An Evening with Tony Mowbray

[unsall]

4 hours ago, Parsonblue said:

Couldn't agree more.  I think we are very fortunate to have Mowbray as manager at this point in our history.  He's not perfect - no manager is.  He will make mistakes - every manager does.  However, for a club in our position I believe he is a perfect fit.  We need this type of manager who can oversee the whole operation and put the building blocks in place to restore the foundations which we need.  

As you say, it won't be easy, because of the size of the budgets of some of the clubs in the Championship - you only have to look at the income of the relegated clubs to see how much at a disadvantage we are.  We can't live in the past.  We are where we are and the only way we will get back to the top flight - and I remember the quarter of a century it took to get back after the 65-66 relegation - is by shrewd management, patience and a little bit of luck.    

 

Spot on, think there could be some decent signings in the summer and really hope TM is doing the signings, don’t think with our budget there is a better manager, time will tell,fingers crossed,patience and slowly move forward.

[unsall]

5 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Thanks for allowing me an opinion. You finally became an adult.

My lack of support is what I see on the pitch and the justifications he comes out with - like at last nights event. I don't rate him and I can back up why.  As far as I can see you're using the owner's support to back your arguments, which is  is never going to be a strong position to take considering they employed  Coyle and Kean.

Have I ever stopped you having an opinion, think you certainly give your opinion at every opportunity, and less of the sarcasm re becoming an adult, if I come out with those comments they seem to jump on me from a great height, it’s all about opinions and I think a hell of a lot rate him, but we are all allowed our own opinions.

[unsall]

2 hours ago, Parsonblue said:

Did you think Kenny's was untenable with six on the trot.  I remember losing seven on the trot but we didn't change the manager - even though we ended up being relegated.  If you appoint a manager and if, for the most part, he has delivered then surely you back him when things get tough.  I believe he will still be here in twelve months time and, hopefully, we'll continue to be in a stronger position.  

I’m sure he will be here,in 12 months, the owners are trusting him to change things round at Brockhall, TM wants to swap round the senior training centre and the academy back to what it was before Mark Hughes changed it, tenders gone out and being done in 3 stages, don’t think they would be doing that if they weren’t sure about him.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

When you are being benchmarked against Kean and C o y l e it's of no surprise that some feel comfortable and safe with Mowbray!

I've described Mowbray as a 'steady Eddie' at best and based upon what I saw and heard last night, I haven't changed my mind.  IMO, he's taken us as far as he can. 

Even Mowbray himself said last night he'd been brought in to save us from the drop, after inheriting some good players, and had failed - seems like he went to Pune after relegation half expecting the chop.

So who can take us further then? 3 names? 

[Bbrovers2288]

Have been one of mowbrays biggest critics, more for the brand of football than the results, but the points made by himself were refreshing. I just hope he does as he says as he does have a history of telling us one thing and we lap it up and he does another. 

He sounds like he pretty much knew where the criticisms would come from and tackled them before they were raised.

i do wish someone had raised our fullback situation, who was def leaving in the summer, such as Conway and what was the plan with rodwell. I don’t want him at cb but I’d have him as centre mid. Maybe somebody to question our fitness and late concede record too 

[Dreams of 1995]

41 minutes ago, unsall said:

I’m sure he will be here,in 12 months, the owners are trusting him to change things round at Brockhall, TM wants to swap round the senior training centre and the academy back to what it was before Mark Hughes changed it, tenders gone out and being done in 3 stages, don’t think they would be doing that if they weren’t sure about him.

Why? I thought the move by Hughes was a good one.

[AllRoverAsia]

48 minutes ago, unsall said:

I’m sure he will be here,in 12 months, the owners are trusting him to change things round at Brockhall, TM wants to swap round the senior training centre and the academy back to what it was before Mark Hughes changed it, tenders gone out and being done in 3 stages, don’t think they would be doing that if they weren’t sure about him.

Interesting. I thought the plan was to have one facility used by all, which seemed to be a sensible option to have resources, infrastructure in one situ.

[Norbert Rassragr]

Maybe Mark Venus wants to build some more houses.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

2 hours ago, Parsonblue said:

I would certainly give him until the end of next season unless we completely go off the rails next year, which I don't expect.  I certainly don't think his position should be questioned this season even if results are indifferent between now and the end of the campaign.  We are only a couple of wins away from ensuring our place for next season - I'm not even sure the likes of Ipswich and Bolton will reach 40 points and Rotherham are struggling for wins whilst grinding out draws.  The target which we were told at the consultation meeting last summer was consolidation and great if it was better.  I certainly think we will have achieved the former come May and personally, I've never regarded promotion this season as a realistic possibility despite promising early results.

