Villa no better off than when Bruce was manager, but their new bloke can fall back on 'good' football as they score plenty but can't keep a clean sheet.

Another winding up petition submitted on Bolton by HMRC. About time they were deducted points for this. Not fair on clubs like Rotherham and Burton who have been fighting relegation with them over the last 2 years who pay their bills fully and on time.

Yeah I find Johnson to be very cocky and he's another one like Dyche who spends more time moaning at the officials than anything else. Bristol City have a knack of scoring late goals so we need to watch out for that. They're very good at recovering late on from losing positions or nicking wins by the odd goal.

I suppose it could be some sort of seminar or course for managers to attend at FIFA HQ and he's just visited the museum whilst there. The fact that the owners have had business interests in Switzerland and appear to be frequent visitors there adds another layer of intrigue.

Got to applaud Bradford City who have announced prices for next season (how long until we get ours released?). Any adult over 16 gets a season ticket for £150 Under 16s £100 Under 11s £25 'Flexi Cards' are £50 which entitle holders to pay £10 on the turnstiles for whichever games they fancy Now that is making an effort to get them in. Particularly after a poor season for them. Only another 3-4 months to wait until we find out what Rovers will be doing. I suspect they'll have more signed up by mid-April when the window closes than we'll have by August.

I'm an 1875 member. The only 'benefit' I have received from buying membership has been to get 5 quid in club cash back which I can only spend toward expensive merchandise. The other benefit is I get to buy away tickets in the first window of sales but really my buying history in itself should see to that, and this season it hasn't been necessary anyway as no games have sold out before general sale.

No chance. Middlesbrough have traditionally turned up at Ewood in large numbers as it is one of the closest away days for them, and given they are well in the top 6 Waggott will be expecting another big following. I don't think they are on those lines these days as the novelty of being promotion chasers has worn off a bit and Pulis football grinds them down. Think they turned up with less than 1,000 at PNE for a midweek game earlier this season. Probably get 2-3000 for a Sunday at Ewood so that will be Category A pricing, followed by the pre-match plea from Mowbray or a senior player to back the boys and turn up in your numbers. On the subject it's another home league game not taking place at the traditional time and also available on tv. as a result. Off the top of my head that's going to be Boro, Leeds, PNE, Swansea, Derby, Wigan, Reading, Sheff Utd, Aston Villa possibly, as home games that haven't been Saturday 3pm kick offs.

I don't doubt for one minute that Mowbray has a plan of what he wants to do, and from that stems recruitment and everything else, and I've no doubt he has tried and will continue to try and sell that plan to the owners and prospective players. The difficulty we have isn't really Mowbray or his plan, it is Venkys and their plan. It all hinges upon them having a plan of their own. An idea as to what they want, how they want to get it and an alternative if it doesn't work out. To me, as an outsider looking in, I've seen no evidence to suggest that is the case. It appears as though they are currently taking sensible advice and are trusting their manager to get on with the job in hand. There are no suggestions dark forces are still at work, it seems they are allowing Waggott to run the operation from Ewood Park. I think however that there are a lot of similarities to the Bowyer era, more so than people acknowledge. Lets not forget to start with that the owners didn't headhunt Mowbray to deliver on some grand plan of theirs. He arrived mid-relegation season after his awful predecessor was finally sacked, far too late. It appears the man responsible for Mowbray's appointment was Paul Senior, who subsequently left the club and his position no longer exists. It appears they stumbled across Mowbray by good fortune in the midst of chaos, liked the bloke so gave him the chance to get us back up from League One, which to Mowbray's credit he managed well. Both Bowyer and Mowbray were stumbled across by the decision makers at a time when the club was in dire straits and they brought calm heads, sense, professionalism to the operation. Both only got anywhere in the job because they recognised the need to get a direct line to Mrs Desai. Both had a lot of respect from the supporters as genuine, decent blokes doing their best. Both set out to assemble young mainly British squads of players with one eye on growth in squad value (the only way cash will be extracted from Pune is with re-sale in mind). Other than that we've replaced Derek Shaw with Steve Waggott. Neither it seems were sourced by Venkys but by people on the ground at Ewood or in this case the manager putting a good word in. The major difference, perhaps crucially, is they now officially have 'their man' involved at the club in Suhail Sheik or Pasha. As alarmed as I was by his involvement I do concede his time at the club has eventually seen an improvement in the structure and hopefully that is down to his work and the owners going with what he suggests and that hopefully will prevent a repeat of what happened previously. It's going well at the moment but it will take more than 6 months of overachieving and some semblance of a plan to convince me that lessons have been learned. Bowyer had 2 years where they left him alone to get on with it and we appeared to be a normal club. Mowbray will have reached that point at the end of this season. Lets see if it can be sustained. Hand on heart I loved Bowyer's work and the squad he put together and having watched them swing a wrecking ball at it from afar I'm reluctant to 'believe' this time round. All it takes is for one day that phone in Pune to be off the hook and for Desai or her husband to lose interest or refuse extra funding like they did in 2015 and the whole thing comes crashing down around us. Lets hope that doesn't happen again, but I think you're naïve or oblivious to what happened 4 years ago to think it can't or won't happen again.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/3800844/ex-rangers-mark-warburton-hoping-return-management-mystery-takeover/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1548586454 Sounds like this might be in relation to Bolton. A club potentially being taken over to install Warburton as manager.

I think Lambert's biggest problem since leaving Norwich has been the jobs he has gone for and taken on, all of which were poisoned chalices in one way or another. Villa were a sinking ship and had been since O'Neill walked out and their owner decided he was cutting back and putting them up for sale - Houllier, McLeish, Sherwood and Garde all came and went with no better record or worse than Lambert's there. His results were poor but I'm sure survival in the Premier League would be better for Villa than their current position. He then took on the Rovers job, very much a poisoned chalice. Whether you believe he took the job under false pretences from the owners, or just used the opportunity to reinvent himself and get himself back onto the job market, either way it was never likely to last long. His record wasn't bad, it was steady. We survived in mid-table comfort having been looking at risk of relegation mid-season. He didn't break any pots but with the squad we had I don't think our results under him were particularly poor. Wolves was a similar situation, Recently taken over by their new owners, they were in a mess after the failed appointment of Zenga and chaotic recruitment, he went in and steadied the ship and ensured they finished mid-table, he wasn't sacked, but wasn't compatible with their Portuguese agent run operation they wanted to bring in. His record at Stoke and Ipswich is dreadful but again, he's picked two poor jobs to go into there. Both clubs struggling to adjust after long term managers in Hughes and McCarthy departed. I agree he needs to stick at it with Ipswich and get them up next season to repair his reputation, I think comparing him to Coyle is absolute nonsense. Coyle's 'success' amounted to a good run of form at Burnley and Bolton and complete failure ever since. Lambert did very well at Wycombe, Colchester and Norwich and steady jobs at Villa, Rovers and Wolves. I think he is a strange man who has made some strange decisions in his time but I recognised an immediate improvement to our results when he took over and up until around February or March 2016 we seemed to be making progress - looking better organised and fitter than we had for a long time previously. A very different character to Mowbray, who seems to be more in-tune with the supporters and more relatable and crucially more willing to play the game how Venkys want it to be played, whereas at the time Lambert wasn't prepared to do it. I suspect part of that is evidenced in Mowbray not being able to get a job before us after what happened at Coventry City, whereas since walking out of Rovers Lambert has had no problems in landing Premier League/Championship jobs.

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.