Examples? We had no CEO of any description for nearly 8 years, then when they do appoint one the person they get happened to have worked closely with Mowbray a matter of months before? I'm sorry, I'm not alleging any wrongdoing, but expecting me to believe that there's nothing more to it than a simple coincidence is pushing it.

It would be the mother of all remarkable coincidences for Mowbray to have had zero input into the appointment of Waggott as CEO and for him to just so happen to have ended up getting a job at the same club as Mowbray a short while after they were both working together at Coventry. The level of Mowbray's input into that decision is questionable but I think it is very safe to assume at the very least he put in a good word or gave the idea a thumbs up when suggested to him.

It may have been Mowbray's choice to keep him with the first team after he got the job longer term, but was it Mowbray's choice to move him from the academy to the first team to be his assistant in the first place? I don't know, but on balance I'd say unlikely. More likely is he was told to find an assistant from within the existing staff or told who he was working with in the aftermath of the Coyle and staff exodus. As I say I've no idea on his qualifications and coaching ability and don't know the bloke.

Venus is assistant manager as he always has been to Mowbray, except at Coventry where he was involved in recruitment and Mowbray had Jamie Clapham as his assistant. I know Venus has had personal issues to deal with this season which was the reason he was absent a lot before Christmas, things seemed to pick up from New Years onwards when he was back in the dugout, possibly a coincidence though possibly a sign that his presence is needed. I'm not sure what the crack is with Lowe but I find it interesting how he's managed to end up where he is. When Mowbray arrived he was immediately promoted from his job with the academy to assistant manager and then kept on whilst Dunn was demoted back to the reserves. I don't really know the bloke but something just doesn't stack up there with me. Maybe it's my paranoia after years of Venkys but I wonder how much choice Mowbray has had in that appointment and if none then who did.

That would require us to remove David Lowe, and I think there's no chance at all of that happening. Friends in high places etc.

So if we'd have signed a proven CB and Britt Assombalonga for £10 million in January, but then continued our form through February and March, secured a top 6 position, and won promotion to the Premier league, would you be criticising Mowbray for 'overpaying' for players in January? 7 or 8 signings this summer, whilst clearly necessary, doesn't fit into the slow gradual building job?

I think that is a sly dig from him towards Middlesbrough and Karanka. When Mowbray was there he had to work under relatively tight financial constraints as they balanced the books after Strachan's spending spree, eventually Boro ended up with a couple of near-misses with the play-offs and then slid towards trouble in his 3rd season. Karanka then came in and was given a big budget, got them into promotion contention and eventually backed sufficiently to get them promoted. Why that is relevant to our current situation I'm not sure. There's no chance any manager at this club getting that sort of money from Venkys and it seems when they do make good money available it comes about in an unexpected manner and has all sorts of strings attached to it.

Only one team in the last 40 years has got 96 points or more and not won the league and that was I think Middlesbrough back in the 80s. Last 2 seasons we've been victims of needing well above average points to reach our target (52 needed to survive). Just hope this season isn't the same.

As long as we avoid relegation then this season will represent upward trajectory on last season and the season before that. It is an industry based on results and league position and if we finish where we are then we've done ok given where we've come from. My concerns are less to do with the deterioration in our form since November, which was always likely to happen, and more to do with our bizarre recruitment and endless chopping and changing and the seeming inability to overcome issues that have been our Achilles heel since way back into last season. The manager deserves the chance to overcome those issues but I'm beginning to doubt whether he is able to do it. The fragile defence has been a problem now since early on last season. Also the 45 minute performances at home which rarely see us turn up for the first 45 minutes. There's of course the added caveat of what goes on behind the scenes. In normal circumstances I would suggest giving him this season, the summer and next season unless in relegation trouble but with these owners we just don't know what sort of thing is going on. It isn't as simple as making a change as it is everywhere else, as we've then to go through the pot luck selection process along with the 'trust building' process that Kean, Bowyer and Mowbray have all had to undertake with trips to India. Could we get a better manager than Mowbray? Almost certainly. But would these buffoons know where to find one who would be better at management plus handle all the other stuff, work within their bonkers system, pander to their egos and work with staff foisted upon them? Extremely unlikely.

The concern I have is the entire premise of Mowbray's management since promotion last season has been the slow, multi-year gradual build, the idea that the way we are going to do things is each transfer window add 2-3 decent players, replace the poorer ones and end up in a couple of years with a promotion capable squad, and yet what has happened and what looks like happening come the summer is going to be very different. To me it seems more and more to be the case that come June we're going to have to carry out a major rebuilding job, with a huge amount of new players required who are up to Championship standard. Even if we strike lucky and keep Dack and our other 'assets' there's a huge amount of work to do, and perhaps more importantly a lot of money or incredibly shrewd business to be got through. Given recent signings I'm not particularly confident in the recruitment policy here and I don't believe for one minute, despite the claims of some, that Venkys will be sanctioning major expenditure for multiple quality players. Much cheaper to keep those already here under contract.

