"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.

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.