philipl

The bus on the left is Darwen Corporation number 17, the Crossley Regent which is pictured earlier in the thread- it was the only one with that arrangement of rear windows in case you think I have amazing eye sight. The reason why nobody could place the location of the photo is it still exists and was probably on its way to a rally somewhere. Two Darwen Corporation buses survive and four Blackburn Corporation buses are in preservation also. If the bus on the left is number 133, that is one of them.

9 points off 6th and now an inferior goal difference as well. This is a must win game for play off dreams- I won't use the word hopes as we all know Mowbray is hopeless. If we look at the respective teams and squads, this should at worst be a 50/50 game. When we look at the respective managers and their motivations, the odds switch to 99/1 in Middlesbrough's favour. We might well play decently but this is going to be a deeply depressing Sunday evening.

The utter disorganisation and managerial insouciance of the Doncaster game meant Dack would still not have received a decent pass if the game were still being played now... Mowbray hasn't got the first clue how to fit Dack in with the other players at his disposal.

Barnsley home- he got that horribly wrong.

I am wondering about my eyesight if anybody thinks what is happening is ok. For the last couple of months it hasn't mattered who we are playing or what our team is, I see 11 individuals wearing Rovers shirts wondering where the other 10 are. Passing is pedestrian at best. Even Rotherham were more fluid and fluent than us. They instinctively knew where another Rotherham player was going to be. Rovers are vastly better players but simply not properly organised or instructed. Is that Mowbray's responsibility to sort that out or isn't it? If you agree with me that it is Mowbray's job then it follows he is now rubbish at it.

If we are waiting to the end of the season... Well our season effectively got ended by Doncaster in case nobody noticed...

Watch for us trotting out with rakes, hoes and a steam roller on Tuesday evening

We usually lose games which I start match threads for so I guess this is a free hit. The only game I have seen this season where we were unambiguously the worse side/not at the races/ totally out classed and out played was Swansea away so there is little reason to believe Tuesday night will be any different (checked- it is Tuesday night but watch the kick off time of 7pm in the UK, 8pm for me). Venue is a ploughed field near Lower Darwen or a remote in your living room. Weather outside cold but that's academic because none of you are allowed out anyway. Yes we were particularly badly hit by injuries at the Liberty then but so were they. I guess we might be surprised to discover our returned walking wounded are better than their's so hope springs eternal but then snubbed out by their boss blossoming in the meantime while our's has wilted to a shrivelled gurning presence somewhere near the tunnel. As for selection, I would much prefer Davenport alongside Travis than Johnson but I guess we might get Buckley who probably would be an upgrade on Johnson on current form. And if it is essential to have somebody hugging the touchline in the Mowbray world of playing as though we actually have wingers in the squad then I'd opt for Brereton over Rothwell who has to have the option of space either side of him to really express himself. Probabilities for this one: 80% defeat and Swansea to put automatic promotion a mere 16 points out of our grasp (this will be only game 25 of this anticlimactic underwhelming season) 19% draw 1% the moon is made of blue and white halved cheese.

I believe that pitch improvements fall outside the FFP calculations.

Mowbray's management 100% at fault for not winning that game. In years to come we will look at the players we had at Rovers this season and wonder how we didn't go up. Now 7 points off the play-offs.

Well that was poor. Again Rovers looking like they have never met each other- abysmal management from Mowbray.

Those comments are woeful.

Nobody can blame us. Look at the table.

Stoke's two loan signings will make them much more dangerous up front against us. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/19011134.stoke-city-sign-second-premier-league-loanee-week/ They are without a win since they beat us... And we all know what that means- perhaps only half a Mercer on 0-0

I feel indifferent between Rovers 0 Stoke 5 and Rovers 5 Stoke 0 but the first one might take us further forward quicker if it sorted out our Management. Of course, Rovers 5 Stoke 5 would be entertaining but the worst of all worlds. Rovers 0 Stoke 0 will be the zero entertainment result and feel like the worst of all worlds. You can put a Mercer on it.

Appears that Derby are going into administration.

Brennan has looked a class above his colleagues at under 23 level. Fylde are a weird club- wouldn't read too much into Luke's recall.

The next three fixtures are against Stoke, Swansea and Boro. As we haven't beaten any team above us all season, I cannot see us starting now. Our season will be over before January is over. Mowbray has to go.

My recollection is it was the 244 to Rochdale- started at Preston and ran along the Old Road through Houghton to Blackburn then over the Grain, Haslingden, Rawtenstall, Turn, Rochdale. 30 minute frequency. Just looked it up- you are right it was the 158. It later got renumbered when it was extended from Blackburn to Preston. Ribble in those days were linking ordinary service routes together. The end shelter nearest the station was the X66 to Manchester which Ribble White Ladies ran jointly with the original Lancashire United then the next one in was the Rochdale stop.

Perhaps because Arsenal are the holders?

Yesterday we had no tactics or strategy going forward or defending. Every combination of players on the park looked like complete strangers to each other. Were any passes played blind knowing that a Rovers player would be there to receive it? I cannot remember any. Instead it was all either ponderous stop and look or play it backwards to try to retain possession. As Rich Sharpe pointed out, at one point we had 4 defenders and 6 attackers and no instructions from the touchline about who was supposed to be doing what where. And yes the players looked mighty pissed at Mowbray. We are seeing real anger consistently when they are subbed off.

I am increasingly feeling from his body language that he will walk of his own volition.

Go. Out of arguments to keep him. Which of the current 92 League Managers would have made a bigger mess against Doncaster? I am struggling to name any who would have messed up more than Mowbray did.

Mowbray has achieved not only making the team much less than the sum of its parts but he is clearly diminishing the parts as well. At least half the 16 players used had horrible games way below their capabilities. From Mowbray's gurning, Venus looking lost and the angry/detached glances from the players towards the management, I'd say Mowbray is now losing the dressing room.

Derby couldn't even put the good kids out because the ones training with the first team squad were also in the first team bubble. The average age of their side was just over 19.