I wonder if there is anything to the backseat stuff now with Venus on the touchline ? Better pray they aren't trialing something for next season with him going DOF & Venus taking on head coach. Nothing would surprise me in the nest feathering world of this little group down there now. That would just be the kind of thing that could happen if he wants to detach himself from on it. No inspiring appointment, no Damien Johnson just a shuffling of deck chairs.

I don't think much would be different to be honest, he wouldn't be driving us forwards. Pretty sure though he'd be capable enough to inspire the same kind of water treading the present midtable messiah does.

He keeps going on about the level expected and the way we play. Well maybe just maybe they aren't suited to the formations he puts out and the way he wants them to play ! That might well be the whole problem here.

The back of NO5 in the BBE would give it a run for its money !

Such a lack of leadership on the park is part of the problem imo and it doesn't help when the gaffer is in hiding at the back of the bench. PNE jumped straight on us like we all knew they would and you could see the players looking around at each other. As if to say wtf is going on somebody do something ! Too many nice lads ? Modern footballers ? The biggest lad playing wide ? Raw youngster in the center of defense ? Whatever it was we were crying out for a few enforcers and sleeves rolled up bawling at the rest of them. I know it's probably way beyond our means but can't help thinking we needed a Phil Jones in there.

A few hours off 24 hours since we were finally put out of our misery and i'm still fuming. That performance and the whole circus on the pitch and touchline literally summed up 50% of Mowbrays Championship time at Ewood. When its been good its been good but when it hasn't its been awful as much as average. A hell of a lot of familiar alarm bells have been ringing this season but the covid situ has masked a lot of it. We have odd glimpse of Mowbray the WBA manager but the majority of the time its been Tony the Celtic/Boro/Cov boss. That tells us all we need to know about where we'll end up.

I think it could be along these type of lines as you've alluded to. Maybe said what he wants then told the recruitment team must bring them in not hi or his pals. Then told if you want them and we are paying then you must use them, ditto with the likes of Gallagher.

Waggot would just present the stats to the owners telling them everything is going well we just aren't quite there yet. The stats will back it up even though they don't tell the true picture. Then they'll get told of the increasing squad value ( which is all that seems to matter ). Then the line about being still only 7 points off the play offs with all to play for. No chance of any removal after all that even if it was considered. We all know it's more likely life will be found on Mars before May than us bridging the gap. They don't though and i reckon they love being sold a positive delusional story more than anything.

Sometimes at this club conspiracy really is the only thing that makes sense. He could well be in sulk mode having had some recruitment taken out of his hands and been told to play the players where he can. Thing is though a read through former clubs forums etc will see this kind of thing on the pitch with him isn't unusual at all. He's a muddled thinker and always has been you can tell that with some of the waffle he comes out with.

That was another worrying sign last night he was beginning to look ropey although he's also one of the only ones who looks angry. The constant playing the ball short to his full backs allowing Nob end to close down and pin us in was nothing short of bizarre. But where was the direction from the manager ????

At the risk of the tinfoil hat but IS he actually running the show now ? Rumours of players being brought in by recruitment dept. the signings of BB and Gallagher and the latters constant shoe horning in. His general demeanor on the touchline and increasing nonsense spouted. Bringing on loan players when we are supposed to be chasing games etc. Something doesn't smell right, is he just a coach now ? Is Championship Manager the real life version in play again ?

Alex Neil - Young manager sourced by Norwich from Hamilton - Takes them up via play offs beating their hated rivals along the way. Can't stay up but then gets sacked when they are 8th in the Champ. At PNE he has them beating local rivals regularly and finishing above them twice. Despite lesser facilities, transfer funds, no academy, lower wage bill. All this in the last 5 years not over a decade ago. It can be done if there are some brains and ambition behind it. It can't be done relying on the same scrap dealer agency looking to pocket from having their man in place. Ewood remains an agents vehicle with too many snouts in the trough.

