Amen to that. 👍

Again incorrect. Actually said "Will be a minority view but I feel more strongly about Mowbray than Kean" "Bit like comparing cholera with typhoid" How exactly is that supportive of Kean? Don't tell me you've fallen for the line about Mowbray being a nice bloke and the working class hero jumpers for goalposts guff. As I see it in Kean's time we were struggling at the bottom of the Premier League and latterly near the top of the Championship. In general during Mowbray's time we've been struggling in the bottom half of the Championship despite around £90m worth of investment from the owners during his woeful 5 year tenure. And with things likely to get worse next season due to the state he'll be leaving us in assuming he goes. With the benefit of hindsight neither Kean nor Mowbray should have been anywhere near the Club. Another £90m - £100 m piled on the debt to get nowhere. Key players walking out for nothing. For SEM/Kentaro read HSH. So forgive me if I don't see how we're so much better off now than then. Anyhow, thread way off topic. Apologies. Tonight's game then ........

Don't misrepresent what I said. Didn't say Kean was no harm done at all. I'd be interested to hear why Mowbray (who at the end of the day is from the same stable as Kean, albeit rebadged under a different name) is any better though.

Great Post. Spot on.

Fair point. Yes, the allegedly "unsackable" Steve Kean seemingly walked out of his own accord. Something I wish Mowbray would have done on numerous occasions over the last 4 seasons. Doesn't affect the overall gist of my post though.

Will be a minority view but I actually feel far more strongly about Mowbray than Kean, although it is a bit like trying to discuss the merits of typhoid against cholera. To play devil's advocate the likes of Kean and Coyle only stunk the place out for relatively short periods of time whereas Mowbray has been dragging us down for four years now. You could also argue that at the point Kean was sacked we were in a relatively decent position in the table. Kean didn't appoint his useless mate as CEO to safeguard his position or hatch a plan with him and Venus to flog off Brockhall either. I also despise Lambert as in my view he only took the job here to get himself back in the job market and never had the slightest intention of staying beyond the initial period before the break clause he unbeknown to anyone inserted in his contract. Left us without a single senior striker under contract when he departed. I suppose the whole thing boils down back to the owners who despite massive financial support have never seen fit to compliment that by taking the basic first step of appointing the best manager they possibly can. And who on earth appoints a manager then allows him to insert a break clause in his contract which activates after a few months? Back to tonight's game I want us to win. I don't believe we have any realistic chance of going up regardless of tonight's result, but whilst there is still a mathematical chance of promotion, as a supporter you have to wish for it and nine points out of nine. Even if the manager is seemingly only counting down the days until his departure and couldn't care less.

Seemed that way 12-15 months ago but no matter what he tried the owners wouldn't pot him.

Good post particularly the bit about putting his kids through Uni etc which he let slip in an interview a few years ago and it's pretty obvious that eking his time out until the bitter end for financial reasons has been his only real target since. For what it's worth I've heard rumours he's retiring at the end of the season so I suspect he's met his financial targets and is comfortable with his position in that respect. Imo It's been a dire "journey" for us in the meantime though whilst he's feathered his nest and given numerous of his pals a helping hand up and in my opinion he leaves the Club in a dreadful state.

2018.

Can't be right. 1864 (and Mowbray obviously) don't rate him.

Abso- bloody-lutely.

I've already said that looking in from the outside I personally can't see any real improvement apart from Yasir's community work. Combined with the abysmal January transfer window that leaves me less confident then I was that we'll see the changes we need. That said the aberration in our results skewed the managerial situation somewhat so I'll wait and see what happens next in that respect before coming to a more definitive conclusion.

As poor as their form has been, 4 points is 4 points and an additional 4 points would still have had us in with a realistic chance of 6th. The tinkerman has really had to go some in the second half of the season to put us out of realistic contention altogether.

To be fair, and without wishing to put words in his mouth, my impression is 1864 seems quite happy with what he's been told about plans for the future direction of the Club. No doubt he'll correct me if I'm wrong. Another group seeking to establish contact with and assist the Club remain quite optimistic that their efforts will eventually have a positive outcome and recognise I think that earning the trust of the owners will be a gradual process. For my own part whilst I am less confident than I was in the summer that positive changes will be forthcoming I haven't completely given up on it yet. The choice of new manager will be pivotal. Mowbray staying or another HSH dud would probably tell us all we need to know whereas someone of the calibre of Dyche or Farke would be a real statement of intent.

