Brereton and Dolan hadn’t looked like making much happen. Neither did Gallagher but it was worth trying something. Frustrating but a fair score line. Can’t win them all by 4 goals and Cardiff spent the last 25 minutes camped in their own penalty area. Don’t think anyone did particularly badly and not sure what else the manager could have done. Take the point and move on.

His glaring weaknesses... No pace, strength or notable technical ability and yet he managed to score regularly. Relied on intelligence and a poachers instinct. It’s genuinely impressive how far that has taken him.

Quite right. But how a player fares after they leave Rovers can certainly indicate whether we got the most out of them and what they could have been capable of. It’s not an exact science by any means but I don’t think it’s irrelevant.

Just trying to find a civilised middle ground without resorting to provocative comments like this.

Armstrong poses a threat wherever he is on the pitch. He can score goals from anywhere. He’s not as prolific as Rhodes (yet) but causes problems inside and outside the box. The threat of his pace causes issues even when he doesn’t have the ball. Armstrong can score out of nothing and if keeps this form up will be on his way soon enough. I don’t think anyone was surprised when Rhodes struggled in the PL simply because he doesn’t have the attributes. He’s done remarkably well in the Championship considering and we certainly got the best out of him. Hopefully he can avoid slipping down the leagues to find form. Got a lot of time for him and his record here is undoubtedly impressive.

I promised not to further this discussion but here I am. Rhodes did very well, his goal record speaks for itself. But he had limitations that restricted how we could play and I think we needed to be more adaptable to get out this league. It’s not a criticism of Rhodes per se, it’s that we were too one dimensional and should have been more prepared to play the likes of King up front instead. We certainly got the best out of Rhodes but it was to the detriment of the wider team IMO. I maintain that I wouldn’t swap him at his peak for Dack or Armstrong.

Armstrong is a completely different player, He poses more of a threat than Rhodes does. Armstrong has pace and can score from anywhere. Rhodes is a poacher who needs a team built around him to score goals. He relies on service. If it doesn’t arrive, he offers nothing. He did phenomenally well to score as often as he did when you look at his relatively limited skill set. The modern striker needs to occupy defenders and pose a threat off the ball. Rhodes too often was a passenger. If we played well, he’d score. If we didn’t, it’d be like playing with 10 men. He was never a game changer. Look at how he has faired at a higher level and at other championship teams. He wasn’t the sole reason we didn’t go up but I maintain that we would have faired better in those early years under Bowyer with a team built around King/Gestede instead. This is going off topic so I’ll leave it there.

I take the point and Rhodes undoubtedly did well but we had to build the team around him which stifled others. Rhodes was not THE reason we failed to get promotion but I’d argue that building the team around him limited us in the long run. He offered nothing outside the box. The modern striker needs to do more than just score these days. Comparing him to Shearer just proves my point. That being said, Ive got a lot of time for Rhodes and fully appreciate what he did here.

Rhodes limited how we could play when he was in the team. He did fantastically well for us but it sadly was to the detriment of others. The fact that we had a 25 goal a season striker yet never reached the play offs is testament to that. Look at how Rhodes has faired elsewhere in comparison to Josh King. Top guy and he’s made the best of his ability but I wouldn’t swap him for Armstrong or Dack.

They are being paid what the market dictates is their worth. Devils advocate, should everyone earning above £1m a year take a 50% pay cut or is just footballers?

It’s such a shame to see some of the messages on here. We’ve had 3 years of stability and gradual progress. Look at what came before that. After all the nonsense we’ve been through we finally have some calm in the club and a reasonably decent team. Of course it can be better, but look where we were in early 2017 compared to now. Read the team sheets. Is it REALLY going that badly at the moment? Slamming every decision the club or Mowbray makes just feels unnecessary. There’s a strong chance that we’ll be wishing for times like these in the not too distant future. For context, Bolton kicked off the new season in League 2.

It’s not as his door. That’s a ridiculous accusation. Could the club have taken a different approach? Definitely. But to suggest that the club folding falls on the date STs went on sale or the decisions that the club has made over the last 6 months given the global circumstances is pathetic.

What more can they do right now? You want the club to find a new kit supplier in this climate?! They've taken it seriously but it’s obviously a very difficult situation to predict. Putting a product on sale that they can’t guarantee providing is hardly straightforward to navigate. Its incredibly easy to criticise but I haven’t yet heard of any groundbreaking ideas to fix this.

You doubt they know anything about our situation but admit that you don’t know anything about theirs and assume everything is fine.. Isn’t that exactly what you’re accusing them of with the UK restrictions? Slightly hypocritical I’d suggest.

To be fair, I think everyone appreciates inside info. But if you put info out there, you have to expect questions if nothing materialises. If you interpret that as a jibe than fair enough but everything I’ve read seems fair game in all honesty.

What a healthy attitude. Just when the club needs your support more than ever. Great result. Deserved a big win after the encouraging performances in the first two weeks. Very impressive.

He’s not going to say Bell isn’t good enough. Saying that Bell is ‘doing alright’ is hardly a ringing endorsement. Why don’t we wait and see how the window pans out before jumping on every word.

Deleted. Kaminski looks decent at least.

Again, hindsight. Based on the facts at the time, selling him was understandable and that’s how it should be judged.

No one has been making those statements. He didn’t want to be here, had come off the back of an inconsistent season and we had received a reasonable offer. I wasn’t ‘happy’ that he went but I can understand why we sold. We are all agreed that he had potential and Walton was a step down. I disagree that it was inevitable a top level PL club would be willing to throw £10m at him this summer.

This is all being written with the benefit of hindsight. If we’d known that Raya would fetch £10m in 2020 then obviously we should have kept him. But at the time, £3m was a reasonable price for a player who was inconsistent and didn’t want to be here. He undoubtedly had potential but it was hardly inevitable that he’d be going for big money this year.

Raya was dropped because he made mistakes. Frequently. I don’t think there were many protests when he got dropped. Walton was definitely a downgrade and we shouldn’t have sold Raya without a decent replacement lined up. However, I can understand why he was sold in the first place. Frankly I’m very surprised that a top side wants him.

No one on here thought we could get £10m for Raya last year. Very easy to re-write history. He didn’t want to be here and so we took the Brentford offer. £3m was perhaps on the low side but not by much. I can see why he was sold. Should have found a better replacement however. For me, selling Raya is not in the same category as selling Cairney. That was criminal.

I’m yet to see what JRC brings. Got to give him a chance and certainly hasn’t let the side down but can’t pretend that I’ve been overly impressed. Thought Brereton did alright yesterday. Made things happen and certainly more positive signs than there were a year ago. Needs to do more in the box. Dolan stood out again. Ball of energy and confidence. Brings a different dimension. If he keeps this up he could be massive for us this season.

You’re trying too hard. Be reasonable. Mowbray has plenty of faults, why go about inventing them??