"...passes it on to Rothwell, he weaves his way into the box before being dispossessed, it drops for Armstrong who strikes over!" "Bell's mistimed effort falls favourably for Evans in the area, his shot is blocked!" This is what happens when you try to do things on the cheap for years on end and move the goalposts to lower standards time and again.

Energy levels will always be off in friendlies but a penalty requires only skill. He seems lacking...

Typical early friendly so far. The noise of someone typing on a keyboard is louder than the commentary though never mind the lack of a wind filter!

Like most, I really can't get excited for this season. Unlike others, it has nothing whatever to do with restricted attendances though I will definitely miss attending away matches (especially new grounds like Wycombe). I never got that link between alcohol and football so the social aspect isn't there. For me, it's a family thing. I sit with the same person at home watching as I do in the Riverside. Nor do I care that much about kits or season tickets. They will come soon enough and I won't miss out. I only buy a shirt once every now and then if they're particularly good so not a priority. The dread in my heart comes from the lack of transfer activity despite us clearly needing a fairly substantial rebuild. To be back in training with games weeks away but no goalie and hardly any defenders or strikers worth the name is pathetic. It stinks of stagnation and sliding right down the league. Relegation? With our current squad maybe. I cannot reconcile soundbites about gradually improving year on year with half a squad.

Mowbray's own approach to the club's progression, as explained at various meetings and interviews, is to gradually improve the squad whilst going more towards a possession-based game. So that is what I must judge him on. After 3 full seasons, we are faced with a total squad rebuild. Lenihan, Nyambe, Travis, Evans (at a push; he is not consistent enough for me), Dack and Armstrong are the players I could see in an automatic promotion team. Downing is one of our best but definitely past his best and should not really be a starter every game. Graham is still our best 'big man' but is at least a season past Championship standard. We need at least 5 quality first-teamers for peanuts. Will it happen? No. Our play is on the turgid side but, more importantly, does not work with the skill sets of our players in the positions they are played in. Is it therefore the correct set-up? Clearly not. Let's say we're not signing a new team of quality players. The examples of Burnley, Huddersfield (under Wagner), Norwich, Sheffield Utd and now Leeds show how quickly a great manager can transform mid-table also-rans into world-beaters. Average players were coached to promotion. What happens after that is another matter. Dyche and Wilder have done a better job of renewing the momentum than Wagner or Farke. Do we see Mowbray ever improving Gallagher? Or Williams? Or Buckley? Will be bring the youngsters on this summer? Has he really done anything with Chapman or Brereton to get them going? Travis was forced on him if you remember at a time when we couldn't see past Smallwood. In fact, there is a pattern of promising players having to fight past aging dross. Reed was criticised for not being enough like Smallwood or Evans whilst being 10 times the midfielder of either. Nyambe v Bennett. Raya v Mowbray's constant criticism... For these and a few other reasons, time to retire him back to his beloved 'Boro in my opinion.

Must say I'm a 'less is more' person and that green kit looks truly atrocious to me. Different strokes and all that...

I was filling it in but there seems a bit of a muddle between 'now' and 'after the outbreak is over'. Some questions seem to be asking about safety options required after it's safe enough to go back again. Fair enough, I suppose there might be an ill-considered rush back, but you also ask about matchday catering options NOW and how safe they are. Hard to work out which ones these might be. Just a thing to maybe tweak...

Are we anywhere nearer knowing what 'slight knock' Williams has that ruled him out of the Liverpool game and still rules him out several weeks later? Bell? I personally think Williams and Bell are lower league nobodies but I'm desperate to have ANYONE other than Bennett start as LB. Resigned to him starting with Gallagher. Brereton looked slightly more lively so will make way for Samuel rather than Armstrong. Seriously considering taking the dog a longer than usual walk after tea rather than watching on Tuesday...

I agree he put a shift in but can't remember anything he did to help us score. Again, those types of players get higher marks in a win. 6 is better than average but I really thought he was average today. It is our weakness as a club that any player who puts a shift in gets praised. That is the bare minimum for all players surely?

Walton - 4 Weak keeping cost us. Nyambe - 8 Drove down the wing and did his job. Tosin/Lenihan - 6.5 Looked like a comfortable afternoon. When you win, they get 7. Lose and out come 6s Bennett - 3 No left foot so had to turn infield every time. Gave the ball away many times. Passed back repeatedly rather than cross with his left. Truly awful. Travis - 8 My god he is vital to us. Without him, there was absolutely nothing in midfield in possession or out. MOTM. Downing - 7 Sprayed the ball around and decent set pieces but didn't get a free ride without two defensive partners. Rothwell - 5 Tried but failed. Holtby - 5 Tried but failed. Brereton - 5 Tried but failed. Gallagher - 4 Failed. Armstrong/Samuel/Graham - 5 Too little time. Mowbray - 4 When your team bosses the midfield but can't come close to creating a chance and you have 5 subs to play with, don't wait until the hour mark to change things.

I think we can safely put Gallagher in the running for the 'Chris Brown - Luke Varney Waste of Space Award'. Harsh to lump Brereton in with him in my opinion as he is at least trying to run with the ball and create something from his position. I'd say 3/10 and 6/10 respectively for that half. Nyambe MOTM or maybe Travis. As ever, our play is thwarted by having nobody able to shoot and score up front.

