Great post. To use the famous turn of phrase it was obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse that we needed to bring in at least 3 players last summer to go straight into and improve the first eleven. If that had have happened then one more of similar ilk coming in in January would have freshened things up and kept everyone on their toes. Then two or three more top quality additions again this summer and we're good to challenge at the right end of the table. None of that has happened and indeed quite the contrary has happened, a raft of players who should have been moved on have been handed new deals. As a result we're in a right mess and imo Mowbray's handling of the playing side of things has been criminally negligent. Yet we do have some promising players at the Club, albeit Mowbray refuses to play them. Bring in a vibrant younger manager with a more positive outlook and sign a couple of actual centre halves, a dominant midfielder and spend big on a proven striker and all may not be lost. There's little doubt in my mind though that if nothing changes we're heading straight back to League 1.

Think you're missing the point completely. Mowbray is struggling to match the points otal of a side managed for two thirds of the season by Coyle. So what does that say about him?

Imo Mowbray has completely neutralised Dack by bypassing him with our long ball style of play to the extent where he has had to resort to coming back to take the ball off the toes of the centre half to get on it. As a result I think he has lost some of his spark and mojo. However, whether or not Dack's dip in form is down to the manager or down to the player being a bit of a tit is largely irrelevant. That isn't the major issue. The bigger issue is that we are almost solely reliant on Dack and if he isn't on song we are completely bolluxed. In that respect we haven't moved forward as a Club one iota since we were in League 1. We have a poorish team. Then we have Dack. That is the problem. Not Dack.

Not remember the 30 yarder he scored?

My reaction entirely whenever I watch him. Time to stop being so soft on some of these underperforming players, they haven't been "good servants" at all on the whole, they've been instrumental in years of mediocrity/failure punctuated by one decent season in a League we should arguably never have been in in the first place.

Im on the same sort of lines as you team wise, I'd play Magloire at CB, the only game we've won in recent times was with him at CB and his presence and enthusiasm seemed to give us a lift. The others seemed briefly roused from their lethargy as they wanted him to do well and were really pleased for him when we kept a clean sheet. Also BB up front and pass the ball into feet. Id go: Raya Nyambe Magloire Lenihan Bell Reed Travis Chapman Dack Rothwell Brereton Tony will go: Raya (Sub Bennett 64) Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett Bennett

Yep, I find it amusing how people finally have finally cottoned on to how utterly useless these two particular players are about two years after I did!. Hopefully people will no longer think I was being peevish because said players were enjoying inappropriate relatiions with my better half.! On a serious note it's no laughing matter though. Corry Evans was briefly sensational when he first joined the Club but after getting injured on international duty shortly thereafter he has been absolutely chronic yet for some reason he gets picked week in week out, month in month out season in season out and gets rewarded with pay rises and contract extensions and the like. Ditto Bennett. He's been terrible ever since he joined the Club and has only ever briefly had a decent spell in central midfield in League 1. Even when he's having one of his better games he's merely completely ineffective. Ditto Conway. Many years past his sell by date and awarded a new contract on purely sentimental grounds last summer. Ditto Williams. How is he even considered for first team selection? There must be youngsters around the Club better than he is. I don't understand it. Does the fact the manager likes all of the above and/or they're a good old bloke round the Club on a day to day basis completely blind the gaffer to what they're actually doing out on the pitch?

With all due respect, surely Mowbray falls into that category anyway. We're not talking about the possibility of replacing Kenny Dalglish are we?

Might be true. If he'd play them!

But by the same token, someone else would not necessarily be any worse either and might well be significantly better. If you took your viewpoint you'd never change the manager ever. To be fair to Venky's out of their last three permanent appointments they came up with Lambert who theoretically should have been a massive improvement on Bowyer but wasn't, and Mowbray who did well initially. They also apparently identified Warnock before being persuaded to take the cheaper option in Coyle. That was a catastrophic error as I'd take Warnock over Coyle or Mowbray every day of the week.

Not actually too bothered by TM's comments about Dack. If there has been some sort of spat, you'd expect him to try and protect the player. Normally I'd back the manager in this sort of situation but given a choice between the two I know who I'd sooner see the back of and his initials are not BD.

Spot on Stuart. This is why I don't trust TM to make many or any of the necessary changes in summer. If he was serious about making changes then you'd have thought the planning for next season would already have started, younger players would have had their chance and the obvious culprits would be being phased out. There's absolutely no point in persisting (and losing) with the same old faces week after week after week. Unless of course, they are actually still very much part of your plans for next season.

Id say its lasted half a season since Preston away. Thank Christ we pulled those 4 wins out of nowhere in January otherwise we'd have been sunk.

But but ............we're only 15 points off the play offs!

