Key being the word "if."

I don't think there was a specific timeline or date of any bid for Dembele. The fact that he left on deadline day doesn't mean that Bournemouth bid or declared interest on that same day, never mind us. If you want to take your interpretation as proof that funds were there and not spent and put it solely down to incompetence by Mowbray, Waggott or whoever, fair enough. I tend to judge available budgets by what we do spend, not by rumours of deals that fell away. It doesn't even seem that Mowbray has full autonomy on transfers anyway, not being given the choice to sell and replace as he wishes, so it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't have a specific budget and Mowbray could only spend funds based on specific parameters, including age/position, but again that would be purely speculation on my side. The idea that supporters with no direct influence on anything can lack focus on this season is a bizarre one. But if this is genuinely your stance, why have you spent all weekend talking about contract offers for beyond this season?

As I said, we have no idea if that bid was made on the condition that Rothwell was about to be sold, which is plausible considering that Mowbray mentioned 2 coming in with the proceeds. All ifs buts and maybes, we spent 700k. I know, youve taken my comment out of context. Either way, not much to supplement a promotion push, especially when 500k of it goes on a player unfortunately injured straight away.

I would certainly have liked to have seen him more. That being said, suppose you are limited trying to improve a Championship attack with 200k.

Weird how its solely down to management incompetence that Armstrong was never replaced rather than budget constraints, yet even if it was merely a case of the management not getting deals over the line, that money never seems to get spent in subsequent windows.

Again I was more identifying the potential reasons and stances behind people specifically not attending based on the manager, because surely that is based on results historically in which case, surely going on to be potentially successful would then allow those people to change their minds. If we went up, it would be a superb achievement, and Mowbray would almost certainly be given a new contract which would be totally justified. I don't think that will happen mind. I would personally probably consider a contract warranted if we finished the top 6 regardless of whether we went up. Anything less than top 6 and a change would make sense. I do think that as @Mattyblue has pointed out, many have cornered themselves and will not even allow themselves to praise the manager even if the season ends in success. Whether we ought to have beaten Sheffield United or not, we didn't, thats all that matters. The wins v Boro and QPR were important though and have us 4th at the moment, so hopefully the poor run is overcome/

I feel like you are being pedantic there, what I meant was: So if we went up and Mowbray remained, you wouldn't get a season ticket? But out of interest, do you have a season ticket this season? Did you last? And would getting one next season be dependant on Mowbray being in situ still, and if he was, would that stance remain unaltered even if we achieved promotion under him?

Kaminski Lenihan Van Hecke Wharton Buckley Travis Rothwell Pickering Hedges Gallagher Giles Subs: Pears, Rankin Costello, Johnson, Davenport, Dack, Khadra, Dolan Keep the back 5, I would opt for Buckley at wing back over Rankin Costello I think. Bit of a change from the false 9 with Dolan and Khadra dropping out, I am not convinced by Gallagher central but I would try it with Giles on his natural side and also Hedges able to cut inside from the right. Hopefully Dack off the bench for 20 minutes.

So if we went up and Mowbray remained, you wouldn't go? I don't really understand that but fair enough.

My question was specific to rigger to understand the exact reason why he hasn't and will not renew with Mowbray in charge, to understand whether it is personal or result based, and whether there is any flexibility in that statement should we do better than expected. Have you stopped attending for similar reasons? If so, is it personal or results based? Is there any flexibility to that? And away from personal attendance, would you sack him if we went up? If we finished in the top 6 but didnt quite make it?

I don't think that anyone has described the season as a whole as a crisis, just a very specific, focused issue that we are currently suffering from.

Is the Styles bid now a fact? Even with Dembele, their chairman did come out (unprofessionally again) and say that we had a bid accepted, but we don't know the details. 1.5m, is that true, or was it less? We don't know. Plus was it a deal lined up if Rothwell was to leave? We don't know. Fact of the matter is we spent around 700k, thats it. Don't focus on ifs but and maybes, judge on what we do, not what we could have done.

How much flexibility is there in that statement? If we went up with him in charge, would you not renew? If we finished in the top 6 but didnt go up, would you not renew? On both accounts assuming he stays. And also, is it him as a manager based on results that you don't like? In which case, would an overachivement/successful season not counteract a poor one prior? Or is it something deeper, a personal dislike?

1 goal in 11 in non League. He will fit in.

We didnt do enough to beat Sheffield United though, its about results not chances created. The flaws of the measurement of expected goals that I could go into is one thing that doesnt seem relevant here, but even accepting that in certain games we did create enough chances to score, eg v Swansea, that brings us to the main problem that we cant finish them chances! Most of them chances were dropping in the net through Brereton earlier in the season, and without him as we will be for the next 4 critical games at least, those chances are less likely to end in the net when players who clearly arent as clinical are having them. We all want to enjoy the play offs but people are having justified doubts as to whether we will reach them.

I dont think that at least the majority are overreacting to today. I think the problems from the last 2 months were evident again today but I certainly dont sense an overreaction to today in isolation. You mention the Swansea game, but the inability to take chances even when we do create them is a huge part of the problem we are suffering in regards to a lack of goal threat.

