Tbh it sounded a bit churlish but I was giving you the benefit of the doubt.

It was for comparison purposes but player wages wil comfortably blow the rest of the staff out of the water.

Tony likes this

Seems entirely fair to me. It will show that Mowbray is being even-handed with his players rather than sticking with ‘favourites’. Can’t argue with Nuttall’s form. He’s got his head down and working hard in the development squad, putting his disappointment behind him. Over to you, Tony.

We already have Rothwell. Tony doesn’t value that kind of central midfielder.

Does it matter?

Wages haven’t dropped to perceived levels if we are having to find an extra £15m. On average for a 20-man squad, that’s subsidiarising wages to the tune of £14k per week. (That’s not the player wages, it’s the extra we can’t afford out of the club turnover!) Incredible really. If we are now at reduced levels then we are screwed without PL or a rich benefactor (not a rich lender).

Raya was already in the first team when Bowyer was here though. Started several games (probably too early) and was a bit exposed. Not really a youth promotion, a number 2 made number 1.

This is one of my gripes though. Mowbray doesn’t appear to have have any faith in the youth players. This despite them winning their division last season - so if he doesn’t think they are good enough to for the Championship bench or loan them out then the whole PL2 is a waste of time. Travis is the latest Icarus to get his wings burnt, following Tomlinson and Nuttall. Mahoney got stick from some quarters saying he should have stayed but Mowbray doesn’t play with wingers - as Simmons will probably find out. I’m not quite sure why our U23s don’t play the first team system to breed these players for first team action. Mowbray regularly attends U23 matches but doesn’t seem to use it as a deeper squad to pick from. He seems to leave them to it and goes out and recruits. For a club that can’t offer proper ticket offers for cost reasons, it’s strange not to dip into this talent pool more often and grow our own.

Maybe that’s why there is chatter. We really need to sign Mols up! And Magloire. And Hardcastle. And Mansell. And Simmons. Crimes! Don't see Tomilinson staying unfortunately. He really hasn’t been given an opportunity and hasn’t been loaned out. He may come back to haunt us. The Doyles I can see signing up again.

@Paul Mani Lowest budget, mate? It would have been some f__ up to not get promoted from League One on those terms. On the face of it, our debt seems to increase every season no matter what our sales or transfers. Our operating costs never seem to get significantly lower so we are never going to wash our own face which means Venkys will need to continue adding to the debt. Another reminder for those who have forgotten - or are too young to remember/understand the first two-thirds of the last 8 years - our future still relies on promotion to the PL asap (hence the lack of patience) or for new owners to step in. But while our attendances remain low we won’t even be on the radar as a potential project for anyone with cash to spend. 16th in the Championship attendance stakes, with 4 “town clubs” ahead of us - West Brom, Boro, Ipswich, even Bolton (currently). The first two have a much greater catchment and barely pass the town test but - come on - Ipswich and Wigan! In Mowbray We Trust In Venkys We’re Bust

Sorry I thought it was a well-known alt-nickname, down there with Notlob and Big Club.

I stand corrected.

I’d play Nutts against the Barcodes. I suspect Brereton will instead get his first start.

“Whatever mate”. You do this a lot when someone calls you out. “Limited” is exactly the right word to describe him. He won the Championship with a PL squad (and budget) 10 years ago. His list of achievements mirrors I have been stopped from posting this by moderators Coyle. Coyle’s (although Coyle managed the feat in Scotland too). He was relegated with West Brom, Rovers (not his fault but didn’t still didn’t do enough) and de facto relegated Coventry. He was sacked by Celtic after 9 months. Mowbray needed Blackburn Rovers as much as we needed a man we could all trust after Coyle. It was a good match and by having the best squad and biggest budget he achieved the required target and decided winning the league wasn’t important. I stick by my assessment that he is a good man and a limited manager. There’s no disgrace in that. But the chances of him getting us promoted, despite having a better than average transfer kitty are low, in my view. If we had someone of Warnock’s experience and ruthlessness (for example - as my Souness example was hard for some to comprehend) then we might have a chance. Nobody would be more delighted than me if Mowbray won the play-offs at Rovers but nice guys rarely do well (long term) in football.

