Blackburn should be a city. Infact as far as I can tell it is one of only two settlements in England to possess a Cathedral yet not have city status, the other being Guildford (which was only built quite recently). Very simple - if having a cathedral is the mark of being a city - then Blackburn qualifies and places like Preston and Brighton don't. If it is more to do with size/population then Blackburn still qualifies as it is bigger or similar to many cities in England. I can't see one reason why Blackburn shouldn't be awarded city status except it is in the wrong part of the country. If it was in Wales or Scotland it would have been awarded by now, like much smaller and less relevant places like St Asaph and Stirling. It marks a failing of local government that cathedral-less rivals with similar populations like Preston, Brighton, Chelmsford etc. have managed to secure status ahead of Blackburn.

Not questioning your info, just seems strange to me why we'd opt to give Fisher 90 minutes in the u23s if Raya is unavailable.

Why did Fisher play last night if Raya is unavailable and even then why does that prevent him being on the bench tonight?

Looks like sales have picked up significantly over the last couple of days but even so I suspect 15000 total is ambitious. To be honest if we get more than 10000 home fans on for a midweek cup replay it's more than I expected given our recent home gates in the competition. I hope a smaller take up than Waggott expected doesn't put an end to 10 quid tickets. For me in this competition 10 quid per adult should be the regular price, not a one off. I wonder if it would help if cup games were included in the season ticket package so all season ticket holders received a home match ticket for cup games as part of their deal.

About 8000 home tickets sold yesterday and I'm told Newcastle expecting about 2000 in the away end so will end up more or less a league crowd.

Absolutely, they should know that, but I'm not sure they do. Hence spending massive amounts on a teenage multi-year development project like Brereton and not on players who could hit the ground running and improve the squad here and now.

Yes, I was very pleased that that element of business was done quickly and particularly in the cases of Graham, Lenihan and Dack we acted to protect our investments. I suspect Mowbray managed to convince the owners that those needed doing as without doing it we would be open to having them picked off by rival clubs and unhappiness from those players if they weren't paid competitive salaries by this level. I also suspect that some of those players who 'signed' improved terms were actually entitled to such upon promotion back to the Championship. But again, if I were the one signing the cheques and Mowbray came to me asking for a couple of million quid to sign another striker or a CB to improve on Mulgrew and Lenihan, purely from a business perspective I'd be asking why those already here aren't sufficient.

Having dished out new and improved contracts in the last 6 months to the majority of the squad Mowbray might have some difficulties in persuading the money men in India that we need to continue to evolve and improve. They'll be wondering why they bothered sanctioning those wage rises and extensions if after 6 months back in the Championship we're looking at replacing most of them.

John Percy, usually quite a reliable source, reckons Martin O'Neill to be appointed at Forest later today. Quite a surprise as it looked like they'd be going down the foreign route and he's very much his own man who wouldn't take kindly to interference. A club legend there, I think he's a top manager but a lot of their fans not overly impressed. Be interesting to see if they expect promotion this season or if he will get time into next year.

That's true. I accept that they are likely to get bigger numbers than we would taking up the offer. That doesn't explain why we never offer those prices and see what happens to the crowd at Ewood.

He implied that the reason or one of the reasons we went out late in the window and spent that money was because it might not come available again down the line. I can't remember the wording but it suggested to me Mowbray wasn't confident he could keep his power dry and felt he needed to spend it there and then. Yes, I acknowledge that January is a more difficult time to do business than the summer and also that given we're in a relatively secure position at the moment there is no real pressing need to go out and do business, unlike say Ipswich or Reading who are sinking and need to add quality. If we bring in a couple who are on loan but with a deal to buy or option to buy in the summer then I'd be confident that we were following a thought out medium term plan on recruitment. If we just go out and add a couple of kids from academies just to fill out the squad until the end of the season I'll be more apprehensive because as many have said before, you can't build on short term loans.

Apart from him admitting in the press that he made the late move for Brereton because money came available and he wanted to make sure it was spent rather than run the risk of it not being there in future. There's absolutely nothing wrong with signing people in January. I don't understand where this mentality has come from that the January window is some horrific thing that should be avoided and the only time we should do permanent business is the summer. Yes the summer we have the advantage of more time to recruit and bed players in but if someone comes available in January who can be a piece of the jigsaw then we should strike. Mowbray himself has referred to a multi-window building process. I presume that includes January windows so I will be surprised/perplexed if he then decides to sign no-one or a couple of loans to flesh the squad out a bit until the end of the season at which point they will either have to be replaced by others or we'll have to pay to bring them in permanently.

