Even so, you could have 10 of him for one Gallagher. Or 14 for a Brereton.

Nothing to do with the pressure being off, we won tonight because we played a proper front 3. Shame we had to all but play ourselves out of playoff contention with Gallagher, Brereton and a false 9 before Graham got a chance. And Samuel is far more effective than either of our two big money buys. Very enjoyable and a great result... but really frustrating considering the opportunity our last three performances have blown.

There are whispers Mowbray never really wanted Davenport in the first place. The Chapman situation is a head scratcher though... a few substitute appearances in league one and the fans really took to him. Mowbray must have had some idea of his character before we pursued him so doggedly only to never pick him. Maybe signed to appease the fans, or an an agents/Venkys command.

Absolutely spot on. Sadly there is large portion of our fan base who thing we should just be pathetically grateful they haven’t decided to wind the club up yet.

It’s been tricky to be honest. Lots of digging in lots of different places! Their Twitter account will give you an insight into the players and managers on their books... I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we brought in Marcus Forss as our obligatory striker this summer. There is a really worrying thread running through all our recent managers (Appleton aside) Kean - we all know about that Berg - Rune Hauge (the one who get banned for the dodgy dealings with George Graham involving John Jensen... another SEM man who was foisted on us. Hauge and Jerome were also both involved in the John Obi Mikel controversy) Appleton - Oporto Sports Bowyer - HSH Lambert - HSH Coyle - HSH Mowbray - HSH Below is HSH’s companies house listing... Plenty of crossover with SEM. Several familiar names on the SEM filing history. HSH were incorporated around 6 months after Jerome resigned as an SEM director. Little more than a rebranding?

Manager of Dingles U18s, and represented by HSH

Don’t think he’s on HSH’s books, so no.

I’d be putting money on some of the following to replace Mowbray, whenever the time comes... Steve Cooper Mark Robins Craig Bellamy Gary Holt Tony Pulis Graham Wesley Micky Mellon Dave Challinor Dean Keats Tony Philliskirk

Yep. Very true. Not that he’d get the job in the first place. He doesn’t have the right agent.

In that case he should be given the job immediately. We could do with someone who may stand up to our dimwit owners instead of trotting out the usual propaganda they are instructed to.

Hummel or Kappa ??

This thread has become fucking ridiculous

Bloody hell... I’d hope they would! Expecting anyone to miss the birth of their child for their work is bonkers.

To me that sounds like Sky pundits trying to make a story where there isn’t one. One of the many issues that comes from over analysis. From the initial angle, it looked late and clumsy. From the replay where the angle was face on (the angle both managers and the ref saw it at) it looked like he booted his ankles out from under him with no attempt to play the ball. Remember the one Bothroyd did against Norwich years ago? Brereton’s suspension is no loss whatsoever. No doubt when he’s completed it he will come back and score his customary single goal of the season in a dead rubber game. Luton on the final day seems most likely as they will likely be relegated by that point... then everyone can tell the doubters how wrong they were and how at £7 million he is an absolute bargain!

Been having a bit of a break on here... had some tough times over the last few months, but I feel the need for a bit of a vent after that shambles. Big difference today was the managers for me. We were having the best of it so Struber made pretty drastic personnel and tactical changes. Immediately pockets of space opened up for them all over the pitch and they promptly scored. We stuck with the same over complicated and ineffectual system and looked completely overwhelmed and shell shocked. Not for the first time, our changes were reactive and came too late. There was a hint of desperation about them. Samuel was poor And should have scored, but at least he got into positions and created opportunities unlike Gallagher and Brereton (who we just need to write off as a very costly mistake). Really concerning when a 34 year old player who has been practically released, completely frozen out and not played for us in nearly a year looks far less out of place than at least 6 or 7 others who turned out for us tonight.

Anyone calling for Mowbray to go, please just remember one thing... Any replacement will come from HSH (the reincarnation of SEM). Venkys have always and continue to only appoint managers from their “trusted advisors” HSH represent Mowbray, Coyle and Lambert HSH = Honeyman, Sheron, Horner One former SEM director, 2 former SEM employees. Do a quick google search on Sheron... see who he has worked with and what they got up to. Lessons learned? Bollocks.

Busy couple of days for WWE. Political donations to the tune of $18.5 million, WWE being declared essential business in Florida, producers furloughed and dozens of wrestlers released... all coming hot on the heels of the Snuka episode of dark side of the ring, which paints Vince in a terrible light.

Newest episode of Dark Side of the Ring is on the Brawl For All. Well worth a watch!

There were definitely some interesting elements that could have been built into a long running programme between the two. Wyatt getting into Cena’s head would make for great build up, but using this as part of a ‘wrestling match’ is so stupid.

