I’d definitely give him a start. We need to change something round.

If Mowbray doesn’t get us in the playoffs this year he never will. We might be performing above start of season expectations, but those expectations have been reassessed and failure to get in the playoffs is failure full stop. I’m clinging to the hope that we can not only make them, but also win them. If not, next season doesn’t bear thinking about.

Find a narrative you like and relentlessly repeat. It’s all you ever do. No, I hadn’t missed the fact we’ve brought players through from the academy. Being aware of the fact was pretty central to the point I’m making - A point you seem determined to miss. Whatever the reasons for the current situation with Nyambe, Lenihan and Rothwell, the fact is if we lose them for nothing our “model” has failed badly.

We are led to believe that the club have decided to operate with a model wherein we invest in the academy and/or “polish up”, in Mowbray’s own words, cheap signings, and sell them on at a profit. Any comparisons to PSG or anyone else are irrelevant. The situation we are currently in represents a fundamental failure for us as a club to execute the basics of our supposed long term strategy. Again. If we lose three of our best prospects for nothing while still stuck in the Championship we can’t just shrug it off.

Didn’t expect anything here, but we were the architects of our own downfall today. Two really poor goals to gift them. They are a horrible side. When players dive that much I just wish one of our players would send one of them off on a stretcher. Ref was at best unforgivably inconsistent and weak. Pickering was awful, particularly in the first half. Nobody really covered themselves in glory. Dolan tried, Gallagher looked decent until it came to actually doing the job of a centre forward… he was unlucky with the chalked off goal though. Johnson and JRC really sloppy to give away such a cheap offside. Our January business looks more horrific by the week. Unless we get some/all of Nyambe, Brereton and Dack back soon, our season will peter out into nothingness very quickly.

On a par with his performance at Huddersfield earlier in the season.

That’s true. The positive is though he’s as quick with the ball as without it. I thought he did really well against QPR, we didn’t miss Rothwell driving us forward from deep or Buckley’s closing down - Dolan did both.

The same could also be said for the manager, who despite being out of contract in 3 months looks far more interested lately than he has at any point in the last 3 years.

I’m not sure your understanding is as good as you think it is. Why would a loan to buy be a consideration for either us or any potential buyer when he is available on a free at the end of the season? I expect his agent has a far better inside track on who may be interested in signing him than anyone else. For all we know he has a deal lined up already. I also expect his agent isn’t the only person in the world who owns a pen. You mention how Rovers have offered a “good deal”, but that’s literally just parroting Waggott’s long standing line. What is the deal being judged against? I believe he is now (eventually) being offered a significant improvement on his existing terms, but it’s still not commensurate with his status, ability or importance. He is still being treated like an academy graduate rather than an established first teamer. Obviously clubs with parachute payments (and there’s enough of them) have bigger spending power… but look at the wages Bristol City, who have barely ever played top flight football, and not since 1980, pay currently. No doubt they will have to cut back next year, but they pay Nakhi Wells nearly twice what we pay our highest earners. There are plenty of clubs who don’t have parachute payments that will pay more than us. Worth also noting that we’ve had the fat end of a quarter of a billion quid in owner subsidies over the last decade, so moaning about the inequalities of parachute payments is a bit rich. Your summary of his performances is way off. Statistically we pick up far more points when Nyambe plays than when he doesn’t. Over the last 3 years it’s really very clear. This year we have failed to keep a clean sheet when he hasn’t played, and we conceded more than twice as frequently when he’s not on the pitch.

So you are calculating your average from a starting point of him being 17/18 years old. Mowbray stated after the QPR game that Nyambe “has never really had injuries”, when talking about the knee problem he picked up being his first proper one. He’s missed games this season through concussion - hardly preventable or likely recurring. Last season only Kaminski, Lenihan and Armstrong managed more starts than him. The season before he managed 30 starts despite being sat on the bench for the first 10 games of the season where Elliott Bennett was inexplicably preferred. Hamstring niggles happen (see Pickering this year, and Zeefuik has already missed games because of it), but it’s only in Nyambe’s case that it’s made out to be a long term issue. The fact he is closing in on 200 games having just turned 24 makes a mockery of it. It’s another example of Nyambe, for some reason, being held to different standards and judged differently to other players. This thread is absolutely full of it… it’s supposed to be about the contract situation, but with at least 5 players with deals expiring, at least half this thread is people disparaging one single player.

Having got the latest copy of the magazine, I’m not surprised it isn’t selling. At 6 quid it works out at about 20 pence per word. It’s really poor.

From the fans forum minutes…

Every time there has been any reports about contract discussions over the last 2 years we’ve been told that he is being offered a “very competitive deal” that we can’t improve upon.

The offer for Nyambe has been on the table for nearly 2 years now. For the entirety of that period we’ve been assured that it’s as good an offer as the club can make. We’ve not heard that the deal is being re-negotiated due to the player being 2 years more experienced, playing x amount more games, or becoming a more integral part of the team. There were clearly some big budget changes last season when we trimmed off a load of big earners… did that not give some scope to change the offer? ”Nobody knows what he’s being offered” is true, although while not exact, it’s not hard to get a ballpark idea of any of our players reported wages, or the offers made. We also do know that there is an ongoing issue with being able to pay academy graduates a going rate. This isn’t due to budget or ceilings, it’s due to a silly, inflexible model being implemented by inflexible, illogical people. Doubling Nyambe’s wage from 4 to 8k would still only put him level with what Johnson and Davenport currently reportedly pick up.

