Mowbray’s Future

[OJRovers]

Exactly, we're only a bad patch of form away from an Owen Coyle appointment or a downturn in the Indian stock market away from selling all our best players again.

 

[DE.]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

I think Bowyer did achieve similar levels of unity and optimism among the fanbase. Between his first summer in 2013 and when it started to unravel in the summer of 2015 I felt a closer connection to the team and club than I have at any stage since Venkys arrived, including today. I think some people are forgetful of how positive things were for a season or so under Bowyer and the team he put together. Some people are also being led by the fact that we are winning more games and are challenging for automatic promotion in contrast to the Bowyer era, although the drawback to this is we are a level below and playing Bury and Rochdale rather than Wolves and Derby.

I remember the first game of the 2014-15 season at home v Cardiff on a Friday night on Sky Sports. Gorgeous evening, optimism sky high after a summer where we kept our best players, great run at the end of the previous season, played well against just relegated Cardiff, nearly 16,000 on Ewood. We've come a long way in the almost 4 years since then, mostly for the worse, and as far as I'm concerned we are well short of where we were that night.

It is for that very reason that I don't trust them, and I'm struggling to get as much enthusiasm going as I perhaps should at this moment in time, because they've hoodwinked me before, and I'm reluctant to let them do it again. I believed they had learned and changed their ways in 2013 and then 2015-17 happened. The Bowyer sacking, Lambert fiasco, Coyle appointment, boardroom chaos - right back to where it all began when Allardyce and Williams left. It blew beliefs of lessons learned out of the water and showed that no lessons except maybe financial had been heeded from previous mistakes.

Everyone makes mistakes and every club appoints the wrong manager or suffers bad seasons from time to time. But I refuse to accept a one man board of directors, the club being run from India with a henchman doing their bidding from the shadows, and making decisions like the Coyle appointment, were in any way, shape or form normal or acceptable ways to run a club, or ever likely to result in anything other than damaging decline for this club.

We had a united squad of good young players representing the club with pride under Bowyer. These owners and their associates destroyed all that in the space of a few months by getting back on the managerial merry go round and selling anyone they could. Ironic that people are now referring to 1 defeat in 28 as evidence of a job well done for Mowbray, which it is, yet plenty of the same people were saying that 13 games unbeaten in the Championship under Bowyer was irrelevant because we drew too many and didn't reach the target of the play-offs. Can't have it both ways. Both Bowyer and Mowbray did well.

Mowbray has done a good job to date and deserves credit for some of his signings and results. But I'm afraid it is going to take more for me to trust this regime ever again after the damage they caused. They've conned me before with leaving a good man to do the job and nice signings and paying the bills and then look what happened.

Good post, I was thinking the same thing. Bowyer's first season was a little frustrating in that we kept coming close and then falling away, but compared to the previous few seasons under Venky's it was a huge improvement. Second season things started to decline slightly (and Bowyer did still have most of our better players during this period), and by the third season the squad had been stripped down to the bare bones in terms of quality. That's when tension began bubbling under the surface, and once that snake Coyle was appointed we were almost back to the Steve Kean era in terms of the supporters and the board/management/team being totally disconnected. Except this time there were a lot less people to put any pressure on. 

Mowbray has done well to put us back into an upward trajectory, but like you part of me is waiting for Venky's to screw us all over again. It makes it difficult to fully enjoy what's happening, although I appreciate that a lot of fans do seem able to completely ignore the past and live in the moment. I envy them. 

[iSeeRed]

Anybody else think he looks like Dave Guest off North West tonight?

 

[Mattyblue]

Reach for them stars Tony lad!

 

“Where does it stop? It probably stops, hopefully for us, just outside the top six of the Premier League and there’s no reason why with the infrastructure this club can’t get back to the Premier League and not be a team fighting to get out of the bottom three.

“At this moment, the top six have money the rest don’t have but I don’t see why Blackburn Rovers can’t get to a stage in the near future where they can compete in the Premier League with 14 clubs to stay there and be competitive.”

 

“There are some success stories around us, and with all due respect if Burnley can achieve the season they are having in the Premier League then I’m very sure Blackburn Rovers, if we can get it right on the grass and create the right environment and culture around the football club then there’s no reason we can’t be competing with them.”

