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I’m sure we’ve got a list of targets already, but there won’t be anything anyone can do about it unless SL loosens the purse strings.

Max has to come for their first goal; anything in the six-yard box from a set piece should be keeper’s. The second’s another soft goal which Cornick or Knight should’ve stopped. 2-0 defeat was better than I expected before kick-off. Pray we get a few off the treatment table for next week, which we simply must win. The sad fact, again, is our first XI probably wins that today.

A mate’s just text me to say Conway’s out today as well. We’ll know for sure at 2pm

As SL once said: “It’s my club and I’ll do what I want” or words to that effect. That’s exactly what he did and let’s see at 5pm to see whether he’s right or wrong. Playing devil’s advocate myself, it’s not beyond the realms that we get thrashed today and Nige gets sacked as a result. That would really show how ******* clueless and inept he really is.

And yet the chance was there to strengthen before the window closed using the Scott cash, not his own, but no. The buck stops with SL.

Roberts should be fit, King’s out, Conway should be rested. My (bare bones) XI:

With a fully fit squad, I’d be very confident of extending our good record there. But with eight or nine first-teamers likely to be out, I’d take a point right now. I can’t see the sense in starting Conway for a third time in seven days when it’s clear he’s easing back from injury and he was anonymous on Weds. Weimann and Bell were poor too, but they have to start due to the lack of depth or trust in Mehmeti. My XI: O’Leary; TGH, Dickie, Pring, Roberts; James, Knight; Sykes, Weimann, Bell; Cornick.

I thought we were marginally better than them before the goal, during which time I’d have put my mortgage on Conway burying that free header, and they looked the better side until half time. After the break, O’Leary only had one proper save to make but I agree we were pedestrian. Our lack of movement off the ball in particular irritated me.

Wasn’t impressed with Ipswich and I don’t get the hype. While we were down to the bare bones are fairly disjointed, their goal was another error from Max and we should really have got a point. Conway should’ve scored and Cornick was unlucky (he had a real impact by the way). I’d back our full strength XI to beat them, but with seven out tonight it was always going to be a big ask. Fine margins and when the luck’s with you, it’s with you as was the case for them.

Fair point. At least Conway and Bell took up a few promising positions, even if they did waste them. Conway looks a bit lost up top on his own, mind.

Thought we were the better side before they scored, Conway had to score with a free header from six yards out and Bell got in behind on the left a few times only to predictably waste it. Initial thought was Max must do better for the goal, but I haven’t seen it back. The goal gave them confidence and they were on top thereafter. Weimann’s been a passenger. Definitely not out of it. COYR. EDIT: Just seen Fordy62’s post and Max 100% at fault. Very poor.

Ipswich are definitely on the crest of a wave but they’re beatable, especially if we are up for it — and with the Pearson rumours added to the snake’s return, I really hope all of us in the stands are up for it too.

I’m still not quite sure how they got relegated. They’re a top-half PL club IMO.

For SL to criticise the snake would mean him admitting to his own failures, and his ego would never allow him to do that. It says plenty about his judgement and reinforces my own opinions of SL — egotistical, neglectful, deluded, incompetent.

I doubt he will, seeing as SL has never criticised the snake for the way he behaved down here. If I was in SL’s shoes and was actively planning to sell the club, I’d be fuming if my CEO led the takeover of another club all while allowing costs to spiral out of control under his watch.

RE stability — bear in mind, Rennie, Fleming, Euell, King and James - all key individuals with top-flight (and in some cases PL- winning) experience are all here because of Nige and will likely leave. Bear in mind Tinnion is the only man with any football experience above the manager. There is nothing stable about that, it looks like a rudderless ship IMO and has the real potential to create a vacuum. This has real potential to create avoidable upheaval — the polar opposite of stability — that risks our status in this league. RE culture — again, that ties in my first point. When Rennie, Fleming and Euell go, followed by King and James next summer, the individuals who were setting the standards of the club will have left. It takes longer than two-and-a-half years to embed culture into the “fabric” of a club, see Sir Alex Ferguson for example. In any case, culture begins at the very top and transcends down. Not here, though, not in the last two decades at least. And ultimately, we have never had a succession plan under the Lansdowns; instead we have leapt from one failed strategy to another. There is a body of evidence spanning 20+ years to show you that it will almost certainly be no different this time around.

We all know SL loves a lap dog manager or head coach who is happy to toe the line and publicly blow smoke up his ass. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s a desirable trait at the interview stages for most employees working in or around the boardroom. The irony is IMO that’s what had created this cosy, soft touch culture which attracted bullshitting, lazy wasters; the sort of culture Nige was hired in part to break up and make more hungry and professional. We were in dire need of an experienced football manager since Cotts left, either that or a sound structure working to clearly defined plan above the manager. I just can’t get my head around the Lansdown’s thought processes at all. So what if they clash with Nige? That’s healthy. And I don’t believe for a second that Hargreaves ever gave SL a free ride in making their billions. They are clueless and delusional in equal measure IMO, and have been for a while now.

What’s my choice? Seeing the Lansdowns hung up by their bootstraps for a public flogging.

Funny you say that, Waconda, because that’s near enough exactly what LJ did to earn a new three-year deal in the expert eyes of SL!

Naismith, Cornick, and Lansdown’s obsession with Luton, it has to Jones, doesn’t it? Stone me.

Exactly this. Not spending a penny of the Scott cash, especially after sailing so close to failing FFP, highlighted to many that Nige is doing the job with his hands tied behind his back. Mix that with more on-the-pitch progress and I think most fans can see we’re finally moving in the right direction after watching years of dross, ultimately caused by SL. After all, he’s the one who brought Ashton in and gave him the keys to the kingdom.

It’s would also be self-destructive and contradictory if SL continues to talk about the desire of getting to the PL. I know that’s a load of bollocks, mind. At the very least, a 12-month rolling contract should be on the table and I completely understand why Nige is irritated by it all.

While I agree with a lot of what you say in general , I don’t agree at all that “it matters not if it’s Pearson or another in the dugout” right now. He is the face of the club, the communicator, the man responsible for bringing through youth, setting the culture, building an identity, reducing costs and has us 8th in the second tier. That’s an unbelievable achievement IMO. I think the situation is so volatile that should he leave, it would create a huge vacuum behind him. There’s no board, most of the coaching staff are here because of him (and would follow him out the door), we have a small and injury-hit squad, and I could only see us capitulating in all probability. When you factor in SL’s track record of appointing managers over more than two decades, and it doesn’t take Einstein to see what’s coming.

Forgot about that but you’re absolutely right. SL rewarded inexperience and bullshit, but ignores experience and progress. That tells us all what he knows about football - **** all. All aboard the Marie Celeste? No thanks, Steve. Close the door on the way out.

**** off, Lansdown