Are the "pitchforks" out solely because we lost away at Fulham? The underlying worry is the fact that for 2 months, we have had next to no goal threat. 3 goals in 11 games is certainly beyond todays performance in which we seldom if ever looked like improving that tally. With our main striker whose absence has been a major contributing factor to this run not back for at least 5 more games, I think the problems on show today certainly run far deeper than a frustrating but solitary defeat today and are a genuine cause for concern.

Do you have one this season out of interest and if not, why not? If we finished in the top 6, didnt go up but Mowbray got a new deal. Which I personally would see as fair. Would that genuinely reduce your likelihood of a season ticket? Not criticising in any way by the way, just curious. Im very much of the opinion that it is down to the club and its ticketing policies etc to get as big of a crowd as possible.

I dont know if he has implicitly said that, I havent seen that quote. I read that we might set up a game for him, maybe if we could set one up in the next day or 2 then he could at least get 90 minutes ahead a potential sub appearance v Bristol City. Anyway, what I am putting is what I would like to happen. Not what will necessarily happen.

Whereas I think like with the rest of our current attackers, there is nowhere near enough output at the end of all of the energy and the stepovers to sustain this promotion push, hence the quite frightening tally of 3 goals in 11 games. My suggestion is to change the front 3 slightly and to bin the false 9 thing for the time being. The reason that I am excited about Dack being back fit is because he is an excellent Championship attacking midfielder who can score goals and sniff out chances. At the moment, we have pretty much zero goal threat, so such a player would be very welcome. Obviously, I am fully aware of the events of the last 2 years and the fact that even when he does return to a matchday squad, he will only be playing cameos for the majority of the remainder of the season, you don't have to tell me every time I mention his name. If I was saying to get him into the starting 11 and implying that he wont be very rusty, you may have a point, but I am fully aware of the size of his absence and the severity of his injury. That being said, if we struggle across the next 3 home games to score a goal which based on the last 2 months is highly likely, I can't think of a better person to bring on for 20 minutes, even if he isn't match fit yet.

Do you think with 3 games more played and 4 points behind, with no goal threat, that we still have a genuine chance of automatic promotion? I never doubted that they are improved, objectively I am sure they contain some sort of a rise, I clearly specified that it was your use of the word "good" that I contested. I never suggested increasing the wage ceiling "each time we can't agree a new contract" either.

If, buts and maybes. The only time we came close to scoring legitimately was the Giles chance which based on the decision to shoot, which was probably wrong, was a hard chance to score from that angle. We never really looked like scoring otherwise even in that 15 minutes after half time which summed us up in 2022, toothless. Our only goal in the last 7 games was a direct free kick which was a bad goalkeeping error. I don't see any positives in our attacking play without Brereton. He like all of our other attackers needs to actually start being productive, the stepovers are nice, the pressing is genuinely important but he hasn't done enough in the last 2 games (like everyone in attack, not just him) or indeed really anything that showed a genuine goal threat which is what we need. My suggestion was very much a further attempt to change our attack which is not looking like scoring, and to change the false 9 system slightly which was fundamental to our success at the end of 2021 but which without Brereton has not provided a goal threat at all really in the last 11 games. Hedges is the one who hasn't really had much of a chance, I'd start him, I would put Gallagher central (I am not convinced that he will be much more productive there but needs must) and get Giles on his natural left side putting in crosses.

The false 9 formation did work very, very well for a fair few months, that should not be forgotten. The formation seemingly is reliant on Brereton playing, who proved prolific from that left hand side. Buckley and Khadra also worked well in tandem with him. That being said, it definitely needs looking at and did so a few games ago. The criticism should be sticking to it once its effectiveness started to wane rather than it being used at all, especially once Brereton was absent. The back 3/5 should stay as our results are built on being usually solid at the back, so I understand why that has changed. Things in front of that do need tweaking, a lack of a budget in January meant that we didn't bring in a striker and despite popular demand, I am not convinced that Gallagher central would be too much more successful, many of his weaknesses are highlighted more from there, so I get that the choices are very limited. Dolan was more effective than Buckley last week to an extent but he shares his lack of end product in the final third. I would probably try Giles, Gallagher and Hedges from left to right v Millwall, but the choices aren't the best without Brereton and Dack.

Whether they are improved contract offers is fairly objective, but you nor anyone can possibly state that the offers were good. We don't know, seemingly they aren't good enough to tempt 3 regular players in a top 6 Championship side to commit, so how can you possibly state as a matter of fact that they are good? Of course we should have a wage structure, but if that ceiling was increased by the owners, then we could potentially retain key assets, sell them and be better off as a result in spite of the original wage increase.

Of course teams go through runs of good and bad form, but its very flippant to just put it down as one of those things. The driving force behind the last couple of months of poor form has been a total impotence in front of goal, and a predictable one at that. The squad does not have many goals in it with Brereton and Dack unavailable. Gallagher has never been prolific. Players like Dolan and Khadra tend to flatter to deceive and rarely offer a goal threat or creativity, just lots of skills and stepovers. Giles is more of a creator, but we don't have the goalscorer on the end of it. Players like Rothwell, Buckley, Travis, they aren't players who score goals. This run of home games is critical but something major will have to change in an attacking sense because we have rarely even looked like scoring for most of the time since Huddersfield at home. 3 goals in 11 games is piss poor, including a record equalling 5 game barren spell.