This manager doesn’t yet know what to do with this group of players. Very clear.

Three points on Gestede: unconfirmed but he was having a pop at fans in the JW upper last home match, or so I read. He’s extremely under-qualified to be in the role, as the other two are, really. The reaction from other clubs’ fans speaks to why he’s a valid target. He pledged to be open, transparent and communicative with the fans when he was appointed and he’s done none of it. He’s not been here as long, but he’s fallen immediately into line with the other two, or so it seems.

You don’t get that rich without being a bit shady.

You don’t get him out. He latched himself onto Balaji many years ago, pivoting into operations roles within Venkys. Was clearly hooked by Kentaro and Anderson to pass along the acquisition opportunity to his bosses and just so happened to have the exact mixture or hubris, ego and anti-talent in Balaji to make the deal work. He is their envoy. He was entrusted with the overseeing the running of the club but wasn’t experienced enough for the EFL to be running the show himself, by which, I mean other owners, CEOs that you need to negotiate with. Waggott’s the one who calls up the three other owners/CEOs of football clubs who will actually take his calls to initiate negotiations etc. Suhail will very likely be the next CEO, as by that time he’ll have about ten years of experience. The move to COO this year, after Waggott’s pension contributions took a massive boost (rumoured to be a 100% increase in the current FY, yet to be filed), was conspicuous. Waggott’s on the verge of retirement. They have basically no idea what happens with the club, except what Pasha tells them. He is Wormtongue (though that’s giving far too much credit to Venkys). Occasionally, they send across their finance bods to review and have a look at the place, but to be fair to them, they’ve no idea what they’re looking at. He’s here as long as Venkys are here. Unless, of course, something changes that. The question is how much of a stomach either party has for whatever action the fanbase takes, although we can’t really get ourselves organised. So many fans don’t care about anything above the manager.

Trust board members reading - I’ve rejoined, I’ve had virtually no contact other than the statement and a follow-up statement. I’ve no idea what your plan is and there is an overwhelming sense of apathy in the fanbase. There is a vacuum in the support and you’re not stepping in. When is your next meeting with members to discuss your approach, strategy and plans? How should members communicate with you? You spoke of wanting to communicate with supporters and raise the profile of your actions. Why have you remained silent since your statements? Let’s open up the communications, people want to engage with you and help, but you’ve given us nothing to go on.

Boos from the faithful 10k ring out but it’s falling on deaf ears.

I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to feel about the last two minutes

Cantwell has just played two of the worst passes you’ll see from a number 10 in about 20 seconds. Checked out, fully. Probably sulking about losing a starting berth but where the fuck is the justification for it?

Sensational work

I just had this conversation on the phone. I’m interested/intrigued but I kind of don’t give a shit? The season feels over, I don’t know who’s staying beyond the end of the season and the manager has had an… inauspicious start, let’s say. Difficult to get bothered over.

Same, but that most recent replay raises doubts. Not convinced either way, it’s very close.

This is better. Balls going into the box, bit of purpose and urgency. Happier with this showing. Poor start has set us back, but something to build on.

Good header, poor defending from Cardiff. Why is Dennis losing his rag after making an assist?

Basically silent. Even the Cardiff fans are quiet.

It’s a 4-2-3-1 with Ohashi in the ten and everyone else where you’d think they’d play.

Cardiff will be pleased with the goal, good cross and header. I involuntarily let out a “goal” as it met his head and a laugh when it beat Pears. maybe this is all some kind of elaborate practical joke that I haven’t worked out yet.

VI interview is a weird car crash to get yourself into but he has fully pranged it. Pointedly mentioned that this season was about continuing in the same vein, when he came in. He has radically shifted the way we play and we look shit, but now says he needs time to implement his style of play. He’s taken over a team in the playoffs, as we all know and as we all saw. He cannot get away with this interview, he needs to catch a lot of shit for it. Disaster appointment, shy of there being millions to spend or a raft of contract renewals and even then, I suspect this guy has one style of playing that has fallen out of fashion. Too many aspirational Pep Guardiolas out there’s, when the future is about tactical flexibility.

I would love to see protests, would love to see direct action in the stadium, outside the stadium, etc. it won’t happen, because we had some dedicated and talented people trying to make that happen and happy clapper fans used to give them stick for it. So we played that card and those who organised have justifiably decided the effort wasn’t worth the hassle from the happy clappers. The unavoidable truth is that the owners will not willingly let go of the club. They won’t return the calls of people who have enquired about buying the club. They’re the particular brand of inherited wealth that are purely ego-driven. The only route out of their ownership is administration. The one thing the self-serving parasites in the directors’ box won’t risk is personal inconvenience and that includes jail time. Running a company that’s insolvent will land you there. Administration would wrestle control from the owners and a buyer would be found. Yeah, you’re running the risk of “out of the frying pan and into the fire” but we’ve been in the frying pan for so long that we’re a husk. I’d rather take my chances that we bounce luckily away from the fire. ”Not a penny more” for me, but it needs to be concerted, organised and with a motivation. An education for the fans that think it’s more important to turn up than stand up, an outreach program to turn opinion against the owners, so that it can be beyond doubt that any financial backing from the terraces is over. If you’ve got a season ticket - go. Don’t buy anything, protest and shout, back the team, but not a penny through the till. And don’t fucking renew, for God’s sake. The renewals this season were plain to see in the accounts for the year. £150k in pension contributions and £350k in salary to one Steve Waggott. So many all-inclusive cruises, so little time.

If the extent of WATR’s contact with the executive team of the football club is anything other than breaking their noses every time they see them, then I don’t understand what they’re trying to achieve. ”Get your bosses to sell the club” ”No, I am so shit at this job that there is nowhere else that would employ me. Can you help me get my bonus next year?” *WATR becoming Steven Gerrard in a post-match interview for a second* ”Yeah, ‘course.”

It’s almost as though this guy has a reputation for falling out with players and managing himself out of a job within 12 months…

Said we had big chances, Stoke didn’t and that our players needed more belief, temporarily forgetting that he’s in charge of team talks, tactics, training and picking the team, which would be all the points at which you instil belief

If any of you want to dissociate from your minds and bodies, without the financial and toxicological implications of a rhinoceros-level dose of ketamine, check out Ismael’s interview with Sky, the psychedelic properties of his bullshit are potent.

One letter away from nominative determinism, with this post

Waggott’s pension contributions were the priority.

What a keeper that Johansson is, massive paw on that.