1.Has anyone even mentioned the Charlton game in months and months? You are over exaggerating the fall out of seeing a potential league title as unimportant, in comparison to the praise and unified backing he received on promotion. The Charlton game was only such a big deal because he had implied in the week that basically he wasnt arsed about a league title. We had 2 more games to push through, and a very realistic chance of a title. To see that as unimportant is a pretty big deal. That being said, it was forgotten about soon after, we had a full house on for the Oxford celebrations and it was praise from there on in. No one has said they would swap the title for struggles this year. If you see a potential league title as unimportant, then thats up to you and fair enough. It is a big deal to some. It doesnt mean that people havent praised or dont appreciate a bloody promotion! 3. I am more referring to fans on here, not to Mowbray and the team. 4. I agree that centre back is not first priority to be honest. I think a left back and a winger are bigger priorities. My views on the Chapman deal are as I have said before, I think its an unimaginative one, and one we should have avoided based on his injury issues. But there has to be an element of excitement because he is undoubtedly talented. I dont get loaning him out at all though. We need a winger. Does a fit Harry Chapman get into our 18 man squad? Certainly. Would he be possibly the first name to be brought on off the bench if he didnt start? Yes. So why loan him out, rather than Brereton for example, who hasnt offered a threat off the bench, perhaps wouldnt get into the 18, and is in need of a pick me up?

The Charlton game was a valid criticism and one in isolation, I don't see how it is or has to be related to the promotion at Doncaster? I went to both games, and I was annoyed at Mowbrays attitude (quotes in the media and team selection) towards the potential winning of a title. Obviously that feeling wasnt as strong as the happiness of Doncaster away, but thats seperate, the 2 dont have to be intertwined. You say second was seen as an "insult" and I do get that promotion was the priority, but why stop there? We are Blackburn Rovers, we dont win titles very often at any level, and we had a very realistic chance of winning one if we went at it full throttle for another week and half, but for no reason at all, we didnt. Had we finished 2nd after Mowbray had done all he can to get to first, then that bad taste in the mouth would have been avoided. Overall, I was still happy obviously with the job Mowbray had done, and is still doing. But what he has done well and the achievements he has undoubtedly done (which has given him the backing of the fans and has done throughout) does not give him a free pass to avoiding criticism when he does things perceive to be wrong or faulty. Take his Such an attitude seems prevalent this season by some of our supporters too. People already seem content enough with were we are in January to already be focusing on planning for next season. Why cap your ambitions and aspirations like that? We are doing well, and an unlikely play off place would be an excellent overachievement. A win today and we go 3 points away. We should go all out and aim for that until its mathematically impossible. In regards to our centre back conundrum, what you fail to account for is that many people do not consider Derrick Williams to be a competent Championship centre back. He should never have been above Downing in the pecking order in that position. So we have 3 centre backs, all with historical injury problems, one of whom has only become a centre back this season, albeit very effectively recently, he has also had spells where he has looked really poor there.

No one is, you are taking comments about your terminology out of context.

Maja is going to Bordeaux.

Signing Chapman would be a somewhat exciting signing, but also a worryingly unimaginative and heavily risky one. His injuries are a primary concern. To have recurring hamstring problems at his age is obviously a huge issue, especially someone so reliant on pace. This nonsense about loaning him out needs to be dismissed too. If he did sign and was fit enough to play, he has to be around our first team. He provides width which we sorely lack, therefore Mowbray said either today or yesterday that he wants players who can come straight into the 11. Signing a player he has specifically stated that he wouldnt see as a potential starter would contradict that. All that being said, there is part of me that would be excited having seen him play before. Hes the type to get you on the edge of your seat.

