That is rubbish - you are not lucky or unlucky over the course of a season. You earn the position you finish in, be that top or bottom. If we go down - which I do accept looks very likely - then we are not unlucky, simply not good enough. However should we stay up, we are not lucky, simply better than at least 3 other teams. Luck is a factor in one of games but in a season of 38 games you get the outcome you have earned.

They don’t have money - not real money in. The sense of Abramovich, the Saudi’s - even the Venky’s. Wealthy beyond my wildest dreams but not in football terms. They are VC’s so will have a risk appetite and may borrow more to bolster in January and try to stay up - though I’m not convinced desperate buys in January are always such a good thing. Of course clubs like Newcastle may now look to try and take our players to weaken us, suggestions they are after Mee as well as Tarky for example. Could be an interesting January however we have a real chance of putting 9-12 points in the board before the window opens. Of course it won’t happen but we do have 4 eminently winnable games (Watford, Villa, Everton and Leeds) . Of course the way Covid is going games could be off or teams could be playing depleted squads so who knows. I do know that after Leeds at the start of the year we have Leicester, Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool in a row so we really need to win at least 3 of the next 5 and get a draw if we want any chance of staying up. It really doesn’t seem likely but football is a funny game. Scab a point Sunday against West Ham, beat Watford and maybe we build some confidence. Ahh as footie fan it really is the hope that kills you.

Local owners who took the chance to run away with a huge payout - crafty way of taking the money out of the bank without taking the money out of the bank.

There is a sense they understand - but whether they can walk the walk who knows. Hopefully their research has told them Dyche is our best chance of bouncing back - assuming he’s willing to stay. Budgets are tight because we are the poorest club in the league - and poorer than quite a few in the Championship. Even your owners are far wealthier than us/ours if they decided to splash their cash. It’s a reality that will never change for us at this level - indeed the gap is likely to get wider more so than narrower.

I’m not aware of any clause but there is no suggestion the club would want rid - but new owners, who knows? As for money, it would be good if we could sign someone. More creativity in the middle and a striker who can score. I doubt we will get either though, our budgets are still tight.

Been licking my wounds for a few days after that - it's beginning to look a lot like relegation... Whilst there are still plenty of points to go for we can't expect to perform like that against those teams around us and survive. What is the use of a point at Chelsea if you then lose against bottom of the league? Unless Dyche can rediscover that ability to get results against those around us in the next week or so it is a grim looking second half/two thirds of the season coming.

And McNeil

It will depend on the offers/his contract I imagine. I've only seen him a couple of times in the flesh but he looks like the real deal so I'd imagine in a year or two, relegated or not, he'll move to a bigger team - assuming he carries on as he has so far. On a long enough timeline most teams will go down however when our turn will come is hard to say. This season certainly looks as close as we have since the second promotion though.

Cornet had a very off night, so far he's been excellent. If you failed to see the performances of Taylor and Collins then I'd suggest your blue tinted glasses blinded you The Tarkowski situation is well known. It was decided we wouldn't sell as he was worth more to us in the squad than the fees on offer. What we've seen of Collins so far suggests we'd manage well enough without. I have no inside track but I suspect Tarkowski's future has already been sorted. I'd be quite surprised if that was in London, more likely Leicester. Of course things change and money talks so I anything could happen.

prior to last night we were scoring regularly. I’ll give you that was a poor game though, from both sides. I’d happily back our squad against the best in the championship. Hoping they keep him a bit longer, might give us a chance on Boxing Day. And for us in reality- we desperately need a few wins as much as they do.

Your boards, your entitled to your beef. Rovers will always be our arch rival, well they will for me. Obsessed? Not really but I’ll always care more about your fortunes (hoping they are bad) than the other 90. But that would really mean more shared amongst the PL clubs because there isn’t a cat in hells chance they will distribute that money to the whole league instead. In principle it seems right but they’d have to transition as clubs have built budgets based upon that money being there.

Do you lads want any chips with that salt? Shame it couldn’t go ahead as the conditions gave us half a shout. Plus side is I’ve got Covid so couldn’t go and now I’ll get to go to the rearranged match.

