I know, I was being a little facetious, but I stick by that on the pitch they have a minimal influence in comparison to other sports.

Or just don’t bother with captains? Pointless in football (unlike say cricket where they are in essence the player manager on a matchday), especially at the top level where players are coached to an inch of their life.

A fair bit weaker, but not calamitously so. However, it certainly won’t be stronger like our rivals will be - something we’ve learnt the hard way two seasons in a row.

End of the day elite cricketers are now guns for hire. You can see it in how even ODIs are on their last legs as T20 has proliferated - which is fine by me as long as Test cricket survives. But in reality in 10 years time all we may see is just the big 3 playing marquee Test series with each other and a shed load of T20 franchise and ICC tournament cricket everywhere else.

This is not a promotion winning squad, and that’s before whatever carnage January brings. Some very decent players, a very decent manager. But it isn’t enough when the squad is this thin and inexperienced, and unlike all our potential promotion rivals it won’t be strengthened in January (indeed it will be quite the opposite).

That’s a good Championship level bench? Behave, that bench is exactly why we won’t be challenging by May.

Szmodics and Carter can then be sold in the summer. Nowt to worry about.

The club is taking out loans secured on Brockhall. You reckon that’s to ensure we can buy a striker in January?

Burgers before the game, pulled pork during and doner kebabs after. Glad I’m not in your car on the way home 💨 😷

Au contrarie K-Hod, it will have been the best, most tender pulled pork he’d ever tasted.

Agree tomphil, it’s actually a good away day these days. London Bridge/Borough Market or the Bermondsey Beer Mile. Far better than some stadium on a retail park.

A good manager making the most of what he has due to having to operate without a proper striker after more disgraceful antics this summer. This club is very, very lucky to have JDT as this could’ve been a very messy season otherwise.

Of course Sky makes a difference, £30 Saturday 3pm or £30 Sky night match, what is more likely to attract more causal away fans? We’d very likely sell the away end at Deepdale on a Saturday afternoon, very likely we wouldn’t for a Sky night game in November. Context, as always, not something Chadster seems to pick up on.

They had 1,750 home fans on yesterday, that tells you just how small a club they are. Coleman kept them in League 1 with vastly bigger clubs for five years. I don’t think he’s being unreasonable in expecting another deal after one poor season in a decade.

Listen to the guru, guys! 🧤

It’s on page 2 with just the three posts in over a year, possibly says something to how popular rugby union is in these parts (well, unless England win it, of course)…

With yet more nonsense to put up with from these owners in the window, GB has done a very decent job. But there’s no getting away from the striker issue, and that’s purely on them (not that they give a shit)

3,500 walk ons today, which is plenty (and certainly not ‘quite a bit down’ on recent games), sell more STs if you want bigger crowds, simple as that, and we won’t be doing that with that plonker running the joint.

Best savour these next three weeks as there’s then *another* one. 😫

Well obviously the few hundred uber PNE fans that traipsed to Ipswich will be going to Ewood, I imagine Polky may just have been referring to the more casual away fan.

I’ve stopped worrying about it, nothing will change until that plonker fecks off (despite all the rumours, I still think the other plonkers will see me off).

Sold out after a few hours of open sale, certainly could’ve sold at least another thousand you’d wager.

And PNE now on sale at £30-£35 purely to fleece away fans, they’ll sell bugger all tickets to our fans at those prices for a Sky night game… but who cares about that ay!

No Dingles game, so obviously Lancs plod will have to get their knickers in a twist over something.

The club would have agreed to play this at 8am on a Thursday as long as they can fill that Darwen End. Pushing back re inconvenience for home fans wouldn’t have remotely come into it.