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Yeah course. I see huge parallels with Phil Neal. Think he’s took us as far as he can go. Time will look back on him more favourably a bit like Neals time. The right thing to do was call it a day after Wembley. His upwards trajectory can’t continue as we won’t go up. Meaning it will go only one way. Once that’s gone I think there isn’t a lot more to be said. Being 2-0 down to Exeter and finishing with 5 defenders tells me it will never change. Rather than get wound up with another let down season, I’ve pre prepared and I know it’s only 4 games in but it’s another task set that we have failed to deliver on. Not going up last year was criminal.

this is our 4th season in this league we messed the playoff semi up against Barnsley, and bottled the final last year he's lucky we've such understanding owners, I'm not sure he'd still have a job elsewhere celling firmly reached with him

I just can’t see it. I don’t think he sees it like the rest of us. I had this year down as a midtable so I suppose I’m not fussed when they pull the trigger. We’ve gone backwards. Nothing has changed since NYD. 1 in 3 is what we’ve become. These lads can’t play the way he wants. I don’t think that’s on the players. His philosophy is egotistical. The philosophy should be to win games. Hanging your hat on a playing style is bizarre. Nothing will change. He’s the most predictable manager I can recall we’ve had. Not the worst to be clear. Roll on next season. I suspect a few match goers will drop off by then though.

Its a curse on football. Watching Southampton commit suicide in every game so far this season confirms it. Pep not only has created the best team in world football playing his style but he's managed to fuck a shit load of other clubs over that try and copy him. It's like magic. There's only him can cast the spell. The rest just commit football suicide under the pep curse.

I hope it doesn’t get to the stage where fans are singing “Evatt out”. The boos at full time were only a glimpse of how toxic I’ve seen the stadium in recent years. Evatt has done a lot for us and may still turn it around. If I was SB I probably wouldn’t be giving IE an ultimatum of “improve in the next 10 games or you’re gone” but more monitoring the situation as it goes. Someone said before we have to be 1000% sure because it is a massive decision. I’m sure Sharon will take a balanced and pragmatic assessment of the situation and make the best decision for BWFC. I trust Sharon more than I trust anyone else at the club. An earlier exit may save SB and IE some dignity. It’s cliche now but the attached image seems relevant:

Where did I say I was against unions? I was a union official for 5 years and think they have a lot to offer, I am still a member of the union (Unite) and pay my monthly subs, so stop making things up (again) and twisting what people say

It's always a pleasure to see a slum landlord get their comeuppance

I think if he leaves before Christmas, itd be his choice If we are anywhere bottom half by then, who knows However, I do think we will be comfortably top half by then as our players are far better than most of this League Saturday was so depressing, mind I thought back to that Tranmere away game in Div 4 when I couldnt see any hope We hardly lost a game after that!

What utter nonsense.

Think Zog said it on the match thread but we could play 2 at the back and it wouldn't make a difference. It's all about tempo and energy. We spend that long building play and phases the jobs fucked by the time we finally get up the park. I'm not sure you can change that kind of ethos over night. It's been drilled in to em. So bloody basic when you think about it. Just kick the fucking ball faster and run forward more : D

I'm sorry but that ran out In May when it's all said and done we all know the mentality of this team, we need a change

It's the midfield triangle that both drives and protects attacking teams like Liverpool - the three always have 2 CMs and one slightly in front in a 10 role with 2 holding behind but they are free to take advantage of space so if one pushes on to support the WBs and the strikers, the other two drop in to cover. But to play that system you have to have 3 athletes that can both attack and defend as necessary. Out of possession the WBs drop back to protect the wings and we have at least two of the three protecting the centre before they even get anywhere near the back 3 or 4 - works for any system. Matete, George and Demps can do that for us - with Demps predominantly at the point of the triangle, but dropping in if e.g. Matete surges forward as he does when there's space. Get those three working in tandem and we'll be very competitive.

