In the interest of 'new manager, new hope'. Here's the playoff picture ahead of us.... 2nd easiest run-in after Coventry Bristol City have a stinker of a run-in We play 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th all at Home, all of which are in the playoff hunt, these games are massive, starting on Saturday. West Brom have to play Leeds, Burnley, Coventry, Norwich and Bristol City all away Burnley have to play all our rivals bar ourselves (West Brom, Coventry, Bristol City, Watford, Norwich) - I guess we can cheer on draws.

My guess he's imaging the Barnsley stint was League One, where it was actually an impressive 5th place finish in the Championship he took them too (relegated the next year after he left)

Yeah, I agree with that. It'll be interesting to see what he goes with. Fully fit, it's not a bad squad, albeit very reliant on certain players (Travis, Tronstad, Brittain predominately due to being stand out performers and lack of depth in their position).

No wonder he's known for long ball - 5 defenders + T&T just leaves huge gaps between midfield and attack, nobody to actually open it up. Might play into Gueyes strengths though if it's go wide and sling it in. If so i'd slot in Ohashi somewhere, seems to be the man in the right spot for the 2nd ball, before his injury

Looks like he played a 3-4-3 at LASK, Barnsley and West Brom (sometimes 5-4-1, so I assume it's wingbacks), then changed to 4-3-3 at Watford. 343 / 541 would be something like this I guess? (substitute Cantwell / Dennis / Ohashi / Beck where you see fit) Carter - Hyam - Batth Brittain Ribiero Travis - Tronstad Dolan Gueye Kargbo 433 maybe this, which I think suits us better (again Carter / Dennis / Ohashi / Beck where you see fit) Brittain - Hyam - Batth - Ribiero Travis - Cantwell - Tronstad Dolan Gueye Kargbo

I was underwhelmed when we appointed Eustace, and despite not being impressed last year (no wins in his first 10 games), you can't argue with where he got us this season. So as always, I'll be fully behind Ismael, and with Venkys we could do much worse. Hopefully he proves some wrong (as Eustace did) and we finish the season strong and finally get a go at the playoffs. What has annoyed me more, is the whole process by the 3 amigos (Swag, Suhail, Rudy). Poor planning and slow to react, very reminiscent of our transfer windows.

That's an awful lot of opinion

This is a football club pal, not Apple. One of the 'hiring managers' lets say, is an ex-player whose been in a 'business' role for barely a few days.

Yeah, I did think that at the time, an obvious Swag move that.

I find it strange, if it's Ismael, why the hell has it not been announced yet? No club, no payoff needed, obvious interest for 3 weeks from both parties.

These things go round in circles as you say. If Burnley fail to get promoted this year or next year then we can sit back and see the mess they're in. Loans secured against parachute payments or promotion currently. They have some solid assets in Trafford and Esteve and others, but these lads will be off if they're not up next season and they won't be pumping any money in from then on. (we're obviously up shits creek ourselves)

It does sort of ring a bell, feels like forever ago with this club though! This fella certainly looks suspect. Joined in September which would be the only thing putting me off assuming it's Ismael or a close friend.

Wait, I was around at the time but can't remember that, did Andrews post under an alias on here?

How much of Emmanuel Dennis' alleged £40k a week are we paying for him to sit on the bench for the whole month of February? How does he get match fit without playing matches, should he not have been playing in the U21s fixtures? He started the match vs Wolves 15 days ago, so hit fitness must have been deemed okay then. So far an absolute dreadful bit of 'significant investment'

Both uninspiring - but I’d prefer Wagner out of the two for sure.

I’d love to see the full list. Starting with the multiple howlers vs Wigan in the FA Cup. 2 stinkers vs Huddersfield when pushing for promotion with JDT not long after, probably 30 in between and then yesterday. It may bring on PTSD though

Duff might not seem like a bad option now 😄 that’ll be a pay rise versus LOI

Thanks - do we know what Eustace was on? I’d imagine less than average given the relative little experience and the likelihood of a decent pay rise at L1 bound Derby

Is £11k-£12k a week less than market value for a Championship manager? (Genuine question as I’m not sure)

You’re surely being sarcastic and don’t believe that logic? Or do you really believe Damien Johnson would win us the Champions League in an invisible season?

Remember mashed potato brain gives every Swag decision a big thumbs up

It does feel very ominous about what’s to come after this season (assuming we don’t go up). JDT debacle, next manager leaving us for relegation, 2nd biggest net profit in the whole league to Swansea, only getting free transfers and loans, half the squad out of contract in 6/12/18 months. Add in that Ewood is rotting - visibly so upsetting This club is going to the pits if it doesn’t scramble a promotion this year, or at least soon. Pains me to see a strange bunch defend every (wrong) decision this club makes

Bottom line is, we can’t be starting Sanderson, Hedges, Forshaw, Weimann if we want to come top 6. I’ll add Pears too in the hope that Toth has less than the 10+ horrors that Pears does each season. Thats 5 players alone who should be in L1 - perhaps harsh on Weimann but he’s so slow. If half your team has L1 ability and your owners don’t like to invest then you’re only heading one way. Carter/Batth, Kargbo, Tronstad, Dennis should make that 11 a lot better - just need a manager to pick them / keep fitness

This bloke acted like a complete weapon on the sideline all game. His Wikipedia reads like a whose who of clubs rivalling Bonnie Blues blokes. And to wrap it up when I typed his name on google it tried correcting me to Alan Shearer.

That super duper team bus came into its own again for another long journey. You’re running the place just perfectly eh Steve