Mercer

Wow - instant return, almost! COYB

No pre match bets today. Just gone £50 Rovers win at 10/1 and £10 2-1 at 10/1. Definitely. betting with the heart fuelled by red wine! Mowbray's a luck bugger.

Huge risk introducing Dack - very, very little game time. Hope he doesn't break down.

Happy Christmas - wishing everyone a healthy festive season.

IMO, you are spot on - I've said this on a number of occasions. I think it's all about self preservation with Mowbray and looking after number one. We need rid and bloody fast.

Eat lots of cherries and drink lots of water and should mitigate your gout! Love Sancerre and Chablis and there will be a few bottles on the table to go with our Christmas Day turkey!

Think we'd almost double our goal tally with Hird and Bailey as our full backs. Who can forget their marauding forays - their directness and ability to run at pace with the ball was superb (like Rothwell on speed!). Faz and 'Killer' couldn't half defend and underrated as footballers. Those were happy days!

Yep, Aldi wines are pretty good vfm and it's noticeable they are pushing out the boundaries in terms of their range on wines / spirits and beginning to venture into some of the more 'premium' (relative for Aldi) lines. Love the Roku and rounded off perfectly with a ginger garnish! Beverages much more interesting than Mowbray's Rovers at the moment!

Paul Cook was a tongue in cheek suggestion for the all things Burnley loving @chaddyrovers! Having said that, I think he's streets ahead of Mowbray! I think Pearson would be like a breath of fresh air.

Paul Cook is available and would get us up!

Chaddy, you are losing your credibility in arguing about days as opposed to years. Just finishing off a Barolo then off to bed.

FFS, it's 13 months - don't split hairs. What difference does a month make. Mowbray is just days short of being here for 4 YEARS.

Well you should be very fit as our performance against Rotherham, IMO, absolutely stunk! Happy dog walking then.

We all want attractive football, however............................... Both Stoke and M'boro were in acute danger of relegation last season. O'Neill and Warnock kept them up - something Mowbray failed to do when appointed Rovers' manager O'Neill and Warnock have been in charge of their respective clubs for less than 12 months and after saving them from relegation, they have made them harder to beat and are both 5 points better off than Rovers. Mowbray has had 4 years at it with Rovers and in less than a quarter of that time, O'Neill and Warnock have got their clubs into better positions and, IMO, are more likely to get into the play offs. Like Mark Hughes did with us, O'Neill and Warnock are first making their teams difficult to beat and then with better players (remember our progression to the likes of Bentley, Bellamy, Santa Cruz etc) the style will come as well as the results - that is evolution whereas Mowbray's evolution, IMO, is just bullsh1t for the owners and about self preservation. And, let us not forget, IMO, Mowbray's teams have served up some of the most dire football I've seen with Rovers over his 4 years in charge. I would take O'Neill and Warnock every day of the week over Mowbray as would, I suspect, the majority of Rovers' fans. I think the 'happy clappers' will be playing the same tune in years to come as Mowbray consolidates us as a mid table Championship team at best.

Spot on. I've always maintained that Mowbray, IMO, has never demonstrated as Rovers' manager that he can sort out and organise a team to defend. A team defends from front to back with all players knowing their role - Spurs are an excellent example of this under Mourinho.

and we couldn't beat them so wtf does that make Mowbray and Rovers!?

Means SFA. Would settle for 30% possession with a 2-0 win ala Spurs against Arsenal two weeks ago. Even you must now admit Mowbray is not the man. Almost half a season gone and no win against a top half side. Injuries are irrelevant, all teams have them.

Horrible, horrible and horrible. Even the most staunch of Mowbray's fans must now realise we are going nowhere under, IMO, a dinosaurian manager who is way past his sell by date. Almost half a season gone and we have still to beat a team in the top half of the table. Nearly all aspects of Mowbray's management continue to baffle me. I'm struggling to recall a worse left back than Douglas in Rovers' colours. I'm struggling to understand Mowbray's love-in with Gallagher. Trybull was having a decent game by his standards and gets hooked. Absolutely baffled. I could go on and on but to be frank, I'm totally p1ssed off with Mowbray and Waggott. Lost a bob or two today on Rovers but hey ho, take the rough with the smooth as they've made me plenty this season. Urgently in need of some red wine therapy.

Could turn out to be a stroll in the park for us if we get an early goal.

Still confident of winning. Holtby, Rothwell, Elliott and Armstrong will have too much for Stoke. There's sure to be goals a plenty now with our defence and I've stuck a third bet on - £10 on over 4.5 goals at 7/1. COYB

Think Ayala is the new Grella! Just what the feck are our centre backs made of. Likes of John McNamee, Graham Hawkins, Glen Keeley and Kevin Moran were virtually indestructible! Said it time and time again, you should steer well clear of players known for being injury prone - the M'boro fans knew about Ayala why didn't Mowbray!?

It will be a battle today at Stoke and Ayala might not come through it if not 100% (and I don't think he is by a long chalk).

Arguably, we need two centre halves! Magloire and Carter, IMO, are just not going to make it. Seems like Magloire struggling to get a game anywhere and Carter is all over the place in our 1st team. Nyambe could fill in at a pinch but he is far and away our best right back by a country mile. I have been very disappointed with Douglas - IMO, he's washed up and even less effective than Bell. As for Trybull, IMO, no improvement on either Evans or Smallwood and little wonder Norwich want rid.

It's a Rovers' win here. Stoke have dipped and struggle to score goals - think they are averaging less than a goal per game in recent matches. Both sides have injuries so levels out. The difference for me is that we have two players in particular who can score goals and make things happen (Elliott and Armstrong). Gone big on Rovers' win at 17/10 (well worth a decent sized bet to top those Christmas stockings up!) with a cheeky tenner on 3-1 at 25/1.

It isn't irrational. I think Buckley is so woefully out of his depth it's untrue. You see real maturity, ability and impact with 17 year old Harvey Elliott whilst 21 year old Buckley, IMO, wanders around lost like a 16 year old schoolboy and has virtually zero influence / impact on a game. The contrast could not be more stark.