Anyone of his groupies watching that and him last night should finally have a lightbuld going off in their heads. The man is and has for a while clearly been distancing himself from any responsibility for this season. Hiding way back in the dugout behind his mask all evening whilst his leaderless rudderless team is bullied and lost. Comments afterwards basically shrugging his shoulders and looking like he needs his horlicks and teeside fireside. Comments before hand as usual bigging up the oppo and getting the young players, journey, bad weather/pitch lines in. Full of shit and the arse covering now is taking on a very familiar and underhand tone. All this nice guy crap, shove it i want a bastard who gets results and makes the team worth watching. Him and the rest are just going through the motions here now filling their pockets. But it's ok because they are all 'nice'. Mice more like.

The blueprint like i said ! Abject rubbish mostly from start to finish but no surprise whatsoever. Play a loanee kid you'll get mistakes, ask your right back to be your main attacker without proper cover you'll get balls played in behind him constantly. Ask your big forward to be wide and do f#ck knows what and he'll run down blind alleys all night. Set out a side with no balance and you won't find any. Outdone by PNE, their budget & manager 4 or 5 times out of 6 now. Says it all.

Another piece coming out of the North East..... Big flag will be getting an airing tonight.

And the best most experienced center back at the club Baptiste at right back. Every manager here since Hughes/Allardyce has had serious blind spots in terms of defense. Very odd, one day someone might just actually look to build a team, with a best 11 designed to get as many points as possible without any other notions or agendas.

I'm actually surprised he hasn't yet blamed the change in colour of shirts for one or two ! It's also psycho babble from him these days anyway.

You have to go after teams like this and get in their face otherwise they'll do it to us. Sit off, go sideways and backwards we'll see the usual poor goal conceded then come to life trying to get back in it after a load of subs and several formation changes. The blueprint is out there. Doing the double over this lot would set us up nicely and maybe show we are improving. Marginally of course !

I remember listening to a lot of Enders in a pub i used to visit years ago. They pretty much said the same things about Grayson we said about Bowyer. Thing is we were both probably right at the time. Now whenever there are comparisons it has to be taken into account what Mowbray has at Ewood compared to their manager. Then chuck in them finishing above us and nobody would be surprised if they did again. I think us being non plussed by water treading is more valid than them, i would say that though obviously. Because Rovers should be superior.

Trouble with finding another pitch to train on at the min is it would have to have permanent under soil heating and frost covers. Where do you find that outside of another professional club ? Bit different when it's just down to not wanting to churn it up because it's wet. Plenty of pitches around when it's mild if they made the effort. Turning it into a ploughed field under those circumstances is amateur. Still i suppose the more worn it gets the better chance of it being redone.

Yeah when he was waffling recently about the famous journey.

Whoever wrote that deserves a pint it's the closet to the truth iv'e ever read about that rancid corrupt snake.

The way the manager rotates and the revolutionary triple sub every game on 65ish we'll be fresh as daisies for the dead rubbers.

I fear this one could be a reversal of the previous fixture which was an excellent effort from us. It was a strangely subdued one by them though so i think they'll be really up for this so i hope we are. I plump for a 2 - 2 action packed draw although in truth it could go either way by a few goals.

I think the head honcho's are happy with the long term 'vision' pitched to them now. Hence Mowbrays talk of journey and 'next year, 5 years' etc plus his almost comatose demeanor at times on the sidelines. Seems a man very much comfortable with where he's at and sees no need to push the urgency button. Talk is all now of squad value, development, see where we end up. As predicted its shifted again from top 6, don't want to be hanging about in the middle and all that. Its happened every season as its gone on, the narrative always changes like a pre set script. Anybody else think the drones and all the filming in training is also partly to do a bit of a propaganda job ? Wouldn't be surprised if it's to benefit the owners who can watch these lively highly technical training sessions where Rothwell glides from one end to the other and slots it in. They're unlikely to say WFT is the challenges and defending and how come that doesn't happen on matchday. More likely to whoop whoop over their samosa's and say yeah Mr T said he'll be worth 10 million when he's finished developing him. That's where we are at i think, they are still playing at it when they can be bothered. Rest of the time it's in safe hands and they'll pay the bills.