I’m delighted we broke the hoodoo and finally got a goal, however, still some big questions. We cannot continue to be so profligate in front of goal. We missed plenty of good chances today, and while we can be pleased we created them, the fact our goal came from some horrendous goalkeeping is a worry. I have tried to give Gallagher the benefit of the doubt, but he can’t play as a wide forward. His basics are poor, his positional sense is worse, he looks like a frustrated midfielder, doesn’t seem to want to get in scoring positions, and looked happy to be subbed off. We looked so much more threatening when he went off. Dolan deservedly and clearly MOTM. Did the usual jobs of Buckley and Rothwell singlehandedly. Khadra is a definite threat, but perhaps unsurprisingly as a young attacking loanee isn’t arsed about defending. Should’ve had a couple today, but as iffy as the keeper was for the goal, hit it hard and on target and you never know! Shame that it’s Fulham up next, as it’ll be tough to make this count as the start of a new winning run. Our defence will suffer without Nyambe, and I hope it’s not as serious as it looked. Zeefuik needed a lot of coaching and instruction from his teammates, which is fine and he learns the system and his responsibilities, a more promising run out today though happily - he’s got big shoes to fill. QPR should be no threat at all, they looked very poor. Delighted with the points and it keeps the dream alive!

Makes my worst ever 11. And a dickhead too by all accounts.

Dack. If it was up to me.

Don’t disagree that they were a dirty side, but that’s not the reason we lost. If we play like we did last night for the rest of the season we won’t score another goal. Until our forward players get into goal scoring positions, we are going to drop down the table like a stone. We need to create better chances and take them.

Thought it better to resurrect this thread than go off topic in the match one… Nyambe getting subbed off last night was stupid, and lo and behold, when it happens we conceded. Admittedly, I’m a big fan of his and I wanted to check my theory that we are much weaker defensively without him. Clean sheets with Nyambe: 13 Clean sheets without Nyambe: 0 Average minutes per goal conceded with Nyambe: 114 Average minutes per goal conceded without Nyambe: 54 We also have a much higher points per game when he plays than when he doesn’t. In the 19-20 season the difference was enough to theoretically put us in the top 6… but Bennett was preferred for the first quarter of a season. There’s far too much talk about his attacking limitations (our attackers attacking limitations are the issue) and not enough credit for his overall performances and defensive importance in my opinion.

It’s an absolute disaster if we fail to make the playoffs this year. 10 years of disgrace shouldn’t dumb down our expectations to the level where throwing away this opportunity is deemed acceptable. Finishing 7th will be a complete failure. No different to finishing 21st in reality… unfortunately 7th - 21st is fine with our owners, management and too many supporters.

Mowbray would have had Speedie and Newell stood near the corner flags, only entering the opposition box on the rarest of occasions and Paul Shepstone as a false 9.

I’m as pissed off tonight as I was after the Fulham debacle. We could’ve played til midnight and we wouldn’t have scored. The only players who could’ve had any complaints at being subbed off after 60 minutes were Kaminski, Nyambe, Lenihan, Wharton and Van Hecke. Kaminski - kept us in it, but a rush of blood has proven costly Nyambe - defended fine, took up better positions in the box than our 5 million striker. subbing him off seems personal, no wonder he won’t sign a new deal. Lenihan - very good Van Hecke - Had a couple of dodgy moments (who didn’t) but good overall Wharton - Good Pickering - looked short of match fitness and had a torrid time against a tough opponent. Had our best effort and also took up better positions in the box than Gallagher Rothwell - looks like the Bournemouth fiasco has had an effect. Poor. Dreadful set-pieces, needs taking off them. Silly booking. Travis - just about ok, but more concerned with antics than football. Buckley - horrible performance. Is he believing the hype? I like the lad a lot, but should be dropped next game. Khadra - Greedy, drifts in and out, terrible penalty. Gallagher - seems clueless as to how to play the role expected of him. Poor basics, but runs about a lot… often in the wrong direction. Mowbray - dreadful. Back to his old self. Might be too late, but bollocks to whatever he’s said today. Get Dack back involved at the weekend to try and salvage our bloody season.

How can Rowett expect anyone to take him seriously when he doesn’t even mention how Ben Benson thought the pitch was playable?

I actually really like this. It’s pleasing to see that the focus does seem very much on finishing the season strong and getting promoted. Might be reading too much into it, but there’s a lot of talk of finishing off, and some distancing… I wouldn’t say he sounds like he’s confident he’ll be here beyond the end of the season.

Some good insight from Cornette on the Cody situation. I had also thought that Cody will be an upper-midcarder back in Vince land… he’ll have to be punished for doing the whole AEW thing, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that Vince is effectively buying some serious insider info of the AEW contracts and wrestlers. Very interesting parallel drawn between this and Dusty in 1989.