So was Smallwood...

Read my posts. I’m saying that he’s not the guy to take us forwards. You, on the other hand are proving that you are so obsessed with the manager that you can’t even give him an ounce of credit, even when he’s obviously done his job. Maybe you think that by conceding he did a good job for one game that you are somehow strengthening the managers stance. But I think you and Stuart have lost perspective on this. When you can’t be balanced then you seem bitter. Im convinced that even if Mowbray got us into the top 6 you’d probably say it was ‘luck’ or ‘in spite’ of him. Weird agenda. *for the record, I’d still get a new manager in. Sorry to keep repeating but I know you’re desperate to label me a ‘happy clapper’ etc.

Haha - how difficult can this be for you? An experienced manager who In general has done a good job for us, had his first good managerial day in the last 7. Does it mean all is forgiven? No. Does it make him the man to lead us on? Not really. But it’s pretty clear that he got it right yesterday. We were the better team and when faced with adversity the manager and players got the decisions right. The end.

Jonty was brought in to facilitate that pathway whilst Downing and Johnson were bought with a view to being here a year or two, max. Smallwood (as I said in the summer) is history and Evans will follow. I fully expect Bucko to be starting regularly by Christmas. JRC and Butterworth to be integrated ready for next season. Chapman is more to do with him sorting himself out. Bennett, Evans, Johnson, Downing will be squeezed out by the end of this season. That’s my prediction.

I was behind that.Got a great hand to it but I don’t think it was going in. Lucky with the one which hit the post though.

I think you’ll find it’s an opinion. I love Bucko. I’ve been harping on about him for months but I’m not sure he even touched the ball until he scored the winner. The match 100% turned on Tosins goal. I agree with and like quite a bit of your stuff and you talk sense. But ultimately your post last night was wrong. The manager had a good day yesterday. He set a team up well to nullify and better a decent side. He made proactive substitutes before their lucky goal and both Graham and Rothwell were positive influences on the match. His summer signing Tosin (who was absolutely amazing) gets the equaliser and the young lad who he’s had practicing his finishing all week comes on and gets the winner. By somehow spinning this into yet another negative view on Mowbray it just weakens your / our argument. Because any person at the game today will accept that he did his job well. Does that mean he’s the right man to take us on? Probably not.

How can you possibly know what his wish was? I saw both Evans and Bucko warming up but even if Evans had been there on his own how would you know if the manager had asked him to warm up or he’d taken it upon himself? The fact is that the manager had made two substitutes BEFORE they scored which showed his intent to win the game. Then he made the Buckley one which won the game. Give it a rest Stuart. The manager got it right for the first time in a while. Does it mean he’s the one to take us forward, probably not. But he deserves some credit for yesterday.

A well deserved win against a decent Sheff Wednesday side who we nullified all match. Whilst I confess, I didn’t see the two goals coming at 0-1. I’m delighted for the lads and the manager. Don’t think I’ve celebrated a goal like I did Bucko’s since Charlie’s header at Donny. The defence looked very solid overall. It’s the first time I’ve seen Tosin. What a performance! Dominant, unflappable and my god that lad can pass a ball. He and Nyambe looked strong and Williams at lb is a safe pair of hands. Bennett was average imo and the goal cam from him not getting over to block the cross. It’s the first time I’ve seen the 4141 formation and I have to say it looked good overall and it gets a lot of our offensive players onto the pitch. If we persist with it I can see a pathway for Bucko, JRC, Butterworth and Chapman onto the pitch. Gallagher didn’t look great again. Long term, I think he will come good but Danny Graham is still a better option up front imo. Play into him and let the likes of Arma, Dack, Holtby, Rothwell, Bucko etc feed off him. fantastic result.

Nah, Evans AND Bucko were warming up together when Murphy scored in the 83rd minute. Your point is also fairly moot bearing in mind the two other subs he’d made in the second half were clearly sent out there to WIN us the game. The match didn’t turn on Bucko coming on, it turned on the equaliser which came out of nowhere. But the result was one we were well worthy of after being the better team for around 60 minutes of the game. Mowbray did his job yesterday in setting up the defence which looked solid overall and in making the substitutions which had a positive effect on the results. I’d like to see that happen much more regularly. Whether it be under him or the next manager.

I’m very clear in my mind. After Saturday, I said that I felt it was time for a change. The reason you’re probably confused now is because I didn’t think it necessary following my decision to jump up and down shouting, screaming and hurling insults at players, managers and the owners in order to make my point. Ive been pretty clear on why I have made my decision. The other references I have made to the manager, being safe for the moment are based on a wider view of what is likely or unlikely imo. So essentially, if it were upto me (which it isn’t) then I would change the manager for the reasons I’ve outlined. But I don’t think Mowbray is at that point yet with the owners, directors or the vast majority of the fans.

