None of the match officials or the Boro bench had clear sight of the incident. The Ref was looking in the opposite direction and the 4th official could not have seen it in any detail from the JW side of the pitch. A complete fiasco. Not worth an appeal, the authorities would do the usual and protect their own.

I doubt that those mentioned have turned against JDT. It's apparent that there are some issues with some players and that is an early test of the managers man management skills. Wharton being denied a match ticket! There is something fundamentally wrong if that actually happened. There are aspects of his management that worry me, mainly around what seems to be his preferred style of play. I'm not calling for his head after such a short time, he deserves at least this season and next to prove himself. I think he will see out his full 3 year contract unless he decides otherwise. Same goes for GB. We are still 3rd and that's down to the manager and players but also due to the underperformance of quite a few other teams. That appears to be largely correcting itself. It will be a hell of an achievement if we finish this season in the playoff positions.

I watched Norwich a few times late in Smith's time there. It looked like he had lost the players so the forthcoming improvement will be due to changing manager. They will finish top 6. We will not. Just being realistic.

Or that the Sunderland player bought the penalty by jumping into Buckley's path whilst making no attempt at playing the ball. That sort of cheating goes on all the time and is ignored by incompetent referees who find it acceptable a bit like the use of arms and hands to obstruct and shirt pulling all of which go largely unpunished. Which brings me on to the latest feck up by the match officials. It appears that Buckley was sent off for a mild offence that the rules say can be punished by a yellow on the word of the 4th official, who shall remain nameless as I do not want to cuss, who had absolutely no clear view of the incident, absolutely none, unless he was also looking at a monitor. He guessed under pressure from his Boro mates.

Which in no way resembles a project to be a PL sustainable club. It says the opposite and that a real go at promotion is not on the agenda. Furthermore, and unless you spend big of fees and wage contribution to attract top quality, you cannot build a team via loans or by making a loanee the undeserving fulcrum of the team. The treatment of the Wharton's is getting beyond belief and the manager needs to be called to account and explain. His conceit will not allow that to happen.

Best prepare early for the plaintive cries of "we were 3rd at Christmas" followed by "We were in the top 6 in January", they are coming.

Due to an internet failure overnight I've not seen the game yet but reading the BBC match report the highlighted action with the subs jumped out as weird. Were we shoring up to protect the defeat? What is the purpose of having a striker like Hirst on the bench? Plain strange.

And so will WBA after a few more games.

It's on Rovers TV everywhere UK included

If we are 'interested' a token offer will be made.

He doesn't go in for physical challenges and I don't like a striker who under jumps and scared when it's aerial.

Ok, I didn't look up his contract position. He will have a lot of clubs interested including those with real ambition to get out of the Championship this season.

Sunderland have a chance of the play offs. Why would they sell their main striker in January. Sky bollocks.

The manager was on about progressive passing, going forward to have shots and goal chances. That is not happening. We have his Dutch Disease full blown and he appears to have no cure. Sooner or later the stats will show in our league position. Performance over results is his mantra. Deluded gobbledegook.

Against Sunderland Hirst was onfield for 20 minutes in which time he never, even once, actually kicked the ball with his foot. Not one single solitary time.

Even Sunderland destroyed our powder puff midfield and just ran through it. Pressing? ..... they couldn't press trousers with a flat iron. Passing? Morton is short sideways or backwards. Buckley does try forwards but his radar is still wonky. That's how our midfield should play? Sweet Jesus help us please.

On soon, I'll have a gander. Cheers.

So that's what he is! I've often wondered .......

2-1 to Rovers. We are at home and BBD and/or Dack will score. They are overdue. That's unless Bradley is in the naughty boys corner for shaking his head and looking less that chuffed when being stupidly subbed.

So sacking Allardyce was the right thing to do. I am trying my best to behave but fuck me that pushing the buttons. Fucking madness.

I just watched the 2nd half again as my stream yesterday went a bit iffy. Huff and puff but not much else. Hirst did make contact with the ball twice, once with his chest and a nodded 2 yard attempt at a pass. His main contribution was giving away the free kick that led to Travis messing up and the Sunderland winner. I may be mistaken but I am pretty sure that he didn't kick the ball whilst on field for at least 20 minutes and whilst the ball was in play. That is impressive, as is jumping under the ball. He did get 1 credit point for levelling O'Nien late on.

Somewhere over the past couple of days, maybe it was FB, I read a post which said it was 27 windows that were needed. I think what the poster meant in choosing such a high figure was that there can be no defined number of windows or indeed managers during this never ending journey aboard Venky bus no. 2010, destination unknown but not PL.

Apparently missing 42 per cent of games through injury is "hardly" injured. Note: the out clause is "always" but the reality of maths screams that 42pc is actually quite a lot out of a reasonable sample figure of 24 games played.

And JDT used his latest interview to prepare the fan base for a downturn in league position and results and at the same time quite cleverly pass the responsibility on to "young and inexperienced" and to even suggest that we, the fans, don't actually expect more or even a real go at the playoffs The playbook of a conniving Canute.

JDTs response to the subs at a time when we were looking more creative, Dack, and Morton's big chance was staggering "we and Sunderland made no chances afterwards" ... Interviewer "Sunderland did" ....... He completely blanked the actual question. TBH on second watch it was nauseating.