Should've had it at Ewood instead of the centre of Leyland miles away from either town. Can't be at all surprised it'll be poorly attended.

The same pair will see us through another similar season no problem but will you build an assault on the play offs on that ? Maybe not but other areas at the back are pressing for improvement as well particularly when there is lots of swapping and changing in front of them in terms of personnel and tactics, several times per game often. All good teams are built on solid foundations.

I think his comments in the LT are prepping for Leutwiler to be getting retained it's classic Mowbray blowing out some bold statement a few weeks back and then gently winding it in a little while later ? There'll be no big keeper signing folks it'll be as you were with maybe a similar or another young back up brought in and possible one out on loan then if they keep JL.

The cynic in me does slightly wonder with all this talk of Euro scouting all of a sudden that we might be being primed for a few lower Euro league punts puffing out the squad instead of the usual kids from Prem clubs etc. It takes time to scour round that market and research the players particularly the way TM is alleging they are doing it so if it has an instant return i'd be inclined to think they might have already been lined up. Not sure that market is tailored to instant English championship players.

You'd be surprised now I think, there are quite a few quite a few knocking about this area where there were virtually non once over it was very rare to come across a Burnley fan in a social setting or work.

Which makes one wonder why their gates have never been bigger than they are in the modern era ....

Such an un-Mowbray thing to do though seeing as he comes across as very much a players man as is intent on swapping around regardless at times just to give everyone some game time. Maybe I've got it completely wrong and he's just giving the back up keeper a shop window opportunity hoping he'll get himself fixed up if he's released. That would very much be a TM thing to do.

I still half suspect that when things have settled down and focus is elsewhere they'll announce they are keeping Jason on and the purpose of this run of games is to allow his extra year to kick in whilst having a look at him. I'm thinking cheap option with any available funds going elsewhere although of course it could change after Mowbrays India trip.

There was a right old set too with Barnsley a few years back.

I'd actually forgotten about Mimms so yes could do worse or even Robinson for someone a bit more up to date although not sure what he's doing post Burnley.

Banged on about this before but used to watch the full warm up routine every match under Bowyer as has to go in ground early then. It was as professional and thorough as I've ever seen with John Keeley warming up Steele and Raya for a full 20 mins probably. Steele was shite when he came, crap signing, but he improved as time went on then almost immediately Keeley left for some fat dolloper brought in by Lambert he went backwards again. Obviously he was never going to be good but showed signs he might develop into a steady midtable Champ keeper as he got a bit stronger. If feel Raya would've been a lot steadier had he continued under that coach this lad is just following a manual it must certainly help when you are training under someone experienced who sets high standards and can set and example himself instead of looking like you've dragged one of your pals out the stands to kick balls at you just to limber up. Piss poor having two bob coaching staff in a set up like ours, very slack. I'm sure he's decent lad doing his best but he's a novice coach training a relatively novice keeper. No surprise there are certain elements in Raya's game not improving.

He mostly did the same last season but in the end we got promoted, done the same mostly this season and we've hit the comfortable targeted points total, he'll do the same next season and....... We'll do ok with a half decent squad with this approach which over the course of the season seems to be a 50/50 mix of dull pragmatic sit off and go long/diagonal hoof and sit off and tray to play from the back a bit quicker and counter. I don't think any team has gone up playing that way though you need to master one or the other or have a large talented group that can cope with it and be stronger than the rest over the season - bit like last. That's my main area of concern going forwards with TM, maybe not next season as I think he can improve us again but I don't think it's going to be spectacular for a number of reasons. But in the long run even with some good players and good investment he needs to stamp a style and authority on it and keep it settled instead of trying to be a jack of all trades and expect limited players to cope.

Nixons career is based on stating the obvious or blatantly making things up he's the red tops football version of Alistair 6 fingers Campbell !

Hopefully whatever controlling share they had has been got rid of once and for all and the satellites are nothing more than sleeping ones the audits should've left a clear picture.

Key to it is someone keeping tight reigns on it all and using the agents as just that not chief advisors, co-runners, operators or investors. Not easy when they basically almost run the game but that's the way it is. When making signings look at the big picture don't just pick from client lists of those close to you and scrutinise every potential deal and contract very very closely !

Pound for pound one of the best Venky era signings Conway, I think though that if thee is room in the budget Mowbray will keep him but hopefully it's on very reduced terms. Then it's down to the lad if he thinks he can get more games elsewhere but we could do worse than getting him involved in the coaching side here there's plenty more i'd be showing the door first.

Trouble with that is clubs have to generate a portion of their own income for the crackpot FFP rules and that wipes out about a third of what Rovers generate themselves before the BOI or VH group subsidies. It's a tightrope.

I know not many will see it this way and that's perfectly understandable but from a business point of view he's played it right. Rise it last year on the back of promotion which gave them a valid excuse and solid finish this year allows them to freeze it. They'll be hoping the new age bracket prices increase or at least balance out on this years numbers but they'll know rising them again was a no goer. Maybe a bit of forward thinking there and a clever little plan though obviously not a massive gesture but end of the day he's a CEO doing what CEO's do. Not saying it's the way I would've gone but he's no duck egg I don't think. I'd like to think there'd be some real big offer sometime in the future to really drive numbers up again but it'll work better if it goes hand in hand with continued progression on the pitch. Timing is crucial.

Problem there is Bell they've invested a bit of money and time in him now and Mulgrew is obviously an influential senior player and maybe the biggest earner with a new contract. Casting them aside midseason or indeed finding the money for wages without doing that might have proved difficult there was a bit of a rod for the back created there. Anyway he's got away with it so summer really is the time to take stock of that. Something will have to give if he's made defence the priority he's hinting at.

If ? ?

If Lowe had turned into the player GB was clearly trying to make him the sale of him for 5 million plus would've made things a bit more stomachable. What we had then was the 1 day per week shelf salesmen who told everyone FFP was coming ages before then did sod all about it but watch us blindly march right in. Maybe he tried telling them and then gave up I don't think he gave much of a toss he only hung around to see Rhodes out the door and I wouldn't be surprised if he had a stake in that.

Yeah i'd go along with that it's the right way to do it as long as they keep re-investing what they can. Burnley sold a few strikers along the way and similar to the later Trust years there's nothing wrong with selling for a huge fee every now and then as long as the team is doing ok and others are coming through. The way that post was put though was saying they'll go for it then if it doesn't work they'll start selling again immediately to recoup their outlay and there's a difference. Continued steady investment for me and after another couple of seasons of that as well as pruning deadwood we'll be in a strong position - as long as TMs judgement of deadwood is the same as ours obviously !

The shit or bust approach isn't really the way forwards though is it.

That was something I mentioned about Bauer last summer that it maybe better to pay a few quid for him then even though his contract was running down and get him on average championship wages. Then he signed another at Charlton so the price went up again. A million quid for him and average wages might have been a good move there was always a danger of pricing himself out although is he really asking 50k a week or is TM being a bit cute there and diverting attention away from him because he knows we'll be in the loan market instead for anyone decent ?

Someone will probably rescue Bolton but I think there are the nearest thing to a top two division club actually going bust for a long time. All seemed to stem from Davies having to turn the taps off almost overnight although he took most of his debt with him and obviously thought he was entrusting it to genuine people in Anderson and Holdsworth. Maybe he was desperate to get shut or had to before it dragged him down but they were hamstrung from that moment and complexity of their finances us unreal although it probably is at a lot of clubs. These finer details never come out though until something like this happens and it gets made public. I'd not want to be in their position though I think there's a lot more pain to come.