Haven't watched Eurovision in a while, but had it on in the background this year out of curiosity as to how the votes would play out. Not really a surprise that Ukraine got an overwhelming public vote, and honestly I don't really have a problem with it. Eurovision has been political for decades, so why get angry about it now? I actually thought Ukraine's song was memorable enough to be a worthy winner. Moldova getting 200+ public votes was amusing, but just shows that standing out from the crowd in Eurovision will get you a long way regardless of song quality. My personal favourite was The Rasmus' 'Jezebel', but as somebody who leans heavily towards rock/metal that's a given as there weren't any other acts this year in that vein. I thought Poland and Germany's entries deserved better. Certainly don't think Germany deserved to come last. Our track along with Sweden and Spain's were the best pop songs of the competition, and one of the three would undoubtedly have won in any other year. The biggest mistake was putting a seemingly never-ending string of ballads in the middle. A total momentum killer and made a lot of them difficult to remember, which was ultimately reflected in the public vote. A poor production decision.

Nightmare fuel.

I agree that his finishing has improved a lot this season, I was thinking more about his bambi-on-ice runs where he almost stumbles past defenders to get a sight on goal. It's funny to watch, but ultimately he's still getting past them and getting a shot away, so it doesn't really matter how it looks. As far as penalties are concerned, I've always felt having a reliable penalty taker is very important. Look at how our penalties turned out when BBD wasn't taking them. I've never felt penalties should have any kind of asterisk against them when looking at goalscoring tallies, as penalty conversions are just as vital as goals scored from open play.

Agreed. Not to diminish our achievement in any way, but we got relegated at a time when L1 was pretty weak. Us and Wigan were by far the best teams in that division, and we came second despite (imo) playing quite poorly for portions of that campaign. Do we finish 2nd with the likes of Wigan, Rotherham, Sunderland, Sheff Weds, current day Wycombe/Oxford/MK Dons, Ipswich and Portsmouth to compete with? I'm not so sure. Sunderland and Ipswich probably should have gotten themselves back up by now with the resources at their disposal, but I think Sheff Weds were just unfortunate to drop into an unusually strong L1 division this season.

BBD is an odd one. A lot of his key runs and goals this season often seemed more clumsy and fortunate than clinical, but at the same time you simply don't score 20+ goals by accident. Confidence and an all around improvement in his game made him twice the player he had been for us in previous seasons, and I don't think what he's gained this season in that regard would vanish. Losing our top goalscorer for the second season in a row would be a big blow, and there isn't really anyone at the club ready to step up into that position. Even if you think SG could be the answer (I don't), you have to factor his 9 goals in on top of Brereton's contribution to replace what we'd lose.

The only good reason to bring in a DoF and manager at the same time, at this stage, would be if they already know each other and have worked together in the past. Otherwise the process of bringing in a DoF and then bringing in a manager based on his recommendations would take too long considering we're already in the middle of May. Bringing in a DoF and manager separately, at the same time, with no link between the two would be stupid, but knowing who owns us... certainly a strong possibility.

Ultimately we need a manager who has the potential to overachieve. Steady eddies will keep us in the division but never get us close to the promised land - and surely we have to keep that ambition for the club, otherwise what's the point? For all of Mowbray's strengths - and he does have a fair few - overachievement over the course of a season is not one of them. He tends to achieve roughly what is expected, or slightly above/below. Great for a club looking to stabilise and build a foundation, not much use for a club looking to take themselves to the next level. Picking a manager with the potential to overachieve is risky business, as there is also undoubtedly the potential for things to go badly wrong. At some point we have to try, though. The bottom clubs in this division over the past few years tend to be horrendously bad, so unless we hire a complete no-hoper like Coyle again, at worst we'd probably be looking at a lower mid-table finish if it didn't work out. It's entirely possible with our owners that we 'do a Coyle' again, though, and we already know if they did screw us over again with a shit appointment they'd react too late to save us. Our problem has and always will be Venky's. The managers hired are just symptoms of that problem. Our only hope is that finally, after 12 long, painful years, they actually appoint somebody with a major upside and back him in a way that makes a real statement. Can't say I'm optimistic about the chances of that happening, but as they seem to have zero intention of ever selling us, it's the only hope left.

