Rovers are hosting an Evening with Tony Mowbray on 21st February to celebrate 2 years as manager. Tickets are £3 available for 1875 Club Members.

I want revenge for them going on their holidays before rolling over to Birmingham on the final day of the 2016-17 season which contributed to our relegation with 51 points. Plus I don't like their manager and they've become a bit of a bogey team for us over the last few years.

I don't think there's much mass hysteria going round. Just concern, at least on my part, not that we lose games as such but that we seem to get these periodic hammerings where things unravel very quickly from a position of strength to a shambles. It seems to happen after we get ourselves into a good position in the league and in matches and make a good start in a game. It nearly always ends up with us sustaining multiple injuries. Mowbray mentions the foreign market yet in his 4 transfer windows as manager of the club he has signed 1 permanent foreign player in Jayson Leutwiler who was clearly nothing more than backup. Other than that not a free agent, loan or cash buy. I think the only other player he's brought who wasn't born in the British Isles was Marcus Antonsson on loan last season. That isn't to necessarily say that buying British is bad or isn't working for us, but I find it hard to believe that this manager is seriously planning on suddenly going abroad for his players when he has shown no desire or ability to exploit that market in his time here so far. I don't particularly consider it to be a success that we're above Rotherham and Wigan. This club should be above them. I accept it is good that we're above Stoke and Villa who have massively bigger budgets.

Portsmouth gave up on the fan owned model because they realised after a couple of seasons that if they had any ambitions of climbing back to the Championship or Premier League rather than floating around Leagues One and Two for a long time then they needed more cash and the only way of getting that was by handing the club over to an investor. Quite ironic really that the one club that was driven closest to extinction by a succession of poor foreign owners and whose fans battled so hard to get the club into supporters hands only lasted a few years before reverting back to being foreign owned. Another example of big crowds meaning very little except perhaps to attract the tycoon to buy them, as despite having crowds 3 or 4 times those of most clubs in the bottom 2 leagues they still needed more cash to propel themselves upwards. I think the only fan controlled clubs in the League are Exeter City, Wimbledon and Wycombe.

This is an important point. For all the comparisons to Real Madrid by the manager and talk after the game about what a brilliant side they are the fact remains that they're another struggling side at the wrong end of the table who we have had over a barrel yet managed to let the game slip through our fingers and ended up not just losing but getting demolished. I think it comes back to an assortment of issues. We're not fit enough as a team and don't have enough depth to the squad - hence we end up knackered and patched up after 60-70 minutes as we pick up a collection of knocks and niggles and have to use up all our subs on replacing those carrying knocks rather than making tactical changes to change the game in our favour. We seem to have issues in protecting leads, particularly away from home - 22 points relinquished from winning positions in 30 games is crazy and points to poor game management and difficulty in absorbing pressure for any sustained period (this goes back to last season although we got away with it on most occasions then).

It might be me making it up but how often does it happen in these away games that we end up getting thrashed AND end the game with multiple injuries or personnel issues. If it isn't bad enough getting comprehensively beaten having been in decent positions (Brentford, Sheff Utd, Bristol City, Swansea) it always seems to coincide with 2 or 3 players hobbling off the pitch injured, making all of our substitutions early on. Again on Saturday, we reach half time in 'reasonably' good health i.e. our starting XI still on the pitch, still in the game, and within 15 minutes of that point we've made all 3 substitutions, lost numerous players to knocks and niggles and end up all over the place, unable to make any more changes and walking wounded, and it is game over. It happened in similar fashion at Bristol City - a good start, could have been out of sight after the first 30 minutes, then things very quickly unravel and we've made all 3 substitutions after 70 minutes and end up getting walloped. A poor use of substitutions but we're back to the old story of asking whether Danny Graham is able to play for 90 minutes twice or thrice a week. I don't think he can but he is so indispensable to our play that we have to try him with no back-up or alternatives and inevitably he gets these knocks and niggles (given the way he plays and role he fills he is bound to take a bashing on the pitch and pick up these knocks. Problem is we've allowed all these windows to pass by and not get remotely close to a suitable replacement for him.

Given Brentford are supposedly such a brilliant side and our manager compares them to Real Madrid perhaps he or someone else at Rovers could carry out an analysis as to how a club of their size with their budget and facilities have managed to assemble such quality whilst also coping very well with the regular sales of key players to rival clubs? Our manager says he has had money available to spend but that he decided to not spend any because decent players were not available for a reasonable price. How much did Brentford's starting XI cost them? The difference of course is that Brentford are on another level to us in terms of their operation, strategy and recruitment and that is shown up neatly when we lose Dack and Graham to injury and our only solution to that is to chuck on Nuttall, Brereton and Conway. None of whom are really good enough for this level at this moment in time and in the case of Brereton cost more than anyone in Brentford's team that took us to pieces. I could perhaps subscribe to the theory that we were simply outplayed by a better team had we not followed the familiar path of completely and utterly imploding once again having been in a good position. I said after the game that had it been 0-0 at half time and not 2-1 we'd have had a better chance of winning. Going out into the 2nd half to protect a lead is the last thing this team or manager is able to do, far more comfortable if we are level or behind. From the minute we went 2-0 up the game changed. Like a switch went in the players heads and we went from being on the front foot to being on the back foot and from that point on Brentford dominated and I don't recall us having anything in the game except a two minute period in the 2nd half when we had a few corners in succession. 22 points dropped from winning positions is outrageous and has to be rectified as a matter of urgency.

