v Huddersfield Town (h) - 20/01/2024

[JHRover]

The media have always associated Mowbray with "good football", a consistent now for 20 years since he won the Championship doing with a strong West Brom side.

If you repeat it often enough and for long enough it becomes fact in people's minds, even if not necessarily true.

If you are a struggling Championship side wanting safety and stability and someone to guide you through to potentially a better future he's a good option and will expertly play the media with all the popular soundbites.

But if you want promotion he isn't going to haul you there like Warnock or Bruce carved out their careers doing.

[DE.]

4 minutes ago, booth said:

15th, 11th, 15th, 8th.

it was the promotion from L1 that the goodwill comes from.

On social media I’m seeing people saying we did better under Mowbray than JDT. When we had two absolutely dire seasons finishing 15th after millions spent. During both of those seasons many fans wanted him sacked. 

Many on here did, but I never got the impression the wider fanbase wanted him sacked. From memory the only time he ever got any serious grief at Ewood was during one of the death spirals in 2019 (I think?) and straight afterwards TM came out and chastised the fans for being ungrateful and told them to remember it isn't 1995 anymore. Barely a murmur of discontent after that despite numerous death spirals going forward. 

I genuinely think if you polled the general fanbase as to whether they'd have Mowbray back it would be resoundingly in favour. The flags that used to get waved with his face on at the tunnel are probably kept in storage somewhere awaiting the day of his return. 

[Mattyblue]

The ‘good football’ thing shows the influence of a media narrative.

Apart from a couple of exciting months in his last season up to Christmas. When did we play this swashbuckling football under TM?

[arbitro]

Mowbrays real strength is how he ingratiates himself on the media and fan base, something like a favourite uncle who can regale the family with stories. The nonsense about cake and chocolate bars were examples of how he really got the media onside and for many of them it distracted from poor results. His working class lad thing was done to death here and frankly it got boring.

Good luck to him - he has made a career out of being a level or two above mediocrity aligned with the odd success and continues to gain employment.

[booth]

14 minutes ago, DE. said:

Many on here did, but I never got the impression the wider fanbase wanted him sacked. From memory the only time he ever got any serious grief at Ewood was during one of the death spirals in 2019 (I think?) and straight afterwards TM came out and chastised the fans for being ungrateful and told them to remember it isn't 1995 anymore. Barely a murmur of discontent after that despite numerous death spirals going forward. 

I genuinely think if you polled the general fanbase as to whether they'd have Mowbray back it would be resoundingly in favour. The flags that used to get waved with his face on at the tunnel are probably kept in storage somewhere awaiting the day of his return. 

It’s very odd that he seems to get revered like the best of our managers of the last 30 years. Even in L1 he served up some dross with a good squad for that league.

Dalglish, Souness, Hughes, Mowbray.

[Exiled_Rover]

11 hours ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I like jdt but as mental as it sounds my biggest concern about it is just why is he still here?

done dirty by owners which there seems to have always been a bit of niggle between 

can leave and get a much better run club, rep is still in tact 

no money to spend so things are only going to get worse here 

fans seem to be turning on him 

no loyalty to the club as he didn’t play for us 

does he look happy? Not to me 

so all in all, why? And the only conclusion I can come up with is that he is only here for the money. We need somebody who is going to stick up for the club and not just accept the nonsense from the owners. We also need somebody who can put a rocket up these players , they aren’t playing to their potential the last few weeks. Who is actually playing well?

Of course he's here for the money, he's a professional football manager.

He's held a light to the shady ongoings in the Board Room at Ewood Park  - neither he or Broughton have been backed.

He'll leave in the summer to a non-basket case club on the Continent. He obviously thought he could either take Rovers up or convert this stint into a bigger job in England, but he's been cut off at the knees and isn't a miracle worker. 

[Exiled_Rover]

11 hours ago, booth said:

In a couple of weeks he’ll do an interview in which he smiles a lot, talks about challenges and how he’s been  chasing a player we’ve never heard of for 6 months.

Then that’s him done till Summer.

He literally has no money to work with. I'm not sure what people expect him to do. 

We clearly have nothing in the transfer budget as we can't even stretch to paying £500k upfront for a player and we clearly have nothing in the wage budget as we've loaned out Buckley and then Travis to balance the books.

He had to sell to keep the lights on in the summer and undoubtedly A. Wharton will leave in 6 months to balance the books (with no money going to the playing side of the club, again). 

[Exiled_Rover]

3 hours ago, KentExile said:

There is the possibility (although I would certainly not bet my house on it) that Leonard was "warming up" in order to pass instructions to the players on the pitch

Or more likely, he was simply cold and wanted to be warmer

If they don't get on during the game they have to do a training session after the match anyway - so it's not like he was just going to jump straight in his car after the full time whistle had blown.  

