Chelsea 60 years ago. Other than that I can’t think of one.

That’s not the point Mike. It was obviously knackering. You can’t let the players get that in their heads though. You’re walking down the street and you meet an old friend. He says “ What’s up Mike, you don’t look too good ? “ How do you feel at that moment ? I used to know the chief exec at my local rugby league club, he described part of his job as - “ Making sure the buggers haven’t got a reason to lose “.

Absolutely nothing to City. It’s not even a gamble.

No, I’m out in Spain on holidays. High 30’s here on Sunday.

He’s a good player who’ll put himself about. How long that will happen for is another story when nobody else is getting stuck in.

You don’t have to play all the wingers - you just have sign a lot of them. That was Mowbray’s plan.

Tell ‘em they’re tired and they’ll play like they’re tired. No excuses.

They seem to be following Mowbray’s blue print of playing a team of wingers. That was after he’d tried playing a team of midfield players.

What’s the weather like down there ? It’s cooling down here slightly in Southern Spain. In the early 30’s instead of the high 30’s now. Back home on Tuesday. I’ll be looking forward to seeing some rain as I haven’t seen any for five weeks. We’re planning to winter out here as much as we can given the cost of energy in the UK. Just need to get a load of logs in before we head back.

Did you back your hunch Jim ?

Yes, how many other 17 yr old centre backs are there playing in the football league.

If it money laundering they must have a different washing machine to the one the chicken chokers have.

Brad was worth a goal start. I never expected us to lose a game with him in goal.

We ought to give up playing Test Cricket. We haven’t got the players anymore.

We need to be careful here. We could bet the ranch on a player who a month or two down the line decides he doesn’t want to be here anymore. What were we prepared to pay for the lad who went to Sheff Utd ? Is Van Hecke twice as good ?

They made promises to Lambert that they didn’t keep, allegedly of course.

Some of us marked your card regarding Mowbray seasons ago but you wouldn’t have it then.

Possibly, a lack of real pace isn’t so evident there. Does he relish the physical side of the game ? What is he like at winning contested headers ? Does he read play well or is he drawn to the ball at times ? Does he dive in or does he stay on his feet ? What’s his passing like off both feet ? You find these things out in full scale practice matches. The last left back we had called Pickering turned to be the best striker to play for us, apart from Shearer of course. He was pretty average as a defender before he was converted.

I’m going scouting for a full back. After 45 minutes I realise the guy I’m watching lacks real pace. I close up my notebook and leave.

Hedges barely featured, ditto James Brown. So 5 signings to propel us to promotion and the only thing I can remember any of them doing is Giles putting a good cross in for somebody to head home. That would be grounds for sacking alone in my book.

I agree. However if there was to be a “ first manager not to spend all of his budget “ Mowbray would fit the bill.

When you first make the step up to a higher level it’s natural to play a more conservative, cautious game initially. You don’t want to make a bad mistake and be out of the team again.

We’re ok if we score first. Go behind and we struggle. That’s been the case for years. We sign too many nice lads. When did we last sign a fighter in the mould of Speedie or Moran or Flitcroft ?

Make that 6 poor signings then. Robbo needed a seeing eye dog. Any shot from outside the box was a goal.

Exactly.