Not gone unoticed on that Hudds forum that if they score first there's a lot better than average chance they'll come away victorious. I'm sure their gaffer is well aware of that poor Rovers stat also.

I really don't think Vs are the problem with the lack of defensive investment i'd more point the finger at those who advise and those who get to spend. In this tenure there is very much a flavour of jobs for the boys in terms of Mowbray throwing millions up front but still not getting in an able goal scoring replacement for Graham. Not sure where Brereton fits in that but i bet there is some sort of connection somewhere, the other two and the money it costs for Downings contract if you want to chuck him in do fit. I think the defensive berths were possibly seen as a set of positions to grow players to sell. When you are looking at Nyambe, Lenihen, the signing of Bell and yes even Delboy. All cost virtually nothing and all a big chance of being worth good sale money IF it worked out, sadly it hasn't so time for a serious rethink. With Mulgrew being the old head in there they were all good enough for lge 1 though so that probably influenced trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear back at this level.

It's Suhails job to be the go between is it not ? I'm very sceptical of what goes on but i don't think it's odd they might have wanted to meet Venus if they hadn't already. Waggots job is the commercial side so probably no need for him to go i don't think they pay too much attention to the crowds, yet. There was no summoning for a vote of confidence here that's fake news it was more than likely another pre planned trip.

Didn't he go at a similar point last season ? Or was that the one that got cancelled and he ended up going to Switzerland at a later date ?

Get to specsavers then.

And if they pot him they risk the whole lot walking probably, that's why there's been a reshuffle i bet. Strengthening the hand as has been mentioned before, TM and his boys are getting a grip on the entire inner workings. The bosses or middle management at a club the ones under the owners/investors/stakeholders and above the manager should really be a separate entity. Capable or impartial decisions or advice without personal influence or any connections, agents or otherwise and preferably local but more importantly experienced and know what they are doing. Not the case here. It's probably fair to assume that seeing as this lot have worked together closely before and then all ended up here in the same positions that they share the same representation or similar ? That isn't too dissimilar to what's gone before and whilst not singling this present lot out as dodgy it is just yet another reason why we won't prosper under this ownership. Is their money be invested in the right areas ? The recurring question.....

Didn't see them but we definitely need an impact signing in the centre of defence not just yet another sticking plaster type to cover for the others although we need cover as well. We need some real quality in there who does the basics well, a signing better than what we have which essentially is a lad converted a few years ago and a LB converted a few weeks ago. Not really that difficult when you think about it especially when there has been a pot available but these lot are absolutely blind to it. Probably because they choose to be.

Rudy,a shrewd buy of probably less than a million would be pointless in this set up even if he wasn't stuck on the right hand side. We don't cross and when we do there is no one capable save for Downing maybe taking all the set pieces. Yet bizarrely he's still just the type we've been crying out for.

At least he tries to keep playing so he must love the game and surely he isn't skint unless a large slice of his signing on fee from the 1 million pound transfer and his overblown contract found its way elsewhere.....

Getting all mates together in the power positions certainly strengthens the managers hand but the focus should be on points not jobs for the boys from the real hierarchy. Building up the infrastructure is fine but again the focus should be on first team performances and points. Hopefully it'll all reap benefits in the future but you get the feeling the inside of the club is being sewn up and we might be in danger of being a huge operation off the park again swallowing up the budget whilst remaining a middling second tier dour outfit on it that has to end up selling players to fund all this. How did Coventry do under this model they are creating, albeit probably a much lesser funded one ? Who answers to who behind the scenes now when they are all pals running it ? Oh and just what credentials does Mark Venus have for being a Head of Football Operations ?

There must be a solid centre back under 35 with a decent fitness record and championship experience hanging around somewhere looking for a club. Or someone released from a club higher up who have looked to trim their wage bill i can't see why we dither about so much in defence with this manager. Mind you if you've paid an alleged million pound loan fee for someone i suppose you need to justify that first, still need solid back up though. Oh for a Moran or Tony Gale or even Baptiste type who might not have the legs they once had but who can come in and use their experience to marshal that defend and put their nut on things !!!!

They'll be blaming the 1960 cup final next ? For those who say Preston is no big deal that's fair enough can understand it but neither are Wigan and Bolton are far lesser in the rival stakes than Burnley but we've always had big turnouts at both for 3pm Saturdays and bog standard prices. End of the day we are there to support our team they'll need it and we need a point or three so sleeves rolled up, heads up and chests out !!! The more that turn out the bigger statement it is to the manager and players that we expect a performance and they'll certainly know about it if there is another abject surrender.

All Bell is is a lad out of his depth a level above where he should be and it's up to those running the team to recognise this and if his confidence is in bits they share the blame.

Slow build to what though is the question ? A team who'll set out one season and have a real go ? If so then why not now ? Or a slow build to having enough players mature for sale again to recoup 25 million for recent transfers and running costs whilst everyone has their little drink out of it and players get replaced by free transfers and youth ? Can't say it hasn't happened before. Then the only ambition will be to avoid relegation again.