[rigger]

15 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

If they don't get on during the game they have to do a training session after the match anyway - so it's not like he was just going to jump straight in his car after the full time whistle had blown.  

Or it could be that nobody on the staff has a clue what's going on.

[Waggy76]

21 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He literally has no money to work with. I'm not sure what people expect him to do. 

We clearly have nothing in the transfer budget as we can't even stretch to paying £500k upfront for a player and we clearly have nothing in the wage budget as we've loaned out Buckley and then Travis to balance the books.

He had to sell to keep the lights on in the summer and undoubtedly A. Wharton will leave in 6 months to balance the books (with no money going to the playing side of the club, again). 

 

26 minutes ago, booth said:

It’s very odd that he seems to get revered like the best of our managers of the last 30 years. Even in L1 he served up some dross with a good squad for that league.

Dalglish, Souness, Hughes, Mowbray.

Dalglish, Souness, Kendall , Hughes, Mackay Allardyce ,Smith ,Saxton for me ..

Saxton didnt have a pot to piss in but his knowledge of English football was far superior to JDT's will ever be.....

It came to an end but he got the very best out of every player for  3 seasons...

[chaddyrovers]

3 hours ago, martonrover said:

My comment was aimed at personnel in the set up at Rovers at this time (ie Waggott and Broughton), rather than at the DOF model in general.

 I do think an experienced manager, with good contacts, is more appropriate when you are skint, or perhaps a DOF with more experience of transfer dealings in this country, (eg a former manager).

I don't blame Tomasson, but he isn't the manager, and he isn't the right fit for our current circumstances.

If the club changed the set - up tomorrow, you would be on here saying it was the right decision.

The chances of us making some good signings before Feb 2nd are remote.

These owners will never get it right.

If you still can't see that, you never will.

You say you have a positive take on life, but it just looks silly and naive when you allow that to affect your judgement about the current state of Blackburn Rovers, and then try to ram that down everyone's throat.

I agree we need a new CEO with background in commercial operation growth here but that's down to the owners to bring that in. 

We have to disagree cos I think we have a good footballing structure and GB is doing a good overall job but we need a budget to bring in what we need. Yes I do think we will bring 3 or 4 signings before the deadline day. 

Yes I do always look at life in 'positive mindset' and I always look at the glass half full not half empty. Its mindset that has served me well to get the best I want and have in life. 

[martonrover]

30 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

Saxton didnt have a pot to piss in but his knowledge of English football was far superior to JDT's will ever be

Agreed, but Saxton was the manager and would’ve had the biggest say on who was bought and sold.

JDT is living off scraps from the owners and Broughton.

 

[JamieUK]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Leonard was just doing his warm down before the game ends 

Give over. He went out on 2 separate occasions - I've not noticed any other players do that this season or any of the other subs yesterday. They do a warm down after full time. They forgot they made a sub in the first half. It's a shit show from top to bottom.

[sharpysharps86]

Full of Covid at the moment so unfortunately didn't see the game yesterday....or perhaps that should be fortunately.

Had a feeling we wouldn't win. Huddersfield come across a much more physical side than Rovers and this season we have certainly struggled against other sides that possess a lot more physicality.

Sounds like as usual we started relatively well but faded badly once Huddersfield got their goal, and with Pickering and Carter going off injured we now need at least two more defensive recruits on top of the two that JDT seemed to want beforehand.

It's all just so grim at the moment, and has a feeling of when Lambert seeing out his time at the club. The club needs open heart surgery and it will do for as long as Venkys own it.

Refreshing that our goalkeeper didn't have a calamity at any point, and sounds like he actually played reasonably well. Correct decision to put Pears back into the team.

Edited January 21, 2024 by sharpysharps86

[Waggy76]

15 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Agreed, but Saxton was the manager and would’ve had the biggest say on who was bought and sold.

JDT is living off scraps from the owners and Broughton.

 

Time we got a manager !

[simongarnerisgod]

25 minutes ago, martonrover said:

Agreed, but Saxton was the manager and would’ve had the biggest say on who was bought and sold.

JDT is living off scraps from the owners and Broughton.

the scouting was far better then,they actually went to watch a player a few times,same with any of our other esteemed managers,they would`nt rely on the internet or agents recomendations and they had contacts around europe,look at bargain big sam picked up,nzonzi,did`nt cost hardly anything and what a player

 

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, Waggy76 said:

 

Dalglish, Souness, Kendall , Hughes, Mackay Allardyce ,Smith ,Saxton for me ..

Saxton didnt have a pot to piss in but his knowledge of English football was far superior to JDT's will ever be.....