Not a chance in hell. As soon as it looks like we have less than 2 senior players for a position we go out and sign someone or get a loan in. Every single transfer window without fail. Not since imposed transfer ban and we were literally forced to play Holding have we brought a youth player through. Ironically one of our most talented players in the last century. Ahmed got 5 minutes the other night but I genuinely can’t remember any youth player getting any minutes in a league match for years. Not one. Nothing.

Know that feeling. Try not to get overly worked up, but still bloody well rankles, and spoils the evening.

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/dinosaurs/matching-dinosaur-footprints-discovered-on-opposite-sides-of-atlantic-ocean Fascinating, unless they had fucking long legs.

Will you be putting an additional tenner on, if several approach you! 😀

They never call it a philosophy when it's long ball, do they?

I'd say there's quite a few worth more now than when we acquired them.

Many commentators have said that the lack of progress by the Brits was because when we reached our objective we did not keep pushing on but sat down and had a brew instead... "consolidation" is the technical description. There was a notorious incident at Villers Bocage when a column the 7th Royal Tanks had moved into the town, whereupon they settled by the roadside and got the kettle on... A single Tiger tank commanded by the very experienced commander Michael Wittman discovered them, "topped and tailed" the column and then destroyed the trapped vehicles. The casualties were relatively light but he succeeded in single handedly knocking out almost 30 vehicles (half of them tanks), I read in an account his remark to his crew when he saw them parked up brewing tea was something like "bloody hell, the British think they have won the war already"

Nolan was a thought. With a mentor maybe. Holden, seems respected at this level. Neil maybe. Lowe another. I've just tried "Steve Gerrard's Bolton Wanderers" & "Frank Lampard's Bolton Wanderers" & ther don't sound right. Nor does Rooney.

I bear the lad no malice (IE). He has done a pretty good job up until the League One playoff time. Seems to be a step too far for him. Time to move on for the club - now. A proven division winner required. There is still plenty of time for this season to become a successful one. Do it now. Every defeat for IE from here on in will crank up the tension and dissatisfaction.

These 2 points are spot on. And on the second one it's not just Dapo, we've gone to a front 3 at exactly the point we seem least equipped to do it. We've previously had Dapo and Sadlier who specialise in that wide striker role in a front 3, and Bod who would be better than anything we have now in the central striker role.

A few thoughts (sorry - something of an essay); a. The board won't move him on yet. We're a stable club and that comes from consistency and backing people. They've backed him with money (professionally and personally) this summer and in the past, and he deserves the chance to show what he can do with that. 4 games isn't enough to judge! So far it has been disappointing for sure, but let's give the fella some space and time to prove what he can do. He's a huge part of the revival of our football club, and deserves more time. I can see the longer run of form, and of course there are concerns, but we don't need to panic yet. It's a long season. b. I'm surprised it took so long for someone to mention the coaching aspect. Sam Hird left in Jan (I think) and form can be fairly closely linked to his departure. I'll stand by my view that the injuries to key players at the same time were the main reason we missed out last season, but the appointment of Crainey also has to be a clue about what's concerning people behind the scenes. c. My two personal concerns with Evatt as follows. Firstly, his statement that he sat down in the dugout to stop himself from arguing with the fourth official and passing that tension on to his players. His emotions have always been a concern for me (other aspects of his life suggest he's a fairly impulsive person). He really should be able to control his emotions. Secondly, the reaction to last seasons Wembley defeat. This formation change, in my opinion, leaves the game too open in transitions and leaves us vulnerable. Szabolcs Schon doesn't seem to have a clue what his role is (ability still open to question too - he was selected by our new data partners) and, as I mentioned a week or so ago, two players were publicly criticising the changes. Evatt is now in a tricky position. He has to standby his decision to change formation - indeed, we have recruited specifically for it. Unfortunately, this may cost him. Only the board will decide what happens next (I'd be amazed if Evatt resigns - he needs the money). I really want it to work out for him! Gut feeling however - we might be seeing the final weeks. A few tricky results and they'll have to consider what happens next. I'll be gutted for Evatt and Sharon if that's the case - they really have brought our club back from oblivion. None of us should forget that however the Evatt reign unfolds in the coming weeks.