There shouldn't really be any apathy around games like this it's ten mins up the road it's a day out and just a day to turn up and support. I'm not one for slagging our own fans but we also have a notoriously fickle bunch outside of the core support and always have had. Wouldn't really expect us to sell it out but i'll stick to my guns and say anything less than 4k across there on a Sat aff is piss piss poor and we deserve any stick we get. There's no excuse had we won the last two we'd be more likely selling it out again. Hopefully there'll be a late surge there's every chance especially as people want to buy seats together and at least half going there will be non ST holders. Another opportunity perhaps for a bit of thinking in regards to lapsed fans and those who only attend away fixtures these days ? The apathy that might be driving fickleness is a worry though and something they should sit up and take notice of the approach this season has been like a damp squid. The manager and players need to pull their fingers out if they really want to go anywhere this season otherwise it is a big waste of that squad and everyones time. No one wants gung ho football but fortune favours the brave and these are the games to show your mettle !

You could tell he had some ability in there but physically and mentally the leap from Italian second tier to English Prem was massive and he just wasn't cut out for it, then add in the weight of that fee. Also he looked uncomfortable in the position he was trying to play ( where have we seen that before ? ). Shame really as he'd notched about 40 goals or something the season before he came i think. There were plenty of his ilk started landing in the Prem around that time it was the era the Super Agent really began to take hold. Or the dodginess already rife in the game went up a notch in other words.

A TM signing for a fee so just watch a run of games at some point an upturn of form and a new deal on the table, i expect exactly the same with Samuel. Watch this space.

Match by match cheap discounts are open to a whole host of factors and subjective for many part time punters. Only way to guarantee a good uptake on these things and make it worthwhile is a significant ST price slash or discount selected attractive fixtures now and again. It's as simple as that really without the Prem or a spending spree on quality players and a charge to the top as in the past but we'd need a new gaffer for that and a clever way around FFP, oh and owners who wanted promotion not hide spare cash in 'investment gamble' players instead. Just like on the pitch and in the managers mind it's all getting a little bit complicated on here when what it needs is a simple tried and tested approach. Quid a kid on a midweek fixture in half term that might turn 11,500 into 12k fair enough nothing wrong with that but to really drive it forward they need to be more bold and bite the bullet around what should be games with bigger gates than are likely to actually turn out.

They were also first and foremost built on a solid defence and mostly square pegs in square holes being functional and doing what they could do best. Not half a team being asked to be multi functional in multiple systems -often in 1 match- and trying to do things they aren't good at at the expense of what they are. To me it's partly an excuse from Mowbray to justify trying to keep his squad happy and justify to the owners why we need a large squad. It should be about the best first 11 suited to winning games at championship level even if it's almost the same every week, it isn't.

The chicken advert, Shebby Singh, owners turning up in a fleet of a princes limos to be greeted by boos and snowballs when it appeared they were expecting a red carpet, Steve Keans lying smug face, Having Jerome Anderson spoken about in the same breath as BRFC !!! That lot really takes beating. Super Atkos last min OG v Liverpool and Rathbone falling over the ball allowing Strachan to score for Utd live on tv. stand out from the dim and distant past

Over obsessed with the opposition and changing for them instead of getting what you have balanced and right first.

At Chorley Fc ? I remember that being mentioned there alongside a bit of a hint that they wondered about the size of the fee and where it all went ! I seem to think it was Craig Short who had the biggest issue with Grabbi and his laid back attitude.

Identikit to Bowyer on that score when there are one or two vultures begin gathering in the sky he seems to kick the team up the arse, set out a positive team and gets them on the front foot. Result is always a good performance and a win that gets fans drooling again before very quickly reverting to type and letting the groundhog out of its hole again. Just doing enough seems to be enough over a season at Ewood. Not as daft as they look some of these managers.....and players !

I've always thought if you're going to do the odd discount ticket game then do it v the Prestons, Wigans etc or maybe the bigger clubs in the div who might be exiled from the Prem a season or two like a Villa type for example. Games that have a bit of extra interest around them should be used to maximise the pull factor not just maximise a few quid extra by fleecing away fans and the few extra home fans who might turn out. Get the place filled up WHEN there is the opportunity there's nothing better to get interest going again or youngsters hooked than a big crowd, proper atmosphere and hopefully a game to match. Pretty pointless doing these things for unattractive fixtures then hoping it'll put a few extra thousand on when in reality it ends up a few hundred. Done properly the PNE game could have 25k on every season including their over excitable oddball rabble in their annual cup final. Make the most of these games whilst we have them. Sadly those lot down Ewood don't want to know, easy street all the way i'm pretty sure if there was someone a bit more local in charge on the ground instead of an Indian messenger they'd be saying the same as me. So what if they have hire a few more stewards and have a bigger police bill for the day it'll get covered and that's what these things are there for.

Yeah lets get Mulgrew back and Greer and just reunite the entire relegation back four !!!! No thanks.