Tony Mowbray Discussion

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

17 hours ago, Stuart said:

You have to V with the Venky you’ve got.

If Venkys are a given and won’t sell then we are stuck with them. Everything is relative to that premise.

If Mowbray isn’t doing the necessary on the pitch he has to be replaced. The necessary is promotion, and as a minimum the play-offs. This season.

If every decision about the manager circles around to Venkys then we may as well pack in (or at least pack in messageboards) until they are gone. Because nothing matters. Not results, not performances, not pride in a local derby. We can’t even expect to watch eleven players busting a gut to win a game of football - because the manager isn’t accountable for any of that normal football stuff.

We either continue to demand better or find something else to do. We are watching the slow death of a football club and the only people benefitting are the ones with the power to do something about it.

Twist. Now. While we are still in with a shout.

10/10 Stuart. Being the only ones at the club who actually care is getting pretty tiring.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

I heard it totally differently. To me It was the tone of a man who thought 'how dare these plebs question me'. There were a few snotty answers. 

And this isn't the interview of a man under pressure or on the verge of quitting. It's not his fault, it never will be, it's injuries, inconsistencies blah blah blah

Mowbray outlines the one thing holding Rovers back | Lancashire Telegraph

“We have seven players injured, but that’s irrelevant really, the team is the team, they all know how we play and there’s no excuse when they don’t perform at the level that’s expected.

So it's not Tony's (we) fault, it's the team (they). 

 

If he wants to know the one thing that is holding Rovers back, just go into the bathroom and look into the mirror.

[tomphil]

18 hours ago, darrenrover said:

WE ARE THE ROVERS!!!

(I don't advocate bringing back GB as manager btw)

S!!!

I don't think much would be different to be honest, he wouldn't be driving us forwards. Pretty sure though he'd be capable enough to inspire the same kind of water treading the present midtable messiah does.

 

[Crimpshrine]

A quick look at the league table indictaes that we are a few places off the playoffs. The reality is we are 18 points off promotion and only 11 above relegation. Thats a massive gap between us and our aim of promortion. In terms of the fabled journey we are still stuck in the Slough of Despond and have made no progress at all.

Mowbray's behaviour has changed - he used to wear a jacket and tie and prowl the touchline. Now he looks totally uninterested and dishevelled. His interviews have become more bizarre by the day.

When he makes his substitutions it's like watching someone throw bread to the ducks - total chaos.

If Venky's were actually watching they would see all this too - but there's the rub. They don't care either. Probably watching the cricket. Heartbreaking really.

[JHRover]

At other clubs he would be on very thin ice if he was still here, but chances are that owners elsewhere would have made a change by now.

By the law of averages we will win a couple soon. Our squad is too good and this division too bad for that not to happen even if Mowbray completely loses the plot. When it happens that won't be evidence of him turning things around, making progress or learning, nor will it vindicate not sacking him or not making a change, nor will being 'only' x number of points off the top six.

A quick look at the table will tell you that we are barely any better off than Preston, Millwall and Barnsley in the table. After close to 30 games for me that should be a sackable offence in itself.

 

[yellowsubmarine]

Is he still around?

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

Just looked at the next 10 fixtures. I think we're about to enter an epic death spiral. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Hoochie Bloochie Mama

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

3 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Just looked at the next 10 fixtures. I think we're about to enter an epic death spiral. 

I was thinking that myself. The way we playing at the moment it's hard to see where the next win is coming from.

[roversfan99]

He keeps randomly mentioning the injuries as if they are preventing him from naming a settled and consistent team, yet he has said that he doesnt know or have a best team because he likes to use different players in different games, so its a stupid excuse.

The only time we have shown consistency was in League 1, when we played essentially the same team every week, 4231, Dack off Graham, Mulgrew and Lenihan at CB, Nyambe RB, Williams LB, Smallwood and Evans in CM, a defensive winger such as Bennett and a more attacking one such as Armstrong, and the players knew exactly what was expected of them. Even if we had to make a change to that team, a Conway, an Antonsson, a Downing, a Payne (so hardly a cast of stars) could come in and again know exactly what they were slotting in. 

Injuries across the board are common this season, the pitfalls of the calendar and the added risk of Covid. You look into who is missing at the moment, Ayala, Wharton and Williams, none of whom ever nailed down a spot but importantly now have been replaced by loanees, he wouldnt normally have 6 centre backs which we do have contracted until the end of the season. Also injured are Rankin Costello who has never performed to a level whereby he has forced himself regularly into the starting line up, and a player who is a marked downgrade on Nyambe. And then 3 midfielders, Johnson, Trybull and Holtby, the latter 2 who are Mowbray signings who repeatedly suffer from injuries and have always been in and out at best, and all 3 in an area where he has been allowed to accumulate many bodies, none of his signings who have ever repeatedly impressed, but he still has Travis, Davenport, Downing, Buckley, Rothwell and Evans.

