Why would he put in loads of work for other people to take advantage of? He wont be sacked barring a real disaster whilst his mate is advising our absent owners. Thats my point.

Downing has been ok, I raised serious doubts about his lack of influence in terms of goals/assists last year and he has contributed to 4 goals, the ones v Leeds, Hull and Charlton all being good dead balls. (although he is certainly no Mulgrew in that regard) I do think that he often struggles to assert any influence from open play however, the only direct contribution to a goal was v Reading and it was very much creative license of using the term assist! I am not sure he has the mobility to have the impact he once was capable of out wide and I also remain very unconvinced that he is able to make the transition to central midfield successfully and dictate games like Gallagher does for example at PNE. Ultimately, hes usually between neat and tidy or ineffective. Johnson has been a disappointment, Walton has been poor, Gallagher worse, Cunningham immediately injured, Adarabioyo underwhelming bar one performance and Holtby has not featured enough yet and his role seems a little confused at the moment, so Downings overall average start is arguably the best of all of the signings.

Theres no chance that Mowbray will be sacked with his mate in the ear of the owners. Waggotts a waste of space, both in being an unbiased soundboard in terms of deciding/helping/advising on the managers future, and in terms of hitting sales targets due to needlessly aggressive and poorly planned pricing strategies.

I believe Holtby played in central midfield for Hamburg. One thing is for sure, he needs to play the majority of games in a settled position. It makes some sense to have him in central midfield where he can perhaps dictate games and give us a step up in technical ability on what we have in there but I thought he was really poor v Leeds in there. Im not sure playing wide suits him best either, but with a license to be a bit more positionally fluid he has looked brighter looking to play one twos with Dack and just generally being more incisive with his passes than our other wide options who all seem to flatter to deceive. For all of his obvious talent, I do think there is a reasonable chance that his spell here will be underwhelming just because I am not convinced exactly where he can fit in best. You would want him in a number 10 role but theres no way you can drop Dack.

Would echo Stuarts reply to this, why would you gain any satisfaction from one of our players who undoubtedly has talent, who plays in an area we have struggled with consistently throughout the last few years, whose time at the club (on a permanent deal) has been a total failure?

If you cant see that the kick off choice is detrimental to the vast majority of potential fans then you are perhaps beyond reasoning with.

Because he keeps making mistakes hence his demotion from Forest number 1 to being unable to make the bench. How many times have you seen Kingsley? Only commenting on the one time I recall seeing him.

Pantillimon is a liability, and no better than the inept Walton. Ayala would be good but suspect he might have bigger teams in for him. Daniel that is, Roberto a bit old I suspect now. Remember seeing Kingsley play at Ewood last year and he was absolutely dismal, as bad a left back as I saw last year based on that performance.

Ideal for you perhaps, but quite clearly picked at an incredibly stupid time in terms of getting people through the door. Why market kid prices when they will be at school. Doesnt affect me as I wouldnt have gone regardless but just commenting on the decisions made by Waggott and co and it is yet another failed one.

Armstrong is the first player that deserves dropping, and Graham the first name on the teamsheet. It was primarily Dack and Holtby that linked up well to be fair.

Cant see anyone interested in Lenihan, a rash and injury prone defender, and whilst Travis is young and of course our best central midfielder I cant see many people outside of Ewood taking much note. I would agree that we wont go down, there is too much crap in this league but not sure that we are much better ourselves. Cardiff are far better than us, they have not coped well with relegation at all and being mid table is a huge surprise but you look at their team, their goalkeeper, centre backs, full backs, central midfielders and wingers are all very good for this league. They are just a bit toothless up front, their big money signing hasnt settled. Hull have some really poor players but theyve got a couple of good ones and one outstanding goalscorer which sets them apart from many of the others you mentioned. Boro are massively underachieving under a novice manager. Huddersfield again were struggling post relegation under a novice, got plenty of quality, Schindler, Kongolo and Simpson in defence, and again a proven goalscorer in Grant. And Stoke have been in a decline under a terrible culture that is difficult to shift for ages, their new managee may be the man to shift that because ultimately their squad is quite obviously not a bottom 3 one, O'Neill got an instant result playing players in a simple system in their correct positions. Even though Luton beat us with little in return, I suspect your bottom 3 wont be far away from being correct, and I think we will stay up, but I am far from convinced that we are better than the teams you mentioned, with some getting new managers and Boro due one.

We must be watching different games as I dont recall any improvement in performances!

If hes judging the team on performances then I would suggest that he should be even more concerned than with our results. The level of performance has been consistently shite throughout the season and we have repeatedly failed to have anything over than minimal shots on goal. He has tried to make out as if drab home performances v the likes of Charlton, Luton and Forest displays were dominant and we deserved more from them, total bollocks. I cant think of a single good performance all season, Hull maybe is the best and that was a poor game settled by a missed penalty and a set piece.