I don't know about expectations, hope perhaps? We've played well last few games and showed we can get results - then again so have other teams. Dyche is a key factor and with him in charge we have a figting chance. I suspect all from Brentford down will be around the bottom three all season with Burnley, Newcastle, Norwich, Leeds or Brentford most like to be relegated. 3 of our next 6 games are against Newcastle, Watford and Villa and could prove decisive - we've also got Everton at home in that run so thats another possible. Newcastle's issues are defensively and we know from experience that is not Howe's strong point. Interested to see what Smith can do at Norwich but it feels to me they have the weakest squad in the league. Not sure on Bielsa & Leeds. Brentford look light and I can see them continuing to drop. So in summary - I really can't call it, we need to avoid getting cut adrift though which could happen quite quickly. I always look to see who are the three that will be weaker than us - right now that looks like being Norwich, Newcastle and ... and that is my worry, are we better than at least those 2 plus one of Leeds/Villa/Watford/Brentford.

Sadly for you that isn't how it finished - it was also a great game, Palace have an excellent attack, luck for us they can't defend quite as well. Still bottom three though and a few results really didn't go how we would hope (Norwich, Watford, Villa) and we have what I'd imagine will be a rejuvinated Spurs up next Sunday. The relegation battle continues - as it likely will most of the season.

Absolutely no one can guarantee it - but I’d back him with any reasonably financed club. Largely true - yet in a game recently we played 3 different systems and at the moment his preferred system seems to be 4-4-1-1. But every player knows his role and they all know one of Dyches mantras- ‘maximum effort is the minimum requirement’

I could understand any fan struggling with his connections to us BUT in the English game today he’s as close as you’d get to an assured promotion and on a modest budget. if the objection is ‘style of football’ then I’d suggest you ask any Burnley fan about the 23 undefeated season. Accepting as we must we are never going to out football Man City for 90 minutes we play some exciting football in short bursts. Still every fan has a right to their view and I hear the odd Burnley fan gripping now and then.

Simple snobbishness - they see themselves as better than Dyche - IMO foolishly. I believe to get the "bigger" job he needs to take a sideways step abroad, maybe even a backwards step. The other thing is at Burnley he has more control than any other top flight club will give - does his style work in the set ups these days under a director of football? I don't know but I do agree he won't get the advancement opportunites in England.

25 shots indeed - only 4 on target. Of course when we go to a club like Chelsea built on billions we ride our luck but, as pointed out, we defended resolutely and in the main successfully. Defending is still part of the game. As for possession, you don’t get bonus goals for it, it’s a meaningless stat - and didn’t Chelsea win the Champions League final with about 20% possession? I’m not claiming we deserved anything from the game but we did work damn hard. Just on demanding apologies, we expected a thumping. As I said earlier I regarded 2-0 or less as a decent result for us. Our manager is under no pressure - well maybe a few weird fans on the inter web but nothing serious.

Massive bonus point. The way Chelsea are playing anything 2-0 or better I saw as a plus, to get a point is awesome. I’d swap it for wins against Palace and Newcastle in the next few weeks.

Apparently we turned more down in summer as he was seen as central tk is staying up. Our position is precarious so I’m not sure even 20 would do it. Collins looked really good when he came in so maybe they would risk it but I’m not sure. Also he wants England, to do that he needs Premier League, will he risk it? However money does talk and I can see them dangling a big fat contract so maybe.

They’ll have to be willing to pay big money for Tarkowski and they could get him free in the summer. We’ve already decided to take the hit or we could have cashed in the last window. I know they have it but I’m not sure they’ll want to part with what it would take to make us do the business.

There were a few stories at the time. One thing that was certain is he lost his mum and that was hard for him. As ever in football other kinds of rumours are never far from the surface - don’t know if they were true or not but he and his family never really settled up North. Maybe he’s in a different place personally now and it could work 🤷‍♂️

In their position I'd be trying to poach Dyche, damages us and gives them someone who will get them out of the bottom three. Can let him have a season to build and then either get rid or bring in the big name.

I'm not sure Emery has what it takes to turn around a club floundering like Newcastle in such a short time frame - unless there is a better foundation there than it appears on the surface.

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