With the draw at home to Oxford tonight, and a tricky set of fixtures to come I feel that Norwich have run their race. They’ll be influential though as they have all of Boro, Bristol City and WBA to play. All below them are too far adrift.

If I were Eustace, I’d use this opportunity to take control. 1. Bumper new contract with release clause in summer with no compensation payable unless the following criteria are met. 2. New contracts for specified players secured by end of March. 3. Designated, and defined summer transfer budget of £X and increased wage structure. 4. Failure to adhere to any of the above and I walk now. Now we may all expect Venkys/Swag to not deliver and likely not want to handover control but surely the potential albeit unlikely upside to staying with Rovers is greater than that with Derby for the next 6 months which is a role in itself that comes with risks. Any which way it’s clearly a very decisive 24/48 hours which will paint unequivocally the ambition or lack thereof of the board and owners. If he goes, there is no way that they can be allowed by the fans to remain.

Sheffield Utd are a good team. They’ll finish in the top 2 in my view. The season as a whole so far sums up where we are. Solid enough to stay up with a championship quality defence and a couple of good battlers in midfield. An excellent ball player in Cantwell, and the rest struggle but show glimpses all too rarely. We’re destined for mid table. We mustn’t as frustrating as it is though, lose sight that we’re 8th, and although I think we’ll finish lower, that will represent progress on last season. Its not time to jump on the manager, and if we really want to move forward more quickly the owners will have to show more ambition. Outside of the top 4/5, it’s a very mediocre division.

Just been called up to The National Squad for September’s fixtures by the looks of it. https://fehervarfc.hu/en/news/balazs-toth-invited-to-the-national-team1

I met Brentford’s Strategic Advisor about 2 months ago. Very nice chap who also does a bit of motivational speaking and is actually a retired school teacher with no football background. They had no plan until Christmas 2011, but did have owners and a CEO who were willing to listen. They realised that several plans could work, but would need alignment between all parties on whatever plan they chose. This required buy in from Owners, CEO, DoF, manager, players and fans. Also required patience. They ultimately picked a player trading model (as they didn’t have resources at the time to compete with Championship clubs) coupled with a playing style that would be consistent throughout management changes to give the club identity and maximise player value. To me, it sounds like Rovers are trying this too, but that we haven’t necessarily got the alignment correct or the communication. The positive is that there appears to be a plan, even if we don’t all agree with it.

In many respects another frustrating game to add to a start of the season with missed opportunities. Reflecting on 12 months ago though, both our aspirations were lower and other clubs perspective of our play was lower. So we should consider how far we’ve come. We won’t get dragged into a dog fight. We’re way too good for that. Goals keep you up and we’re scoring enough of them. Defences win titles and that’s where we’re weaker. The keeper needs to change, he should have changed as soon as Wahlstedt came in, and a more ruthless striker would be nice. Next week will be tough, but I think come the end of the season we’re more likely to be in top 6 than the bottom 6.

So… just walked back to Plymouth from the game. I know we lost, but came away slightly positive. Enjoyed the game even though we lost. Didn’t take our chances but created a hatful. It’s not down to a lack of striker, but a lack of quality from those they fell to. Thought we were the better footballing side throughout but just a few lapses and a little too open particularly after the first. Some poor decisions in final third too. A combination of all of this ultimately cost us. Plymouth took their opportunities and had a little luck on their side too. If Hedges scores early it could have been 3-0 the other way. Adam has to be closer to the man for their first but it’s unlucky to deflect in. Time for the new keeper to get a gig. Pears a calamity for the third, I’d like him to do better with the second too - a decent save but pushed back into danger. Let’s see how we look after the international break, but I suspect upper mid table awaits in the long run this season.

This isn’t on the manager. By going 5 at the back, it’s not an instruction to sit back and invite pressure. Yet that’s what the players do. If we made no change and Preston score, we’d be frustrated for not making defensive changes. Hedges has to run that time out. Go to the corner, put his foot through it. Row Z. Anything bar what he did. Playoffs a big ask now.

Burnley, Sheff Utd Rovers Wigan, Huddersfield, Cardiff

Just watched the game in full after Mothers Day lunch curtailed plans for a live viewing. Thought we were excellent and despite the disappointment at the result, that the team has come on incredibly. Played every part in game that could have finished 5-5. I refuse to criticise JDT. His coaching is much of the reason why we were both at this stage, and competitive on it. Sure the substitutions didn’t work, but at the time they seemed sensible and he’d have been getting criticism had we not made subs and still conceded. A little disappointed by Morton going down softly, clearly naive without making sure the ball went out of play. He wasn’t terrible in the main though If we keep that level of performance, we’ll see Wembley in May in any regard.

Think 73 points will be enough for playoffs. Whether we get there will be touch and go but a season beyond initial expectations for sure. It only really matters to get to the playoffs if you’re going to win them though. Is there much difference between finishing 5th and losing in the play offs, or finishing 8th?

Not necessarily. Whilst I wouldn’t say U21s is inconsequential to them, think I read somewhere that these clubs worry less about U21s as players of this age are typically on loan. Diallo at Sunderland from United being a prime example. More focus attached to the U18 teams.

I should imagine neither. He can’t play for Forest and won’t be insured at Rovers as the deal isn’t complete. imagine him getting injured in training when he’s not your player.

Understand this,. Agree with the comments on a number 9 and CM too. However on the GK situation, offloading Pears on a temporary basis shouldn’t be impossible or the pre-requisite behind this proposed deal and even if we couldn’t offload him, the net cost is less than quarter of a million. Surely the new keeper if he’s good enough would have an asset value of that and so the deal funds itself. If we’re not proceeding, it suggests that either we don’t want to, the keeper doesn’t want it, or our cash flow is incredibly tight.

Forgive my naivety. I really don’t understand how we can be so hard up that it doesn’t happen unless someone takes Pears. Even if someone (say Pompey) were to pay us £10k per week for Pears - which would be really expensive; that only works out at £250k in savings/income or so until the summer. If our cash flow is so tight that we can’t afford that, with the prospect that we could still offload Pears to someone else before window closes, and/or potential income from Raya / Diaz then how can we afford to bid for Porteous or indeed anyone else? If the recruitment team really think this deal for the keeper can be completed and he’s the right player for us, just get it done and then work out how to get rid of Pears.