You're right, old age making a fool of me. Marcus is indeed who I'm talking about there.

The only way JDT leaves is if he walks, and whilst I wouldn't blame him at this point, I don't think anything like that is imminent. We'll get on another decent run eventually, as always eventually happens. Might even get back to within a sniff of the playoffs before falling short as is customary. More than likely I think we'll just finish lower mid-table this year, which will be an achievement considering the clowns operating and owning the club leaving us with a threadbare squad and a wage budget rivalling Plymouth and Rotherham. It's not impossible for us to run into major problems this season, but I'm mostly fearful about how horrific next season is likely to be unless a miracle happens and Venky's sell up.

Yeah I'd probably go with Spurr. No world beater but you'd get a 6 or 7/10 from him consistently. Very rarely below or above that, but he was steady. Nyambe too injury prone and lacking in supporting the attack, although he wasn't bad either. Always felt like Martin was a pretty big downgrade on his brother. Can remember the year he won player of the season his highlight package was comedically anaemic. From memory he was okay, but yeah, a long time ago now. As was Spurr tbf.

Just have to hope they don't score first.

Catching up to Rotherham now as the league's worst defence. This can't go on for much longer.

Rovers season of festive misery continues, but nonetheless... Knowing that Ipswich had a difficult game at home to Leicester, Leeds would have seen a trip to Preston as a good chance to continue to gain ground on the Tractor Boys, having beaten them 4-0 last time out to reduce the gap between second and third. Leeds have a habit of failing to capitalise on these opportunities, though, and once again spurned their chance as they lost 2-1. The game was goalless at half time, but just eight minutes after the interval Leeds keeper Illan Meslier lost his head, goaded into shoving Preston's Milutin Osmajic in the face and subsequently receiving his marching orders. Things got even worse for Leeds as within four minutes of the sending off they went 1-0 down. They then clawed back to 1-1 with an 83rd minute penalty, but would lose the game to a stunning 89th minute strike from Liam Millar. Leeds' recent inconsistency causes them to slip to 4th, whilst a second win in four games for PNE lifts them to 9th position, one point from the playoffs. At the other end of the table, Millwall and QPR faced off at the Den in a relegation six pointer. Despite not winning in seven games at home, Joe Edwards' side finally found some gusto and ran out 2-0 victors. Despite looking like they were beginning to mount a revival, QPR have now lost three in a row and find themselves back to being five points from safety, having been just a point from escaping the drop only a few games ago. If they do go down, one imagines the last three games will be seen as a pivotal period in their season. It's a big result for the Lions, on the other hand, and moves them six points clear of QPR in 22nd - albeit remaining in 20th position. Plymouth haven't won a game on the road yet since returning to the Championship, and that record remained in tact as they drew 2-2 with Cardiff in Wales. Considering the club are still reeling from Steven Schumacher's departure and were 2-1 down in this one, though, they'll surely be happy to have collected their fifth away point of the season. Cardiff have been on an unstable run of form lately and manager Erol Bulut would have desperately wanted three points from this one, with owner Vincent Tan in the stands for the first time since November 2022. A point leaves Cardiff in 11th, two points from the playoffs, whilst Plymouth sit in 16th - both eight points from the playoffs and from the relegation zone. Coventry have been in good form lately, and that continued at the CBS Arena as they comfortably dispatched Sheffield Wednesday with a 2-0 win. Coventry's Liam Kitching and Wednesday's Bambo Diaby managed to get themselves sent off just after the game ended, as they got into an unnecessary scuffle post-match. The Sky Blues are now unbeaten in five games and climb to 13th whilst, much like fellow strugglers QPR, the Owls mini-revival appears to have come to an end. They've now lost three of their last four games and remain in 23rd, nine points adrift of Huddersfield in 21st. Coventry, alternatively, will be eyeing a second half of the season playoff charge as they sit just three points from the top six. Rovers' playoff hopes meanwhile continue to go up in smoke as an embarrassing display saw JDT's "men" beaten 3-0 by Huddersfield at the John Smith's Stadium. It was a first home win since October for the Terriers, and it's the first time this season they've scored three goals. It was the same when Sheffield Wednesday put three past us a few weeks ago. Hardly a surprise to discover that Rovers are the second-most charitable defence in the division, having conceded a terrible 43 goals in 24 matches, with bottom-placed Rotherham the only worse team with 47 goals conceded. Rovers are doing their best to take top spot though. A fourth loss in five games sees our rapid descent down the table continue, as we fall to 15th. At this point we're still only five points off the playoffs, somehow, but they seem like more of a pipe dream than ever at the moment. Huddersfield meanwhile will welcome these three points gratefully. Despite remaining in 21st, they pull five points clear of QPR in 22nd. Despite the doom and gloom around Sunderland upon the appointment of Michael Beale, the Black Cats' new manager made