Ouch. Please don't spoil Tony's "woe is me" agenda by citing inconvenient facts like that! Also it was admitted apparently at the meeting by the manager that more money is always available if he wants it! What's that all about, we must have the only manager in all four divisions who doesn't like bringing players in and won't use the full budget available to him. It's his job to get the best possible team out on the pitch at the earliest opportunity. It's the owners job to decide if they can provide the finances to do that, but if they are willing to do so, Mowbray should definitely not turn it down. Thanks to those who reported back in such detail from the meeting. Sounds like the abysmal performance of the recruitment department since we were promoted didn't receive half as much scrutiny as it might have done. If we had the chance to send Walton back last month that's another colossal error imo. Did anyone ask if the owners or management had any genuine desire to (legally) circumnavigate FFP rules or are we just going to meekly accept it?

Remains to be seen.

Spot on. To reduce things down to the bare bones, imo no - one has really picked up on the fact that we set up trying to nick a point at home yesterday. What's the point in that? We're not going down this season barring the collapse of all collapses and if we were to maintain any faint chance of getting into the play offs we need wins and lots of them. It's almost llike playing for a draw in the last game of the season when you need a win to stay up. He did the same in the season we went down, got far too negative trying to nick a point here and there until we got to the stage where we needed to win the last two games to have a chance of staying up. He had to change his approach and we did win the last two, but by then it was too late. Nothing has changed since then. As you say, no vision no hope.

Totally agree with the last point. Me and my mate were saying at kick off yesterday "What's the point of three strikers on the bench? They can't all play!" Little did we know..........

Good post, far from there being good progress with the squad it's clear we're going backwards in that respect. The Raya money was wasted on Gallagher then we brought in an infinitely worse keeper than Raya on loan so we don't even have our own first choice keeper. After Tosin goes back as well we have one first choice centre half and no adequate left back. In midfield we have a glut of 11/12 options but arguably only Travis who you'd have complete confidence in. The less said about our striking options the better. Graham is completely past it and should have been replaced with an experienced striker long ago. Brereton has flopped thus far but bizarrely given the fact we spent £7m on him he has never really been given a chance. Gallagher wasnt that good last time he was here and it was fairly bizarre we went back in for him at all let alone at £5m and he has regressed still further. Unlike Brereton he's had rather too much game time given his performances. As another poster said somewhere above god only knows why Samuel is still here. Mowbray and his recruitment team have reduced the squad to a shambles in key areas and wasted the majority of the money we're allowed to spend within the regulations so to think he's suddenly going to turn that round and start recruiting well because noises are being made about finally venturing into the European market some eighteen months after it was first mooted is optimistic in the extreme. Our only hope imo is to bring in a manager and team with an eye for a player and who are capable of unearthing hidden or up and coming talent and will play players in their best positions and get the best out of them as opposed to the opposite which we have at the moment.

Agree with most of what you say, but I'm afraid Graham is completely past it. He was embarrassing when he came off the bench at Boro, like a veteran wandering Into a normal game. More short sightedness from Mowbray, Graham should have been being replaced with someone of decent quality the summer before last I also disagree Brereton has had chance after chance, he came on with less than five minutes of normal time to go. That's not really a chance but I accept he hasn't shown much to date. Didn't he play away in our benchmark performance of the season away at Bristol City though?

Wow, absolutely spot on, mirrors my feelings exactly. I can barely drag myself down to Ewood. You know there's absolutely zero chance of doing anything with Mowbray in charge and as such matchdays are about as enticing as a trip to the dentist. Our "style of play" such as it is seems to have graduated from hoofing long balls up to Graham to hoofing long diagonal balls out to Gallagher on the right touchline like a Rugby Union team trying to nick a few yards and win a lineout. Pitiful. The problem is that whilst those in charge and a section of the fanbase still cling to the notion that Mowbray is actually doing a good job then there's no hope of any improvement.

Absolute garbage. Players looking forward to their summer hols already. No passion desire or commitment whatsoever. One shot on target over the 90 minutes. A new record probably set as we saw all five of our available central forwards strung across the pitch at various points. If Chapman couldn't do better than Samuel or Gallagher out wide I'll eat my hat. Message to the owners: please sack this idiot of a manager now and put him and us out of our misery. Otherwise it'll be just more of the same next season.

