hypochondriac

Why do you say that? I'd say he has some pretty decent connections.

That was sort of my point. I was surprised by the leeway many of the fans have given the team. I've attended a lot of games and I've seen a run of performances over a significant period of time that I've considered has gone beyond being acceptable. There's certainly an argument to be made about the lack of investment etc but the wild swings in our performances were what have eventually made me entirely fed up and I'm just surprised it's taken this long for it to be really vocal in the stadium. Partly I think it's because Ralph comes accross as a nice guy and seems quite easy to like.

You think the likes of West Ham fans would have accepted the turgid pathetic football and absolutely horrendous results that we've endured for two years with just a murmur or two of discontent a few games a season? I've actually been surprised by how placid the fans in the stadium have been over a long period of time. Ralph is fortunate to have had as long as he has had. The fan base is a wholly different one than the one who existed under Branfoot but if you don't think the fan base have been understanding then you weren't around during that time.

TBF I don't think he'd get as much leeway with fans as we have given him. We've been a very understanding fan base overall considering the performances and the results over the last couple of years.

I'm supportive of Ralph leaving, but I'm hating all these bullshit stories in the papers. Once it gets to this point a club never keeps a manager. They need to get rid now rather than letting this drag.

And yet so many people on here said it didn't matter at the end of the window. It was obviously a huge problem.

Not bad. I'd maybe buy Obafemi back, we'd have to get a couple of cbs in (maybe we'd keep colleta carr) and Mara would probably stay, no idea if he'd be any good in the championship. We'd have the makings of a fairly successful team there tbh. Maybe bring in Scott Parker in the summer if Ralph's replacement fails.

The Tory party have been rubbbish for ages. The only reason they've been in power for so long is because Labour was worse. It looks like that is no longer the case and remarkably Keir Starmer looks like he will be the next prime minister which is mad really and highlights what a deficit of talent we have in politics in this country. Truss was Early Years minister eight years ago and if you asked anyone from Early Years, in a sea of mediocrity she was comfortably the worst in the last twenty years so I have always had low expectations from her. Boris got a massive majority and did precisely nothing with it. The Tories have wasted their time in office, doing nothing of note with the power they have and they deserve to lose the next election. Their time in office has been a massive disappointment both to their supporters and detractors. Lets just hope that the likes of Lammy, Jess Philips and Naz Shah don't ruin whatever they have responsibility over too much.

Also worth putting in context that he's playing in probably the best team the PL has ever seen. Would have been interest to see how he compared if he was in Shearer's Newcastle team for instance.

We will do better than some people think this weekend but that's partly because we will be so defensive. 3-1 City.

A combination of new owners wanting to look at things before acting, the fact that we always seem to get a win when we need it most and possibly waiting for the right candidate but that's speculation on my part. What I would say is that his position has been subject to review for quite a while

If you don't understand that his man management skills are a major problem and have been for months then you're beyond help.

I reckon we'd keep livramento due to his injury. Bazunu would probably stay and possibly Perraud. We'd probably need a couple of centre backs, I'd hope to keep both Armstrongs and maybe Aribo but the rest of the midfield would need an overhaul. We'd probably have to spend big on a quality championship striker. I could see us making a fair amount of money on the likes of kwp, Salisu, Bella Kotchap, lavia, Adams, JWP. I reckon we'd have a good team to go for promotion.

Most years things were quite close. If city end up winning it by miles every single season then it loses even the limited appeal it had at the top. The Premier league has always had the teams at the top but its always had a bit more competition than the likes of the SPL.

Really bad for the league though. They'll win the league this year by 15-20 points. In a few years it's going to be Newcastle versus City for the title and then everyone else.

I have no problem with how we spent our money personally. I think it's a terrible error not to get in an attacking option but overall we have improved the team. It's why our continued poor performance is even more unacceptable than it was last year during our horrendous run.

My point was that in my opinion another manager could come in and get much better performance sout of these groups of players in a similar manner to the impact that Howe had at Newcastle even allowing for the fact that he was able to buy some players a few months later.

And weirdly they showed very similar unsuccessful styles of play. Odd that you'd get the same deficiencies over a long period of time from entirely different groups of players. It's almost like they're being coached in a similar manner and doing what they are asked...

So Newcastle's improvement was solely down to new players? Have you spoken to a Newcastle fan?

Indeed. last year Newcastle looked abysmal but then they got a decent manager in and looked transformed as a team. Absolutely no reason at all that we couldn't do something similar.

there was a comprehensive list from someone on here about two weeks ago with about 7 realistic names on. whoever is suggested though, it's really not the job of the average fan to know all the relative strengths of foreign managers abroad. the Brighton manager seems like a great choice for them but most would have had no idea who he was for example.

and yet we went on a run last year and played well whilst beating Chelsea this year. We are clearly capable of playing better than we have done in a large number of games. Too many games we have underperformed.

Ridiculous question that's been answered on a number of occasions.

we change half the team and play exactly the same. That means it's absolutely not the players but the system because they are all playing the same way. it's the managers fault.

Feels like a tipping point today. If he isn't sacked this week or next then Sports Republic deserve to be relegated.