Ayala brings some vital experience around the place and there isn't much of that around at the min. You can see the calmness he brings to the pitch although mobility will be an increasing issue we do drop very deep very easily when he's playing. I wouldn't be so quick to let him go though operating the way we do now developing players. All depends on what happens between now and the end of the season of course and how he copes.

Good you've mentioned those two actually because we've come a long way since them thank god. We are debating back up forwards now one who has come up from the youth only recently and another who is at least only on loan and can be sent back. I'd rather be trying these two than carrying the likes of Samuel and Nuttall on thousands of pounds per week. Broughton and JDT better pull their fingers out in summer though when we lose BBD and Dack, that is the real acid test.

Wonder if it's on the back of his mind what happened to his dad ? Or he's just here to stay fit as he thinks he's off somewhere else in summer, either way not getting stuck in isn't go to lead itself to much of a career. We don't know what he's like as a finisher though because we've never seen him getting on the end of things, apart from that dire penalty.

Here we go the old 'we did it the had way dingle spiel' 🤣 You wouldn't have got where you were in the first instance if it wasn't for Kilby and those others putting a few quid in and giving you a helping hand. So it's not like you were built up with shirt buttons and i know it wasn't on Jacks level but i remember reading Ternants book and him talking about all of a sudden having 700k to spend on Steve Davis (i think it was). That was significant money at the time. Ok they might have pilfered it back at some point but in the initial phases you had a helping hand with outside investment, everybody needs it.

Breretons improvements were as much down to him getting his strength up as anything else. Alongside being used more by the manager instead of ten mins here and there often when the team was struggling. That happened to coincide with games in lockdown as well.

Burnley have never spent their way out of this league, or rather that's another myth they like to peddle.

How many does Bloomfield hold though ? Said this a thousand times but Ewood the size and set up of it goes against creating the types of atmospheres a small crowd can create in a smaller more closed in ground. That crowd v Brum would have two thirds filled Blackpool, Preston or Bumley yet at Ewood it's still two thirds empty. It's a big problem.

I expect a pasting so any result is a bonus. I just have a feeling the youth of our team and the naivety shown by some of them and the new coaching staff will come home to roost in this one. However there is a possibility it could work the other way and it all comes together in a 'something to prove' type performance. If we did win i'd say it would rank as our biggest victory there in a long long time.

It's crazy if that is the case because there is probably a limit to what he can achieve fitness wise now. After two such serious to both knees it's beyond the pale to expect him to be doing more now than hes ever done. He certainly looked fit enough earlier in the season and it all seems to stem from the one bad game he had after making the starting 11. I'll cut JDT some slack and say in his mind it probably started out as more about formations and him wanting a water carrier in there. However not utilising Dacks talents later in games and even more so when we are chasing games is bad management imo. Sorry but that's the way it is and if team comes first that means you put all the other shit aside in order to maximise your chances of getting a result.

Yep 7k of them coming would mean they are swarming all over Accy, Rishton, Ossy, Darwen etc so the boys and girls in blue will be stretched to the limit.

Return of the A+ i reckon, he's already u turned once for the televised Sunderland fixture once he got wind more than 2k was likely to come.

I know the cost of living crisis is biting now but we are struggling to get 12k home fans on a Saturday afternoon whilst sitting top of the league with a new manager, some new players and at standard matchday prices. There is a fundamental failure there somewhere, we are getting less now than the first few games.

Mowbray seemed allergic to having a central striker or target man anywhere in his squad once Grahams time was done.So hopefully this regime sees the need for one in this division. I think we've seen from one or two other teams how these types of players can still be important, they give an outlet up top and give opposition something else to think about.

The singing section thing never works at Ewood it's very much an organic thing with Rovers fans. They don't really last elsewhere either, Huddersfield did it and got a good response in the section next to away fans. That was though built on the back of cheap STs and a bit of success on the pitch - note the correlation there. Reading are doing similar now although iv'e no idea on their ticket prices but unless they keep it cheaper in there it won't last they are just fads that die out. If Rovers were going to do it it should have been built upon the DE home section when it was open but that was another trick missed by Waggot. All he wanted to do was close it.

Certainly not writing him off and the fact he works hard is good but Vale should never be anywhere near it before Dack. I think he needs a loan again to get back amongst the goals and work on that side of things at a lower level. I'm not a fan of what seems to be becoming the go to routine of chucking him on with Dolan for BBD/SG after 80 mins every game. Ok if we are 3 or 4 up but JDT needs to start thinking a little bit more creatively than that long term we won't be hanging onto leads till 95 mins every week.

I think all that happened this season compared to last is we were ahead on like for like sales earlier on before they reduced back down. Obviously the fat controller put his own unique spin on that.

Hull away was one of my first away treks under our own steam with my mate who was a bit older and just passed his test. Mid week game (we always seemed to play them midweek) freezing fog, mist, we nearly went on the wrong side against the traffic on the Humber Bridge - he'd only turned 17 then passed his crash course test a couple of weeks earlier ! After the near death experience we parked on a petrol garage forecourt after seeing the floodlights. Turned out we were still about two miles away and when we got back we obviously had a parking ticket. Thank god clamping hadn't become fashionable just then. As for the game i think we won 3-1 and Garner got a couple at the other end although we couldn't see for the fog. About 500 Rovers fans there in great voice with the usual array of songs (whatever happened to all that ?) We didn't see any thugs or get booted up the arse thankfully, the crowd was very sparse and Hull always seemed such a cold soulless non footballing place. Good memories though and i think it was almost identical the season after except we lost convincingly and Tony Finnigan got into a row with some Rovers fans.

It would just be like him if they go and win the next 2 or 3 now that's how it tends to work. What he doesn't have to live off there for the next 3 years is a promotion, something that carried him through a lot of lean times and talking nonsense here.

After two super positive home results and a tremendous effort at Boro i hope we don't revert to a Wigan or Reading style performance. Both which were largely down to risky negative sit back keep ball tactics, i still fear we have those in us and try that here and it'll get nothing. Vital we have a go and get the first goal, i'd snatch hands off for a draw right now but iv'e a gut feeling... Hull 3 Rovers 1

Isn't Mowbray a head coach up there working under a DoF ? If so he might not get his own way when the strikers are back, someone might be calling him in and telling him in no unvetain terms Sunderland fans love their strikers to be strikers.

Without doubt he is growing into the Championship reincarnation of Brad

Yes the manager at the time and the owners blew it between them in more ways than one.

He seems to be getting in the middle a lot more these days and certainly has a spring in his step both he and Brereton were immense today. Absolutely knackered the pair of them it's just a pity we lack so much when having to take them off, Hedges too was good but i thought he looked leggy from the off. No surprise he pulled up.

I really can't see why not that second half was crying out for something different we ended up so much under the cosh for the second game in succession because there is nothing right where Dack should be. Surely you aren't buying into this myth being peddled by some that he is now this immobile lump whose never chased a ball or run a channel since he came back ? No guarantees he'd have made a difference obviously and i can always see the sense in Dolan coming on but Vale, no disrespect to the lad, shouldn't be near these games either.

A foot on the ball, a killer pass, some more presence to give them something to think about. We allowed them to push us further and further back simply because we had nothing up there. I agree a pacy striker or a target man is what this squad needs but we don't have them, we do though have Dack who is still one of the best players in this league.