Strange because I think I've supported the idea, in principle, for quite some time. In an ideal world I'd rather not bother with that sort of thing but given the absence/distance/lack of knowledge of the owners I feel the club would benefit from having more expertise on the ground who could bridge that gap.

which of our rivals would you say are weaker now than on 1st January? I'd argue Bristol City have strengthened by adding Palmer who has scored, assisted and won a MOTM in the 3 games he's played since joining them. I think Sunderland are doing with Grigg what we did when signing Payne and Armstrong last January. Just adding that final piece of the jigsaw in a bid to get over the line and secure promotion. They've probably overpaid for him but he'll score goals and if they go up it will be worth it.

Such concerns don't seem to have prevented Notts Forest or Villa from spending heavily despite being below us in the table and already having bigger squads. I'm still waiting to see what punishment they eventually get should they not get promoted. Derby, Sheff Utd and Boro have also strengthened despite none being guaranteed a play-off position and likely only one of them at most will end up getting promoted. Have to speculate from time to time. Seize the moment when the wind is in your sails. Prospective players more likely to fancy joining us when we're winning games and looking upwards. Next January we might well not be in as healthy a position. No doubt there will then be another excuse as to why we can't or shouldn't make any signings. Don't think anyone is suggesting gambling the club's future or paying Premier League wages.

I remember being on holiday in Greece at the time we signed Yorke, think it was 2002, in the days before much internet access abroad in holiday resorts and no smartphones so the only way of keeping tabs on football activity really was to walk to the shop and buy a paper. I was quite excited about the prospect of signing Yorke and reuniting him with Cole, shame it never really worked out. Think it happened around the same time as Ferdinand left Leeds to go to United for that mega money record transfer.

Big pressure on those home games v Wigan and PNE. We owe them big time after recent disappointments and we need to put the record straight. Not just horrendous results this season at their grounds but also need to get one over on Wigan after 2 draws and finishing below them last season. Really need to wipe that smirk off Cook's face. Preston not much better, we need payback after that 4-1 and also their late draw at Ewood which condemned us to relegation. We seem to perform better in games where we aren't favourites or aren't under much pressure. Certainly this season against the bigger sides, whereas against the smaller ones we have a mediocre record.

I think it is probably time that we look to recruit a sporting director (a proven competent one) who would come in and handle things like scouting and transfer strategy and report back to Waggott or the owners. Let Mowbray get on with coaching and managing the team and let someone else focus on scouting and negotiating deals. Of course leave the final decision to the manager but take that burden off his shoulders and come up with a medium term strategy for recruitment. At the moment it just seems to be a window-by-window job depending on what comes up and whether we get favourable deals coming our way. Leeds, Norwich, Stoke, Forest, WBA, Villa, Brentford, Bristol City have all gone down this route and most of those are foreign owned or have owners who want to take a back seat as opposed to clubs like Bolton, Rotherham and Middlesbrough where the owner is quite heavily involved in the running of the club.

I really don't know what to make of Mowbray's latest comments on the transfer window. Time after time after time we hear from club employees about how the owners were prepared to do this, that and the other but for a variety of reasons didn't. If it is true then it is a very strange situation in which we have wealthy owners keen to invest into the squad and yet a manager who is so keen to 'protect' them that he refuses to spend the money. That cannot be common in professional football, where most managers would eagerly accept whatever money was available to give them the best possible chance of improving the squad. Mowbray may think the owners will be impressed that he isn't going to waste their money for the sake of it but the flip side of that argument is that if we don't get promoted in the near future the owners may lose patience and in their desire to access the Premier League riches question why their manager hasn't taken up their offer of funding and delivered a higher league finish. The alternative of course is that it isn't true and that it is very easy and cheap to claim the owners were prepared to spend, but actually going out and spending it is another matter entirely. It seems to be a running theme of their ownership that they are keen to invest and won't refuse to fund the club and yet at the end of the day it is quite rare that significant cash is actually spent. Positive PR exercise for the owners? I'm afraid I'm still concerned that we've gone into this window with targets in mind that were seemingly never realistic given the money demanded. Probably haven't done our homework as it should be clear in advance whether deals are do-able and if we're miles away from what clubs and players are asking for then those targets should never have been targets.