his case with an impressive 1-0 away win over Hull City. It was a second defeat in a row for the Tigers, and this loss meant that they swapped places with Sunderland, giving up 6th place and dropping to 7th. Sunderland end a two game losing streak, and once again find themselves sneaking into the top six. After twelve long games without a win, fortune finally smiled on Rotherham as they beat Middlesbrough at the New York Stadium with their only shot on target. Despite utterly dominating the match, with twenty shots to their opponents' three, Michael Carrick's Boro were unable to put the ball in the net and were duly punished in the 72nd minute. It's a first win for recently-appointed Leam Richardson, who will be heartened by the result if not necessarily the performance of his team. Three points brings Rotherham level with Sheffield Wednesday on points, but they remain bottom due to their GD being worse. The Millers are nine points from safety as it stands. Boro slip to 14th, with three defeats in their last five matches. Recent focus has been on Leeds potentially catching up with Ipswich, but Southampton have been quietly sneaking up on both teams and a 5-0 home victory over an overwhelmed Swansea team saw the Saints jump up to 3rd position in the table, leapfrogging Leeds and bringing them to within five points of a stuttering Ipswich Town. Russell Martin saw his former club collapse in the final twenty minutes or so of this match, conceding three in that time and turning a respectable 2-0 into a rough 5-0 defeat. Whilst Swansea's overall form hasn't been too bad lately, with seven points taken from the last fifteen available, conceding five goals without reply dents their goal difference to -5 and drops them below Plymouth as a result, into 17th place. Watford seemed to be heading in the right direction as of late, with two victories in their last two outings facilitating a rise up the table. The Hornets' optimism was cut brutally short on boxing day, however, as Liam Manning's erratic Bristol City side ran riot and ended up walking away from Vicarage Road with three points and a resounding 4-1 scoreline. Manning seems to have started getting his ideas across to his players, as this is Bristol City's third win in a row and a result that pushes them up to 8th, just a point from the playoff places. Valerien Ismael's team, meanwhile, will go back to the drawing board as they drop to 10th place - but are themselves still only two points from 6th spot. West Brom, who had only won one of the last five matches, welcomed a Norwich side to the Hawthorns who were unbeaten in five league matches. Carolos Corberan's men were aided in their endeavours by Norwich's Borja Sainz, who managed to get himself two bookings in three minutes. After a poor tackle caused him to end up in the book, he then shortly afterwards decided to wave an imaginary yellow at the referee - who promptly responded with a real one of his own, sending the Spaniard down the tunnel with just 33 minutes played. WBA ultimately took advantage of their numerical supremacy, scoring in the 50th minute and holding on for a 1-0 victory which keeps them in 5th spot - a position that they've become very comfortable in. Norwich drop to 12th, but due to the congested nature of the Championship top half remain just two points from a playoff place. The first of two late kick offs saw Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City™ take on Stoke City, under new boss Steven Schumacher, at St. Andrews. Big Club, fearless as always, repeated their trick from Saturday of allowing their opponents to put three past them. However, unlike their last game against Plymouth, they were unable to respond in kind, and just one goal in reply led to a 3-1 defeat and a hearty round of boos from the home support at both half and full-time. Nostalgic memories of South Africa 2010 for Wayne, just minus the vuvuzela's. Anyhow, Rooney has now managed a disastrous two wins from his first thirteen games in charge of Big Club, and said post-match that he would have substituted the entire first eleven at half time if he could. I'm sure that will help morale. Birmingham now fall below Stoke into 18th on goal difference, with Stoke taking Birmingham's place and climbing to 17th, having won their first match in nine games - a run that included defeats to Rovers, QPR, Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday. The Potters can only hope this is the beginning of a revival. The final match of the Championship's boxing day extravaganza saw second-placed Ipswich Town host top of the table Leicester at Portman Road in a clash that promised much but didn't hugely deliver on the goalscoring front. Leicester went a goal ahead and it seemed like that was how it would end, until a dramatic 93rd minute own goal from the Foxes' Jannik Vestergaard sent the home crowd wild and ensured the points would be shared in Suffolk. Whilst Ipswich will undoubtedly be very happy to have come away with a point here, it's a third match without winning, and two points from nine has given the teams below them a chance to catch up. Leeds have largely wasted multiple opportunities to close the gap, but Southampton have been more ruthless, and three wins in a row has seen the Saints pull to within five points of Ipswich. With the likes of Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull on Southampton's fixture list in the near future, Ipswich will know that they likely cannot afford for this bad run to go on for much longer if they plan to stay in the top two. Leicester remain six points clear of Ipswich and eleven clear of Southampton, having not lost in eight matches.

