Mashed Potatoes

What I meant by the restraints of FFP was the suggestion elsewhere on this board that next year losses must be limited to about £4m. At the moment before transfers I think operating losses are in the region of £8m so either the club makes a significant profit on transfers to cover the operating loss or makes large cuts to costs and brings in next to no new players. That, coupled with the toxic reputation of the owners, would I suspect deter the better prospective managers from wanting to join us.

I assume by "fail" you mean not getting us back to the Premier League and based on his record to date that is a fair assessment of what is likely to happen with Tony Mowbray - but it is worth bearing that with the likes of Coyle "fail" will mean relegation which I don't see happening with Mowbray

But what sort of manager will be attracted to the club in Mowbray's place if he realises that FFP constraints will restrict recruitment ? Probably the Owen Coyles of this world.

Last time I had a look at Mowbray's points per game return in this league the numbers were more or less identical to Bowyer and Lambert, which would suggest that there is not a huge amount between them although I think Bowyer had better players to work with - many of whom he had recruited - so probably should have done a better.

Whoever is responsible for recruitment if any is going to have to operate within the FFP rules which could be very challenging.

No I won't be watching the game - although like you I have been a supporter since the mid 1960s. Obviously you are entitled to decide for yourself how you spend your time and money. All managers can get things wrong - if we decided not to go to games when that was happening there would be an awful lot of fallow periods of support. I have never believed that the players don't give 100 per cent. For every player who makes it to our sort of level there will have been hundreds who were having trials as schoolboys. How likely does it seem that the tiny percentage who make it are by nature inclined not to be trying their hardest ?

If you were not happy with a record breaking season I doubt you will ever be satisfied

That seems harsh to me. Two seasons ago we achieved club records for the number of wins and points.

Both players and manager will have contractual clauses for promotion bonuses and higher salaries in the Premier League so I don't think this is a correct analysis at all.

There are 24 teams in the division and in this table we are 11th. How s that bottom half .

We are 3 points off the playoffs and 15 points clear of the bottom 3 - which does paint a rather different picture

For me it would be a left back and a natural wide player with pace ahead of the keeper - Walton looks ok to me. I haven't got a clue what players fit the bill.

Mid table is not an objective for me either but I don't think it is a disaster if things are getting better - albeit slowly. Agree with you about managers . Do you think the people who gave us Steve Kean, Owen Coyle , Henning Berg etc are going to pick the right one ?

I am not always right any more than anyone else - I'm expressing an opinion

Thanks for your reply - I am having to deal with rather a lot of them in the last hour or so ! I understand what you are saying about the positions of players - what I am looking at is our overall rate of points per game which if sustained will mean we finish comfortable mid table. I don't think that's a sacking offence especially bearing in mind that the replacement could be a great deal worse. I still believe that given the owners track record the best bet is to stick with Mowbray and hope that some of the young players coming through turn out well.

You do realise that if they are sacked their contracts get paid up so they could just sit in their armchairs if they wished ? Therefore what you are suggesting looks not right to me.

I don't think it is the case that we have not made some progress this season; our defensive record and points per game return are better than last year - although I appreciate that supporters would have wanted the improvement to be greater. I think the problem with "roll the dice" is that these owners are much more likely to roll a pair of 1s than 6s.

No

I'm disappointed with what's happened in the last week but won't be resorting to personal abuse against anyone, be they players, manager or other posters on here. What I really think is the same as a few weeks ago; the manager is better than most posters here think because he is dealing with clueless owners for whom all previous managers have struggled. I don't argue for him to be fired because I think there is a significant likelihood of a vastly inferior manager being appointed and I don't think we will be relegated under Mowbray. I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask those who advocate Mowbray's firing to say who realistically would want the job here.

And in comes who ?

Aren't we the team in the division with the highest number of goals in the first 15 minutes ?

What reason could he possibly have to prefer being in mid table rather than top 6 ?

Who do you want to come in (realistically) ?

No you won't - but I don't come over all silly because we have had a bad day - we have taken 21 points from the last 11 games i think

Supporting the team ?