I seem to remember you telling us Mowbray was off at the end of last season.

God, I hope so! However, I'll take a cryptic comment with a large pinch of salt until something materialises. Any potential suitor will be watching our current form and having second thoughts.

Unless we have a sudden upturn in form, the best he would possibly get is bottom half of the Championship or the lower divisions.

Whilst parallels can be drawn , I wouldn’t hold your breath for the same outcome. The difference, for me, is that squad was oozing with talent and the club was well run and ambitious. The sudden tailspin was a surprise, but we had the tools to complete the job in the end. Roll forward thirty years and I think the biggest surprise this season is that we ever found ourselves in such a lofty position. We have some good young players, but the club is poorly run, lacks ambition, (eg the January Window), and the manager suffers from delusions of grandeur.

I'll be amazed if we're still 6th by 22:00 on Wednesday. The only reason we are still there now is because of the seemingly unassailable position we were in at the beginning of February. It looked hard to not qualify for the Play Offs! We're giving it our best shot to fail.

Ditto for managers. We kept being told that Eddie Howe wouldn't move up north again...........

The last ten game form table has us in 21st position. With that context in mind, a player asking for the fans to rise to the occasion is, to say the least, a bit rich. Just get behind the lads FFS.

Coming this midweek, it’s “We’re only ‘x’ points from the Play Offs” Season 21/22.

The big question is, do we have the manager? We have a bloke who only sets the team up properly for forty five minutes, or less.

As a train driver, I prefer not to think about train wrecks 🙂

The celebrations will be cut short by the appointment of Tony Pulis the following day.

Are you going to watch Bury next season?

Mowbray was found out at Celtic. No hiding place or acceptance of mediocrity there.

It’s his team, just like it was at Middlesbrough and Coventry when they had similar collapses.

It’s the prequel to the “We’re only ‘x’ number of points behind the Play Off places” klaxon 😉

……but Venkys like hunting in Jurassic Park for new managers.

I don’t see why Mowbray couldn’t have brought in a striker. After all, he was allowed to bring in players for other positions. Obviously, we wouldn’t have been talking about someone from the top draw, but surely a beg, steal or borrow could’ve been sorted. His persistence of playing Gallagher in a wide position is further evidence it was his decision to abstain, based on his delusion of being Pep Guardiola.

As Ben has just said on another thread, I think it would help us and we’d get a bounce due to the players being relieved he’d gone. Mowbray has become a hindrance. The first half on Tuesday and the whole match yesterday were the living embodiment of disarray.

Gallagher on the right hand side of attack, again, with the equally ineffective Buckley in the deeper central position and Dolan on the left hand side of the three. Their keeper may as well have stayed in the dressing room in the first half.

When you can afford the quality of players that Man City have, you can afford to be a little more unorthodox / left field in how you set up. When you have a squad of players who aren’t exactly goal laden, you’re best off sticking to basics and keeping it simple. The logical thing to do today was to set up how we did in the second half on Tuesday, at least in formation if not personnel. Gallagher certainly should’ve started centrally. Today’s first half was reminiscent of Tuesday’s first half, minus the one goal deficit, with the players looking increasingly lost as it went on. When Mowbray finally changed it, we were very fortunate to still be in the game, (credit to Kaminski). Unfortunately, Gallagher then fluffed his lines, and what followed had an air of inevitability about it.

More pertinently, they select the CEO. If they chose to select a real one, with pedigree and football related nouse, that in turn would lead to a good chance of a decent manager being appointed.

Comic Relief Day was yesterday.

Anyone got a deckchair they can lend Reading’s keeper?

Yes, go and have a chat with the Branch Waggidians and drink the Kool - Aid . Then you will see the light 😉

A textbook journey down here, thanks to Avanti & GWR, & a glorious day. Hope the match isn’t the downside. Have we had a @Mercerprediction? Then I’ll know what to expect 😉