Don't know if it was a throwaway comment last night but at one stage  he mentioned looking at around 60pts.   Think we may struggle to hit that target.

[Mercer]

4 hours ago, Ewood Ace said:

The poor form extends well beyond these current 4 defeats in a row, its 7 defeats in our last 11, we've lost 9 of our last 16.  As I said the other day the high point of our season was at home to Leeds an excellent performance that took us up to fifth at the final whistle. Since then we've got 22 points from 20 games (which is the form of a side battling relegation) and we have lost half of those 20 games.

We had a good start to the season where we had the sprit and momentum from last season and sides had not worked us out, recently though the momentum and spirit has gone and sides have worked out that if you stop Graham and Dack then you stop us and we have been either unable or unwilling to find another way to play.  Also since that Leeds game you could count on one hand the amount of halves where we have played well.  

All managers lose games.

However, what is more important is the manner in which the team loses.  IMO, some of our performances have been abysmal (M'boro 1st half, Preston, Wigan readily spring to mind and there are others) and we did not remotely resemble a football team.  I think some of our performances have been Keanesque / C o  y l esque and that is a huge worry.

[Mercer]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

So who can take us further then? 3 names? 

You asked me this question a number of days ago - please refer to my answer then.

[Butty]

2 minutes ago, Mercer said:

All managers lose games.

However, what is more important is the manner in which the team loses.  IMO, some of our performances have been abysmal (M'boro 1st half, Preston, Wigan readily spring to mind and there are others) and we did not remotely resemble a football team.  I think some of our performances have been Keanesque / C o  y l esque and that is a huge worry.

No team goes all season without having a shocking performance, I think we’ve had a few this season admittedly but compared to the Kean,Coyle,Berg and Appleton days we are basically Barcelona.. We don’t have the quality required too be challenging in This league, we got too 8th place and a few points off the playoffs at one point through being an organised team who runs themselves into the ground. We don’t have the quality in the squad too pull a result off when we aren’t on song. Last season we did, we played poor a lot of games but came away with 3 points.. Whenever we’ve played poorly this season we’ve paid the price. When you look at our squad a lot of work still needs too be done, that’s why I stressed the other day how massively important this summer is for us. Mowbray needs to be ruthless, players like Conway and Smallwood should not be anywhere near the first team next season, and are hopefully moved on and replaced well... We’ll see, nervous times ahead this summer..

[Mercer]

4 minutes ago, Butty said:

No team goes all season without having a shocking performance, I think we’ve had a few this season admittedly but compared to the Kean,Coyle,Berg and Appleton days we are basically Barcelona.. We don’t have the quality required too be challenging in This league, we got too 8th place and a few points off the playoffs at one point through being an organised team who runs themselves into the ground. We don’t have the quality in the squad too pull a result off when we aren’t on song. Last season we did, we played poor a lot of games but came away with 3 points.. Whenever we’ve played poorly this season we’ve paid the price. When you look at our squad a lot of work still needs too be done, that’s why I stressed the other day how massively important this summer is for us. Mowbray needs to be ruthless, players like Conway and Smallwood should not be anywhere near the first team next season, and are hopefully moved on and replaced well... We’ll see, nervous times ahead this summer..

Clearly you didn't see first half against M'boro or the abject surrender at Wigan to name but two.

[Bigdoggsteel]

4 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Managers live and die by results. Managers usually end of getting the sack through poor form - it's what happens in football.  You're still not answering the question of how much rope Mowbray gets before his position becomes untenable. 

You mean the results that got us promoted and to mid table in the championship? 

[Butty]

4 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Clearly you didn't see first half against M'boro or the abject surrender at Wigan to name but two.

Yes I did I was at both games. Horrendous performances..  But you can’t expect a team lacking in championship quality like ours does too perform every week, when we aren’t on song we simply don’t have the quality in the squad to sneak a result..

[unsall]

2 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Why? I thought the move by Hughes was a good one.

Mainly because the training pitches are overlooked by houses, those watching can name the team Friday morning, more secure down at the bottom of Brockhall 

[unsall]

2 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Interesting. I thought the plan was to have one facility used by all, which seemed to be a sensible option to have resources, infrastructure in one situ.

Not overlooked down where the academy is.

