The board are probably trying to annoy JDT so much that he resigns so they don't have to pay his severance package. I love JDT, but I do think he needs to leave as its clearly become toxic at the club to the extent that its becoming untenable. If he doesn't leave now, he will leave in the summer so he may as well go now so the club can plan for the future (I don't have much confidence in their ability to do this well). We need a strong character to come in to galvanise the players. Even Sammie who seems to be a very positive person looks crestfallen. This has translated into a complete lack of confidence on the pitch and we are in free fall. This only ends one way and that's with JDT leaving so it may as well be now. Im sure he will do really well at a more functional club. 

Im having awful flashbacks of the O’Brian debacle. 

We have all the hallmarks of a collapsing club. On and off field. The only logical explanation for why they would stick around at this point would be to sell whatever assets remain. If a fire sale brought about their departure I would be on board with that. If they still don’t go then I suppose we just continue to shrink as an entity. 

It’s ridiculous that our captain is lining up for a promotion chasing team this evening. He did well too in a vital win by all accounts. We appear to have brought in 2 unproven youngsters as replacements. What on earth are we playing at? 

It saddens me to say this, but I think JDT has to go. I think he is a great coach and a good guy, but sadly he's the right man at the wrong time. I'm sure he will go on to do well when he is supported financially. He persists with an ambitious attacking formation despite not having the necessary personnel. We need to do the basics right now to gather enough points to keep us in the Championship and he is unwilling to do this. I suspect he is making a point to the owners/directors by stubbornly playing his expansive style, but his protestations are now just becoming obstructive and it appears the players heads have gone and the wheels have come off. The amount of goals shipped is pathetic considering the decent defenders and holding midfielders we have and JDT has to take responsibility for this. The real nail in the coffin was the cut backs last summer and that's not JDT or GB's fault. Prior to that we wanted to adopt the 'Brentford model', but this requires decent financial backing otherwise you end up with the recruitment team having to perform miracles and take risks on unproven bargain basement talent like Leo and Semir and in reality its unlikely to work out. We are adopting more of a Crewe Alex model now and we are heading down either this season or next. I think we need a Nathan Jones character to reinvigorate the squad and work on a shoestring. That being said, we are just delaying the inevitable whilst the owners continue to orchestrate our managed decline. 

If we truly serious about adopting the model of signing for cheap and selling for a profit then selling Wharton and using the funds to buy several recruits is exactly what we should do. However, we are not a normal club and our owners need a high court date just to pay the electricity bills. 95% of the proceeds will just disappear into the ether. Given the above, we must keep hold of our assets. 

Personally the most lamentable part of our very rapid demise is watching my 6 year old son losing interest. He was so keen last season and cried at Brammall lane and when we missed out on the playoffs. Our current lot are not keeping him interested and I have a job on my hands stopping him having his head turned by the ‘big’ teams that his friends support. We are a really hard sell and it’s getting harder every week. He did enjoy the 8-0 win at Harrogate though, so all is not lost this season! 

Not sure where we go from here. This squad managing to Arrest our drop down the table feels unlikely at the moment. If you cannot beat Rotherham at home with their catastrophic away record then it’s a very gloomy sign. I suppose resting and getting injured players back should be a priority as I have very little confidence in our January recruitment prospects! Not feeling especially positive. 

I suppose the positive aspect of our recent dive in form is that JDTs stock will be falling. I love JDT and think he will manage at the top, but I can’t help wondering if we’d be better suited to a Nathan Jones type of manager given how little money we have. I also wonder whether JDT is realising that the club is damaging his reputation as he is pretty well stifled by the lack of support he’s had. I suppose ultimately the choice of manager represents rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Our overall trajectory will always be downwards with our owners. Roll on 2024! 

Really feel for the lads today. Great effort again but let down by the small inexperienced squad again. It would have been an impressive win and a lovely boost at Christmas .They are clearly knackered and the fixture congestion is only going exacerbate this. We have several injuries to key players, but a stronger squad could absorb this. The cost cutting in the summer is really hitting us hard at such a busy period. Comparing the 2 squads today and last week shows a startling disparity and the fact we are somewhere near the middle of the table is testament to the manager and players. Imagine what JDT could achieve with the necessary support. Give JDT and Broughton a chance and back them in January….if the Venkys are unwilling or unable due to their financial indiscretions to fund the team then please please please sell up and give us all some festive hope! 

One of the weakest subs benches I’ve seen in a long time. We don’t have the squad to cope with our injury list. Beaten by a poor opponent due to chronic neglect by the Venkys. 

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! 

30 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

I disagree. Much like our 5-0 win in 2002, this moment will be replayed for decades by them. Also bear in mind that in addition to winning the title, they have also more than likely ended any hope of the play-offs for us, and I believe that mark ten years without even a GOAL against them. The title itself was never important, but the location was vital.

They will get the riches of the premier league again whilst we will continue to sit in relative squalor and the gap will widen. It will take a complete miracle of a season for us to close that gap now.

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! 

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. 

Mediocre.