I’d argue that they still haven’t turned up!

A single win against any of the dross we’ve played and we’d only be 2 points off the playoffs. Utterly pathetic.

Maybe we could crowd fund his severance package??

On the plus side. We have made the relegation race a lot more interesting! It will only be fair if we give Luton 3 points in a couple of weeks too!

It’s important to point out that Ismael took over a top 6 team and had the most generous possible run of fixtures!

Not offering decent players a new contract is an incredible disincentive. Why would you bother putting your body on the line.

I’m pretty sure it will be 2-0 before the hour mark.

The two wins under Lowe could prove to be very important!

I suppose we will have to wait until 60mins for this to happen.

Is Gueye carrying an injury? I can’t see any fathomable reason for Woodrow to start unless this is the case.

Allez les Bleurgh

Losing might actually be the better outcome today and I have a pathological hatred of losing. Promotion is vanishingly unlikely given how poor we are at moment. A grim procession of defeats to finish off the season will turn up the heat further. It finally feels like there is some momentum and it would be just our luck for an upturn in fortune on the pitch to dampen the fan’s ire.

You have to feel for the recruitment team. Another summer where they are being asked to perform miracles. Now they have to shift focus to players who suit a possession based style and they probably have circa £1 million to sign 12 players. Rabbits out of hats springs to mind!

I admire Ismael’s arrogance. 2 weeks ago he was talking about the impressive team spirit and his hopes for the playoffs. We have lost 3 consecutive games against relegation strugglers and are now out of the race. A few days later and he’s selling this as a new beginning and we are supposed to swallow this up and be encouraged? We commence another rebuild with the architect of our recent capitulation at the helm. Established players leaving and cheap/spent/desperate replacements to come in. Do the club think today’s article is going to excite the fans? They must really think we are utterly thick. I suppose this means he sticks around even if we lose all our remaining fixtures. I cannot get my head around why he wants to employ a possession based game when he has always been a long ball type and we don’t have the players or the money to sign the necessary players? How can he see this job as the opportunity to suddenly become the next Pep.

Sadly I’m starting to think there’s nobody who could be the ‘man for the job’ anymore. We may be past the point of no return and we just have to wait for the owners to sell up.

Nobody has resale value if you let their contract run down.

Hmmm I suppose so, but Eustace took over a team completely bereft of confidence whereas Ismael joined a club in the playoffs and repeatedly spoke of how united the squad was and what a good attitude they had. That has completely evaporated in 2 weeks which is some achievement.

Who next though? A downgrade on Ismael presumably if such a thing exists.

There have been so many final straws. Football fans are very fickle but they are also fiercely loyal and for unfathomable reasons we’re all still here. O’Brien was the final straw and McGuire was the final nail in the coffin. We’d long since run out of metaphors by the time Eustace left for a relegation candidate after being the 3rd manager to be let down in the January window after getting the team into playoff contention. I really hope I can disengage more completely this time.

Maybe someone asked him what the plan is for next season? Surely none of them can look a supporter or a camera in the eye and claim there is any plan apart from destruction. We are not investing in players or offering contracts and now we have a dud of a manager on a long contract to captain the ship.

It doesn’t really matter anymore. Won’t be going up or down and neither player is likely to be here next season.

To lose consecutive games to Derby, Stoke and Cardiff who all hadn’t won in many games is actually embarrassing. We were in the playoffs so it’s not like we had nothing to play for. 2 weeks into his reign and the playoff chances are over. I’m still really annoyed that Eustace didn’t just finish the season with us as we were well placed but he’s showing how talented he is at Derby. The owners now have a manager that matches their ambition. What on earth will next season bring? We are utterly broken and I can’t recall ever feeling as uninspired as I do now in my 30 years of supporting the club. Please please please please sell the club. Please.

On the bright side, I don’t actually care anymore and thus I don’t expect defeat to impact my general enjoyment of a weekend. I’m grateful to Ismael for this. Focus on off season plans now! One of the worst starts to a managerial term ever given that we are playing struggling teams who can’t buy a win.

Ismael really needed a good start. He’s not to blame for what’s gone on before him, but he’s come to a side where the fans are rightly at the end of their tether. He knew what he was signing up for and agreed a lengthy contract (the players aren’t permitted such seemingly). He enjoyed a ‘warm welcome’ against Norwich, but I suspect things will turn sour quickly. If we lose to Cardiff at home then I think the tide turns. It could be a record for a fanbase asking for a manager to be sacked after 4 games! Considering how important it was that he started well, it’s remarkable that he saw fit to change the system that had gotten the team in the top 5 prior to his arrival. It’s pretty arrogant to switch things up and he’s gotten what he deserves so far. Big game for him on Saturday and for what it’s worth, I think we’ll lose comfortably.

He’s someone who accepted the Venkys plan to reduce costs, ‘develop youth’ and battle bravely against relegation. No decent manager would accept such constraints. He was awarded a long contract for being complicit.