An improvement on par with when he took Derby who had finished 6th on 75 points, used his contacts to sign top class loanees and finished 6th on 74 points. Super Franky Lampard.

I don't think it is a good journalistic quality to find something out but rather than release a story, to keep that information to yourself only releasing it if someone asks you on twitter!

I don't know for sure. But because our manager was only officially sacked this week. This (the most reliable of sources we have which isn't saying much) was on Friday: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/20137439.inside-blackburn-rovers-new-manager-search-tony-mowbray-exit/ Interest in the job has been strong, with applications from managers all over the world, though no shortlist has yet been drawn up as Rovers take an open mind to their search. With applications still being taken, and coaches continuing to put their names in the ring, Rovers will take their time to assess the candidates and carry out the necessary due diligence so won’t be rushing into any decision.

I will bring you up to date. We almost certainly haven't interviewed anyone yet.

I would say about Rich Sharpe that he never breaks any stories really but equally he doesn't come out with the shite that Nixon comes out with, the £50m warchest and the 6 man shortlist being obvious examples. Out of interest, if you don't think that Rich Sharpe or indeed Alan Myers have any worthwhile insider information, why are you questioning them both on twitter for bits of gossip? Your comments second guessing the Lenihan familys preferred location to live was laughable.

Can't see past Leeds going down, watched their game today and some of their defending was piss poor, such a disorganised side with Brighton regularly getting in behind in the first half, players constantly kept onside by a defence that was never in line. Brighton coasted in the second half and Leeds I would say deserved a draw but its not enough. Burnley looked good v Spurs and I can see that game in hand being crucial. Everton seem to have stayed up by default due to the ineptness of Leeds in particular and Burnley too. The media will no doubt laud the work of Lampard who has impressively taken them from 16th to 16th.

Lots of hopefullys and assumptions there, based on very little aside from gossip and blind faith. Hopefully they have learnt, but you will question why people do base their worries on previous decisions yet seem oblivious to why people will question why you have just assumed that they may have learnt. At least those people have historical actions as evidence to their opinion. Presume by "more scope" you mean FFP because we will as a Championships club make a loss every year so selling Armstrong wont stop that, yet they rejected the opportunity to spend 2m on the pitch that was needed that wasn't eligible under FFP, so that disproves that the main factor stopping further investment is FFP. If you think they genuinely are interested and invested emotionally then fair enough, maybe you haven't paid much attention over the last 12 years and follow the commonly held belief that merely ensuring that the club remains a club is a reason for praise! The 6 man shortlist was a bit of gossip made up by Nixon before Mowbray had even gone, there is no indication that we are interviewing people so why you are clinging onto this rumour as factual is beyond me.

Why do you claim to know the inner workings of every players family?! How could you possibly know how the Lenihan family and whether they would be happy to move to the North East, or indeed whether it would "suit" them? Absolute nonsense and not the first time you have refused to acknowledge that not everyone will share your opinion that anywhere aside from the North West would be a downgrade! You mention promotion aspirations, Wilder is probably as good and ambitious an appointment as you can get at Championship level, and Boro massively improved upon his appointment, so if you are talking Premier League aspirations, surely that move (if its true, my point isnt specific to gossip and rumours specific to Boro, I mean about any move) would fit in line with that anyway? I stand by my 2 points. Money is key, its crucial to everyone and will be a driving factor in the vast majority of changes of employment not even specific to money, so if someone puts in front of him a fairly decent rise compared to the deal that we have offered, they will almost certainly have the upper hand. Time is also of the essence and he won't wait forever even if he would consider who our next manager was, and you seem keen to share most rumours but when you have asked (another) journalist a question on twitter and their response does not particular hint at a quick appointment, I find it interesting that you choose to exclude sharing that!

Your mindset seems to be to question those who are basing their opinion that Venkys are unlikely to get this/these decisions right and/or that agents wont be key to the decision on the basis that the last managerial decision was 6 years ago. Surely the onus is on you to tell people why you assume that they HAVE suddenly changed and now know how to run a football club? Much more minor in the grand scheme of things but you can see signs that they are not emotionally interested and invested in the club. They claimed that they would attend a game this season, they didn't. The manager wasn't able to reinvest any of the Armstrong money nor was he given money when 2nd in January. The owners seemingly haven't communicated with the manager etc for at least 6 months. The owners flatly declined a fairly moderate 2m necessary spend on a new pitch last summer despite it not falling under the criteria of the common excuse of FFP. It seems like the managerial search falls on the remit of Waggott rather than the owners, which itself is likely an example of delegating such a key task to someone who perhaps isn't suitably up to that job. You don't know that the club know who they want to interview nor whether it will be "shortly" as you say. Watford sack their managers often before things are allowed to manifest and turn really sour.

All that video is doing is giving the referee a chance to see something that he may not have fully seen. One man at the pace of a match at that level with the potential for a number of the 22 players getting in the way, he is unlikely or cannot be expected to always get a clear view. It's one of them I suppose. VAR is a way of getting more decisions right and giving referees much more evidence on which to make key decisions upon. That being said, it can take away the element of spontaneity. It isn't perfect but I am not sure that anyone who is dead against it can strongly criticise decisions made in competitions where it doesn't exist, considering they are so against the most useful solution.

The ref did decide based on what he saw, which was in line with the current rules. VAR often gets the blame for when decisions are given according to the laws of the game that people perhaps don't agree with, which is a totally different argument altogether. I was against VAR initially but you cannot argue that it doesn't improve the accuracy of decisions.

VAR again was not the issue but will no doubt get the blame. All that VAR did was allowed the ref to be highlighted of a handball that under the current rules was then correctly given as a penalty.

