Presumably spent the last couple of days frantically trying to find a way to enable more away supporters to get in. I noticed that they've blocked off the end block of the Riverside as 'segregation'. I'm fairly sure there are season ticket holders in that block so just another example of the club showing a complete lack of interest in its home support. No matter, I'm sure those affected will happily shuffle along to other seats.

Time to brace ourselves for more chopping and changing. Expect a back 3 and then probably Bennett moving between 3 different positions within the first 30 minutes. If we start with our customary horrendous first half at home as we have in most home games this season we'll probably see a multitude of changes to try and overcome it. It might be fun for those who like to guess the team/formation or observe with interest as we juggle different systems and players but I'm really quite tired of it. I'd just like to have some sort of consistency with regards to selection and positioning. A favoured formation and starting XI that can have a run of games together. I expect Reed to be back in after his sabbatical, probably Evans too. I'm left with little alternative but to conclude that the manager still doesn't really know his best XI or formation. There really is no other logical explanation for the constant juggling and changes. The more frustrating part is that having spent £10 million in the summer we've ended up in a position where we've so few options defensively that we're now having to change systems to come up with something that resembles a defence now Lenihan is injured. I'm far from impressed about this, it appears to be either negligence or over confidence in the extreme to think that we could soldier through without sustaining any injuries, especially given the medical histories of Lenihan and Mulgrew.

Oh well at least Waggott and Cheston will be happy with the coin coming in from 7,500 away fans having their big annual day out. Caley will be happy as he can be back home in time for tea.

I half wonder if the reckless decision to allow Downing out was done to open space on the payroll for Chapman to come in, or free up some cash for the nominal fee we will pay Middlesbrough to get him here now. Without wanting to accuse Mowbray of lying stranger things have happened here over the years. I've always believed that the club budget and transfer budget are two completely separate things. The club budget is what Waggott and Cheston oversee, base their forecasts on and are instructed to work within by those in India. The transfer budget is extra dosh that Mowbray goes and gets from India when the need arises or when someone over there takes enough interest/has some spare cash/gets excited following a decent run of results. The club budget sees Waggott and co. scrimping for every penny they can find as they are under pressure to reduce the reliance on Venkys to top up the shortfall. The transfer budget sees someone over there chucking Mowbray millions for a teenager to develop. If there was money 'available' in January I doubt it was sat in the club accounts waiting to be spent. It may have been 'available' had Mowbray picked up the phone to India and requested it from Mrs Desai. But then we've the added issue here of the ownership diplomacy that the manager seemingly has to play here. Mowbray may have been under the impression that in requesting additional funding in January he may have been diminishing his pot or credit in the summer. He may also have felt it might erode his credibility or popularity in India if he was to go to them cap in hand mid-season to request extra cash having agreed to a healthy budget last summer. There's all sorts of plates spinning here in terms of different issues to deal with so whilst technically he might have been able to get some extra dosh through had he needed it he probably felt the best way to win the Indians over was to cart on with what he had and then turn up in May having kept his powder dry hoping that would mean more credit and a bigger budget then. The other issue is however that since then our form has collapsed alarmingly and if that continues much longer we could easily end up in a relegation scrap having been in with a sniff of the play-offs. I don't know whether the owners understand such things or not or if their advisors do but in normal circumstances if the manager could have spent cash, elected not to and then oversaw a complete collapse in form there would be eyebrows raised in Pune HQ.

It comes back to the development of football in India mantra that was supposedly one of the main reasons they got involved in this venture in the first place, along with developing their business overseas. All well and good if Rovers can benefit from that through increased exposure, access to new markets and access to a vast pool of talent in India. Unfortunately it raises suspicion because they've owned the club for more than 8 years and yet in that entire time we've seen little to no evidence of any serious attempts to develop the club over there, their business over here or generate beneficial links to India and Indian players/businesses. I would absolutely embrace the idea if I could see serious efforts to do it properly- friendly matches out there, tie-ins with Indian clubs/academies, lots of Indian sponsors etc. Leicester have put loads of effort into developing their 'brand' in Thailand with friendlies, merchandise, trips out there etc. The most we've had was that mid-season friendly match nearly 8 years ago, supposed plans for an academy over there that never got off the ground and now this. So it is quite difficult to buy into the suggestion that there is a serious effort to build something. I suspect it is once again an issue as to cash. I don't think they've ever been in this to spend considerable amounts of their own money and they probably felt that they could do all those things on the cheap and it would be easy as the only Indian owners of a PL club. Unfortunately it isn't cheap nor easy and there is ferocious competition around who will invest millions in develop overseas. I know City have made inroads into India and probably Liverpool and others who invest millions every year into spreading their presence around the globe. Without wanting to sound too critical the cost of return flights and lodging at Brockhall for a few months is probably well worth it for Balaji and his PR efforts. But again if there was any serious aim of doing something big with this it is going to take a hell of a lot more than that. One thing I will say is that this sudden 'interest' from him along with his lad turning up at Ewood a couple of months ago to watch a game suggests baby steps towards them taking more interest and pride in their 'toy'. Whether that is a good thing or not remains to be seen.

