I think all clubs are going to have to realise that prices for match tickets are going to have to radically reduce, never mind increase further. With the increase in internet and TV viewing and growing prices its only a matter of time before going to watch games becomes an expensive luxury and the younger generation don't bother with it. Anyone who goes to midweek games will see this unfolding. People like Waggott can come up with whatever numbers they like to try and justify £30 second division match tickets. It can't last.

We got trains from Manchester for £35 with a railcard but booked a few weeks ago.

There's no reason why this can't be done or alternatively a statue or bust putting somewhere to commemorate Parkes' contribution to the club. The Riverside isn't sponsored by anyone although they did do that odd thing and remove the RFS signs and replace them with Venkys earlier this season. Remember the spell when someone upstairs decided to rename the Blackburn and Darwen Ends after Clayton and Douglas. Fitting tributes which were done well with big signs and murals of them up. Be nice if similar could be done across the front of the Riverside. I always wanted us to use the top of the Riverside to mark each of our trophies but this is probably more appropriate.

Fulham's away record is mediocre. Won 5, drawn 5, lost 4. 20 points from 42. A bit better than our away record but not much. We are unbeaten at home in months. It's an opportunity to close the gap on those above us.

Are you referring to me or Venkys?

The answer to the question is yes - we can make the play offs. Beyond being achievable with the points remaining it is also a wide open division and in the end you could pick any 2-3 from about 10 who will secure 4th, 5th and 6th spot. In the position we are the manager, his staff and the players should be targeting the top 6. If they don't believe that is achievable or don't do everything they can to try and get there then they are probably in the wrong jobs. If you aren't going to target it from this position then you never will. Nobody aims for midtable in this league. As I've said before being 4, 5, 6 points off the top 6 isn't really an achievement at this stage. Obviously better than being 15 points off but the reality of the play-off system and the congested nature of this league is you will always have 10+ teams in early February threatening to get into those positions. Most won't last and will fall away. That isn't to say that people DEMAND promotion, or think they have a god given right to success. But if you don't aim for it you won't get it. That's why I get annoyed with Mowbray and his 'target' of 70 points or 'better' than last year - both are ultimately futile targets - it matters not whether we get 71 points or 51 because come August we will be kicking off on 0 points with 23 other clubs. What matters is getting promotion. If Mowbray doesn't feel that is achievable then he should move on because it is achievable and it is quite probable that sides like Forest, Preston or Swansea will be getting into the top 6 - i don't accept they have anything we don't as a club. Notice when Warnock went into Cardiff who were bottom of the league he didn't sit there talking about increasing point returns each year or a 3-4 year build. He didn't have time for that. He wanted promotion and did it in his first season. I could accept the gradual improvement idea if there was a reason to believe that foundations were being built and a class squad being assembled whereby each window we address deficiencies in a carefully thought out way - but that isn't what is happening. Our transfer policy is chaotic, limited and shoddy, and we face a summer of wailing about FFP whilst trying to once again rebuild GK, defence and attack because these areas have been neglected. That's before dealing with sales of key players which will come sooner or later. Once all that happens it is then we start the 'consolidation' stuff again and around it goes in circles. Can anyone genuinely say that we have kicked on and improved from last season or learned lessons? Cos I can't see much evidence of it. Will we get into the play-offs? Probably not, for a range of reasons stretching from injuries to the manager to a thin squad and a refusal/failure to strengthen just like last season.

Yes but most clubs have at least one senior keeper on their own books. We don't. All well and good moaning about other clubs, players and agents. The summer window lasts for months, we should always have lists anyway. In the end we are a big club in one of the biggest leagues in Europe. Not being able to sign our own keeper is ridiculous. Build from the back is the way it should go yet for starters this summer we are going to need 2x keepers a first choice CB and LB. We know that right now. So no excuses when it doesn't happen.

Even if the question is asked I doubt it will get a sensible answer. If you look back at previous Consultation Meetings they tend to time positive announcements so they are made at the meeting or just before. I think the one I went to was when they announced Bennett had signed a new contract and the last one Waggott announced his new 'senior management' team which was exactly the same as before. So I suspect this earth shattering big news of a scout arriving will be the news for this meeting as something to settle supporters down and stave off any unrest until after the summer. It doesn't take 6 months to do and it doesn't need a scout like this to sign a player from abroad. Expecting to come up with a Brentford style recruitment is pie in the sky stuff.

It's taken 6 months to appoint a scout and 2 years+ to sign anyone from Europe so I hope he's a good appointment. Hopefully by 2030 we will have signed someone from further than Teesside.

So we keep Mowbray forever irrespective of performance because they might promote a scout to be manager? Even by Venky standards that's pushing it. I thought they'd learned painful/expensive lessons and were no longer being badly advised?