Charlotte Flair v Rhea Ripley Brilliant. Best match of the weekend. Seen some people moaning that “Flair wouldn’t put Ripley over”... absolute nonsense. She’s elevated her massively here, as well as the entire NXT women’s division. The internet loves to make a noise about creating new stars, well, having a bonafide megastar lose frequently isn’t the way to do it. Flair is to Women’s wrestling what her Dad is to men’s. Black v Lashley This was a match. Adequate. Otis v Ziggler Surprisingly good. Basic story done pretty well. Pay off at the end. Otis has carved himself a nice little niche and offers some good light relief. Ziggler was Ziggler, which is a definite compliment. Edge v Orton Far too long. Went for epic but hit boring. Commentary really poor. I liked when Orton kept saying ‘no no no no no no no’. Any potential drama towards the end had evaporated as I was just willing someone to stay down for the 10. Street Profits v Gaza & Theory Took a break and missed this. No desire to catch up. 5 Way This was ok filler. Saw a potential twist in the tale rather than any culmination of anything. Firefly Funhouse Where to start with this. Presenting this as a match was a bad choice. This was like a modern day Hogan v Dungeon of Doom, an angle that has been unanimously shit on for 25 years. This will get widespread plaudits and absolutely panned... maybe not in equal measure. I hated it. In a different setting, presented differently some of this could be interesting and work. As it was it’s ridiculous rubbish. Bizarre how a fortnight after Matt Hardy leaves they decide to go all Matt Hardy. The GCSE coursework presentation was back too. McIntyre v Lesnar Typical Lesnar match. This format is getting old now, so I’m happy to see a title change. Very pleased for McIntyre too. Played out exactly as expected. Overall verdict for Wrestlemania: Should. Have. Postponed.

Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley with an absolute belter to start things off tonight!

Funny you should say that, last time I saw Drew McIntyre (or Galloway as he was at the time) live was at Preston Guild Hall against ASHA Samuels for the PCW title. He was literally crashing over the row of chairs behind me. Absolutely brilliant to see how he has turned his career round. I thought 2 had some good moments, but was massively hampered by the multiple venues. Those matches you highlighted being the pick. To be honest I prefer a lot of older wrestling to the modern product. While the athleticism is on a different level today, I think a lot of the psychology has been lost nowadays. This is amplified by a lack of crowd to feed off and play to. As I mentioned before as well, I find it really difficult to get interested in a lot of matches these days, due to the over saturation and the lack of build. I concede I might be being harsh on some of the matches last night, but (mostly due to circumstances beyond the wrestlers control) these were mostly bog standard at best, and there just isn’t a Wrestlemania feel to it. I really wish they had cancelled and done a two day super Wrestlemania around Summerslam time... none of the matches would’ve been hurt with a slower build. I think the whole lockdown product needs a massive rethink in all honesty.

The original Boneyard

I think IX gets a bit of a bad rap (largely thanks to Hogan), but Tatanka v Michaels and the Steiners v Headshrinkers were both miles better than anything on show last night. I always had 2 down as the worst ever until now. Different times I know, but I think that the repetitive nature of the modern product really doesn’t help... so few of the matches feel like a culmination of a well built feud. If we haven’t seen them a dozen times already, we will see them on TV again within a fortnight. The lack of a crowd hurts the matches immensely for me personally. I thought they may have found a way around it with the Boneyard, but they failed. So much of it was standard WWE fare, unsurprisingly I thought Zayn and Bryan made the best of it. They have varied experience. Bryan worked the holiday camp circuit over here, both well travelled and paid their dues on the indies... they are able to adapt unlike Corbin and Elias, for example. The two matches that could salvage things somewhat tonight are, in my opinion, Edge and Orton and Cena v Wyatt. Unfortunately after last night I’m not holding out much hope.

Kabuki Warriors v Bliss & Cross Got the night off to a really bad start for me, I’ve seen others express their annoyance with Nikki Cross... but if you multiply that by a million you wouldn’t get close to how much Asuka gets on my nerves. Had to mute almost immediately due to the constant screeching, and had to fight a strong urge to switch off. Went far too long. Was just glad when it was finally over and glad of the result. Corbyn v Elias Boring. Was always going to be filler even with a crowd. Lynch v Baszler Didn’t work. The attempts to look hard hitting didn’t come off. Inventive ending. Was never going to live up to the hype, but due to the circumstances of the show they didn’t have chance to get anywhere near. Both struggled to adapt. Bryan v Zayn Match of the night for me. Enjoyed this. The use of the corner men was smart. With no crowd to play off they used them to build some decent psychology. The only match that didn’t suffer drastically with having no crowd. Ladder match Decent. Thought everyone worked hard, and they managed to come up with some unique spots which becomes more difficult with every passing ladder match. Owens v Rollins Wasn't overly Invested in this. It was ok. Bit of an odd one that initially wouldn’t have seemed out of place on Raw. Tried to make it mean something. Goldberg v Strowman Predicatble, but I don’t think that was a bad thing. Fine for what it was under the circumstances. Met the very limited expectations it set. Taker v Styles I was looking forward to this for a break from the painful empty arena format. It started off as a brilliant brawl, largely due to the fact Undertaker is one of about 3 still active wrestlers who can throw a decent looking punch... such a nice change from shitty forearms! Unfortunately it quickly descended into farce. The fact that the production looked like an overzealous GCSE media studies students coursework became more problematic as it wore on. It will take an absolute miracle tonight for this not to go down in history as the worst Wrestlemania of all time. Why oh why did this go ahead?!?