Tomphil2

I'll say it again, the orders in regards to using players is coming from above it doesn't matter who is on the touchline. Maybe not in regards to setting the team out and tactics on the day but everything else is a blue print being followed.

Looked comfortable enough until they scored although as usual nothing up top. Thought it was right to tighten things up but wrong to be using Ohashi as the focal point of attacks especially hitting crosses at him, brain dead tactic. We continue to suffer from rotten summer recruitment based on running stats and potential value increases. That's the top and bottom of it regardless of who is in the dugout which brings me to the subs. Again it's clear Owen and Gestede are driving these squad and team selection with yet again mins for players and increasing value the driving factor for those on the touchline. Who will actually work under that is going to be the defining factor, this model nearly relegated us before and it will this season if not then next unless there is a change of plan. I.E remove Owen (agency) and Gestede (links) and Suhail (agency) all more bothered about the players sale prospects and bringing the next lot in. Until that changes NOTHING will. Give me a workhorse Travis every single day of that lame Duck Baradji, yes more football ability in one foot but strolls around like he only has one and certainly no football brain. A continental luxury all wrong for a Champ relegation fight. Mori and Yuki should be squad men and having foisted an alleged 5/6 million on Andre and Jorg it really is time to be getting something back from them. That means setting up the team for them not the two water carriers up top. Deserved something today imo but undone but the exact same shite that has plagued all season. As for Totth leave him out of the firing line he was the very least of the problems today he isn't superman.

Interesting line up nice to see he might be trying something a bit different but i'm not confident of much today.

Aye his methods like Eustace won't align with the cheap wage Euro/UN model they are operating now. That model is a hard sell to any gaffer worth their salt but at the end of the day i suppose it depends how desperate (or keen) to get back into work they are. With the right clauses inserted we are a very good stepping stone as proven so i guess someone like Rowett would view it as just that. I'd rather have 18 months of someone like him than be lumbered with another VI.

I could see someone like Rowett following the Eustace path and come in and un spectacularly grind some results out. Then bring a more solid approach next season that will see midtable or higher but by then he'll be pissed off with summer sales and budget cuts. So he'll be gone by next Feb but at least hopefully we'd be midtable Championship instead of league 1. Which in my mind would be well worth having him now.

Rowett is way better than Ismael and way more sensible than some of the names linked. There needs to be some heads wobbled in this fanbase WTF do people expect ? Not sure this squad nor the way the club ethos claims to be is suitable for his style though, going off his Millwall stint although he'll like the grafters here.

Seeing as we are on this theme why not Howard Kendall ? Not much use as a player manager granted but would still be more use on the sidelines than Ismael.

To be fair he was on loan playing at Chorley with instant recall clause which they activated. A competent manager would have had him back in recently when he was available but we didn't have one. Seeing as he's out now so couldn't be loaned it might turn out a blessing in disguise later in the season when he's fit again. l

It's just bizarre given where we are at the min considering others available with far more experience and cv for what is required right now.

Everything they do fits a certain script which is written by certain people who want the best for their own clients and wallets. Therefore they'll be continually steered away from any good with the old 'cost too much, want too much control, too much hassle, waste of money' in favour of 'this fella is cheaper and won't cause any fuss'.

But on his way there he got stabbed in the back by a fat bald beastly ghoul from the darkest parts of hell even the old dev himself wouldn't venture to. This creature is only known as the Scottish rat but can't go near Blackburn himself as the silver bullet awaits him there. However he and his friends need to retain the football clubs soul so they can continue feeding off its teat and he wants another angel of death to league 1 installing by the name of Welsh Chris.

Chronic lack of pace suffered after injury.

Stranger things have happened and besides they are both non league. Sav loves Hughes and vice versa they might make a good duo with Hughes mentoring Savage with a view to stepping back in future. An opportunity to manage a Championship club and be sold the dream of taking it back to the Prem. It would certainly be something that would capture the imagination and get fans onside. A better suggestion than some of the guff being thrown around and more interesting than a return blandness.

I could probably cope with a Hughes / Savage combo that would certainly capture the imagination.

Then they have their tools taken away from them so they've no chance of ever activating that bonus or even a play off bonus.

Agreed it's not fair to try and push him into the hotseat if he doesn't really want it regardless of how the next few go. It would be fantastic if he could steer us away from the drop and stay on till summer but it's a massive task with this squad who lack so much quality if not desire. He did a good job as U23 boss and has obviously done a good job in the role hes in given the amount of young that have come through and held their own at various points. Hes a part of that process and long may it continue.

That's rather irrelevant at the minute those days are long gone. The odds would say we'll be likely looking at trying to bounce back from league 1 next season because they won't bring in a fire fighter short term. Not aimed at you but it's bonkers how people are talking about things as if we are looking for a head coach with the aim being the play offs next season. We are a million miles away from that and need to be thinking what happens now and what happens if this lot do drop.

Neither would most of the others however there's a rare chance he'd be better placed than many to have a realistic chance of soming back up. This is why i said we have to deal with reality they are unlikely to go for an 'all out to stay up' type are they. They will be scrabbling around for someone who ticks as many of 'their' boxes as possible. Someone like him always will.

It isn't is it when compared to what is being banded about, despite being ill he still has a better recent cv than a lot of the misty eyed stuff. And a better resume at this level than most of them, we need to start dealing in facts i'm afraid.

I'd actually have Alexander over a lot of the other names being banded about in terms of a left field punt. Got to be realistic our squad is barely Championship standard at the min and if we go down we need someone who knows that league because we won't be buying ourselves out of it this time. Seems like a guy whose earned his stripes and might be suited to working with what we have now.

Yes not having a dig we are all just so desperate to have something, someone or just anything to actually get behind.

But Hughes hasn't done that ANYWHERE since here 20+ years ago with still a modicum of Walker Trust backing for a few years. It's pie in the sky stuff to even dream he'd do anything with this lot now. Bet365 behind him at Stoke, done nothing since.

Not that Richardson would be any good for here anyway but at some point in the not too distant we'll probably be swapping places with Reading so why the hell would he come here. Decent Championship club if the get a bit of investment and get moving in the right direction whereas we have league 1 written all over us these days. And the biggest sign of that is those running this place.

So there's more than 25 available then. I'll be amazed if we have 500 there tbh.

Misty eyed nostalgia is taking a grip again on too many as if Hughes walks back in and the last 20 years evaporate. Reality needs to dawn i'm afraid, we'd be far safer getting Mowbray although that certainly wouldn't be my first second or third choice.. Sparky is useless without a decent budget and the Tafia and remember he did nothing at league 2 Bradford City the biggest club in that league by far at the time. Yesterdays man too long in the tooth now with too many recent failures.