.......But if Mowbray had started BB (as he should have done) no doubt you'd have been fully supportive of that decision as well.

Eleven out of eleven pick themselves for me, Khedra not Gallagher. We've generally picked up good results without Gallagher in the side and poorer ones with him in it. If Mowbray strays from what has served us so well this season he'll get everything he deserves if it goes pear shaped and we as fans have to suffer as a consequence for him thinking he can be clever and shuffle it about.

Blimey, no offence but I have to say you're easily pleased. I watched the game at a slight distance from my screen in a hotel bar and had to check at half time with my mate's son that he was actually in the starting line up. Just watched a rerun of the game ro see if I was being harsh in my initial assessment and I wasn't. Never noticed him on the rerun either. Ran about a bit whilst play went on around him pointing occasionally in best Keith Andrews fashion. Will have to do much MUCH better if he's going to hack it at this level. Looked completely out of his depth.

Looks like we're in the early stages of the latest Mowbray death spiral. Giles superb. The rest might as well not have bothered.

What is the attraction with JRC? He's barely pub standard.

Desperate debut from Hedges. Zeefuick like a fish out of water out of position again. If we go down to defeat tonight it will be down to Tinkerman Tony not starting with the tried and tested BBD and Khedra.

I particularly agree with this bit. If Venky's are prepared to continue to back us to the hilt by ploughing in the maximum permissible under FFP rules then I can't for the life of me see why we can't offer competitive deals to key players. That input plus our normal revenue must give us more to go at than practically any other Club apart from those with parachute payments. As I've said countless times previously it's the manager's job to manage and that includes prioritising which players are key and those who aren't quite as important and looking after the key ones. Also not running a bloated squad padded out with overpaid squad fillers. We lost eleven players in summer, bought five in and have done far better.

What a fabulous shirt and what a great idea. I'd buy one of those in a shot.

Absolute nonsense imo. If he scores half a dozen goals between now and the end of the season and is instrumental in us going up who cares? I was actually thinking the three out of contractors will have to perform out of their skins even more than the others for the rest of the season as if things tail off badly and we don't go up they, unlike the rest, are potentially unemployed.

Not sure if what he has said in the past misleads fans as such, just find a lot of what he's said in the past (and in particular last season) extremely disrespectful to the Club and the fans. I.e. "I don't look at the League table" sounds fine when you're sat in 2nd or 3rd in the table. Don't get carried away and take it one game at a time etc etc. If you're in the midst of the third worst run in your history as we were in the second half of last season then it's very disrespectful to the Club who pay his wages and the fans. Anyhow here's to three points Saturday and then he'll be able to say what he wants post match within reason and no-one will care. If we play badly and lose however then everyone will look at what he says that much more closely and seize on any obvious discrepancies between that and what actually went on out on the pitch. It's only natural.

Bit concerned to see Mowbray is considering not starting BB because he might be tired. Don't overthink it man, get him in and substitute him after an hour if needed.

Not really, his biggest fault is that up until this season results and performances have been crap! If we were sat 2nd or 3rd in the League every season I don't suppose anyone would pay that much attention to what he says in the media. Edit: Anyhow massive chance to open up another mini gap between us and Bournemouth and stick the pressure back onto them again. Points in the bank always better than games in hand!

I think this discussion needs to be put on ice until the end of the season. If he takes us up - hands up, great achievement. But if he doesn't, let's see how happy we are next season when five of the current starting eleven (Nyambe, Lenihan, Rothwell, Van Hecke and Khedra) have left for nothing, two more, (Travis and Kaminsky) may leave for nothing next summer and Brereton has been sold.

Bad news about Ismael getting the chop but the good news is I'm not sure Bruce is the man to get them motoring straight away. He seemed to get very stale and jaded at Newcastle.

Yes, I was wondering that. Unless he's moved recently I think he's in the same place as my mate's mum in Oswaldtwistle which specialises in dementia care. That is typically more expensive than a "normal" care home, and in ball Park figures it's usually about £1500 p.w as opposed to £1k etc. Perhaps State assistance would only stretch to a "normal" home? I don't know.

Does anyone have the stats regarding the difference in our results when he's started and when he hasn't? It seems to me it would make quite startling reading.

It's a useful bench mark isn't it. If Luton can go there and win we need to be going there and doing the same if we're serious about challenging for automatic promotion.

Or..... what could Furphy, Lee, Smith, Kendall, Saxton, Mackay have done with the sort of backing Mowbray has had from the owners at their respective times as manager?

Don't bite.

That looks a decent line up to be fair. Wonder if the manager will see it the same way? 0-3. Rothwell hat trick and everyone to put the pitch forks away and rush down to the Club shop on Monday to have "Super Joey Rothwell" printed over the Totally WKD patch.

(Not biting) No. If we don't get promoted and he leaves us having burnt through more money in support from the owners than any other Rovers manager in history to no avail and with more than half of the first team walking out for nothino he'd have to be considered one of the worst all things considered though!

Not much of a cashing in exercise with only 6 months to go on their contract though is there? By that time it's relatively pointless unless you're in absolutely no danger of either going up or down. In summer they must have thought they could still persuade all 3 to sign new contracts at some point. Unsurprisingly Waggott has failed to deliver.

Great Post.

It'd be snowing in Darwen. 🙂

I think you can just about gamble lightning won't strike twice before the end of the season with Kaminsky and that he won't pick up an injury that'll keep him out for a while but not the other two outfield players. Decent cover for TK would still have been preferable though.