Outside chance that there’s just never a manager appointed. Laugh all you want, but can you really discount it?

Luca Toni allegedly has his pro licence now, so I don’t know why you’re all speculating like this.

I’d have him back in a heartbeat, I think he’s really underrated. Has had some bad luck with injuries but he’s undoubtedly talented.

If the Farke link is true, it’s probably the best appointment we could reasonably make, but there’s such an enormous job to do over summer that I wonder how long it would take him to right the ship. Other side of that is the potential for him to convince some of the out of contract players to stay. Can see the reluctance to invest in the squad putting him off, also. I believe we’re likely to end up with someone who is willing to work with very little budget, which I don’t know that Farke is.

How - as a manager with this much experience - can you not get your side up for it? With the biggest attendance of the season. What an embarrassment this man is. Barely even worth such a categorisation. Barely a man. A feeble, parasitic man. If he’s back next year, that’ll be a year I’m not following that much at all. What a very poor showing for this side.

100% Balaji’s vanity project. The man wanted attention and adulation. Look at all the celebs he paid to hang out with him. From the outside, running a football club probably looks a piece of piss. I think they didn’t fully understand the scale of the job or the investment (financial and psychological) that you need to have to run a club like Rovers. It needs a constant and steady hand on the tiller. They tried to run it like their businesses, really, which have processes backed up by a century of modern business theory, which was the really fateful mistake. To me, football business seems borderline psychotic. None of the finances make sense, nobody’s motivations are clear or logical, most fans hate their owners in some manner and if they don’t yet, they’re a bad transfer window away from doing so. General managers are fired after about 18 months on average as standard and the gulf in wages between playing staff and the rest is enormous, there’re few industries that have that. There’s absolutely no loyalty on your most valuable assets in either sense and the probability of ever turning a profit (save from selling the entity) is basically impossible, as you’ll get the aforementioned hammering from fans for not reinvesting. Being completely unprepared for that, as well as based on the other side of the world and rich enough to throw money at it to make it go away for another year creates the state of apathy that they find themselves in now. I do believe that they see an exit eventually. I think they believe that making us a Premier League club again and stabilising us will solicit offers that offset maybe half-to-two-thirds of their “investment” to date. Correctly, they’ve never alluded to that, as it would weaken a negotiation position. Delusional, probably, but that’s my take. Now I’ve thought about him, does anybody know if Balaji found the time in his schedule to visit Ewood this season, as he alluded to on that headed stationery at the beginning of the season?

Lopping off all those extra fingers and toes adds up, evidently!

Change of system has been a disaster thus far, way too open, huge potential to be caught on the break and their passing game is very effective when they run it. All for gambling but there’s not much of a plan up front. Shayne Lavery looks a real handful and is unlucky not to have scored. This one has all the hallmarks of late heartbreak.

Quick-smiling our way to Wembley.

What a celebration that was from the team. Mowbray sat down with a face on, as far as I could see.

It’s almost as if picking your best attacking players gives you a better chance of scoring.

Only thing that saves us us Gazza turning up with a fishing rod and a KFC bucket, telling the stewards he’s Mowbray’s mate.

This is woeful and I’m never keen to unnecessarily complain. An abject performance. Insipid. Radical changes need at half time (if we can stay in it til then).

Pickering is overmatched at this level. Wilson has hammered him all game. Maybe not 7, but this could be a heavy loss if we continue being this bad.

All manner of justifiable emotions on here in the wake of that. I’m pretty devastated, mainly because of the bigger picture/golden opportunity we’d forged for ourselves in the first half of the season but also because it feels much worse losing on Sky, for some reason. Trav, the back 3, Nyambe, Rothwell and Khadra impressed. Rothwell can go unnoticed but he’s so often in exactly the right place at the right time, giving an option and making the small passes that open up space for the team. He’s such an important player for us. Pickering is a solid option but at some point, people will wake up to how easily he can be outpaced, which is difficult to cover at this level and higher. I don’t understand why Khadra’s the set piece taker now, when we signed Pickering for that/with that in mind. Buckley looked like a recent academy graduate tonight, which he is, but which you can’t afford to carry if you want to be in the playoff mix or higher. Needs regular bollockings on the pitch, doesn’t seem to get them. Gallagher seems a very mardy player and I don’t think he’s a natural to lead a line. Doesn’t want to take responsibility and put himself in amongst it. If you’re at his ability level, I think you need to gamble and graft. Ideas somewhat above his station. Kaminski kept us above water in the first half and it’s unfair to judge him for the mistake because it’s so out of character for him. He made an error but the way we defended that corner was poor all-round. ultimately, Tony’s out of contract at the end of the year and he’s earned the right to finish the season, after the first half. We’re still way above where we thought we’d be, even if it feels like the writing is beginning to appear on the wall. I’d expect how we finish the season dictates whether a contract offered. I’m awful at predictions but I expect a tough game on Saturday and probably a loss before a potential hammering away to Fulham. If things carry on as they have been elsewhere, that will leave us in a poor position for playoffs and on the wrong trajectory. Honestly? Sounds about right for Rovers’ recent history, sad as that is.

I suspect we’d have found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot, either way.

It is - as they say - the hope that kills you.

Agreed. Wasn’t especially blown away that he can cross a lot the other day, considering they didn’t lead to much.

Zeefuik really does not look up to speed.

Cannot abide this kind of thing at all. Absolute troglodytes. Totally braindead morons.

I just bloody love being a Rovers fan at the minute.

Ultimately, they’re a shit team, they’ve worked harder than us and had our number on a few things. We show ourselves in the foot with the setup and selection. Let’s hope it’s a blip, because I can’t stomach another meltdown to mid-table.

Gally genuinely looks hungover or something

It’s a winter break scenario with Germany. May have been training on his own, but it’s not exactly full-team training, which you’d imagine is a lot more helpful for getting back to it

Zeefuik said he hadn’t played or trained in four weeks, so you’d think he’s some distance away. Your point stands, though.