You're on a messageboard, it's virtually all conjecture. Do you feel like you're speaking exclusively in facts?

We would have stayed there for a bit, but like all clubs of our size we would have eventually had a bad run and gone down. That's the way it works. Name a club of our size that has maintained an uninterrupted position in the Premier League for 20+ years. A couple of bad transfers, a couple of bad injuries, a run of bad luck and bad form and you're gone. It would have taken longer, but it would have happened. Now, what is undoubtedly the case is that we would have been in a better position to bounce back and it is less likely that we would have found ourselves stuck down in here - and relegation League One would have been inconceivable. It was a mess. It was a nightmare. But we're actually a fairly stable ship at this point and we've got to move on.

People very easily forget the slow rot that was setting in and the lack of investment that was coming from the Trust. They wanted rid as soon as possible, it's why we landed with Venkys.

Jack Walker's legacy was ultimately most let down by his own Trust. A family that lost interest in the club that he loved and stopped putting anything more than the bare minimum into the club. They had every right to do that, it's their own money and it was a business that was always going to be unprofitable, but the legacy stopped there.

Funny thing about successful people, they tend to trust themselves and the people they place trust in. Like it or not, this is a highly successful family which will have assumed that they could make smart decisions in this world as they had in their other businesses. This confidence and their decision-making will have been influenced by the advisors that they chose - or who chose them. I can't understand anyone who puts the initial period down to anything other than incompetence. Had it been something more calculated then there would have been a sale or administration by now. Had it been something more malicious than there would have certainly been administration by now.

Cost? I really don't think that we can complain about the money that they put into the club and there is nothing better out there (as far as we are aware) at the moment. Unless some extremely wealthy (and by that I mean in the ultrawealthy multi-billions category) is going to appear then we would be really dumb to hope for anyone else to step in. People can say that they'll never forgive or be angry at them forever, but like @philipl points out, their ownership of the club for the past 6/7 seasons has actually been quite good. There comes a moment in time when we all have to start with a clean slate and judge the environment based on its current makeup. Let's also stop pretending that relegation was an impossibility before they stepped in. They undoubtedly hastened our demise and made some incredibly dumb decisions along the way, but we may have well found ourselves in the Championship with a Trust that had lost all interest in us.

Apart from in the league, where they are 12 points behind and have lost their must-win match with Barcelona. Chelsea are decidedly average, it's why they're 11th in the Premier League. City won't have seen anything from Real Madrid this season that will scare them and they're a fairly weak opponent by Champions League semifinal standards. City have one foot in the semis, a few toes in the final, and a few fingers on the trophy already.

It's difficult to maintain the mindset that something hasn't gone wrong...

Depends on how good he is. If he's just at their level then one of them will be out on loan - or we don't have to bring someone young in on loan next season. If he's better? Then it changes the outlook significantly.

This is the type of signing that we'd potentially be jealous of if another club pulled it off. A teenager that has garnered interest from premier league clubs and promotion rivals is just the type of signing we should be going for. There's definitely disappointment that we haven't managed to sign a striker, but this I hope to see signings like this on a consistent basis. I'd much rather this than a 19-22 year old on loan from a premier league club. This is our only chance of signing a truly 'special' player.

Part of the 'project', but pretty highly rated: https://www.footballinsider247.com/sources-sheffield-united-plot-move-for-rochdale-star-ethan-brierley/

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He's being annoying and disingenuous, but not hypocritical. You can't compare some tweets about a football club/fanbase to racist abuse. Pretty simplistic to say that 'generalising is a trait of racists' and that means that any generalisation is racist. As a fanbase, I do think it would be wise to not appear to be more worked up over some random idiot on twitter than we are over the actual racist abuse in the first place. Interacting with him, editing his wikipedia, and even this thread could be taken the wrong way when there is little reaction and condemnation of the actual act that has started it all.

I'm not sure stuff like this looks great.

The blame for the culture within the squad should fall firmly at the feet of any manager. The owners might tolerate underperformance, they might not change managers when we want, they might not invest exactly how we want, but they aren't there on a daily basis speaking to the players, putting messages out in the media, and setting standards. Mowbray may have realised that he was on the gravy train and was happy to not rock the boat, but he still has to take responsibility for that. Blaming everything on the owners is a colossal oversight and just plays into the idea that managers can come here and stay in cruise control.

No, because it was a critique of THIS messageboard and, in particular, this thread. So what goes on outside of this thread and this messageboard is sort of irrelevant.

Very different scenario. I was firmly in the Mowbray out camp by this time last year as he had been in charge for several years and had time to prove himself, put his squad together, and get the team to play how he wanted to. He also consistently came out in public to temper expectations and set the bar as low as possible for his own performance reviews. Not the same so far under JDT and we are only 6 months into his time here. If we fall apart this season and fall apart next season then I will have less confidence going into a third if we are hearing the same old noises.

We're in the playoff spots...

Neither are really relevant to my point.

Been to Ewood and been to away matches and no, it is more negative on here than it is in person - but that has always been the case.

Anyone who finds the football dull shouldn't possibly find this week-by-week assessment to be entertaining. I've never seen a set of supporters complain so much about a team currently sitting in third (when preseason expectations were not for us to challenge for the title). Hell, most of the negative people on here wouldn't have even given us a shot of the playoffs - there was a talk of relegation preseason. We come across as such a bunch of entitled assholes. If I were a rival supporter reading this I would instantly put us at the top of the list of sides that I would like to see fail.

It is absolutely the same all over the world. I'd actually say that British TV has been a little more reserved.

I genuinely can't wrap my head around those advocating selling Brereton Diaz. In a fairly open and mediocre league we are 4 points clear of 7th. The wheels might come off, but we don't want to guarantee that they do. Will we go up? Probably not. But if we made it to the playoffs he is just the type of player that could be a match winner in the 3 matches that we'd need to win (or, I suppose, come out on top in). You wouldn't hear similar talk from any other side in the top 10, yet we are convinced that things will go wrong. Believe it enough and they will.

The podcast that I'm a part of will be running a tipping competition for the T20 cricket world cup. Entries are 100 and 200 pounds. The 100 pound entry will be a straight pick competition (1 point for the winner of each match). The 200 pounds will be odds based. Just thought I would post it in here in case it interests anyone. Just put a message in the thread or send me a DM and I can pass on the details.

I don't think Chelsea are a good example of how instability can breed success. They spend enough money to keep themselves in the top 4 and have had the odd random cup success in the last decade (obviously winning the Champions League was huge), but fundamentally their success this century is tied to the period of time when they had some stability. I guess the issue I take with the idea of having to 'justify extra time' is that it's not how I would treat anyone in any other job. I don't expect my employees to justify their continued employment on a daily basis. It frames the discussion as if the default position is firing people.