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Reach for them stars Tony lad!

 

“Where does it stop? It probably stops, hopefully for us, just outside the top six of the Premier League and there’s no reason why with the infrastructure this club can’t get back to the Premier League and not be a team fighting to get out of the bottom three.

“At this moment, the top six have money the rest don’t have but I don’t see why Blackburn Rovers can’t get to a stage in the near future where they can compete in the Premier League with 14 clubs to stay there and be competitive.”

 

“There are some success stories around us, and with all due respect if Burnley can achieve the season they are having in the Premier League then I’m very sure Blackburn Rovers, if we can get it right on the grass and create the right environment and culture around the football club then there’s no reason we can’t be competing with them.”

A boy the Tony 

[DE.]

29 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Reach for them stars Tony lad!

 

“Where does it stop? It probably stops, hopefully for us, just outside the top six of the Premier League and there’s no reason why with the infrastructure this club can’t get back to the Premier League and not be a team fighting to get out of the bottom three.

“At this moment, the top six have money the rest don’t have but I don’t see why Blackburn Rovers can’t get to a stage in the near future where they can compete in the Premier League with 14 clubs to stay there and be competitive.”

 

“There are some success stories around us, and with all due respect if Burnley can achieve the season they are having in the Premier League then I’m very sure Blackburn Rovers, if we can get it right on the grass and create the right environment and culture around the football club then there’s no reason we can’t be competing with them.”

Great to read, but unfortunately we all know the buck stops with our owners in Pune who have shown themselves incapable of making good long-term decisions for Blackburn Rovers. We can only hope that they've finally found people in the likes of Waggott and Mowbray who are capable of doing the work for them. 

[Stuart]

4 hours ago, DE. said:

Great to read, but unfortunately we all know the buck stops with our owners in Pune who have shown themselves incapable of making good long-term decisions for Blackburn Rovers. We can only hope that they've finally found people in the likes of Waggott and Mowbray who are capable of doing the work for them. 

It’s going to be a very interesting Summer.

(Or a thoroughly depressing one  )

[Tom]

I eventually voted twist - I owe you an apology Mr Mowbray, an unbelievable turnaround from a man who is good to the core    

Always desperately wanted him to succeed but I was concerned 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Tom

[bringdunnback]

Thanks Tony, truly.

[JacknOry]

10 minutes ago, Tom said:

I eventually voted twist - I owe you an apology Mr Mowbray, an unbelievable turnaround from a man who is good to the core    

Always desperately wanted him to succeed but I was concerned 

I will also throw my hat into the ring here and say that I am absolutely delighted to have been proven wrong. Our early blip and what it might mean for the club led me to twist...I have never in my life been happier to admit I was wrong. 

Take this feel good factor into the new season! Massive congrats to TM and the team.

[blueboy3333]

21 minutes ago, Tom said:

I eventually voted twist - I owe you an apology Mr Mowbray, an unbelievable turnaround from a man who is good to the core    

Always desperately wanted him to succeed but I was concerned 

Can I jump in on your apology?

Club saved!

[chaddyrovers]

Great job Mr Mowbray. You and the players deserve all the credit. 

Great achievement that

 

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

On 22/02/2017 at 12:16, Dunnfc said:

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.

Another who seems to get a job after each disaster carried out.

Another who can't set a defence up.

Another on a free and promoted youth coaches to assistant manager all the whilst managerial changes remain EXEMPT from FFP.

Absolutely fuming with this appointment

Still fuming??? 

[bob fleming]

On 23/04/2018 at 17:50, Stuart said:

It’s going to be a very interesting Summer.

(Or a thoroughly depressing one  )

That’s the spirit Stuart. Happy days.

[chaddyrovers]

On 22/02/2017 at 12:16, Dunnfc said:

AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.

Another who seems to get a job after each disaster carried out.

Another who can't set a defence up.

Another on a free and promoted youth coaches to assistant manager all the whilst managerial changes remain EXEMPT from FFP.

Absolutely fuming with this appointment

Still think that now?

[JacknOry]

Just now, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Still fuming??? 

Is there really any need for point scoring? Dragging up old posts?

[tomphil]

Always maintained I liked the guy and he's been an absolute breath of fresh air at times but I did have my doubts about his tactics. Did also say experience is his main strength and he's probably the most experienced actual manager we've had since Allardyce and I think that above all else is what's seen the job through from start to finish this season.

