Dan

He's the sort of player that just makes a mockery of the fact we're in this division. He should be playing in Europe.

First tournament I've ever gone into where I really think England have a serious chance. I think only the French have a squad as good as ours now and I'm saying this as somebody who has generally been down on England and our chances. Southgate is the leveller.

This is the sort of thing the Trust should be pushing for in my eyes - so the game kicks off at 20:00 and the last train back to Leicester is 22:22. I'm not saying they'll necessarily get anywhere, but it would be nice if they could push the club to push for trains back that we can actually get - but I doubt it even registers.

****ing unreal. It's like giving Haaland 11 pace.

Hit me with as many inverted roles as you want sunshine, my gegenfouling supreme shall remain.

6/1 after we lost at home to Fulham for me. I put in basically whatever returned my season ticket price.

Smith wasn't very good but still maintain we sacked at the single most ridiculous time. You could write a book on the stupidity of last season.

He should, but I bet he won't.

Claiming the victory. Last train back is 22:22. They won't because it makes too much sense but surely knock that back half an hour.

Monday supposedly.

Convinced we have a higher proportion than virtually any other club.

Bologna were never paying the sort of fee touted and they knew it as well. Their plan clearly was to get him in by any means necessary and hope while he's there he'd join them in fighting for a permanent move for much less than we've agreed. I bet they try and offer us about £7mil. Like I said I think the best case scenario is he had a change of heart. Was well up for giving him another chance and like I said I liked the fact he didn't fact in with last seasons squad. That's a green flag to me.

This club are extremely good at keeping the fans in check aren't they. Pains me to see it happening. The Trust are now just another propaganda arm of the club and the vast majority won't ask serious questions when a season like last pans out. They've bought this fanbase good and proper.

I rate Sunderland's support but I will have to see it when I believe it with a lot of these ends here. Often get big numbers and little noise. I'm not saying that we aren't regularly guilty of this too.

I'd not be upset if in a years time he was back here and they agreed to try and make it work to be honest. I'm easy either way with it. He's got something about him - no surprise that this had him as an outcast in last seasons gang of losers.

This is our 'Kop' as well. Scary hour.

Seen that too. Makes a complete mockery of the whole system.

Cincinnati Fox I think

In a weird way I feel like Souttar might be more use to us in the Premier League where we'll be defending more than in the Championship. He's a very good defender for low block football.

Saturday 21st October. Don't really get why they can't come earlier given nothing will change before then

A truly embarrassing set of circumstances all round. I do get the feeling Maresca might be a bit special though so we have a bit of a dilemma - lets just hope he hasn't got it in him to behave how Rodgers did. I'm not convinced he has, they seem very different personalities to me.

It's already started a bit on here - from the same types who'll without a hint of irony tell you you're getting ahead of yourself assuming we'll get promoted.

The longer time goes on the more I think it looks pretty obvious it's the most avoidable relegation you'll ever see. It's far worse than something like Newcastle in 2009 or Aston Villa in 2016, despite both being bigger clubs (albeit neither had achieved close to what we had in the subsequent years running up) ours really did come a bit out of nothing. It was nothing that an early sacking wouldn't have fixed. I'm glad we look to have changed things for the better on the pitch but I'm even more convinced now than I was at the time about the level of ineptness that was actually on show. I think Leeds in 2004 is the only thing really comparable.

I don't think we disagree. Tanner reported not long after the sacking that Rudkin was the one who wanted to keep Rodgers in and kept falling for his nonsense. Rodgers was playing a game to try and get the boot and subsequently his payoff, but we just wouldn't take the bait. I'm not doubting that the contract helped the case to keep him but as proven by the fact they did sack him eventually, they were always able to do it and they just chose not to for ages. They ended up losing more money by not sacking him and letting him relegate us anyway.

The PL need it to keep it interesting. I expect a few iffy decisions to go against Man City later in the season to stop them running away with it. Man City were in a weaker position this time last year. They're still underestimated. They often flake a bit early doors but they go and put together a mad run midseason and end up running away with it. I've seen nothing from the other three to convince me they could push Man City yet.