A horrible ground in a horrible town.

Agree. I think Buckley is so overrated. Some on here bang on like he's the new Messi. If he's such a 'special talent' eyed by PL clubs then why the feck has he not battered down our first team door and made himself an indispensable part of our team. £10million for Buckley - someone aint half havin' a larf! Contrast with Elliott who is a mere 17 - now that is a lad with REAL talent and potential who COMMANDS a place in our team.

@philipl it must be a lovely morning out in Malta given your player assessments! A club will always have to run with injuries and sometimes to key players. I look at Liverpool and although they are likely to miss VVD for the rest of the season, I think they have enough all round quality, and in depth, to most likely retain the title - I thought their mindset and performance in the first half at City were terrific (and therein lies the rub - the manager and coaching staff!!!). IMO, Rovers do not have sufficient all round quality nor the depth and I think injuries to key players hits us very hard. IF, and it's a bloody big IF, we can keep the bulk of our squad fit and Mowbray does not try to ram square pegs into round holes and also adopts Klopp's positive mindset, I think we've a good chance of getting up this season in what I think is a bang average Championship. If we do get up then God help us because I think we only have three (Dack, Armstrong, Travis) or four (Holtby) who might make a fist of it if half a dozen quality players are brought in to help them. We shall have to see how much Dack's injury has slowed him down (let's face it, he's never been quick) but notwithstanding that, I think Dack, Armstrong and Travis are bottom eight PL at very best.

I called it a day at 53 as one of my knees got worse and worse - at that stage it was just friendly stuff once or twice a week. However, it doesn't matter what level you play at or whether it's competitive or just friendly stuff, the feeling of putting your foot through the ball and seeing the net bulge is only matched by a glass of a fine red!

I have family and friends who are PNE supporters and find it's a bit of a mixed bag of feelings where Neil is concerned. Neil lives in Longridge and I've seen him out and about a couple of times when I've been over there and he does strike me as being a pretty cold and intense sort of bloke - though as a football manager you do tend to live in a bit of a goldfish bowl!

Bullsh1t. What you are really saying is that automatic promotion each season is the preserve of the two clubs with the biggest budget! Look back in history and look at the sides who have made the jump on relatively small budgets (Sheff U for one) and, conversely, those who have stayed marooned on relatively big budgets. Top 3 to 6 is not a benchmark for success unless you actually win the play-offs otherwise you might as well finish 7th, 8th, 9th etc. If Mowbray doesn't get us up this season then, IMO, after four and a half years and after being backed to the hilt (how many managers in this league get £12million to spend on two strikers) he will have categorically failed as we will be in the same league as were were when he arrived after also suffering the ignominy of relegation to Division 1 when his express objective on joining the club was to keep us in the Championship that season (his words at Blues in Feb 2019). Anything other than promotion this season (in what is a wide open bang average league) is, IMO, indefensible and merely confirms my long held belief that Mowbray and his coaching staff are way below par. I am sicked and tired of, IMO, all the 'slow build, evolution, on a journey' cr@p from Mowbray that sadly some, including our owners, seem to buy. IMO, it's merely self preservation stuff from Mowbray.

Our number one objective has to be promotion to the PL. Do I think Mowbray is the man to deliver it - no I don't. Mowbray joined us as a Championship club and he told us himself in Blues last year (Feb) that he was given the job to keep us up that season - he failed to achieve that. He has been with us for almost 4 years and been given the resources most managers in Divison 1 and now the Championship could only dream of. Given at the end of this season he will have been with us for four and a half years and the resource he has had, IMO, if he has not got us back into the PL then he will have failed and should be replaced. It really is that simple.

Agree. The one success criteria this season is promotion - full stop. There can be no excuses - Mowbray has been backed to the hilt and he will have had four and a half seasons at it. Play-offs without getting up is failure. Up or out I say and if it becomes clear as the season progresses that we aren't going to make it then that is the time the axe should fall. I would never have appointed him in the first place and I think there have been several times over his tenure when a lot of clubs would have given him the boot.

A welcome though not totally convincing win. Rothwell and Brereton very good - IMO, Mowbray needs to understand that you have to give players a fair run at it; I think he's p1ssed about with Rothwell and Brereton for two years now and held back their development / potential. Think Mowbray needs to be brave and axe Lenihan when Ayala is fit and stick with Wharton - same comment as Rothwell and Brereton, the lad needs a fair run to show just what he can do. Armstrong continues to notch and, IMO, miss too many which is not a luxury a PL forward can be afforded and it might just hold him back from PL level. IMO, Evans is a liability and needs to go in Jan.. We can't afford players who are injury prone. We need players who are almost guaranteed to be available for 90% of your games. If you look at Evan's record since joining Rovers, I would think he's been unavailable for some 40% of games. It's not as though he's a stand out performer or game changer.

Said time and time again, we need players who we know we'll get 90% of games from. IMO, we know what's coming with Evans and Ayala.

No excuses for Mowbray with that line up. Just feckin smash them Rovers.

Not a Bilic fan - overrated IMO. Having said that, don't think it would be difficult to find a manager who wasn't a massive upgrade on Mowbray. .

