I work with a long-standing Cov fan and the subject of their support came up when I saw him on Monday. He mentioned that he thinks their core support has always been poor considering the size of the city and the lack of nearby clubs to attract 'glory-hunters'. So not all Cov fans are deluded!

Watched on S4C and the commentators basically acknowledging he's not good enough at that level. Fluffed their best opportunity late on when he clearly had no idea what to do. Sounds like a few of our team!! On the plus side he did have the physical presence that we lack - and the way we are playing under Eustace that could have been a useful option that we just don't have

Sorting out some old papers and came across this. Not sure of exact date - 1977'ish? - and can't recognise some of the signatures.

Was a great season for a while - particularly remember the Wolves and Carlisle away games pre-Xmas. Last game of season hoping City would slip up only for them to win 5-1

I'm not sure League 1 is that strong tbh. Unless a promoted side has money to invest they seem to find it hard to step up - Rotherham, Plymouth, Peterborough as recent examples. Difference last time we went down is we probably had a squad better equipped for that level than the current squad (the likes of Graham, Bennett, etc and added Dack who was proven at that level). What concerns me is, as you suggest I think, that the situation with the owners is different now. Last time they funded the club to make that quick return. This time feels like cost-cutting will be the only path and, as the squad is already weak, a quick return seems unlikely.

That'll be the one. I missed the replay as was on a coach heading to Europe for a field trip from Uni. Managed to hear the score on a radio and woke up the coach with a very loud broad Lancastrian 'fucking hell'!

Always seemed to play well on an icy pitch. Have a memory of playing at Forest in the snow when Noel was unstoppable. Probably not as great as I remember as so long ago!

Tbh it's almost irrelevant whether he has looked good or not. The reality is he is the best forward we've got in terms of current capability and the style(?) we are currently playing. Leonard may develop into a better player - who knows - but he isn't at the moment. Shows how far we have fallen that a lot of our discussions now are whether player 'x' must be in the team because he's not quite as bad as player 'y'!!

And to think Paul Bradshaw was a good keeper!! Horror show in this match though

Luton went up with a high degree of pragmatism didn't they? Garth Crooks laughed at them but has had to eat humble pie. Their manager knows his players aren't good enough against the top teams so they play a way that those teams aren't equipped to deal with. Look at how many goals they score by lumping the ball into the box for the big lads. I know they'll probably come back down but doing better than Vincent's mob with their clever stuff.

Would be great if they would...but they are owned by an organisation with direct links to someone who is the driving force in one of the more repressive regimes on the planet with lots of human rights issues - and the bulk of their supporter base doesn't seem unduly concerned by this. My guess is their appetite to join in a protest against 'dodgy' ownership in football is likely to be fairly limited these days!! Just shows it wasn't really the 'dodginess' of Ashley that was the issue - more his unwillingness to spend any meaningful money. This applies to the bulk of their fans - to be fair there are some of their fan base who have expressed much concern about the Saudi ownership

Just to sidetrack even further 😁 - I used to work with a salesman whose real name was Barney McGrew. We asked him if he got bored of people taking the piss. His answer was - 'nobody ever forgets me - which is a brilliant thing for a salesman!'

The way a chunk of the Ewood faithful treated him in his early days probably wouldn't want to risk same treatment as manager!

Stockholm Syndrome!

Looking at the full list 14 (I think) of those teams have either spent time out of the League or are currently out of the League. Plus a 4th Division Cardiff / Swansea derby in the 80's - bet there was a relaxed non-violent crowd at that one!!

Here in Pembrokeshire live on BBC Wales - sofa and tv booked for Mon night!

Was a brilliant night. Free coaches put on by the club if I remember right?

Was on the Bee Hole end with my dad. Only 12 years old. Quite scary! Him telling me to keep quiet and look miserable!!

Apologies then 😉

Blew money on szmodics? WTF!

I get the criticism of the ref on this occasion. He waves play-on initially and only seems to blow after Haaland back up. On the wider point of the 'old boys club'. There is an arrogance amongst pro footballers that only those who have played the game have a valid view. Most of us have played the game - it's not rocket-science to translate our experience to the pro game. Clearly a pro footballer's insight adds value as well. Tbf to Leon Osman he did make the point right at the end that generally the ref had a good game and yet they were focussing on the big mistake.

Brentford always seem to give them a good game. Not much tip-tap playing from the back - good defenders and then getting the ball to quick, strong forwards seems to be their style from what I see (admittedly only on MOTD)

and Trav probably has 'a piss in him'!

Can only see this ending one of three ways - 1. we get to Premier League and are sensible (like Luton) and use the money to stabilise 2. we get to the Premier League and bet the bank on loads of players and then watch as that goes pear-shaped 3. we suffer death by a thousand cuts until we eventually do (at best) a Wigan or (at worst) a Bury - or somewhere in between (like Bolton) Afraid my bet is on number 3.

Once saw a post-match interview with Peter Reid (I think he was manager of Sunderland at the time). He started by having a go at the referee who'd made a mistake that cost a goal. Then stopped, laughed and said something along the lines of - 'mind you I wish my defenders had only made one mistake in the game that cost a goal - not the 3 they actually made!!'