Good luck Bees. Thanks for the transfer clause for Raya. Two million in the kitty?

Well he had Adam Reach a superb crosser of the ball and did nowt with it. My Wednesday mate probably got up at the crack of dawn to wave him off. We got the best years out of him. Downhill from there.

Wonderful piece by Matthew Syed in the Times yesterday on Loyalty. He quoted another special writer Nick Hornby. Here is an excerpt. “Fans have never — can never — see life like this. A fan who switched clubs because the meat pies were tastier elsewhere wouldn’t be a fan. A fan who switched clubs because the matches were more enjoyable elsewhere wouldn’t be a fan. Indeed, fandom and consumer sovereignty emerge from distinct philosophical universes. To be a fan of a club is not to express a preference but to accept a calling. As Nick Hornby put it in his anthropological masterpiece, Fever Pitch: “Few of us have chosen our clubs, they have simply been presented to us; and so as they slip from Second Division to the Third, or sell their best players, or buy players who you know can’t play, or bash the ball the seven hundredth time towards a nine foot centre forward, we simply curse, go home, worry for a fortnight and then come back to suffer all over again.”

“After three years in the third tier, scoring 40 goals in 142 games, now's the time for Curtis to move on as Danny Cowley begins his revolution. Granted, large sections of fans won't be too bothered if he does depart if the mood on social media’s anything to go by.” Looks like some Pompey feel the same way about their top talent as some of our fans feel about our top talent.

Remember that Centre back who was apparently a bit of a boozer and sometimes donkey? Centre-back: Grant Hanley (Norwich) - 7.19 rating A key reason for Norwich's title success was their quality in possession having ranked first for both possession (58.3 per cent) and pass success rate (82.8 per cent) with head coach Daniel Farke demanding his defenders play out from the back. Hanley was a key performer in that regard having made more accurate passes (2570) than any other player and yielding the best pass success rate (89.1 per cent) in the division. That said, Hanley was on hand to alleviate pressure on the Norwich goal by any means necessary where required, ranking third for clearances (211).

Probably cant experiment too much or we will be accused of fielding a weakened side by other relegation candidates. Been on the receiving end of that !!! Interesting to see that Hughton and Pearson who were touted as saviours for us, are below us in the league having massively underperformed.

Looks like i chose the wrong week to..... stop watching IFollow

My perspective for what it’s worth, is that given the unique season that all clubs have gone through financially, Mowbray as a “trusted entity” will be given the chance to rebuild the team probably with Armstrong money, and then if we start poorly he will be given the heave ho. if Armstrong goes for 20 million he will still be in credit on transfer dealings. Maybe with Armstrong gone, Brereton and Gallagher will come into their own, so to speak. Do I agree with that? No. Is it a possibility? Yes

Harvey is getting plenty of respect for his action and good for him. He is a Liverpool player who has done a fantastic job for us this year. He will have learned a great deal, but he has given us a great deal. It will also show the top clubs that their talent will not be wasted coming to Rovers. We will always need this pipeline of loanees. We might as well have the best and brightest young talent rather than journeymen. https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-starlet-harvey-elliott-posts-20406215

And Harwood-Bellis. Life saver tonight. Proper player.

I would just love it. Keegan style love it.

By the way Norwich 7-0 up against Huddersfield. And that apparent also ran Hanley is an ever present. Confidence and a consistent team and approach breeds success.

I was one who was prepared to stick with the manager. All around us were journeymen managers getting a new manager bounce with results before the reality set in. Our team looked good on paper with plenty of options. Now I would be delighted to have a new manager bounce and get a tune out of some of this distinctly out of tune orchestra Any company board would look at these results and fire the boss. These results are not acceptable. Find a hungry young manager with new ideas, cash in on our “best” asset while we can, and wipe the slate clean

In fairness Elliott is a perfect winger on the right and Downing or Chapman if he returns on the left. Gallagher and Brereton were bought as target men but were not given a chance to play in that position.

Watching West Brom tonking Chelsea reminds me realize how simple this game is. Get the ball out to the wing, beat your man, cross accurately and get some big boys to volley or head it in. Rinse and repeat. High performance football is not passing the ball sideways. I have always believed that footballers have a responsibility to perform at their best whatever the directions from the manager. Many are not. Mowbray has a good squad in spite of injuries. What is not clear is his approach to the game because it keeps changing. Norwich don't change their game because they have too much confidence in their game to worry about anyone else. As far as the journey goes, if you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. I respect Mowbray’s ability to steady the ship that is Blackburn Rovers. Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to bounce back from Division 3. We did with a simple consistent system. Lets see the season out and signal a new direction with a younger visionary at the helm. The choice is not great. Too many managers who have plenty of journey but sporadic success. Maybe the continental model is the way to go.

While we are off topic, an unfortunate typo for a worthy cause. Assume it was an England U23 piece.

“I think what jumps out at you is their quality in the final third as opposed to our quality in the final third," Mowbray said. “Dolan, Brereton, Buckley, they’re young kids, they’ve got international footballers who played in the Premier League last year. “We have players learning the game, there’s a difference in quality at the top end of the pitch, we understand that, but that’s what we are as a footballclub, trying to grow.” What jumps out at me is two centre forwards bought to replace Danny Graham who lasted longer than expected. So he played one then the other out on the wing. And then Armstrong confuses things by scoring freely so he gets the #9 spot. No wonder Brereton and Gallager have not got strikers boots on. There may be no option next season with Armstrong gone and no Dack for a while.

No grey area here methinks. Lose 3-1 or win 2-1 I wish I could bet over here.

“I’ve not come away from any game and thought ‘wow, they’re way better than us’. “ You may regret those comments after this Saturday Tony. By the way, this article outlines the challenges that smaller successful clubs like Norwich endure staying in the Premiership. something to look forward to 🤔 https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/what-happens-next-for-norwich-city-7796838

Hopefully not. 🙏

Well I am delighted with an away win at Millwall. Gallagher goal and maybe a more balanced team effort not relying solely on Armstrong to knock them in. Lets enjoy the moment and maybe the start of a run.

Postscript to our chat. https://www.90min.com/posts/us-investors-close-to-ipswich-takeover Anyone know any rich Americans. Except Venkys wouldn't write off their investment so easily. And why Paul Cook if you have money?

I respect your opinion. I just beg to differ. What i know is that if i saw him waving a Rovers scarf above his head as the new Rovers manager, I would put my beloved Rovers shirt collection in the bottom drawer until the hate ridden human being had been binned This is an interesting read. There are books and podcasts on how he destroys players. https://www.twtd.co.uk/forum/453519/jason-scotland--life-under-roy-keane

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/19/alex-ferguson-roy-keane-blackburn-manchester-united As for Ipswich, my brother has been a supporter for 50 years. He has given me chapter and verse.

Keane, as in virtually destroying Ipswich and turning us down after promising to join us in our boardroom. Horrible human and highly unsuccessful manager. He would last five minutes in Venkyland and thats too long. Trash talking punditry is about his level. Even there he is punching above his weight. NBC Sport does a much better job covering Football over here.