He is simply not good enough. Forget about scoring goals, he can't even strike a ball cleanly. It's ridiculous the amount of shots that he has scuffed, pea rolled and failed to get any power behind. There are strikers all over the country, League 2, Conference, Sunday League, you name it, who can hit a ball better than he does.

What I want to know is, who the heck recommended him as a signing? For me, there is no chance that Balaji knew of him beforehand. Somebody recommended him. Who and why?

I seem to remember there being a desperate panic to get our transfer budget spent at that time. There was mention of late bids going in for Luke Freeman and Celina which were turned down. Then we go all in for Brereton with the Forest fans left stunned that we were paying £7m for him.

It has to go down as the worst piece of transfer business in our history, imo, especially as it was at a time when £7m could have really gone far in strengthening a few areas of our squad.

This really is the pits. If any result was to sum up the owners' run of terror it's losing 1-0 at rock bottom Wycombe. A woeful, hopeless, pathetic performance. Absolutely sick of this garbage. "Mowbray's teams are pleasing on the eye", "Mowbray's teams play attractive football". Some of those Sky pundits need to watch this crap that we have to put up with!

I've wasted so much money on ifollow this season yet have only enjoyed two matches. I was suckered in after the Norwich game, but that's me done with the match passes now.

I'm not expecting any response from Pune whatsoever. It's a bloody sorry situation seeing our club held hostage by utter buffoons.

£7m and he can't even strike a ball cleanly. There are Sunday League forwards who can strike a ball better than Brereton. He never seems to get a proper shot off.

If we play like we did at Norwich we will win this comfortably. However, we have form for making things difficult for ourselves. I'm going for a not so comfortable 1-0 win.

2 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

 

Mowbray: '' this club have invested a lot of money on different systems, data-driven systems that cost quite a lot of money that spill out the names of the footballers who spit out the names of the players we want to play''

I suspect that all of this new technology and new systems are going over his head and he hasn't got a clue how they really work. That quote reads like waffle to me where he is pretending he gets it.

Why can't we keep things simple? It feels like the more clever and smart we try to be, the worse we actually get on the pitch. Nothing beats seeing a player for yourself out on the pitch, but maybe that's just me.

There have been a few, mostly from around 2001-07, but Tugay tops the list for me. We won't see that kind of quality in our midfield for a long time. Friedel is a close second. Simply an outstanding goalkeeper. We were fortunate to have witnessed such heroics in goal.

Bit controversial, but I'd have Lucas Neill in my top 5. I thought he was an excellent defender for us during his time here. I loved his robust style, he was a decent passer and looked to get forward too. He handled tricky wingers like Ronaldo etc quite well, I thought. It's a shame he left on a bit of a sour note, as he was a solid and reliable player for us.

55 minutes ago, funny-old-game said:

 

These are some of the comments fro Norwich fans forum.

 

Blackburn played really really well apart from the dirty tactics, best team to play at Carrow Road this season and well worth their point. Worried about the injuries. Ref was appalling, zero cards all game?! Must have been watching a totally different game to me.

 

Blackburn fully deserved the point, best visiting team at Carrow Rd this season. 

Not best of performance, but have to give a credit to Blackburn who had come to really play and challenge for win instead of just defend.

Basically, yeah. Blackburn have come here to play and are pushing us off our game. We haven’t adapted and we’re getting bullied a little.

Blackburn by far the most impressive visitors to Carrow Road for quite a while and have probably been the better of the two teams in the first half. However, they've been working extremely hard and hopefully they will slow down and we can get on top in the second 45 minutes. 

The Norwich fans aren't the only ones. Fans of a couple of other clubs have said Rovers were the best team to visit their grounds this season too. There have been a few "Why aren't Blackburn higher in the league" questions going around online.

Millwall and Swansea fans were questioning why they made us look like Bayern Munich during our games with them (Erm, that may be because we actually are like Bayern, lads...ha!)

It's frustrating reading such comments as we've wasted another season due to the manager overthinking and trying to be too clever. Had he kept it simple, played players in their correct positions and been braver in games we would have been a lot closer to 6th place.

Enjoyable game that. Good to see us finish strongly. We've been setup wrong far too often this season. Not been his biggest fan over the years, but fair play to Lenihan today. He made some brilliant interceptions.

Get in! Enough time for a winner yet.

It feels like every game I look at the opposition and think "these aren't anything special". Same again today. We've been comfortable in the main so far. A bit of bravery goes a long way in this division.

3 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

If this happens, I am afraid to see TM post-game, grinning like a gargoyle.

Even our relegation season, Rovers offed champs Newcastle, by identical 1-0 scores. Small consolation.

We have a history of doing that, landing a blow on one of the teams at the top end. It happened many times during our Premier League days. Even at our worst, as you mentioned, we beat Newcastle away under Coyle. Yeah, it didn't count for much in the end, but it was an enjoyable result on the day and we put an end to their winning streak.

I'd bloody love a win for us tomorrow regardless of the post match reaction.

Feeling optimistic about this game for some reason. I think we're going to win tomorrow. Norwich are due a defeat and won't be expecting much from us based on recent form. We'll get chances to hit them on the break with the pace of Armstrong and Dolan. This might be one of those rare games where things click.

Norwich 1-2 Rovers, with me shouting "why the heck did we not play like this earlier in the season" at the laptop.

24 minutes ago, CambridgeRover said:

"I hear every week from other managers how good our team is, but generally that is on the back of a 1-0 defeat.”

I cant believe he said that. Was Kean ever that deluded?? That must be a wind up.

