Tough to say if Bowyer's players could have adapted to JDT's methods any better than the current squad. We obviously had better strikers in terms of Rhodes (who was often criticised despite his goals) and Gestede, but the midfield was a disaster with the likes of Lowe, Williamson, Feeney, etc. Goalkeeper was also a weak position for us during that time. It would have been really interesting to see how the likes of Cairney, Dunn, Marshall, Dann and Hanley would have played under JDT. I could see Cairney, King and even Dunn potentially excelling... but would the likes of Todd Kane, Dann, Hanley and Henley been comfortable with the passing around the back style? Would Robbo, Eastwood or Jake Kean been able to handle things better than Kaminski or Pears? It's a very interesting what-if scenario.

To suggest somebody is not allowed to say "the jury is still out" is to shut down discussion and refuse to accept any criticism of JDT. I don't find that acceptable. Everyone has a right to a reasonable opinion. Obviously to suggest he should be sacked is going too far, but equally to say he's the best thing that's happened to the club since Venky's joined is also taking it too far after a single season where JDT is unlikely to have achieved any more than Bowyer or Mowbray (cup run aside as far as Mowbray is concerned). It just seems like recency bias or an overly romantic view. Whilst it's obvious the squad has limitations, we clearly aren't alone in that. I'd argue the vast majority of teams in the league could say the same thing. The difference comes down to management, coaching and recruitment. There are plenty of aforementioned reasons to defend JDT - a wonky structure above him, to say the least, inexcusable striker recruitment, basic errors made by the recruitment team in the January window, the fact he's a rookie manager getting his feet under the table in a league he's unfamiliar with. I don't think anyone would argue he's had struggles outside of his control to contend with - but then, so will most managers in this league. After-match reactions are always going to be a little over the top, especially after a bad result. I'd hope discussion in general, though, will be more balanced and be able to focus on the good and not-so-good elements of JDT's management in his first season.

From memory @arbitro mentioned somebody he knew had a meeting with Broughton, and that when JDT walked past the two didn't acknowledge each other, and it seemed strange that Broughton didn't acknowledge JDT or introduce him. Pretty sure it was along those lines, but Arbitro can correct me if I'm wrong on the details.

I think we'd both agree that ultimate culpability always falls on the owners. Even if we're talking recruitment, Venky's are the ones responsible for the calibre of employee at the club - whether that be CEO, Head of Recruitment, and everyone below.

Just have to hope he'll give it another go next season. Your comments regarding what you were told about he and Broughton's relationship are a big concern.

I tend to agree that our January recruitment is what has ultimately torpedo'd our season. I still don't think we would have been promoted even if O'Brien and a striker had arrived, but I think we would have made the playoffs. JDT is a young, fairly inexperienced manager learning his trade in a new league. He's going to make mistakes. He needs time to adapt and evolve. He deserves time to prove he can do that. The players are adapting too. Some have shown they can adapt and potentially evolve alongside JDT. Others haven't. Some will need to go, and others brought in to do a better job. It all circles back to recruitment.

I don't think we're really in disagreement. I'm not saying go in a totally different direction, just improve the things that haven't worked so well this season - of which there are a few. Nothing is ever perfect. I think it would be remiss to think we're simply a striker or two away from being a great team. I believe there's a lot more to it than that.

That and coming behind from losing positions. The former we were actually good at earlier in the season, so maybe there answer is already there somewhere, the latter has actually become worse this season than in previous seasons, so some major thought needs to go into that.

Problem is we aren't going to get a team of quality players, not with our budget. If he chooses to stay here, which I think is up in the air right now, JDT has to be realistic and adapt his management style to the calibre of player that's going to be available to him. I think he has partially achieved that, as we have played well at times this season and have been in the top six for the vast majority of the season, but he needs to really consider what he needs to change next season in regards to his coaching and tactical style, based on the players we have and are likely to be able to attract. There is a foundation here, but a lot of work to be done building on that - he can't do it without the recruitment team stepping up, though. He'll know that better than anyone, and if he doesn't believe in the recruitment team, I think it'll be a major factor in him walking away.

