OntarioFox

I've grown to dislike Palace more and more with every game that this lumbering lardarse plays for us. I think I declared my mental gymnastics about why he's actually OK officially over a few weeks back and can confirm I was a fool to ever try to justify his inclusion. As far as I'm concerned, Daka is the only striker at our club... and if that isn't the most depressing thought imaginable, I don't know what is. Hopefully they do actually spaff £50 million on a player as average as Strand Larsen and it becomes the start of their own financial oblivion and enshittification of their squad. Be nice if they're signing our shit cast-offs in five years' time instead.

would be nice if they flushed, but at the same time... Forest... come on... please... give me this one small mercy this season

their fanbase protesting our fanbase protesting

FT at Boro, well done lads. Chavs still playing... EDIT - that's it! One small sliver of joy today - the gap is now ZERO to second and 5 to 3rd.

He walks into our team right now. I'm not even saying he's anything more than bang average - that's just how bad we are now.

Celebrating Cov having to play us again next year when we could very easily have been two leagues apart is going to be the most tinpot thing ever but I will still absolutely milk it if it happens.

Hull the next team to flirt with the automatics but ultimately let Coventry off then? Bugger off Ipswich you absolute paperhands. No matter, Boro go level on points if it stays this way, that's step one of the bottle complete.

Charlton's comms were saying before the game that they've spent 9 of the last 10 seasons in the third tier, that their season has been poor, and that they need to fight for the right not to end up back there. That's our future. We've just been comfortably beaten by a team who are essentially upper League One standard, and who have been sleepwalking for a decade.

Watching Ayew grimace after flopping aimlessly after a good ball in, compared to Lyndon f***ing Dykes' finish earlier in the game... well if that contrast doesn't sum up why we're absolutely screwed as a club, I don't know what does.

GET AYEW OFF, TWATT

Well based on being nailed-on to lose to two relegation candidates in back-to-back games, it's hard to argue otherwise. Sheff Weds don't count, and we still only just scraped a result against them.

God Mavididi is pissing me off today, even greedier than usual.

That was an annoyingly good touch, Ricky was still weak though

Winks replacing Choudhury is one of those monkey paw wishes

At least we get to see Aluko for a prolonged period now. Could be the making of the lad.

Okoli you slow cumbersome bastard

Christ sake there'll be 10 mins added on at this rate

Is Top here for this or did Charlton's channel just show some random stock footage of him arriving?

Ahh, back down to earth Let's see if they've at least got an ounce of the personal pride Kingy has spoken about

I hear NFP has sent Kingy a fresh pair of white trainers to throw at Ayew in the changing rooms.

He was hired for Leuven under Vichai

If he plays it's purely transactional. He gets one chance to put himself in the shop window by putting in something approaching effort. We get an extra body for a one-off game to tackle how light our midfield suddenly looks with Skipp and JJ out. I am not even going to acknowledge the other waste of space who just left. I won't be there but I wouldn't be hostile personally. I doubt Kingy particularly wants to pick him, but he (King) seems to have his head screwed on and acknowledges that three points in a game like this will be vital when (not if) the points deduction comes. The alternative is to rely on a 17 year old, a shite footballer who's only still here so King Power can sell shirts in Bangladesh, and an out-of-position fullback who has been woefully out of form for most of the season. The viable academy prospects are all out on loan. With all that considered, I honestly will not blame Kingy one bit for selecting him on this occasion, even just for a bench spot.

Should it happen? Yes? Will it happen? No. I'm still hopeful that one day we will see him in a director's role, whether that's DOF or Technical Director. But his health is more important, and I can imagine his blood pressure would spike every time he clocks Rudders in the corridor. I also would question quite how much appetite he'd have to yet again be tasked with taking a hatchet to our mess of a squad - I imagine it was bad enough having to do it the second time post-Sven when he was in good health, I wouldn't fancy the cortisol spikes of having to take the Matt Mills approach to the likes of Winks, Ayew, Vestergaard and whoever else when you've been through long covid and struggle to walk nowadays. Plus there's the obvious elephant in the room - it was apparently Top that made the call to 'sack' him in early 2015 before Vichai rolled that back and the rest of the story unfolded. I don't believe he'd want to work with the current hierarchy regardless of how much say he'd have on the future trajectory of the club. Why would he want to help save face for someone who couldn't wait to get rid of him during the great escape season? If the dream scenario ever unfolds and Top sells up, that's the point at which I think he hopefully comes back in that role. It would be the obvious way for any new owner to gain fans' trust. But in a similar way to how I don't want Kingy to get the manager role right now and have his legacy tarnished by what seems like a potential disaster waiting to happen, I don't want Top and Rudkin wheeling out Big Nige to distract the fanbase from what a mess they've made of LCFC both on the pitch and financially.

Ah f*** it, I can't not get a bit excited with Kingy in the dugout. Even though I know our team is garbage, I'm excited for a game for the first time this season. 4-1 win, don't care who scores. We aren't keeping a clean sheet - I'll order an Andy King body pillow if we do.

Those games under Sadler and Stowell in 22-23 were shameful, absolutely no response from the players and arguably looked worse than they did under Brendan. I'd expect similar from this motley crew. Really was a shame with regards to Stowell in particular, who had always been a steady pair of hands during interims. I think he had a 100% win record over 2 periods sharing it with Chris Powell? Like I say, probably reflected more on how rotten the squad had become overall towards the back end of Rodgers' tenure, but it's not like it's that much better three years later.