DE.

From memory I don't think he has much if any say on transfers at Sunderland.

Can't say I've had any emotional reaction to Dack leaving, but that probably speaks to my general disconnection from the club on an emotional level in general. Appreciate his efforts in the League 1 season for sure - since then we've been treading water, whilst teams with far less time and resources in the division have finished above us and in some cases in the playoffs. Pretty much all of my fond memories of Dack will be from that season in League 1, with everything else after that being a contribution to the journey to nowhere. Not Dack's fault mind, before his injuries he was the only player in the team really worth paying money to see, but it's a shame that after the L1 season his outstanding performances aren't linked to anything we achieved as a club. Unless you count finishing mid-table in the Championship as an achievement.

Spot on. Teams that fail sit around bemoaning luck, teams that progress make their own. Score more than one goal per match and, with our generally quite sturdy defence, we don't have to worry about a last gasp equaliser.

Useful when fit, but that was only roughly 30% of each season, so I can't say I'm bothered about this one. With his age, wages, injury record and questionable ability to fit into JDT's style of play it seems like the right decision to release.

One of Coventry or Luton on their way to the Premier League. Coventry who were in League Two six years ago, only been back in the Championship a couple of seasons and were in such dire financial straits at the start of the season that they sold us their best defender on the cheap just to get by. They've struggled recently to even find a stadium to play in. No wonder we can't compete, right? What chance does our club have against a powerhouse like that? And let's not point to Gyokeres - he was bought for something like £1m whilst we pissed a combined £12m up the wall on Brereton and Gallagher. Meanwhile Luton and their 10,000 seater stadium are in their second playoff campaign, having also been in League Two as of six years ago. Beyond our abilities to compete with them either, clearly. In the meantime we haven't had a single playoff appearance in the 10+ years since we were relegated. Just on an endless "journey" to nowhere under a succession of nearly men. People championing this season where we finished 7th on 69 points as the most memorable ever season under Venky's, which says it all. No shade being thrown at Luton or Coventry here for the record, fair play to them for what they are achieving against the odds, amazing effort by both clubs - but give over with the excuses for Venky's, Mowbray and everyone else. Don't tell me we can't compete whilst Luton or Coventry are about to get promoted. The only reason we aren't competing like they are is because the club has been and continues to be owned by clueless fools and staffed with people at the top levels lacking any kind of drive or motivation. Excluding JDT from that for the record. I hope I live long enough to see Venky's sell this club so that we have an actual chance to thrive again. I say that as someone in their mid-30s, but it genuinely feels like they're going to go on owning us for decades at this point. Never even a whisper of a remotely serious inclination to sell and finally end this dark chapter of Rovers' history.

If our season had a tombstone, this would be the inscription.

A shame, but JDT never really seemed keen on him and I assume wants to put those wages to better use. Worth noting despite his lack of general playing time he was our joint-third top scorer this season, along with Szmodics and only one goal behind the illustrious Sam Gallagher - who is now the highest scoring player from last season still under contract. Scary times if our recruitment team don't get their act together this summer.

I mean, you can call it brutal but you could also argue it's more just reflecting the reality of the situation - that the team in 6th are not as good as any of the teams above them, so it's a slim chance they defeat two of those - one over the course of two legs - to get promoted. Watching Luton and Sunderland last night I also don't think we would have gotten past Luton. I don't think we could have coped with how they played in the second leg especially.

I don't really think it's harsh for Leicester to go down, if they do. A well managed club would have dealt with the Rodgers situation a lot sooner, found a good replacement and recruited better in January. Leicester did none of these things so if they go down it's simply because they didn't act fast enough, or in some cases at all, to ensure they stayed up.

It may be that Mowbray's five year 'journey' here has cost him in this instance, as the Sunderland hierarchy may be using that as a barometer to judge whether he's capable in the long run of delivering promotion. This season he had somebody else's team to manage and nobody can deny he's done a fantastic job, but give him longer to build his own team and it's more likely it ends up like Boro and us, nearly-rans under him who never made it. It would be a harsh decision based on what he's achieved in the short-term, but you could argue that based on a long-term view it's a ruthlessly correct decision if he is replaced. Obviously depends on who they appoint though.

It's actually been around that threshold more or less since the 17/18 season - 20/21 you'd have been safe with 29 points!