I think you are being very naive assuming that Lenihan will wait with any certainty. The first thing is money, if a team offers him a decent pay rise, like the vast majority of people, he will probably go there instead, its a short career and he will be Also, he will not wait indefinitely and you know what our club is like with unnecessary delays, things having to be signed off in India etc. Even if he is interested to see who our next manager is, if we don't appoint one in reasonable time he will have long gone. Interesting that you have copied onto here every single twitter interaction with journalists over the last week or so, but not the below which suggests that the imminent appointment you seem to expect doesn't seem particularly likely. Nothing was clearly lined up as was mooted by some.

He only had a cameo at Stoke and didnt play in the return game. He did start v Sheffield United when he wasnt stand out but did a decent enough job and kept his place for the following game at Bristol City where he was less effective and was dropped for the next game at home to Peterborough. We won 4 nil and coupled with a move to a formation with only 2 midfield slots we then went on a winning run so he cant justifably feel aggrieved at being taken out then. His main downfall has been his terrible injury record which continiously prevented him from gaining momentum and ultimately when he did play he didnt make sure he couldnt be dropped. I tried to find the quotes you mentioned but couldnt. But I very much doubt that the likes of Buckley are massive talkers, maybe he was wanting more authority from Davenport who when he did play often let games pass without really influencing them.

Even in those 2 years he has had injuries, he missed the last few weeks this season I think with injuries. Has he ever really announced himself when he has played? This season no one in their right mind would have dropped Travis or Rothwell and he seems to get better and better by not playing. I know its the easiest narrative to pin everything on Mowbray but not sure its the case here.

With me? I don't think its unjustified pessimism that causes me to fear the worst regarding key decisions made under Venkys ownership! I suspect that in a couple of weeks the role will still be vacant.

I think I would describe that as blind faith. I suppose it wont be Venkys directly picking unless an agency muscles in and their "naivety" wins again. Farke yes, Carvalhal probably yes I would consider to be good appointments. I expect someone probably not mentioned yet and not for a long while either.

With the likes of Nyambe, Lenihan and the extension in Brereton's contract, they are all proven regular players at this level so it is straightforward to try and tie them down even before a manager comes in. With Davenport, he has had 4 seasons and has never proven his worth so it seems counterproductive to try and keep him on the off chance that he looks ok when he occasionally features. Davenport's main issue throughout his Rovers career has been injuries so he isn't fit for purpose even as a potential squad player because he isn't reliable on. I don't think he has been particularly short changed by management either in that he has at times filled in and looked ok but he has never made himself undroppable, perhaps partially down to his struggles to keep fit for any extended period. He has been here for 4 years now and has not impressed for any significant period, seems to make sense to me to move him on and allow him to try and nail down a spot elsewhere (probably League 1 or 2) rather than potentially lumber him onto a new manager.

Ideally we will go for a manager of the calibre that you mention, but as I said I don't have faith that we will, we just have to look back over 12 years to see why.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/20138428.remaining-decisions-rovers-blackburn-finalise-retained-list/ Hints that Davenport and Butterworth might be kept on which would be the wrong decision both financially and from a footballing perspective. Davenport has been here for 4 years presumably on not insignificant wages having been at City and has spent much of that time injured. When he has played he hasn't really impressed and has never kept a place in the team, just let him go. Butterworth is terrible, he can't run for longer than 5 minutes and he comes across as lazy, I remember that Boro game when we had to carry him even though he had come on supposedly to give us fresh legs when we were short of forward options. He didn't do anything at Fleetwood, let him find a club lower down.

"Throw £20m at as every year" is not a reasonable summary of what happens. Taking the actual amount as gospel, it implies that the money is injected as a means of ambition, when in fact it is common place across the Championship that teams make losses and have to offset them via debt or more likely issues of share capital. I dont get why so many naturally assume that the sole limiting factor is FFP, as if Venkys deserve the benefit of the doubt to assume that otherwise they would be investing more. Take the example of the pitch, they chose not to invest 2m to re-lay it but that was exempt of FFP. Why would they come here? Luton finished 6th, its not even as if we offer more money anymore. It isnt just confidence, he has clearly developed technically and physically. He uses his body which has naturally filled out much better, he wins fouls, he holds it up, he does so much more. But I really dont like this idea that the fans expected the finished product. They didnt but what was on show was a player who for 2 years looked so out of place, the fans were remarkably patient in my opinion.

Imagine that indeed, dream rather than reality I suspect.

I actually think that his finishing has gone from being wild to being very clinical and technically good. I think back to his second at home to Peterborough, his goal at Peterborough, his first v Cardiff and his goal at Bristol City all come to mind. Mind you, he has got his fair share of penalties and tap ins to get the numbers up as any goalscorer needs. I can't see any transfer links at the moment being right considering we have no manager. But Pearson will have already been on a decent wage at Bournemouth prior to a hike following promotion, I can't see how that deal could ever happen.

Transfer recruitment was an example of the sort of task that a head coach wouldn't be responsible for, not a sole job description. Carrick was an example of a rookie manager, my point was that it might be easier to justify employing a rookie or a no mark as a head coach under the proviso that he has less responsibility anyway under that particular structure. The 6 man shortlist was an easy headline that was very premature but is ultimately not far off being impossible to disprove, in order to get people to read his nonsense. The general consensus is that we are still taking in applications and haven't narrowed everything down yet, although that doesn't stop people from harassing journalists for hourly updates and micro-analysing the betting odds. I have no confidence that either of these job roles will be filled by competent people or indeed with any speed or efficiency. Lets hope I am proved wrong against all historical examples.

If I had to bet on a Burnley side fighting for their lives at home to a Newcastle side who have nothing to play for with a couple of ex dingles thrown into the bargain, I know where my money would go.