IMO, pointless and degrading. WTF, a National League side. Lauded for his performance against Leicester and Vardy and then this! Can't think it will do the lad's confidence much good.

Mowbray in LT on Downing: “But as I sit here, he hasn’t done anything in the last three months and you can’t come and train for two days and think you can go and go and affect a football match". So Downing hasn't done anything in three months which is approximately the length of time between the final league game of a closing season and the opening league game of a new season. So based on a normal pre season of 5/6 weeks or so, I would not have thought he would be 'match fit' until the middle of December by which time we'll have played 18 or 19 games. IMO, what a nonsense - a desperate signing by a desperate manager.

Despite our injury problems, we should be mullering those southern softies QPR - let's be honest, they are no great shakes. I would go with (assuming Armstrong unfit): Stergiakis / JRC, Nymabe, Wharton, Bell / Rothwell, Johnson, Holtby / Elliott, Brereton, Chapman Pears made a couple of decent saves against M'boro but, IMO, he got lucky on corners / crosses and still looks like a frightened rabbit. Lenihan has to be dropped - IMO, his head has gone. As for Gallagher, IMO, no way should he be anywhere near our first team - a catastrophe of a signing. This game we will win, I have no doubt - at least one of Rothwell / Holtby / Elliott / Brereton will produce a magic moment or two to see us home. Mowbray also seems to have the knack of finding a win just when he needs it the most from a personal point of view. Irrespective of the performance or result, IMO, messrs Mowbray, Venus, Lowe and Benson should all be booted out.

Armstrong June issue irrelevant. First team coach isolated - IMO, a blessing in disguise. Data analysis department isolated - firstly, does Mowbray not watch the game? Greats such as Alf Ramsey, Busby, Shankly, Clough, Paisley etc didn't need data analysis - you can only imagine what Cloughie would have said about it. Anyhow, mute point - surely they can work from home and communicate with Mowbray through media such as zoom. IMO, it's just one feckin excuse after another. As for injuries / unavailability - Mowbray signed Ayala knowing he missed a lot of games with M'boro through injury. Sounds like history repeating itself as looks unavailable for Saturday which will be 4 games in a row. We simply should not be signing injury prone players. As for Downing's unavailability, IMO, stupid to sign a player of his age with no pre season etc - some third of the season will be gone before he's ready.

I also hear what football men say who are not sitting in front of the tv cameras !!!

Yes please. Would be a huge upgrade.

With a manager like Warnock we would be top two. When will the penny drop with the likes of you and @PaulMani - Mowbray, IMO, is taking us on a journey to nowhere. Tonight we got lucky, very lucky - it was robbery. IMO, we resembled a disorganised Sunday league pub team having no plan, shape or structure - that is down to the manager and coaches. For M'boro, these nights happen in football when you just can't buy a goal for love nor money. I will match any bet you and Paul want to make and say now M'boro will finish higher than Rovers.

As a Championship club, it doesn't matter which 11 take to the field - at least you expect them to have a plan and a structure. I think we are just a rabble which tells us what a shower Mowbray and his staff are.

Totally embarrassing. Whether players are out injured or not, the 11 out there should at least have a plan, shape and structure. I think we are as disorganised as a Sunday league pub team. Football is a funny game, however, and all we might need is a lucky break - to be on top as much as M'boro have been you have to take advantage. Huge question marks against many of our players after tonight. IMO, Pears makes John Butcher look like Lev Yashin - IMO, a joke of a signing.

Men against boys. Confirmation, IMO, that Pears is complete sh1te.

Off to the local for 'tea' and a bevvy or two whilst we can, back in good time for the match, and the wife's paying with her winnings from today's winning nag! She picks her horses by the name that strikes her and today's flutter was Vodka Society which won at 18/1! I asked her what she thought would happen tonight and the prediction is a 3-1 win to Rovers. So purely on her 'intuition', I've stuck a tenner on 3-1 at 25/1. Thought I'd share it with you as the missus is on a bit of a winning streak at the moment - good luck!

Are you really being serious!?!? Pears has about 20 games experience in the entire Football League across a 4+ year career. Stergiakis has some 80 games' experience in the Bulgarian top league including Europa games. There is simply no comparison in terms of experience and I would suggest ability (you don't play the number of games Stergiakis has at that level unless you are capable). I think it's clear, Warnock didn't rate Pears and I know whose judgement (versus Mowbray) I trust on a footballer's abilities. Based on his unconvincing appearances for us so far, I think Pears is a disaster waiting to happen. A four year contract for Pears is, IMO, the height of footballing lunacy. Just where was he going until Mowbray stepped in?

Think this is indicative from Sharpe. When oh when will Mowbray stop this, IMO, feckin madness of players not in their natural positions. Rich Sharpe @richsharpe89 · 2h As for tonight, without Armstrong, wonder if Mowbray/Rovers might revert to the early post-lockdown approach, but with Elliott as the 'centre forward' and Gallagher and Brereton outside of him. Be a welcome boost to the midfield balance too if Rothwell is available.