I find the hypothetical scenario that you have put in bold very strange and specific. There is a chance that in the last couple of games, we may reach a stage where we cannot mathematically reach the play offs, nor be embroiled in any danger towards the bottom 3, that I concede. Even if that happened, we should still want to finish as high as possible, but I would appreciate there is more scope to blood a youngster or 2 if they are ready. Win tomorrow however, and we would have 17 games to go and be 3 points off the play offs. I dont get this suggestion that we should already be looking to next season! We need to ensure we have enough quality and enough depth to sustain us to do as well as we can for the rest of this season. I cant profess to be an expert on our younger players in the under 23s but from what I can gather, Wharton and Grayson are the young centre backs closest to being ready and they are both out on loan. I have seen no suggestion that Magloire is ready for Championship football. We have to be careful to manage not to become over reliant or overly dependant on the academy. What I mean by that is that we do have Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis and Nuttall all within the first team. You have to be careful not to rely on the others as immediate cover and only bring them through when they have shown enough to warrant it. The latter 2 are the most recent break throughs, seemingly standing out in the younger teams, and now Travis has made a midfield spot his own in the area we are arguably the strongest. If we were promoting based on areas we are weakest in terms of senior players, a new young central midfielder would not have been the priority to promote. You promote youngsters based on their quality, not what we are short of in the senior team.

I dont understand quite how that frustrates you, if we have an opinion then we obviously hold that for a reason and will back that up even if that disagrees with the opinion of the manager. That doesnt mean that anyone on here is about to put themselves forward for the managerial job, it just means that Mowbray is only human and some of his decisions will be subject to debate. And I in no way have suggested that them 3 managers are on an even keel in terms of their managerial ability. I was using extreme examples of managers who we consider to be terrible still having far more managerial ability than any of us. If you are looking for a place where people will debate to death the decisions that our manager makes and suggest what we would do in Mowbrays shoes whether it agrees with what then an internet messageboard is the right place. Something you suggested as you said before going on to If you choose to think that everyone thinks they can do better than the manager in general then I suggest you will be wrong. And what players do in training is somewhat irrelevant, if a player is outstanding in training and shite on a match day then hes no use. Your comments on number of messageboard posts are particularly bizarre.

As you say, there are plenty of bargains to be had abroad and these quotes would have more substance if he hadnt also ignored the prospect of signings from overseas in the summer too. His recruitment seems incredibly limited and the same names seem to crop up, Chapman and Gallagher for example, we need to be more open minded as there are players out there as other Championship teams have proved that are better than some of the same names that keep cropping up. And before people start giving examples of foreign flops, I give you Gladwin, Samuel, Whittingham and Brereton, there are good and bad players everywhere. Many seem to be happy to write off this season, bring through youth players (we already have the pick of that with Raya, Nyambe, Lenihan, Travis and Nuttall regularly featuring) and build for next year. I cant fathom it at all. Theres another window, another chance to at least try and progress the squad (ie another window) to improve the quality and of course push to finish as high as is possible, not be content with where we are, and write it off as a good job at the end of January. Totally baffling.

We may aswell close the forum if we have that attitude. Coyle and Kean spent years and years in professional football but I presume you didnt use the same defence of them? Performance in training is irrelevant, Gladwin and Brereton are 2 Mowbray signings that have been the best player in training but judgement is solely based on how players do on the pitch, not in training.

We are doing pretty well but that doesnt mean we have to cap our ambitions to maintaining where we are now. The play offs and potential promotion are not a million miles away, however I do concede they are incredibly unlikely. Despite what some suggest, we cannot cherry pick when we feel we are ready to go up, promotion at any time is 100% positive, the whole aim is to get promoted, and nothing would be a formality once we got promoted as many unexpected teams have proved. I dont understand the mentality of writing off this season as a learning curve already either, when we are 6 points away from the play offs, and on the back of 3 wins. We need to be continuously progressive, there is definitely plenty to build around at the club but also obvious weaknesses and aspects of our squad that will hinder any chances of a top 6 finish in the short term. This is another of the windows Mowbray has mentioned and whenever possible we should be looking to discard/dislodge the weaker aspects and try and bring in first teamers, not replace squad players with squad players as you suggest at centre back. For example, you mention our centre back options as if we are well stocked there. We have 2 centre backs (Mulgrew and Lenihan) plus a third option of a midfielder whose conversion to a centre back this season has had positive spells (last 2 games) and shaky spells (giving away 2 penalties including a horrendous game at Wigan and all 3 are incredibly injury prone. Derrick Williams (nor Nyambe or Bell) is never an adequate centre back for a Championship team. Our defensive record is poor. I would like to think we are continuously on the look out for a first teamer in that position, if he can get in the team, good, if not, the 2 already in there have upped their game. Mowbray considered Downing to be our 5th choice centre back but hes far better than Wlliams is there. Left back and a winger are the 2 urgent priorities, but we should be continuously looking to progress, not sitting on our hands accepting how great we are doing.