Thanks chaddy. I think that illustrates the point I'm making.

Thanks for the view Parson. I hope he isn't going to be viewed as a Jack of all trades utility man who can play anywhere as that is probably the best way to ensure he doesn't maximise his potential. I hope everyone including the player has a clear idea of his best position and sticks to it. So far we've had inside forward from Skip, left sided midfielder from Chaddy and attacking right back from you! Even from Saturday I was surprised to hear post match he is viewed as an inside forward as during the game he seemed to be merely filling a hole on the left hand side of midfield and like most of the rest of the team I thought he was completely ineffective.

We'll have to wait and see. We have been talking about extending into Europe ever since we got promoted from League 1 so the fact something is only just happening now isn't the best sign but we'll have to see if things improve in that respect.

I've not seen enough of JRC to make a proper judgement but gut reaction on seeing him for the first time is that if you were to ask me which of him or Buckley is more likely to make the grade I'd say Buckley. The only way to see if they've got what it takes is to give them both plenty of game time. No-one's ever going to improve if they get the Brereton/Chapman treatment and never play.

If that's you not in a huff I'd hate to see you when you were!

The answer to "can" we make the play-offs is of course "yes". The same as the answer to "can" we win the next 16 games or "can" we win automatic promotion next season and follow that up by winning the Premier League and Champions League in seasons 2 and 3 respectively. Of course we "can". (If we win enough games). "Will" any of those events occur?. No.

Quality!

I've no idea as I haven't seen him play before, I was merely responding to Skip's assertion that he was actually an inside forward as that was not the role he was performing yesterday.

If that's the case, does it not beg the obvious question of why we're expecting a young lad to play out of position on his first start? It would be hard enough for an experienced player. Why not just put him in his normal position?

Absolutely spot on. I find it incredible that there are still people about who think he's doing a good job, although I'd say a few I've spoken to recently seem to have changed from being staunch supporters of his to being completely unsure about him so maybe the mood of the fans is shifting somewhat, albeit slowly.

The fact we've advertised our interest in the lad from Liverpool for next season instead of just keeping schtumm about it and getting the deal done when the time comes should ensure that it comes to nothing. I really do despair as to what is going on or rather isn't going on with our so called recruitment department. Agree with the comments above on Mowbray as well. How can any manager be shocked by or unaware of the amounts players earn or expect?

"One or two?" He made two mistakes that led to goals away at Forest alone!

I thought JRC was pretty ineffective yesterday and like another poster abovw I was somewhat underwhelmed given the sort of build up he has had from those who have seen more of him. Nevertheless it was only his first game so you can't judge him too harshly and I look forward to seeing what he can do given an extended chance. I'd far rather see him and Chapman in the side than Gallagher and Bennett.

Just got in from a night out in Middlesbrough. Fortunately it was a lot better than the game. Terrible game between two poor sides. We actually took the lead through an excellent goal from Travis against the run of play at that point and it was the first effort I could recall feom us being on target. After that Boro were so bad I thought we were nailed on for the win until Wally Walton gifted them a goal by pushing a tame shot straight back out into the six yard box. Following that we were lucky not to lose as Gestede in particular put a header wide from point blank range when it was easier to score. The result and performance merely highlighted for me we're going nowhere and never will do with Mowbray in charge.

Really don't think they would. Similarly you could put up with finishing 15th or lower temporarily if you could see evidence that there was a promising team of youngsters emerging. But not a load of sad sacks who are never going to get you promoted and never going to get any better.

It's not hard info, I'm only surmising, but you're right, if your projections are anywhere near correct then this summer is vital.

Please don't. Being made aware of Chaddy's increasingly frantic attempts on Twitter to find out if there was any Rovers related news when he should have been enjoying a night out with his good lady was bad enough, the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Like Alan Partridge self imploding live on air when Roger Moore should have been coming in. But didn't. Don't take it the wrong way Chadster, everyone should have your passion and enthusiasm.