So what? He had a budget that eclipsed everyone else's and whilst you still have to beat what's in front of you and the achievement has to be acknowledged, it would have been a monumental failure had he not got us promoted. League one is his level both on and off the pitch. Remember his comment after missing out on a target that it wasn't like signing players from Gillingham? He's completely out of his depth in this League in every respect.

Why?

Disagree it was an unimportant game. We have imo zero chance of going up and even we would be hard pressed not to scrape enough points to stay up so a run in this competition was the last chance of a bit of interest and glory this season. Still Mowbray and the players will be absolutely delighted, they'll be able to go for breaks in the sun on 4th and 5th round days instead of having to play all those tiresome extra games, just muddle through the rest of the campaign scraping the 15 or so points we need to stay up then they can go on their summer hols. Rinse and repeat next season. Lovely. Will someone please get rid of this clown (Mowbray) asap. Give Damien Johnson a chance to see if he can make the step up.

Noticed Magloire who's on loan at Rochdale started at RB, had a bit of a torrid time, and was hooked after 30 mins. That cant be doing him any good, being played out of position.

Easy game isn't it when you boil it down? I'd try the same with Gallagher and Brereton up top to see if they could get some form and confidence going but the same principle still applies.

Don't understand the apathy towards the game in some quarters, for me every first team game is as important as the next, in fact I rate Cup games as more important than League games with the odd obvious exception as if you lose a Cup game you're out whereas if you lose a League game you generally have another 20 or 30 games to sort it out. I also think that you can never win too many games as imo winning breeds momentum and confidence. I don't think that will particularly matter this season as I expect us to finish nearer the relegation places than the play offs but nevertheless I am desperate for us to get through to the next round.

I'm not really sure what records we actually broke given that we finished second to Wigan!

We might have to persevere with him solely for the reason we've spunked £5m on him and no-one in their right minds would give us anything more than a fraction of that for him but I strongly disagree he'll ever make the grade. He has the physical attributes but just doesn't have a striker's natural instincts or the natural finishing ability to ever become a reasonably consistent goalscorer and I would have thought that was fairly obvious the first time he was here.

Why? We kept him a couple of two seasons too long as it was. Downing has performed far better than Conway. Wouldn't touch Marshall with a sh***y stick either. What is this obsession with former players, many of whom weren't that good when they were here before?

But why wait until summer? A new man ideally needs to come in now, assess, and start rebuilding the squad in time for next season. If we left it until summer that's probably next season down the pan already.

It was me that made the "rank bad" assessment and I stand by that. Just ask any Celtic fan what they make of Mowbray. His appointment also came completely out of left field, when we appointed him, he was on the managerial scrap heap having most recently walked out of League 2 Coventry due to poor results and he certainly wasn't a name that was on anyone's lips before he was appointed. If we did replace him, the bar wouldn't have to be set particularly high to find an upgrade, it's not like we'd be replacing a hugely successful manager who's experiencing a temporary blip, his entire managerial career has been patchy at best and that's probably being generous. I have to address the FFP point again. The reason we're likely to run into FFP problems is down to Mowbray making disastrous big money signings, making multiple other signings that he then barely utilises and failing to keep a tight enough grip on the wage bill by running a bloated and unbalanced squad and failing to offload players when they need unloading. What are we meant to do, let him carry on making the situation even worse? The fact he might have made the situation difficult for any potential successor isn't a reason for keeping him, it's a major reason for getting rid.

(Replying to Parson) I note that you've neatly swerved my question altogether but thanks for the reply anyway and Happy New Year. ? I'd have to take issue again with you in that the way I read your post, you appear to think that any sort of minor improvement on last year's 15th place finish would be acceptable whereas for me it's nowhere near good enough. Even that however pales into insignificance imo against the shambolic way the squad is shaping up having been under Mowbray's direction for the last 3 years.

What I don't understand Parson is why you seem so accepting of the fact we are rubbish and calmly (but correctly) state we are mid table at best and the signings haven't worked as if that is an acceptable.state of affairs. I seem to recall you were perfectly happy with Gary Bowyer and never wanted him sacked either. Who would you rather have in charge now? I'd say there isn't much in it but if Bowyer (and maybe his Dad Ian) had had the money available Mowbray has had to bring players in then we might have had quite a few more saleable assets than we do now, and things might not look half as bad as they might get for FFP purposes.

Wow. I thought Chaddy were blue and white tinted specs but in terms of groundless optimism that statement takes some beating. I'd like a pint of whatever you're drinking though! ?

I'd rather any money spent this January went on replacing Mowbray and bringing in his replacement as opposed to letting him squander even more money on players he then subsequently will probably only use sparingly if at all. On the pitch we desperately need a decent striker and new keeper imo. So: 1) New manager 2nd equal) New striker and keeper.