I know many will view this is as a positive, but I can't help but feel uneasy when seeing the team-sheet doesn't really help with who is going to play where. The 'Jack-of-all-trades', 'do a job' players like Bennett (LB today I think but might swap with Downing in midfield) seem to be Tony's preference. Again, we might assume the front 3 would be the same as last week but that means Rothwell as a holding midfielder? I think Holtby has been shoved back and Rothwell is the new false 9 but I doubt any of us could guess the right set-up. All I know is that I prefer having goal-scorers up front not on the bench.

I must admit, I did smile at the idea of a cardboard me. On closer inspection, you do actually seem to get it at the end of the season for home use (?!). We all applauded that German team selling 'ghost' tickets to 'ghost' games so giving away money for nothing in these times isn't unheard of. If this was a club where the cut outs would fill more than one row, or the pretty ladies were put at the front like Top Gear, it might even be a good idea. For us though? Cut-outs of us lot would be more than a little parochial and embarrassing.

Quite frankly, there's a global pandemic occurring and if people fold their arms and demand to watch the game 'for real', tough. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't see another way other than showing it on a screen. If it is not done by passwords then anyone could watch it regardless of ticket history and we'd complain about that as season ticket holders. There will always be those who aren't provided for. People living too far from Ewood can't sit in the Blackburn End. We don't demand the club charters flights.

Whilst I have many issues with the way the club is run, I can't for the life of me see much wrong in their approach to this and next season (so far). They haven't gone into detail on ST prices next year because we don't know what league we'll be in. Promotion (highly unlikely) would render a few unhappy fans on a message board irrelevant. We seem to be arguing not about what they've done, but what they haven't announced yet. If they release the prices and they're whopping, then people are right to complain. Free access to away games as well as home is a good deal to me and I fully understand their reluctance to give back the little money they have. Waggott is presumably under orders to spend as little as possible and is doing just that. The blame for this, as with everything else, lies in the incompetent buffoons who continue to stave off administration/demise whilst we wither on the vine.

Has anyone else been following the voting tournament thing on Rovers' twitter? Parkes v Shearer as our final 2. If you were to ask me, I'd have gone for Tugay every time and the only discussion would be if Dunn or Parkes lost to him in the final! I suppose it depends on the weighting you put on actual effect of quality compared to fan favourite status, down-to-earth decency or Burnley annoying ability. How about you all?

I think we can all agree that the likes of The Sun will make whoever's live much worse whenever this happens. All we can do as human beings is try to shout down cretins on the terraces and add to the well-wishers on social media.

I must say I think it's a disgrace that football is so lumbered with bigotry and intolerance (from a vocal minority I feel) that it is without 'out' players at the top level. Gareth Thomas spoke of his fear about the 'macho' rugby world being disapproving but him, Nigel Owens etc have shown how little of a deal it is there (Folau and a handful of fundamentalists aside). Hopefully, fans and social media will come out of the Dark Ages soon...

With old football on the TV and nostalgia for days gone by a favourite on here (a favourite anyway, never mind lockdown), I'm going to borrow from Ian Herbert's twitter and ask for photo memories of trips gone by. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures at my all-time favourite away jaunts (Feyenoord or Blyth Spartans) so my entry comes from our lovely day in York the summer before League 1. Nice drive, warm weather, decent shops and really modern facilities...

Gallows humour but it would be 'interesting' to see the reactions if Leeds stayed in the Championship and Liverpool went another year without the title after all this. Almost worth guaranteeing us missing out on the play-offs...

What stood out was that every single player (including the sweeper keeper) looked like they were the playmaker. There was no weak link at all. Total football that Arsenal just couldn't live with. Not sentences that you'd expect to see grace this message board for the last decade!

They did. I highlighted the Clitheroe bus as it's closer to my own experience. There is no particular reason why a kid there would choose Rovers unless family already went. Currently, Burnley are the club in the Premier League and there's always the glory hunting Liverpool/City approach. This is a way to get relatively affluent people who can afford the full kit and plenty of food & drink spending their money at Ewood. The article also references another bus picking up Asian children from around Blackburn. This is less likely to increase revenue in the short term but longer term we all know it is far more important. Reduced prices are often mentioned but Rovers always come back with "Don't want to revalue the product." or "Defeats the point of increased footfall." A little short-sighted IMHO.

This is the kind of thing people have been asking for. Get them young and all that... https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/march/ewood-express-a-great-success/ I taught near Chatburn and that side of Clitheroe still has a sizeable Rovers contingent in my experience. Without attention though, plenty could be attracted to Burnley.

Before we castigate him too much, Buckley went straight to the Charlton fans and Armstrong posed in front of the Brentford fans. Nothing to see hear, move along...

I honestly can't understand criticising a journalist for writing a balanced article querying the use of a big-money striker on the wing all season (especially considering the lack of goals). It's not as if there aren't any fans wondering exactly the same thing. Whether you think Gallagher has been decent or not, whether or not you'd prefer Armstrong or anyone else up front, there is obviously a debate to be had. Personally, I think his excellent work-rate and the 'nearly' way he looks like doing something hides the fact that nothing ever actually comes from it. We don't get nearly enough crosses from him and we don't get him heading other people's crosses in. We get just enough to not lump him in with Brereton as a complete failure (which isn't fair on either as they're obviously not getting game time in their preferred position). THIS IS IN NO WAY HIS FAULT!!! HE IS A STRIKER NOT A WINGER!!! Seriously, I'm going to repeat myself as it's so obvious: What is wrong with a journalist questioning the continued use of your 'star' striker on the wing when most would agree he'd be better up top?!