bluebruce

I had no idea what to expect from this game until I read this. A defeat it is then.

It would be interesting to know who the other candidates were. Only way to know if it was the right choice really (and even then, proper info on a youth coach can be hard to come by). In theory, Mowbray shouldn't have been making this decision. The LT article makes it clear that he, Tony Carrs and Stuart Jones were all involved to some degree though. I'd have thought the ultimate decision would have been made by Jones and Waggott, but who knows at this place. TM certainly seems to have plenty of power here, for better or worse. Good luck Billy. Hope you're the man for the job and bring another great crop through. According to Wiki he is 50 but doesn't look anywhere near it on the LT pic.

That's part of the back?

TM says Butterworth has a back injury, as part of growing pains...the lad is 20 next month. I'm no biologist but I thought most people were done growing well before then?

Yeh I know that's the plan with them for this season. Just questioning whether for Butterworth it's the right plan. Same may apply to JRC too as he is yet to feature this season. Less competition in a sense for him though as he can play RB too. Still got Bennett, Nyambe and probably Tosin ahead of him there though. Don't feel we should keep this lads from any decent loan deals that arise on the basis that we may have an injury crisis and then be able to give them a handful of sub appearances.

Aye, Buckley is being introduced from the bench with some regularity. I'm not convinced yet that he's ready, but maybe this game time will bring him along. I suppose we can always review in January whether he needs to go out, and by then he should have enough Championship games for his stock to attract League One teams who intend to start him.

Anyone else think Butterworth should really be going out on loan? He is being described as being on the fringes of the first team, but realistically there are too many bodies in front of him at the moment for him to get more than a token cameo or two throughout the season. Unless I'm mistaken he can play... Up front - competition being Graham, Gally, Armstrong, Brereton, even Samuel is likely to be given a chance by Tony there first when he is back. The Dack role - against Dack, Rothwell, Buckley, Downing apparently, and I'm sure most of the strikers would be given a shot there ahead of him if it came to it. The wide attacking roles - against Armstrong, Downing, Brereton, Gallagher, Samuel (lol), Buckley, Rothwell, Chapman. I'm probably forgetting a player or two as we have so damned many in those areas. Can't see what will be achieved by keeping him around when he won't get a look in and we don't need the bodies for depth.

18th certainly feels a lot better than 24th. Reading still to play, could potentially push us back to 19th.

He did play there for us for a few games last time he was here I recall. The main thing is he's such a big lad he seems a really odd fit there. But he looked faster today, and made better decisions. Ultimately I'm not sure he can play there long-term, as he's yet to show he has a real cross on him. Then again, TM doesn't seem to give a hairy shit about these wide attackers being able to put good crosses in.

Big question for that Hull game...I assume Tosin will be fit again, so who starts in central defence?

I did say I hoped he made my comments look silly at the end of the match. His best performance since returning, undoubtedly. It remains to be seen whether he can fulfil that wide role on a consistent basis, and there are much bigger question marks about whether we should utilise strikers on the flanks all the time anyway. But he played very well and put a real shift in. Our inability to carve out clear chances in the area is still concerning me. There'd have been less post-match optimism if Dicksteel hadn't enhanced his application for the freedom of the Borough. But by God it feels good to win a league game again!

Just liked the climate. Good one. I'm not going to get into the tax thing in too much detail. I've had the argument enough times to know it leads absolutely nowhere. In truth I think the systems are more to blame than the people anyway. The loopholes should be closed, but they won't be because the people who can do so benefit from them too. It's human nature for probably about 80-90% of people to take advantage of beneficial loopholes when they find them, regardless of the effects on others of doing so. I can recognise that without personally agreeing it's the best way (for the super rich...I absolutely get it when people on far more modest incomes do it). So really it's a structural change needed. Jack certainly wasn't a criminal for avoiding it. Far as anyone knows, everything he did was perfectly legal, so we'll just agree that he is a legend for willingly pouring the money into his club and in turn helping the whole area. He was obviously a fine businessman in the steel industry too. Jack Walker, Blackburn Legend, plain and simple.

Thank you, Dicksteel, Undercover Rovers Fan. Could make that into a TV show.

I noticed that in another game. It seems like they've decided blocks by players don't count as shots on target, only if it was saved by a goalie. Weird.

Although true, none of that makes him plonk strikers on the wing or his various other positional musical chairs.

Nonsense booking against Bennett there. Thought he did well.

Dicksteel helping us again, what a Rovers legend. 1 goal, 1 assist for us so far. Edit - 2 assists sorry isn't it. He headed it against the goalie v Charlton so only an assist.

And who on the right??

Completely agree it's getting closer. Just wondering, what is your level of optimism the next Venkys roll of the dice will be better? Think I'd have already reached 'fire him' point if that grim spectre wasn't looming. I did for a while in that awful run after Jan. I don't know how much more of these lineups and results I can take before I shake that grim spectre's ethereal hand though.

It really is. Come on. Kean? After the Spurs and I think it was Everton games where we didn't have a shot (I think we had one right at the end of one of them)? I don't mean on target, I mean at all. Then he basically came out and said we played well. Not even then?

You thought Chapman was on the bench? That was optimistic mate...he's not in the squad.

Well, at least Cunningham has come in. It was always going to be Bennett at RB as captain today sadly. Wonder if he will cost us a goal today. Gally lining up at RW is disappointing. Edit - looking at BankEnd Rover's post above, I'm probably under-selling it with disappointing, in fairness! It's admittedly piss poor. In fact it might cause us more problems today than Benno at RB. Hopefully neither is the case and this post will look silly in a few hours. But damn is that right side looking worrying.

I agree, one day that tap is getting turned off. But I think the reason people see it that way is a simple one. They have form for keeping ploughing money in (the only exception being the firesale period, though I think the accounts still show money going in?) whereas their form for decent managerial appointments is shocking. I'm curious - I know like me you seem pretty fed up with TM, but do you want to roll the dice again? I'm near that point but it definitely fills me with trepidation.

If you want TM to tick along, you should probably take the need to win today more seriously. Thing is, it's very unlikely we will just tick along in this league indefinitely. Leaving aside the complete lack of hope that purgatory would fill us all with. When that becomes the plan, one season we're not gonna have enough, or get some bad luck, and go down again. Even if that doesn't happen, there's the rising debt mountain to Venkys. One day, however far in the future, you can expect that will get called in. The only way to reduce it is promotion.

No you're right, it's been a sustained process for quite some time now. You didn't think this antipathy has arisen overnight, surely? There have been big question marks since at least the close of the January window. Longer for some, but the way that window ended was the start of deep concern for me.