I said during the shit show of the transfer window that when we’re lower/mid-table it would all be forgotten and the blame would be laid at the managers and players door, and here we are. Look at the bench, look at the goalscoring ability of the team, look at the over reliance on youth, look at the CEO when he appointed JDT fully knowing he wouldn’t be able to bring in the required personnel to support his vision, including the rudimentary like a goalscorer.

Add an experienced defender and midfielder to that, but it’s not the business model. We may get a striker at some point because Venkys seem to like to splash out silly money on a good young goalscorer that they can profit on later. But no doubt it’ll be when JDT has left and we have some no hoper.

Difficult to sleep last night. Not because of the Derby defeat but because I saw us for the most part play very well, be the better team, yet come up short because of issues off the pitch. There was hope things would get better after defeats last season but this season that’s gone due to the owners once again brazenly helping the opposition to 3 points.

If they genuinely cared they'd right the wrongs, but there's been no attempt to do that in their entire time here. They've continually got it wrong, or half right. It seems like it's on purpose. Someone said they don't want to get promoted as it'll mean having to invest more in the club and I'm starting to believe that weird logic.

We had the same issues with strikers and midfielders last year too. Probably more so as at least Tronstad looks alright. Pears over Kaminski I'll never understand though. If only we hadn't sold him.

Apart from the stuff you said I made up in your last post. Go to sleep Jim.

I'm the opposite. Last season I was frustrated at him not giving Adam Wharton more game time, but now it's quite clear why and it's the same reason why he's not giving Ennis, Leonard and Telalovic a crack. It's because for whatever reason they aren't up to it. I'll say it again, 2018 since we signed a decent striker, we sold him for £15m and didn't see any of that money on the pitch. In terms of frustration, JDT doesn't know the half of it.

Yeah I read it the first time. I didn't make anything up, it's all there to see. Preston were poor, yet still beat us for all the obvious reasons that have plagued us for a while now. No need to make anything up.

The most depressing thing about that article is the bit that said they didn't want to sell the club and were committed to it.

When Rovers were winning early on last season, playing exactly the same as Preston did tonight... ie, Shit, but hitting teams on the break and getting lucky, you didn't seem quite as impressed. I suggest you watch a replay. I was surprised at how poor Preston was, they just didn't give up and had been briefed on our soft underbelly courtesy of Venkys.

Wharton and Moran were continually fouled. Moran was fouled about 3 times within five minutes and the ref just gave them a talking to. I don't like seeing refs dishing out cards like confetti but when they are deliberately targeting a player, especially a young player, and disallowing them from playing it should be punished. Obviously a directive from the manager to stop them by any means.

Considering it was on the telly so most could see they weren't very good, it's a weird stance to take. Their first goal was against the run of play, their player who put the ball across slipped on his arse. Had he stayed on his feet and crossed he maybe wouldn't have been as accurate. Their second goal was due to players like Wharton and Markanday expected to see out the game. What they did have was team spirit and more fight, but for 20 minutes in both halves Rovers looked a different class. The thing that massively lets us down is a lack of bite upfront, if Szmod doesn't score the goals it's down to luck whether someone else steps up. You only need to look at our goalscoring chart, once again our supporting players are lacklustre in front of goal. It also doesn't help that our defence is missing three first teamers forcing us to use a midfielder as fullback, in a defence that already isn't the best.

The other thing that should resonate is that we haven't signed a decent striker since 2018.

Preston won't win promotion. A team with a striker and a first team defence would have beaten them comfortably tonight. They were very poor for long periods, fourth bottom of the form table before tonight, and they looked poor against a bad Coventry side last weekend. A perfect game for them to gain 3 points tonight. A makeshift defence, loads of injuries. And they still made a meal of it.

If the idea was to cut the budget then what's the point in bringing in a manager like Tomasson who wants to play football? Oh yes to develop players to sell on, winning is secondary... I forgot for a moment.

The biggest frustration is that it's easy to see how we'd dominate teams if we had a bit of investment because for long periods we are very organised. Then we'll fall apart because of a lack of experience, depth or goals. I can't blame the manager or players for this tbh. Kids will always make mistakes, that's why managers rarely start them till they are ready. Venkys have been the only constant during this prolonged dark period. They did the same when they appointed Lambert. Then randomly gave money to Mowbray who said the team wasn't ready for promotion. Fucking idiots.

Probably because we have no depth. Same reason Wharton stayed on beyond an hour.

Should have scored too. He’s been poor since the internationals.

Not having a striker doesn’t help as oppo managers know we get chances but struggle to score.

Let’s be fair, the referee allowed that to happen. If he’s not going to book him for constant deliberate fouling he’ll keep doing it.

When Markanday came on I said he wasn’t the player for this game and he proved it. But realistically, who on our bench was? The delivery into the box from them could have been avoided by Markanday taking one for the team but he just allowed it to happen. Had it been the other way round one of theirs would have been in the back of them.

Yep, he gave away possession under no pressure. So frustrating and easily avoided. Kids stuff because he’s a kid.

One thing I’ll give Preston and their manager credit for. They never stop and despite being shit never stop believing. Rovers seem to stop believing after the 12th shot is off target.

There we go, Preston win their cup final.

He needs to come off after 60. He rarely does anything beyond that.