We'd have beaten Boro if the referee was competent.

Didn't the Venky's end up suing Jerome Anderson? I know that he ended up disbanding Kentaro after the heist he committed at Rovers was completed.

Honestly the rest of the Championship doesn't have a pot to piss in. There's a reason they're queuing round the block for the chance to take the next PL youngster on loan. The football pyramid is broken, unfortunately.

If it helps they've spent £30m buying an entirely new team that simply won't be good enough for the PL. They'll have to spend double that to stay up.

There's literally no money in the game - it'll be semi-pro in a few years.

I hate this chant as much as Sweet Caroline being played after a win. I annoy those around me 'cos I can't help by responding "You're from [insert name], lads. Give over".

Is it time we made a separate thread for actual transfer links? Discussing Owen Coyle's podcast and conspiracy theories that the club doesn't want to get promoted is very off topic if you ask me.

I'd much rather sell him.

Anyway, enough about the inept Mowbray - any update on what Broughton and JDT are trying to do in the January transfer window?

He might be fit but he's incredibly slow now. I wonder what the offers were for him in November.

There's £105k in prize money if we win this match. I understand putting a rotated XI out for the Carabao Cup, but this is an opportunity to bring some much needed money into the club AND it's not midweek so we have a week until the next match. No excuse not to go for the win here. It's a free hit.

The whole team has dwelt on that decision - they were clearly pissed off with the officiating on Sunday. The Hedges play action was just the icing on the cake and highlighted the absurdity of the Buckley red card. At the end of the day that horrendous officiating has cost us three points - if we want to make amusing TikToks about it, so be it. We went through official channels and the EFL closed ranks.

Garrett and Wharton (in very limited playing time) have done something none of Buckley, Travis or Morton have - taken control of the midfield. Garrett against Sunderland and Wharton against Blackpool. The future for both is very bright, but they both need nurturing. I'm surprised Wharton hasn't got more game time since the Blackpool game, but who knows what has gone on behind the scenes. Travis is the one I'd be looking to sell if we need to shift bodies - he doesn't have the technical ability to play in this system, but he clearly can play at this level as a box-to-box midfielder (or a defensive midfielder) so he would have value to other teams in the division.

He's walked straight into our squad because the CM consists of Travis, an 18 year old, a 19 year old (both players I'd rather play than Morton tbh) and a 23 year old that JDT is currently trying to nurture into something better. Based on his form this season I'd strongly suggest that he's got a clause in his loan agreement that he has to play when fit because he's lackadaisical on the ball at times and is poor defensively - to the point where he's cost us goals, yet is never punished with a spell out of the team. Don't get me wrong, I've loved him as a loan signing - he's really added some quality to a very young, inexperienced midfield, but he's no world beater.

You're talking about the same Boro game where they waltzed past Morton for both goals?

Garrett had lumps kicked out of him yesterday - including being on the receiving end of a straight red card. The ref gave him no protection - but I mean we've discussed the standard of officiating at this level to death this week.

Savage couldn't fight his way out of a wet paper bag - hard lad. 🤣

They won't be state-of-the-art anymore, not compared to what a lot of the Premier League / Champions League clubs are rocking, but they're very good. I heard that it's because JDT likes to train on grass... which then obviously defeats the point of having indoor training pitches I guess.

I think he's been brilliant, but it's what he (and Broughton) does in the transfer window that will make or break his time here. We can finish in the Playoffs this year with 2 or 3 shrewd signings - I'm hoping Broughton has the contacts to make that happen.

It's slightly unfair to judge Travis right now as, like S. Wharton and Brereton-Diaz, he's completely out of form - but he doesn't have the skillset to play in this system, so I do think he'll be moved on in the summer if JDT is as ruthless as I hope he is.

The 4-2-3-1 system JDT wants to run doesn't demand that his CMs get into a scrap. They're meant to dictate play and intercept passes. Part of the problem we have with playing out from the back, with cries that "the CBs aren't good enough to do it" - well the CMs aren't acting as pivot points enough at the moment. Travis can't do it and Morton goes hiding far too often (or he sits inbetween the two CBs which isn't helpful). Wharton and Buckley look for the ball - and so does Garrett it seems.

I think there must be a clause in Morton's loan contract that he has to play when available. Buckley, A. Wharton and Garrett have all put in more impressive performances than him during the first half of the season - they've not been able to capitalise on it because Morton's name seems to be inked into the teamsheet and obviously the club captain has only recently been dropped.

He's was everything today I hoped Travis would be in this formation - neat and tidy on the ball, able to play in tight spaces, covered a lot of ground and put in a good tackle or two. Considering the circumstances that was comparable with the performance Wharton put in against Blackpool - he bossed the midfield today.

The pitch has been crap for years - I don't know what's going on with the drainage, but it can't handle any significant amount of water anymore. The Preston game last year was a disaster.

Last season Brereton-Diaz was converting chances at a ridiculous rate - that's why we were successful. A solid, physically imposing back 3 helping to keep clean sheets and Brereton-Diaz scoring 20 goals in half a season (from like 30 chances!). He got injured and that was all she wrote, it was never sustainable.