Yep they'll get a list of these presented to them via their usual channels then simply enquire who will work the cheapest and who is most desperate to rebuild their battered rep. Then they'll draw straws to decide and no one on the ground at Ewood will know who's coming until the day before but it'll be someone who's at least 25-1 and bets will have been cast overnight. That's how all the one's since Bowyer have pitched up so it wouldn't be any different next time. In Mowbray the dice finally fell for them and they got lucky just as they did with the desperation of putting the youth coach in charge years ago. As we all know though luck doesn't last it runs out, usually after a season or two in football !

Just a deflection tactic because of the poor form probably this kind of talk surfaces every so often as does talk of closing it because of the foundations that have allegedly been suspect for years but still allow the stand to accommodate 5k when the need arises......... lose again and we'll be linked with all sorts of players in Jan ?

If he isn't going to displace TMs pal or Mr guaranteed a spot Evans then will he get 10/20 mins per game whilst he develops like Brereton gets then ? If not then WHY not ? isn't that how you develop your youth who've shown they might be able to cut it or is that just reserved for big money signings via your agent channels ?

Lost his way and his focus here but regained near the end when he knew there was interest and regained his form. Player wise he's more than good enough for a midtable side and I think someone of his type is just what is missing from our defence at the min. There was always a threat at the other end from him as well for corners etc.

Logic dictates that teams that have more stoppers on the field should concede less from open play, surely that's why it's done....or is it just to accommodate favourites ?

Was thinking this before I read he might be available, never my favourite geezer but he was decent when he was fit and focused and could just be the lump we need although I think there might be a bit of an ego problem with Grant. He had all the tools to be a top championship defender but something is clearly amiss with him.

Spot on that would be although i'd rather see investment in the team but if they brought in outside sponsors to help pay for it or our billionaire owners could plonk a lump in out of their own pockets that didn't impact FFP or the playing budget fair enough. Think Waggot will be pushing for this he's the first CEO I've heard go on about it for over a decade but got to be careful of the real motives. Does he have an real idea that will help income or is it a contracts for pals type thing ? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he probably has some decent ideas for it although another trek to league one would render it pointless as would selling players to pay for it !

The bit highlighted by Sharpe in the LT in regards to the defence almost being identical to that which contributed to taking us down from this level last time speaks absolute volumes. Add in one of the same defensive mids who's been at the club years but only been consistent in one season -in lge 1- and the other almost the same as the previous one, all this leading to a same style of play is it really any wonder the same old problems occur virtually every week ? It was glaring everyone in the face and sadly the renewed team spirit and bit of feel good factor only covered it up very briefly so like ringworm it's back to stay unless aggressively treated. Why oh why when fans constantly highlighted this even last season did the management do naff all about it except bring in a bit of back up for the level we were at then ? It's a bit amateur to be honest or at least very naïve by people who've been in the game a long time.

I'd agree with that if they tied it in with a path for his young talent to get more of a sniff at first team level so they got the same nurturing as the likes of Brereton has been afforded so far.

Agree and the quality of the coaching staff has been brought up a few times but I suppose it's dangerous turf for a manager as he is supposed to have the final say and the buck stops with him. For that reason they mostly seem to surround themselves with yes men.

He's made a rod for his own back though, no wingers no proper target man to back up DG or try something different. I'd say that similar to Bowyer Mowbrays cautious approach best suits 442 with the two holding mids, it's not my favourite style but the way he approaches games is best suited to a solid line up. However his recruitment doesn't fit that formation so it's an odd one. The way they set out yesterday seemed to do ok but he'll revert straight back to type whether we'd won that with 11 v 11 or not I reckon. As for Dack I fear we are going down the Rhodes route with him but I did say use that formation at home or change to it away later on in games. Dack is our talisman at times but it shouldn't be forgotten he was signed for 750k from league 1 he isn't a world beater just a good tricky player on his day but I don't see why he should be immune to be being dropped when he isn't cutting it.

I think now is the time he needs to decide on his formation, best selection to suit it and just stick to it through hell or high water and tough it out. We aren't capable of shutting up shop in games nor do we press and play front foot often enough, we are just somewhere in the middle but this between the devil and the deep blue see routine is causing shades of I have been stopped from posting this by moderators. Coyle type confusion on the park every week now. TM and the team are better than that so as boring as it may be just get back to basics then try and improve his preferred style by getting in better players alongside those in key positions. TM is one of those managers who actually gets better results when he sticks to what he knows and if I were him i'd be going to away games with 442 and looking to have two banks of four. At home go the more staggered route of Dack and Graham but away get two strikers on closing down from the front.

