More that the aim should have been to improve on last season, otherwise we may aswell have given Mowbray a new deal. A safe pair of hands who wouldnt push us too far on but would always have us well away from danger. Whether he would have had us in the same position now is irrelevant. He had us on I think the same points as we have now after the same number of games after a summer in which he wasnt allowed to spend any of the Armstrong money but I doubt he would even still. We spent 4 or 5 million in the summer and got more loans to replace those who left to build on the core of the squad that finished 8th. We have moved well away from my point anyway that the states in which both managers inherited the playing staff in are poles apart. Id rather have Tomasson now and am glad that Mowbray left but he is not the waste of space that people like to paint him as after things went sour. Mowbray brought through young players in his time here. Again, a criticism of him from his time that is unfair with people seemingly desperate to criticise him in any way possible. An average manager who did a decent job here.

I don't think the squad was "in a state" and I certainly don't think it was anything remotely close in terms of the state he inherited, which is the primary point that I have made. What Tomasson inherited could have been even stronger had the owners not intervened to stop us selling and reinvesting the Rothwell money, had they allowed delegation of Brereton's future and had any of the money from the massive profit made on a Mowbray signing last summer been reinvested, notwithstanding the fact that the main reason that it probably didn't was having to cover the general way that Venkys mismanage our club that hindered Mowbray and will hinder Tomasson. Brereton as I said will have definitely had a confidence boost, but it is IMO from a point of refusing to give Mowbray any praise at all to not acknowledge his part in it. As I said, he had noticeably improved in the season prior to the Copa America, he was using his body better, he looked more confident and he was starting to score and assist. As I said, I also think that the tactics employed by Mowbray last season really got the best from him, playing on the counter attack a lot giving him space to run into, having him much further up the pitch than he has been this season and finding a role that allowed him to essentially be a hybrid of a striker whilst still coming from that left hand side. On Gallagher, he has only had a couple of good games this season, in general it has been a season again of a mixture of playing wide and central and not one in which his goal return has increased. I thought that the aim should be to improve upon the league position we finished in last season yes, we have improved in all but one of the last 5 seasons and fingers crossed we will improve again upon that this season. As far as I was concerned, Mowbray had probably reached a glass ceiling, the point of the next manager is to go the next step. A play off place certainly would be exactly that. I suppose a potential issue with the current footballing structure is that it is hard to assign responsibility as easily. I don't think we did have good windows really, but we have to take Tomasson's word that he is at least part of the recruitment process. That process won't change so it would undermine any point in saying "give Tomasson x windows" if he is that far removed from recruitment.

Yes, much better in my opinion. It is easy to forget quite how bad that squad was. Our central midfield options with Evans injured were Jason Lowe, Hope Akpan and Danny Guthrie! We had the likes of Gordon Greer, Adam Henley, Wes Brown, Derrick Williams and a very raw Darragh Lenihan and Ryan Nyambe, neither who had really established themselves. Jason Steele was the number 1 keeper, we did have (an ageing) Conway but also poor players like Feeney, Bennett and again Mahoney who had barely played. Tomasson didn't inherit a perfect squad of course, but it was one with Kaminski, Ayala, Wharton, Pickering, Travis, Buckley, Dack, Hedges, Brereton, Dolan and Gallagher in it. Throw in 4 or 5 million to spend and a full pre season to work with the team and it is chalk and cheese. Also, as I have said before, I am glad that Mowbray has gone but many have put themselves into a corner and simply cannot contemplate praising him for anything. You really think that the Chilean manager deserved the praise for Brereton's form after working with him in a different language for a couple of weeks? Brereton had really improved the season prior, yes I am sure he got some confidence, but also tactically last season it was perfect for Brereton. Playing on the counter attack and playing a role in which he wasn't the out and out striker but one of essentially a front 2 (with Buckley floating in between) really got the best from him. This season, the system has changed and he spends a lot of time very deep. Also, Gallagher had occasional excellent games under Mowbray, twice away at Preston, once at Boro and there are other examples. Overall this season, it has been a mix of playing wide and central, more often than not flattering to deceive and very infrequently scoring.

My point was about what they inherited, not their ability as managers. Surely you could argue that to get such a good season out of Brereton, Mowbray warrants credit? He isnt a different person, as an individual Tomasson hasnt managed to get the same level of performance from him. Equally, has Tomasson got much of a tune out of Gallagher? He isnt scoring at a rate any quicker than he has done prior. I dont doubt that down to the continued poor running of our club, we lost key players. But most of the team finished 8th, and the manager (via a director of football) was able to spend a decent sum on replacements for the players that left, having started before pre season. Incomparable to coming in when in the relegation zone mid season with that shower of shite that we had when Coyle left. Would I rather have Tomasson or Mowbray? Tomasson. And I think that so far, our results have been very impressive. But that is not what my comments are about.

I cant even remember but thats beside the point. I said in the summer that the expectation is surely to finish higher than where we finished last season. It is factually the bulk of the side that finished 8th. Kaminski, Ayala, Wharton, Pickering, Travis, Buckley, Dolan, Gallagher, Brereton. Without factoring in Dack and Hedges and prior to spending 4 or 5 million on new signings. The squad that Mowbray inherited (mid season, in 22nd or 23rd) was a shambles following a summer in which we had allowed Owen Coyle to use his judgement armed with 250k to build on a bottom half side that then lost probably its centre backs and main assets, then Marshall in January, on the back of having a team full of loans once our best player half way through that unremarkable season.

He has played much of this season out wide. His usage hasnt been massively different.