the train, doc and nurses disruption costs the country fortunes the perceived poor pay in the midecal sectors leads to us losing people and gaining more immigrants how can it not make sense to settle the fucking strikes

ive no idea, but no doubt about it, what i watched on saturday was unacceptable...what makes it worse is we still shouldve got something which shows how bad it was i'm not over oxford yet and im sure theres a few round the club not over it well, they need to snap out of it or go players and/or management

Is it not the case that we started last season on fire and everyone thought we were shoe ins for promotion? But in that period even there were warning signs that if a team got it right against us there could be problems. Wigan for example. We then had a knack of always coming out the wrong side of the tight games. Portsmouth away. And struggling when teams started to dominate midfield. I think what happened was injuries piled up but more fundamentally more and more teams started to work out how to stop us. Oxford got blasted at our place but changed their system from that point and knew in the final exactly how to stop us. Once teams found a way to stop us steamrolling them and make games tighter we looked much more vulnerable in general. For whatever reason we didn’t seem able to adapt from what we were doing early in the season which worked but stopped working to anything else. Whether that is down to Evatt and his ability or simply not really having the available players to make an effective change is up for debate.

Needs more than a free transfer. To be honest, it would concern me that yet another body comes in, enlarges the squad further, when he's struggling to accommodate the ones already brought in this closed season. Bigger issues need addressing, and I don't see how, of itself, another player makes everything rosy again.

I agree that a big fee alone shouldn't guarantee anybody games and that they have to earn it. My issue is if the players he has brought in are not part of our best 11 in terms of ability, then it's not a great look. £2m is a lot of money for any team in League One (apart from Brum) to spend on squad players. I think as an investor I would be questioning why that money couldn't have been spent on players that clearly improve the starting 11. If he gets results it obviously matters a lot less, but even then it would make me a bit more reluctant to back him heavily again in future windows. Just my two cents, I'm probably talking absolute bollocks.

Weakness in summer has lead to this start. Should have never been given the resources he has been after the way the season ended, a complete waste of an opportunity for a new man to make an impact and his own signings. If he isn't gone this week he'll be gone at the next International Break and the next manager will have to make do with a squad not set up how they'd like or with any sort of effective system in mind. A mess, basically. One that could have been avoided if Sharon had done the, perhaps ruthless, but correct thing after Wembley.

I'm in that camp. My view in the summer was "sadly, time to go". Only change now is I'm dropping the "sadly". Enjoyed Tuesday, then straight back to same old shite Saturday. No more false dawns for me - time for a change if we want to keep progressing. Hate this feeling, but he's really starting to wind me up now.

This reminded me very much of this: American soldier describing the British Army:- Those Brits are a strange old race. They show affection by abusing each other; will think nothing of casually stopping in the middle of a fire fight for their 'brew up' and eat food that I wouldn't give to a dying dog but, fuck me, I would rather have one British squaddie on my side than an entire battalion of spetznaz! Why? Because the British are the only people in the world who, when the chips are down and there seems no hope left, instead of getting sentimental or hysterical will strap on their pack, charge their rifle, light up a smoke and with a calm and wry grin say "Well, are we going then you wanker?".

The brilliantly named Horatio Nelson Houghton. Can’t quite remember how he’s related to my family but my mum has photos of him. Think he was from Bury Was sent to S Africa I’m guessing in the build up to the first Boer War. Pictured in Durban. Died in Natal 1878

My dad’s dad on HMS Constance in WW1. Back row second from the right

Durham Light Infantry 1917 Another uncle of my mum is last on the right back row. Sadly didn’t make it back home

You asked so in for a penny and all that…… My mum’s uncle in the trenches at The Somme 1916 That pole on the right of the photo, leaning against the sandbags, is what was known as a corkscrew picket. In the early days of trench warfare soldiers would hammer wooden posts into the ground to create a barbed wire barrier. Unfortunately for them the hammering gave their position away and they were picked off by German snipers. The corkscrew allowed them to erect the barrier quietly

Sounds remarkably like having Davies upfront and Diouf and Stelios either side!! 4-5-1 Defending 4-3-3 Attacking. Rocket science it's not.