It needs to be a good one who's coming in to make the spot his own but that i don't think that will happen even if TM has the money. More likely just another 'squaddie' to bloat the wage bill but hardly get used. I've no faith he'll sign anyone to replace anyone either now or in the summer he's set his stall out and very much just wants guys he can rotate or sling in and out as back up to the others no matter what they offer. Said it before but in order to best utilise what he has and add in some real quality first choicers he'll have to alter his core style of football and formation permanently.

Like the Boro match the game was there for the taking when they go down to 10, opposition expect an onslaught so make those adjustments whereas Mowbrays first instinct is we've a better chance now to nick the point so doesn't send in the heavy artilery. we sit off therefore opposition can't believe the space they are being afforded and relax, we play into their hands and let them off the hook because the manager is terrified of risking losing to ten men it seems rather than applying the killer instinct.

The treatment of a lot of our prospects has left quite a bit to be desired if there is a so called path to the first team at Ewood meant to be there. Rumours of head banging against the wall as to why some of our very good U23's team didn't get much of a sniff last season in league 1. Going down the Jal route but maybe some of them aren't with the right handlers.......

It's a policy Rovers finally landed on with Dack but then partly threw straight out the window again with Brereton ! Only in Venky land eh.

Shades of the GB type familiarity comfort zone creeping into the mentality I fear, players treated like all conquering heroes for getting promotion and all lathered with shiny new contracts as well as the manager. Shoulder shrugs after poor defeats and the ah well we are were we are we've only just come up so what do you expect attitude. it's a dangerous mix people are beginning to hide behind these excuses and each other now. We aren't at the stability zone yet they have to pull together. kick bite and scratch their way to a safe finish this season but that was always going to be the case so why wasn't it drummed into them ? Mowbray too busy trying to downplay expectations when the team threatened to surprise everyone with a run at the top 8 instead of just encouraging them and letting them off the least to go for it, we aren't good enough for that but it would leave them in a decent position points wise. In football when your team has some spark about it you fan the flames not bring out the bloody fire blankets. Wrong mentality this season i'm afraid and now it's coming back to bite us.

Some good points and agree with a lot of it but I will say most of what you raise can be put down to the manager, i'm not in the sack him brigade either it's just facts. Also worth noting that Mowbray came from exactly the set of Venky appointing circumstances you mention, simply put they don't appoint anyone their agents just present them with a small list of their clients to stick a pin on. The day they leave that method behind and let a competent director appoint someone might be the day we actually go places IF they backed him.

Definitely not but going off last time he plays it better than Samuel or Brereton although paying what it would cost to borrow him then sticking him wide would be plain stupid unless he going to use a front 3 more often which might be the case if Dack departed.

I know subs are always arguable but apart from when he had Chapman early doors in league 1 who's pace alone was a game changer at that level I've always felt his choice of subs has been mostly poor. Bowyers were predictable and hesitant, Coyles were usually in desperation but Mowbrays are confusing, needless and odd at times. He gets it right now and again like they all do but it usually seems either subs for subs sake or an uncontrollable urge to tinker when he might not need to.

I think they should be afforded the same patient approach and mins that is afforded to Brereton instead of being chucked in doing ok then thrown back down the pecking order again. There's been a few examples of this and by the same token so called senior players on the best pay etc shouldn't be automatically reinstated in the team if their stand in or back up player has been doing a good job in their absence.

Henderson has form with Rovers fans, regrettable but predictable. I wonder why Mowbray has never handled Travis or one or two youngsters like he handles Brereton ? The 7 million or the fact one or two in the Rovers comfort zone are unreplacable for some unfathomable reason ? He really needs to step away from pecking order he's created and select and leave in players on merit not just because he deems them seniority or they got us promoted last season. He did that today quite a bit for the first time ever and it actually worked quite well but the same old same old cock up by the same supposedly reliable normally first choicers undid us. There should be some pennies dropping I'm Mogga land now although he's rewarded them all with probably the best contracts they've ever had so hard to justify asking for more money to pay to replace them, he's created his own catch 22 perhaps.

I like Gallagher but I also like strikers playing as strikers, just what will TM do if Graham is out any length of time ? Play with no centre forwards at all ? Because he seems incapable of having any other centre forward other than DG up front.

Reed was a good signing although its taken him a while to integrate him into the starting 11 he always seems so reluctant to back players in the starting line up he's signed which is odd. Likes of him are hard to get but I don't think upgrading some in the backline or centre really would've been that difficult if there was a bit of money.

Not calling for his head for one min BUT is this squad not really quite good enough for this level still OR is it one of those you feel a different voice and approach could get something more resembling consistency out of them ? One thing that does stand out going off his previous clubs is when Mogga loses his grip he really loses it, I desperately hope that isn't the case but a couple of overachieving results aside that maybe skewed early expectations this season has resembled a bit of another confused look about it in terms of selections and tactics and basically straw clutching hoping something works. Many of us did say it though in summer that some genuine upgrades in players were desperately needed instead of just squad men, you reap what you sow.