We haven't lost at Millwall since 1991 when they were at the Old Den. Thoroughly enjoyed the day yesterday, the game looked to be petering out to a drab 0-0 which on the balance of play would have been right but I was ecstatic to see us grab the 3 points and do to someone else what we've suffered from numerous times over this season and get a couple of late goals. Another big step nearer to the magical safety point and then we can relax. I've not really got anything to say about the performance, possibly the worst football match I have ever watched but none of that matters one jot if we can get a couple of goals late on and the 3 points. Could head home happy after recent away day disappointments and have a celebratory few cans on the train home. I found some of Neil Harris' comments after the game to be interesting: 'I thought Blackburn were good. They looked very competitive, which was exactly what we expected. When they're bringing on players with the quality of Danny Graham and Adam Armstrong, with £7 million Ben Brereton left on the bench, there's a realisation that Blackburn are a big club at this level.' You'd expect comments like that from an opposing manager who has just lost but it contradicts the narrative that some are keen to push that we're skint minnows destined to struggle in this league.

How different? Their average gates are similar to ours and have been in a similar or slightly higher ball park for the last few years. Admittedly ours boosted more than theirs by bigger away followings. I accept that the take-up among home fans probably wouldn't be as high as that, particularly for a struggling side, but two struggling clubs in Ipswich and Notts County took the decision to significantly reduce admission (not a couple of quid off if bought in advance like we had v Norwich) and the evidence suggests the people respond to that. We don't go down that route instead carrying on with £25 admission and our crowds are static.

Ipswich reduced prices yesterday v Rotherham to £12 adults and £3 kids. They had nearly 21,000 on.

Notts County looking doomed at the bottom of League Two. First founder member since Accrington FC in the 1800s to go out of the Football League?

Anyone got a brush? Get it swept under that carpet. Biggest problem the League and FA have is that Derby put it on their website and then Bielsa admitted it. Causes a problem for the suits unless they want to be seen to be accepting of such behaviour. Maybe it will be slap on the wrist time and a quick fine to put an end to it. Had to laugh that there was a suggestion that Bielsa's behaviour was a 'cultural' issue. How? I don't care where you come from you shouldn't do it. The media are so wrapped up in their pro-Bielsa obsession there's been little condemnation of his actions.

By the same token nor should we be choosing him

I noticed that Simon Ireland who has been appointed Forest caretaker manager and was assistant to Karanka made 1 appearance for Rovers in 1993. Anyone remember him?

Surely the Bolton owner would have known that there was going to be little to no chance of them affording £1 million+ on a single player given their troubles. Makes me wonder if the whole thing was a deliberate stunt.

I expect Millwall will have even greater matchday costs. Paying staff in London is likely to be much higher than in Blackburn, and given Millwall's reputation I suspect they've to contribute quite heavily to police and stewarding. Goes to show there isn't really any need for the surcharge.

Looks dodgy to me with all the various people there behind the scenes. Marinakis from Olimpiakos owning the club, an assortment of foreign directors, some hot-shot QC there as Chairman. Hope they crash and burn as they've done exactly what FFP rules are supposed to prevent and clearly think it is as simple as chucking huge money at it and going up like Wolves did. Never liked Karanka from when he was at Middlesbrough. Very much in the Mourinho mold of being hard to beat, defensively based and could fall out in an empty phone box but without Mourinho's track record to fall back on.

Downing is one of the first on the list of people we need to upgrade if we want to progress. No doubt a top bloke and a good pro but we really need to be aiming higher as a club. File into the same category as Smallwood and Williams. Not in a rush to get rid of him as he likely won't kick up a stink but at the same time if he wants to go and there is an opportunity to strengthen the squad then make it happen. The trouble is I don't get the impression that a new, quality, proven, natural CB is on Mowbray's radar, and I suspect we're more likely to let him go and then cart on for the remainder of the season with what we have, which is trying to convert Rodwell and Williams into CBs and putting Grayson on the bench. Square pegs into round holes and experimenting with positions. Downing wants to go somewhere he can play regularly then fair enough, make it happen, but bring in a replacement who is a CB who is going to IMPROVE the team.

More than I expected with almost 6 days of sales to go to be honest. The season ticket holder window may have spurred some into buying earlier than usual to keep hold of their usual seats.

Karanka who has a track record of falling out with people, working for an owner who goes through managers for fun, at a club that should be under immense pressure to get promoted this season given their outlay. Not exactly surprising but given their position just outside the play-offs I'd expect them to wait a bit before making a change. Absolutely no time or sympathy for them if it all goes pear-shaped.