RevidgeBlue

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.

No one has said it's his fault we went down, the question was asked "Where were we headed when he took us over"? The answer was League 1 and the fact was stated that that is exactly where we ended up anyway! Obviously there is context to that but those supporting Mowbray don't like context when it doesn't suit ie citing our League position after a win which might temporarily push us up a couple of places up the League. The fact we might be say tenth iin any given week is cited as irrefutable evidence of huge strides being made despite the fact we may be only three points off 15th or the football is dire or we've just had another disastrous transfer window etc. The fact we might occupy a respectable position in the League in any given week apparently stands on it's own and can't be challenged. But mention the fact that Mowbray failed in his initially assigned task of keeping us up, that raises howls of derision and has to be put into context!!

Any news about the weather conditions? Are we due a bad news announcement such as the the game is still on? ?

Errr......League 1 - exactly the same place as we ended up AFTER he came in? Edit: Amo beat me to it!

Absolutely. I can maybe understand that the Club might not want to restrict the advertising potential of that stand but it hasn't stopped us doing something similar with the Blackburn and Darwen Ends. If there was any real appetite to do it within the Club then that's the solution. Would be a bit too classy for Waggott though I'd imagine. He'll be way too busy trying to find extra ways of grinding even more money out of the dwindling hardcore like the matchday tax and charging £7.50 for a pie and a pint.

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.