It signifies a remarkable collapse from where we were less than 5 weeks ago that we are now looking at Rotherham's remaining fixtures and hoping they don't pick up more than 11 points from them.

It doesn't seem like Anderson has or has ever had anywhere near the level of cash required to bankroll a loss making club. It seems his plan was to get control of a club for a relatively low price, get the finances into better shape before selling them on for a tidy profit. Can't really have any sympathy for him nor anyone else that buys into a Championship club as it is clear what the costs are. Also no sympathy for those who buy top division clubs, wreck and relegate them and then get lumbered with tens of millions of losses every year.

Bowyer and Mowbray both ended up as manager effectively by accident rather than design. Both arrived into abysmal, chaotic and horrible periods in the club's history and followed a succession of failed managers and boardroom instability. Bowyer followed Kean-Berg-Appleton and the chaos upstairs with Agnew/Shaw and Singh. He steadied the ship by securing survival from a tricky position, established a link to the owners and was able to construct a team that fans loved for being honest, genuine and likeable with none of the baggage of the seasons before. He was liked, trusted and did a good job. Mowbray followed a similar spell of chaos after Lambert and Coyle and also the boardroom shenanigans with Myers and Shaw leaving, Cheston running the place on his own and then the activities of Pasha behind the scenes. Mowbray inherited a slightly worse position on the pitch but was unfortunate to take us down with 51 points. Mowbray, like Bowyer, has established trust with both the owners and the fans and seems to be well liked and respected by almost all involved.

Indeed. More from the horses mouth on this relatively minor issue than we've had from all the owners combined in about 5 years. Clearly the whole thing has been orchestrated in India, presumably this is Balaji showing off as the Owner of Blackburn Rovers to influential people in India. I notice the rather lame attempt to photoshop a Venkys badge onto the lad's T-Shirt. I've no strong opinion on the matter. If it helps build relations with India and the owners or help's bring through a line of young players then fine. I just think it is odd that he's suddenly taking such pride in being our Owner that he's arranging stuff like this when there has been radio silence for years despite clamours for information.

There's been the odd tried and tested signing like Whittingham and Caddis which didn't really work out, and he's inherited a very experienced group. I suspect the answer is that he is told the way to get cash from the owners is to do so with re-sale value in mind and also the best way to impress the owners and win their 'trust' is to deliver a few massive increases like Dack will be.

I expected much more of this sort of thing with the Venky ownership.

We've been the victims of high points totals the last 2 years. Firstly in going down with 51 points - a very high total - and secondly in securing an unprecedented 96 points and still only finishing 2nd. 9 out of 10 seasons and we'd have survived and won the league title at a canter with those totals. Bolton on the other hand have had the luxury of low requirements - when they went down in 2016 the requirement for survival was a mere 41 points, when they were promoted the following season they only needed 83 points to secure 2nd place above Scunthorpe, and when they survived on the final day last season they did so with only 43 points with Burton and Barnsley going down on 41. Using those two examples we'd be safe already, but again I feel we are going to need more than we've got to secure survival with Rotherham and Reading both picking points up.

Speaking of 'plastic' what is the term for a fanbase that takes almost as many fans to an away game as it does to most home games?

Normally you would expect all their problems with finances to work against them and see the players effectively down tools but as we saw with them last season and the season before when they survived and won promotion that doesn't always seem to be the case. The fact they are still in with a chance at this stage given they've only won something like 2 games in 5 months says it all about this league.

Last time he relied on former owner Eddie Davies to come up with the money to stave off administration. Now he's passed away they're probably out of knights in shining armour coming to the rescue as the next round of bills and wages need paying for.

