Guy

Got it on my kitchen cupboard too, April Fools indeed lol!

5000-1?!

The sad thing is he probably wouldn't necessarily be on Top/Rudkin's radar at all, even though admittedly Andy King has been brought back as a coaching assistant. Have this board ever appointed a lower league manager before and not just 'a big name'? - no¬!

I still think Ruud is trying to get back to Man United in some way, shape or form and in some coaching capacity in the not too distant future and was hoping to build up his stock/managerial reputation whilst here as a stopgap and then go back there to prove his worth. However he's not done it a lot of good with his disastrous record here to date of course!!

Enzo had Something of a love in with Rosenior last season IIRC after we were unable to defeat them in the season, including the early season 0-1 loss to them of course and the fortuitously fought out 2-2 draw at their place. We could do worse than replace Ruud with Rosenior in the close season for sure....

Yes, while I agee that we will be no lower than say 6th come the end of next season in the Championship (and we won't "do a Luton"), then I don' think there's any guarantee at all that we will "storm it" again like last season under Enzo, in spite of selling existing players, parachute payments, etc! There's the threat of PSR related points deduction too of course while I suppose the QPR yardstick in the FA Cup is a false one (played out in dense fog that day too!) but with the players we may be able to bring in re a club our size in the Championship to (hopefully) improve matters then we certainly shouldn't be worried about League One possibility!

The most depressing thing compared to this time ten years ago is that when we started the Great Escape under Pearson at the start of April we already had 22 points (and even with that thought we were probably doomed!), with 17 come the start of this April when we face Man City at the Etihad then there really is no hope this time, especially with this squad!!

I would say most definitely Rooney. I think he's found more his vocation as a pundit re his consecutive appearances as one on Match Of The Day Two now! I'd be amazed if anybody else here offered him an EFL job as manager now, while his stint in the USA probably didn't go too great either! Likewise Ruud after us - unless he starts to pull rabbits out of hats for the remainder of this season here, aka nigh on impossible! Or does likewise if he's kept on for next season in the Championship.

Jeez, I feel your pain! Those four points from West Ham and Brighton was the biggest false dawn ever re "those" two weeks! Followed by..........12 losses from 13 with a reasonable win in the cup against a Championship side and a lucky win against Spurs B team sandwiched in between!

I see your humorous point, lol! To be honest the only times I go to home matches now (since 2005 infact), are whenever a game coincides with when I visit my folks who still live in Northants - and if of course I can get a ticket by my contacts there! I average about four games maximum per season these days at home, usually one away - "lucky me" at present I suppose to only witness that amount! I'm unlikely to go to any of the remaining matches this season though and have only been twice in all to the KP this time around re the Forest and Man. City games Needless to say both defeats!

Not always easy if you live 250 miles away like me!

Yes, I was meaning when we go down and then stagnate in the Championship (or worse!). You see swathes of empty stands when you tune into the game highlights/goals at the likes of Barnsley, Cardiff, Swansea and many other teams who aren't pulling up trees - entire stands empty and crowds all congregated in certain sections only. By the time that happens though I don't know who'll be running the show...Top still probably, blind to it all lol.

As bad as we presently are I really do hope we don't see massive gaps in some of the stands (when watching on TV), like you do in a large amount of Championship and League One games...or indeed like the stadiums were during Covid!

A lot of it wasn't 100% Holloway's fault either and he was the last in line of poor appointments at the time. I heard horror stories about the McLintock era of the 70s too though.

This is by far and away the worst ever LCFC team I've witnessed. I think even an outsider (pundit) can see it like Troy Deeney! He said on MOTD2 last night that our recruitment has been chaotic/all over the place for this season (probably meaning two bad managerial appointments one after the other, plus the poor players we signed) and we need this international break just to get our ship in order for next season. Something along those lines anyway - and something of an understatement!

That's as maybe! Anyway as I thought then Watford were the last club at Prem level to hire three managers in their own right in a season and end up relegated - not once but twice! 2019-20 first off (including their final FT appointment of a certain Nigel Pearson!, then 2021-22 rinse and repeat, their last Premier league season to date. You're welcome!

Blank

I don't think three managers in their own right in the Prem. for one team in a season has happened before - being as the Peter Taylor, Bassett/Adams and then Adams solo were more two and a half than three. That said I noted a previous poster said similar happened at Fulham one season. Watford too I suspect in the recent years when they were in the Prem. under their bat shit crazy Italian ownership. Meanwhile nobody over a certain age on here could forget when it happened to us in the Championship (Allen, Megson and Holloway) when under Mandaric of course and we sank to our lowest ever level. At least that did us a big favour in the long run though by bringing N.Pearson to the club!

Yes, unless they "sneak in" like you could on occasion at Filbert Street back in the day then they must surely have rich parents to enable their going to games!

Aah, definitely! Trouble is you're always back and forward to the bogs too if you drink (esp. excessively!) before the match.

I only tend to drink after the game - as if you're half cut you simply can't focus properly on what you went there for in the first place - to see a game of football!

In short RVN has been a gamble that has simply backfired after the questionable appointment that was Cooper.....mostly based purely on short termism in how he did as M.United's interim manager in the autumn (incl. those two games against......us!) and obviously less so on his time at PSV. I think it would be nuts to show the faith in him next season as we surely sink straight back to the Championship.

Also Spencer Prior and Kasey Keller in the following close season!

It must have come back to bite him possibly, he was never the same for the second season in the Prem. under O'Neill and was sadly sold to Wolves...where he never shone. I think he came of age at Pompey in the early 00s though!

I can't really argue with any of the above! The egos need culling out of the club that have become ever present this season for sure, how Faes and Vestergaard are still being picked for their national teams remains a mystery - unless they up their games for Belgium and Denmark. I must admit to never watching either nation in any detail so don't know on that score! As for the players signed for this season then the aforementioned trio Cooper signed have been at best bit part players, are clearly well past their prime in Ayew's and DC Reid's cases and all three have clearly made us worse, not better - which is surely not why they were signed! Okoli has shown more promise but is at the mercy of the poor players around him so perhaps hasn't been able to shine because of it. Meanwhile the only Ruud signing, Coulibaly is still something of an unknown quantity at this level and going by who we signed him from, a mid-lower league Serie A side, then he is likely to be more at home in the Championship....next season! As for the way forward as things stand (assuming of course we're relegated), then I think Ruud will be on his way either before the season's end if things carry on as they are, or certainly in the summer if he takes a compromised pay off perhaps and goes back to being in a role that suits him more as somebody like Ten Hag's no.2 elsewhere. He is obviously way out of his depth in his present role with us as many others keep saying time and again and I think it has taken him by surprise, especially working for a club that has seemingly mislead him to date it seems in terms of empoty promises! I'd be amazed if he's still here in any capacity next season.