If you do have any sort of line through to the owners can you make them fully aware of Pasha's comments from the Fans Forum along the lines that they always request the maximum possible funding from the owners but its up to them how much they actually provide. I must admit I always assumed the opposite and Waggott and Paaha discouraged requests to the owners for money to make themselves look bettwr and protect any performance related bonuses.

It always baffles me how we dont deem certain youngsters worthy of any minutes in our first team yet Premier League Clubs obviously think they're worth a punt.

We can but hope.

Agree on the first paragraph, he should be asked at some point to substantiate that alleged £35m figure with dates and exactly what it was spent on. As far as the second para goes, most importantly for our purposes going forward, if you're correct it's £0 over the last 13 month! Should be asked of SW whether this is a permanent state of affairs or whether there is any intention that this will change.

Fair enough to an extent, but if there indeed was substantial resistance to certain things the Club said that needs to be recorded in the minutes otherwise the minutes put a completely different slant on the meeting to what actually happened.

I dont know if it would make people think Dolan was leaving before weekend necessarily but it's a totally unnecessary distraction leading into a vital game. Some fans might not be as behind Dolan as they otherwise would have been, Dolan's been forced into a sort of half hearted rebuttal and when he does leave, any words he does utter about his time at the Club wont sound as sincere as a result Cantwell would be furious if someone did the same to him.

Unless a large proportion of what was actually said in the meeting wasnt recorded it seems there was very little pushback on anything that the Club said. So much for not letting them off the hook and the tough line of questioning that was promised. Nothing whatsover made if you believe the minutes of the fact that two top Coaches have walked out on the Club in a space of 12 months. Nothing made of the fact the second one left a Club in the play offs to join one in the relegation zone which is unprecedented. Nothing asked about what steps if any the Club took to try and persuade Eustace to stay. It the Club had admitted there werent any, we needed to know their reasons why not. Nothing much made of the lack of contract offers made to players leaving either at the end of this season or the next. Nothing about Waggott's whopping increase in remuneration. Credit to K Hod for the one searching question about the lack of transfer investment. Does anyone actually believe that crap in response about us allegedly missing out on a mystery striker who became unavailable due to injuries at his Club? How convenient. A surprising amount of throwing the owners under the bus from SS - "we always request the maximum amount but its up to them how much they want to provide etc" Certainly no more pretence from him that "They never refuse to write a cheque" etc Is this right or is it him just trying to cover his own back and deflect criticism off him and Waggott? It doesnt really tie up with either Waggott claiming he was making a specific request for funding in advance of the January window at the last FF meeting, or Gestede saying in recent interviews that he knew what his budget was for the year and that wouldnt change no matter where we found ourselves in the table. I personally think all 3 are lying and none of them can get their story straight. In summary, the usual depressing read, the Club's default position being that they're never in the wrong and nothing is ever their fault. And no-one really ever takes them to task on it. Again unless the minutes are not a true reflection of what was actually said by and large the Club just come out with any old nonsense and no-one says anything in response. I'll exempt KHod from that as it would appear from the minutes he does his best.

Cantwell really is a tosser isnt he. It's not up to him to hint at Dolan's departure when Dolan himself hasnt publicly committed himself at this stage. If Dolan wants to go Public about his intentions then that's up to him and vice versa if he wants to stay tight lipped. Cantwell should have respected that. Any gushing crocodile tear tributes should have been saved until after Dolan's departure had been announced.

Souness wouldn't have put up with that, I remember Ken Beamish telling me years ago that he wouldn't let the players do hardly anything in terms of charitable activities etc because he viewed the players rest time as paramount.

Didn't this person say Waggott was being replaced by Gestede at the end of the season? Which isn't happening if Nixon is to be believed.

I'd imagine he thinks he can screw another half a mill out of the Club for maybe one more year then that will be about his lot.

Suspected as much. Cheers. I'd rather play Sunderland (If we get to that stage at all.)

Discounting Cantwell who is reportedly on £25 k p.w. and Dennis who is reportedly on £20k p.w. and who have both imo been massive disappointments, I think Dolan should be put roughly in line with the rest of our other top earners like Brittain, Travis, Tronstad and Hyam. He won't be of course, we'll be offering him thruppence ha'penny but at Championship level I doubt we'll get anyone any better or even as good. If the very unlikely event we did go up, he's not Premier League standard and that would be the only reason I'd be showing reticense in getting him tied down to a new deal but of course that won't be the real reason.

Back to the actual football I've seen it suggested we'll play Sheff Utd three times in quick succession if we make the play offs. In the even more unlikely event we finished 5th ahead of Bristol City, would that still be the case or would we play Sunderland?

I keep mentioning this, everyone is automatically assuming they'll always put in the bare minimum to keep us afloat if required - that MIGHT well be the case, but I'm assuming that's yet to be tested as we're probably still surviving on the proceeds of recent sales. The day of reckoning is likely to be pushed back a bit further as well if there's a fire sale of higher earners in the summer and/or a sell on bonus from Adam Wharton in the next 18 months or so. How much rosier the outlook would be if there was a minor miracle Saturday and in the play offs.

Id imagine we'll lose Dolan who has scored seven goals this season and renew the contract of Hedges who's scored seven in four seasons at the Club. The wrong decision in both instances. To the oft repeated tune of "We did all we could".

Come off it John, If the numbers sold at that point weren't discussed at the meeting then you're not breaching any confidences or etiquette by saying that. As posted above, KHod said some time ago the number sold at that point WAS revealed to the Forum. Which is it?

So that's directly contrary to what 02g is now saying. I tend to believe you rather than him on this, would you care to elaborate on what was said?

Why not say that then as opposed to deliberately keeping everyone hanging in suspense?

I have this nagging thought that we'll do our bit, Coventry wont win, but Preston and Burnley will somehow contrive to win and lose respectively and sink us. Shades of 1980 when "On that famous Saturday Preston fucked it up" as the song went. Like you say, all we can do is win our game and see what happens. It's never ideal when it's not in your own hands but it's a miracle we still have a slight chance after the run we went on.

Tonight's result whilst very satisfying is probably irrelevant as I can't see Bristol City not beating Preston. I think we have to hope we win, and you'd expect Burnley to beat Millwall in which case it then boils down to Coventry not beating Boro.

They should put a big screen up at Ewood.

Probably. That happened two years ago at Millwall. When it was too late it was almost like a case in the second half of "It's OK, we can win the game now!"

If we don't make it he's failed quite badly in my book. He had one job to do and by his own admission that was to maintain our status in the play off positions. If we do make it then I'd say he'd done the job you'd have hoped he would have done. If we did make it and somehow went up then I'd say he'd widely surpassed expectations. Whatever happens it's looking a bit more promising for next season than it did four or five games ago.

(Tin hat on) Conversely, if we miss out, it could be argued that we didn't really need to do all that much to guarantee the play offs. 14 points from 11 games so far. 17 from 12 would still be a fairly ordinary return. We've come a long way from me thinking we wouldn't win a game under him this season though. (Half time v Sheff Wed.)