It's entirely possible and I'm sure he'll get his chance in the not-too-distant future. It's not that dissimilar to the situation that Jansen found himself in prior to the 2002 World Cup (although Jansen was vastly more proven and experienced in club football). I just think it would be a big risk to throw him in at the deep end and a waste of a spot in a squad to take a player when you're not certain that you can totally trust them at that level.

I took a break from the messageboard because I grew tired of how people were disagreeing, not because they were disagreeing. An example of that being the fact that the way that you responded to my post is different to how you would have responded had it been virtually any other poster. That's tiresome for me, but if some messageboard grudge gets you through the day, then more power to you. And if you're only just realising that saying someone's name at the end of a response can come across as condescending or patronising, then that's somewhat surprising.

Gosh this is depressing.

It's not about not agreeing. I couldn't care less about that. I actually come on the messageboard to have discussions and openly expect people to not agree with me. It was the condescending usage of my name at the end and the overall tone of your response, Matty.

You are, consistently, a massive prat.

It's a pretty sizeable difference when it is such a limited sample size. Not to mention, as bad as United's season has been, it also involves him playing in some 'bigger' matches than Wharton has ever got close to. Plus, there are the two England caps. Wharton will likely get his chance at some point in the next 12-18 months, especially in the post-major tournament shakeup that's likely to include a new manager and a few of the older heads in his position stepping aside (Henderson, for example), but you would be throwing him in at the deep end to include him at this stage.

Well, he is also significantly more experience at a higher level when it comes to selecting a young player for a major tournament. He's got more Premier League experience and a couple of England caps already.

I think this is the toughest pill to swallow. The 'no excuse' culture has been filled with excuses and, what's worse, the lowering of expectations to a point where an excuse is perceived to not be needed.

That's probably true and things were very bad at the time that he left, but I can't imagine they would have been any worse than they've been under Eustace. We've won 3 league matches since JDT left. Would we have beaten Leeds? Probably not, but we would have picked up a win or two against the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth, Birmingham, or any of the host of other bad to mediocre sides we played. Would our goal difference be worse now? Probably, but we've also lost by 5 to Bristol City, by 2 to Sheffield Wednesday, and drawn against a weakened Coventry side that played a third of the match with 10 men. So, are some rewriting history as to how bad or good JDT was? Probably. But the sad reality is that things couldn't have gone much worse since February. He had to go, but let's not pretend that if we stay up it is because of some Eustace turnaround. I think JDT would have picked up a similar number of points. Fewer draws, more big defeats, but a couple of those draws would have turned into wins.

Also, I suppose it 'benefitted' us, but what's the point in sending a manager off if he's just going to sit in the stands and get on his phone? Surely he should be barred from interacting with the touchline.

Is it? I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen a similar incident over the past 2/3 years. You don't see many managers actively try to get the ball off of an opposition player. You'll see plenty control it themselves or rush to get a ball if it is near them, but the multiball system has kind of done away with any need for a manager to be actively fighting for a ball.

He strikes me as the type of manager who would have seen that as an opportunity to 'set an example' - even though his overall approach to matches is defensive and lethargic. It's straight out of the David Brent book of management. I'm sure he'll have shown it a few times to the players as an example of he intensity they need to bring to the match on Saturday.

I agree. It's a great move for his personal development. In terms of a 'stepping stone' move (not to be dismissive of Palace) he's also landed on a team with the pace, athleticism, and movement around him to make the most of that vision and passing.

But JDT at least put Telalovic on the pitch. I think Eustace just doesn't like making attacking changes. We've been in situations where we've been down by more than a goal and he still won't make a forward-thinking change.

I don't think he's been awful. He's not been good, but not terrible. To be perfectly honest, I don't notice a huge difference between him and Gallagher.

Even if he is absolutely awful in training, there's no reason to not be throwing on attacking players in the situation that we were in on Saturday.

He doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as either of those two managers. We can only dream of having someone like Moyes and, as for Pulis, even with all of the awful football he at least had a clear system and plan and an idea of how he could exploit weaknesses in the opposition. Eustace is just shoving men behind the ball, not pushing forward, and hoping for a 0-0.

Anyone defending his red card is clutching at straws. It isn't the manager's job to get the ball back. He shouldn't be interacting with opposition players and certainly shouldn't be putting his hands on anyone. He sets the tone for the team and that is an awful example to be getting from your leader. He's a moron who's had a bit too much PR training and is using his few remaining brain cells to smile whenever a question is asked. I just wish he had been permanently sent off. I'd genuinely rather have any of our other managers during the Venky's era over him. I mean that.

Oh, I've been there for a while. I don't even think he's as athletically gifted as most people on here make out.

I'll be happy if I never see Sam Gallagher in a Rovers shirt again.

Hold on. No. Because, actually, we are sort of doing that and that is still a big issue. In part because we aren't spending it - although we never spent it all under the Walker Trust either - but mostly because supporters, rightfully, want us to hold onto good players in order to put together a competitive squad. I'm not trying to compliment our current owners, but those saying that they turned us into a selling club are absolutely wrong.

Right, so think about it. How hard were we fighting to keep players when we'd made it a standard policy to put release clauses into contracts? Under the Walker Trust and John Williams we had accepted the idea that we had to be a selling club and turn a profit on players when possible. In some instances, this probably helped us to sign certain players (Bellamy), but we also created a culture that made that the standard approach for contracts. I'm not defending Venkys, but they would be crucified if they were putting in release clauses at the rate that we were in the 2000s. You'd struggle to find another club that not only put release clauses in for virtually all of their key first team players, but also set them at a relatively low number.

It's as if we would have sold Duff the season before we were promoted - although even then he was more proven than Wharton is now. Duff had made more Premier League appearances before we were relegated than Wharton made appearances for our first team before he was sold.

I just don't believe that for a second. His agent was far more active in the months leading up to the window and a lot of effort has been put in to build his profile in the time leading up to the move and immediately following it. I'm sure he enjoyed his time here. I'm sure he loved playing with his brother. But this was a big move to the Premier League, more money, and a bigger stepping stone. Many believe that he wanted to stay, but it likely isn't the case. After all, if he had really wanted to stay he would have turned the move down. Oh wait, I forgot that he supposedly took the move because the club told him how desperate they were for money...

Did we ever really do that? I can't remember any point where we've really put up a great fight to keep players. Duff went fairly easily. Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Bentley, Jones... It's not really anything new.