Perhaps we should try not training properly more often! Really wasn't expecting that, someone be it Mowbray or someone else really shook them up and I really really enjoyed it. I'd go as far as to say it's the best we've ever played under Mowbray. Terrible goal to concede after 1 min 17 s and the obvious thought was "here we go again" and heads could have dropped. However we gradually battled back and had the better of the rest of the first half and fully deserved our equaliser although it took a fortunate deflection. The second half was brilliant. We were like lightning on the break. Poveda was terrific (Where's that performance been?) Genuine wide men in their natural positions works. Whoever would have thought it? Further back Davenport and Travis were very good indeed and I thought Buckley had his best performance for the Club over 90 mins. In defence I love Wharton. I understand from someone who knows him he's Rovers through and through and I just think he does the basics you want from a defender. No frills but no messing either. Does what it says on the tin. I also think Wharton's so steady Lenihan looks better alongside him than anyone else. Only downside for me Edun. I think he's shocking defensively and is never a LB in a million years. Whether he could do a job in midfield remains to be seen, but is he any better than what we've already got.? Still want Mowbray gone before the next game but if he's still here by then, for God's sake man you've stumbled upon something that works, stick with it. Edit: And don't let Gallagher within a million miles of the starting line up. Mowbray out, Venus out, Waggott out. We caught a glimpse of what the future COULD be like today. Imo only under another manager and different management off the pitch as well though.

Have heard the same but I wouldn't hold too much store by it as I don't know if it originated from the same source. It looks to me like he's been trying everything he can to get sacked and paid off since the second half of last season but no matter what he does the bullet isn't forthcoming.

Be good to see Wharton back if he is playing. Send the Brighton lad back and save some money.

If 0-7 is when they're playing for the manager wouldn't like to see them when they're not. Stop fishing Gav.

Having seen him play, (twice) Why pay £5m for him at all regardless of any weaknesses in other areas of the pitch?

Voted. No need to guess which way. Says it all that Waggott is marginally more unpopular than Mowbray.

Well done. Let us know what response you get.

The only crumb of comfort I'm clinging to is that he may know he's history and this is a parting shot at the fans on the way out of the door.

Also reference to the "older gentlemen" who "lived through the glory years". Patronising arsehole. The reason we older fans can see right through him is not because of the Dalglish years but because of the pre Jack Walker years where we've seen proper managers whose shoes Mowbray isn't fit to lace like Furphy, Lee, Smith, Kendall and Mackay thrive on a financial shoestring. They never had tens of millions of pounds of owners backing and the luxury of running a wage bill of 187% to turnover like Mowbray has been able to do.

Spot on. We've been on Tony's "journey" now for four and a half years and find ourselves behind those Clubs who in comparative terms are barely out of the starting blocks and who have spent the tiniest fraction of what we have. What's he on about as well needing £100 or £200m to get promoted? He's already burnt his way through c£100m of the owners money over the last few years keeping the likes of Graham, Mulgrew, Bennett,Downing and Evans in clover.

I'd like the Fans Forum to start becoming relevant in the current climate and concentrate on real issues not the price of a pie, having to queue for a pint or a broken speaker in the Riverside etc. Surely all that type of trivia can be sorted with a phone call to the Club rather than waste limited and valuable face to face time with them. Questions to be raised: 1) Can Waggott definitively confirm that the recent transfer of the STC was merely an accounting exercise for FFP purposes and that if the Club was ever sold in the future the STC would pass as part of the sale free from any incumbrances? i.e mortgage etc. 2) What was the Club's view on the hard work spent in promoting the Sheffield United game being sabotaged by a Club record 0-7 home defeat three days prior? Why did the manager not deem it necessary to even apologise for such a display and why was he not sacked by 9a.m.the following morning on the back of it? 3) As if all that wasn't bad enough we also had players apparently "liking" the Club record defeat. Do the players have a formal code of conduct re their social media output and does the Club have a dedicated Internet manager to monitor players' output on social media and do they discipline players where appropriate? If not they're needed and one of the Club's army of analysts should be put to some actual practical use to enforce it.

We all know "it's only a job" to them and they don't support the Club per se but in any other walk of life how far would you get in your job if you had a high profile job at a Company that had just posted record annual losses, you had a mate who worked for a rival Company who'd been particularly successful over the same period, and you "liked" a post of his on social media celebrating their success?