I'm amazed a lot more people haven't commented on this post. I've absolutely no idea whatsoever why West Brom might be interested in Mowbray and his team and I missed it when you apparently first posted the possibility. However when it was rumoured elsewhere my immediate thought was that if there was anything in it whatsoever their contracts should be terminated forthwith. If they'd agreed deals with ANY Club still in with a mathematical chance of the play offs then obviously it would no longer be in their interests for us to finish in those positions! Secondly by "Veno" I'm guessing you mean Mr.Property Delelopment himself Mark Venus. It would be the ultimate shits trick for Mowbray not to persuade the owners here to give the out of contract trio what they want so he can take them with him to another Club. Thirdly, if some of the squad are being tapped up to not sign deals here and go and join Mowbray elsewhere, and others haven't been, then that might explain the almost uniquely bad run of form we've had and why players in with a chance of achieving promotion appear to have mysteriously downed tools. This set of players that got to second might not be automatic promotion material but they're not as bad as the last 15 results either. Something would appear to have gone on behind the scenes. Do West Brom have a training ground situated on a site that could be redeveloped for housing or something?

1/10 for the heavily bankrolled promotion. After that very well backed and 4 wasted years in the Championship which can only be termed as a near disaster in terms of the addition to the debt and the dire state he will leave us in assuming he's going.

Which time period are we talking then?

Also a while ago, Smallwood was prominently advertised on the HSH website as one of their clients . Mowbray allowed Smallwood to earn a year's salary here at the end of his contract with his feet up and even gave him and the young left back Hart neither of whom had featured all season the three month extensions necessitated by Covid! From Venky's point of view it must be nice to have so much money that you can allow yourself to be ripped off by these sort of characters and barely notice. From the Club's point of view however it does matter as it impacts the FFP calculation.

Come on Glen, how do you think he ended up at Ewood given the fact he worked with Mowbray and Venus at Coventry? Also, which match or matches did "bling" pick the team for as you allege? I'm sure you won't mind sharing that with us if you have the written proof to back it up as you say.

Am hearing the same this morning. I agree it sounds very unlikely given our previous modus operandi with managers but that would indeed be tangible "progress" you could point to.

That's the crux of it, for me the owners have never grasped that the key to success is to appoint a top class manager and give him a workable budget. Mowbray has had the workable budget and then some but for me has only ever been interested in prolonging his stay at the Club until retirement for financial reasons and has cemented his own position by surrounding himself with allies on and off the pitch and wasting the Club's money on them.

Thanks for asking this, I think it's a vital question going forward. I also have to apologise to roversfan99 who has posed the same question to me several times over the last few weeks but for whatever reason the site has only just started working properly for me on my mobile again so previously I was unable to reply unless in front of my lap top. My purely personal view is that much was apparently promised but I can't see that anything much has actually changed for the better. I would have hoped for positive announcements on things like a new pitch, renovating the Stadium and titivating Brockhall to make it state of the art. None of that seems to have been forthcoming. and from rumblings going on in the background it would appear Brockhall is still under threat. I believe it was also hoped the owners would attend some matches towards the end of the season as well and that doesn't seem to have come to fruition either, although our catastrophic decline in form might have had something to do with that. What sort of welcome would they currently receive? Arguably the most important change that could have been made was a change to the manager and coaching staff and whilst I've no idea how he survived the 0-7 home reverse to Fulham, given the aberration in our form between then and the turn of the year it's perhaps understandable that he survived most of the season. Although personally I'd have removed him shortly after the start of the latest death spiral and would have hoped owners with their fingers fully on the pulse would have done the same to try and secure at least a play off berth. The biggest disappointment of all was the January transfer window. We'll probably never ever get a better chance of automatic promotion and completely blew it. Whether this was because there was a limited budget or there was a substantial budget made available but Mowbray and Waggott chose not to use it, we'll probably never know for sure but either way the result has been the same, complete capituation and £800k spent wasn't indicative of a Club with any real desire to achieve promotion. Against all this the only real positive change that's been implemented so far seems to be Yasir's efforts within the Community. I must stress this is a purely personal view formed from looking in from the outside and not being a party to discussions with the Club. This should in no way detract from the efforts of numerous dedicated groups of fans to engage with and assist the Club and those groups might have a different viewpoint having heard first hand what the Club has had to say.

As regards your first point the title of the thread was asking people to assess Mowbray's reign as a whole not the owners'. And as your second paragraph is no doubt a veiled dig at myself amongst others I understand that all manner of wonderful things seemed to be being promised after the debacle of last season. It wasn't something that people were merely making up. As far as I was concerned I think I always said it remained to be seen whether these improvements would actually come to fruition and that the proof of the pudding would be in the eating. Consequently as a complete outsider looking in I must say currently I can't see any real difference at all so far but those passionate and dedicated fans who took the trouble to engage with the Club and who have been Involved first hand in discussions might take a different view or have a more optimistic outlook.

Yep. In summary, another £90m or so on the debt over that time to not even achieve a top ten finish (probably) and nearly half the first team walking out for nothing at the end of the season. We probably won't see the full extent of Mowbray and Waggott's legacy until we see where we finish at the end of next season. I think it will take a fairly astute operator in the dug out just to keep our noses above water.

Hmm......."Nice Guy" indeed!