Not 100% certain if Hughes is still the manager he was when he was here but one thing's for certain he'd raise expectations and set a reasonably ambitious target such as promotion by the end of next season and expect everyone at the Club, players and staff alike to work towards it. There'd be no worse of this "by next season we should be in a position to challenge," and "we're on a journey" bollux. We're "on a journey" all right. Back to League 1.

Indeed. And the people who were paid not to play aside, the annual wage of a lead swinger like Evans would probably be enough to cover a brand new state of the art pitch and maintenance on the stadium for a couple of years.

Not sure I'd blame the owners for this, Mowbray and Waggott agree an overall budget with them every year for the playing side and the non playing side and it's down to the people on the ground at Ewood to ensure the basics such as having a pitch capable of hosting professional football. It doesn't need to be the best in the Country.

Indeed. Without wanting to reproduce JH's excellent post in full again, I think one of Mowbray's main failings ihas been the fact he isn't ruthless enough and relying on people like the ones you quoted - who got us relegated in the first place and who aren't good enough if we're serious about promotion from this division. Similarly, he isn't ruthless enough with loans that don't work out, seems to think it will affect the player's confidence if we send them back early, Walton, Douglas etc. He's here to act in the best interests of the Club not the players themselves, that's their agents job. All far too cosy and not good enough.

If memory serves me there was a violent downpour immediately before that Wimbledon game. There's nothing you can do about a flash flood but when it has rained today it's been steady rather than torrential so I don't think that with a well maintained pitch in good condition with reasonable drainage it'd be a given the game would be off. Given the current state of the pitch and the weather over the last 24 hours it was fairly inevitable however and it probably won't be the only time.

Would pay for new contracts for Evans and Bennett though.

Perhaps they think its 20m rupees and no one has told them yet.

Even they must notice they have to write out a cheque for £20m every year to keep us afloat though.

Steve's January message to the fans: "You won't be seeing much football for a while, not even on i-follow because the pitch is in such poor state. But it's not all bad, don't forget, I'm on £300k p.a. Tone is on substantially more and Ben, Sam and Richie really enjoyed their new deals not to play. Stewie loves being paid thousands of pounds a week to sit on the bench as well. See ya Love Steve And don't forget......"We're all in it together!"

The only message I want to hear is one from the Club saying they've both been relieved of their duties and thanking them for their efforts!

Surely Mowbray would have had an input on whether to allocate limited funds on the pitch or give Smallwood and Hart and Gladwin new contracts not to play for us or give Downing a new deal etc. I agree Waggott bears primary responsibility, he has overall control of the day to day running of the Club and should have over-ruled Mowbray as surely having an acceptable playing surface should be near the list top of our list of priorities, It's one thing we can control. Hardly surprising though, how can we expect a decent pitch when those on the ground at Ewood didn't have enough pride in the place to keep it free of weeds a few months back. If JH is right about only having one set of Frost covers to go between Ewood and Brockhall (and the 100 Club had to pay for those) then that is absurd penny pinching in the extreme. The Club is an absolute farce from the dug out to the Boardroom. As with the results we can only hope those in India have sat up and taken notice of the state of the pitch on Saturday and today's postponement and start handing out a few P45's pretty sharpish.

Wouldn't give Mowbray any more money to waste. We need a new manager. Anything else is almost irrelevant.

And in terms of his overall contribution to the Club I think you can argue he did quite well for 18 months, almost keeping us up then getting us promoted at the first time of asking, albeit with a budget that eclipsed everyone else's. However the last two and a half years since promotion have been imo absolutely dire. History won't view his contribution kindly if we fold because of our debts and the view is taken that we needed to treat the situation a lot more urgently instead of waffling on about journeys and long term plans with no evidence of anything actually happening to substantiate that.

Glad to see you're finally coming round Parson, better late than never! Not sure where this reputation as a man of integrity comes from, obtaining his immediate boss his job seems an extremely devious move to me, likewise giving completely needless contracts to people like Gladwin Smallwood and Hart who were never ever going to play for us doesnt strike me as acting in the Club's best interests either. No wonder we can't afford to relay the pitch.

There's a lot wrong with that post. Firstly, whilst the Rao's are generally unpredictable where Rovers are concerned, I'm guessing there's no actual evidence that Mowbray is completely bulletproof or immune to bad results no matter what. Secondly, even if he were, (which I doubt) it can't be argued that that SHOULD be the case can it?

I suspect you're right. I did say "if we're writing this season off" though. My first choice would have been to sack the Mowbray, get the best possible replacement for the job, (a Pearson or Bilic type before he got another job) and let them bring in who they want. I suspect we've left it a month too late for this season already but as everyone keeps pointing out we're "only" seven points out of play offs still so even now it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that someone really on the ball could come in, put a rocket up the players' arses, get them playing with some element of organisation and a plan and get us there or thereabouts.

If we're simply writing this season off, we'd be far better off giving Damien Johnson the chance to show what he can or can't do until the end of the season rather than letting Mowbray pointlessly limp on until summer. If he does particularly well, that's good and gives him a chance of the permanent role. If he doesn't pull up any trees then we know where we stand, that he isn't the answer permanently, and that we might need to dispense with his services along with the manager and the rest of his coaching staff. Might be a chance of it happening at a normal Club.

So the next seven or eight games matter but the last ten dont? What will you be saying if the next seven or eight don't go to plan? "Let's see how the last fourteen or fifteen go?"

Fair enough. I think the point being made is that scraping an occasional win and a couple of draws here and there which just about keeps our noses above water and Mowbray in situ isn't taking us anywhere. As opposed to people wanting the Club they support to lose per se.

If you and nephox rate Trybull we'll have to agree to disagree. I think he's absolute garbage, another completely pointless Lowe/Evans type albeit he is slightly better than those 2. It must speak volumes when Norwich would rather save 2k p.w. than have him available. At least Davenport has a bit of bite about him.

Plus Trybull, Gallagher

Don't need lectures from you on my commitment thanks. I'd have been happy if we'd scabbed an undeserved win but a point that might help keep a lame duck manager in situ for a while longer isn't a good result for the Club imo. Why are you (apparently) happy with a manager who has been performing poorly for the last two and a half seasons? I could reverse what you said and state that with fans like you who are happy with any old rubbish, it's no wonder we never get anywhere.

Agreed. Although from Mowbray's point of view I guess it gives him something to latch on to and whinge about the disallowed goal etc etc. From my point of view the Mowbray death spiral rumbles on - two wins in ten in all comps and I'm glad I didn't waste £10 on that rubbish today. And can't really see any point in watching them until Mowbray goes. What a state of affairs.

Certainly needs to be given a chance. Trybull should have been sent back along with Douglas.

Don't talk rubbish. Like we're ever going to finish top, or even make the play offs, with this bloke in charge.