I wasn't grateful for the 10th position. It meant very little when it cost me my interest in watching as a season ticket holder. Me and my dad had decided we weren't going to renew during his final season but thankfully we stayed all the way into League One and back up to the Championship and never once considered not renewing again until I moved away

But there's the expectation that we could do something different, no matter the game. With Allardyce it was the same every week. Occasionally (and I mean super occasionally) he tried to play a bit of football but it was usually against the big teams, away from home, a tactic I think he deployed to point out that it's not worth trying. I'm sure he did it against spurs and won one time but still didn't bother doing it in games he hadn't already written off. There were many games that were dull under Eustace but it was by no means a majority of them. Also, with Eustace, unlike with other recent managers, we weren't beat if we conceded first. Just the fact that the writing wasn't on the wall was such a breath of fresh air even compared to JDT and Mowbray, both of whom I didn't mind

Grateful for him for keeping us up but it should have just been that. He said he was going to play more football than his previous teams had done because he had more of a budget. Anyway, he didn't. Just lumped it up to Kalinic's neck and then blamed anyone who missed half chances. Never took any responsibility. Any draw or win was a relief rather than a celebration and he's dodgy behind the scenes, too. Zero guarantee that he's not out of date in the modern game, as recently as it was that he managed. Very happy he finally got relegated and blotted his record

I'd be more likely to give up on rovers if we took on Allardyce than if Venkys stayed for the rest of my life. I fell out of love with football under him and it's never returned to where it was

All of those games could be against teams not playing for anything. Would rather be playing them then. Even if they are crucial for the opposition it's when teams bottle it. Would rather have the points in the bag early and even if not, I wouldn't put it past us to get some points then

My Boro fan mate is feeling incredibly pessimistic. Said the new signings didn't look very good. He's generally quite optimistic (aside from chances of success in the playoffs given how poor their record is there) and isn't the type to write people off so just the fact that morale is so low for him is a good sign and hopefully indicative of the mood around the club right now. With the amount of sides bunching up into this playoff race, the more teams underperforming the better, especially the more potent ones on paper.

Nothing but respect for Eustace, even with him moving on. He's repeatedly wanted things that can't be offered to him and a job has come up for him. Came in, did what was requested of him by the board in his first season and exceeded expectations in his second part season. Kept it professional, too, with less sniping than JDT and he also got a lot out of players who were expected to achieve much less. Him leaving is due to the specifics of the way we are run rather than greed in his part and there was no sense that the board would be giving him what he needed to kick us on. Would rather him go to Derby than an immediate rival (although maybe they will be next season) and I wish him luck in keeping them up, except when we play him. Hope he gets a warm welcome from the Rovers fans and we beat Derby 5-0. Can see him getting backlash, though, unfortunately.

There seems to be a few refs who don't want to give him anything, as happened last night. Wonderful to reply with the blistering second half performance. Would have been easy to sulk with the lack of protection from the ref but he came out in the second half with a bang. Real maturity. The referee seemed to have a bad game for both teams, us getting things we shouldn't have got, too. But his one consistency was ignoring any foul on Gueye, including the obvious penalty.

I agree that a manager is needed but I was wondering if people would anticipate things would get as bad as the Kean times (in terms of drop) if Venkys did go with a coach

If it's worst case scenario and they've felt burned by the last two good appointments that each lasted a year so go down the Kean style route, are we thinking Lowe will be better than Kean? I would presume so given he's worked with the first team extensively but naturally it wouldn't be my choice. I've been heartened by the level of the candidates that have been at the top of the pile odds wise but then I was when we got JDT and then again when we got Eustace. Each time we've ended up managerless I've always expected the worst and questioned who on earth would come but I guess any championship job can bring someone decent in these days. Now it's a matter of going for one of those names

Sure, go for cunts. Obviously people can go for whatever they want (and that can be praised or critiqued) but when you've got someone here suggesting "vermin" all it takes is one person to come with a banner with that on, or indeed parasite, and you start looking like Burnley. I've heard them come up twice on podcasts where Burnley were mentioned and someone said the only thing they know about Burnley FC is the White Lives Matter flyover. Now the person who suggested parasite (I would presume) wouldn't want their message diluted and made about race in a wider setting than here. Hence why I brought it up. And given the person said that they were using the word very deliberately, I saw it as up for greater scrutiny as there was less room for misunderstanding

Why is it a must win?

And my comment looked like a leap to you but you aren't everyone. So where does that get us? And some others are saying parasite doesn't really fit whereas others think it does. So where are we now?

As with all Championship games it's so difficult to call. A team in good form travel a long distance against a team in turmoil who can seemingly pull out a victory anywhere (though certainly not always). Plymouth are rock bottom of the away form over the season and their recent run of great (but short) form has been at their own ground. If I was still a betting man I'd plump for 2-1 Rovers

Parasite doesn't seem appropriate for what they are doing, though. I could understand parasite being used in some situations towards a large group of people in a social class that wasn't a racial group - eg landlord. It fits in that situation. But aimed at people of a race that do get dehumanised in this country when the word doesn't even really fit seems like something that isn't worth doing

Indeed. I'm only pointing out the connotations. I'm sure the guy isn't racist. But certainly it's wilful neglect at best. I agree that parasite doesn't fit particularly well and given the connotations I wouldn't use that word

It's not a leap to suggest what it looks like and why it would look even worse

Can you thoughtfully choose another word that isn't the kind used by fascists to describe other races? I'm sure you can come up with something else. I strongly dislike Venkys too but there's many words and many metaphors that could be used. It'd be more understandable if you hadn't thoughtfully chosen that word so to advertise it as that looks even more of a red flag

Forshaw* is not shit, as much as people want him to be and seemingly want as many scapegoats as possible. We have worthy scapegoats and they run the club. My username is a reference to a scene from The Graduate

Because we didn't say that we wanted to get rid of Baker. Baker was taken back against our wishes. So we were forced to act. I think that Baker is better, too, but I don't understand the vitriol aimed at Forshaw and I don't think he's crap

At a guess I'd say Venkys are more likely to make him see out the rest of the season. They've had no issue with running down people's contracts or waiting for the right price when it has come to players and it's extra upheaval for them. I presume Derby have had the nod from Eustace or his representative or they wouldn't be chancing their arm, so I doubt there's a long term future at the club but I can't see Venkys letting him move on after sanctioning signings. Whether they should let him go is another matter. I hope he stays and sneaks into the playoffs and that refocuses his commitment but he doesn't owe us anything

I don't understand why people don't understand the position of "if we stay in then it's a confidence boost and a chance of a run" or "if we are out it's a rest and a greater focus on the league". There's positives and negatives both ways. You don't have to be on one side or the other when it comes to the cup. You can care about it and you can not care about it. You can be disappointed and you can be relieved. It doesn't make you more or less of a fan because it can be read many ways

Still don't see him as the boogeyman that this forum sees him as. 4th choice CM on a free, how can you complain?

Can see a point here. Really hoping Trav plays the majority of the game, if not all of it. Extra days rest compared to QPR but a long journey. Absolutely no idea if there will be any debuts but would be nice to see one from the bench at least. I will go 1-1

Do you want to expand? What's been the issue?