The relegated trio will all be in the picture for promotion im sure. Boro under Wilder I think will be in the shake up too, West Brom with Swift, a fit again Dike and more to come will be up there I think and I would suspect that Sheffield United and Huddersfield will fancy going again.

City and Liverpool are miles better than any other team, no way can Spurs challenge even with Conte considering the amount of average players they have.

I would say unlikely as one of the better centre backs in the league at peak age and a captain to boot, especially considering a lack of fee.

About the fans, "they're paying a hell of a lot of money." You're not wrong!

The refund should be money, I and I presume many others have no interest in anything from the club shop. But yes, they have truly messed up and should never have released the tickets at such high prices, the least they could do is reduce them.

But you are repeatedly ignoring the primary reason as to why the attendances are so low even when someone who is a regular attendee with a clear understanding of the club and also the area is telling you, price.

As stated, why mention that you have had secret supposed meetings that you cannot divulge what happened in other than to appear to know more than everyone else? And why if these have happened are the club having these meetings with individuals in the first place if its all a secret?

The issue isn't that people won't be "on board" with the manager.

Wised up? I certainly havent seen any evidence at all.

Should have been sacked a year ago but then oversaw a season of significant improvement. Micro analysis of the former managers press conferences are no longer needed. Either way, looking forward, we was right to change and roll the dice. Lets hope we can improve our league position and finally break that top 6 ceiling, that has to be the acid test. One thing we have had in the last 5 years is regular goalscorers in Dack, Graham, Armstrong and Brereton. We need Tomasson/the DOF to find a good striker though and hope that Dack and co can chip in with plenty.

Brereton will go, Butterworth and Magloire should also go too. I think we need a back up to Kaminski and loan/sell Pears. We need a first choice right back assuming Nyambe is to go. We need 2 centre backs, 3 if Ayala is to go, at least one with good experience. We need left back competition. 2 or 3 central midfielders, a starting left winger and a starting striker. We need 8-10 new players. Kaminski, Carter, Wharton, Pickering, Travis, Markanday, Hedges, Dack, Buckley, Gallagher, Dolan, maybe Edun although I wouldnt be sad to see him go and Ayala if he stays. I think thats it really.

Unsure what to make of this appointment. Firstly, 100% behind him and wishing him well as is everyone which goes without saying. My hope was an experienced, proven manager at this level (Dyche, Farke, Carvalhal, Jokanovic, Wagner) at the start of this process so there is no point pretending that I didnt want that. Equally, the fear is always either a total novice (Carrick, Ferguson etc) or a journeyman with a worrying CV (Grayson, Pardew, Adkins) could have been appointed, that shouldnt be the benchmark but I am relieved that we didnt go down that route. We could have also gone for one of Ainsworth and Warne, both of whom I would have had mixed feelings about. Tomasson has quite a brief and mixed record in lesser countries and is somewhat of an unknown quantity to us in England but his record at Molde seems to give us plenty of reasons for optimism. The director of football structure has its risks as mentioned but hopefully it will run smoothly. I also dont feel like the amount of insults thrown Mowbray's way within 7 pages specifically about Tomasson is at all necessary. I am right behind letting Mowbray go who was a safe pair of hands and rolling the dice. The aim this season to be judged on should be to improve on last seasons 8th placed finish. The budget is of course critical.

So IF he is not really involved in recruitment then there may be minimal risk of a power struggle. But as I said there is a risk (not a definite) that he will have players signed for him that he doesnt particularly rate or want, this is a risk with this type of structure in general not specific to Rovers. If you choose to dismiss this potential risk and assume that everything will work perfectly smoothly indefinitely then that is your choice. Considering how many mentions of a director of football you have given in the last few months it perhaps wouldnt be natural for you to acknowledge those risks.

I also dont have a database of all clubs that have had a director of football. Even if my comments are just based on common sense, there is an obvious risk of the DOF and manager disagreeing on players etc and the additional role causing additional conflict. It could work seamlessly, but equally there are obvious risks that come with such a structure that only the more ignorant/deluded would totally dismiss out of hand.

Ultimately injuries stopped him from ever gaining any momentum even if he was a really good player but I think his reputation grew when he was absent and he was nothing special.

It seems illogical to focus on a chunk of the season rather than judge based on the entire season. We did improve, we finished 7 places higher. Mowbray was correctly let go but he was a safe pair of hands, the key to rolling the dice is to surely hope for the top 6, not take steps back. We finished 7th places higher, we definitely did improve specifically last season, no matter how much we can speculate about other teams or dismiss the importance of a series of wins in a good run which contributed to that final league finish.

To both of you, it is ok to agree in advance as I am sure often is the case at other clubs but that risk is still always there that the manager doesn't rate the players given to him. If Tomasson does not request much in the way of picking players then ultimately that risk will be particularly prevalent. I'm not saying that it can't work or won't work, just highlighting a big risk of such a structure. Where did you hear that he wasn't his signing.? He rarely played because he was rarely fit predominantly. But even when he did, he was hardly great was he?

I take and agree with your consensus regarding the risk of this structure. But is Davenport a good example? No suggestion that Mowbray didn't pick him and ultimately he spent most of the time especially in the first two seasons on the treatment table, and when he did feature he was unremarkable.

How can you possibly know exactly how the relationship will work? My point is, it can often not run smoothly with the manager not properly consulted in regards to recruitment and he can end up with players he doesn't want or rate. It is a common risk of such a structure, and it certainly doesn't always run smoothly as you suggest.

Don't be pedantic on Tomasson's title, you know what I mean. The risk is that the manager doesn't decide on the players himself and is therefore lumbered with players that he didnt fancy or want. Self-explanatory potential risk/drawback of a DOF/head coach model.

Presumably those journalists don't have the appalling 0% track record that you do! I don't think 51% would be accurate but either way, I certainly appreciated the football personally. Beating Arsenal and drawing with Chelsea and I think United at home, beating Burnley home and away, getting to a semi final, a top half finish, I don't recall being bored. My point was that we massively improved last season on the season before despite selling our key asset, seeing loans return and not reinvesting. Surely the point of sacking Mowbray is to progress beyond that 8th which has been the ceiling for him. The initial posted suggested merit in a potential 15th place finish factoring in "attractive" football. I am not convinced at this stage that we will finish above 15th but I would consider it a big disappointment if we did finish there. We don't know for sure how much of the Brereton proceeds that we will see, I suspect not much if any but I suppose it can barely be any less!

No chance unfortunately, especially for such a modest fee.

I wonder if Tomasson will have much say in recruitment, with this setup there is always a big risk of players being picked above the managers head and subsequently the manager not fancying them.

Turning off the taps wasnt in any way justified, if they had lost faith in Mowbray's recruitment then surely you sack him rather than keeping him but giving him even less favourable conditions to work in! For what its worth I certainly would not consider Mowbray's recruitment to be below par, of course there was a mix but this is the second summer in which we will turn a huge profit on an asset, before you consider the other successes. The 5 players he brought in included the most expensive at 500k who got injured unfortunately, a 200k signing who was genuinely under used, a couple of loanees for depth and a player from the Irish league for the under 23s. Success or failure on such a small budget does not justify not giving him more.

Define what you mean by generational talent, surely that means a talent so good you get one every generation in which Mbappe for example is perhaps one. I hope you are right but I dont see how anyone can possibly say that about a player who has not yet played senior football.