Why’ve I got Joni Mitchell playing in my head..?

Occasionally, you are reminded that you’re in the championship by the quality on display and this is one of those games. Poor and Brum have been only marginally better.

Think this is the thing when you let players off the leash. Not a lot of coordination or synchronicity at all.

O’Riordan, who I’d rather see, but doesn’t fit into a full back position when we’re defending

Chrisene is all over the shop at the minute

Never mind what I said, he’s woken up

Yeah, he looks a little bit overawed currently. First start, big game, on the telly, so not surprised. Definitely not a game for Palace to play to his strengths, either

Tend to agree here. He probably is worthy of the opportunity, but it’s an opportunity to him because of the situation we find ourselves in. Very arguable that he was treated unfairly at Birmingham, another crack at the Championship seems “fair,” if you like. We could do - and previously have done - a lot worse, but it’s not an appointment that sparks the imagination. His interview is pragmatic and we probably need that in the short term. Ours seems a squad of good characters that lack a bit of fight. The new, “experienced” additions might improve that and hopefully this manager is able to instil some. Full support from me and obvious intrigue around what he brings to the club, who he evaluates as his first choice players and how it plays out, but I’m nervous about it.

I’ve defended JDT a lot and will continue to do so. I know a lot don’t agree with it, but that’s what being a fan is, caring about something and not always agreeing on what’s best for that thing. Definitely a rollercoaster, some real ups and downs. I think on balance, the majority of issues we’ve faced in his tenure have been club-led/-instigated, but definitely some accountability to be taken for position by JDT. Best for all of us if we don’t labour those points any more than we have done the past week. I will miss his pre-match pressers, I thank him for the good memories (last year’s goal of the season was mind-blowing to watch at the time, properly joyous) and will rue the missed opportunities (layer of paint away from Hedges firing us into the FA Cup semi-final; a bad decision or 6 away from the playoffs). As an aside - the politics will be different at international level, but I think he’ll suit the role and do well.

A fair point!

Many ways to skin a cat and lots of willing bladesmen that would take the task on here, but a plan is essential. Either you’re identifying someone short term or long term and recalibrating the plan under a director of football or you’re allowing a penny-pitching CEO and a former fruit juice distributor to pick someone. I know which I prefer.

I would argue that Broughton is the only one with something resembling a plan, at the club. Is it still “not a huge loss” when you consider that without him, our next managerial appointment would be made by Waggott and Suhail? Broughton has to stay, for me. Whether he wants to after the bullshit that’s been pulled in the past week or so remains to be seen.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the club and that is the owners, we’re all onside there, I think. I just cannot handle the Mowbray love-in, when it pops up.

Labouring the Mowbray point is laughable. The training ground stuff. Reece James’ dad’s interview about nearly coming on loan to Blackburn and how Mowbray put him off. Death spirals. “It’s not the 90s anymore.” Telling key players to look elsewhere for bigger deals at the end of theirs. Telling staff members that “big ships like Sunderland don’t come along very often” (League One Sunderland, at the time) and encouraging them to leave. A complete free pass in the Covid season. Bradley Johnson as a false 9. “It’s a long commute.” Do me a favour.

I’m aware of that, the point I was making was it overlaps with the period where the Club were aware of the proceedings against the owners and the filings and there was the HMRC issue in that time frame. Combined with what’s going on at present, there has to be a declaration in the filings that we are a going concern. If someone’s being asked to put their name to that without agreeing to it, what might happen at that point?

Well, the two bits in bold might go some way to explaining what’s just happened (if it has, indeed, just happened). There’s every chance they’re getting towards the end of preparing annual accounts… someone not happy with what they see?

Sure, that’s an obvious issue. Can you borrow against the fee? (I don’t know, at all, but I’m thinking what I would do with my business if I had the misfortune of not being able to run it without £15-20m in losses being underwritten by owners) Clearly - pitch matters aside - the next big obvious milestone for this saga is the meeting on 12th March, where one of three things happens and we still don’t really know what’s happening as a result of it.

Well, quite. “What happens if it’s delayed again” is an even trickier question. I think if the former happens, the writing is on the wall.

Combined with the cash that was previously sent to cover costs, £18m would cover the season’s losses, based on previous years and the budget cut in summer. I suppose we have to see how it shakes out. Is the fee spread out over a timeframe that means we aren’t liquid enough to meet obligations without the owners’ input? Is there less optimism around the owners’ chances of shaking off the investigation? Have the finance dept been asked to sign off on something they disagree with? There’s a logic to that flow of events, but I’m cautious because I am aware I’m seeing what I “want” to see. I don’t actively want to see us in administration, but I’m struggling to think of a way to get rid of the owners that doesn’t involve that.

I’ve been thinking about this since I heard the rumour. There’s either financial impropriety at play or reputational preservation, just as you said. It’s a strange occurrence otherwise. Administration makes little sense with the Wharton money on the books (depending how it’s accounted, I’m not familiar with how receivables work in football accounting terms) and an upcoming court case to determine whether more funds are sent, the last of which allowed funds to be sent. It’s a going concern, purely on the basis of those two points and - I assume - no radical cost increases across the business. From what we know, I can’t see administration. The other option - that something “serious” has happened in finance or they’ve been asked to do something “serious” - well, I can make more sense of that.

LET printing this story shows that there’s serious discontent within the club, you would have to think the recruitment dept or GB himself. You would have to be extremely sure of this being the case to print it. Waggott is a lame duck/puppet/stooge and although not very good at anything a CEO would normally be expected to be good at, very good at the one thing the owners care about: deflecting attention from them. Suhail is the main antagonist. No chance he leaves without Venky’s selling. The Rao’s are the problem, they have been for 13 years, they will be until they sell. Heat needs to be turned up on them for the rest of the season, they have to feel the pressure.

Something has told me - for a long time - that they’d rather see it burn than admit they got it wrong. That’s the issue for me. If they go unchecked, they will let it die.

Any truth in the various bids we were lodging for players, before the “no permanent fees” edict was issued?

Implication (subtle as it is) might be that he hasn’t left yet, but he will if this deal doesn’t go through. Either falling on his sword or saying, “nobody can do a job here while Suhail and Waggott are operating in the way they are.”

Still getting ‘page not found.’ Can you briefly summarise?