When you consider how many troop to Rovers on foot from Ewood, Mill Hill and Lower Darwen that must make up the core of the core support so imagine games now in a stadium in Salmsbury without half of those. They really would have had to put free buses on.

About the same size but he was no Ronnie Hildersley !

Looks like a banker for a low scoring draw..... feel we might just nick it though. West Brom 1 Rovers 2

I'm glad he does i hope he directs it at players sometimes last thing we need is a snowflake or genial uncle type boss it's about time he got a bit more ruthless. Hail Tony mk2 ...

They have a fighting chance now which is good but i think it'll resemble their 80's era again rattling around in the bottom divisions for a while a bit Pompey style. Ken Anderson all along doing the shithousing what a vile creature i hope he goes bust.

Has he been found in the gutter yet minus a kneecap ?

Another one tagged the new Gazza as they all were back then but non ever got close. Remember watching him in the ressies and thinking he was a good player who needed to fill out a bit.

Mowbray signed Leutwiler, he looks after his boys it's the human angle. Meanwhile where is our decent back up keeper of the two possibly 3 he was saying he'd sign ?

That's the way iv'e read it now after Nixon bleats about the latest superfan wanting to rescue them between the lines he's been after full control of the hotel for ages. Seems in Bolton ... well Horwich you buy a big hotel and a decimated football club comes with it not the other way around.

Last nights game was very reminiscent of last season with the set up and way they played but predictably shipped a few crap goals and didn't take their chances. Yes good opposition but who'd made about ten changes so essentially a bunch of strangers so we saw plenty of the ball. Maybe reinforces the more pragmatic approach of the first team recently.

Could well be some looking to just absolve themselves of any blame with the old 'money was here all along it was somebody else's fault'.

According to some of the talk with Bolton the funds have been there ready to be put in all along it's other bickering holding it up that's probably why they keep getting the stay of execution.

Just a few years ago our club was selling players from under the manager at the times nose and seeking out high interest short term football business loans before embarking on top player sales. Thankfully there was assets on the playing staff to be sold otherwise who knows. Lets just hope they maintain their current level of interest and there's still plenty spare change generated in India.

The Champions League is another farce geared in every way to maximise it for the elite clubs i mean come on they get so far then got knocked out but automatically then get a stab in another competition !!! The league format also lessens the shock big boy knocked out one offs scenario. The Prem in this country was fantastic when it began lets be honest and lets not forget they wanted an elite Super League instead. The main downfall is SKY and the monster it became particularly over the last decade or so as other companies get in on the act and the ante has to keep being upped. Breaking point will be reached in the next decade.

In the case of both clubs it again just highlights how as long as you have an entity turning over millions per year and there is some kind of income streams it doesn't matter what debt, outgoings or where the income is from chancers can still get in and bleed money out until the pot runs dry. That is pretty much second next to stupid player wages and agents that needs ironing out of the game especially outside the Prem. The two things probably go hand in hand in a lot of cases though, what better way to bleed a club....

Good point about the mids lets just hope they get used to their max whilst Johnson stays fit to anchor it. Never like losing any game and last night was a decent effort but a good win would've got the Evans/Smallwood lightbulb flashing in Tonys head again i think.

Bury seemingly done for but i think that's what Dale is after, being a big club in the lower leagues trying to climb up again instead of trying to get by on 2.5k gates in the league. Fc Bury on the way.

Well the last one cost 7 mill so on a sliding scale at least they are getting cheaper.....?

He certainly doesn't seem keen on out and out strikers that's for sure.

Can't argue with those facts only thing i'll flag up is Mowbray came in to try and stem the the tide against relegation and naturally adopted a more cautious pragmatic approach to it. Seems he's going that way again in the quest to shore up the defence he didn't invest in in summer so Gally might suffer for that as will all the forwards. Getting in a hard working striker who'll put in a shift to help may have been part of the thinking behind paying 5 million for him but i think if they loosen things up a bit in attack he'll start banging a few in if he finds himself able to get in the box.

I think you'll find he's here for more than a season so we might end in profit ?

Tin hat on - Gallagher will get 6 to 10 goals this season if he could score here under Coyle/Mowbray in the relegation season he'll find his feet sooner or later.

This is why i try and console myself that the VH group vast monthly turnover is what underwrites the monthly wages and bills at Rovers via the BOI in some sort of overseas asset loss leader tax massaging, only thing that would remotely make any sense. The reality of it could be very different though but we'd never know until something went majorly wrong or they disappeared overnight.

Didn't exactly pan out that way though did it the way things unfolded suggested he was going to go with Mulgrew and Lenihen with Williams back up and possibly Rodwell showing up again. Things happened at the last min that resembled a bit of panic although he'd been trying to get the City lad in a while i know. He must've realised he'd better be true to his word after seeing Mulgrew playing like everyone knew he would again. Mowbray has an uncanny knack of turning things around when it all seems set to crumble which is a good trait to have but it doesn't half take him a long time for pennies to drop. However i'll cut him some slack as i still think other people behind the scenes at Ewood have too much say on the comings and goings so he could've been held back until someone else was finally convinced to let him act but who knows.

I'd be starting Samuel up top if he's fit if he's too have a reincarnation it needs to be as a grafting target man using his size. No doubt he'll end up wide striker again though.