arbitro

I don't disagree but why give the lad another year. This is Mowbray at his best, committing the club to money that could be spent elsewhere.

I'm surprised that people are surprised that we are no better off player wise after the window closed. Our club is becoming breeding ground for PL clubs and what really irks me is that I don't believe that these kids are any better than our own. It's been another lazy window. Take Burke for instance. You don't go in for players in the last day of the window if they have been scouted properly. It's more a case of poring through lists of players at the last minute and sticking a pin in it. God only knows where Mowbray is going to fit them into a system as three of them look so similar to me. This window should have been an opportunity to balance up the squad, now it looks more unbalanced than ever. And I still think Mowbray will get a new deal. Now let the relegation battle begin.

That is likely to be that the Rags can sell the tickets they previously gave away for free. We have a stadium that is two thirds empty and no chance of selling out.

And yet Mowbray hangs his hat on Lenihan who can't pass water. Mowbray confuses the life out of us, what must it be like to play for him. He has had a go at most styles of play, different formations and tactics in his time here and we still don't have an identity. He is an oddball of a manager.

The towel thing came from Tranmere when Dave Challlinor had a huge throw. At the exchange of team sheets John Aldridge told the opposition manager that the towels were there and they could use them too. They never did it away from Prenton Park though.

Towels can be used but it's the home side that should be initiating their use. West Brom were sneaky last week and didn't mention it was their intention to put them out around the pitch. I'm sure Rovers would have objected had they known beforehand. The referee thought what West Brom did was permissible and allowed them to carry on. I think that the referees will be receiving a memo this week reminding them. West Brom tried to circumvent the towel thing yesterday by asking supporters for items of clothing. That also needs clearing up.

I didn't think so. Travis naively tried to step up to play him offside and got it wrong. It seemed that is what Lenihan and Ayala thought too as they appeared to be bollocking him.

Mowbray has (again) changed our style of play. From his nonsense possession based play we seem to move the ball forward a lot quicker which suits more of the players we have. Last season we were well in front on the possession stats but this season not so and in my view we seem to be a lot more physical. I think this adds credence to the view that last season was wasted given the players we had and the style of play Mowbray imposed on them.

I agree with the consensus that it's a good, hard earned point. Although there were no 9/10 performances I thought there enough 6's and 7's to get us the point. Gallagher seemed a different proposition in the middle to what we have seen for too long on the wing. For the first half hour I thought he was our best player but faded and ultimately disappeared as Mowbray shunted him wide in favour of Dolan. The two loanees looked way out of their depth and not really ready for Championship football particularly against physical teams like Middlesbrough. Personally I thought Kaminski looked suspect throughout and his distribution was poor. A special word however for the referee. After seeing awful performance the night before at Leyland I thought would be a while before I would see one as bad. How wrong I was. The new tolerance they are showing has simply led to huge inconsistencies when judging and punishing foul play. Today the referee looked like he was struggling with what is it isn't a foul and angered both sets of players, officials and fans. I know from personal experience that takes some doing.

A decent summary. Phillips is with the first team squad in Middlesbrough. I didn't realise it was Gambles first game at that level - he gave a mature, assured performance.

He wasn't with the under 23's tonight.

I wonder if he has paid for his season ticket?

It is up to Mowbray of course but I have very little faith in his judgement. We have two first choice centre halves, one, on Mowbrays admission, needs to be wrapped in cotton wool and is already on two yellow cards. Wharton is a few weeks away yet so for me it really needs somebody like Carter to stay and be ready when required. And if Mowbray is going to play his three at the back we need three decent centre backs and cover too.

I can't come anywhere near to agreeing with this. Carter has been our best player in the last two games and gives options across two defensive positions. So we sign a kid on loan from Brighton who nobody knows anything about and loan out our most promising defender? That sounds like the perverse logic that reverberates around the Ewood hierarchy.

We are fast becoming a crèche for Premier League clubs. Didn't the woman Venky mention 'leasing players' in her opening gambit when they darkened our door. We are a football club built on sand.

From a personal perspective I have found some of Mowbrays football awful to watch but in truth that could apply to a few of managers I have seen over the decades but the key words are some of his football.

Does anybody know who exactly is responsible for the extortionate pricing and poor service? I would have thought pricing and staffing was down to Sodexho.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/breaking-premier-league-statement-clubs-24830195 The PL has issued a statement that the clubs will not release players for international duty where their countries are playing in a red list country. I wonder how this might effect us if Brereton is called up by Chile.

I think Waggott is perfectly capable of recommending a new contract for his mucker. That would probably mean that he can continue creaming the club for £300k a year.

I sincerely hope so (I would have personally got rid of him a few years ago) but would anybody be surprised if we found out he'd been offered a new deal? Surviving that awful run last season was remarkable and lowering expectations this sense might be enough for our inept owners (ably assisted and advised by Waggott) to offer him a new deal. Nothing at all surprises me about Rovers after enduring these wretches for a decade.

That's pretty much how I see it. If he isn't getting a new deal then why would he give a toss about what shape we will be in for next season. He doesn't want a relegation on his CV and he could use that to bluff his way into one last payday from another club.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2021/august/On-This-Day-Happy-Birthday-Tugay-/ Happy birthday to a real Rovers legend. The maestro.

I don't think any of us do apart from making assumptions. What I do know is that we could lose millions of pounds worth of players soon and there doesn't seem to be much concern by our management. With Mowbray being out of contract at the end of the season and potentially not here I am starting to wonder if he is as concerned we are.

There isn't but isn't it fair to assume it's down to the money we are offering when you read what Mowbray has said. The truth is nobody knows but joining the dogs indicates it's financial.

This coming Saturday sees us travel to the North East to face a Middlesbrough team who currently sit in twelfth position on five points. As they are managed by Warnock (or Colin to some) we know exactly what to expect, it will full on and physical. Warnock and his team of Blackwell and Jepson have a reputation and their teams play on the edges of the Laws of the Game and have frequently crossed the line. However they have some dangerous players who can cause problems. Historically we have a decent record on Teeside with 22 wins and 16 draws out of a total of 63 games in which we have scored 76 goals. They moved from Ayresome Park to their current ground in 1995 and the first goal to be scored at the Riverside Stadium has played for both clubs (no prize for a correct answer). The Riverside, although rarely full these days can be quite intimidating (although not as intimidating as Ayresome Park) and getting a result is always sweeter in front of a patrisan crowd. There are some notable players who played for Rovers and Boro. Here are some cryptic clues to some of them. He was very talented. A dull colour and cooked meat. Little glade. A moose like animal and almost a type of glue. His sister had a fast car. The Specials had a message for him. A Greek island. Superman, the man of ....... Middlesbrough has played a part in my life so I like going there. Any SMC Old Boys will remember the Thorpe Cup which was a triangular tournament played between St Marys Colleges in Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Hull. I played at Middlesbrough and was put up by a family called Egremont. We went to the pictures on the Friday night and I wore my Rovers scarf. Needless to say we got chased round the town by some local skinheads. I later worked for ICI who had many plants on Teeside and did some cross site learning with other buyers. Getting to know one really well we established we were the same age, went to SMC and played football for the school. It transpired that he played in the Thorpe Cup match and reckoned he scored. I was in goal and swore I'd kept a clean sheet. He was best mates with one of the Egremont brothers whose house I stayed at. I will meet my friend on Saturday for a catch up before wishing each other all the worst for a couple of hours. Back to the game I would settle for a draw now but a win would be terrific.