Correct.

Yes, I'm aware, thanks for that. Merce has predicted Alex Neil is coming in imminently so often that twice every 6 months would suffice in this instance!

Do you know, not sure I agree. I came to this story relatively late and the more I think about it the more it makes my blood boil. It might seem like a little thing at first but on reflection I think it symbolises everything that is rotten and wrong with the mentality at the Club. Dack's a senior player at the Club and should be setting an example. He's made an error of judgement, fine, but when pulled up on it he should be apologising for his thoughtlessness and causing any offence. Not compounding the situation. You could also count the number of decent performances Bennett put in during five years at the Club on the fingers of one hand. Yet he was rewarded for nor performing with numerous new contracts and the symbolic role of Club Captain, a role he revelled in becoming the Club's self confessed cheer leader and tub thumper on social media. Yet he was the first to be all precious and complain if anyone pulled him up on social media about poor performances. And here he is popping up on social media taking the piss out of the Club as soon as he leaves! What chance did we have when he was here with someone like that "leading" us? So we have a manager describing a 0-7 Club record home defeat as just one of those things that happens and current players, a former Club Captain and other former players who seemingly find the situation amusing. For me the whole do the bare minimum holiday camp mentality started with Allardyce prioritising certain games and sacrificing others. That worked for him to a degree as his sole target was survival but it seems to me that the stench of mediocrity and culture of doing the bare minimum you can get away with has never left the Club even though since being in the Championship we've theoretically been operating under completely different parameters of trying to win enough games to achieve promotion. We need a new manager and CEO to come in and give the place the place a right good shake up from top to bottom. And set minimum standards and expectation levels.

I hope so, at least they're right every once in a while!

Think this is terrible from both of them, especially from Dack who as a senior pro should know far better. If anything his attempt to justify it is even worse than the initial gaffe. His response to the Rovers fans querying it should have been "Really sorry, I can see it might have caused offence, there was none intended, was showing support for a mate". Butterworth I've a bit more sympathy for but as a young lad trying to break into the first team he should be keeping his nose clean and avoiding any awkward situations. Yet again it's indicative of the holiday camp mentality and lack of discipline at the Club and all roads once again lead back to Mowbray. He doesn't give a shit so is it really any surprise that when push comes to shove the players don't either. Can you imagine any players doing this at Liverpool or City under Klopp or Guardiola? So called "Captain fantastic" Benno can fook off as well. Should show the Club far more respect after we paid his wages for so long. Absolute shower.

Timescale?

Great Post JH.

Yet Blackpool beat Fulham 1-0 at home in September, so how can they compete and we (allegedly) can't?

Exactly. When I was discussing the original attempt to flog off Brockhall in the midst of a 16 game losing run on a Coventry forum someone said: "So you're us 5 years ago. Sorry" And look how they've thrived since Mowbray/Waggot/Venus left their Club. Regardless of the owners, anyone who thinks that a better manager than Mowbray couldn't do a better job than him with the same set of players and with the same financial backing, simply isn't thinking straight.

Hypothetically if you brought in Guardiola then you've solved problems 1-4 and 6 at a stroke and problem 5 wouldn't go away completely as the transfer budget would still be limited by FFP restrictions. You would however have a fabulous coach who would work with and undoubtedly improve the existing playing staff. Point taken re: the off the field matters, they would need sorting out as well.

I'd urge everyone to get down to Ewood and give Mowbray, Waggott ( if he can be bothered turning up for once) Venus and Lowe what for on Saturday irrespective of the result

Yeah, I'm not just basing it on on some random hope that things will miraculously improve out of nowhere SG, I'm not that daft. Any cautious optimism is on the basis of specific information received but unfortunately having (supposedly) grand plans for the Club and leaving Waggott/Mowbray/ Venus et al in situ is completely incompatible.

Funny thing is Parson, I'm fairly sure it's incorrect to say that they don't know what's going on down at Ewood or "aren't interested". They have a funny way of going about things by our conventional yardsticks though and unless they start employing the right calibre of people and there is root and branch reform throughout the Club and they are prepared to step in swiftly if things start going wrong in future, it's hard to see much chance of any improvement.