Some people argue that the poor atmosphere is either a myth or a result of numbers in the ground, but I think it is down to a lack of creativity and ideas by those on matchday. Travelling around the country to various other grounds you see the efforts clubs go to in order to try and generate an atmosphere. The atmosphere and noise levels at Ewood are non-existent. Still, they'll be happy because they'll have 7000 PNE fans filling the coffers for a day. Well worth knocking a few off the home gate.

It comes down to Graham, Dack or Reed for me at this stage, though the latter two have been patchy now for a few months.

That's one way of looking at it. The other is to say they've got a squad and structure they can't afford and never could, and by not paying for it they've equipped themselves unfairly. E.g. Christian Doidge who was 'loaned' with an agreement to buy but it was obvious they could never afford him. If they'd have recruited within budget they'd have a far weaker squad and would likely be relegated already.

Maybe, but do you not think that it is unfair on Reading/Rotherham/Millwall and maybe even us if things carry on at this rate? Most clubs have their houses in order and pay their staff and bills. Why is it fair that Bolton could yet survive and someone else get relegated when everyone else pays their debts and wages and Bolton don't yet keep getting away with it?

They deserve to go down and it would be a travesty if Rotherham or Reading went down at their expense. It must surely be getting to a stage where they can't even complete their fixtures. If you can't pay players or staff, can't run a training ground and can't collect direct debits then the mechanics of hosting league fixtures must be tough.

Gary Bowyer appointed Bradford manager initially until the end of the season with Andy Todd as his assistant. They look like certainties for relegation but I wish him well and hope he pulls off the escape. He's certainly on his way to cementing a reputation as a crisis club firefighter.

The unforced chopping and changing is really starting to get on my nerves. I can only presume the reason Mowbray is so eager to chop and change systems, formations and personnel so frequently is either because he thinks he's being clever, doesn't have a clue what our best is or is trying to keep everyone happy by giving everyone game time and time in different positions. I don't believe for one minute it is doing us any good to keep changing. I'm a firm believer that unless you've an unbelievably strong squad at this level then the way to success is by developing a fit, well drilled first XI with decent back-up to step in when needed, but with a clear idea of your strengths and strongest XI. We keep claiming to be following Sheffield United's blueprint (a hell of a lot to do this summer if we're going to copy them) and yet Sheffield United appear to me to have recruited with a clear system in mind, have a set way of playing and stick to it regardless of the opposition. Sometimes it doesn't work and they get beat but they're doing alright out of it. Actually the majority of sides to get out of this league do so with a clear defined way of playing and keep changes to a minimum. When Burnley did it they never changed their team except on the rare occasions they picked up injuries. It's a confused mess and I don't think the manager or squad are good enough to keep chopping and changing 3 times a game, we just end up disjointed and confused.

Absolutely unforgivable that Mowbray went to Reading and left Dack, Graham and Reed on the bench whilst starting Conway, Smallwood and Brereton. If there were 2 games to go all out to win it was Reading and Rotherham - two weak sides shot at on confidence, two glorious chances to get wins on the board rather than tough fixtures v Middlesbrough and Bristol City. If we'd have won those two but lost all the rest heavily we'd at least be on 50 points and would have kept them at arms length. Our appalling defeats to those sides - let us not forget the embarrassment of those - 1 win since November Reading and no wins in 2019 Rotherham - has meant that not only have we missed good chances to win games - but we've also allowed those clubs to put points on the board and get within a surmountable distance of us with 11 games to go. To turn up at one with that team and to rest Graham/Dack - that is the sort of thing that is leading me to have serious doubts about this manager. Allardyce always knew which games you had to win when struggling. You beat the teams below you and if you are going to prioritize fixtures you prioritize those against weaker sides ahead of those against top 6 sides. We arguably lost the Reading game through arrogantly resting key players.

We said last night that was an excellent example of good game management by Rotherham. They'd been on the rails up to that point, used the 'injury' to stop the game for 4 minutes, took our momentum away and they recovered from that point on to win the game. We don't seem to have that nous of how to cope with pressure and play dirty on occasions to get where we need to be.

There was talk when Coyle got the job that Irvine and Kelly had been consulted on the appointment and the club announced that they would be staying on afterwards. They then conveniently got jobs elsewhere to create vacancies for Coyles pals to fill.