[Hasta]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

So who can take us further then? 3 names? 

Chaddy - you and a number of other posters were saying exactly the same thing when Coyle was in his final few months. The reason for not wanting Coyle gone was "who could we possibly get". Mowbray had been jobless for a while at that point and nobody was putting his name forward. Fast forward 2 years and it's deja vu. 

You don't know who would take the job and some managers are just better fits for some clubs that they were for others. There are plenty of managers who would be interested, and if we are still  losing games next season due to poor team selection and poor defensive setup, then another manager could feasibly rectify that fairly quickly.

Just to clarify, I'd give TM the summer and next season to keep the progression under his reign going so I'm not calling for it his head. All managers make mistakes and learn. However when you stop progressing, then stagnating or regressing because you don't believe you can do any better is not the right attitude. 

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by Hasta

[chaddyrovers]

41 minutes ago, Mercer said:

You asked me this question a number of days ago - please refer to my answer then.

Fair enough Mercer..

Any chance of the other questions Ive asked you last night being answered? Thanks in advance

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Chaddy - you and a number of other posters were saying exactly the same thing when Coyle was in his final few months. The reason for not wanting Coyle gone was "who could we possibly get". Mowbray had been jobless for a while at that point and nobody was putting his name forward. Fast forward 2 years and it's deja vu. 

You don't know who would take the job and some managers are just better fits for some clubs that they were for others. There are plenty of managers who would be interested, and if we are still  losing games next season due to poor team selection and poor defensive setup, then another manager could feasibly rectify that fairly quickly.

Just to clarify, I'd give TM the summer and next season to keep the progression under his reign going so I'm not calling for it his head. All managers make mistakes and learn. However when you stop progressing, then stagnating or regressing because you don't believe you can do any better is not the right attitude. 

 

Fair enough Hasta..

I would give Mowbray the next 18 months myself but I do really think he is the right manager for us short and long term

[roversfan99]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

Fair enough Hasta..

I would give Mowbray the next 18 months myself but I do really think he is the right manager for us short and long term

Why that specific time period?

Surely it depends on results. For example, if we went down this season, something thats incredibly improbable, but as an extreme example, he would surely warrant dismissal.

Likewise, if we were stagnating in the bottom 3 after 20 games next season, surely his job would deserve serious consideration.

Not saying I suspect either of those will happen, but I dont see how you can say he should be the manager for x period of time. Depends on results.

[Butty]

9 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Why that specific time period?

Surely it depends on results. For example, if we went down this season, something thats incredibly improbable, but as an extreme example, he would surely warrant dismissal.

Likewise, if we were stagnating in the bottom 3 after 20 games next season, surely his job would deserve serious consideration.

Not saying I suspect either of those will happen, but I dont see how you can say he should be the manager for x period of time. Depends on results.

As much as I’m a fan of Mowbray, you can’t put a specific time period on things like that... You can understand when a manager first gets a job, give them time to imprint their way of doing things on the team but Mowbray has been here 2 years now. I’m not particularly bothered about the rest of this season, but if we were in too double figures in games played next season after hopefully signing a few players and we were sat in the bottom three, I think we know what we’d be saying on here. It’s a results game at the end of the day..

[Mercer]

1 hour ago, Butty said:

Yes I did I was at both games. Horrendous performances..  But you can’t expect a team lacking in championship quality like ours does too perform every week, when we aren’t on song we simply don’t have the quality in the squad to sneak a result..

But you expect every player to bust a gut.

Anything less than 100% effort is completely unacceptable and, IMO, there have been a number of times this season when it seems a can't be arsed attitude has prevailed.

[chaddyrovers]

12 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Why that specific time period?

Surely it depends on results. For example, if we went down this season, something thats incredibly improbable, but as an extreme example, he would surely warrant dismissal.

Likewise, if we were stagnating in the bottom 3 after 20 games next season, surely his job would deserve serious consideration.

Not saying I suspect either of those will happen, but I dont see how you can say he should be the manager for x period of time. Depends on results.

maybe a specific time period is wrong to give him. its a fair point. 

1 very extreme example that mate. 

what would you target/expectations for next season then? Mine would be challenge for top 6 spot. all down to keeping new signings for me. 

[Oldgregg86]

50 minutes ago, Butty said:

but if we were in too double figures in games played next season after hopefully signing a few players and we were sat in the bottom three, I think we know what we’d be saying on here

Yeah they need time to gel give him until January. Rinse and repeat