Leveller

There’s admittedly no point in sacking Pearson - he may as well be given time to see what he can do. However, it’s difficult to see why he’s still getting the hero treatment when he has made almost no progress in improving performances after the best part of a year. Oddly, Dean Holden still gets virtually zero understanding, despite having been dealt almost the same hand and doing no worse.

No point in criticising strikers until the lot behind them can create chances.

Bruce has said he'll probably retire. But also "never say never". Boro when Warnock goes?

I was a bit surprised to see “Brooks 7” warming up on the pitch. Then I realised there are about twenty of them!

OK, it’s only a minor curiosity. However, I’ve just watched the recent ITV documentary on one of my heroes Jimmy Greaves. Showing his league debut for Chelsea in 1957, footage of the players running out revealed one Alan Dicks a couple of places in front of him - they were in the same starting lineup. Its a funny old game.

Nowhere near as bad as Kane though.

Are there footnotes anywhere to explain this sentence?

Oh yes it has! I agree though - the first game after promotion to the First Division after decades away, and the fixture seemed to be a cruel one, with the danger of a thumping. Then to win it, and to be there!

I totally agree - I was just fending off the anti Lansdown jibes in advance. SL’s strategy benefits the club; we just need better recruitment and management to use the FFP budget more effectively.

It would be interesting to see how BCFC compared with that list, considering the stadium and training ground costs. That’s one area where the Lansdown regime has really performed. And yes, I understand the argument that SL is just increasing the value of his investment at the expense of overspending on the squad.

Logically though it could work, if each team was obliged to have a set number of men and women.

Looks like the pitch has been singed! I wonder if that can be fixed in time.

I find it fascinating that there is in depth analysis of the accounts on OTIB, while there seems to be very little actual analysis in the Derby forum.

I’m sure there was a TV documentary about that.

Am I the only person who didn’t know the CSF still existed? Are they all pensioners now are are there young ones?

Well for a start, I imagine that numerically the Uighur abuses outweigh any abuses of people in Saudi Arabia. Then we have the joys of the Cultural Revolution, the annexation of Tibet, the crushing of Hong Kong. It all depends how far back you go and how much you value the switch from real communism to the weird state controlled capitalism they have moved to. It’s a vastly bigger place of course, so you can argue numerically or otherwise.

Lots of comments along these lines, but there seem to be few objections to Abramovich or Chinese owners. I doubt the Saudis are anywhere near as bad as the Chinese on human rights issues.

Well eventually, the level of funds that have available could and should project them on the same sort of improvement that Man City went through - if they are fully committed.

Some little lads have innate talent that gets nurtured. Some little lads are naturally clumsy with no ball skill. You can’t nurture ANY lad into a skilled footballer. So yes, there is an an element of varied levels of natural ability.

Went to Newcastle for the first time recently - I was hugely disappointed. Quite nice around the riverside, otherwise, meh.

Rovers top of League Two! (FG)

He and the coaches need to accept that his potential is as an attacker running with the ball, because he doesn’t really cut it as a meat and potatoes midfielder. Unleash the potential.

You’re treating SL as if he is a scheming villain though, when in fact he is a well meaning owner who has underachieved but pulled no underhand or illegal stunts to get the club in trouble.

Mel Morris. Compare and contrast.

He’s a goal poacher not a target man. On the rare occasions the rest of the team get the ball near the area, he looks a threat.