That's a frightening thought so I don't envy his task this summer because he's going to have to upset a few of those in their comfort zone although I don't want to see him using any of his budget to start paying players off again just to get rid. Proper catch 22 if they want to move it forwards but of course the easy option is leave it as it is and hope to finish midtable again and keep involving the youngsters a bit more.I think that'll be the option they'll favour behind closed doors but it's a hard sell to the fans but the owners will back it if he punts on Dack for a good profit and gives them some blather about their 7 million investment being ready to step in so save your money we are well covered in that area.... ?

Agree and nobody will give Mulgrew the wages he's on here at his age, I do think if he was free and wasn't after silly money there'd be a few interested parties because he'd be a good addition to plenty squads in the Championship. As a main man though his defensive frailties have been too evident this season and his lack of leadership on the pitch and body language at times is pathetic but at the end of the day he just isn't that kind of player and you can only be yourself he isn't going to change now. He'd probably be alright again for a few months early doors next season after a summers rest but i'd also be saying to him look son it's club or country now if you want to stay here. As you've pointed out though the situation Mowbray has created with his pecking order we are stuck in catch 22. To bring better in than some of them wouldn't be that difficult nor expensive if the desire was really there but to bench Bennett, Williams, Conway, Evans, Mulgrew etc IS expensive so it won't be happening.

If we had owners who knew anything at all about football or even a Chief Exec / Chairman who knew what he was doing and had run the club a while whilst having no attachment or connection to the manager these things would get raised. Ok you don't want anyone interfering or undermining the manager at any time but they do have regular meetings at normal clubs where football things get aired by both sides, it happened here under Williams. They are all entitled to ask the manager at the appropriate times why he does certain things or doesn't do others especially if results keep going wrong.

I think that's why he bought Bell then sadly realised he didn't have the centre defenders good enough to carry it off, and that was league 1 ! Bizarrely he chose not to invest in those positions in summer despite stepping up a level with almost the same defence that went down. Hindsight is one thing but planning is kind of expected in management.

I'm giving him a large dose of benefit of the doubt he's a wiley old dog off the pitch and he's dealt with quite a few similar players in his time i'd wager. He seems to have a certain way of doing it with some lads whilst others get a free pass. I think the forced into it because he's run out of options is the more likely scenario if i'm being honest though. That was at play last season as well.

I'd certainly have a punt at getting him back on loan even if it's for half a season then see how the land lies in Jan but we need to finish the season strong and with him involved so as to tempt him back. Trouble is TM seems to see everyone he signs these days as back up whether it be loan or perm and I reckon Reeds sussed that now so that won't be appealing.

Good footballers with football brains often work it out for themselves it's the stubborn managers and clueless coaches working straight out of the manual that sometimes drill it out of them. Be nice to see if these two could flourish but they need the chance, Duff and Jansen sometimes got in each others ways but they worked it out.

I'm going off the assumption he'll be very much in the squad if he gets fit again seeing as Mowbray made such a fuss of using him all the time before despite him being mostly pants and often looking disinterested. People have a bit of selective memory with Samuel because he put a few shifts for a short spell last season before he was injured, also got sympathy for being shunted on the wing all the time when just like Brereton he was useless there. Before all that though his time at Rovers was underwhelming to say the least but he seems to fall into the favs bracket ! If I was using him it would be as a late sub target man to replace Graham but yeah preferably i'd let him go but I suppose he deserves chance to prove himself fit.

Maybe Mowbrays approach to handling Rothwell is now paying dividends perhaps he was after this kind of contribution all along. Sadly he's left it too late in the day if so it should have been something he was working on right from when he was fit enough to be considered.

I'd certainly let Rodwell go one or two got starry eyed after he played a few good games and like Mulgrew he has quality with the ball but as a centre half in this league he'll never be consistent, too casual and just not what we need at the min. Worth looking at him and giving it a go no harm done but those kind of wages can be used better imo, a luxury player and we have that already in Mulgrew. As for the Smallwood / Evans axis it has now become Willowe or Lowev far too much for my liking and with Travis emerging it would be a Trav-esty to waste his talent in favour of those two every week. Only solution is remove the temptation and get shut of one of them so revert to type isn't an option anymore.

There's a definitely a place in the squad for a big lad who can put himself about a bit and I think if he's fit that's a roll Samuel might be able to be coached into. Problem for me is he's a poor finisher and always has been and we need someone to take that weight off DG and I don't think that can be coached into Samuel. If he's fit and prepared to work harder than in the past on the pitch he might serve as purpose cause like I said I really don't see Mowbray parting with him he had an obsession with him before seemingly trying to justify signing him. In fact I see it quite the opposite he'll probably reward him with a new deal if he hasn't already as he did play a bit part last season. A winger or wide striker he isn't though and if we return to that i'll be very pissed off and so will many others I think.