To be fair, wont he need to continue to exert himself when senior players are around to make it in the first team, rather than holding back?

If we appointed Ainsworth and it was even 1% because of who he supports then it would be for the wrong reasons. He should be considered simply for work hes done as a manager.

Of course, we are in agreement that obviously a manager makes a huge difference and we need a new one but you can only do so much and our squad is lacking in so many areas. Never mind a defence not being top 4, ours isnt top half, its one of the worst in the league!

Preston have Daniel Johnson, the 2 centre backs too, Davies and Bauer. I dont doubt that Neil is perhaps overachieving, but theyve got a better and more balanced squad. Part of the problem is the lack of balance in our squad. Goalkeeper, we havent good any good ones. Centre back, question marks over all 3 of them. Right back, Nyambe is our best bet, still very raw. Left back, very unfortunate with Cunninghams injury, Bell and Williams both repeatedly prove their incompetence. Central midfield, Travis is our best one, top 6 quality? Not for me, certainly not yet, quite a bit off Pearson and Gallagher for example. Johnson seems past it. Wide, weve got Downing who is usually fairly ineffective, Armstrong is rubbish, Rothwell probably our best bet there but has never himself proven himself to be capable of regularly scoring/assisting, plus possibly more natural in a central role, contrast them with Barkhuizen, much more natural there, always puts in a shift, always chipping in with goals. Number 10, Dack yes I will give you, Holtby has the CV to suggest he is up to it, been mixed so far (excellent v Huddersfield, OK v Sheff Weds, awful yesterday) but to get him in the team in his natural position youd have to drop our best player. Up top, only one competent striker and hes 34 and out of favour, seemingly written off. I agree that we could be a bit higher up the table but we are nowhere near good enough to be in that top 6.

Because he hasnt been starting games, he has been dropped right from the start of the season for Downing, a managers favourite who at his age despite being neat and tidy is often ineffective and laboured. He was excellent on the left hand side for a continued run of games last season, he should have been starting this season from day 1. Armstrong and Downing have started 14 games, Rothwell was a stand out wide player for us at the end of last season, hes not one of the managers favourites though and has started 4, all tough away games in isolation before being singled out and dropped as a result. Getting 15/20 minutes at the end is totally different.

Rothwell never gets played, unless you spelt Downing wrong.

With ineffective players like Downing and Armstrong down the wings, teams know that if they stop Dack, they stop us.

You get a sense of a teams character away from home. Our last 4 away games, all defeats, have included limp, heartless displays at Birmingham and Leeds, a battering at QPR and a total inevitable surrender at PNE. Theres your good group.

Thats a depressing list. Alan Pardew in particular I will presume is a joke. We need to have a bit of ambition, aim for the best rather than settling for no marks. Hughton, Bowyer or Ainsworth for me.

It seems a totally baseless statement to make. Which of our players are top 6 quality? Only Dack IMO. We finished 15th last season and have regressed since. The manager takes much of the blame I agree, and I also think that the quality of the games in this league is poor, but ultimately Mowbray has not built a particularly good squad for the money hes had. Poor goalkeeper, incompetent defence, no width, no goals, no leaders, its a bottom half squad hes built I think, maybe a good manager could have us in mid table.

He has played a stupid 4-1-4-1 formation a couple of times recently, Dack should be feeding off our striker, he is not a central midfielder but he has been played there. Ultimately with a crap striker like Gallagher, Dack wont be able to get the ball in areas where he can hurt teams. If he would rather be stubborn to his philosophy even though it quite clearly is less effective (and more drab) then hes an even bigger idiot than we think. He did it in League 1 after a dozen games, ripped up the way that was causing us to underachieve. Your "job on the line" comment makes no sense, surely stubbornness at the cost of results is the exact kind of thing that costs managers jobs? Sadly ours is not a normal run club, the owners dont care and the CEO is Mowbrays mate so hes here for as long as he wants. Our side at the moment also lacks bollocks, lets be honest. We dont have any characters really. For the next game, Bennett, Downing, Gallagher and Armstrong need to be dropped, I would bring in Lenihan, Johnson, Graham and Rothwell, dont be afraid of going more direct, the last 4 away games have summed up our manager and team, surrendered at QPR, a really limp display at Birmingham, a total surrender at Preston and another limp display yesterday.

Youve said numerous times to me that my suggestion of Lee Bowyer is unrealistic. Re Ainsworth, couldnt give a shite who he supports or what "style" of football he plays, he seems to be very good at winning football matches so thats why he should be in the reckoning IMO. Hughton has to be the first point of call, we may aswell at least ask the question, we can speculate on the money we offer, the money we want or the jobs hes rumoured to have turned down, the managers the most important person so if it takes a bit more money we should spend it, if he turns us down move on to the next one.