I know he’s fairly unpleasant but Nathan Jones is unemployed. Does better with a small budget and is fiercely competitive!

I must say I’m slightly surprised that my emotions are so incongruous with others on here as I’m usually fairly negative, but with 5 mins to go we were out of it and now we have a chance. Perversely, I think our chances are slightly less slim than they look…due to the weight of expectation I think the pressure is on Millwall and they’ve struggled at home recently when the pressure has been on. WBA and Sunderland have tough away games and again they are under pressure and could easily bottle it. Bizarrely, I almost prefer our chances of winning at Millwall after not winning tonight as it lowers expectations (that doesn’t say much for how we cope with pressure mind…). Stranger things have happened!

Yes the promotion is the significant event and not winning the championship. I’m sure they will replay it for decades and we would do the same if the boot was on the other foot, but in reality them winning the league was a formality and it’s not as important as it sounds….if they won the premier league at Ewood, now that would really sting!

Don’t overstate how significant tonight’s result is for Burnley. Winning one of the lower leagues is not particularly meaningful. Getting promoted is the big achievement. Whether you win the league or finish 6th and win the play-offs, it’s pretty irrelevant. Putting a thoroughly depressing and unlucky week aside, we are a striker or 2 short of a really decent team now. Intensity and style of play has come on leaps and bounds since the defeat at Turf moor and the defeats to PNE and Rotherham!

Having calmed down now these are a few of my reflections from the difficult last few days. Despite results being erratic we have genuinely improved since the World Cup break. We are competitive every game and playing decent football. We are clearly a midfielder and a striker short of being genuine contenders and the recruitment team have a lot to answer for with their January failings. With 3 or 4 good additions over the summer and if we keep JDT then we will be competitive again next year. The play offs are always a long shot anyway and any team is likely to have to beat a very decent Boro team to gain promotion. We are better off accepting the very likely outcome of us being in the championship again next season and I continue to maintain that it’s the most exciting league to be a part of! The last 2 matches have been almost unbearable but these are important learning curves for our young players and in order to genuinely become contenders you have to make mistakes and suffer heartache and learn from it. They make or break you but I’m confident with steady leadership from JDT this can be used to nurture the players. Criticism of the manager and players is actually really unfair as they will be hurting too. Errors are made by all players/managers and certainly you could break down each of the last minute goals and wish individuals had done things differently, but incredible bad luck has been the biggest factor. They’ve shown up and battled in both games and were seconds away from winning. I don’t accept that the players or staff bottled it. They just really deserve some luck! My last observation is how much harder it is to manage the football gloom when you have a rovers supporting son…he is 5 and has become obsessed and has only really started being interested in football since new year. He wailed in the away end at Bramall lane and there seems to have been misery ever since. I’m immensely proud that he is resisting the overwhelming pressure to support a premier league mega team in favour of supporting his Dad’s team especially as we don’t live locally…I just really wish we’d get a big win for us to enjoy together soon! Poor lad.

Absolutely crushing result. Really cruel game sometimes. It’s hard to summon any positivity, but thanks to other playoff hopefuls slipping up we are actually slightly closer to the playoffs than we were before kick off. Late agony aside, It’s not a terrible result and the players showed up in a crunch game for once which is encouraging.

A little perplexed as to why Hedges started over Thomas today, especially given that he can’t play on Monday!

A must not lose game…bottled it today sadly. A win in either of the last two matches gives us a very good chance but I’m not convinced now given our run in and downturn in form. A decent striker and LOB in that side would make us a different prospect. Need to dust ourselves down and go again on Monday at a ground we always seem to lose at!

We were brilliant today and it just wasn’t to be. The referee let an awful lot go today especially fouls against our boys. A very odd refereeing performance. It was also surprising to see only 4 mins added time in a half where there was 3 goals and a minute long drinks break. Was a bit heartbreaking watching my 5 yr old son sobbing loudly after their third goal, but I’ve treated him to a new kit and he is now laughing at how many goals Haaland will score against them!! We have dodged a bullet really…I’d rather not play at Wembley than spend hundreds of quid to watch us lose 6 nil!

Looking at our argument, we were never going to win. I think we pursued the appeal to take the heat off the board. They knew time would heal the hurt to some degree and they have been helped by a massive upturn in fortunes on the pitch. It is exactly as originally feared though, we had a brilliant opportunity to sign a top player at this level and we completely screwed it up. The ultimate administrative own goal. Having said that though, I actually feel the failure to sign a striker is equally as negligent. JDT, the fans and the players deserve so much better.

That was incredible. My main thought after that is how important it is that we keep hold of JDT. He looked rightly miffed after the January window debacle. The board need to move mountains to keep him onboard now. He’s a winner.

Mediocre.

IF what Nicko says is true and they are the only snags then Rovers should sue the EFL and a good lawyer would be scrutinising all previous deals ratified by the EFL to look for similar minute errors (there will be some). I’m guessing we only know part of the story. Another option would be to ask the agent chap to change his name to Sharpe by deed poll!

The old Swiss cheese model

Maybe I’m naive, but I think that interview took some balls and I’m impressed. None of us know what happens behind the scenes, but I think we need more people like GB and JDT and less like Waggott and Sylvester. Hopefully this sorry affair helps us get there.

I’m intrigued to know why the only successful deal completed on the night was an outgoing at 10.59. Did we prioritise this over a marquee signing? It doesn’t add up and I wonder if we’ll ever find out what really happened.

I think fans turning up late would be more symbolic.

I don’t recall people (myself included) being this riled since the Kean days. If it results in the board all being sacked then maybe we can reframe it as a positive. Surely something has to change.

I never like calling for people to be sacked but this is so ridiculous I think it’s necessary. I honestly feel despondent about this. To have a player of his ilk signed but for sending some paper work and then to mess it up is the administrative equivalent of a hat trick or own goals. Quadruple check it for God’s sake it’s our biggest signing in years! Don’t know where we go from here.

I’m assuming given the length of time this has taken that we are appealing a rejection. I guess it will probably be upheld as they usually are. This is a monumental mess. To have a player of his quality wanting to sign and not being able to file the paperwork in time is a phenomenal own goal.

I’m no longer that bothered about the outcome, I’m just appalled at the way the fans have been treated by the club really. What an absolute farce.

The scouting is uninspiring to say the least. We are quite good at nurturing our own young players though thank God! When the pool is smaller the quality of scouting matters even more I suppose. We have a first team coach and DoF with expertise in Dutch and Scandinavian leagues and many of those players are ineligible to play for us which is a massive shame.

Brexit has made it very difficult to replicate the Brentford model. We are competing for a smaller pool of players with teams who have superior resources. This transfer window has really shown that we can’t compete.

I’m so glad we were more prepared for the window this time around!

I’m glad we were much better prepared for this window….