I'm sure he plays his part in it but he himself credits the recruitment dept with a lot of decent recent incomings. So we should be aiming praise in that direction really and save the TM praise for when he makes a good team out of them. That's his main job in it all now. The owners also deserve credit ( through gritted teeth from me ) for providing this manager with incredible backing considering the zero income. Now they should stop peeing around, over complicating things and just have a real go at it. Nothing whatsoever to lose and no excuse whatsoever for playing safety first disjointed going nowhere stuff. Get after teams !

Scott Dann WAS a good defender.......for Crystal Palace. Here, barring one brief spell when he'd got fit and was playing for the move he was average to pish at best. No better than Hanley really just a bit less alehouse.

Come on who'd be surprised to see Bennett/JRC, Lenihen, Williams, Bell start the 1st game next season 😬 Defenders are most welcome at last and lets hope they make it count this season. Might be nice at some point to see 'our' defenders signed. After a decade of neglect with the pitch though brass might be tight come summer !

I don't think we can say the gameplan worked against Luton just because we nicked it by the end. It clearly wasn't working for long periods although the application was there. Sometimes you just have to stick at it and hope that one half chance gets snapped up. I think that applies to this league and being at the top end of it more than any other. Again it was a game quite resembling many of the lge 1 season in as much as we were stuttering along giving opposition too much respect. A chance gets snapped up then a raft of changes from the strong bench gets us over the line. We were strong enough to see it out and had a non panicking keeper playing his part in that. Both those ingredients have been added this season so there should come April/May be genuine signs of moving forwards. If he gets the backing this window and rumored signings there really is no hiding place anymore, not one. We are though now capable of grinding out wins and winning when playing shite. That's a positive even though it might not seem like it watching some games. Sod the stats and the stars it's all about results.

You can't keep going back to that though at some point he has to make a clear effort at pushing us on. If improving the club after taking over ( which managers are actually paid huge sums to do ) was a guarantee of a job for life Don Mackay would still be here. Never lose sight of the fact establishing us as regular top 6 contenders is the aim not midtable wannabees costing owners 20 million per season.

The budget stuff crops up again but it needs pointing out that isn't always as it seems. Yes a lot have parachutes but that money is already tied up in big post Prem contracts. So some managers, players and clubs are stuck with each other when they might not want to be. That affects things we know we've been there. Most of that has been eradicated here now, maybe still in the losses column but they aren't stinking up the place on a daily basis. Next is the Cat 1 academy we have and youth it is producing. So both those factors added together give TM an advantage over a few clubs with similar and higher budgets. That's why it IS fair to have decent expectation levels above what some see as our 'budget level'. TM takes a lot of credit for putting it together even though some areas have been criminally neglected. He's doing ok with the youth as well in bits and bats although we have lost Mahonney, Raya and could lose Nyambie under his watch. When most of his squad is fit he has to get a better tune out of them than he is doing at present. The excuses have worn thin now and the waffle is getting to Coyle levels.

Some strange chairmen in the championship as under performing managers keep getting gigs. Then under performing again yet sometimes when they get a complete curve ball in from elsewhere they do well. For a spell at least. Seems if you are a British manager and have one success somewhere - however it comes about - then you can live of it for a decade.

Yes one of those tough unbreakable ones, i'm confident it'll last me another 3 years because its been bounced off the floor recently. Has Brad ?

Good news on Dack although you would have thought he'd have had to prove his fitness first !

I think they are used to it down there Stoke have been an ugly team as long as i can remember. They'd tried to get away from it a bit i think but this guy has got them back to what they are used to. As for here yes damn right fans would moan but winning would keep a lid on it. Being pragmatic wouldn't work now though with what we have we are far too powder puff under Tony nice guys.

Fair play to Stoke they have a style, a real ugly one but it's theirs they know what they are doing. They appear to be good at it and so far it's beginning to pay off. Lets see where they finish, no doubt if they finish above us it'll be put down to budget in some quarters.