Agreed. Unfortunately his injury record suggests he isn't somebody we'll be able to rely on for much more than half a season, if we're lucky, though.

He's like the majority of our squad in that he can look quite handy when we're in the ascendency or in the lead, but goes into his shell and hides when the opposite is true. We have a glaring lack of leaders in the squad who can take players like Brittain (metaphorically) by the scruff of the neck and sort them out. Szmodics is probably the only player I'd put in that category, but he can't do it alone. It's why we can't come back from going behind and collapse against otherwise poor teams.

Probably wasn't much if any better under Mowbray post-L1 tbf. It's been an issue for literally years now.

I believe JDT is sorry and feels embarrassed. Not convinced the players feel the same. How many winners in that team who are genuinely sore if we lose compared to passives who shrug their shoulders and forget about it soon afterwards?

That one still sticks in my craw too, although I was genuinely surprised how many didn't seem bothered that a Rovers team did not show up to compete against Burnley. Sign of the times perhaps. The 4-0 against Rotherham shortly afterwards was almost as bad. Preston smashing us 4-1 at Ewood around that time was similarly embarrassing. We ended up putting that period behind us, and hopefully we'll do so again this season, but it's hard to trust many of the players who were a part of those performances again.

Huddersfield haven't won at home since October when they beat QPR. I believe this is also the first time in the entire season where they've scored three goals.

I assume Telalovic has looked as useless as in all his previous outings?

We'll stay up this season, how comfortably I'm not sure right now. Probably depends how fortunate we are with injuries in the second half of the season. Have to assume if JDT is offered anything remotely decent in the summer (or before) he will be off sharpish. Venky's will still likely only be able to cover costs at best and refuse/be unable to provide anything meaningful for transfers. At that point we are probably fucked. Next season could be really grim and make this season look like sunshine and rainbows in comparison.

No worries though boys, we have Gallagher and Hedges returning soon. Plus JRC for a few matches before he inevitably gets injured again.

Make that 43.

Goes beyond the last 3 games tbf, we've let in 42 goals in 24 games. Worse than Sheff Weds, worse than QPR. Second worst in the division behind Rotherham who are bottom. We are terrible defensively.

Could have done this as soon as they went 1-0 up tbf. Game was over from that point onwards.

What a sad situation we are in. Just feel sorry for the fans who travelled to watch this.

Leeds really don't want to go up automatically, do they? Imagine doing the hard work of beating Ipswich (handily) only to then go and lose to Preston. A good chance of Ipswich dropping points again today against Leicester, too.

I'm in Finland this year so a proper white Christmas for me for the first time in my memory! A good one to you and yours as well 👍