I think a bigger problem for us is keeping a solid defence. No matter how many chances we take or goals we score we'll struggle until we stop conceding at the rate we have been doing. Since that Hull clean sheet and excellent performance we've conceded 9 goals in 4 games against mediocre opposition. In the case of the home fixtures v Bristol and Middlesbrough only 2 conceded but that's to be expected given the way we set up at home. We are extremely negative and cautious at home which means no matter who we play we'll be relatively difficult to break down. Away from home we've conceded 7 in 2 against bottom 3rd sides in Brentford and Reading, despite having put ourselves into decent positions in both games (2-0 up after 10 minutes at Brentford, comfortable at 0-0 and on top at 1-1 at Reading) yet have managed to collapse under pressure at both. Big question marks for me on the way we handle pressure and our defensive duties particularly away from home.

The only thing that I wondered was whether the bean counters insisted on a departure before authorising the Chapman signing. Whilst I understand Downing wanted to play and don't think he's particularly good it seems lunacy to allow him out on loan along with Wharton when we're so short in that area.

To be fair I think we sometimes start the first half well - for the first 10 minutes or so - and look dangerous at times - but then after that we very quickly regress and it becomes a borefest. No coincidence that the better performances like Hull and Leeds came after we managed to grab a goal inside those critical first 10 minutes - from there confidence flowed. When we can't get our noses in front early on we end up spending 10-45 minutes on a road to nowhere.

Same problems, different day. First half absolutely terrible but then again, how many decent first halves have we had at home this season? Hull and Leeds? Either by remarkable coincidence, or by design, we nearly always witness abject first half performances. Time after time we are devoid of any real creativity or intensity in the first half and don't show anything of any note until into the 2nd half. I'm sick and fed up with it. Countless times the opposition look brighter, bolder, quicker, and we go into half time with a zero next to our name and very little excitement. Turgid stuff. I've been concerned for some time that Mowbray is tying himself in knots with his selections and tactics, and today took it one step further. It seemed half the players had no idea what they were supposed to be doing, half the team was moved around the pitch into various positions and formations. That might appeal to those who like to play Football Manager but I prefer to see a team well drilled, organised with a game plan that is stuck to and players who know their roles in the team. When i watch Rovers I don't see that, I see a team and manager all over the place, constantly chopping and changing, often for no real reason or to give people a rest etc. You get your best XI, get a formation that suits their skill set, and train them to understand their jobs. Numerous times Harrison Reed came running over to the technical area to speak to Mowbray and Mowbray was waving his arms around shouting. Seemed to me Reed was struggling to understand what the latest roll of the dice was. It must get confusing for people like him and Bennett when playing in 3 different positions and in 3 different formations, each changing by the game. The fact that we appear so confused, so disorganised and unclear as to what we are trying to do is solely the manager's responsibility. He has spent the season making needless changes, moving people around, changing formations and it looks like he's no nearer arriving at a set system or team which is very alarming. The speed with which we have disintegrated from being 2-0 up at Brentford and occupying a top 6 position to this shambles is very concerning, as has been our form since November, with the exception of that purple patch in January. Too many defeats and too many goals conceded - only going to end one way - if not this season then next - unless surgery is carried out. I'd say it is time to go 'back to basics' but I don't think we are capable. We'll be missing players so it will be another case of shuffling the pack and coming up with some other weird selection to accommodate it. Two tough away days coming up. Can we 'do a Bolton' and grind out a win at Birmingham? Rotherham will be a dogfight as they desperately fight for survival and aren't bad at home. Could easily be looking at 6 defeats on the bounce here. Special mention for the referee. The same one who booked Harrison Reed for 'timewasting' on a throw in at Bolton earlier this season managed to avoid sanctioning Middlesbrough., who took an age for every throw. Absolute disgrace.

The reason it has gone that way since our 1999-01 spell at this level is because more of the traditionally well supported clubs have dropped to this level. Leeds, Villa, Forest, Middlesbrough and Sheff Wed, whilst poorer supported clubs like Burnley, Bournemouth, Watford, Huddersfield and Palace have replaced them in the league above. If we were to do what Sky want and replace those 5 or 6 smaller clubs with the bigger city ones our gates would suddenly look more impressive. Goes to show the declining importance of crowds for me, compared to say 30 years ago. Still think our average home gate is about 16/24 at this level, admittedly boosted by above average away followings, but nonetheless I don't think it is too shabby given how this club has gone about its business and how it restricts it's own ticket sales by moving decent fixtures to inconvenient times. If we actually played a few games at 3pm on a Saturday we might get a few more on. Note between now and August - 6 months - we will have at most 1 home 3pm Saturday kick off (v Stoke), the rest all moved, some seemingly at Rovers request. Then they wonder why gates are struggling.

Hmmm. Maybe, but I'm seeing parallels between Mowbray's public comments re. the owners and some of those his predecessors came out with. Almost as though there are doubts in his mind about whether they are going to go with his suggestions and him trying to guide them publicly as to which way they should go with this.

