Mowbray is his own worst enemy. He brought on all these attacking players, pushed Bell and Nyambe forward in search of a winner. Then as soon as he got it, and I mean as soon as - literally speaking to Reed and Dack before the restart to tell them to drop deeper. With 15 minutes still to play, asking the lads he brought on to play a defensive shape was a huge gamble. We have the players to hurt Villa and we let the off the hook. So disappointing but the responsibility has to lie with the manager. I don’t care about any ‘on paper’ results, we should have won that today.

Great goal. Reed looks magic.

Less than 16k (15,982). I know it’s on tv but with Villa bringing about 5k that’s poor. Just shows that the walk on pricing strategy does not bring the fans in.

Hope it’s for Smallwood and not Rothwell. Could he line up with Smallwood, Evans and Reed? I was talking to a Villa fan at work yesterday. He’s very concerned about how bad they are at the back. In his words “if you attack you will win”. Attacking is what we are good at. Here’s hoping for a good game today.

Football is not just a business though. That’s the issue.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/16860665.blackburn-rovers-sign-sponsor-deal-with-totally-wicked/?ref=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Waggott is certainly happy to take money from anyone. Vaping in football grounds is banned but fans should still be encouraged to take up the habit.

Stay safe Nick!

On that score, it is actually in the T&Cs that you signed up to. My beef is that it is punitive and doesn’t fit the needs of a football club in 2018 where TV coverage is putting more and more people off and more should be done to get fans attending and on side.

The charge is disproportionate to the costs involved. With other services there are other options available. You don’t have to get the train, you could get a bus or taxi. You are just a customer and for the service you have to accept being ripped of because the institutions involved invariably don’t give a stuff about customers or loyalty. This is a football club where you can’t just go elsewhere, loyalty is much more a factor and those in charge should be looking at the fan base a little more than simply as customers who ‘should pay just like with any other service’. I’d be fine with penalising those who take the mick and keep asking for new cards because it fell under the bed but come on a bit of pragmatism please. Ultimately people need to take more care of their tickets but it’s just another symptom of the lack of affinity with the fans and the opposite direction to what most of us would like, which is to try everything they can to get people into the ground. Our walk-on prices now are prohibitive and don’t encourage new or casual attendees.

Sad loss...

Ten quid though. Your fault or not there is no justification for that. A bit of plastic and the admin time of a member of staff. The priorities when it comes to tickets are all wrong. Lack of ST sales before the end of the season; out-of-touch walk-on prices, prioritisation of away fans, high admin costs. They even wanted a tenner to park your car for the Lincoln game. Maximising the home fan attendance is low on the agenda. It’s the complete opposite of what Williams tried to do and although it’s largely forgiven at the minute with the team doing well on the pitch, it will come back to bite Waggott.

Is that true? A lost ST replacement card cost a tenner?

Oddly, last night’s game was just a friendly, not a Nations Cup match.

Just shows that there is a buyer out there for everyone. @philipl called it right: gravity defying. It’s hard to feel sorry for them when they keep escaping and getting better - presumably shafting creditors in the process.

The official site still has it as 0-0

You’ll never hear about it again.

I think so but wouldn’t like to say for definite and have you make a wasted trip. Maybe @Parsonblue can advise.

Mansell and Thompson going out on loan http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/16696370.rovers-youngsters-head-out-on-loan-to-non-league-side/ We have had a decent crop for the development squad this last season or so. The same won’t be said about this season. A huge learning curve and almost certainly relegation back to Div 2. Doesn’t matter in the scheme of things and maybe a two year cycle is a good thing but it’s still a bit disappointing. Not sure if that’s the right word.

I'll believe it when I see it. The EFL are routinely spineless.

So @J*B are you bringing back the laughter?

The transfer fee is compensation to another club to terminate a player contract. They’ve just become so commonplace now it’s simply a bit of administration and a series of BACS payments.

You’ve just described exactly what a transfer fee is.

He might have won it too if it hadn’t been for last weekend (which also destroyed our GD column). Parkinson probably edged Mowbray with the resources he has but surely Bielsa will win it with Leeds start for the season. Nice to be nominated though, it shows we are doing the right things. 2 points off joint 5th. We just need to get to 50 points as soon as we can so that we can have an enjoyable end of the season.

Being a role model IS part of what he does for Rovers and does impact us. The reverse is more true: if he keeps his form up and remains a £15m asset people will be more included to turn a blind eye. He’s playing at the highest level of his career. Let’s see if he can keep that form up.

2-1 and 3-1 aren’t what I’d call a tonking. (Although 3-1 ain’t great). Googled it... Last time we lost by 3 goals was the first two games of 2016/17 - right on the back of a Coyle pre-season. Before that MK Dons beat us 3-0 away in 2015. Bowyer blames being down to 10 men for 80 mins. Fair enough. We had three tonkings in 2013/14 Brighton (3-0), Forest (4-1), Bolton (4-0). All away games. I still believe that our players’ heads weren’t right on Sunday.