Ho ho ho, the festive fixtures have begun. Two games on Friday 22nd... Liam Manning has had a rocky start to life as Bristol City manager, but his side secured a second win in a row for the first time since February as they beat Hull 3-2 at Ashton Gate. The Robins were 2-1 down at half time, but a spirited second half showing ensured they came away with all three points. Post-match Liam Rosenior claimed his side were by far the superior team, but BC's 19 shots to Hull's 15 suggests this might have been some sour grapes on his behalf. The result leaves Bristol City in 12th, whilst Hull manage to hold on to 6th spot for the time being, but three defeats in their last five matches will be a cause for concern. Swansea have a pretty terrible home record, so were thankful that PNE were up next, and they duly recorded just their third home win of the season with a 2-1 victory. Even better, the Swans scored in the 95th minute to win the match. Swansea have been without a manager since Michael Duff's departure eighteen days prior. There were chants against the owners at the Swansea.com stadium from the disgruntled home support, but ultimately they were sent home happy courtesy of the ever-hospitable Preston. Three points lifts Swansea to 16th, having taken eight points from the last fifteen available. Preston tumble all the way down to 13th, their dismal form finally starting to be reflected in their league position. They have picked up just four points from the last fifteen on offer, and their GD of -11 is the worst outside of the bottom four. They also have the joint-second worst defence in the division with 40 goals conceded in 23 games... a record they unfortunately share with us. Saturday's games began with 3rd placed Leeds taking on the team above them, 2nd placed Ipswich Town, at Elland Road. One would have expected a tightly-contested match, but what transpired what very different. Leeds dominated Ipswich and ran out deserved 4-0 winners, delivering what must be a heavy psychological blow to an Ipswich team who have been massively overachieving thus far this season. Leeds seem to have Ipswich's number, as they also put four past the Tractor Boys at Portman Road earlier in the season, and of Ipswich's three defeats, Leeds have inflicted two of them. One does wonder if it gives some credence to the suggestion of certain teams raising their game for bigger clubs, as it's somewhat odd that Ipswich have been handily beaten twice by Leeds and yet no other team in the division except WBA has been able to defeat them, despite Leeds having lost one and drawn two more than Ipswich. Anyway, whilst this was a good victory for Leeds, their failure to capitalise on Ipswich's slip up against Rotherham last week means that they are still seven points behind the Blues. Ipswich fall six points behind Leicester at the top of the table, but remain in 2nd. Normally when Rovers go a goal up at home it ends well for us. Against Watford, however, goals in the 83rd and 87th minute meant that we slipped to our seventh home defeat of the season in a 2-1 defeat. Any suggestions of luck for Watford should be tempered by the memory of our early season encounter at Vicarage Road, which was the definition of a smash-and-grab as Rovers somehow walked away with a 1-0 win despite being dominated. A fourth defeat in five matches means that Rovers descend to 14th place. We've now lost four of the last five matches, have the second worst defence in the division, have lost more than any team outside the bottom three, five points from the playoffs and probably have no transfer budget to work with in January. Happy Christmas. Watford in contrast are seeing their season revived, and ten points taken from the last fifteen sees them rise to 7th, just two points from the playoff positions. Three second-half goals from Leicester secured a routine victory against bottom placed Rotherham at the King Power Stadium. It was an embarrassing mismatch, with Leicester having twenty-four shots to Rotherham's two. It was very much a Premier League versus League One clash, and as of next season that is most likely where both of these clubs will reside. Leicester are thirteen points clear of Leeds in 3rd and pull eight points clear of Ipswich in 2nd. They also draw level with Ipswich as the league's top goalscorers with 47 goals. Rotherham's Leam Richardson continues to wait for his first win, having seen his side lose all three of his first games in charge. The Millers have not won a match in the league since October 25th - a run stretching eleven games. They play us on Jan 1st though, so their run probably won't go beyond thirteen games. Boro continued to pull out of their recent nosedive with a second consecutive win - narrow 1-0 home victory over a WBA side who have found themselves having a bit of a wobble as of late, with this being their third defeat in five games, having only won one of those five. Boro climb to 11th, three points from the playoff spots. WBA remain in 5th but have seen their advantage over the teams below them eroded, now looking over their shoulders as Watford and Norwich are within two points of them. Speaking of Norwich, they are another team experiencing a revival from a poor early campaign. Their rejuvenation continued with a comfortable 2-0 victory over the ever-dismal Huddersfield, and eleven points from the last fifteen available has propelled Norwich to 8th, just two points from the playoff positions. Boss David Wagner will be especially pleased with a rare clean sheet, with Rovers and Preston now overtaking the Canaries in terms of having the second-worst defence in the division. Huddersfield have collected just three points from the last fifteen, but remain in 21st simply due to the sheer ineptitude of the teams below them thus far. As far as inept teams go, Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City™ continue to fear nothing but winning matches as they threw away a 3-1 lead away to Plymouth, drawing an entertaining game 3-3. Plymouth began life after Steven Schumacher in concerning fashion as they found themselves 3-1 down by the 62nd minute. However, Krystian Bielik had given them a lifeline in the 48th minute by getting himself sent off for Big Club, and it was enough for Plymouth to rescue a point, scoring the equalising goal in the 86th minute. Two wins in twelve paints a dismal picture for Rooney when it comes to his impact as manager at Birmingham, and his team drop to 18th in the table. Plymouth drop to 17th, remaining ahead of Birmingham on goal difference. QPR have shown major improvement since Gareth Ainsworth's removal as manager, but Marti Cifuentes' men were unable to overcome Southampton at Loftus Road, falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat in a decently contested match. Southampton were reduced to 10 men, but it was so late in the match - 89 minutes - that QPR did not have much time to take advantage of their numerical advantage. The Saints remain in 4th, level on points with 3rd-placed Leeds and seven points from Ipswich in 2nd. QPR, for the third match in a row, fail to take a chance to move out of the relegation zone and stay stuck in 22nd. Sheffield's Wednesday's victory over Rovers a few weeks ago sparked somewhat of a resurrection, as they went on to win another two of their next three matches. Danny Rohl's men looked like they were on their way to making that four wins out of five, 1-0 up at Hillsborough against Cardiff with the match drawing to a close. However, Karlan Grant equalised against the run of play in the 74th minute for the Bluebirds, and a cruel 88th minute own goal from the Owls' Akin Famewo meant that Cardiff ultimately took all three points. The Welsh club had lost three of their last four, and performance-wise deserved to lose this one too, but a fortunate victory lifts them to 10th in the table, three points from the playoffs. Wednesday stay in 23rd, six points behind Huddersfield in 21st. Steven Schumacher couldn't have asked for a much better first game as Stoke boss, as his side took on a Millwall side who had not won a match in seven games, and did so at home. Stoke themselves have not won in eight, however, and there was no instant magic touch from Schumacher as his side shared the points in a 0-0 draw. With that said, Stoke had 19 shots compared to Millwall's 2, so they certainly should have won. Their goal haul of just 21 this season is one of the lowest in the division and something the new manager will need to address if his side are to pull themselves up the table from their current position of 19th, four points from the relegation zone. Meanwhile Joe Edwards continues to struggle to make much positive change at Millwall, with his side in 20th place and three points from QPR in 22nd. Sunderland's owners made what seems to be a unanimously unpopular decision, from the supporters' perspective at least, by appointing Michael Beale as Tony Mowbray's replacement. It's difficult to really make sense of the decision, honestly, but I'm sure that there's a data model somewhere with an algorithm that pinpoints Beale as the man to take the club forward. He didn't get off to a very good start here, though, as the Black Cats succumbed to a desperately poor 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Coventry. It was a second victory in four games for the Sky Blues and moves them up to 15th in the table, ten points from the relegation zone and six from the playoffs. Sunderland fall to 9th, having now lost two in a row and with little prospect of a new manager bounce occurring as the mood at the club remains dark following Mowbray's sudden departure.

