Condolences Mike, losing a pet is absolutely horrible.

Could have been an extra 90 mins and we wouldn't have scored. Going behind is enough to destroy this fragile team of rubber dinghy men

Does our conditioning department actively try to make our players more injury prone? For fucks sake, it's a joke.

Yeah, we're going down. Remains to be seen if JDT walks post-match.

The forgetfulness of how rubbish Gallagher is always wears off so fast after injury. Then sets back in just as quick afterwards. Lad would be solid for us if we were playing the likes of Wrexham every week. Alas we'll have to wait a couple of years for that. Maybe he'll still be here.

I think the vast majority of people would have to go with option 2, but then most of us haven't spent decades in a field that pays incredibly high salaries, so it's impossible to judge how badly JDT would be affected by being out of work for a few months. If he's been sensible with his money then one would assume he could prioritise his wellbeing and sanity over a contract payoff. There's also his future to take into consideration. His contract doesn't expire until summer 2025, so if he waits for a payoff that never comes, that's another year and a half of dealing with this nonsense. With the way things are going it seems unlikely things will improve any time soon, and there's the real prospect of him ending up with a relegation on his CV. Of course he can point to the utter dysfunction at the club, but if the subsequent question is "if it was clear you couldn't achieve what you wanted because of the club hierarchy, why did you stay?" and the answer is "because I wanted a payoff" that obviously isn't a great look. Fact is JDT may well need the money, if so then yeah, sure, makes sense that he begrudgingly slogs on. Could be that he feels like quitting would be giving up and his pride won't let him do that. Could be that he doesn't want to uproot again, assuming he and his wife have settled here. There are many reasons why he could be choosing to stay, but if none of those are a significant factor then it won't surprise me at all if he decides he's had enough and walks out. I suppose we'll see soon enough.

Depends on my financial situation. I would assume JDT is not living paycheck to paycheck and would be able to find work elsewhere with his reputation and his achievements last season with us and Malmo recently. I can't imagine he'd be destitute the moment he left Rovers. Sometimes it's about more than just money.

There's a difference between the jabs he's made and coming out and going scorched earth on the club, which has to be the suggestion of what was going to happen if he was blocked from attending the press conference. Either way we don't know at the moment so it's all speculation until our shambles of a leadership clarifies what in the world is going on. I would agree that at a normal club the onus would be on them to remove the manager if they feel the situation has reached an untenable point. This isn't a normal club, however, so JDT has to consider his own reputation and how much it could be damaged by remaining at this circus for too much longer. For the past year he's sucked it up and continued on amidst the nonsense happening above him, but at some point he may have to accept enough is enough and move on for his own sake. You'd think it has to be a pretty miserable working environment for him at this point.

Genuine question - of that analysis what would you say earmarks him as being different from Gallagher? Other than potentially being less injury prone. I've only seen clips and was reminded of Gally in that the lad was a bit clumsy and more like an athlete than a footballer. I'd be interested in some further details as YouTube clips aren't exactly a great way to judge a player and we may not see him for a whle yet.

We don't know JDT's state of mind or demeanour so stating this as fact rather than opinion isn't helpful. If the manager is so angry about the transfer window and state of the club that he's being blocked from speaking to the press then you can't spin that as a good thing. It's an untenable situation that, if true, would leave little choice but for JDT to leave. How can the players believe in the coach if he's made it clear he doesn't think they are good enough for what he wants?

Indeed so. It's like asking someone to paint you a masterpiece and then providing them with crayons and toilet paper. You can say that's what you want, but if you don't provide the resources then it doesn't matter. JDT did a great job last season trying to implement what was asked of him with a squad that was not really suited for it, but since then he's had less and less to work with. At some point it just becomes an impossible ask.

I could sit my 6 year old niece in front of a Year 11 GCSE paper and she wouldn't want to fail, but neither would she have the knowledge to answer any of the questions. With that said I'd expect by the time 13 years had passed she'd be able to handle it comfortably. With that said, with Venky's it'd be more like plonking my dog in front of the paper and watching as it got eaten.

You do wonder why they even bothered giving him the job in the first place. Since day one he's had more ambition and expectation than the owners or indeed the majority of the fanbase can muster. It was never going to work unless, by some miracle, he got us up in his first season. He might have managed it, too, if he'd been backed last January. Instead since then he's been systematically undermined to the point where he would have every right to walk.

Would imagine the most likely internal candidate would be Damien Johnson? Seem to remember his name being banded about previously.

What a crazy last two days it's been. Three windows in a row of absolute chaos and dysfunction.

If you're reading this JDT, I appreciate that you tried.

It does seem like the endgame is approaching fast in regards to JDT's tenure with us. If he's been blocked from speaking to the press then he is clearly absolutely furious. It's hard to come up with any other plausible explanation. This means he clearly doesn't rate the business we've done. With that being the case it'd be pretty awkward for him to coach the side going forward, you'd think. I just don't see how this ends well.

Or as he was otherwise known, the Brazilian Denis Irwin.

I genuinely cannot see us spending £5m on a single player right now - but even if we did, would that be a smart move if we do only have £12m to play with over two seasons? Wages taken into account you'd be looking at half of our two year budget essentially spent on one player. If we already had a strong squad then you'd say yeah, that's okay, but we'll need a major rebuild in the summer. All moot in the end anyway, as whether Venky's can fund the club by the summer or not I don't think it's likely we'll see that kind of money spent. Most likely legalities will still be ongoing and I don't see Venky's giving the green light for any major spending until that concludes.

The site is pretty much always calm save for a few brief spikes here and there. Anyone who thinks this place is some cauldron of extreme negativity should try visiting literally any other football forum save for RAWK.

You say this every time you leave and then end up coming back, venting and departing again for a few months. If it's getting you this wound up I would just sack it off entirely. Pessimistic/realistic view aligning with general direction of the club is obviously not the same as 'every extreme negative comment posted is true'.

Considering the club has in many respects been in consistent decline for the past 13 years, and has at best stagnated in other areas, I'm not really sure how the supposed 'extreme negativity' or pessimism of the wider forum is asynchronous with reality. I can understand wanting to take positives and if you'd rather focus on that then the bigger picture then sure, go for it, but I struggle to understand the need to have outbursts against a supposedly negative outlook that has ultimately been almost always proven right for over a decade.

Presumably Venky's having no idea if they'll be able to fund the club by then and limiting any future additional costs. Wharton money assumedly carries us until then.

Had responded to you saying it isn't confirmed yet, but hadn't seen the twitter update... Problem with those three as a forward lineup is that Gallagher is injury prone lately, Telalovic may not be at the required level and McGuire is a young lad moving to a new country having not played at a level beyond the MLS at this point. I'd keep Leonard personally. If Gallagher gets injured again I think he'll be needed.

We've just sold Wharton for £18m rising to £22m and been told we can't spend a penny on transfer fees. To be honest I doubt selling Gallagher for £1m - 1.5m (the ballpark figure Ipswich were reportedly offering) would have made any difference. Just more cash for the running costs whilst we continue to bring in loans and freebies. As much as I can't believe I'm saying this, I'd rather have Gallagher here.