Dalek2003

Fonte has a gashed knee. We won't see him for a couple of weeks IMO

I would take this score right now. Before the game I said that I would be happy to take a defeat by less than 3 goals. You can only hope that City take their foot of the gas.

This could be a massacre. As someone said, damage limitation.

Yoshida is getting a spanking.

Damage limitation time. If we lose by less than three I will be happy.

If we have reached 40 points we can relax.

I agree.

Jaded players. Stoke get an early lead and that's all they need. Game over. We are good enough for mid to lower mid table.

We got done by a good Stoke side. We are a very average side in reality.

Grim day.

Going to be 'one of those days'.

We need a big slice of luck or a freaky goal...anything.

Some people have an agenda and don't let facts get in the way.

The failure to re-appoint Hoddle in 2004 remains a very divisive period in the clubs History. In the end we were very lucky to survive the damage caused by this disastrous decision. The vocal minority, who in the midst of the crisis went to ground, must be feeling the biggest sense of relief that we pulled through. Meanwhile, they have every incentive to try and re-write history.

OK, we need to drop down another couple of divisions then. Happy ?

So, it was worth sacrificing our unbroken tenure in the top league for the JPT then ?

As it happens, we were very close to appointing Hoddle and the outrageous protest by the vocal few tipped the balance away from Hoddle's return.

I would have taken 10 years of mediocre premier football ! The glory of extending our 27 year unbroken run in the top league would have been worth it.

Can't agree. We need to ensure we are safe first and foremost and that means another 20 points. The Cups are just a side show.

A lot of people have either erased it from their memory or re-written history. Personally, I am still struggling to highlight the issue and the part people played in it. Probably always will.

His next club ?

A fair point, but do you really think he would have done worse than Luggy. Maybe, Hoddle would have been little more than average. Even this would probably been enough to keep us up and start the rebuild. No, Luggy lost the dressing room. This destabilised the club and set off a chain reaction that ended up with us being relegated and very nearly bankrupt. In the end we were very lucky that Markus rescued us and it all turned out well. However, that does not change the fact that the appointment of Luggy was an awful decision and one that we could have still been suffering by today.

Yes, a lot of rewriting of history by the anti-Hoddle brigade. Also, many distancing themselves from their part in our near destruction.

You are right to some extent. When WGS left, we were beginning to drift. We needed a safe pair of hands, a manager with a proven track record. The appointment of Luggy was bizzare. Sometimes I actually think that Lowe 'allowed' the appointment of a hapless Luggy in the full knowledge that he would mess up the club, just so he could prove that people were wrong not to appoint Hoddle.

IMO Luggy had lost the dressing room before he even walked into the stadium.