I honestly think the biggest cunts in this are the Gallagher brothers as they will have absolutely had to agree whether or not to have the dynamic pricing in place. Whether they knew to what extent prices would shoot up, I don’t know, but somehow I don’t think they’d have been too arsed on Saturday afternoon when they undoubtedly found out. Wife is still really keen to go and waits to jump in when re-sale opens, but I’m finding the whole thing has left a really sour taste.

It's not the same though You know before hand prices are increased But you know you'll pay the same as everyone else trying to buy for that week They don't wait till You're checking out to tell you you're paying double the person who was in the queue before you Tickets were advertised at £150 There was zero suggestion it was dynamic pricing or first come first served That's why it's wrong And why its caused a shit storm https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/sep/01/bands-urged-to-oppose-dynamic-pricing-of-concert-tickets-after-oasis-fiasco#Echobox=1725203781

Sick to death of seeing: 1. centreback pass to wingback. 2. wingback has no player ahead of him. 3. wingback turns around and passes back to the centreback. We look so predictable in build up. Clearly doesnt take a tactical genius to nullify us at the moment. Evatt has said on the radio he doesn’t get the obsession with formations. But only twice I can remember him dropping a defender and playing 4-3-3. He also was also on radio bemoaning criticism of no plan B, saying what do people want us to do - go direct? - we don’t have the players for that. Clearly we have capability to change something like… the formation. Give the players something fresh to allow a bit of freedom, we look so rigid. If this is a system-based team that is supposed to be greater than the sum of its parts, the system is not working. Change the formation, change the tempo, mix it up in the game when it needs it. if he can’t do that, he is not capable of getting us promoted this season. Big next few weeks/months ahead for him.

Wigan 10K this morning, unfortunately they gave me this disgusting medal (the stadium being on) Fundraising is going great https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/ryan-hodgson https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266967297474?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=DMPCy_UeSF6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=DMPCy_UeSF6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Fair chance of coming third.

I expect he'll be here for as long as it's felt there's a reasonable possibility of us finishing in the play-off places Given there's greater competition at the sharp end of the table this season, I think it's likely the number of points required to reach that target will be lower than in previous seasons because they'll probably all take points of each other That makes it easier to catch up, and I suspect affords Evatt more time to turn it round, but the concern for me is we simply end up with a repeat of last season, where he does well enough to keep us just about in contention but ultimately not well enough to actually achieve promotion

And… in other news. Manchester United are still shite. 🤣

Aye, spelling is harder... 😁

Especially seen as they lost last week.as well! Primed for another hour or so of a serious looking Neville saying 'Manchester United Football Club' multiple times and Keane going viral after full time.

Go for me, as I think he is shot but I would love to be proved wrong.

Are they encouraged to take a man on though or just pass to someone else then repeat again for them. There’s no individuality under Evatt and other than Dapo there never has been. The fact is Evatt doesn’t like individuals, especially those with a mind of their own which is why we have no leaders on the pitch and never will have under his management.

Unions want times tables and grammar tests "stripped back" as they stress the children. Fucking hell, it just gets worse and worse. Who the fuck are these people and are they happy to produce resilience free children with no skills and readiness for adult life? They need tackling- either crushing or ignoring and marginalising. What a complete shambles.

Final straw for me today. Time to go. He has spent over £2m since the Oxford debacle and we now look a worse team. Sheehan was arguably one of our best players last season (and I'm a fan of his) just looks broken, the team look disjointed and we're stubbornly sticking to a formula that is failing. Another manager gets this squad promoted, the current one doesn't.

He’s house hunting in Liverpool. Looking for a 2 up, 3 down. 😎👍