Blimey Parson, it's because of Mowbray we'll soon be running into FFP difficulties. It's not some unavoidable unfortunate situation that's been foisted on him.

Spot on and like jim I'm starting to get very irate and the ongoing ineptitude of Mowbray's tenure. I think people are muddying the waters by suggesting Mowbray's only fault is that he chops and changes the team too much. That's true as far as it goes but he's a rank bad manager who can't inspire the team to play with any passion or commitment. A half decent manager would also be able to establish an identity, a pattern or style of play which would enable any squad players or new signings to fit in relatively seamlessly. Not this manager. He's also been at the Club nearly three seasons now and has had ample time to rebuild the squad and give us optimism going forward. Instead potential new signings are looked upon not as players who might improve the team but like aliens from another planet that will only upset or displace players already at the Club. This lack of enthusiasm for bringing in new blood has translated into disastrous transfer dealings with most permanent moves centred around people at the end of their careers or development projects rather than experienced players who will come straight into the team and improve it. I was just thinking the other day about Jacob Davenport. I couldn't remember his name at first as I 've never seen him. Does he even exist? What a joke. Brereton, Chapman and Holtby to name but a few must also be wondering why they bothered joining the Club round about now. As a result what a state we are in. Mowbray has spent 15m on three strikers and there's not much so far to suggest there's a decent one among them. The other option is a player who is completely past it and who should never have been awarded his last new contract. In midfield Mowbray appears to have coached all the life and enthusiasm out of Travis who is turning into a clone of Evans who in turn sails merrily along collecting new contract after new contract whilst all the while barely breaking sweat. The less said about Johnson the better, an overweight Danny Murphy on one final pay day for me. In defence you could argue that our best defenders are on loan and don't belong to us. The insistence on Bennett being shoehorned into the side isomewhere s beyond a joke, surely no-one except the manager and the player himself think that that's a good idea. Despite being desperately short of centre halves our own youngsters like Wharton (in particular) and Magloire cant get a chance and don't get me started on the keeper situation, Mowbray singled out scapegoated and sold an extremely promising up and coming young keeper and replaced him with a big useless lump on loan who is the worst first choice keeper I've seen in 49 years of watching us. Running into severe FFP difficulties and we don't even own our keeper. The whole mess needs someone with a fresh eye, who has no emotional investment in these underachieving players to come in, be ruthless and sort it out. Otherwise we face a fairly swift return to League 1. I don't suppose that what I or those of a similar mind think will make the slightest bit of difference as Mowbray has cleverly made himself bulletproof by installing his mate Waggott as his boss who anecdotally we hear thinks that the manager (and the man who got him his job) is the best thing since sliced bread. There's a surprise. Whoever would have thought it. I do however feel slightly better for venting my spleen.

On the basis that Bowyer wasn't good enough and Lambert came with a huge reputation but flattered to receive, that should tell you all you need to know.

Imo "We might appoint someone worse" is still not a valid argument in favour of keeping a manager you know or believe will fail if he stays on.

Allardyce, Hughes, Pullis, Hughton and Warnock are currently out of work. That's without even considering any up and coming young managers in the lower leagues. Not saying all of the above would come but I would be surprised if one or two of them wouldn't be interested if enough money was on offer.

Because Mowbray has left us in the brown and sticky stuff due to his appalling recruitment and his refusal to offload players that needed offloading. Much like Lambert did when he left us without a single senior striker under contract. The fact that Mowbray has made it harder for any possible successor is not a factor in favour of keeping him though, it's an even stronger reason for getting rid before the situation deteriorates even further.

Your original post was an excellent one, to which I'll respond separately. Imo you are quite right. The hunger jus isn't there. Having got to within touching distance of the play off positions they should have been like lions fed on raw meat before the Wigan game but there was no passion intensity or desire, nothing, prior to the last 20 mins. The game against Brum I thought was even worse when they should have been doubly determined to rectify the wrongs of the Wigan game.

Devil's Advocate mode: Has he made ANY successful signings other than Dack? Harrison Reed maybe, but then he wasted him by playing him out of position as with many others. Also, which players have improved under Mowbray? I think you could make a case that the likes of Raya Nyambe Bell Lenihan Travis Rothwell Brereton Gallagher and Chapman all regressed the longer they have played under TM

Yep, he'd have to spend several months in the under 23's learning to play "the Rovers way" and "hold his position". None of that bursting forward and trying to score goals nonsense.

No offence intended but have you only just worked that one out EIT? Anyone can make a couple of mistakes in the transfer window, you take a gamble on a player and it doesn't come off but what I don't understand is why you would spend £7m on a player and not even give him a chance then spend another 5m on someone who's played here already, demonstrated that he isn't particularly good and shown that he is someone to be avoided on a permanent basis.