This is very much a must-win. Things have been a bit shakey in the league recently and this is our ideal chance to get back on track. Anything other than a win here and we can probably write off the playoffs as I doubt we will outperform 4/5 of the other clubs in the mix in the second half of the season.

How much are two league two sides making from a replay? The big argument for why you make so much money is the sell-out crowd (or the revenue split from an away match) and the potential TV money. You're clutching at straws a bit if the argument is that the replay would be useful cash boost for two sides in the lower leagues playing against each other. Wouldn't surprise me if they almost lose money on hosting the additional fixture in that situation.

Don't disagree with that. I much prefer a penalty shootout over 30 minutes of added time anyway. Could have at least made it golden goal to add a bit more excitement (I know that history shows us that this makes teams more conservative). But it would have at least added some spice to the extra time.

That might reduce the load on some players, but it doesn't ease the actual fixture congestion or the challenge of fitting matches in. Easy enough for this round, but a lot tougher when European fixtures come back.

Well, it's not that I don't 'give a toss' - although I don't really care about Tamworth - but my enjoyment of football isn't driven by the concept that a smaller club is getting a payday. You could easily offset this loss of revenue by offering League 1/2/non league clubs a bonus for taking a tie to extra time. Easy fix if that is the biggest reason for keeping replays.

It may be a break with tradition, but I love the fact that the replays have been ditched. There's just too much football now and there's no need to add extra fixtures in. I also think it gives smaller sides a much better chance. If we were to play City, do you think we have a better chance in 30 extra minutes or if we have to start from scratch (and they may pick a stronger side second time around). Not only that, as a neutral, there were matches I then tuned in for this weekend that I wouldn't have under the old system as they were level and heading towards extra time.

You're not wrong, but that's the thing with attacking players with pace - they're far more likely to find good form or improvement out of nowhere. Even Szmodics and, to a certain extent, BBD are examples of this.

I agree, I'm just saying. Many on here expect all of our loans to be coming from the Premier League. They then want them to be coming from 'big' Premier League clubs (otherwise we get the usual - 'can't believe we are loaning players from Bournemouth' talk). Then they want those players to be either incredibly highly rated talents or basically Premier League players (otherwise we get the usual - 'why are we developing players for another club?'). There's some validity in all of those arguments and I'm seriously depressed that we are signing players like Forshaw, but the club is just in a sorry state. Two decent windows with some reasonable investment (15-20 million total) and we could really find ourselves in a decent position. Instead, we will just limp our way to midtable mediocrity and our owners will continue to gradually piss money and value away.

You say that, but the equivalent of a Travis loan wouldn't get many on her particularly excited. 'Can't even get into the xxxx team'. 'Loaning players from a worse side in our same division?'.

Can't really have it both ways. We can't get credit for the likes of Warnock, Bentley, Shearer, and then also want credit for Wharton.

Ligue 1 is infinitely better than the Scottish Premiership.

I can live with Sanderson as extra defensive cover. The manager knows him, he has to be given a chance. He's young enough that you can view some of his more recent struggles as a blip and hope that he regains the form from earlier in his career. He's also far more athletic than more of our current central defensive options - so that's something we are missing. But, going the cheap route on the defensive cover is only acceptable if money is going to be spent elsewhere.

Which bit?

But, you're assuming that the inability to communicate has no impact on the results on the pitch. As I said, I don't think Eustace will struggle to get messages across to his players, but he certainly lacks charisma. Bielsa is an excellent example of the opposite - he had to go through a translator, but he had charisma and aura by the bucketload. Not only did that help in his success, but it also attracted players as he built a reputation. So, I suppose, more than anything, I'm critical of the cliches and repetitive football-speak because it drives zero engagement...with anyone.

Most do. It's a shame. This will definitely not go down well, but, unfortunately, I think football management (and, to a large degree, football itself) in the UK remains the domain of the dumb. It means that the footballers who go into management tend to be...quite dumb. To clarify, I don't think that's because they're innately dumb, I just think we place very little importance on education throughout the academy process in the UK and footballers who show any interest outside of the game are often ostracized (Le Saux, Bamford, etc). There's little benefit in doing anything more than focusing on football and we don't encourage a more complete development of players at key ages. Very different in the rest of Europe and it leads to some very intelligent and curious people both succeeding in football as players and those are traits that are encouraged and sought out from coaches. I think it's one of the reasons why our game is now dominated by foreign managers. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of dumb footballers in Europe as well, but you're far less likely to progress into the coaching world. That does seem to be changing a little bit, but we still have a long way to go. I know this will ruffle some feathers.

How he speaks is not really that important to his job, but, as one of the main faces of the club, I would like a manager who can speak well and is charismatic in the press. There's no denying the fact that this has become an increasingly important part of the job and it is now rare to see managers who struggle with this side of the game. It is also disappointing to see an English manager who is outperformed in this department by foreign counterparts (whether that be JDT, or more prominent examples like Klopp). But, I understand that I'm probably more in the minority in terms of how much it irks me, nor do I think that there are players who will see him speak to the press and decide that he isn't a manager that they want to play for. That being said, whilst I don't think it is a dealbreaker, it does mean that we are missing out on something that might actually attract players.

It does appear as if he has marginally improved.

The other downside to not signing players early in the window is that the FA Cup weekend gives you the opportunity to actually have the player training and getting up to speed before you might need them for a league match. Fingers crossed we will have a new signing by the Preston match...

Out of the playoffs. I doubt we will be back.

Burnley aren't a great side, this is a poor performance. Created very little. Two sides that have spent 90 minutes trying to not concede and we failed.

I'm not sure if Pears should save that, but I'm certain that I don't know what he's done there.

Broughton deserves credit for that, but so does JDT. I'm not here to stir the JDT pot and I know that all of the noises coming out from the squad are very positive about Eustace, but the buy-in with JDT may have been higher with players knowing that his style of football would make them look good, increase their value and demand, and make a chance of a bigger payday in the future that bit more likely.

Far too soon to judge a player who has yet to have his chance.

You know, the lads are doing better, you know.

The issue with all of these contract renewals is that so much will depend on how much we are paying him. If Hedges is being paid like a squad player, he is worth keeping. He offers a bit of versatility and can certainly do a job when asked. If we are paying him like a starter, he is best avoided. We won't know that, but there's little reason to believe that he would be commanding a huge wage. This isn't like the Dolan standoff where part of the situation clearly reflects an expectation of significantly higher wages.