Absolutely true story. I sat with my mate on Sat aft having told him there was no chance we’d leave deep dale with a single point. He laughed as the second one went in but in absolutely the same way as you ‘knew’ I turned to him with my phone saying I was that confident that I’d have a tenner on us to lose at that point. I got 9-1 at BV and the rest is history. I’ve never done that since Kean. The teams ability to implode is written into Mowbrays regime now. He’s consistently terrible at managing games to a favourable end and that’s the reason why I personally now want a change.

Of course we’re in debt. We’re propped up financially by our owners. This isn’t uncommon in football, especially amongst small town clubs like ours who want to be in the PL but can’t even fill our stadium. There’s essentially three options available: 1) Cut back to a point where we are self sufficient based on our income. This would realistically leave us in League 1. 2) Develop incrementally focussing on academy development with the odd splurge into the market for quality. 3) All out money ball approach. Gamble £50m in the summer with a focus on promotion immediately or risk sinking the club. So what would your solution to this be?

Waffle.

I hate to say it, but I think a lot of you are massively overreacting. Talk of relegation and limbo etc...this coming from a person (myself) who thinks we would benefit from a change of manager. Mowbrays biggest issue is the pressure he’s heaped on himself by publicly aiming for a top 6 finish. Had he come out saying he was looking for incremental progress and maybe a top 10 finish then the hysteria and subsequent thirst for all and any evidence to back up his sacking would be much less. He’s naturally under pressure with the recent run of results because they have been poor. But he can quite easily mitigate those runs with key injuries in the new year and at present. More importantly, this pressure isn’t putting his job at risk. Not at the moment anyway. Because his employers, the players, coaches etc all know what is going on behind the scenes. In fairness, the only metric the fans have are winning or losing games...but surely most people can see that the club are going to stick with him until he has drained that professional bank account with everyone. I don’t even think that 20% of the fan base truly want him out.

I’m astounded by this sentence. So you’re that desperate for immediate gratification that you settle for a bad appointment for a 5-10 match boost in results? Wow...

He’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Has got plenty in the bank with the owners, the players and majority of the fans. I can’t see any review of the managers position coming before the end of the season UNLESS something pretty huge happens which forces their hand. (An extended run of losses going into the new year or TM takes it into his own hands)

I’m 100% sure that if Dunny thought the manager needed changing, he would say so. Yes.

OR that’s just what they believe is right Stuart. I personally think that TM backed himself into an impossible position by aiming for promotion this season. He’s done a fantastic job overall but the questions and rumblings around the big money signings, finding his best team and shaky defence are amplified by the expectation he has built. But we have to be careful what we wish for. There is much more chance of us getting another Coyle or Kean after Mowbray than a Pearson etc Id have been happy with a top 10 finish before we were promised a top 6 push.

Sadly, I agree.

I agree with your point re the writing on the wall. Though I still think we can rescue this season, even after Preston batter us on Saturday (I’m in no doubts). But I don’t think we’ll be relegated. I can’t see Mowbray being sacked until the summer.

I like the analogy and you can see where that sits right mate. I’m actually in the services industry, though my company deals a lot with engineering companies. Im not sure it runs so deep at Rovers. From what I understand, there’s a good vibe about the place. I hope Tony and the team pull it round. I just knew he’d placed a target on his head the minute he mentioned promotion. Charges the owners and the fans up when he doesn’t have a top 6 budget. Plus, if he wanted to sneak in there like a Preston etc then it would’ve been better to keep quiet and ‘over achieve’. Thanks for the post mate.

Really interesting point. Thank you.

What is it that you think is fundamentally broken?

I understand some of your points but it’s very much written in the moment. I’ll bet you didn’t harbour half of those opinions just before kick off against Luton as we set out to achieve a third straight Clean sheet and victory with a host of seemingly winnable fixtures in front of us. At that point, many were lauding the keeper and defence whilst eulogising over the signing of Holtby. Confident in the knowledge that we were making fine progress. The key here is not to knee jerk imo. I feared for the manager as soon as he said that we were hoping for a top 6 finish. I don’t know how many managers come up from league 1, finish mid table and then go up the season after. He needed a big injection of cash in the summer rather than a couple of million net spend. Now he’ll end up throwing himself on his sword. I would give Johnson a chance.

Both tbh. Massive overhauls are rarely a good idea. They cost a fortune and very rarely bare fruit. In any case I don’t think we need one. Improve the defence, get the strikers firing and settle on formula that works.