For me the transfer and wage budget element alone is why it's not realistic to expect a top half finish. I'm not saying it's impossible, but JDT shouldn't be judged harshly if we finish lower mid-table. Until the owners back the club properly, or ideally sell up to somebody who does have some ambition, we are at the mercy of having a manager who can get a small, underfunded team to significantly overperform. The fact only Plymouth and Rotherham have lower wage budgets than us, for me at least, says enough about what is realistic to expect. It also means, as far as I can see, that as soon as we appoint somebody who cannot get the team to overperform we are in big trouble.

You could argue top half of the table is unrealistic is because we have a bottom six wage and transfer budget - in fact, according to here - https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/championship-wage-bills-2023-24-leeds-leicester-southampton - we're bottom three for wage budget - no squad depth, shit, disinterested owners and constant injuries to key players. Nothing to suggest any of that will change in the second half of the season. I don't foresee the return of Gallagher or Hedges giving us any significant boost as both are bang average Championship players who have only come to first team prominence on the back of having no transfer budget to replace departing players or bring in suitable players for positions (striker) where we desperately need better. Tomasson overachieving with what he has available is why we've been doing well up until now, and why him leaving is a fearful prospect. We have an okay first eleven, even with injuries taken into account, but no squad depth and no reliable goalscorer beyond Szmodics.

Late or just first. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of points we've accrued over the past five years, after going behind first, are in the single digits or very close to.