It came to an end but he got the very best out of every player for  3 seasons...

I didn't rate Saxton, the guy who was the best at making something out of nothing was Howard Kendall by far.

Overall you'd have to say Dalglish was best as he was probably the only one with the experience nous and charisma who could have got us over the line to win the title.

Allardyce did a job of sorts for us but he'd be quite a way down my list - behind the likes of Furphy, Jim Smith and Mackay.

Mark Hughes did an absolutely remarkable job with no backing from the Board or previous owners.

Nicer problems to have given our current situation.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, sharpysharps86 said:

Full of Covid at the moment so unfortunately didn't see the game yesterday....or perhaps that should be fortunately.

Had a feeling we wouldn't win. Huddersfield come across a much more physical side than Rovers and this season we have certainly struggled against other sides that possess a lot more physicality.

Sounds like as usual we started relatively well but faded badly once Huddersfield got their goal, and with Pickering and Carter going off injured we now need at least two more defensive recruits on top of the two that JDT seemed to want beforehand.

It's all just so grim at the moment, and has a feeling of when Lambert seeing out his time at the club. The club needs open heart surgery and it will do for as long as Venkys own it.

Refreshing that our goalkeeper didn't have a calamity at any point, and sounds like he actually played reasonably well. Correct decision to put Pears back into the team.

Given nearly every other team we will come up against will have more “ physicality “ than us it looks like we’re in for a rough time. Any team with less physicality is in real trouble.

[Exiled_Rover]

13 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I didn't rate Saxton, the guy who was the best at making something out of nothing was Howard Kendall by far.

Overall you'd have to say Dalglish was best as he was probably the only one with the experience nous and charisma who could have got us over the line to win the title.

Allardyce did a job of sorts for us but he'd be quite a way down my list - behind the likes of Furphy, Jim Smith and Mackay.

Mark Hughes did an absolutely remarkable job with no backing from the Board or previous owners.

Nicer problems to have given our current situation.

It's news to me that Hughes didn't get any backing... I must have imagined Bellamy, Bentley, Santa-Cruz et al. 

[simongarnerisgod]

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's news to me that Hughes didn't get any backing... I must have imagined Bellamy, Bentley, Santa-Cruz et al. 

add the fantastic  benni mccarthy to the list

[RevidgeBlue]

9 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's news to me that Hughes didn't get any backing... I must have imagined Bellamy, Bentley, Santa-Cruz et al. 

How much did they cost - about £7.5m in total?

And sold for about £36m?

If the Walker Trust had sanctioned a replacement for Savage when he broke his leg we'd probably have made the Champions League again.

But they refused.

[alcd]

36 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I didn't rate Saxton, the guy who was the best at making something out of nothing was Howard Kendall by far.

Overall you'd have to say Dalglish was best as he was probably the only one with the experience nous and charisma who could have got us over the line to win the title.

Allardyce did a job of sorts for us but he'd be quite a way down my list - behind the likes of Furphy, Jim Smith and Mackay.

Mark Hughes did an absolutely remarkable job with no backing from the Board or previous owners.

Nicer problems to have given our current situation.

Saxton had a mixed bag of signings. Ian Miller, Sellars and Gennoe all good. But Norman Bell and McKinnon rubbish. Jimmy Quinn came good after leaving. 

[booth]

3 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He literally has no money to work with. I'm not sure what people expect him to do. 

We clearly have nothing in the transfer budget as we can't even stretch to paying £500k upfront for a player and we clearly have nothing in the wage budget as we've loaned out Buckley and then Travis to balance the books.

He had to sell to keep the lights on in the summer and undoubtedly A. Wharton will leave in 6 months to balance the books (with no money going to the playing side of the club, again). 

Where did I say it was his fault? The point is, he's redundant.

[booth]

2 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

 

Dalglish, Souness, Kendall , Hughes, Mackay Allardyce ,Smith ,Saxton for me ..

Saxton didnt have a pot to piss in but his knowledge of English football was far superior to JDT's will ever be.....

It came to an end but he got the very best out of every player for  3 seasons...

I was an infant during the Kendall, Smith and Saxton years. I always felt a bit sorry for Mackay, he tried his best then Dalglish swooped in and made Jack Walker's (and our) dreams come true.

A lot deny Allardyce was a decent manager for Rovers. He frustrated at times but no one can deny he did well and it's often forgotten that he too was dealing with disinterested owners. Not complete two hats like we have now but it's now obvious they couldn't wait to offload to the nearest set of imbeciles.

Edited January 21, 2024 by booth

[bluebruce]

Just seen Gally's penalty claim...my god that was blatant! The big giveaway is when the player behind tumbles to the ground as well, it can only mean he has collided. Shocking decision.