team bench ahead of Brereton but how embarrassing would that be for Mowbray? We should never have committed that much money - even if it was some kind of use it or lose it scenario. Half of that cash would have gone a long way in January to improve where we have issues. This signing has huge question marks over it.

There wasn’t a lot else to clap all afternoon. I though it was also a touch of class from Rovers fans to sing Rhodes song and he visibly appreciated it. (I think he was expecting the Danny Graham version). It was a nice way to show respect for a lad who came here and did the business and was professional until the end. Not many Rovers fans wanted to see him leave and that was evident today.

A really odd game to watch today. A forgettable first half which should have seen us 1-0 down after 12 minutes but we managed to hold on to 0-0 at HT. Presumably (I didn’t see anything) an enforced change bringing off Mulgrew for, not Downing (or sub CB) but Williams (our sub LB). Too frequently Mowbray shares appearances around to try to keep everyone happy. To be fair, we did seem to take the game to Norwich in the second half but never looked like scoring. Dack managed to get clean through and made a half-hearted attempt to play it across the keeper but didn’t get anything behind it. Palmer coming on for Evans had us scratching our heads and required Reed to move to the centre, for Palmer to go out on the right. Surely Smallwood was the player to come off and Rothwell to come on? Every time I’ve seen Rothwell play he has looked a class above. He must have fallen out with Mowbray over something. Brereton came on, predictably, for the last 20 minutes, went left, then right, and once again failed to impress. I’m afraid it’s lookimg like he just isn’t good enough. Certainly not for £7m and likely not for a midtable Championship club who need promotion. There must have been a reason he fell down the pecking order at Forest. The price tag is clearly weighing down on him, and he doesn’t have the cockiness of a Dack to shrug it off. Every time he got the ball today he made the wrong decision. I actually feel sorry for the lad, he looks lost and is being asked to play everywhere but lead the line. It’s looking like a failed high-stakes gamble and someone must surely be checking the pre-contract agreement small print. Either that or we will need to write off half of whatever we don’t give to Gillingham for Dack. Mowbray set out for a 0-0 today and he will probably believe that he nearly hit that target. If that is going to be the approach for these next 3 games it’s going to be difficult to get more than a couple of points - at absolute best. And this is in a division where we regularly see surprising results and hear “anyone can beat anyone in this league”. Well, they can if they don’t have a Bowyer or Mowbray in charge who are so defiantly negative. We don’t see to do surprise results, we always seem to get what we “would have taken before the game” (or just less). It’s not good enough and it’s an extremely negative and insidious mindset to get into. Given Mowbray’s stubbornness and the length of his contract it’s hard to see what is going to change or who is going to take the fall, and allow him to turn things around. Smallwood isn’t good enough at this level - yet he is TM’s first choice in midfield. Rothwell is a game changer yet can’t get on the pitch ahead of a Chelsea loanee - more contact nonsense? Or does he not want to fall out with Chelsea for fear of being struck off the loan club list? Don’t worry Tony, UEFA are changing the rules so they won’t have as many players signed up in future. We are reliant on Reed in this negative football mindset and he isn’t even our player. Who else can do what he does? Nobody. Dack is out of form and may be leaving but is undroppable - another dangerous situation. Graham is our best player but starting to look knackered again. We are expected to remain patient and be glad of 21st in a consolidation season but that’s the equivalent of ignoring how a match played out and taking a result on paper - again very negative and accepting of mediocrity. We should be able to aim higher than Mowbray is doing. But if he is to continue to be the man to take us forward then maybe David Lowe is the one to make way and bring in some fresh ideas on the training ground. Perhaps Damien Johnson can step up as first team coach? Perhaps something as drastic as Mark Venus going but I can’t see that either. We are treading-water-and-tiring under Mowbray. I won’t forgive him if he takes us down from here but equally giving up any ambition and pointing to our recent history as an excuse to temper expectations won’t cut it either.

Shit! At least Mogga has a ready made excuse. Brereton looks like a lad with absolutely no confidence whatsoever. Makes the wrong decision every time he gets the ball.

Looks like Reed might be going off. Down to 10 if so.

Now swapped wings with Palmer. Wonder if this was what Ben was expecting when he joined.

Brereton playing left wing.

Wrong

At least he’s left Graham on.