I never said that last bit, but factually there was a core of players that finished 8th, and money to replace the 3 out of contractors. What they both inherited and when they both inherited what they did are incomparable. I would certainly prefer Tomasson and am happy Mowbray is gone. But there is no need to make Mowbray seem worse than he was which many like to do. Did a decent/good job but needed to go.

The point I made was about squads inherited. Tomasson inherited a much stronger squad, before pre season, and with money spent on players.

He inherited the majority of a team that finished 8th, as opposed to the likes of Greer, Williams, Feeney, Emnes, Lowe, Akpan, Guthrie, Steele etc. Not comparable.

The narrative will presumably have gone from the club being to blame, to the EFL, now back to the club.

At least its over. Doing well on the pitch and then you get a reminder as to how dysfunctional we are off it.

Dolan was excellent last night by the way and playing as a winger rather than as a striker where he is not suited. Running at the full back rather than failing to provide a presence in the box. With Brereton to come back surely the obvious solution is to put him in the middle where he can score more goals.

Is it you in a time warp from February?

One press of quote tweets and it seems that some are not understanding the above.

Still doesn't excuse them being so detached, if they don't have the time for us, do everyone a favour and sell us. I don't know why it isn't as simple as the owners simply not footing the bill. There have been lots of occasions throughout the 12 years that they have suddenly stopped funding.

Seems a bit far fetched to try and pin everything on Waggott. It was claimed that they refused to spend, its hardly unbelievable from those chancers. And even if it is a case of Waggott manipulating them, they are just as much to blame for being so out of it not to notice.

Fantastic performance, fantastic result and the highlight of the season. That is why I can never fathom anyone seeing the cups as an unwanted obligation! The last 2 performances (last night in particular) seem to have come from nowhere but not only is it effective but entertaining too. The front 4 were all over a naive Leicester side, all 4 missed far too many chances with poor finishing but their energy and enthusiasm made so many chances in the first place that we managed to put 2 away. Szmodics missed as many as anyone but he was excellent as was Dolan and both deserved a goal. Travis has been revitalised in midfield, Morton was our poorest starter but Travis was everywhere. Pickering slotted in well and is one of 3 very competent full backs we have and I really hope that Rankin Costello just had cramp as again he was tremendous. I would be wary of moving him as his driving forward into the middle is a really useful weapon in our armoury. Hyam again outstanding and Carter has slotted in very nicely as well. Pears again reliable in net, Vale truly hopeless and lacking fight when he came on.

Chris Taylor. What a bag of shit he was.

You seem to be really against what Forest have done but they came up as the weakest of the 3 teams (play off winners) even before considering that literally half of their best 11 was built on loans. They had to go down the route of a huge overhaul even merely to match/replace the side that had gone up in the play offs. Obviously I am not advocating quite such widespread change, and there are examples of wastage (not all to which they were at fault for, they signed Lodi and Richards as left backs but then had to get Toffolo as Richards instantly got a bad injury, they signed a couple for the under 21s and a couple to instantly be loaned out etc) that you need to limit but their approach has been so far successful, they started poorly but were above the drop zone even before January and probably will stay up. If they do stay up, their approach has been successful as not many clubs who come up through the play offs built on loan signings after over 20 years below the Premier League would stay up. If we went up, yes there would be casualties, there are always players that fall between useful Championship players for squads at the top end and at the same time not up to Premier League standard, look at Seri who was excellent for Fulham and moved on to Hull, Jamal Lowe played a part at Bournemouth last season and is now at QPR, Tobias Figuerido played quite a lot at Forest and he is now at Hull, Nathaniel Chalaboh is now at West Brom, Josh Onomah is now at Preston, it happens every season. For us, I would probably look at players like Hedges, Gallagher, Szmodics, Pears, maybe Pickering and one or two others and think, are they going to be anything close to Premier League quality? Probably not, but equally, off the back of playing a part (none are integral starters) of a promotion, they would be attractive to top half Championship teams. Seems ruthless and cold but you can't rest on your laurels and be sentimental. Some may go out on loan and then could potentially be useful again should we come back down. Equally, the likes of Phillips, Adam Wharton etc would go from quite possibly sticking around to definitely going out on loan. All hypothetical as probability dictates that the chance of promotion is slim, but still.

You won't get promoted with Gallagher as your primary goalscoring threat, not a chance. He has played plenty down the middle and he is as responsible as those around him for his lack of chances. He doesnt anticipate them often enough, Saturday being an exception.

The "if he had better service" and "if he played down the middle" lines have been said for years.

Is that even logistically possible, as they wouldn't know until at most a week before?

It must be an attempt to try and prove via flawed logic that cheap tickets "don't work." No other explanation.

FA cup win 100%. As a supporter, football is about memories and an FA cup win at Wembley would always be stand out. I get why the business suits would prefer promotion, and obviously we would all love to go up but to win the main cup trophy in the country (throw in a European tour) would be incredible for a fan.

They were above the drop zone even before January so it may seem like chaos but it may well prove inspired. I would never advocate wreckless spending but you cant be half arsed out of loyalty and obligation. I wouldnt advise signing 20 odd players like Forest (although with that number, they had loads of loanees that went back and also some of their signings have since either had bad injuries or been loaned out) but I always think a new 11 is a good idea if possible and then our best current 11 could then compete with that. I would be doubtful that any of the current squad would establish themselves as Premier League players, unsurprising considering how poor the quality of this league is in comparison. Suppose its an unlikely ask even now to get promoted as even a top 6 finish gives you a 25% chance. Assuming we stay down, we badly need a striker and a couple of wingers, as well as at least 1 if not probably 2 central midfielders. Fine in net, attacking midfield, and defensively we have 3 full backs who I am happy with but maybe get another left back and maybe get a centre back and loan out Phillips.