This is the real by product of the wholly ineffective Fit and Proper farce. Once again the lower paid personnel are the ones to be hit. The EFL should be investigated for their inept negligence. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53318930

SPL fixtures are out today with the first games on August 1st. Despite meeting five days ago the EFL haven't given a firm date yet for the Championship to start. It's not like them to dither...........

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18561995.bielsa-rovers-tactical-switch-didnt-expect-leeds-visit/ Mowbray managed to confuse an esteemed coach like Bielsa with his tactics. Welcome to our world Marcelo. Actually if he watched us regularly he would know we play a centre forward in the wide right position.

And Waggott is complicit in this farce too. He is (allegedly) in charge and should have said no when Mowbray wanted to splurge money on players who simply will not contribute. The absolute brass neck of them both when the club are going round with the begging bowl to season ticket holders.

The 'assets' you mention are decent Championship players but nowhere near good enough for the PL. I can't see many, if any Championship clubs spending much money on new players as the majority are in the same position as us. Mowbray has to forget any notions he has about offering deals to any out of contract players and focus on bringing some of the youngsters in. It's going to be a few seasons of mid table being a success if things stay the same way.

We don’t want to be a midt-table team. We’ve come out of League One, we’ve consolidated and we want to push on and get into that top six. Maybe this group of players aren’t ready for that yet. That is a quote from Mowbray post match yesterday. It's the biggest admission yet that he is failing (although there is some buck passing) as this is his team, quite expensively assembled, and we have no identity, no way of playing, tactics which simply aren't suited to the players he has brought in and weaknesses in key positions. Quite simply we have peaked and now plateaued with Mowbray in charge. He is the archetypal win one, draw one and lose one manager.

And no Smallwood or Hart in the 20 man squad. I know I might sound like a stick record but why give them new deals?

I heard on Radio Lancashire last week that we have dropped 25 points from winning positions.

I saw him minutes after we got relegated at Brentford as we were getting into the car for a miserable journey home. I have refereed him several times and know him reasonably well as we always used to chat about Rovers. I asked him outright about becoming our manager and he told me he expressed an interest when Coyle got the job but never got the courtesy of a reply. I find that symptomatic of the last decade. On the day he was with his son and daughter who were both decked out in Rovers kits.

Great detective work Mr Poirot ??. I had forgot that Robin Askwith was in it to add to his 'Confessions of a ..........' portfolio.

Which one? We now have a few to choose from ??.

Hopefully this will be the straw that broke the camels back. It has to be said that a lot of this corruption and poor ownership has come about through foreign 'investors' taking advantage of real weakness in the hierarchy of the English game.

Add to the lost gate receipts another £100k lost when Sky, for some reason, dropped the live coverage of the original game. I estimate the two combined to be well over £300k.

What this whole sorry episode needs is not some wishy washy investigation by the toothless football authorities but a criminal investigation by the fraud squad and expose the whole 'fit and proper' sham and illegal operations for what it really is. Football really needs a new brush to sweep away the ineptitude and corruption that runs through it likes stick of rock. Unfortunately the likes of Wigan (and even ultimately us) could be collateral damage in the process.

?? It was called Four Dimensions of Greta and was the first 3D film I saw, not bad for the early seventies. It centred around a Brentford footballer who was a bit of a player (with the women that is) and lots of shots were in the ground. The actor made lots of 'big John centre forward' references as well as mentioning other players from the then Brentford team. We saw it at the Odeon and as a group of adolescents were giggling through it. The O'Mara mention was the highlight ???.

You know Lenny I was duped by O'Mara and was taught a salutory lesson in judging players on one game. I went to Brentford just before we signed him and he was outstanding in a 3-0 Brentford win. I told all my mates about this top player and how I wished we had him. Lo and behold Furphy paid £30k soon after and I was delighted but, after making a million excuses I had to concede he was useless. I was actually surprised to see that he scored ten goals for us so in comparison to Brereton and Gallagher he was a world beater. As we aside did you know O'Mara got a mention in an early seventies soft porn film?

I read Mowbrays latest comments and think he is disappointed that we just haven't kicked on this season and that individually certain players who he had high hopes for have flopped. Clearly he needs to look at himself and his staff if he is apportioning blame as team selection and tactics have placed limitations on some individuals. I also think the penny has dropped that he has taken us as far as he can and without a transfer window of big change we will continue to be mid table or below. This to me is a huge time coming up and I honestly think Mowbray has lost some belief in himself and his p!ayers.

Well done to the police for hacking into an encrypted phone system and arresting hundreds of hard core criminals. Every law abiding citizen in this country should be grateful. It appears that some were hiding behind the legitimacy of being successful businessmen. The Sky commentator said the public will be surprised when their names are announced. https://news.sky.com/story/operation-venetic-police-catch-hundreds-suspected-of-leading-secret-criminal-lives-by-cracking-codes-12019558

That is pretty much what Mowbray said when he was challenged about his 'defenders are coming' quote at this years supporter consultation meeting, in fact he threw Waltons name into the mix as well. The bloke who asked the question quite rightly said that none of them were our players and there was no guarantee of them becoming our players. Mowbray answered that with something like 'that's a fair point'. And now it looks like we will be in exactly the same position with having to buy or loan three players out of our back five for the first team. From that perspective we haven't moved on at all.

I find that notion incredible. The vast majority of Rovers fans I know and associate with first went as youngsters and got the bug. Not every kid will grow into an regular attendee but some will. And some adults only go to take their children or grandchildren, to spend some time with them and hopefully celebrate a win together. I got my granddaughter a season ticket for the current season and she really enjoys the whole experience of going to Ewood on the bus, having some chips and watching the game. If there is some kind of scam (which you seem to be alluding to) with junior tickets then the club needs to sort it, not some hare brained idea of banning all kids like yours is.

I think it was the fourth official who made the call Jack. I only saw his kick on the second viewing and called it red. I don't think it's right to call it a foul though as the ball had long gone and Brereton showed his petulance at not getting a free kick seconds earlier and Mowbray admitted shouting at him which Mowbray thinks added to his moment of petulance and madness. I think it's a clear sending off.

You have to pay to appeal and lose that money it the appeal is unsuccessful. Also an extra game can be added to the ban if it's considered frivolous.

We can but we won't as Mowbray says it was the right decision. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/18552242.unacceptable---mowbray-brereton-red-rovers-defeat/

It couldn't be described as a tackle, it was a blatant kick with no intention to play the ball. You are right with your use of the word petulant though.

The most sobering thought of the Mowbray debate is that the upcoming transfer window will be his seventh. He is a mid table manager, an average Joe who will keep us mid/lower Championship.