We finished last season on 69 points. To get to that now we'll have to win two of our last three games against Burnley, Millwall and Luton. I don't buy that Tomasson has a significantly weaker team than Mowbray, nor that the league is better this season than it was last season. If anything I'd say it's worse. It's fair to argue that it's his first season in the English game, he's basically a rookie manager, and he was massively let down in the January transfer window. All totally fair points. Still, as far as being a rookie manager is concerned - McKenna and Carrick have done wonders at Ipswich and Boro respectively in their first full seasons as managers, neither of whom had any proper management experience beforehand. It's not a total excuse. JDT has positives, undoubtedly, but it would be remiss to ignore the negatives, even if we accept that there are some genuine reasons as to why he's been struggling. Striker recruitment, in my view, being the key factor. He deserves time to analyse his mistakes this season and go into next season with better support from his recruitment team. He does have things he needs to improve, though, and that has to be acknowledged as much as anything else that's wrong at the club. I'm not at the point where I'd want him to leave. Not with the people we have in charge of getting another manager. They could very easily hire a total dud who sinks us back into League 1. I don't think JDT will relegate us - but then, neither would Mowbray, and we were all happy to let him go on the basis we'd see an improvement. If we finish with less points then we've gone backwards. Not all on the manager, of course - not even close - but it is what it is. We'll be in the Championship next season. No doubt about that in my mind. Even if we snuck into the playoffs we'd never make it past the semis. It's a big summer in terms of recruitment and whether the manager stays. I can see him walking away, citing lack of support, especially if his relationship with Broughton really is strained. If he does stay then there's a lot he needs to digest from this season and become better at next season, along with many other areas of the club. He and Broughton need to be incredibly proactive on finding strikers, because with BBD leaving we're likely to be left with only Sam Gallagher as a senior recognised striker, a bloke who hasn't got into double figures since the 16/17 season. Being in and around the playoffs two seasons in a row, even if we ultimately fell away both times - as seems will happen again this season - suggests a foundation of sorts is there. We're just missing a few very important pieces. I do believe JDT is one of those potential pieces, as long as he is willing to learn from his mistakes. I'm not so sure about the rest of the club. Broughton and the recruitment team have a lot to prove in the summer.

Outside of Diaz, who is mentally already living the good life in Spain, we genuinely have none. You'd struggle sometimes to even class Gallagher as a professional footballer. Outside of that we have, what? Vale and Leonard? One of whom should be on loan in a lower division and the other seemingly can't even get on the bench when we have no recognised strikers outside of BBD. Torrid state of affairs. The recruitment team have a lot to answer for as far as the January window is concerned.

Burnley won't be 'on the beach' when they play us. They'll know how important it is to smash us and ruin what's left of our playoff hopes. Not to mention winning the Championship title at Ewood. Literally the worst outcome possible. The season is going to end as an absolute nightmare.

In my view Hyam has been a fantastic signing for us regardless of what has happened recently. He shoulders no blame for what's happening. It's all down to our shocking ability going forward and inability of our recruitment team to do the basics in the January transfer window.

Even worse it feels like a minor miracle if we score one, let alone managing to somehow score two.

No win in six now. No team in the top 15 have failed to win in 5 except us. I know some people don't like the word bottled, but what else can you call this?

What's even worse is that the teams around us have also been stumbling badly, and we've done nothing to capitalise. In fact, we've done the opposite and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory twice in a matter of days. Burnley will comfortably beat us and then we'll no longer be able to say "it's still in our hands". Millwall meanwhile must be breathing a sigh of relief that we're the ones closest to them, as even when they get beaten by Wigan we still can't take advantage.

Two matches in a row where the manager makes the same mistake and costs us vital points. He can rightfully point to the January transfer window as a big issue, but these dropped four points are all on him. Feel sorry for the away fans more than anything else. A lot of money paid to see the manager and players bottle it two games in a row.

Also our joint third top scorer with Dack, only scored one less than Gallagher. Been worth every penny in the end, despite looking like we might have overpaid originally.

Could be a huge goal, that... if we can hold on.

I don't know, he didn't have a great second half of last season either. Lots of goals in the first part of the season, only scored two after December if memory serves. Granted he was injured for a fair portion of that.

The sooner we can get Dack on the better. The only player I'm confident can find the back of the net right now.

I'm just consoling myself for when it gets to the end of the season and we finish 8th again.

Tbf we only had two shots on target and scored one of them, so a 50% conversion rate of our chances is good going.

I know the playoffs are essentially cup games and anything can happen, but if we stumbled into them on our current form you can't help but think Boro with their 82 goals would absolutely smash us over two legs if we got them in the semis. Yes they've conceded 52, but we have no decent strikers so that probably wouldn't help much.

We're lucky that results went our way over the past couple of nights, and we're still clinging on to 6th. A horrible way to drop two points though. At this point if we announced tomorrow that BBD had been released early to join Villareal I'd be happy with that. Would rather see Leonard on the pitch for the last four games. Looking at our GD compared to the teams around us, it really is bizarre that we're in the mix at all. -2 whilst every other team in the top ten has a GD of +8 or higher. It's been a strange season.