Not sure it is an "exceptionally hard league." It is relentless in terms of scheduling but the quality is poor.

Stoke are in a strange situation where they have 7 loanees and you can only put 5 in a squad. They have Sarkic in net, both Sterling and Hoever as full backs, Pearson and Smallbone who are both important midfielders and Tuanzebe and Celina, both January recruits.

That comes down to our negligent owners for doing what they did regarding Rothwell and wouldnt sell. Makes most of what happens around that seem like small fry in relative terms.

I was more referring to a month ago when he was our only goal threat.

I just think that as opposed to being near the bottom, draws at the top aren't as helpful with the likelihood of a couple of rivals getting a 2 point advantage over the weekend. Wouldn't be a disaster of course, but we are in such form that hopefully we can strike whilst the iron is hot.

We are in the thick of a top 6 push, having won 5 on the bounce. Stoke away especially in reasonable form won't be easy but I wouldn't "take a draw" now, even though that may well turn into a decent one should it materialise.

Its important not to have short memories on Dack, he was our best player for the month prior to his injury. Also, there are games to play between now and again. If Szmodics carries on as he has played lately then of course, no brainer, he stays in the team. Dack will probably have to come in from the bench initially anyway due to having not played for a bit. I very much doubt we pay anyone 25k but I think we have to keep him, especially assuming that we don't go up. He is a leader in a squad not full of leadership and it would be an area of the team with him and Szmodics that would be sorted before making a signing.

It just seems very cryptic and absent in detail. To call someone a "maggot" and to say that Donald Duck could do better is even beyond a professional judgement, I have always seen him as incompetent but I would probably stop short at going that far. It would take a hell of a lot to have such a changearound in opinion, yet as Mattyblue asks, what has changed commercially?

Following your return to the board so you still stand by the above comments?

They might be playing well, getting good results and creating a connection. But the value for price v the standard of football baring in mind the cost of living crisis is not there.

"Not bothered" if we get to a FA cup semi final at Wembley. Mind boggling. The fans do back the team, the atmosphere was excellent today. If the tickets notably season ticket prices were more resonaably priced then we would have bigger turnouts.

Fantastic win and a brilliant couple of weeks, this football is not only effective but suddenly engrossing, front foot, high pressing and engaging. Its a shame our end product is often poor because there is opportunity for more goals there. The back 4 protected Pears very well again, we now have 3 very competent full backs and Hyam is a rolls royce. Buckley had his best game in that deep positiond next to Travis who was one of a few man of the match contenders. Szmodics has suddenly started playing out of his skin, Dolan is a different player when not playing up front and Thomas is a very useful addition. Gallagher had one of his better games too.

Just dont rate him from what I have seen. Not good on the ball and very rash.

If someone came in with a big offer in a more attractive league, he would almost certainly go like anyone, regardless of the O'Brien disaster. But I am not sure yet if that is likely.

I mentioned the devastating drop off, it was absolutely shocking. It was an absolutely incredible first half of the season to go into the new year in 2nd, 6th would have been impressive considering we had sold our best player and hadnt reinvested, and a terrible second half. Averaging out as 8th which if we had picked those points out in a more consistent manner would have been seen as a good season. The season was far from a disaster, just the way it happened is.

I have never said that the squad Tomasson inherited was "top 6/8 material." 8th place last season was devastating in the way it happened but just as a league result having had our best player sold and no reinvestment, it was an impressive finish at the same time.

Im certainly not convinced by Garrett at this level yet. Wharton I really rate but I dont think that Tomasson is his biggest fan. The other 2 have definitely improved although all 4 I guess were here last summer. Rankin Costello's recent form has been remarkable, for example with Brereton who went from awful to being key, there was that year inbetween of significant improvement. With Rankin Costello it has been so sudden.

My point has been that the aim and intention should be for Tomasson to finish higher, otherwise we may aswell have stuck with a safe pair of hands. Not that he necessarily should finish in a particular place. Last season wasnt lucky, you finish where you deserve after a full season. Mowbray could argue that we was unlucky to see Brereton get injured when Dack was already injured. That form shown was as part of a tactic few would have recommended but that worked very well.

Is that stronger? Losing our main asset (down to Venkys) and also our most experienced defender, adding Hyam, Brittain and Szmodics. Definitely not from a value perspective, maybe from losing 2 and gaining 3 although the most difficult to replace of the 5 (as much as I rate Hyam and appreciate that Brereton has been out of form) is Brereton.

Would you agree with my initial point that he inherited a far stronger squad compared to Mowbray though?

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.