Midlands Robin

If.....you can keep your head while all around you are losing theirs. Mike Bassett

Face it, we could put Pep or Jurgen in charge of this side and the results would be the same. We simply aren't good enough. We are in this for the long haul until we can develop a better squad of players.

No ******* way !!!!

If he was any further ahead of the last man he would have been sat in the Atyeo. Even so, it's been all Forest since the break.

It does seem, by virtue of FFP and the effects of the last 18 months, we are back to the master plan of buy low, develop and sell high because we have no other option. Apart from the academy where we have day to day oversight of player development, we will have to rely on traditional scouting and talent spotting methods. The Mark Ashton approach of buy 3 or 4 players at a time, most costing a 7 figure sum, can't cut it anymore as we don't have the flexibility to chuck money on "ones for the future". The encouraging signs are, of George Tanner is anything to go by, that we may be able to successfully overhaul the squad for a reasonably low cost and free up cash again for further development in the future.

Even taking Covid into consideration, the way we've got ourselves to where we are now from the start of the 2019/20 season has been an absolute shit show. We can point the finger of blame at several obvious candidates but that won't do us any good now. The real problem we face is that the sale of probably our most bankable players (arguably HNM and Bentley) will only harm the squad and would likely cost as much as we make on the sale to replace. Apart from the two I've mentioned, the sale of anyone else won't change our circumstances. For example, If Wells goes we aren't going to get anything like what we paid for him. We have to face the fact that we are in for a long rebuild over several seasons and hoping that the academy grads and younger members of the squad develop into the team we hope they can be. I'd be quite surprised if we didn't dip into the loan market in January. I can only think we haven't done so yet as the quality of player may not have been available. It would certainly help strengthen the squad without the worry of transfer fees and FFP concerns.

This is why Premiership under 21 sides were introduced into this cup. It's not about playing "men's level" football. It's all about showing the young players that if they don't work hard and train like their lives depended on it they could see their playing days expire in shit holes like the Mem. If that isn't enough to inspire the next generation of talent I don't know what is.

I heard Russell Slade talking to Colin Murray on Radio 5 about this issue tonight. I was left with the overwhelming feeling that the amount the players care about the use of their data is inversely proportional to the amount of money they'll receive for its use.

Good question. I have no idea. It would be cool to see it. Edit: I seem to remember there is a rule at junior levels that bans mixed teams from a certain age but I don't know if that applies all the way up. I think it does though.

Slightly off topic but I was quite surprised to read today that in American Football there is no rule in the game that says that NFL teams can't be mixed. It hasn't happened yet but there are apparently a few mixed teams at lower levels.

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant consistently back at that number week in week out. Agree with you that the Bournemouth game will see a decent number.

As I've always said, a players talent has a ceiling but a players transfer fee doesn't.

David "Navy" Seal

Since coming out of lockdown it seems crowds are down all over the country. I think it's going to be a while before we get back to the mid to low 20's. The slowly improving performances are helping.

Driving the kids to swimming lessons tonight having to suffer "Toon" fans saying how hard done by they've been over the last 14 years and how they'll be in the Champions league final in 10 years time. Sounds like buying a trophy is really easy

@Robbored, The Mona Lisa is a dull painting of a fairly ordinary bint with no eyebrows. It doesn't stop millions of people flocking to see it and some to declare it a masterpiece. Jacki was fantastic on his day. He's probably one of the reasons why I'm still going to games 30 years later. A brief shining light for sure and sod all use when you're a goal down in the pouring rain on a cold Tuesday night in November. Sod it though, I loved his skill then and I still love it now. As for Osman, he was happy with the exciting likes of Ian Brown, Henry Mckop, Rodney McAree, Colin Loss and Scott Paterson. Ooooooh thrilling.

Let's just take a moment to reflect on what Garner has done so far at Swindle. He almost certainly got the job because after his disastrous spell in charge of the sags he was more likely to get an offer of a job flipping burgers than managing a team. He took over a basket case of a side with no clear indication that the situation would improve. He had a handful of pro's on the books and a few more kids. Barely enough to field 11 players and a subs bench. He had no pre-season friendlies left to play and what remained of the squads pre season was almost non existent. He signed a few players on a budget of a few quid but had little time for anything else. SInce then he's melded a squad together, only lost 2 of his first 10 games and has Swindon comfortably sitting in the top 6. Time will tell if this nothing more than a dead cat bounce but fair play to the man, he's certainly done some repairs to his reputation so far. Bet he couldn't wait for that post match chat with Biffer

I wonder what he thinks of 9/11, 5G Mobile Phone equipment and the Covid Vaccine? ?

Their keeper pulled off a couple of great saves didn't he.

Surprised how quickly Tanner has gone from future potential to first choice. He does look good pressing forward and has settled into the side well which is great. Obviously he's had a steep learning curve but looks to be the real deal. Yeah. The 3pm no domestic TV coverage rule is now back in force because crowds have returned.

You're not wrong. He looked absolutely knackered when he came off but you can't buy that level of heart on the pitch. Great performance.

Cracking game. Slow start for Briz but came back hard in the second half. Most importantly, Briz's discipline was much improved and it was Bath who made the more costly.mistakes as the game drew on. Great interview with Kyle Sinckler afterwards.

Went to the Hawthorns last time we played there on a Tuesday night. Tidy ground and a decent away end. Just a shame they hammered us.

1 point from 7 games. Hughton sacked. 7 points from 3 games. And suddenly the Forest players remember how to play football. How very strange. ?

Most of our players have spent the bulk of the match kicking the ball 3 yards with the power of someone trying to kick it 30 yards. We've looked out of sorts for long periods.