Now you mention it, and I hadn't thought of it this way before, but playing strikers there is even less defensively sound than playing attacking wingers there. I'm starting to realise that his whole 'two and a half attackers' and needing a 'defensive winger' thing he kept saying the other season was really just another excuse to wedge Bennett in. He is happy enough to just play two outright strikers on the flanks so the problem can't ever have been that wingers aren't defensive enough.

U-18s beat Sunderland 2-0 on Sunday. Zak Gilsenan and Sam Burns scoring. Looks like Sunderland's team must really suck - they've lost all 11 games and have a minus 36 GD. So they've lost, on average, by more than 3 goals every game! Our lads are 9th in the u-18 Northern league, level with Manure on points.

Why? We have until the end of next season before the FUP will be measured. Not sure if that would escape scrutiny. If you mean get one of their friends to do it, that would mean passing their friends 10 million. Which I assume may be difficult to do legally. I'm sure any legal, transparent way of doing that would be taxable at best. And that any illegal or confiscated way would see them being investigated by Indian authorities again (whatever happened with that in the end, anyone?). Then over on this side I thought the league were meant to be cracking down on these circuitous ways of providing the extra funding.

All day? Christ, be a bit cruel to spend all day doing it.

Surely he shouldn't, because he is so incredibly far past it. Of course he can't do better than them anymore.

Isaac I think he's called.

Not the most important of news at all, but I see Tom White has had his loan at Barrow extended and it's looking more and more like he was yet another pointless signing. He's 22, time for him to crack on, but instead we signed him, played him for about 8 u23 games, then shipped him back on loan for the season to the same poor level he came from, Conference, where we will learn absolutely nothing about his improvement. It's only a 2 year contract he has signed too, so come the summer there will be 1 year left. What was the point? I assumed we bought him mostly for the u23s, but then we shipped him off after not very long so it wasn't that either. It was reported by a few on here he was playing pretty well for them, so it's not like he just hasn't met our expectations. Why did we bother? Little decisions like this do add up when there's enough of them.

Uh, technically two managers walked away...the other one definitely didn't have integrity!

Maybe just thinks we have made a pig's ear of what was once a highly rated youngster, and that he can do better with him.

Totally agree. Can almost guarantee we won't agree to it though, citing an imaginary lack of options in those areas. He will then fester on the bench again for the rest of the season, with the occasional useless cameo on the wing.

I was thinking today when I saw he is coming back to England from the Swedish national team training camp to talk with a Championship club, that I hope it's us. If he has been out of contract for half a season yet is still in the Swedish side, surely he can still cut it on an 18 month deal. A lot more than Bell-end anyway. Though of course, Mowbray would say he needs a few months to get his fitness back, then needs to 'learn how we play'.

I had this same question, albeit conveyed through apoplectic rage. But after seeing the replay I realised he was barely touched, yet toppled over into a Preston player and took him down. Could have gone for us but probably the right decision. Ref was shocking though.

Eww.

Well. We dominated most of the play after they scored. Bit of a positive. We didn't carve tons of chances out of it though. Enough that we could be in the lead now though. Preston are giving the ball away with alarming regularity. I suppose we should take some credit for closing them down to help that along.

Bauer stands on someone's head and just not a problem apparently. Par the course.

Gally with one of the most powderpuff headers I've seen in a while.

Gally seems to be playing like he thinks he has been stuck out wide again. Thought he was meant to be the CF today?

He's been a miss. Was glad to see him back on the team sheet.

Wonderful run and turn by Arma there!

Tosin needs to stop pissing about in possession, this casual shit isn't working for him today.

For them it is.

It wasn't unmissable. The way it was falling and the bodies in the box. It was scoreable but definitely not unmissable. He was only a bit wide.

Don't care, high foot. Could do to rewatch that one angle of the Preston goal I just saw. Appeared like Walton actually moved his hand out of the way of out. Much like he seemed to jump out of the path of the ball the other week for a goal.

Can't understand why none of the players are remonstrating with the ref about the utter lack of protection he just gave one of our players who is seriously hurt as a result. Instead they appear to be having a friendly chat and laugh with him, wtf? Show some fire lads.

Foot in face, should be red card. Obviously not even a yellow. Probably a good thing, we are shite at playing ten.