Could have been much worse. The first priority is to ensure you don't end up weaker and I don't think we have, though I don't think we're ending it stronger either. Good to be sat in a position of relative comfort watching from afar as the likes of Bolton and Wigan scurry around for reinforcements in a desperate bid to survive. Frustrating nonetheless that we're in our best league position in quite some time, upwardly mobile, with the slim chance of kicking on further and yet we have missed or turned down the chance to add to what we have, either to try and kick on this season or to put more building blocks in place for the longer term. Mowbray spoke about a multi window plan and building job so it seems odd to me that he's now turning round bemoaning the cost of players. It doesn't appear from afar that we've really followed much of a strategy other than to have a short list of potential options and hope that they come available late on at a subsidised rate. That's not really what Mowbray's comments on building long term seemed to suggest he was after.

Jacob Murphy to WBA.

Derby signed Andy King from Leicester and looks like Sheff Weds are signing someone late on.

Part of preparing for a transfer window is to investigate whether targets are attainable by finding out the demands and then if do-able go ahead and pursue. You don't go for a player then realise in the last few days of the window that you've been wasting time because the demands were never realistic for us. Can anyone tell me how much Chapman cost? If Mowbray is correct and he isn't going to be playing for us for some time would it not have been cheaper just to wait until the summer when he was out of contract?

Sums it up when the club are running with the '4 new signings' line for January. That's stretching it to the extreme when 2 of those were already here with deals becoming permanent, 1 of them is joining the development squad and the other isn't ready to play. It's actually 1 senior addition who the manager immediately ruled out of contention to play. Poor really. Not that we had a chronic need for new bodies but at the end of the day it's an opportunity to strengthen missed and it would have been good to add whilst we're in a good place to keep growing and improving. The same old tired excuses about the cost of players these days simply doesn't wash given the time we've had to prepare for the window. What are we going to do, never sign another player because we're not happy with prices and won't detract from first choice targets?

I can see where you're coming from, clearly this is results business and results of late have been very good, but I don't think that those 4 or 5 games should detract from the bigger picture. If we have a medium to long term plan I would expect to see signings to fit into that irrespective of how we've performed over January. Likewise if we finish the season with a winning run and end up in 7th missing the play-offs on goal difference I wouldn't expect us to put our feet up for the summer on the basis we've done well and don't need any more. This talk from Mowbray about the players he wants being way, way too expensive isn't good. If we've spent January pursuing players who are way out of our budget then we're wasting our time.

It's a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Club with a limited budget wants to be able to recruit but struggles to pay the going rate for UK based players, the obvious alternative is to look overseas and yet said club can't do that because in an attempt to save cash the club has no European scouting network nor any employees with any expertise in that area. Result? It's either going for those UK players the manager familiar with or nothing, the result being that we end up paying as we did for Brereton. Hardly surprising that we're operating on such a limited and short sighted system when the club doesn't seem to look any further than Darwen when promoting itself.

So basically we're struggling to sign players due to a limited budget and not having the structure in place to bring in talent from overseas. We knew that before the window opened. I really do wonder how a club with a decade long run in the Premier League, Category A academy and a long history of signing quality from Europe can have no European scouting network. Very foolish and shortsighted to end up without one whilst rivals steam ahead on recruitment.

Pretty sure Davenport was photographed in training last week with the first team, so surely can't be far off. Don't know how he fits into the team though.

I never understand this theory that clubs keep potential signings a secret to prevent another club coming in and beating us to it. If a club is letting a player go they will try to get the best possible price for that player, so they will leak interest out to see if anyone else comes forward with a better offer. Likewise the player in question will have an agent paid to get the best deal for his client and so that individual will drip news out into public and get word out onto the footballing grapevine to see if a better offer comes forward from elsewhere. If there is interest in a player it will come out one way or another. If not into the public domain then at least in football/agent circles. Question is if there's enough time left to hijack it.

Forest will be an interesting comparison to us. We're side by side in the table, mathematically we're in a better position than them to make the play-offs. They're doing it the way many say you aren't supposed to do it - spending absolute fortunes, massive squad, eyewatering wage bill, changing managers regularly. We are the opposite - relatively stable, all the talk about the longer term, not panicking, not gambling, not spending heavily, building something up steadily. I suppose it is testament to Mowbray and the team that we are already above them after 29 games given where we've come from and what both clubs have spent. Moving forward it will be interesting to see which works out for the best - will it be Forest or us who goes closer to promotion. Will it all come crashing down there if they don't go up and are subsequently nailed for FFP breaches whilst we continue our steady upward movement on a sustainable footing? Or will they get up and we will be left wondering what if we'd have done the same at this point and 'gone for it'.