Obviously over the years there's the odd occasion when you can't make a game due to illness, work or social commitments etc. but I think this is the first time in 48 years I've CHOSEN to miss a game and do something else. I've seen more than enough of Mulgrew/Williams/Bennett/Conway/Smallwood/Evans and trying to hoof the ball long towards Graham to know that watching more of the same tired old crap is a complete waste of my time. Seems like a good decision on the day. TM should have gone a few weeks ago allowing us to plan for next season. Sorry if it offends anyone but imo the standard of our performances was never anywhere near this bad under C o y l e. It was just that under him we couldn't defend to save our lives. I always thought the players were playing for him and tried their best. I will be there Tuesday I think. Im not expecting anything unless he is bold and puts Rothwell Dack and Chapman in behind Brereton and gives a couple of youngsters a chance.

With the aid of several penalties Graham has scored more than Assombalonga seemingly but you could see from the Boro home game that anyone thinking there is any comparison at all between the two needs to give their head a wobble. Also interesting by way of comparison that I would say Dack has had a pretty poor season overall yet is only one goal behind.

It's all relative though. Top scorer in a team that only has three players who can find the net and who has managed just four points out of thirty might not be as impressive as it sounds.

Again correct. With Graham in the side at this level we've been nearly relegated, relegated and probably not that far off being relegated by season end. Not all his fault of course but nevertheless to suggest he is the answer up front if we want to push on is madness. Most importantly age and fitness are against him he is rapidly on the decline and nowhere near as mobile as he was when he first joined us on loan under Lambert.

Apologies if all this has been mentioned above but I find the second half of this season extremely odd. In January we had a theoretical chance of the play offs so any manager worth his salt should have been hammering the owners' door down demanding a couple of impressive additions to freshen things up and try to sneak into the top six. Instead TM declared himself largely satisfied with the tools at his disposal and as a result we predictably fell away immediately the window was over. Thereafter it was soon obvious the remainder of the season was a dead rubber so it should have been all about planning for next season yet there is little or no sense that this is the case. What is the point of playing Mulgrew, Williams, Evans, Smallwood Conway and Bennett? We know they're not good enough going forward already. At the front we also need to develop a style of play that involves passing the ball along the ground and which brings Dack into play and doesn't simply consist of hoofing the ball long and high to Graham. It wouldn't particularly have mattered if we'd brought in a load of youngsters and never won another point all season. That has more or less happened with the old guard anyway and we're learning absolutely nothing. whereas at least we might have seen if various players might be useful going forward and make a start on implementing a new style of play. Get as many youngsters in as possible use our best central midfielder Reed in his correct position alongside Travis whilst we still have him and up front get Rothwell Dack and Chapman in behind Brereton, play to feet and stick with it until the end of the season. The likeliehood is that BB may not be ready or good enough yet, but at least we'll find out. Alternatively he might surprise us. But let's not limp on losing week after week with players who need the big heave ho in summer. Let's use the remainder of this season productively. The worst thing that could happen is we carry on as we are and have to try and change things around having lost the first four or five games of next season.

Why then, having made such a fundamental and obvious mistake does he deserve the chance to carry on? We hung onto Bobby Saxton for way too long out of a misguided sense of loyalty after he had completely lost the plot as well. Also have to disagree on Dack. "Hopes" of a sale to refinance tbe squad is completely the wrong way to look at it imo. If interest has indeed cooled from elsewhere in a big money move move for him whilst he has been craning his neck to watch tbe ball being launched in the general direction of the statuesque Graham..........then perhaps every cloud has a silver lining.

Agreed. The guy is virtually finished. Plus we have to hoof the ball high and long with him in the team making us extremely one dimensional. Whilst our defence is cack, that should theoretically be relatively easy and nexpensive to sort out if whoever is in charge has the will to do so. The single most important factor on how well we do next season imo will be how good the striker is who comes in to replace Graham as main man because top strikers cost the big money.

Go go go, now, before he does any more damage. For me needs to be gone tomorrow and the planning needs to start for next season and beyond. I don't expect this to happen, I expect us to limp on oblivious with the old has beens until the end of the season as if everything is perfectly ok. TM will then talk a good game about bringing in a number of first team starters in summer but in reality he will tinker round the edges once again with the excuse being made that proven Championship players are very expensive. We'll start next season with basically the same eleven as we have now. Our hand will then be forced in or around December time with our League position so precarious and the squad in such a state that the next person coming in will be very hard pushed to save us. (In much the same way Mowbray couldn't)

Don't know what to think any more, does TM simply not care any longer and is thumbing his nose up at the supporters and the younger players by just picking his old mates regardless of form and results? What in the name of god is he doing starting Conway? Is he trying to get his appearances to the point where we are obliged to give him another new contract?

How can TM have the bare faced cheek to say we need to "win some games with the players we trust and know"? It's precisely because those very same players have been stinking the joint out that we have 4 points from 30 and something like 22 points from 24 games and why tbe youngsters deserve their chance! I'm starting to change now from unfortunately TM needs to go to he needs to go as a matter of the most utmost urgency.

It began away at Preston.