Yes, how dare away teams come to Ewood and attempt to make it difficult for us to score, completely out of order, in fact I think they should do the sporting thing and give us a goal or two start. As for talk of the play offs it is and always has been completely pie in the sky. It's always "IF we win x, y and z we'll be right in the mix" etc. We never do, but as suckers we fans fall for it, get briefly excited, then get let down time after time. However all the "never mind the bad result and performance we'll be ok if we win the next 3" talk does make it sound like Mowbray is doing a far better job than he actually is and keeps us limping down the road to nowhere for a while longer.

We're not "well in the mix" for the play offs at all though are we? That's the entire point. We've never occupied the play off positions at any point in a terrible division and when the ordinary nature of the rest of the Clubs occasionally contrives to give us an opportunity to challenge we blow it.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Wigan all over again. Not as bad a performance but as soon as this lot look like they might be in with a chance of doing something they fail to perform and let us down. Subs made way too late from the 78th minute onwards.Very odd with the game at 0-0 and us needing the 3 points. Even odder considering Tombola Tony normally chucks on a random array of subs around the 63rd minute mark. It is difficult to do justice to how bad Gallagher is, he is absolutely dreadful. How he survived 78 mins tonight without being hooked is anyone's guess. We also played really well in his absence through injury against Hull therefore I've no idea what he's shown to the manager this season that warraned his automatic recall once fit again. So on to Swansea, we may win, we may not, but you can more or less guarantee that if we win on Saturday we'll contrive to throw in some poor performances thereafter to keep us a "safe" distance out of the play off spots. It's really difficult to maintai much enthusiasm for proceedings knowing we'll never do anything under this manager.

The game of two pens that never were.Cant really complain about theirs when ours wasn't either. For me Walton has let the opposition get back into the game today just as at Boro. Great strike by Watkins but if Walton was covering his near post he makes a routine save. He was way too far over towards the centre of the goal gambling Watkins didn't go near post. As Tyrone said above successful sides see out wins from winning positions. Sky highlighted that even before today we were joint top of the table for dropping points from winning positions. 21 before today, 23 now. On the plus side, thought all the back 4 were very good. Battled really hard. Best I've seen them play as a unit.

Great win. ?

Get in!!! ?

Delighted for Buckley. Can only help his confidence. Looks a lot more likely than JRC to me but obviously I'll have to defer to those who have seen more of them both.

Very disappointed Brereton has been dropped again after a bright showing Tuesday night. He really can't do anything right where Mowbray is concerned can he?

I still don't believe that if Mowbray (or any other manager for that matter) definitely isn't working then the fact a worse replacement might be found is a valid reason for keeping him. I realise we differ on whether he's "working". As regards HSH/SEM etc etc I really don't believe things have ever been done that much differently in modern times, I can't see that using them is that much different to getting shafted up Hill and down dale on a regular basis by Souness's favourite agent Willie McKay for example. It was just the conflict of interest thing that intrigued me. I suppose there must be lots of examples where agents act for both a player and manager at the same Club. Possibly not a problem normally but where a potential conflict of interest does arise occasionally you'd like to think they'd cease to act for one party or the other. Bet they don't though.

If it is the case that the last 3 managers have come from this HSH agency like you say, then who do they have on their books that's currently out of work? Because if you're correct then there's every chance that that's the "talent" pool we'd we drawing from if we go down the same route for the next manager. Had a look at HSH on the internet last night. Seems a relatively small 3 man concern set up in 2014 based in Middlesbrough (there's a surprise!) and the guy who is the public face of it Craig Honeyman previously had a senior role at SEM. Seems we are still being advised and/ or drawing "talent" from the same people under a different name. One thing that surprised me was that Richie Smallwood was specifically cited in an article about Honeyman as one of HSH's clients. Assuming Mowbray is an HSH client as well then there's a clear conflict of interest there, Mowbray might want shot of Smallwood but HSH with their Smallwood hat on could advise Smallwood to dig in and see out his contract on higher wages than he'd get elsewhere which ultimately could be a factor in getting Mowbray the sack. The other alternative is that the Club might want Smallwood off the wage bill but Mowbray isn't as proactive in pursuing this as he should be because they're all from the same stable. Not healthy at all.

The reality is that enough teams above us are going to be picking up points at a reasonable rate so we would need about another four or five wins on the bounce to actually get into the play off positions and I can't see that happening. Keeps Tony in a job though. "We're only (insert figure between 3 and 8 points) behind the play off positions" sounds a lot better than "We haven't occupied either the automatic promotion slots or play off places at any point this season."

If we did sign him after seeing from his loan period that he isn't particularly good (like Gallagher) then I think it'd end up exactly the same way. We'd end up vastly overpaying and end up with an expensive flop we'd struggle to give away. Which probably means Mowbray and Waggott will do it. Less work than looking for a better alternative.

Course we shouldn't. Never heard anything as ridiculous and not even sure why it's up for debate.

I think we're roughly similar in our views on the manager and the team but I enjoyed last night. I thought Saturday was a scandal. Theoretically meant to be chasing a play off place but setting up to try and scrape a point and mustering just one effort on target after going behind. However I thought last night was much better. Armstrong should have scored from a glorious chance inside 10 seconds and we carved out numerous clear cut opportunities in the first half whereas normally you're scratching your head up to half time trying to remember if we've worked the opposition keeper or not. Although we did our usual at the start of the second half, and dropped off the pace after a good 45 mins, the tempo picked up again after the introduction of the substitutes and 27 shots in total was evidence of a much better attitude than normal for me. I completely agree we need to back the result up against Charlton. Whether we do so or not I think will depend primarily on the manager. Will he stay positive with his selections and let the players continue to go out and give it a go? If so it might be an interesting and entertaining end to season. If however he retreats into his more natural containment mode the season will probably fizzle out into a repeat of the last one.

