Charlie Wayman

This is why we love you. Dogs and bones! Dead horse flogging! As George Formby used to say "Keep it going until we get there!"

Tried to get through the SFC but switchboard unavailable.

If we don't go up there's a better than even's chance that Martin will get the boot and for sure any new manager coming in won't be so easily fooled by Stevens.

None of them look like slipping up so even if we win most of our remaining matches no way will we be catching them. Might as well stop striving for the nigh impossible, stay solid and ensure our position in the play offs v WBA (H and A).

You shouldn't rule out that he might be back here in the summer especially if we make it to the upper tier.

Some clubs live beyond their means just as some people live beyond their means. External controls are necessary because these clubs and people seemingly can't help themselves. The whole point of regulation is to curb their excesses and return them to a sustainable pathway. The temptations are self evident for both. It helps nobody if clubs end up destitute or going out of business. The Premier League financial model is deeply flawed and is in danger of spiralling out of control. There is mounting evidence that a tipping point is fast approaching. Lower wages and lower transfer fees must be the goal but how you get there is problematic.

Dread the thought. He's done all can do here, time for us and him to move on. In my view he is in for a tough future and will find it hard to pick up a new contract anywhere especially one that pays him near what he is getting at SFC. He is an appalling finisher, clumsy on the ball and has the vision of a blinkered horse. I doubt many FL clubs have a vacancy specifically for that type of striker let alone struggling PL sides who need goals, goals, goals.

Nobody could ever accuse you of going OTT that's for sure. Twitter works perfectly decently for perfectly decent people of which I am one.

I cannot comment much on the match performance as I didn't see it either live or streamed but I did catch Martin's usual post-match bullshit rhetoric about being angry, very poor defending and giving away sloppy goals while heaping the blame on himself and his coaches, saying that they need to address the problem! He's sounding more and more like a stuck record every week. Funny thing is that despite all of this verbal nonsense seemingly nothing is ever done about our defending and nothing changes. Should we conclude that he and his coaches are clueless when it comes to sorting out our defending problems or are the players incapable of adapting their game to improve the situation. 4-3 may sound exciting and probably was for the stalwarts who trekked up to Birmingham yesterday but it won't cut the mustard in the Premier League. Ah! I hear you say that in the summer we will buy better quality players than Manning and Stevens to improve our defence so all will be well. Wanna bet?

With my line up we would have won, with Martin's toothless front three we'll lose. Simple. 2-0 to Birmingham, over and out. Can only assume Manning knows for too much about where the bodies are buried 'cos sure as hell he ain't getting picked on football merit.

That red was one of the most appalling and stupid I've seen, deliberate assault on the Leeds player in front of the ref. Presumably the ref reports what he saw so hopefully there will be other sanctions on the Huddersfield player from the FL.

Bazunu Bree THB Bednarek Stevens Smallbone Downes S Armstrong Edozie Mara Sulemana The front three started well against the Scousers and deserve another chance especially as they are our future. Let's face it when he brought on the tired old brigade of CA/AA on Wednesday they contributed the square root of bugger-all and do not deserve selection ahead of our kids. I'm dubious about Brooks as a starter as he won't be here next season and hasn't set the place alight so far this. I am assuming Stuart A is fit to go.

Of course but when you're stuck with three of the worst strikers ever in Adams, Armstrong & Mara then it's not so easy.

With the caveat "when it works as intended". Obviously it doesn't work very well when teams press hard and give us little space and Martin needs to find a solution for this. Mindlessly dicking around at the back for 5 minutes when we can't find a way out thus giving teams time to re-set their defence isn't a solution. I think that is what Wade is trying to convey When we move the ball around accurately and quickly with people running into spaces at will as we did against Swansea then it is a delight to watch. Even Man City have off days but they are seem able to sort themselves out very quickly.

You've heard what Martin has to say about other team's players, he takes no interest in what their line up may be but concentrates on his own team selection and the type of opposition he is faced with; will they press, will they sit back etc. Opposition managers' probably have a very similar take to us in their preparations for the match. Very unlikely they are going to have a sleepless night worrying about whether Downes will be back or not.

Isn't he the bloke who is supposed to be training our team. You get out what you put in. It's all down to him. Maybe time for a change?

Once Sulemana went off our attacking threat completely disappeared. Martin doesn't like him that's obvious but AA should have replaced Mara and left our two wingers to exploit the wide spaces. Our subs were a disgrace, no effort, no conviction and no impact. AA did nothing, Adams was invisible and Smallbone beyond awful. If this was a shop window for some of our players then it was more Primark than John Lewis. That's 4 defeats from 5 and it will be difficult to turn this around at this stage of the season especially with a lengthening injury list. Sorry to say we look less and less convincing with every match. The promotion dream is fading quickly.

To be fair to Martin he has had only a single season at a totally new club to teach his methods, recruit a reliable and resilient team and hone their skills to play the way he wants them to play and be expected to gain promotion at the first attempt. On that basis he has over-achieved by any measure of reasonable expectation as witnessed by our recent record unbeaten run of matches. Bear in mind too the pressures on him of knowing that anything less than promotion this season will be regarded widely as failure and that he won't have the luxury of a second season with his current first choice squad of players as many will de-camp in the summer. By comparison our three challengers have had mostly settled teams this season that have played together for a season or two before.

We didn't miss it, his appointment might tip the scales.

Just building a Championship level management team for the next few seasons.

We used to call people like him "fair weather friends". I don't dislike him but I don't trust him.

the play off order is most likely to be Ipswich Southampton Hull WBA so, Ipswich v WBA; Southampton v Hull Probably this will be as far as we go.

Correct! Don't be mislead by all the bluff and bluster on this thread, most people realise that we stand no chance at all against arguably the currently best team in the world. in the heady days of the win against Swansea when we purred like a well oiled machine and didn't put a pass astray maybe there was an outside chance of an upset but now we are in a completely different place with an unsettled and poorly structured team that has lost its coordination and intent.

That's not fair, Martin was moaning at the poor sod almost from the moment he came on, never had a chance to express his talent and as far as Martin was concerned he couldn't do anything right. Obvious that Martin doesn't rate him. One player we will lose in the summer whatever happens. I think we are gradually seeing the real Russell Martin now, it will be the players fault not the coaches if we fail to get promoted.

Look on the bright side, we get to keep Manning, Bree, Stephens and McCarthy if we stay in the Championship.