We asked our Rovers fans' jury: Is Mowbray right to want to raise expectation levels and talk so openly about it, or does it raise the stakes unnecessarily on his players?

PSYCHOLOGICALLY what he is doing is the right approach. Individuals’ and players’ expectations are fashioned by external factors and motivations.

If he was to say the aim was to avoid relegation then their behaviour and performances would be influenced by their inferior “goal” and they would give less of themselves whether they realised it or not.

Of course the problem occurs when you have a squad of players who don’t have the skill or ambition to attain the target they have been set. The fact that there are young, inexperienced players in the side is a factor but not an insurmountable one.

Paul Yates

I DON’T think Tony Mowbray’s comments have had any relation to the recent poor form, or rather, I don’t think his comments can be held responsible.

His comments may have put pressure on the players but on the flip side such high and open expectations could have empowered the players and given them something to aspire to. We don’t have a given right to win matches and challenge for promotion.

There are 23 other teams who are fighting for the same thing we are - there’s no guaranteed formula.

Tony Mowbray seems a very honest guy with whom the players know where they stand; with hindsight he may not have been so open in his expectations but we can only make the calls in real time and Tony Mowbray has made many more right calls than wrong ones in his tenure.

Kelvin Wilkins

FANS want to hear about the club's expectations.

If Mowbray plays it down then we get frustrated at a lack of ambition, if he builds it up then they get even more frustrated when we lose.

From the fan side of things I would say it’s a lose lose, from the players perspective is a different story.

I’d argue that comes down to the characters in your team. There is of course the added pressure when the manager speaks of the clubs aspirations publicly, you’d think though that privately the chat is had.

Mowbray is right to want to raise those levels, if we stagnated then his job is put at risk and the fans get frustrated.

The only way to manage a football club is to strive for the next level, whether that ever actually happens is another thing completely.

Tom Schofield