He'll play Samuel he's another that'll find himself regularly involved when he's fit. Mowbray signing for actual money and a good contract.

That would just be the perfect type of club to pay good money for him then him to go there and flop. Bentley mk2 .

Correct and you've got to persevere with a team when its shown signs of being a good one but as long as he has those other options he'll revert to them every time he can. That's why for me at least one of them needs moving on and moving from picture entirely. He is though by his own admission a manager who picks a team according to the oppositions strengths not our own and that above all else imo is the major sticking point with TM.

Spot on and we haven't had an 'engine room' for bloody years but you'll never get that from playing two defensive mids and in particular you'll never get that from Evans. That's not a dig at the lad but just the type of player he is.

Him and Evans need to start Rovers games from the bench next season if they are still here, they should be back up players to a fresh bunch but the contracts they are on will dictate they are still here and still amongst the first on the team sheet. Last nights positive team and good work could also so easily have come undone by doing things like stick Bennett at RB, typical TM stuff that but he got away with it. Anyone else sense he's trying to piss Nyambe off into asking for a move ? He's a saleable asset for sure.

Carbon copy of the GB era this is turning out to be, last night as with the Hull game was the once in every 5 or 6 games or so that he really shakes it up in a positive way, goes for the pressure game for the full 90 etc. Always only happens when they know their is a groundswell of anger and frustration building but as soon as they can it's a revert to type and back to the same old crap. Leave that team alone even if it loses the next game the only way teams evolve is buy leaving them alone and drilling it into them. Will he do that ? Not on your nelly.

Got to be said though that for a club of their size, the home crowds they get and the size of the place Derby's away support is shite when they aren't full of confidence. I struggle to think of more than once or twice they've brought over a thousand since we started locking horns again at championship level.

Start 442 even if it means Conway on the wing because Bennett is sure to be in somewhere so he might as well start on the right instead of god knows where. Get Brereton up front with Graham and just give it a go. Leave Dack until the second half to bring on and shake things up you never kow at 442 we might get to half time 0-0. No doubt Mowbray will base it all around nullifying the opposition but as usual in doing so will take away from our strengths and as a result there'll be odd tactics and selections and they won't work anyway. Keep it simple man your players aren't good enough for anything else.

Which is why we papped on about it I can't believe anyone sat in the JW stand doesn't prefer to have a bit of atmosphere and life in the lower tier to their right. Even if it's only a few hundred in each side at least it looks better than a huge bank of blue plastic. To me it feels more like an actual match when people are in the lower tier and i'm sure the players prefer that little bit of extra encouragement they got down that end they could sure use right at this moment in time. I'll be amazed if they didn't lose a couple of hundred regular fans as well on the back of it which makes a mockery of doing some of the ticket deals that only get a hundred or so in. A pointless exercise at best and another own goal at worst taking a section of fans for granted again.

Last time I looked that VH group was weighted with a hell of a lot of debt although they obviously have a good regular reliable turnover to service it. Must be secured against something though so the old man played a blinder with that land it seems it under pins everything if that is true. Must own half of India ! I suspect personally away from the business they must have a lot of fingers in a lot of other money making pies. I think Madame and her husband are very astute when it comes to stuff like that, not sure about the other two but somebodies got to spend it I suppose.

Speaking of these multitude of signings Mowbray is alleging he'll make.............. ?

When Nick Harris did his research he estimated their business portfolio and personal wealth including assets etc to be worth around 2 billion including a cash pile at hand in the bank of c400 million. There was of course questions whether this estimate was in Indian money or sterling which he didn't bother answering. So yes it isn't going to bother then personally that much which is why it's a bit bemusing they don't just clear outstanding debts and hire a top guy to run the club and employ managers of a higher calibre. For all their wealth they've overseen a fair old set of penny pinching and selling players etc whilst rooting in the bargain bin for all the managers and in turn loads of players. A genuinely bizarre situation for which only they and their partners know the answer, if indeed they do.

We'll never know where it all actually comes from or goes without looking at the books. Wonder what it says on the monthly payslips, SBOI, VLL, VH or The Balaji Benevolent Fund ???

I'd be interested to know how many of the forcibly moved DEnders didn't renew and how many of those were in the 18-25 age range also a similar question about the regular match by match ticket buyers from that area.