Frank Lampard the "excellent" appointment perhaps with a bit of a hiccup today.

For some perspective, for a team chasing promotion from the Championship to the Premier League, you are entrusting a rookie with about 20 minutes of senior experience who has had a loan spell at Halifax Town in the National League this season where he only scored 1 in 10, yet are in denial that we needed a striker? Let's not pretend that we didn't need a striker. I factor in the fact that to find a striker who could score at a reasonable, competitive rate, to fit within our current formation on a limited budget was a difficult task and seemingly was not helped by rejections in the transfer market. It may have well been that no one was deemed good enough to improve us, and it was impossible to find someone to be as good as Brereton should he become injured, which unfortunately he has. But it was a disappointment that we didn't get anyone in. Let's also not be of the naive assumption that every time a goalscorer is lost, others will naturally fill that void. It isn't impossible, it will happen at times, the Brereton story is a fairly remarkable one though all told. It will not happen every time, and those particular circumstances were fairly unique. Goalscorers cost the most money for a reason. Any team losing their main striker is a huge blow, and one that will weaken them, it would be the same if Fulham lost Mitrovic. If any of the current squad start scoring to 100% compensate for the absence of Brereton, they would be scoring well in excess of what they have proven in their careers to date. To suggest that "we have always found a way" is blatantly untrue, and indeed in half of the games that we have failed to score in, Brereton has been unavailable from the start. No one has really found much of a way as of yet, we have looked toothless in recent weeks. I suspect that any response will be to this that I am being negative, that I need to give Vale a chance or indeed a look back to last summer when Brereton (in fairly unique circumstances) did indeed step up to the mark, something that I have acknowledged CAN happen from time to time, but more often than not, it won't, hence why I and most people do not forsee our remaining players filling that void fully by scoring miles more than they have to date in their careers.

You cannot possibly know that, even if you was sat in your seat ridiculously early. The issue was not snow, it was water. This is from a fans forum from May, this proves that although a total relay was planned, it was the unwillingness of the owners to follow through with that intention due to cost, which was £2m: "TS stated that at the last meeting the club were in the process of tendering for a complete reconstruction of the pitch at Ewood Park. SW added that a preferred supplier had been selected with a budget of close to £2m. Unfortunately, the economic situation in India and the amount of ongoing support the owners had been making through the pandemic meant that they were unwilling to approve the expenditure for a full refurbishment." I know that this doesn't fit your agenda that the owners are changing based on whatever whispers and that Waggott and Mowbray are to blame for everything, but there you go. Black and white.

How is that possibly his fault! The owners offered funding for a totally new pitch, and then ended up not doing that. It is the owners fault, no matter how much you try and deflect.

You do wonder if he will be seen in a Rovers shirt again with only 3 months of the season to go.

The pitch was always likely to deteriorate this season when the owners reneged on their intention to invest in a new pitch last summer, instead trying to do things on the cheap. It wasn't seemingly that the pitch wasn't clear, it was The whole thing should have been handled better, I think it should have been postponed earlier or alternatively perhaps delayed, an inspection 45 minutes prior is not acceptable. But putting it down to the referee wanting to be "centre of attention" is a load of bollocks.

An absolute disgrace between the club and the referee to even have a pitch inspection 45 minutes before kick off, if there is so much doubt the game can go ahead it should have been called off hours before. @only2garners please can you ensure that Waggott is grilled at the upcoming forum. Why was it acceptable to call it off within an hour of kick off, or even have an inspection then? Why wasn't it called off before? Why was the pitch not in a fit state? Hard not to look back to the penny pinching of the owners who had promised a new pitch and reneged on this. An expense not FFP attributable which blows that theory out of the water.

@only2garners can this be highlighted at the fans forum, the club could take it out of the referees hands surely and think about the fans. You cant have a decision 45 minutes before kick off.

That he was staying?

Absolute shambles. If there is such clear doubt it should have been called off before. 45 minutes before kick off would be embarassing and piss poor.

If Brereton is out until April minimum, I cant help but think that our play off chances are quite slim.

Where have these vague timeframes come from? Suspect an ankle injury will be a fair few weeks, but where exactly have these timescales come from? @Mellor Rover @callumrovers Not saying you are wrong.

If he plays, it will be as a wide striker (unless we change formation) as has been the case with our 2 forwards for months, and as was the case when Gallagher got man of the match v Boro.

There is certainly no justification for idiots throwing things, goading or no goading. Samba is a dickhead but throwing missles is not even slightly justifiable. If we was winning our fans would shout things at Samba so in regards to goading and horse play, its give and take, throwing is a different matter altogether.