I'd be surprised if they stayed up now, honestly, but stranger things have happened. They beat Wolves a few weeks ago, so I think they're capable of beating West Ham at home. The problem is that, even in a scenario where they manage to get three points from their last two games, they need two of Forest, Everton and Leeds to get no more than a single point from their last two games. It's an unrealistic scenario, I agree, but you never know. If they manage to somehow scrape a draw at Newcastle and two of Leeds/Everton/Forest lose their matches then it'll be all to play for on the final day.

Even after tonight's defeat, one advantage Leicester do have, as it stands, if their GD. Still a fair bit better than Leeds or Everton. In theory two draws would be enough to see them safe if Everton and Leeds lose both of their remaining games. With that said, I don't see that as likely. Leicester have Newcastle away next which is going to be difficult to say the least. They pretty much have to get something from that game though. A draw and then a win on the final day at home to West Ham would leave them with 34 points. Even if Leeds managed three points from their last two games they'd still fall below Leicester in that scenario, barring some crazy result where Leeds won 7-0 or something, and if Forest lost both of their remaining games they would also end up below Leicester. So I'd say a little early to be writing Leicester's obituary yet, but they're relying on at least two teams directly above them getting no more wins, realistically. They're on the precipice for sure.

I think Liverpool were just settling into the game honestly. I do think Leicester still have a chance of staying up, just because Leeds and Everton are also very poor teams, but it wasn't going to happen for them against Liverpool. Crazy how Leicester have nosedived so rapidly. 9th, 5th, 5th, 8th... then this season it totally falls apart and there's a very realistic possibility they drop into the second tier.

Unfortunately for Leicester, they are a bit rubbish and Liverpool have regained their form from last season, albeit far too late for anything other than a late top four run. Leicester will just need to try and keep the scoreline respectable.

I haven't watched a match on Sky in years, but I remember Tyler being pretty biased towards all the big clubs. Fit in perfectly with the Sky ethos tbf.

Anything's possible, but considering how hard Liverpool are pushing for top four I expect it'll be a Liverpool win. Three points for Leicester would be huge at this point though.

Leicester are playing Liverpool at the wrong time, really. Six wins on the bounce and you'd expect it to be seven after Monday. Very likely it comes down to the final day for most if not all of the clubs still involved (for the record, West Ham aren't included in that, they're all but safe).

Boro will be happy to take a 0-0 back home for the second leg. Sunderland Vs Boro final... poor old Tone's heart broken no matter what the result is.

Absolutely, but if there was a certain number of points that determined whether a playoff took place or not it would for sure be contentious. Why is 14 points OK, but not 15 points? Stuff like that. There would have be some thought go into it to give a good explanation as to why a certain number of points is the absolute threshold. With that said, nothing like that will ever happen so I guess it doesn't matter. Clubs voted in the playoffs themselves after all. I suppose the thought being that whilst they may suffer the consequences one year, as Sheff Weds look likely to this season, in future they may scrape 6th and be the beneficiary. Still not fair from a sporting perspective, but as noted, that isn't at the forefront of any decisions made nowadays. Well, except VAR, which in fact is valuing the sporting principle ahead of entertainment value. People hate it, granted, but I think that's more down to the people in charge being shit at using it than the system itself.

Makes sense to me. Although setting an arbitrary number of points is obviously contestable.

Playoffs make sense in some sense, I agree, but not when the points gap is as large as 19 points between 3rd and 6th. It just makes the idea of playing a season's worth of games a bit pointless when a team can be so much worse than another and still be promoted. At the end of the day it's supposed to be a sport, not a fair play league. But as Rigger says, it's about money, and to a lesser degree entertainment. The sport aspect is a distant third.

Sure, but my point wasn't so much about the actual positions, but the sheer gap between 3rd and 6th being 19 points. A handful of points during the season you can put down to luck, refereeing decisions, and such... but 19 points? It just makes a bit of a mockery of getting what you deserve for 46 games worth of effort, when you can have one bad match and lose all of it to a team that performed nowhere near as well as you did throughout the season. I know it is what it is, but I feel for Sheffield Wednesday in this instance. It simply isn't fair at all.

Couldn't agree more. Two seasons a row they've let us down in a really horrible way. We need a reshuffle and some winners drafted in to introduce a very different mentality to the players that remain. No matter how well we start next season, no matter how long we're in the top six, I can't trust this group of players anymore.

I don't think Mowbray was ever the long-term plan at Sunderland, so in some ways you'd say fair play to them for sticking to that despite their good form, but at the same time it would obviously be very harsh. With that said Mowbray's stock will have risen after getting Sunderland into the playoffs, so if they do sack him I don't think he'll have trouble finding another job.