arbitro

I didn't rate him and you know I'm delighted he has come good so I am happy to be wrong but for over two thirds of his time here the empirical evidence is that he was mostly poor, occasionally average and rarely good. He was sent to play with the under 23's ffs. So I do know who I am.

Agreed. I don't believe he is anywhere near as thick skinned he would like us to believe. I recall him exonerating himself early from the potential sale of Brockhall by saying 'it's above my pay grade'.

Absolutely correct. Somebody at Ewood has seen some comments on social media about Mowbray eulogising about the Blackpool fan's and this is just damage limitation. I wonder if he said what he did because the fans had the temerity to shout 'Mowbray sort it out '.

I'm for anything that increases the crowds but for me it's not radical enough. The real screw up from Waggott was not being creative enough with season tickets mainly on price but also flexibility. His silly structure for season tickets hasn't given him much room for manoeuvre. Still it's another admission from him that he got it wrong.

There should be a new slogan: On a journey with a journeyman. 😁😁😁

To replace the three you mention will likely cost transfer fees and if they are established players coming in they will want the going rate for the Championship. some business plan. But the story here is already written. Blame the players for extortionate demands, let them walk away and replace them with loans and kids. And next summer the next tranche of our of contract players will be the given the same treatment. Rinse and repeat.

How does this sit with you? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58799369

Saving face to the tune of £180m? Sorry I'm not buying that line at all. As I said the truth is none of us know and after eleven years they are as mysterious as they were pretty much from day one. I'm not buying into this 'change' story at all primarily because I don't trust them to enforce a change radical enough to benefit us.

But you speculated that it's an Indian culture thing and they want to save face. None of us know but you can't really dismiss somebody else's speculation when that is exactly what you are doing.

Somebody somewhere must know. We can all hypothesize but there has to be a reason why they haven't upped sticks and gone.

A serious question. Why do you think they are still here after eleven years?

Do you know of any other individual/families that happily write off £20m particularly on something they don't appear to be interested in?

I haven't a clue but something doesn't and hasn't sat right about this from day one. You make it sound like it's normal to write off £20m. I have never heard of anybody who is happy to throw £20m into a black hole every year irrespective of their wealth. It's absolute madness especially when you consider it is a business thousands of miles away and they have no emotional attachment to.

The owners could always try something really novel and put the club up for sale though. The fact they haven't even engaged with potential buyers (and are seemingly happy to write off millions each year) tells me that there is a lot more to this than meets the eye and there is something illicit about the whole thing.

And yet some supporters are happy (and thankful) for them to do this and harm the future of the club even more. Nobody knows where this famous old club will end up with this lot and I think the inevitability will be administration.

I listened to Gallagher spouting his usual nonsense on Radio Lancashire and he was saying 4-4-2 is out dated and nobody plays it anymore. I personally think it's a system that offers pretty much everything but it's not in vogue because the Guardiolas of this world don't play it. Alex Ferguson built all his success on two banks of four with two strikers.

I said similar at the time. The Blackpool midfielder picked up a second ball thirty yards out with no Rovers players near him. He controlled the ball, took a few touches and played their side player in who scored. It was shockingly bad and in all honesty pretty much in tune with the whole first half when the basics seemed too much for us.

I said yesterday that he had been hung out to dry by Mowbray and Magloires poor performance is being used as a screen for, once again Mowbrays inadequacies. Magloire just didn't show any full back instincts and positionally he was shocking but in the view of many there were a couple of better options but Mowbray ignored them. That's not with the benefit of hindsight neither, many said it in the lead up to the game. The first half was as bad as it has ever been under Mowbray but so many just don't see how he is costing us. The sycophants will blame anyone and anything without seeing the cause.

How on earth did Burnley not get a penalty yesterday for an assault by Krul on Vydra? Dyche is becoming an expert at playing the victim card but yesterday he had a case. What on earth is the VAR looking at.

But we should have got a result.

I can't remember seeing a professional football match with two polar opposite performances from the same team. The first half was slow, lacked any intensity, no tempo, not winning second balls, giving up cheap possession, no real press and lots of individual errors. The second half we were better at every aspect of the game and perhaps should have won the game. Magloire was poor in the first half but I really think he was hung out to dry by his manager and Gallagher who simply has no defensive awareness. Carter and Ayala were bullied by the Madine but in the second half turned the tables on him. The question has to be asked of Mowbray why did this happen. No doubt some of the sycophants will point to the second half and praise him but for me he got it wrong from the start. The buck stops with him and the stark difference between the two halves is down to him, he is responsible for tactics, set up and basically getting it right. Today he didn't. And infuriatingly he praised the Blackpool supporters for getting behind their team in what was a clear swipe at us, the fans who had to endure such an abysmal first half. The bloke just doesn't accept any responsibility, his ego just won't allow it so he gives out veiled criticism of everyone and everything.

I think this is a really but game today, perhaps not on paper but from Mowbray and the teams perspective. A poor performance and defeat could see a hostile reaction from the travelling fans. This is something that Mowbray hasn't really experienced as the majority of poor defeats recently have been in empty stadiums plus the away support tends to be more vociferous than the generally passive home support. I can see today as a big test for Mowbray if things start going badly. From a result point of view I think if Mowbray over reacts to Tuesdays defeat by going full Mowbray and complicating things it could end in tears. I think we need to keep it simple with a back four in place and Travis providing a screen. We need to press high on their passing game and not allow them to play through midfield. If they do we need to be able to win back possession and counter quickly.

The likes of Barnsley, Millwall and Luton amongst others seem to manage on smaller gates without breaching or fearing P&S and have decent, well coached footballers. And we have over spent massively on many poor players and managers, many of the players aren't even ours. The high wage to income was amply supported by PL money which meant at the time of selling we were only £20m in debt. The business model over the past decade has been extremely poor whereby a fortune has been spent with nothing to show for it.

Hayden Carter deputised admirably for Nyambe at right back earlier this season. Rather than change the formation he could have done that and Magloire could have slotted in alongside Ayala keeping a back four intact. And I think Magloire would have been more comfortable in a back four.

Changing several positions and systems around for one substitution has become a bit of a trademark for Mowbray. It's probably the best example of him over complicating games and quite often has cost us points. Having watched a lot of football down the years I think he is the manager who needlessly complicates games more than any other. I defy anybody to tell me with certainty what system he was playing after making all his changes last night.