Comical. The only reason other managers compliment our team is because they see us as a soft touch and of no threat to them. Do you think they would be speaking well of us if we were battling with Norwich at the top? Would they heck as like. Think back to Arsene Wenger crying about Rovers and calling us "bully boys". When other managers don't like playing us and don't want to compliment us that's when you know we are doing well.

It's very easy for them to say a few nice words after stitching us up for 3 points. It means nothing.

We're going to beat Norwich on Saturday, aren't we? I can just feel it. They are on a 8 game winning streak and are bound to lose one soon, one that nobody sees coming. I think Saturday is going to be Mowbray's "Old Trafford" moment, a win that keeps him here that bit longer.

Absolutely dire stuff.  I don't think the Bristol City defence has had an easier night all season. We never looked like scoring.

Saturday is the last £10 I will spend on ifollow this season. If it wasn't against the table toppers and for me having a (deluded) hope of us doing something mad at Carrow Road, I would pack ifollow in right now.

We aren't scoring even if this goes on until midnight. It was the same against Brentford. Pointless possession, no threat at all in the final third.

Have a listen to what Keegan says from 1:26 onwards. That's exactly the type of attitude I want to see from a Rovers manager. Mowbray is so far away from that kind of positive approach it's unreal. Bigging up average opposition every week just to cover himself. It gives players an excuse and puts doubts in their minds before a ball has even been kicked.

There are many things that wind me up about this lot. The defeatist, loser mentality is right up there as one of them. The fact he makes out as if he is some sort of football visionary is absolutely laughable.

10 minutes ago, Riversider28 said:

I just love the atmosphere of a night match. 
Does anyone know where this photo may have been taken from?

I saw this on twitter a couple of days ago. I think the photographer said it was taken from the top of Earl Street.

It's the "forget the Premier League" line that doesn't sit well with me. It might have been said hypothetically by the author, but that is exactly what a lot of the fan base has been conditioned into thinking. Not just that, it plays right into Mowbray and Waggott's hands.

Mowbray's talking down of the club, Waggott making out we are lucky to have Mowbray, the L1 promotion being milked for all it can. All of that creates a false notion that mid table Championship is ok and the best we can hope for. Do the pair of them want promotion? I seriously don't think they do. The proposal to sell off and downgrade our Premier League standard training facilities for no real reason says it all for me.

Unfortunately a number of fans seem to be content with mid table Championship these days. Waggott comes across as a 'normal' CEO, he isn't Shebby, Mowbray isn't Kean/Coyle and the club isn't Bolton or Wigan. All negative, miserable viewpoints, imo, that make mid table mediocrity seem appealing and weirdly comforting to some.

Joe obviously means well, I respect that he has put some time into coming up with a solution, so this isn't a slight on him. I just feel that Mowbray and Waggott would be smiling from ear to ear if they were to read that article. "Forget the Premier League" is music to their ears, though they will never admit it.

The plan suggested would, imo, result in us giving up hope and end any ambition to get back to where we used to be and also allow 'easy street' to continue unchallenged.

The only solution for me is for the owners to get a decent manager in and back a proper promotion push. After all, Mowbray told us the owners were excited after our L1 promotion and wanted to fund an immediate push for the Premier League but he had to "calm them down". It shows it is possible but only if the owners bite the bullet and make a bold decision.

41 minutes ago, windymiller7 said:

Can you imagine letting Bruno Fernandez loose against our current midfield! 🤣

I don't know what would be worse, the inevitable drubbing or the sympathy from some of their fans afterwards.

I know a number of their fans who are sympathetic towards us these days. There's even a thread on one of their forums about Rovers with some saying they miss us and want us back in the Prem. I preferred it when they hated playing us.

41 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

Coyle was sacked on Tuesday afternoon.after 3pm after we played Man Utd at home in FA Cup

I wonder if losing to United 'shames' the owners into taking action? If I remember rightly, Allardyce was sacked after a heavy defeat at Old Trafford. Coyle was sacked after the FA Cup defeat to United. There's plenty of United fans in India, maybe even among Balaji's group of friends for him to lose face on those occasions.

Could just be a coincidence, I suppose. I'm just wondering what the heck it will take for them to do something.

25 minutes ago, Don Said said:

I think a lot of the clues point towards Pulis. On the books of the agency supplying our previous 4 managers. And I’m sure he himself would chuck his cap straight in for the job. Convenient for both Venkys and Pulis.

 

I think so too. I'm convinced Pulis is going to be the next man in. I really hope that doesn't happen.

The thing that winds me up is that the Mowbray backers aren't doing so based on any real footballing reasons, it's simply based on sentiment. I've seen some even go as far as to say that they would move Mowbray upstairs if we were to get a new manager in. Why? Why are they so afraid to say Tony has to leave?

They don't want him sacked because of this narrative of him being a nice, honest, family man who rescued Rovers. He probably is a nice guy, but since when has that ever been a reason to keep hold of a manager who is failing to get results? Throw in the promotion from L1 and it's a case of "Ah, he deserves another year, he needs more time". They just can't say what needs saying. For how long are these fans going to use L1 as an excuse to hide the fact that they have no ambition and that they are afraid of change? Let's forget the Premier League and stick with mid table Mowbray then, eh.

Mowbray has done some good things, yes, but he isn't the man to take us up. I don't get why saying we want Rovers to challenge for promotion with a proper manager in charge is seen as a crime and viewed as "pathetic" by some. It really is baffling. What the heck do they want for their club?