Whoa, I enjoyed last night but let's not get giddy. Walton is absolutely dreadful by far the worst permanent keeper I've seen playing for us and if it's true we turned down the chance to send him back in January it's yet another lamentable decision imo Walton seems completely incapable of catching a shot coming towards him, he did my head in at weekend when he straight arm punched a weak shot at chest height out for a corner. That in itself is an art it's be easier to catch it than five away a needless corner. Said it before, for me Raya has massive natural talent and whilst he makes mistakes more than makes up for it by making stupendous saves he's no right to make. Walton makes just as money mistakes if not more and for me is relatively talentless and rarely makes any saves you wouldn't expect him to make. He's ok on simple crosses and spreading himself on a one on one, but that's about it. His shot stopping ability is more or less non existent.

Good luck with that one, you deserve it to come in with optimism like that. I'd be laying it off for a no risk bet if we got within touching distance at any point.

What a great performance, the perfect antidote for Saturday's dire showing. Well done to the players and Tony Mowbray but you wonder how many points we've tossed away this season by attempting to lump balls out wide to Gallagher. Thought Armstrong was sensational, his best performance in a Rovers shirt. Good to see BB finally get some proper game time, thought he showed up well, if Bell had have picked him out with a cross at the end he'd have had a tap in after a surging run and I thought he should have had a stonewall penalty when brought down by the keeper. Samuel also looked ungainly but showed a lot more energy than he displayed on Saturday. Negatives: Graham was poor and Bennett was dire but nothing we didn't know already and maybe the penny has even finally dropped with the manager as both were hooked. One of the few home games I've enjoyed this season. Cracking stuff. ?

You're lining up the excuses for Tony in advance I see.

It seems extremely odd that any manager in the modern era should consider scouting players from Europe as such a previously unthinkable prospect and a quantum leap. I know he likes the old jumpers for goalposts routine but it's not 1960 any more and Europe is hardly on the other side of the world is it? Also without being completely au fait with the regulations could leaving the EU mean we are too late in belatedly seeking to get involved in the European transfer market? Will players have to meet the minimum requirements for international appearances etc that non EU players have previously had to? I'm not convinced TM has any real appetite for this, if he had the whole thing would have been set up eighteen months ago when we were promoted. In fact he doesn't have any real appetite for bringing in new players at all imo. We'll wait and see but the promise of players suddenly flooding in from Europe when we can't even get one over the line from this Country seems a bit "jam tomorrow" and this always seems to be the case when discussing Mowbray and "slow builds" etc and a sceptic might say it's merely another ruse to keep him and his team in a job as long as possible.

I had a look at the results from that season after the debate came up. We started off well under Mowbray a draw and 2 wins (also throwing away a winning position against Burton in the opening game) and if I recall correctly, briefly got our noses above the safety line at that point. We then embarked on a horrific seven game winless run, failing to beat a ten man Norwich in one of the games, before rounding off with three wins and two draws from the last five fixtures, the last two wins coming in the final two games when it was too late. Nothing much changes really does it?

The Bowyer/Mowbray parallel is quite an easy one for me. There are very striking similarities between the two, both the player's friends, GB from a background of bringing players along and possibly not focused enough on results. TM too concerned about protecting the players already at the Club and too fearful of bringing in outsiders to try and improve the team. Both their respective sides lacked mental toughness, flattered to deceive and blew up when it looked like we might achieve something. Both their respective sides failed to play for 90 minutes and can only put in a maximum of 45 mins at a time. Both managers far too cautious. The main difference between the two is that Bowyer's Dad Ian identified some cracking signings on a budget whereas Mowbray's team don't look as if they could unearth a hidden gem if he was playing in their back garden. Bottom line, huge similarities between the two but neither anywhere near good enough. At least not for a team with aspirations of promotion from the Championship.

Ok. I just hope I'm not sat round for two hours in freezing temperatures again like I was at Middlesbrough and on Saturday to witness one effort on target over 90 mins. (The official stats for Boro said 2 but I can only remember one). That's not indicative to me of a team that has much interest in the outside chance of a play off spot. I'd also like to see players like Brereton, Chapman and Davenport given an extended chance until the end of the season. If they're not good enough the cut our losses and move on. Don't have them hanging about forever. (I would say the same about Damien Johnson over Mowbray but unfortunately that isn't going to happen) Let's see some passion and enthusiasm and a team that looks like it's having a go. If we lose like that so be it but boring everyone to death in the last couple of games hasn't exactly yielded dividends either.

My starting position is fairly clear and I make no bones about or apology for it. It's been blindingly obvious to me for the last 12 months that Mowbray needs to be replaced and nothing has happened since to change that view, indeed it becomes ever more obvious with every week that passes, with every poor performance, every half baked press conference and every disastrous transfer window that passes. I'm not sure what you can have seen over the last 12 months to make you think otherwise.

I too find it concerning that JRC is injured having not even completed two games for the senior side. My reaction to seeing the news on Sky Sports was "He didn't last long did he?" I commented a few weeks ago about the amateurish nature of the "warm up" during half time of a recent home game which consisted of three of the players stood in a little triangle a yard apart, rolling the ball to each other and having a good laugh. Might be unconnected might not. I don't think we look particularly fit though.