Depressing article. As tomphil rightly says, all Mowbray seems bothered about is whether or not he can give new contracts to the six players whose deals are due to run out. The only one who should be under any sort of consideration is Downing and even he isn't really someone who's going to get us promoted at his age. Mowbray also seems to be conceding that we won't even be able to bring in a permanent keeper for next season. Selling Raya without securing a decent permanent replacement first should be a sackable offence on it's own.

Sadly I suspect you're right but after three successive defeats, Tony's favourites haven't been doing us any favours either have they? Gotta love those two goal defeats.

Agree completely with the sentiment of blooding as many youngsters as possible for the remainder of the season. Can't see any point whatsoever in starting Walton. He's absolutely useless and won't be here next season. Might as well see if Hilton and Fisher are viable options going forward, they could hardly do any worse.

Not aimed at you specifically chaddy but we hear a lot of this sort of thing "Give him the summer transfer window and reassess in October/November" When we get to November it's "Give him the January transfer window" When we do nothing in Jan and subsequently fall off the edge of a cliff it's "Only ten games to go, no point sacking him now". And on and on it goes. We and he need putting out of our misery.

Well, there would be if Pulis was the only manager we could possibly choose from if Mowbray ever left but as he isn't I can't see it's particularly relevant! ?

Point taken but all fans of other Clubs see is your League position, they don't really know what's going on at someone else's Club. I could give my opinion on United, City and Everton but it probably wouldn't be as valid as someone who follows them closely as they have a much better feel about what's really going on. Where are we in comparison to the end of last season? I'd say we were going backwards, the only differences being that old players have got even older, we now have no keeper and we have a second expensive liability on the books in the form of Gallagher.

? Bravo Sir! More or less what I was going to put but you expressed yourself far more succinctly!

Come off it, how likely is that? He hasn't made a really good permanent signing since we were promoted to the Championship other than Armstrong and that was nigh on 2 years ago and he'd been here already on loan. He'd be far more likely to lumber us with another Walton or Gallagher or bring in another Brereton, Chapman or Davenport who he then hardly ever selects.

Tony would pay the ransom out of his own pocket and even if you chopped a leg off Benno would still be the first name on the team sheet.

Fair do's, that made me laugh! After 3 games. A very accurate comparison.

The point is, the pro Mowbray brigade are pooh poohing every name suggested on the basis they don't have the greatest CV or are too much of a risk yet at the time the appointment of out of work former Coventry man Mowbray (who they appear perfectly happy with) appeared equally left field and fraught with risk

Oh dear...... Fish chucked firmly back in the water! ?

Type in HSH Sports Agency to Google and an interview with a local paper pops up featuring "Boro fan" Craig Honeyman. The two headline players quoted as being on the books were quoted at the time of the article as being Julio Arca and Richie Smallwood.

No-one seemed to mind when MGP was hurling in long throws under Allardyce. I agree Pulis's best days as a Coach are probably behind him. Like Mowbray if indeed he ever really had any. However without looking it up I'd wager Pulis's record stacks up pretty well compared to Mowbray's.

Yep, we don't want to end up with someone on the managerial scrapheap who had to walk out of his previous job at a League 1 Club before he was pushed after a run of ten games without a win. Oooo errrr........ hang on! ?

I don't know if I ever said we were definitely going down, I thought it was far more likely we'd go down than we'd get in the play offs that's for sure. Still think that's the situation going forward if he stays as well.

I think your point was more that we were making considerable progress which is highly debatable given we're still four points shy of last season's points total.

It's easy to sit there winding everyone up sat on the South coast or wherever you live when you are not in a position to consider the purchase of a season ticket. If you were you might not be quite so forgiving.

Let's not forget Mowbray is still the last manager NOT to win the SPL with Celtic. Bit of a joke figure with their fans from what I can gather.

Also "We're plodding around at the middle of the table right now but I feel that since promotion from League 1 that we've moved beyond plodding around the middle of the table." Classic! How can the players fail to be inspired?

Well he's nearly right, we finished 15th.......... Strewth, we're struggling if he can't even remember where we finished last season and he thinks 70 points normally secures a play off berth.

It's not unreasonable for supporters' views on a manager to change over time so it is interesting to see how that varies. Imo a new poll needs to be conducted from scratch each time otherwise the old results would skew the new ones.

Suspect this window will be far more about who goes out than who comes in. If Mowbray stays then I predict a dramatic fall off in our currently uninspiring mid table performance irrespective of who comes in or goes out. On the pitch, if we're to progress we HAVE to keep hold of Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis, Dack and Armstrong. How do people expect us to thrive if we sell one or more of those? Devil's advocate mode: would we be better off keeping them and risking FFP sanctions of being unable to sign anyone for a short period and relying more heavily on youth alongside than losing them and bringing in more dross as replacements? A quality first choice keeper is also a must. Wouldn't be too disappointed to see anyone else go and I'd be particularly keen to offload Mulgrew, Bennett, Evans, Williams and Gallagher. I certainly wouldn't give Graham, Samuel or Smallwood new deals either. Conversely I'd like to see whether a new manager could get a tune out of Brereton, Chapman, and Holtby. Bottom line: we need a dynamic, progressive manager who can oversee a massive turn round in personnel and integrate youngsters like Wharton, Magloire, Rankin Costello, Buckley, Butterworth into becoming first team regulars alongside the five crown jewels and one or two experienced hands after all the deadwood is shipped out. Will Mowbray be shipped out or any of this happen? Probably not. It'll be crown jewels out, contract extensions or new deals for the rest all round, bit more dross in and more youngsters sent out on loan.

An eloqently argued and passionate defence of Mowbray but I can't see how anyone could think we were unlucky to lose any of the last three games. Having got to within a point of the play offs with a good performance against Bristol City we looked like we quite simply couldn't be bothered against Wigan and whilst we might have managed a 0-0 had Walton not dropped the ball, that still wouldn't have been what was required in our situation. A couple of missed chances notwithstanding I didn't think we looked particularly up for it at Barnsley either and I thought we ended up outplayed and well beaten. Against Leeds, the most depressing thing was that at 1-3 down at home, the only team that looked like they wanted to do anything or make things happen was the side 3-1 up! So depressing, and for me completely typical of Mowbray's time in charge, certainly at Championship level. Get a few decent results then sit on your laurels for a couple of months. If things are getting a bit tight, pull your finger out for a few games to move clear of danger then rinse and repeat.

Should have gone 18 months ago, and nothing has changed, in fact the situation becomes more compelling by the day. If your only argument for keeping him is any potential replacement might be worse then, like Bowyer before him, you know his race is run and it's time for a change. I really don't think the people supporting Mowbray realise how much trouble we're in. No keeper, one decent centre half, no decent LB, no cover at RB, one decent midfielder, no creative midfielder, no effective wide man and two of the five players on the books who are actually up to the job entering the final twelve months of their contract. The situation reminds me a bit of when Lambert left us without a single senior striker on the books and then the owners sold our centre backs Duffy and Hanley in the close season before putting the final nail in the coffin by appointing Coyle. We all know what happened after that. Chaddy talks glibly about selling Nyambe to plug a hole in the finances but if we do that and bring in another dolloper like Caddis, how is that going to help? Plus we wouldn't get anything near what Nyambe is worth entering the final year of his contract. We need a skillful and astute operator in the transfer market, and we need him fast.