Since McKenna and the new owners arrived there's been a huge surge in belief that the club is going in a very positive direction, which obviously helps after a good five years of what has essentially been a continuous decline. It's ridiculous that a club of Ipswich's size has been finishing mid-table in League 1 for the past few years. Those failures seem to have torpedoed Hurst, Lambert and Cook's careers. I certainly know the fans are back now, though, as traffic on Saturdays is back to being horrendous on match days. It's fair to say the fans have paid their pennence for the way they behaved towards McCarthy, anyway., not that many of them will admit, even now, that the ownership was far more to blame than Mick ever was. Pretty much guaranteed they're going up at this point. They'd essentially need to get less than two points from their remaining two games, at home to Exeter and away to Fleetwood - and it seems unfathomable that they'd fail to get at least two points from those matches considering their ridiculously good form in the past few months. Plymouth almost certain to go up as well, which is some achievement for them. Everyone assumed Plymouth would fall away, much like Shrewsbury did when they were challenging us and Wigan in League 1, but they've stayed the course and much like Ipswich only need two points from their remaining two games to go up. Sheffield Wednesday meanwhile could finish third and end up in the playoffs with up to 96 points, which is insane really. It will surely be one of the highest points totals to finish third in League 1 history. If they then went out in the playoffs that would be a real kick in the teeth, to say the least.

I don't think Buckley really made the difference everyone was hoping for when he played this season. He was playing most at a time when the entire team were struggling to adapt to JDT's style of play, though, so I suppose that has to be taken into account. Worth noting he played quite a lot during our 8 game unbeaten run from Jan to March, though, and we've only won once since he got injured. He's on a long-term deal, and I don't think his performances this season would attract any major interest from anybody with enough cash to make us a decent offer for him. Have to hope next season we see his potential begin to shine through properly.

When he first came back he could barely control the ball at times. The injuries must have really done a number on him. He's obviously buckled down and got himself back to where he should be, which has been great for us as it's not like our squad depth is strong enough to cope with a first team player losing form like that. Just need to be really careful with him going forward. He's clearly susceptible to picking up knocks, and his training and general fitness regime needs to take that into account. There may be times when we need to rotate him if there's any potential risk of injury flagged.

One thing's for sure, we absolutely should not have allowed him to leave without getting some kind of replacement in.

After tonight's defeat to Bournemouth, Southampton are surely gone. Looking like it'll be between Leeds, Forest, Everton and Leicester for the final two relegation spots.

I think League 1 is just the level Hirst is operating at right now. He scored 13 for Portsmouth in that league as well.

Lampard probably saw taking the Chelsea job as a no-lose situation. Figured at worst he'd do an average job, but could blame it on what went on before him, and his name is back in the shop window. As it stands he's utterly tanked Chelsea, and it's going to end up as another black mark on his managerial CV.

Could argue Brereton didn't show up either, so might as well add £7m to that.

The main metric we've regressed on is scoring goals. 18 since January and 29 before January. Better balance in some areas perhaps, but a decline in something which is crucially important, with essentially the same team. It mostly comes down to BBD's total loss of form/interest, but that's why it was so important to sign another striker in January. Not getting one in was absolutely criminal. Also I know it's been a rough night lads, but let's try and keep it civil. It's bad enough without us having a go at each other too.

Well, as a bleak positive it means I'll get to watch Rovers again at Portman Road next year. Been a while. Hope we'll have an actual striker by then.

Thank goodness BBD had his purple patch in the first half of the season. If we'd had BB for the first half of the season as well then we'd have been at the opposite end of the table, and January wouldn't have been any different.

Would be nice to move him on, but can't see him getting a better deal anywhere else, so yeah I imagine he'll be here until the bitter end. Need at least two decent strikers in the summer for that reason - assuming Gallagher stays I wouldn't want him higher than 3rd choice, and nowhere near the right wing either.

Didn't deserve to be on the losing side, that's for sure.

It's the old saying about a fish rotting from the head down. The mentality at the club has been all wrong since they darkened our doors, and remains a black cloud over Ewood. Even when we stumble onto appointing somebody decent, or securing a genuine talent like Harvey Elliott for a season, they're hamstrung by the absolute incompetence surrounding them.

Or more accurately, has never scored 10 goals in a season since signing permanently for us, and has only done so once in his entire career - in a season where we had no defensive structure for most of it and were relegated. If we start next season with Gallagher as our main forward then it won't be a season worth watching.

Think they'll scrape enough to just about survive. But yes, Leeds or Bournemouth over Leicester or Everton would be ideal. Have to disagree with the idea that if we play like tonight we'll get into the playoffs, simply because we can't score. We didn't force their keeper into a single notable save tonight, unless I'm forgetting something. That won't get us anywhere, and hasn't for the last 7 games. We have a huge, huge problem up front and it's going to cost us a playoff spot this season. If it isn't resolved in the summer, and I have less than zero faith in the people in charge of that, it'll be more of the same.

For what it's worth I think it'll be Leeds, Forest and Southampton... so not quite as bad, but this is two seasons in a row where we've let a golden opportunity slip through our fingers.

I think JDT might be too. It's going to be hard for him to forget the clown show that was our January transfer window. How can he have any faith in Broughton or the recruitment team when they couldn't manage simple things like faxing the correct paperwork on time - for two signings no less - and didn't manage to secure a single striker despite knowing since the fucking summer that we were desperately lacking in that area. It's a total embarrassment.

Probably would have missed the penalty anyway, but what a cursed season.

Our form since we lost to Sheff Utd in the quarters has been shockingly poor, there's no question about that. We've completely collapsed and when it comes down to it, we were in the playoffs for most of the season with the same squad, so it's certainly not all down to what happened in January. It's by far the biggest factor overall though for me.

Based on the match threads I don't think they've been given a free pass on here tbf! Ultimately BBD has always been a confidence player, Gally has never been a player, Vale is far from the required standard and Dolan isn't a striker in any real sense of the word. It was so obvious we needed reinforcements, and we didn't get them. It's absolutely killed us.

18 goals in 19 games tells you all you need to know. 7 games without a win at the business end of the season is a killer blow. We've been unlucky in some games, but ultimately it all comes down to the absolute balls up that was the January transfer window - for the second season in a row.

Can't help but wonder how often JDT has watched us recently and wished the recruitment team hadn't screwed us over in January.

We struggled for the first fifteen minutes or so, but grew into the game from that point and ended up dominating the rest of the half. We just lack quality up front, as has been the problem for most of the season. Really frustrating as with a couple of decent attackers you have to think we'd be a goal or two ahead now. Wharton a class above everybody else on the field. You have to think the vultures will be circling for him in the summer. Not sure what we can do to change things, without any real options on the bench. Just have to hope we can scrape a goal from somewhere and keep a clean sheet. Big difference from our performance at Turd Moor, at least. Appreciate it's a weakened Burnley team but the difference in attitude is obvious.

Wharton is just sublime. You have total confidence every time he has the ball.