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What’s unfolding, in my opinion, shows Nige and his team were the only ones stopping the empire from crumbling down. The club is rotten to the core under the leadership of JL and BT. This what I expected to happen when top-flight experience is replaced with a high-risk gamble from the lower leagues.

The buck stops with Steve. He created this situation, he isolated himself in the boardroom, he made a long line of dismal appointments throughout the club including Jon, Tinnion and Manning. He sets the tone; he needs to go and take all them with him.

Thinking exactly the same with games and Ipswich, West Brom and Leicester three of the next four games this month.

Has it got toxic yet? Lansdowns out.

It has everything to do with who owns the club, I’m afraid. They set the direction, the culture, and everything else that follows. It’s no coincidence that Benham (the Brentford owner) worked for Bloom (the Brighton owner) in Bloom’s business, Premier Bet. You can read about that here. Both of them are very clever chaps. Where else do you think Brighton or Brentford would be now without them?

It’s easy to say follow Brighton, Luton or whoever’s the latest club to overtake us. But in reality, Brighton have an owner who’s a Brighton fan, built a culture on excellence and openness and look where that’s led them. The coach is a small part of the big picture. Look at us under the Lansdowns. SL’s never been a City fan, he’s disposed of anyone who challenges his opinions and quashes openness and excellence. It’s his way or the high way. Despite the ironic naming of the HPC, there’s nothing high performance about us and that extends to Manning IMO.

I definitely remember Ago banging in four at home to St Albans in an early round of the cup in the mid-‘90s.

Spot on. And at the very least, his considerable experience far surpasses anything anyone else currently at the club - on the pitch, on the bench, or in the boardroom - has ever achieved. When was the last time - if ever - we had that experience to call upon? Joe Jordan? And I’m not saying King would have the same impact as JJ in case anyone was ready to shoot that down. It’s a point about tangible football experience, which has been severely lacking throughout the Lansdown era.

Not going to happen, sadly. But I have a nagging feeling that Andy King will be a very decent head coach or manager in the not too distant future and almost certainly not with us.

Hear hear. I don’t want to hear from either of them, and the questions put to them - especially since Twentyman retired - have been dire.

In all seriousness, they could do a lot worse than that. King has achieved more in his distinguished career than most of the squad put together. That alone would command respect, unlike Manning who experienced the peak of his playing career in two years at Leiston, whoever they are.

That’s the point, isn’t it? I repeatedly say I think Pep would fail under the Lansdowns. They are the problem and nothing will change until they and Tinnion go.

Another nepotistic appointment by the Lansdowns, who only give jobs for the boys. Look back over the last two decades and more, and it’s only Pulis and Richard Gould who’ve been head hunted by other employers while in post here. That tells me all I need to know about their appointments and football knowledge. Beyond terrible.

The extra day’s rest and a week on the grass clearly did wonders. I challenge anyone to tell me what progress we’ve made under Manning. That was another abysmal performance.

Heading’s never been his strong point. I actually thought he looked afraid to head the ball a few years ago.

Absolutely this. But my 10p worth is that the odds are against every manager or head coach who works under the Lansdowns and Tinnion. Their legacy is failure. By and large, Manningball doesn’t do it for me so far. I don’t see progress other than those Cup games and I don’t accept the excuses as he has a largely fully fit squad now. Watford away, Boro away for 45 minutes, Southampton at home — great. The rest has been dross and 9 points in 9 games reflects that. @Silvio Dante made the point about his in-game management being his Achilles heel and I’ve seen evidence of that so far, which is another cause for concern. But I think Pep would fail working for this regime.

I loved Ivan, a proper blood-and-thunder central midfielder. Pretty sure his signing-on bonus was a piano for his wife, who was a pro pianist or something like that. I still recall being at the Hawthorns when he did his ACL. We were playing really well that day, deserved to win 2-1 and Lee Hughes scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time. They went up, we went down.

The decision to sack Pearson was made to give us the “best chance of being at the top end of the table THIS season”. So it is highly relevant to quote Tinnion and JL, especially after a return of 9 points in the last 9 league games.

I think that’s fair but where’s the money coming from to move them on or signing better? Cornick, for example, was identified by Gilhespy - along with other forwards who were available at that moment in time - for £300k. We don’t know who else was on that list, but Cornick’s experience ticked a lot of boxes for the powers that be at that time. Mehmeti was a rising talent, according to Sky’s 21 under 21 or whatever it’s called. Why didn’t our recruitment team pick up his lack of athleticism if they were forking out £1m? That was a huge amount of cash post-Covid and in times of austerity. EDIT: Basically, if we want proven quality players, SL has to be prepared to pay for them.

I feel similar, but at least LJ had his winning streaks. With Manning so far, it’s the odd flash in the pan every six or seven games followed by prolonged dross — and today was just that, despite having almost a fully fit squad to pick from.

The gas lost. That’s it

On paper, that was the strongest XI and bench we’ve had since the LJ era. How the hell that translates to a shocking performance like that, I don’t know.

Yep, pretty predictable. We always struggle to break down sides that sit in against us. Same old, really.

Let’s see how we get on tomorrow. We always struggle to break down sides who sit in at the Gate and QPR will be no different tomorrow. It’s games like those we need to consistently win, and don’t we need something like 2pts a game from here on in to even be in with a sniff? Would be incredible if it happens, but the odds are against us and a top-half finish is what I expected at the start of the season. Anything better is a bonus IMO.

I thought he came across well in all honesty, but I’ve got no issue with having ambitious players here who want to achieve something. If he develops, and I suspect he will, he will either be sold for a decent profit as we signed him on a free or we will be kicking on as a club.