I was there for that one too. Very strange atmosphere from the away end. Plenty of support for the lads but the anger towards Kean was still very much there. Not quite as vociferous as the middle and end of our final PL campaign, but still a very strong and vocal resentment as soon as he slithered out onto the touchline.

A couple. Pears was very good today, deserves credit for his part in keeping a clean sheet.

Seems that we just have Norwich's number this season, 25 shots to 9 but still managed to win 1-0. Had to dig deep to win that one, but kudos to the team for hanging on. A resolute performance.

Have to say this game has reminded me why I wasn't particularly bothered when Hanley left. So clumsy.

Can only be a good thing to have Vale's confidence boosted.

Think he has the makings of a decent League 1/League 2 player. Expect that once we get a little more depth that's where he'll end up, either on loan or permanently. In the meantime just have to hope he's in the right place at the right time to nick a few goals for us, as Nuttall managed before finding his proper level (although admittedly I didn't think Nuttall would be playing as far down as the National League at just 25).

Hirst will probably be alright in L1. The quality of that league is a massive step down from this one, as we saw the last time we were there. Having gone to a few Ipswich matches this season it actually seems to have gotten worse somehow since then. Hirst is only the answer for Ipswich for as long as they're in League 1 though. As soon as they're promoted he'll be out of his depth even as backup.

Possibly just because we started late, thanks to Venky's usual glacial pace of doing... well, anything, and panicking a bit to get bodies through the door. Hopefully not a mistake that will be repeated, and at the very least it seems like Hirst may be recalled if we're lucky.

Many said the same last season and we were on a better position then. Look where we ended up, and many on here predicted it would happen. The majority of the squad has a history of being bottle jobs under Mowbray. We'll find out in the second half of the season how deep that mindset has been ingrained.

Bottom half, how far down depends on how JDT adjusts his philosophy in the second half the season. The transfer window will obviously factor in as well. We won't get relegated but I can see us finishing a lot further down the table than seems possible at the moment.

Various stats also point to us being likely to tank fairly brutally now that lady luck has deserted us. The league is so congested that within a month we could easily be 15th and I fully expect that by February we'll be out of the top half unless JDT has a major rethink about how he's going about this. @JoeHmay be able to provide more reasons for optimism, but all the stats I've seen suggest we're due a major readjustment in terms of league position.

Yeah, can only assume they weren't confident enough to go for a full on appeal against the red card and risk the extra game. As you've said, the rules are what they are, so the defence is there for the referee and it seems unlikely an appeal against the decision itself would have succeeded.

If there was no penalty to appealing then I can understand why the club tried, even if it was unlikely to succeed.

Must have been a pretty hopeless cause if it was rejected that quickly. Are there any penalties for appealing something that's ultimately upheld?

Eh, I feel like a fine would be a harsh reaction, especially if the red card is rescinded as it would suggest Buckley shouldn't have been sent off in the first place. In my view measures like that should only be reserved for extreme situations - genuine violent conduct (throwing punches/kicks, biting), unnecessary aggression towards fans, missing training sessions, being late for a match day and failing to travel with the squad, etc. All JDT has to do is sit him down and say look, what you did was dumb and put us in a bad situation. Do it again and you'll find it very hard to win my trust back. Everyone's clear, we all move on. It's not like Buckley has a history of being sent off for stupid reasons. Only one other red back in 2019/20 for a reckless lunge which frankly would have been far more deserving of a fine than this incident.

Hopefully common sense will prevail and it'll be rescinded. If it is then I assume that will also mean people won't want the lad fined, publicly berated and loaned out into exile anymore.

Signed him to a new contract in 2019. Might be seen as a technicality, but still. If we're talking external transfers then okay... but other than Paul Caddis in our L1 season and Zeefuik on loan did Mowbray actually sign any RBs to compare Brittain to? genuinely can't think of one off the top of my head. I think there must have been and I'm just being forgetful. Maybe, but I also think it's fair to say a lot of people are looking at things through JDT-tinted glasses at the moment as well, failing to criticise him for things that TM was criticised for, and instead putting more emphasis on the players being at fault. I get it, it's the hope that kills you and all that, but imo there's a bit of both going on.

Maybe, but 14 games (4 of which I believe were only partial appearances) in our colours isn't enough for me to conclusively say Brittain is an upgrade. 0 goals or assists, so as of yet no better than Nyambe in that department either, although hopefully he'll have plenty more games to show he can contribute in that regard. It was one of Nyambe's biggest weaknesses.

Not convinced Brittain is any better than Nyambe, and seems to be made of the same kind of glass. Jury's out for me on that one. Hyam has indeed been an excellent signing, but balanced out somewhat by the sharp regression of Scott Wharton.

No judgement from me yet, just a statement of facts that the signings brought in were poor and there's plenty to prove. Let's see how this window unfolds.

Based on the summer I'm not expecting much. Brittain - always injured Szmodics - lower end of the Champ standard, at best Morton - inconsistent Hirst - awful, a younger Chris Brown Mola - out of his depth Hyam is the only signing who has had any kind of positive, sustained impact. So yeah, after a pretty dire summer window the Broughton and JDT duo have a lot to prove.

I don't think it's an either/or situation. Buckley was stupid for doing it, the "rules" are stupid for allowing it to be a red card. It was only a few weeks ago in the WC, broadcast all over the world, that Paredes booted the ball into the Dutch dugout with force on purpose and Van Dijk came steaming in to barge Paredes to the ground. Yellow card for both. Meanwhile Buckley bounces a ball of somebody's head and gets sent off 😂 I don't like the idea of using "interpretation" as a cop out for making a ridiculous decision. Even if in some silly way you can justify it using the existing rules, it's still nonsense. By applying rules in such a rigid, senseless way it sucks all the fun and personality out of the game and robs people of a fair game. A dense decision by Buckley? Sure, but the "rules" and referee's decision are just as stupid if not more so.

Wish I'd been able to see him play. RIP.

I'm not giving up on JDT yet, but it's obvious he has a lot to learn and needs to be realistic about what's possible with the team and budget he's likely to have over the next three years (assuming he's allowed to see his project through). It's early days yet but his preferred style clearly needs some major tweaks, and he needs to craft a proper Plan B for when we're struggling. At the moment I don't think we have one, and Plan A (however you'd define it) rarely seems to produce a decent performance. I've been saying for a while now that we'll finish mid-table, but the bump back down to Earth is going to be particularly hard considering we somehow managed to get up to 2nd/3rd for a period. Ultimately I think we all knew, deep down, it was a false position and I'm sure at the end of the season our position will better reflect the fact we are a team in transition with a manager who still has a lot to learn. We just need to hope JDT really is learning and willing to adapt, because if he chooses instead to be stubborn and refuse to adapt I cannot see this journey leading anywhere nice, despite what I'm sure are genuine intentions to bring success to the club from JDT and his staff.

The equaliser came before the red card, though. We don't know how the game would have gone from 1-1 with eleven on the pitch, but past history doesn't really suggest we would have roared back to victory, so I'm not entirely sure we can be hugely confident we would have ended up with the three points. The red card unquestionably made it a much more difficult task though.