Can't even use FFP as an excuse on that front. Just comes down to a complete and utter lack of care or attention from those at the top.

The whole point in the play-off system is that at least half the division will be in or close to the play-off positions until near the end. That's what they are designed to do. At the end only 4 can get in. We haven't been in yet, haven't strengthened whilst rivals have.

We can spend all night talking about FFP rules or whether these owners want to spend or not. The reality is that Mowbray has once again failed to deliver on the grandiose talk that he so often comes out with. For months, no years now we've listened as Mowbray has talked the talk about building over a few years, delivering this super duper new scouting system and tapping into European markets - he's been here 3 years now and there's about as much evidence of progress on that front as there was the day he arrived. There's only so long you can talk the talk without walking the walk and for me Mowbray is at that point. FFP rules haven't suddenly appeared overnight. After promotion Mowbray and his mate Waggott knew full well what we were going into and have had 4 windows yet really have struggled/failed to deliver in all of them. We all know January is a tough time and players are expensive. So what do we do about it? Never improve our squad mid-season ever again whilst rivals around us find ways of doing it? After promotion Mowbray claimed Venkys wanted to 'go for it' but he felt it was his job to talk them away from that and instead sell them a medium-long term vision of a 2-3 year build to promotion on a solid footing. Now we're at the tail end of that timescale - we've a thin squad deficient in numerous areas, reliant on 2-3 loans and facing major upheaval in the summer whilst moaning about FFP rules at every turn. I'm not saying it is easy, but it is disappointing to see little progress being made. The entire operation appears ill-equipped for the demands and pressures of a narrow transfer window. And what on earth we are doing with European scouting I don't know but what I do know is it doesn't take 2 years to sign players from outside the UK and it doesn't take 6 months to appoint a European scout. I suspect they are playing the fans for fools on this front as they don't seriously want or intend to exploit this market - as they haven't since 2010 - but it sounds good to the fans who hang on every word with optimism. Both on and off the pitch the momentum and positivity of promotion has been squandered and we seem to have owners and management happy to plod along without rocking any boats. If you are unwilling or unable to strengthen mid-season the reality is you'll probably never get promoted. West Brom have been busy, as have most others up there, adding to their ranks. Our attitude seems to be cart on, hope we get lucky but if not then 'oh well'. I'm afraid there's a lot more to it than that.

Might as well have bid for Messi, Ronaldo and Griezmann End result the same - no players and no improvement.

Of course not. Always an excuse why the money doesn't get spent though isnt there. Let's assume FFP is this year's excuse for no signings, what was the excuse this time last year?

Hands up who believes that we were seriously, genuinely in for Atsu or Assombalonga last year? I don't. Those lads are expensive, big name players. Look at the business we have done under Mowbray's management. Are there any deals remotely similar? I just think those 'deals' were drip fed to the press to keep the fans quiet or in the hope Boro/Newcastle agreed to send them here for nothing (never going to happen).

You mean the left back and the bloke the manager has hung out to dry in his press conference?

Every club has navigated FFP. Other than Birmingham yet it didn't really do them any harm when they were punished.

All it takes now is (heaven forbid) an injury to a CB and Mowbray moaning about injuries and promising signings in defence and we've gone full circle in 12 months.

If being 4 points off the top 6 after back to back wins and with 17 games remaining is 'destined for mid table' why do we bother? If that position doesn't present an opportunity in the final run in nothing will. If we had owners who understood the division and football they might recognise that.

It's all well and good wanting to stay within FFP rules. Realistically that is likely to ensure we don't get up. You have to improve your squad each window and get better. Once again we haven't done. Meanwhile even clubs like Birmingham have tried to improve by bringing new players in. It is interesting that every other club has done business in some form or another despite many of them spending more than us and having bigger wage bills. Comes down to determination. I happen to think this is as much an owner decision to not make any more funds available than it is Mowbray failing to deliver. I dont think it is Ffp, I just dont think they want to spend, which is their choice but makes a mockery of the claim they do and are determined to get promoted.

Exactly. Having us on. I'd have a lot more respect for Waggott and Mowbray if they just admitted there's no cash and signings were dependent upon outgoings and generosity from other clubs on loans. Instead they persist with this charade of pretending there's money but there is some elaborate principled process to go through whilst hiding behind Ffp rules. The realists on here knew what would happen this window because we recognise how these things go. It is almost step by step identical to last January when we were in the same position. We then didn't win again for about 2 months.

At least Mowbray will have credit in India when he's navigated another troublesome transfer window without spending anything Go down well with the bean counters whilst fans lap up the excuses. Remember Venkys will spend if we are in a decent position to push for promotion, or so the theory goes.

Are you the same person who half an hour ago accused me of being negative about everything because I suggested Atsu was a non starter and a waste of time?

'Tough time to do business' 'Other clubs aren't spending millions'