But he sets out to stop the opposition because he's terrified of them and has such faith in his team that he just wants them to keep the ball as long as possible not lose it actually attacking. Of course the odd formations also give him license to fit in his multitude of midfielders and forwards. Apart from tomorrow when they set about Reading in the dead rubber and smash them. Next year is our year proclaim the facebookers !

Which is exactly where we were with Bowyer.

He talks twaddle, it's not Coyles verbal steaming pile of utter nonsense and not the hideous one's outright lies. It is however contradictory twaddle with a hefty dose of speaking to the ownership and arse covering thrown in. Although he's always overdone playing to the gallery he used to talk quite a bit of sense in between and when he wasn't giving it the old when i was a lad in the backstreets of Boro. Since that bad run the middle of last season though when he began floundering he's disappeared into a world of his own. We get the odd glimpse of how he really sees it though, he sounds more like a player welfare officer.

Its been a harrowing ten years for genuine fans that's for sure and at times it's the anger, adrenaline at the injustice of it that fires the passion over the rubbish football. Right now though its just difficult to bother about we are every the bit the water treader that seems just set up like an old boys club. As long as the manager is a nice guy he's safe all because what went before and in turn as long as he looks after his mates the whole thing will plod on. Nobody gets held accountable for anything and the fans are the villians every time there's an air of restlessness. A plonker on twitter this afternoon told me Walton is a good keeper we are lucky Mowbray got him and the manager himself should have the job for life. And to top it all Brereton is a good investment he'll come good. Unbelievable mentality the slightest bit of ambition is met with derision, oi leave things as they are we are doomed if it changes. I sometimes wonder what some of these lot are like in real life they seem fans of the manager rather than the club.

We need fresh ideas and he looks like he needs a break so surely some middle ground can be found. As for scouting, yes scouting who he's been told to scout not going through his little black book of nice lads recommended by nice lads ! He'll not want to step down from his 20 grand per week role though so it's a non starter sadly.

I'm sure there could be a role found for Mowbray within the club where he can continue to work on the infrastructure whilst leaving a fresh face with fresh ideas to take over first team affairs. Winner all around he still stays in the background scouting players, setting up his network and learning how to fly drones. He's there for some players to go to still for advice but he stays out of first team affairs. If the new man doesn't work out he could step back in for a bit if we are desperate.

It'll shrink to the size of an acorn. Both them and Mowbray continually have a set of excuses to hide behind when really most clubs are in the same boat in this league. A few of them regularly out perform us and that is down to the coaching, management and recruitment being better. It really is that simple.

He offers more in an attacking sense as a wide forward than Gallagher or BB but there's probably less goal threat in him. Problem we have now is Mowbray has these 3 on the books so he'll keep churning out more of the same to give them games and try and justify them. That's my main issue with retaining Samuel. We've seen the same thing for several seasons with him now when he's been fit and you can literally count on one hand his good games. We've seen the same from Brereton since he's been here which is not very much at all and Gallagher is threatening to go the same way despite the odd encouraging effort. We simply can't keep trying to accommodate players if we want to give forwards so something has to give otherwise we'll go around in the same circles.

Some ott critics of his signings ? It's been a mixed bag we have to remember what we were operating in before he was lavished with an annual pot to waste. The most puzzling and annoying thing for me is not some of the players themselves but just why HE signed them. It's always seemed a case of get him then try and find a way to fit him in. Even Dack was shunted about at first until he just clicked with DG one game and that system was born.

Nuttal was a donkey but had a bit of a goalscoring knack. Brown and Varney were genuinely better players. He had that knack though and that's why he edged in front of Samuel. Says it all really.

6 forwards on the pitch at one time I've read somewhere. Meanwhile someone on the LT saying he's signed 10 attacking players since he's been here. You'd think with such bold ambitious football the crowds there and here would have been climbing not receding. Something doesn't add up, not Tony's fault though his clubs are perennially at a crossroads every summer,.....

6 or 7k i reckon

'It's about them not us' As for twitter if all they want is smoke blowing up their backsides they really shouldn't be on there. What's the point in biting back when you might well be being twitted by a dingle pretending to be an angry Rovers fan, They are too thick to consider that. As for Bennett just like the system of play we now employ it's the manager who has to take a share of the stick for continually including him in place of others and shunting him round the team for the sake of it. As he's said himself on there i'm not going to refuse to play when he asks me. It all starts from the dugout.

He seems to do ok he's a bit like Keane without the brains.

There are hardly any goals in Samuel and we need people from the bench who can change games. ,How often do we get back into games late and rescue a point. Or turn a game around and win it late ? There's a reason for that it's the manager using the same old players who just aren't good enough at this level. As long as Samuel, Brereton and Gallagher are here he'll keep trying the same things. Rotating them, subbing them and keeping a system to try and accommodate them. It's done to absolute death now. Changes and something fresh needed. Get rid of two and bring in a target man or poacher and a proper winger we are crying out for that not 3 wide right forwards who need 50 chances to get 1 goal between them. In league 1 it would work in the cut and thrust of the championship it won't !

Guarding yes, angels no. Question is just what and why are they guarding ? If they'll loved the club that much to lose 10 million a year through it's books they wouldn't keep throwing it to the wolves. The audit they did a couple of years ago needs doing again right about now. One of the firms doing it needs to be a proper independent football advisory firm to analyse what's going of on the training ground, dressing room and dugout. Then deduce if it really is the best way to push the club forwards. But then again do they really want to or have they now just reached comfortable status with it like their club employees ?

Yep good cop bad cop he's probably nowhere near as bad as he's made out in terms of how he might be with players. You do keep thinking there's a Souness in there somewhere if he lands on the right club at the right time.

Main problem with Keane is after the mollycoddling some of them get he'd frighten half this lot to death. Wouldn't do any harm in the grand scheme of things but they'd be crying to the PFA before the first month was out.

Basically he helped his old mates out a few times and no doubt had a nice glass of wine out of it. Or even a vineyard....?

Just a salute in the direction of the Rovers fans tucked in the corner after scoring at that end at the Cottage. No idea what it was all about but no need for it. Think it was when we were suffering as well around king rats era or thereabouts.

Amoruso - I'd call him a flop but i don't think a great deal was expected of him and Souness was a know critic previously. Some odd deals between us and Rangers. He was good at getting his head to it in the oppo penalty box and was committed for sure but a very poor reader of the game it was a level too high for him.

That's how it seems he operates though like he's frightened of some of them or their influence at least so he lets it go.

He did come back to his spiritual home though.

How do you just 'become' a fan of another club ? Sounds like a bit of a tosser to me.

Over loyalty is part of the problem here certainly in squad terms and that looks set to continue. It's a pointless phrase in football anyway, how loyal would he have been if Boro came calling again or another interesting job ? His main loyalty will be to the 500k - 1 million he earns every year.