The top 2 seems a very small possibility, all about securing that top 6 place now which itself is looking more like a possible than a probable. Fingers crossed that we can get back to winning ways tomorrow and have Brereton and Dack back sooner rather than later.

Will be all about money, lets be realistic. They are human beings trying to provide for their family. Like Gallagher, im guessing that Kaminski will be on similar wages to what he was on already, maybe a slight hike, the other 3 are in positions to demand much more than when they signed last time, which is why if we dont go up I imagine all 3 will be off, especially Rothwell and Nyambe.

"Excellent" is premature, nothing to write home about in his 2 managerial jobs so far although he is a media darling.

Definitely a Fulham win for me.

A draw would be ideal, a Forest win would be the worst case scenario.

I definitely agree on the club, there seems to be a lack of accountability too which is only heightened when people just blame the fan base. Waggott has mentioned in the forum as you say that bundles don't work and are unfavoured, and this latest offering has more strings than ever and limits itself by quantity due to only being in one stand. I just don't get how people don't seem to/are unwilling to grasp the fact that not everyone is a fan who prioritises attending above most/all other things and has the lifestyle and finances to be able to do that. And not only that, they think its just a Rovers thing!

If Waggott etc become aware of these comments then they will be made up. For some reason, so many fans cannot fathom that not everyone shares the same mindset nor the same circumstances to want and be able to get to as many games as possible. Its not just a Rovers thing, every team has a mixture of fans, some prioritise attending, some not so much and it requires effective ticketing and marketing to coax them in. When people put such idiotic nonsense, it takes away from the fact that there may well be issues with the actual ticketing policies which will determine the attendance tomorrow. The strings attached bundle specific to one area of the ground has so many flaws, yet where is the accountability when people have the attitude of "bloody shit Rovers fans" naive to the fact that the fanbase of every club is a complex mix of people with different minds and different circumstances.

Those examples are not relevant though because they are blatantly well out of our price range hence why nobody had mentioned them, Moore wouldn't even fit into our style of play. Dike is a big signing for West Brom and his unfortunate injury caused them to get Carroll as a bit of a desperate alternative. I mentioned that it would be practically impossible to get anyone close to the goalscoring level of Brereton and indeed not an easy task to get someone who fit the criteria, ie a striker with pace who could play as a wide striker if required, who can score goals even if it is not 25/30 a season just more than Khadra/Dolan etc on a tight budget. Loans would be most likely, and there would be an element of risk and reward, and we can only really discuss the names we know. Maja has hit the ground running at Stoke with a couple of goals, although there was understandable doubt over his injury plus I am not sure if he could play as a wide striker, not sure I have seen enough of him. Connolly was one name Mowbray mentioned, went to Boro, not convinced he is particularly good anyway. I liked the look of Forss who certainly knows where the goal is, perhaps went to Hull for more regular gametime if we were in for him. So it isn't easy, but it was possible and it was a disappointment that it didn't happen.

No one has mentioned a 10m striker or anything of the like. I accept and agree with the idea that it was not a straightforward task, but no one mentioned anything extortionate.

It isn't a question of hindsight to be fair, many people raised the issue upon the closure of the transfer window that they felt that we were a striker short. I don't think it is as straightforward as it seems, in that firstly, any team would miss and struggle to replace their main striker, especially one on 20 goals. Also, we had a small budget further depleted by the sunk cost of the Markanday deal considering his injury. To find a striker that could offer anything close to a similar goal threat to Brereton on a small budget to fit our current formation was always going to be challenging, Dembele seemingly was bid for, a talented player but he isn't a regular goalscorer himself.

My point wasn't aimed at you, just a general point that it is naive to expect there to be always someone banging in goals amongst the top scorers in the league, the Brereton situation has been unexpected but I don't see a similar case from the current cast. Of course there is nothing to do other than hope, in reality the likes of Rothwell, Buckley, Dolan and Khadra need to chip in far more than they currently do, although none have a track record of scoring goals anything other than very occasionally. Gallagher is our biggest source of goals and he is far from prolific, Hedges doesn't have a particularly prolific record either. I don't hold much hope there based on logic, the key is to keep other teams out and hopefully we have enough to nick games. I did feel that we needed a forward extra in the window, for me we had 5 main options for 2 positions, Brereton, Gallagher, Dolan, Khadra and Hedges. The latter signed having initially been earmarked as one for the summer following the Markanday injury, so we knew of that prior to the window closing. I do get as I mentioned though that firstly any team is weaker without their main goalscorer, and on a small budget already depleted by signing someone who instantly got injured, and also someone with the qualities to fit into the current season.