He had the best squad in League One and finished second. He has had a good start to the season and may even have peaked. Let’s see. You seem to think you’re pretty authoritative on this board because you used to play a bit, and now scout, is that right? If so, get used to the idea that us inferior lay-people have opinions too.

It’s always been the way though. No matter if it’s individual errors, bad luck or the run of teams played: managers have always carried the can for results.

A TA with an RA

How is it extreme? It sums up the Brereton situation quite aptly. We’ve spent all that money but you think it shouldn’t be a discussion point because “oh well it’s too late now”.

It comes down to ambition and expectations. How can we spend £7m on one player and our expectations of that player not increase? How can our ambition for the club not increase? Yet both are being shot down. Apparently there is some master plan. I don’t see it, I just see another absolutely autonomous manager answerable to the owners and not the chief exec. Mowbray continues to dine out on his ‘proper football man’ image, a cut-price Bobby Robson. Because of this it’s entirely possible he will be here until he walks as people make excuses. As a man I think he is great, as a manager I think he is limited. My worry with Mowbray is that he is stubbornly sticking with players that we know we need to improve on. Our performances in the Championship this season have been, by and large, awful. If you don’t move forward then you go backwards. We found out the hard way by sticking with Bowyer for too long. We are about to make the same mistake again and some fans are happy to watch it all happen again. And I don’t need to google it, I remember it. Signing Yorke was one of the worst things Souness did. Playboy with a bad attitude and he ruined a re-born Andrew Cole in the process. I’m not surprised someone went after him.

If your missus had been saving up money for Christmas and you went out and spent it at the bookies and lost it all, do you think that “it’s a pointless discussion as the money is spent already” would save you from criticism (or an untimely death)? Or would it be something that you never heard the end of - especially when you opened the kitchen cupboard and enquired why you could only find the Smart Price baked beans instead of your favourite brand?

Both Nuttall and Travis were brought into the first team squad and then unceremoniously dropped. Mowbray has no clue how to handle the step up from the U23s. He is loyal to a fault and presumably believes the players will repay that loyalty. Problems arise where those loyal players aren’t good enough. He backed the wrong horse with Samuel too. We need to upgrade most of the side. Considering we have spent over £10m in the last 12 months and aren’t promoting the youth that’s a damning indictment.

Sadly you take things very literally Chris. I’m not saying bring back Souness - I’m saying someone like him. I must have missed where Grealish has been sold for £40m. According to transfermarkt nobody has paid a fee for him ever. You are using another dreamland transfer to justify another. Expectations of how well we should be doing have to change with time. Much like a result can be accepted “on paper” and “I’d have taken that before the game”, I’m looking for a manager who can take opportunities. When we go 1-0 down and we bring off a striker to bring on a defender; when we play against 10 men and we don’t kick on - or even look like doing; when we are 2-0 up and coasting and we replace our striker for an experiment and lose points within minutes. On paper, midtable will be a reasonable outcome for the season. However, when the league takes shape and we are a couple of wins off the play-offs then poor decisions will come under scrutiny. To accept mediocrity and missed opportunities because “well, nobody expected any better” is to promote mediocrity.

Pretty closed minded. You are only looking at the bad side of Souness and forgetting what he did with our youngsters. Mowbray is sticking with the old guard and 6 defenders, regardless of results, and doesn’t have much faith in youth or much interest in starting an attacking team (unless it’s wing backs). Souness swept teams aside with the likes of Duff, Dunn and Jansen. With Berkovic as a playmaker. I don’t see Mowbray changing this approach and nor do I see it being successful. Ironically you’ve asked fans to be patient with young players when one of my gripes is that Mowbray does not. Ultimately, my priority is BRFC and not the initials on the tracksuit.

What does Brereton offer that Nuttall doesn’t?