I fear this summer is going to be another absolute shocker. If they give Mowbray a new deal, or bring in some other HSH shitbag, I think the only way I’ll be able to remain engaged is to go into full on protest mode.

Why on earth would any of those out of contract players want to stay at a basket case of a club with zero ambition, for shit money?

And Mowbray is killing our wing backs anyway

I am not sure the back 5 is the biggest issue, and switching to a back 4 wouldn’t do us any good if the other problems persisted. A back 4 with Lenihan and Hedges as full backs would certainly not be an improvement. I’d be much happier if we ditched the wide strikers and false 9 rubbish.

I’ve been confined to bed all bank holiday weekend, so to further sour my already shit mood I’ve rewatched the Peterborough game. The tweaks that we made to our play when we hit the good spell of form have now become our weaknesses. The difference between November and now is massive. The centre backs are now too far apart. Lenihan in particular is obsessed with going out to the touchline and he’s back to engaging with every ball possible like he has done throughout his time as a centre back and all three look far less composed because of this. They get caught out and get in the way. They have also given up on playing simple balls, it always has to be into the channels for Brereton/Gallagher. Brereton and Gallagher are far too wide, they only come anywhere near central when we are in possession in and around the box. It’s why our build up play is so ponderous and we resort to crap long shots. Gallagher is particularly bad in this role, so why he’s selected when dick head had to bring in 10 “wide forwards” I don’t know. Gallagher is also the softest player I’ve ever seen. Because we are so overloaded in wide areas, the opposition players pull wide to defend. This almost completely negates the attacking threat of the wing backs. When we were good you’d see Nyambe knock the ball past his man and run, getting us up the field. There are far too many bodies in both coloured shirts to do this now. The only time we really attempt to get the wing backs on the ball is when they have their backs to goal. Again, The long, high diagonal balls into the corner when they are pushed on up next to our supposed strikers. Buckley was our best player for a spell when he was playing in midfield, but nipping out of midfield and leading the press when they tried to play it out from the back. He’d nick it off their holding midfielder or centre back, but he was in no way shape or form an attacker. He is now completely lost, frustrated and ineffective, because all he is expected to do is chase everything down like prime Paul Dickov. Games are completely passing him by aside from the odd stupid foul and piss weak shot. Our best passer of the ball has nobody to pass to most of the time. The more we have learnt to play the way Mowbray wants us to, the worse we have got. It’s as though Mowbray has instructed the players to do these things (that should be subtle variations from the way they would normally expect to play) all the time, to only concern themselves with them and to forget everything that comes naturally to them. It’s obviously drilled into them too, we aren’t deviating at all. Unless we throw Mowbray’s playbook out of the window (like Derby second half) we will lose again tomorrow.

Because certain people within the club feel that having fans and keeping them happy is not really very important. They also have some hair-brained schemes in mind. One person wants it knocking down and replacing with a hotel with a conference centre. Another person wants another UCFB campus like at Burnley. This person believes that the council will back this idea and help fund it through grants if the club can basically blackmail them by letting the riverside rot.

Absolutely right. He was having a nightmare and his poor touch killed him several times. As soon as he received his first booking it was completely inevitable and blindingly obvious he was going to be sent off.

The worst thing is it’s not all just negligence, some of it is deliberate neglect. They want the Riverside to be condemned and are happy for it to not only become a mess, but dangerous too.

Limited edition Balaji Rao NFTs will find the academy for a few decades I’m sure.

New tactic will be council grants. 3 sided Ewood here we come!

Today Mowbray has decided “we are asking too much of Brereton”. Funny that, seeing as how we didn’t need a centre forward in January because we didn’t play with one. And he decided what we really needed to do was pay money for Ryan Hedges’ contributions since then, despite the fact he was coming in a free at the end of the season. The man is a complete idiot. Brereton did his bit on Saturday. The fact we conceded 2 goals to an absolutely hopeless side was obviously the issue. His moronic substitutions played a big part in this.

It’s looking like my bout of Covid will not have cleared in time to make this. It’s nice knowing that my next match at Ewood will be Mowbray’s last. Predictions - Nyambe to be subbed off within 15 minutes for Aynsley Pears, Gallagher to spend more time sitting down appealing for free kicks than he does in the box, match going crowd to turn on Mowbray, Mowbrayist social media disciples to even further turn on match going fans, results at Ewood and elsewhere to leave us with a mathematically possible but realistically impossible chance of 6th going into the last day.

Not putting him on immediate gardening leave is totally negligent in that case.

How long has this been arranged and is this common knowledge around Ewood? If so it could partially explain his lacklustre attitude and weekly displays of stupidity. And if it’s true allowing him to continue is hugely negligent and a conflict of interest.

Three weeks ago you were really unhappy that I called Mowbray stubborn and argued that he wasn’t. I agree Gallagher had a decent game last time out, but unfortunately I think he will be crap today, and will barely get 5 yards away from the touchline except for when there’s a corner.

Don’t forget there is David Raya. The one who Mowbray didn’t rate, dismissively said “he thinks he can go on to play in the premier league… we’ll see”, and replaced with Christian Walton.

On the plus side, Neither Pickering or Rothwell deserved a start. On the down side Dack should be in ahead of Gallagher. On the really big downside it looks like Buckley as a false 9. The personnel is a lot better, the shape will be as stupid as ever.

Your initial statement was that you didn’t want him, not that he was unrealistic. Unfortunately I think you are right about him being unrealistic with the current shite ownership we have to endure. He’s of a far higher calibre than anyone those idiots would ever appoint.

Dwight McNeil hasn’t done badly for them. He hasn’t had the benefit of an established, elite academy at Burnley. Although through his influence they have made amazing strides in that department. What he has done has got a team genuinely overachieveing year on year. What he has done for that club is astonishing. The day Venky’s rocked up we were light years ahead of Burnley is every way imaginable. Little over a decade on and the roles are well and truly reversed (although their new owners seem determined to fuck it all up for them). This role reversal is down to two factors, one being Venky’s the other Sean Dyche.

Over to @OldEwoodBluefor this one

Get Dyche on the phone right now, pay him what he wants with a massive promotion bonus, send a helicopter to get him down to Peterborough for kick off, book Mowbray a taxi.

I got a bit excited that the goal was going to come against Coventry as he actually went up for corners in the first half!

The ambition must always be promotion. Any manager/CEO/owner, or dare I say supporter who doesn’t share that ambition should go away.

I don’t disagree with much of this. Completely agree with your take on the owners, and I think there’s a pretty good chance they bring in somebody worse than Mowbray. The difference is I can’t be arsed with the state of purgatory we are in any more. I think we are heading into a Mowbray trough, he’s passed his peak and we are in decline. We’re more likely to finish nearer 15th than 8th next season. Stick with Mowbray, we stick with mid table finishes, mounting losses, horrendous patches of form, and a dwindling largely apathetic fanbase. I’d rather roll the dice. We might fluke someone who gets the team performing as more than the sum of its parts for a while, maybe inspires a few more fans back in, brings in a couple of exciting signings. On the other hand we might head into another period of disaster, but a completely disastrous appointment might wake a few more people up to the reality of how shit our owners are.