He obviously still thinks he has a lot left in the tank as a manager. He's a proper football man so probably enjoys the training and match preparation more than he would the duties of a DoF. I think Kenny was the same which he why he didn't last long when he moved upstairs for us, and was soon back in the dugout. With Bowyer I've always said he overperformed on a personal level but the club as a whole underperformed, partially because we had a manager who was still learning his trade and struggling to rectify glaringly obvious issues like central midfield, as well as being inflexible tactically. Ultimately as far as our failures are concerned, however, all roads lead back to Pune.

Bowyer was also a rookie taking on his first proper managerial position. Mowbray had over a decade of first team management experience when he showed up here. For some reason that part is routinely ignored when comparisons are made between the two.

The problem we've had since day one is that the first team manager is essentially expected to build the entire structure of the club as he sees fit. Not only does that give the manager far more work than should be required, but it means when the manager leaves he basically takes that structure with him, leaving the new manager to have to either rebuild from the start or try to adapt to whatever is left behind. It makes everything far more difficult than it needs to be.

Still too angry about our collapse this season to post anything remotely balanced. Glad he's gone, terrified as to who the idiots in charge will hire next.

Mowbray's contract expires. One week later, the club releases a statement: "We heard that the fans were keen on Gareth Ainsworth, but unfortunately we were unable able to agree compensation with Wycombe. However, we are pleased to announce Gary's long-lost cousin, Tony Ainsworth, who will happily work with our existing staff."

Mowbray has been working with Nyambe for nearly 5 years - surely it's on him and his coaching team if Ryan is still deficient in such crucial areas of his game? Then I remembered this is a man who never takes responsibility for anything.

Don't think Rothwell has enough final product to be a PL player. I guess we'll see, but I disagree with the idea he's become in any way consistent or reliable. He's only ever performed here in purple patches.

Pretty bad season for Leicester. Having a gander on their forums general sentiment seems to be that Rodgers needs to go.

Kind of feel like the relegation scrap is a win-win-win. It'd be funny to see any one of Bumley, Leeds or Everton drop.

Johnson had some effective games, more in his first season, and chipped in with a few goals. We definitely got him some time past his sell-by date though, and you could see this season that he's past the point of being able to contribute in any meaningful way at this level. Johnson at false 9 will remain as one of Mowbray's most infamous decisions and live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Financially the pair of them hit a pretty big jackpot even if it's come to an end now.

Lol, beat me to it... Integrity indeed. No different to any other manager mind, but it's interesting how he's hoodwinked most of our fanbase into thinking he's somehow special in comparison to the plethora of average managers out there who would act exactly the same and achieve exactly the same as he has.

Never heard the manager talking about the hierarchy bring a problem before he was frozen out. Maybe because it's worked to his benefit multiple times?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60019574 A reminder of where we were on Jan 24th... Luton were 13th. Millwall were 19 points behind us and finished level on points in the end.

Hopefully Mowbray's last game in the dugout.

Would be a perfect fitting end to Mowbray's time here.

Wonder if we'd be 2-0 up of we'd come into this game in 6th and needing a result? Gutted to see Luton in the playoffs alongside Forest, Sheff Utd and Huddersfield whilst we miss out for a 9th time since being relegated. It is so much to ask for one season where we sneak into 6th? Even Ipswich with barely two pennies to scrape together managed it once under McCarthy before sacking him and spiralling into oblivion.

He lost his place originally because he was injured though, and there's every chance he would have been back on the treatment table soon enough if he had been reintroduced. We don't know the exact reason as to why Ayala wasn't in the first eleven when he had presumably regained fitness, but either way it's a bad look for Ayala to have only played a third of our league matches since joining, and an equally bad look for Mowbray in giving him a three year deal on what we have to assume are relatively high wages. I'd happily move him on in the summer if possible, but I'm not sure if anybody would be interested in matching the wages we're giving him.