Sheff Saint

I always thought Hoggard would have made a good captain, but seeing as he had that one bad game he's not managed a look in since!

Only if they're both 12 and have been let go by Leyton Orient. Otherwise they're too old and too good.

Can we make double figures? Seriously though, will we make 3 figures?

Ideal signing if true.

I am. But i am really worried. I got my tickets on Thursday and, although there is no seat number on there, there is a 'Ticket Number.' Mine say number 7 & 8. Now i could guess we weren't taking many, but not even double figures... I'm going to make a sack the board banner. It's not much but it's a start. Change HAS to happen.

I thought his reaction on Setatna was a bit embarrasing. Blamed the ref all the way through. Nice as he might be, he has to go. We can't defend, we can't score goals. What do we do?

Sorry, i want Lowe out as much as the next man, but don't see this as a bad thing. Smith looks poor but no worse than Dyer. He really is rubbish. Dyer going and freeing up a wage can only be good. He hardly set the world alight at Sheff Utd. Christ he only got a couple of games for them in three months.

To be fair here, where as it seems another **** up, i'm not sure what we could have done differently. Maybe we shouldn't have offered a new contract but if i were a gambling man i'd have got him signed up on one so we could have got some sort of fee. As it is the gamble isn't coming off cos everyone's worked out he's sh!t, but, to be fair, if Swansea take him off us for £250k in the summer, it's a gamble that has not cost us anything. Of course his replacement could have been someone better that a 21yo Millwall reject, but see the thread discussing the quality of our transfer policy for more on that!

Making the 'huge' assumption that we are relegated - can a chairman, who has been so influential in the two relegations he has overseen, really keep his job? Of course it's a bit too late in the day then. Still, "At least we won't do a Rotherham if we go down..."

They're not. Example is Ollie Lancashire. I'm not knocking Ollie Lancashire but he is very clearly no where near good enough for league football. I hope he develops but he is a hazzard every game and if he was released from Saints he would not play league football. The problems we've got now will only be further emphasised in League 1.

What is even more worrying, is that the board don't appear to have learnt from the awful first half of the season. The signing of the young everton left back looks like just another bad signing. I'll live in hope i'm wrong and support them all the way, but on paper, another unproven 18 year old is not what we need. What we need is a good solid workhorse. Why Lowe needs to continue to go so blindly down this route is a mystery. No-one is knocking giving our kids a go. No-one is knocking have a mainly young team, no-one is knocking trying to play football. BUT you need experience, varaince in your tactics and, whatever league you're in, you need some muscle. To pretend you don't is stupid. Sadly this was clear to most of us from the very start.

Exactly right. We might have very little money but we've got a little bit. The problem is the policy. By all means blood our youngsters, but spend what little money we have on some good experienced CCC players that can kick lumps out of opponents, thus freeing up Surman and Llanana etc to concentrate on their own games. And get an experienced CCC manager in. We might not have set the division alight but we might not be looking at relegation either. Lowe's way foward was not the only way forward. Sack the board.

Not if i was earning nearly £100k a year i wouldn't.

He's not done a bad job at Burnley. Inconsistent, yes, but poor runs were always preceeded with very good spells. It shows what a good start they had in 06/07 that a 23 game winless streak didn't cost them there place in the division. But we've seen success doesn't always equal success again. But he does have knowledge of this league, he's worked under financial contraints before, he's young and English and, alright, maybe not thrived in this league, but certainly held his own in it. Plus, i think he's a good choice based on the fact we're broke and i reckon he's someone that is cheap but better than what we've got now. I'd have Davies everyday of the week if we could afford him. Don;t get me wrong, i hate his style, but whatever anyone says if you're winning football matches, the style is only of second importance.

He must be under pressure else i don't think the website would have ran this story. They're at least recognising the fact there is a bit of pressure on him, that's the first time he's had it and does look like it might be teeing the club up for his removal. Don't think the article would have been shaped like that if his role was safe until the end of the season?

Cotterill would be fab. Did well at Burnley until the very end. In the NP mould i would say.

Fingers crossed!

He could take us down to League 2 and his reputation would not be tarnished. We know he'd be trying his best or he'd not be in the job, and that is I want from a manager. I also know he'd quit as soon as it came apparent he wasn't up to it so they'd be no negativity. I reckon he'd do ok though. With a good number 2 we could do a lot lot worse.

I agree 100% with that. But regards entering admin, I'm just worried that history shows us teams that enter admin don't recover very quickly.

I want shot of Lowe and Wilde. My only observation on administration, and i'm no expert, is this. Of the teams that entered admin since the -10 points rule was introduced, all of them, ALL OF THEM, are worse off now, than pre-admin.

We're not going to go back up under the current board. The 'Dutch Gamble' is doing as we generally predicted at the start of the season. Lumping us into a relegation fight. Let's say we escape, what comes next season? What i don't know is are we still losing money? I can't see how we are so let's assume we aren't. In that case, and say we've earnt 2/3 million on players to clear the overdraft - what then? Will Rupert sanction the signings of a few older players to support the better youngsters we have left? Coupled with some good old and young loans we should be able to slowly work up the table and bring the crowds back. But then what, come Jan 2010 or even summer 10/11. Assuming things go well, we should have a bit, a bit, of money flowing through. This is the best case. But what will happen in the best case? Will Lowe spend the extra cash or will he continue the policy of not gambling, not overspending on ANY wages (i dare say he'll have limits for this division) and, assuming it goes well and JP is still in charge, will Lowe give him the funds he needs? And this is just in reaction to the best case scenario. If we drop down a league, i'm sure the same will apply there. A small fish in League 1, getting smaller. This is why this is experiment will fail. Not spending and relying on medoricity will, barring a lucky combination, not win us promotion. And then if you're not going forward, you're going backwards... And this is Lowe's policy based over 10 years. Why will he change now?

I'm a bit worried there might be some 'Lee Holmes the Legend' thinking here that comes about when a player is injured for a few months. He did start the season brightly, very brightly, and i think on those performances he has been very missed. I just don't think we should be pinning our hopes on him returning though in the same form. This is a man that was let go by Derby and not pulled up any trees in his career to date. Fingers crossed he picks up where he left off but i've a few doubts. As ever when i'm negative, i hope i'm wrong cos he did start the season well.

Important not to lose i suppose against those around us. Big games v Forest and Barnsley and Donny. Lose to any of them in we're in the **** me thinks. But we'll win. I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm err...sure. Ish.

Forest on Saturday has got 0-0 or 0-1 written all over it. A Forest fan at work thinks Calderwood is awful, very defensive. And given our not-so-potent attacking force, 10 men behind the ball isn't going to help. We need a bright start and an early goal on Saturday, get the 3 points and tee ourselves up for a cracking Christmas. Or, more likely....!!

Well, why not. If we paid up his contract he's cost the same as if he'd have stayed (let's face it there's no win bonuses to be had) but we can't get him to play. It'll give all those 17 year olds a crack at the first team. We need some youth in the team.