Nods

It's one step closer to administration, which is one step closer to new ownership. That's all I've got

Not meaning to be disrespectful or argue with you but what possessed you to not cancel when you had the chance? You genuinely couldn't pay me to go down every week to watch us die a slow death.

Ruud was and Rowett was an emergency caretaker under whom nothing really changed. The only exception is Cooper. He had to go, but Ruud wasn't the answer.

It almost certainly will not work. I just don't understand this obsession with possession. Why? For what reason? I don't even hate it when it's effective, and I was among Maresca's biggest advocates when the tide was turning against him here. But when it hasn't worked for years and the fanbase aren't getting behind it, what's the point in doubling down on it? Come to think of it, what's the point in even having an identity or playing style that at a club level, we operate? Between playing staff and the managers available at any given time, there are too many variables to resolutely stick to one style, especially in our position. We have a negative fanbase and rightly so. Hiring Martin plays right into that negativity from the off, so you can forget any clean slate or momentum shift. Added to that, we have a playing squad that got relegated primarily because they ranked bottom for sprints and distance covered. What value is there, then, in hiring Martin who's philosophy lends itself perfectly to idle football? The model is pretty simple. Sell anyone we can. Build the team around promising youth players. Buy the best players from League One and pick up players with a point to prove released from Prem and showing promise in League 2 with what remains. Bring in a manager capable of building a close knit group and garnering a culture which expects professional standards as the bare minimum. Somebody pragmatic enough to build a team and find the most effective way to help them to win games of football. But no, instead we choose to bring in a failing, roundly disliked manager on the basis he gets his teams to pass the ball around a bit. Why should that matter? Who gives a fvck? Will they, when they're paying out compo for what, the 4th time in as many years when we're once again falling well below what should be expected of us? Get these arrogant, clueless willy pullers out of this football club. I actively want us to fail at this point. Burn it to the ground until they leave.

Slot has just become available so expect the next month will be spent finding his agent's number followed by daily rejected calls.

Since when did managers of elite clubs decide which club their youth players go on loan to?

I've heard from the Adidas side that they work for months with whoever it is at the club they deal with on the kit, only for Top to wade in at the 11th hour and rip everything up. We're apparently well renowned as one of their most difficult accounts. We've all worked with bosses like that. It's no wonder the mess we're in. When nobody respects the boss, things go sour pretty quickly in any organisation.

Unless he's doing it charitably, which he wouldn't, we can't afford it whether we'd want to or not.

I don't disagree, he was great. But his weakness, if he had one when at his peak, was in tiny details like not making a foul at the right time, not kicking the ball out of play when it would make sense to, or sometimes making the wrong decision. Never something I'd mention at the time because he was great. I'm more bemoaning our lack of intelligence as a group and the fact he's ended up in the role of a leader, unfortunately says a lot about our lack of them.

Even at his best he struck me as a bit thick with some of his decisions on the pitch. Not captain material. Making him captain on the basis he's been here the longest just sums up our lack of strategy and direction as a club. Just one more lazy decision in a long line.

Doubt it. All I took from Elm/Steve videos was that Top appears very ready to agree that the players have let us/him down. To me that says he's looking at it as an isolated issue which starts and ends with this group of players. As we know, the issues run far, far deeper than the playing squad.

Oh no, not our entire squad!

I understand the apathy. Really, I do. But would an Everton or a Newcastle be apathetic in this situation? Would they b*llocks. As fans, we're part of the problem. The game should be stopped over and over again as vocal protests are made against the ownership. Anti-ownership signs. I don't mind the players taking some flack, too. They deserve it. But it misses the point and most of them won't be here next year anyway. I accept that like-minded people feel they'll be in the minority. All it needs is a show of hands and a commitment from a few hundred that they will be there and they will be making efforts to stop the game. That they'll bring homemade anti-ownership banners. That ought to empower people to crack on. At the end of the day we aren't Everton or Newcastle, but at least if people know it'll be them and a few hundred others, not them and them alone, they will follow through. Does a more prominent poster than I, perhaps with links to Union FS, want to mobilise on this? Create a roll call on who will be taking action for a given game. With a couple of ideas for chants and banners so that there's at least a little coherence to it.

Let's put aside his sh!te touch, his refusal to attack his full back, his sloppy passing and general moping for a second and talk about his total lack of discipline. It doesn't take a rigid tactician in the mould of Guardiola to tell you that your left winger consistently drifting central (or to right wing??), is a problem. Even if he was doing something creative, which he absolutely wasn't - just the odd random amble to a different part of the pitch - you can't do that. Once or twice maybe if there's an opportunity to exploit space. But for long stretches of the game for no apparent reason? It killed us. BDCR was having to cover his side all game. Not that he's ever likely to have been effective, but any threat he may have brought was completely taken out of the game. Moments after this, Portsmouth obviously easily got at us (because we're positionally all over the shop due to his lack of discipline). They created a chance which led to the corner they score the game's only goal from. It was happening all game. He's as lazy as he is thick as he is sh!t. And he starts every game. How any manager can watch what he's been doing and not drop him from the squad, let alone start him, is just beyond my comprehension. I am not a football manager. Why can I see this and the useless tossers we employ not?

There is no way our set pieces aren't evidence of match fixing. Let's put the goal to one side for a second and take a moment to appreciate the last 10 minutes: 83' - Pompey free kick on half way. We're 1-0 down and must win. Our entire team lines up on our 18 yard box. 85' - Corner straight at goalkeeper. Catches it unopposed. 86' - Long throw from 30 yards straight at goalkeeper. Catches it unopposed. 89' - Foul in opposition half. Get back into shape ready to pounce? No, start a fight with the opposition to waste more time. 90+1' - Luke Thomas, and I sh!t you not, attempts a long throw in from in line with the centre circle. You'll be shocked to hear it gets cleared with ease. 90+2' - Free kick from 40 yards. Shot. Dribbles 5 yards wide. And that's just the last 10 minutes. Has to be match fixing. For my sanity, it has to be match fixing.