Tony Mowbray = Football man, tonight football God.

GET IN

Edited April 24, 2018 by tomphil

[roversfan99]

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/august/lets-pack-ewood-on-a-regular-basis-says-tony/

The boss is aiming to bring on back the good times but admits what happens on the pitch will determine the numbers backing the lads from the stands on occasions.

“There has been some negativity around the club for a long time now, but I would like to see a packed Ewood week in, week out. Some will come back and support the team, some won’t," Mowbray said to iFollow Rovers

“The results will dictate what happens in the stands. The team have to make the people proud when they pull on the shirt. They need to work hard, fight for every ball, tackle, score goals and play with their heart and emotions. 

Found these comments a bit strange on the website today. Everyone will testify that the fans can all see that the team were giving their all last season, crowds went up, especially away support which was phenomenal. Plenty of goals and success.

I hope he isnt naive enough to expect massive crowds, nor think that he and the teams efforts are under appreciated.

The core number of supporters isnt that big, and I suspect that reason that the crowds might not increase by as much as Mowbray may like is due to the price increases.

[Stuart]

Strange phrase to call it “negativity around the club”. Very much dilutes things and puts the emphasis (blame?) on the fans. That’s his prerogative as someone who works for the Venky coin but it’s a minus-1 for me. No need to talk about it. He can’t call it like it is for fear of upsetting the Addams Family so don’t mention it.

As for fans, as Matty put it recently Rovers have 8,000 fans - possibly 9,000 at the minute. Let’s not be fooled by ‘recent’ (and all to distant) memories of 25,000 watching top flight football for bottom flight dollar.

Leave it, Tony.

[Pedro]

4 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Strange phrase to call it “negativity around the club”. Very much dilutes things and puts the emphasis (blame?) on the fans. That’s his prerogative as someone who works for the Venky coin but it’s a minus-1 for me. No need to talk about it. He can’t call it like it is for fear of upsetting the Addams Family so don’t mention it.

As for fans, as Matty put it recently Rovers have 8,000 fans - possibly 9,000 at the minute. Let’s not be fooled by ‘recent’ (and all to distant) memories of 25,000 watching top flight football for bottom flight dollar.

Leave it, Tony.

I don't interpret it like that at all. The negativity around the club is that we were only ever a laughing stock under Venkys. Nothing genuinely positive was written about us. Under Mowbray, we have finally turned the tide but obviously aren't back to where we could be. I honestly don't see any subliminal sly digs at supporters.

[Leonard Venkhater]

9 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Strange phrase to call it “negativity around the club”. Very much dilutes things and puts the emphasis (blame?) on the fans. That’s his prerogative as someone who works for the Venky coin but it’s a minus-1 for me. No need to talk about it. He can’t call it like it is for fear of upsetting the Addams Family so don’t mention it.

As for fans, as Matty put it recently Rovers have 8,000 fans - possibly 9,000 at the minute. Let’s not be fooled by ‘recent’ (and all to distant) memories of 25,000 watching top flight football for bottom flight dollar.

Leave it, Tony.

He has said other, more informed things, though, about the fans having a terrible time etc. He refused to comment on a question around people burying the hatchet with Venky's or something similar, by saying "I have too much regard for the fans than to say that" (approximate)

[SBlue]

How bloody dare he say there has been negativity around the club???

?

[roversfan99]

My point was not regarding any subliminal messages being left by Mowbray.

More that hes done everything he could in terms of creating a product on the pitch, and that I feel decisions made by those above him, most pertinently Waggott regarding pricing may stunt any potential major boosts in crowds that on pitch success may theoretically warrant.

[Mattyblue]

First few pages of this thread are a laugh, I remembered that Mowbray wasn’t exactly a popular appointment on here - understandable in many ways after he’d had a lean few years.

But more due to the love in for Nigel Adkins! 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I knew I was less than impressed with the appointment. I didn't realise I was that unimpressed. I think it was the absolute lack of communication from the club that did it. People kept being appointed out of left field.

He's done a lot better than I thought he would be but I realised that after about 2 months, it was clear that he was a decent guy.

Given the massive handicap of working for the Chicken Chokers he's done really well.