[rigger]

I wonder if Mowbray will be given a Barnsley chop on Wednesday ?

[tomphil]

I wonder if there is anything to the backseat stuff now with Venus on the touchline ?

Better pray they aren't trialing something for next season with him going DOF & Venus taking on head coach.  Nothing would surprise me in the nest feathering world of this little group down there now.

That would just be the kind of thing that could happen if he wants to detach himself from on it. No inspiring appointment, no Damien Johnson just a shuffling of deck chairs.

[G Somerset Rover]

16 minutes ago, tomphil said:

I wonder if there is anything to the backseat stuff now with Venus on the touchline ?

Better pray they aren't trialing something for next season with him going DOF & Venus taking on head coach.  Nothing would surprise me in the nest feathering world of this little group down there now.

That would just be the kind of thing that could happen if he wants to detach himself from on it. No inspiring appointment, no Damien Johnson just a shuffling of deck chairs.

Danny Graham gave that podcast interview recently where he said that Mowbray and Venus have completely contrasting views on the way football should be played and they’re like chalk and cheese. It’s stuff like that which goes a tiny way to explaining just some of the muddled thinking we consistently see on the pitch. Surely your back room staff are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[roversfan99]

1 minute ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Danny Graham gave that podcast interview recently where he said that Mowbray and Venus have completely contrasting views on the way football should be played and they’re like chalk and cheese. It’s stuff like that which goes a tiny way to explaining just some of the mess we see on the pitch. Surely your back room staff are all singing from the same hymn sheet for a start.

To be fair sometimes it is good to have an assistant who does not just blindly agree with your every word. Alex Ferguson used to go through assistants quite regularly.

[G Somerset Rover]

18 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

To be fair sometimes it is good to have an assistant who does not just blindly agree with your every word. Alex Ferguson used to go through assistants quite regularly.

But ‘completely contrasting views to the way football should be played’ (or words to that effect). Doesn’t sound healthy to me. Of course no number 2 should be a walk over and he should be challenging Mowbray.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[tomphil]

Then he's telling everyone they want the way the first team plays running through the whole club !

At times the first team more resembles the development squad with the stuff that goes on. I agree it can't be very healthy for the first team if the gaffer and his head coach have opposite views on style etc. Good cop bad cop yes fair enough, debating opinions and all that is to be expected. Different mindsets on the way the team should play so compromising halfway can't really be a recipe for success.

Keep everyone happy though seems to be the mantra down there.

[booth]

23 minutes ago, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

But ‘completely contrasting views to the way football should be played’ (or words to that effect). Doesn’t sound healthy to me. Of course no number 2 should be a walk over and he should be challenging Mowbray.

Preferably with a baseball bat after the constant cock ups he makes us endure.

[JHRover]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

I wonder if there is anything to the backseat stuff now with Venus on the touchline ?

Better pray they aren't trialing something for next season with him going DOF & Venus taking on head coach.  Nothing would surprise me in the nest feathering world of this little group down there now.

That would just be the kind of thing that could happen if he wants to detach himself from on it. No inspiring appointment, no Damien Johnson just a shuffling of deck chairs.

Yes. I've been wondering about something like this during the course of this season. I certainly think they will shuffle the pack to try and maintain the status quo but perhaps with different job titles in place.

It was a similar weird arrangement at Coventry if I remember correctly when Mowbray took Venus with him there but Venus wasn't assistant manager, instead he was director of football and on the board. This in turn led to all sorts of accusations from Coventry supporters as to what he was up to. Not the sort of thing you expect to see happen - a manager appointing his mate to the board - yet Mowbray has a record behind him of doing that. 

I certainly think that something you mention will be the outcome - I think there is zero prospect of Lowe, Benson or Johnson being sacked off, and in a desperate attempt to avoid making wholesale changes or upsetting the apple cart it is much more likely they will attempt something like the above, with Tony going 'upstairs' effectively as general manager of the club whilst the coaches operate downstairs.

Hope your suspicions are wrong because it will be a disaster waiting to happen and it suggests unhealthy levels of power and influence here for the manager once again.

It needs a clear out and rebuild with new ideas, faces and voices.

Sadly in the cut throat industry of competitive Championship football coaches and nice men lose their jobs from time to time when targets aren't met. The club shouldn't be held back or resist ever making changes just to avoid making painful decisions.

