Never mind that, get the fire brigade round and make sure.

If that's true that's foolish talk.

Yeah, you could do that.

If one of the centre backs gets injured he'll have to do. When you look back at the old centre halves like Keeley, Hawkins, Hunter etc they might not have been great at step overs and keepy uppies but they could put their bodies on the line every week and play every game.

I can't see any other options for the middle of the back four. I'd at least play a back four and not the dreaded 3 at the back. Bennett, Nyambe, Williams, Bell. I can't believe I just typed that, what a rubbish selection.

The money spent on some battle hardened players comes when you get promoted.

We have been for a while. When did we last sign a player with real fire in his belly and a bit of aggression.

I slated it then. It would have been a sensible decision if you disregard the fact that Mulgrew and Rodwell are made of bone china and Lenihan and Williams have had lengthy spells out injured. Downing isn't great but I'd have him over Williams, Magloire or Nyambe as a centre half any day. At least he seems made of centre half type materiel. And then you have the farcical situation were we let both of Wharton and Platt go out on loan. Idiotic doesn't do it justice.

Nice trainers, I always preferred Puma to be honest.

No.

Tell him you play scrum half, you might get a game at centre half then.

Never mind the boots, can you head the bloody thing ?

His head's gone. That explains a lot. What would happen if he threw the cups and saucers at him, a heart attack ?

We'd have to sign some battlers first.

I've been saying for ages we don't look like a team that actually has a coach. Good pub teams these days are better set up to play. Individual players don't win their own personal battles. Centre halves need players screening them, full backs need their wingers to help them out against opposing wingers. It's a joke.

Football is a young blokes game, I just think he's out of touch. That's why we had to keep Conway on the books as a sort of go between. The older you get the more cautious you get. I know that from personal experience. I've tied two ladders together with a rope to get up high, now I wouldn't even go up one ladder. Football is no different, it's a job.

Or Wharton or Platt.

I just pointed out on another thread that we stand a very good chance of staying up on less points than we were relegated with two seasons ago. I don't see how that can be described as " moving forward ".

If I thought the Chokers would make a sensible appointment I'd be in favour of making a change now. He has taken us as far as he can. The trouble is they won't make a sensible appointment. When Coyle was binned and we were discussing prospective new managers dozens of names were mentioned but nobody that I recall mentioned Tony Mowbray.

Exactly. If Rodwell and Mulgrew can't be patched up who plays in the middle of the back four ? How far is Lenihan off being ready ? just shows the absolute foolishness of letting 3 centre halves go out on loan in the January window. All of Mowbray, Rodwell, Lenihan and Williams have had lengthy spells out with injuries. When I think back to the likes of Matt Woods playing every game in a season when the game was really rough and tumble I wonder what centre halves are made of theses days. Being fair to the 4 I just named none of them are real centre halves. We'll end up with a back four of Bennett, Nyambe, Williams and Bell. Or the dreaded back three of Nyambe,Williams and Bell.

It'll be a funny old season if we stay up with a lot less points than we were relegated with the last time we were in this division !

What bit of the energy,pace and creativity will messrs Conway abnd Brererton provide. I've seen better back fours playing for Rochdale Reserves.

What I expected was to be in the bottom half of the league, possibly nearer the bottom than we are now. What I also expected was 3 or 4 players being brought into the team that would raise the standard appreciably from last season given we were playing at an higher level. These players would be regulars in the first team and not " padding " or bodies to make up the numbers. I expected a more coherent style of play to emerge that would be more sophisticated than ale house balls from back to front. I expected us to be able to play for more than 45 minutes in a game and I expected us to learn how to play out a game and not fold in the last ten minutes on a regular basis. I expected that in the unlikely event of us shelling out mega bucks for a striker he might actually play and with a bit of luck actually score the odd goal. Is that too much to ask from a guy who has been in pro football all his life ?

It's apparent that his fan club on here have become very quiet recently. They were all over the board when we had our good spell after Xmas.

I agree. I've got a few pals who are Man Utd fans. They were saying exactly the same thing about the Solksjaer appointment 3 months ago. Now they want him signed up permanently !