Any notion that promotion would be anything but brilliant is unfathomable to me.

It would be a senseless move. One indicative of incredibly restricted and predictable scouting and recruitment, bringing back someone riddled with hamstring issues seemingly based on familiarity and sentiment. And assuming he is fit, to loan him out when we are short of wingers and an attacker down with Palmer returning would be equally brain dead.

Irvine is at the Asia Cup I think.

Surely not Travis going out on loan?

Left wing?

They are both shite. Bells attacking nature is a myth. Dont recall him getting an assist (may be wrong?) for us, horrendous crosser and so frustratingly reluctant to drive forward. We need a new left back urgently.

Raya Nyambe Lenihan Mulgrew Williams Rodwell Travis Armstrong Dack Bennett Graham Subs: Leutweiler, Downing, Reed, Evans, Conway, Rothwell, Nuttall Wouldnt complain at Rodwell and Lenihan continuing but difficult to leave out our best player and set piece taker. Throughout our turn in form I have felt we have still been weak at full back. Bennett can go further forward and hopefully continue to help set up goals. Hull have 2 excellent wingers and Nyambe is a natural right back, and Williams is IMO slightly better than Bell especially at stopping crosses. Reed isnt an automatic pick at the moment, his form has slightly dipped IMO coinciding with fatigue according to Mowbray. Definitely shouldnt play wide.

Home game v Barnsley is another shout from 2 years ago near the end of the season.

Dropping our player in the best form?

Lets not pretend this is a reaction to a one off experiment against Doncaster which ended disastrously. Every time weve tried it it hasnt really worked. As you touched on, we have a winning formula at the moment, so thats reason enough to not play it, just to shoehorn a third centre back into the team. But 3 at the back is a formation that requires constant training and dedication (not used every now and again as a plan b like Mowbray has) and specialists in each position. Sheffield United are the example everyone uses. They have O'Connell and Basham, outside centre backs who have the ability to get up and down. They have Stevens and Baldock, as effective as you can wish for in terms of wing backs. We would have the obvious 3 centre backs and minimal back up, therefore an injury to any of our 3 centre backs would then lead to a change in formation. We have no suitable wing backs, Nyambe is our only good full back and he is very much a full back, hence 2 assists in his Rovers career.

Obviously only including games I was at so neither the 7-1 loss nor the wins at Old Trafford count. Here are 5 that spring to mind. Best Doncaster away last season Worthington Cup Final (only was 9 but still remember!) United 4-3 when Bentley got a hat trick Chelsea in the League cup quarter final, won on penalties Burnley at home when Dunn scored a last minute offside equaliser Worst Brentford 1-3 Rovers (obviously) Southend 2-1 Rovers (horrible journey and depressing to see us faltering in League 1 Rovers 1-2 Burnley when they broke the 34 year record Bolton 2-1 Rovers (Big Sams last game) Millwall at home in the quarter final FA cup replay. Chance to get to Wembley meekly surrendered. I didnt include Wigan at home under Kean as relegation was all but mathematically secured beforehand. Swansea away that season was a particular low too.

Thats management for you. If we win and he keeps Rodwell in, he will be praised, if he brings Mulgrew back in and we win, he will be praised.

Over the course of the season Mulgrews defending has been much better than Lenihans, without factoring in his goal return. Mulgrew will rightfully be back in the team sooner rather than later although it would be folly to drop either Rodwell or Lenihan at the moment so the 2 options are to keep Rodwell and Lenihan together until theres a reason to bring our captain back in or bring him back as soon as he is fit and push Rodwell forward one alongside Travis. Changing formation would be a brainless move on the back of 3 wins to a formation that requires repetitive training and full committment to. And one that has never worked in the past.

Mowbray has continued to downplay him wherever possible. He described him as a comfort blanket last week, he said any new deal is "up in the air" too. He was far more complimentary towards Lenihan in this last week. I suspect either downplaying expectations of him signing a new deal or trying to keep his progress on the down low.

Lamberts tactics of playing out from the back ensured one of his own signings was hung out to dry.