Nyambe’s weaknesses for me all stem from poor awareness, which can’t be coached. You can tell them to look but can’t make them see.

Followed by losing 6 of the next 26, which doesn’t get mentioned quite as often.

It does indeed get said every season that this is/was the best chance because the quality of the league is so low, and yet 22 other managers will also fail to get promoted, which presumably also makes their failures more damning. Also interesting to see the latest BRFCS reverse ferret happening elsewhere, where Mowbray, far from being in complete control of the club with no oversight whatsoever as we had been led to believe, turns out to have no power whatsoever as he was forced to get rid of his favourites and had no other choice but to play younger players!

Fan bloody tastic! What a team spirit! I’m really liking this young team

It’s interesting Tony to compare individual player ratings over time. What they show, for the most part, is just how inconsistent a lot of them are.

That’s how I see it, no way any of those 3 will be at a premier league club in August. Lenihan is at an age where, if he doesn’t look elsewhere, he’ll be signing up to basically be a Rovers lifer, so it’s sensible to make this the one where he goes to the wire. If Nyambe is on peanuts then he should fire the agent that got him that contract a little over two years ago. Rothwell has previous on running down contracts, so I think that one is more him than us. While everyone bangs on about “protecting our assets” there is the converse side of whatever contracts they sign being liabilities, as in they are essentially unbreakable from the club’s perspective - the players get paid the full whack no matter what - loss of form, serious injury, (new) manager not fancying them etc etc. I really think that Dack’s fat contract extensions have put Pune off just thinking about the asset side of the equation. Out of the three of the players involved, I can’t see Lenihan or Rothwell getting sold for big money, and probably not Nyambe either.

They give us what they have plenty of and little regard for - money - and give us nothing of what they don’t have much of and is precious to them - time and effort.

I agree with 99.9% of this except for “Jack built a legacy for all of us”. That might have been his emotional intention but, in practical terms, he built it for the club, which he had taken ownership of. Hindsight has shown that ownership could then be passed to anyone willing to pay. Also in hindsight, it is perhaps almost inevitable that we would end up with ownership less congenial to us than Jack Walker. Seeing the Instagram post today from the Rovers account showing Jack cutting the ribbon to officially open the ground in ‘95 brought this home to me hearing the crowd chanting “There’s only one Jack Walker”. And they were right, because there really was only one Jack Walker. We could have certainly hoped for owners less worse than Venky’s, but whoever bought us would’ve been worse than Jack. Maybe he could/should have foreseen this and gifted the club to the town or something, but then I suppose he trusted his trustees, given he appointed them.

Your system is bearing fruit Tony. There’s no doubt in my mind that midfield is our weak point: Johnson past it, Rothwell disappearing for long periods, Travis having too much to do. When the opposition get beyond Buckley’s pressing, there’s not much to stop them running at the defence. Our defenders get good scores because they do a lot of good things but most games they have too much to do IMO. My hope is that Davenport earns a regular spot alongside Travis - no coincidence Sheff Utd had no shots from the D I thought - and I’d start Buckley every game now.

Thanks Tony. So much to enjoy about that game, including the best goalmouth scramble I’ve seen for a long time!

Well, it was more a guy running down the middle and having the ball played down the outside of him into the penalty area, he didn’t actually go anywhere near the touch line in that move. Not saying he didn’t play the touchline well at other times. An interesting thought exercise is how do you put Rothwell into yesterday’s team and not make it worse? Drop Davenport and go back to having a soft centre? Drop one of Poveda and Khadre, both scorers? Drop Buckley - the heads-up brains?

Easily the most enjoyable game of the season. Despite being very rusty, Wharton was miles better than Carter/Maglore. Travis and Davenport together added some real bite to what has been a soft centre. Poveda and, to a lesser extent Khadra offered threat and pace in both wings; Buckley’s vision is miles ahead of anyone else at the club and I thought Ben looked better for having better players around him. Our pace and drive really stretched them, such a nice change from usual.

Apart from the rusty centre half moment in the first minute I’ve enjoyed that half more than most of late. Playing with pace and purpose. Poveda has surprised me.

If you think passion is the same as being moronic I’d also take a pass on whatever criteria you would apply. Passion can get one a long way in life, especially in a leadership role. But yeah, I bet Wilder can’t wait to get here.

Personally I thought the few good moments we had all involved his awareness and speed of thought.

If I can’t have ability (because I don’t believe any manager with a good rep will come here), I take passion. What I can’t stand is not having either.

Out of all the managers that have paraded through during this nightmare reign, the one I wish (in hindsight) had been given the time is Appleton, we might have hot somewhere under him.

I’d give Speedie the job tomorrow 9am

If Ayala had been on the field, Nyambe wouldn’t have been marking him. Lenihan needs to become a leader on the field but I think he’s happier letting Ayala do it rather than learn from him. Plus I don’t accept it’s OK for a strapping right back to not be able to defend the front post space. He put no pressure on the scorer.

I was right on your heels Tony! Easily top of my league table of “relieved to get home in one piece” matches.

I was trying to remember worst home defeats I’d seen. 0-4 to Swindon in the cup in ‘71 (the team were booed ON for the second half!) 2-5 vs Coventry first season in the PL, but nothing like this.

Irrespective of formation/tactics and red cards, with Johnson and Travis as no-shows and Rothwell a total liability, we were always going to get tonked with effectively no midfield.

Edun’s a good’un

At least this is the best (and much needed) defending practice.

And I haven’t seen him since!