Reading through the articles today on the Lancashire Telegraph website of Mowbray reviewing his meetings with the owners I am even more concerned rather than reassured. It would be helpful if Mowbray explained which of the owners he met whilst in Switzerland. Was it Mrs Desai? It seems we're still no nearer than we were months ago in relation to this European scouting network. Mowbray is still talking about it being something he wants to be able to put in place rather than it being something that is now in place. It is concerning to me that he clearly identified that as an issue many months ago and yet it seems no nearer to happening. Mind you, given some of the stories I've heard over the years about the difficulties of getting approval from India for even minor yet necessary expenditure I imagine he's having difficulties getting approval for a relatively large and in some respects unnecessary outlay. Seems anyway that this network isn't going to be in place in time for it to bear fruit by the time the summer comes round. Mowbray's language is very similar to that Paul Lambert was using around this stage 3 years ago. Publicly telling the fans and owners what he wants to do and what he thinks is needed to achieve their aim (supposedly) of promotion, lots of suggestions about various areas of the club that need strengthening and the need for more investment Sounds to me like they're telling him they want promotion and yet he doesn't feel as though the tools are there to do it yet. and is trying to get that message across to them and explain things to them via the media as well as in his meetings. All very odd. Seems the manager meets with them but then needs to get his message across in the public arena. Not for the first time. Wouldn't surprise me if he or they had no idea what the plan was going to be come the summer in terms of budget etc.

So much more exciting under the up and coming Dean Smith than the 'dinosaur' Steve Bruce though

'Lifts the lid on Switzerland trip' basically an admission that the purpose of his trip was to meet the owners and Mowbray then setting out his vision which is more or less the same as he has previously. No real Intel about the meeting or what is going to happen. At least he didn't refer to other stakeholders....

I'm amazed at that figure if true. I'd have expected a couple of thousand even for a tv game with them being up there. Bad news for Waggott and his massive away fans agenda.

No, I think the problem is two fold. Partly it is down to the way we play - we crumble under pressure - this has been going on since last season when we managed to get away with it because we were playing garbage sides. Clean sheets have been very rare, particularly away from home. There is something structurally wrong with the way we defend as a team. Call it what you want - lack of discipline, lack of nous, lack of leadership - but it keeps rearing its ugly head and has done for too long to ignore it any further. It is also partly down to personnel not being good enough. I think I said yesterday that I would be looking to offload Williams and Downing in the summer, Bell would be on the bench (at best), I'd sign a new CB and RB, but would keep Nyambe, Lenihan and Mulgrew. Do you agree that coaching, recruitment and tactics are all the remit of the manager and at least one of those things needs improving on for our defensive record to improve?

I'm not having that. Mowbray has been manager of the club for 2 years. He's had 4 transfer windows, a healthy budget by most accounts, supposed freedom to do things as he wants. He's an experienced manager who has operated at Premier league, Championship and League One level for 10 years+ so should know straight away whether the players he has are good enough or not and act accordingly. Not give them a full season to 'prove' themselves before having to replace them when they can't do it. It's his decision what he does and it will be his neck on the line. We have 3 options: 1) stick with what we are doing, which is one of the worst defences in this league. I know enough about this game to know that if we continue to ship goals at the rate we are doing then sooner or later we WILL end up in trouble at the wrong end of the table 2) stick with the same personnel but try to change things through different coaching - this is for the manager to work on every day in training and the proof will be in the pudding when the players cross the line - at the moment whatever he is doing isn't working because we're still making the same mistakes and conceding goals galore 3) change the personnel - get out there into the transfer market and replace those players with ones who won't keep making mistakes - once again this is the manager's job and he has cash to do it by his own admission. Whichever way you prefer to do things the manager is the one who has to sort it out and deal with it, and it will be the manager who carries the can if he doesn't. Suggesting that the manager is blameless and it's all down to sloppy individual errors is nonsense.

Where did I suggest getting rid of anyone? Point was that this is the manager's team, he has either signed everyone, given them contracts or has had ample opportunity to replace them if not deemed good enough. So suggesting that our defensive woes are the result of errors or mistakes that aren't the manager's fault but the players cannot be correct - if it is all down to individual errors and not poor team organisation then it is still the manager's remit to deal with that - by either coaching it out of those players or getting shut of them and signing others.

The manager takes responsibility. He coaches the team, works with them every day, picks the players on matchday, has had chance to replace any he doesn't think are good enough. If all those goals are down to individual mistakes or loss of bottle then that still falls back onto Mowbray - he's signed/kept/coached these players so if they keep losing their bottle in games or making frequent mistakes then it is his fault. I've no interest in how many goals we concede from set-pieces any more than how many we score from set-pieces. It doesn't matter. They're all goals.

I'd have thought Brendan Rodgers would find space for him at Celtic, with Kean being from up there and an ex-Celtic player. Rodgers couldn't wait to use his Swansea programme notes to criticise Rovers fans for their treatment of Kean so surely he'd be eager to help his old mate out with a job?