Edited February 14, 2021 by JHRover

[roversinmyblood]

15 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Yes. I've been wondering about something like this during the course of this season. I certainly think they will shuffle the pack to try and maintain the status quo but perhaps with different job titles in place.

It was a similar weird arrangement at Coventry if I remember correctly when Mowbray took Venus with him there but Venus wasn't assistant manager, instead he was director of football and on the board. This in turn led to all sorts of accusations from Coventry supporters as to what he was up to. Not the sort of thing you expect to see happen - a manager appointing his mate to the board - yet Mowbray has a record behind him of doing that. 

I certainly think that something you mention will be the outcome - I think there is zero prospect of Lowe, Benson or Johnson being sacked off, and in a desperate attempt to avoid making wholesale changes or upsetting the apple cart it is much more likely they will attempt something like the above, with Tony going 'upstairs' effectively as general manager of the club whilst the coaches operate downstairs.

Hope your suspicions are wrong because it will be a disaster waiting to happen and it suggests unhealthy levels of power and influence here for the manager once again.

It needs a clear out and rebuild with new ideas, faces and voices.

Sadly in the cut throat industry of competitive Championship football coaches and nice men lose their jobs from time to time when targets aren't met. The club shouldn't be held back or resist ever making changes just to avoid making painful decisions.

Surely we couldn’t afford the additional salary required. 

[RevidgeBlue]

On 13/02/2021 at 17:35, Exiled in Toronto said:

I don’t even think it’s a conspiracy theory that Mowbray might have compromised control of the team sheet for the January reinforcements (if that’s the right word).

Extra money has to be requested from India to pay for the young loanees (Elliott included.) We know Balaji gets star-struck with his failed film ventures.

TM: ”We are really close to getting in the playoffs, these top quality kids will push us there”

BR: “I can get players from City, Liverpool and Everton playing in my team?”

TM: “Yep, they are all top kids, all going to play for England.”

BR: “OK, money sent. They’ll be on the pitch every game though, right? Because that’s why you’re asking for them.”

TM: “Of course!”

I actually think that’s the most likely way it happened.

I think it's nonsense to suggest that the pressure to play these kids would have come from India.

Mowbray will have been so desperate that he would have had to make assurances to the PL Clubs that they would all get a certain amount of game time. If he didn't then the PL Clubs quite simply wouldn't send them here and would send them where they would play regularly even if it was further down the pyramid.

Of course loaning in players from PL Clubs be they youngsters or otherwise, simply to limp in mid table every season runs directly contrary to the tosh we are constantly fed about slow builds, long term plans or being on a journey. Unless said players are good enough to help us achieve promotion then we're just throwing dead money away and are left back in square one every summer. The only way to progress in the long term is to develop our own players, not those of other Clubs. I'll bet Everton are delighted with the fact that Braithwaite appears to be a nailed on starter, but City might be questioning the wisdom of their lad being shoehorned into a struggling side out of position for a cameo appearance to make up his agreed minutes every week.

[JHRover]

8 minutes ago, roversinmyblood said:

Surely we couldn’t afford the additional salary required. 

Additional salary for what? Mowbray becomes 'Sporting Director' or 'General Manager', Venus becomes 'Head Coach' with Lowe/Johnson as his assistants. Carry on as you were with a new 'project' but at same cost and same faces just with different titles.

That will keep the heat off for another 12 months or so. They just love a shuffle and a few new job titles without actually changing anything.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

6 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Just looked at the next 10 fixtures. I think we're about to enter an epic death spiral. 

Could this be the death spiral to end all death spirals, and with it, Mowbray's time at Rovers? 

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

2 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Could this be the death spiral to end all death spirals, and with it, Mowbray's time at Rovers? 

Apocalypse Mow

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Could this be the death spiral to end all death spirals, and with it, Mowbray's time at Rovers? 

Based on past results, unless we look to be in actual danger of going down, you'd have to say unlikely.

The only straw I'm clutching desperately on to is that occasionally Venky's act out of the blue when you least expect it.

In this instance I'm hoping it means Mowbray getting a long overdue bullet rather than him getting a new long term deal.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

5 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Apocalypse Mow

👏

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

4 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Based on past results, unless we look to be in actual danger of going down, you'd have to say unlikely.

The only straw I'm clutching desperately on to is that occasionally Venky's act out of the blue when you least expect it.

In this instance I'm hoping it means Mowbray getting a long overdue bullet rather than him getting a new long term deal.

Yes, highly unlikely he's going anywhere. A cursory look at the table - which is exactly the adjective I'd use to describe the way Venkys will look at us - sees we are still in with a chance of the play offs so why would they act now, especially given how much he's crawled into Madames anus? Anyone that has paid any attention at all in the last four years however, knows full well we're never getting in the play offs.