OneMrsWallace

I reckon the vast majority of us understood exactly what you meant @Willo of Whiteley It's a really useful observation. Also, managers/coaches selecting players seems to be disappearing. I'm guessing they identify positions that need improving and leave it to the 'experts.' Not sure that's an ideal system.

Unless AA is moved out and we may then be forced to go for a striker, I can't see anything much happening now. So unless something remarkable takes place this week, for me, that means one of three things. 1) SR are so deluded they believe the current manager and squad can still reach the play offs (Given it's SR that is believable) 2) They have accepted promotion is now unlikely and would rather spend well in the summer 3) Dragan is planning for a sale of the club at the end of the season and so doesn't want to invest the necessary on decent players in case we're still not promoted. 1 seems most likely 2 sort of middling - but I just have a gut instinct it's 3, based partly on the total silence from the board for much of the season and the fact that I'm not sure his ego will allow him to own a club outside the PL for another season. There's also been some speculation his business is not doing well from what I've read. I guess we won't know the truth for a while.

After they scored we created almost nothing and the ball didn't leave our half in extra time. It's so frustrating. It's the lack of experience on and off the pitch. Lucky fucking point for the bottom feeders but we should have done better at 1-1.

He certainly won't catch it.

Fair point. Must be all the drinks I knocked back in the final ten minutes.

Sorry, what just happened? What's the doughnut shaped thing next to our name?

Boring transfer window, so here's my take for a bit of fun... Spors and Rasmus Teams (Ironic) call... RA: Hey Sporsy, it's Rasmus. JS: What do you want now? RA: Just a quick chat about the January transfer window. I can't be long, I'm about to deliver a Ted Talk. JS: I may regret asking this, but what's the topic? RA: 'Football injuries. The way forward.' We're going to sack all our physios and doctors and use holistic healing methods. Crystals, seaweed enemas, chanting with bells. Our players will return at super fast speed and I will be hailed a football genius again. JS: Again? RA: Brentford. That was all me. Anyway, just wanted to say you must be exhausted after signing that GK, so take the rest of the month off. We don't need anyone else now that Shea Charles is receiving seaweed enemas. JS: Is Dragan ok with this? RA: Absolutely. I explained it all to him by performing a thirty second mime dance on TikTok. It's going to revolutionise communication. JS: (Sighs) Anything else? RA: Yes, I'm changing our captain. It's Gavin Bazunu. JS: He's going to captain the team from Stoke? RA: The opposition will never expect that. Especially when we play Stoke. JS: What about AA? RA: He's got a new role handing out Saints shirts to prize winners, especially women who have never been to a match before. He's great at that. JS: He's just messaged me to say he wants to leave in January. RA: Oh, cool. I'm thinking we play without strikers anyway 6-5-0. JS: That's 12 players. RA: I know. Genius. Guess you've got one more job to do then. Let me know how much we get for him. JS: I'll email you. RA: I'd prefer a thirty second mime dance on Tik Tok. JS: (Ends call).

I think I'm going to cricket nets instead of watching on Sky. I used to hate missing games for whatever reason but now I hate the thought of watching another tepid performance. It feels wrong to think that way because this is our club, good or bad, thick or thin, for life. But It's so obvious quite a few of the players don't care. I'm not convinced Dragan gives a shit either. As Adam and Joe said on their podcast, football is meant to enjoyable for fans, it's meant to be something to look forward to. Well SR have fucked that right up. We'll lose 1-2.

At least for a number of years. The conversation with SR should have been... "Thanks for doing a great job Tonda, keeping the seat warm. The new experienced manager we've just appointed can now come in off the back of some great wins under your temporary leadership. Perfect situation. Time for you to go back to coaching the U21s with our gratitude and a small bonus based on recent results." But they are fucking idiots, so this didn't happen and here we are, in the shit again.

I think Dragan made the mistake, as many others have, of thinking because he's had some success in business he can replicate that in football ownership. Problem is, football as a business is kind of unique and if you haven't grown up around football in this country, it isn't easy to just make a success of your club. But the worst decision he's made is to surround himself with chancers looking for easy money. I don't believe anyone who's been on the board since he took over is remotely qualified to do what's needed or is seriously invested in the club. Their knowledge is so poor. So either Dragan sacks the board and gets smarter with his appointments or he sells up. Just drifting along will see us in L1 eventually.

Terrible, just terrible. We've become so easy to beat. Given the lack of communication from the owners and the board, my only explanation for this horror show is that they've lost interest. I'm hoping that means they're planning to sell up and that we're still in this league when they do. Anything else means they are so clueless they still believe we can go up this year. Sad times.

Makes sense Chez in terms of going up this season. My feeling is they'll sell us if that doesn't happen and is that the worst outcome?

That's generally true but we don't have that luxury given all the errors made in the summer. We need a striker, a CB and ideally another CDM unless Charles actually returns fully fit very soon. Bring Bree back for full back cover. Not saying it will get done but it shows how crap SR are at building a competitive squad. They're charlatans masquerading as legitimate owners of a football club.

The only thing that'll be limited on the day are the owners, players and manager.

Well, let's wait and see what the rest of the month brings. They've used up nearly half their time. We've seen this before from SR and previous owners. We may get nothing more beyond this or some very late panic moves. If I'm wrong I'm wrong but I don't think it's going to be anywhere near enough. Remember - they've stated the ambition is to go back up this season and if they're serious, that's going to require some critical spending in the next 2-3 weeks. Otherwise it's all bullshit.

Almost half way through the month, one possible GK improvement. The ambition is overwhelming. Not that I expected anything different of course.

Tonda "Hold my beer!"

"The second half could have been better" And the winner of the football manager understatement of the year award goes to...

Doncaster put in 37 crosses. We put in 15. Pretty poor from us but it's so obvious teams know our weakness against crosses. We desperately need a strong, experienced CB to win the ball but we also need to stop the crosses at source. Loads of work to do as Tonda doesn't seem capable of getting any sort of tune out of this current squad.

Tonda half time talk"Now remember lads, make sure you concede early in the second half. Now get out there!"

TE saying the first goal changed everything sums it up for me. Here's news. It doesn't fucking have to. But with us, it does nearly everytime, exception of Birmingham. He sounded as if he was accepting that going one down means the game is practically over. We don't score, they do, so that's it, boo hoo. No wonder the players don't give a shit. We need leaders, experience and players that can shithouse when necessary in this league. We have none of that. They're weak physically and weak minded with a now timid manager. Eckhert isn't solving this any time soon. What a mess.

This. Add in that TE is now afraid to lose the game more than try and win it and it's a combination that just might leave us fighting relegation.

Given that formation appears irrelevant for some, time for TE to test that theory with the primary school 'everyone up top' ploy.

More of the same please. Said nobody. Apart from the players, Tonda and SR. Sigh...

The type of meaningless bull shit we're starting to hear this season from SR reminds me of the board under Michael Wilde all those years ago. I had first hand experience of their crap and they were a bunch of clueless clowns. Things just don't feel right.