Yep drilled out of him it's a modern way, he isn't an academy robot that probably explains why he has a bit of individuality. However doesn't sit well with the games textbook manual coaches and all their badges. No wonder the game is so stale and methodical.

Surprised at that i thought he was at least a decade younger for some reason and had just had a hard paper round. Unbelievable that he sounds like another part timer as well for his 300k. I don't know all the ins and outs of what he actually does but from where i'm standing his renumeration far outweighs his contribution.

Where is this talk of Waggot retiring come from ? Surely a couple of years here hasn't filled his coffers that much has it ? He's not that old is he ?

Maybe we should have an eye on Giggs ? Curve ball.

Consider this - By the time Mowbrays contract runs out in 2 years this team could be broken up and sold off. Transfers and some running costs recouped, FFP realigned, % all pocketed and some youth been blooded to fill the gaps. It happened before and could well be the plan again. We are then left with Mowbray on a new 3 year deal rebuilding another midtable team using frees, loans and kids. Or he's bailed out and a cheapo or someone like David Lowe has to fight the fires. Whilst bemoaning 'there is no one else' and 'who'd come' just bare the above in mind. The words slow build echo around that scenario and imo that's where we are heading and that's why there's no big push. Not from those here running the show anyway. I don't know about pension fund but TM, Swaggo and the gang will have enough of our generous owners money to join Elon musk in space by the end of it !

Perish the thought Mowbray said he was leaving or going somewhere else. By the logic of some on here we'd just have to fold the club and turn the lights off it would all be over. Maybe a few would feel better if he got another 2 or 3 year extension to his present deal ? I'm sure it'll come up at some point in the near future hence his relentless long term marginal gain waffle.

Maybe because the manager isn't getting the best out of them ? Just a thought.

I think being 50/50 in the transfer market is pretty decent in the modern era. Even the best drop clangers and some of the worst pull off the odd cracker. I'd have TM as slightly above average as i think it's one of his best attributes. Such fine lines with it all as although i wouldn't have signed him even Gallagher looked ok business at 3 mill down plus add ons. Tony's main problem is what he signs not who, by that i mean we needed defenders he signed a striker. We need another goal poacher and still need center backs but he signs midfielders The keeper pool was neglected until it became desperate, then he signs 3 at once !!! His actual signings on paper both loan and perm always look like they have a lot to offer but they aren't always what we need.

Please don't be spinning things back onto the fans the main issue is clearly he struggles with what he's asked to do. That lies at the managers door i'm convinced he'd get a few more goals as an out and out striker having balls aimed in front of him. He has the attributes and he's done it before, shoehorning him in to justify his signing is putting him in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Stupid stuff by the manager but hey it works once every few months so lets keep doing it.

I don't think Mulgrew sees things on the pitch the same way Mowbray does. He's also very popular in the dressing room allegedly. Dangerous turf for a floundering manger that.

Said something similar around this stage last season. Get that one finished in another respectable position, another year re-established and more time in some players. Then make a change to try and propel it forwards or even just shuffle the deck but anything to try and put a bit of freshness into it. That would need planning to start half way through the current season though. Those above looking around, sounding people out, coming up with a plan. All we have here though is just hit and hope from every summer when the fresh budget is agreed. It's Tony's hamster wheel and he'll keep spinning it as long as he wants.

Transition, evolution not revolution, he knows what's wrong, we are nearly there - Just a few of TMs recent anecdotes. As for the fans, just wait till Dack is back, all our squad is fit. We'll piss top 6 - kind of missing the fly in that ointment. Personally i can't help thinking a proper defensive rebuild starting when he said it would. And a striker to poach instead of a 5 million galloper would've made things look a bit more balanced.

It's blatantly obvious to anyone watching how it disrupts any flow and disjoints the team. He opens himself wide to critics with that repeated tactic that's why iv'e little sympathy for TM at times. Poor tactic poor signing it really is that plain and simple and just because Gally often works hard that doesn't justify it. We still struggle to score and we still lose games therefore it is not working.

His version of intensity and most supporters differ somewhat i'd say. If he said we kept going till the end trying to break them down but the intensity was MISSING you could accept it.