23 Jan 2026 16:37:25
So is it Edu or Dyche? The wheels started to fall off with a dozen or so games to play last season. We’ve had some bright moments ie Brentford and Arsenal but mostly dire. We can’t blame Dyche for the balls up last season and the early part of this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily backing the bloke but you can only f**k with the p***k you’ve got! A handful of those players last night wouldn’t look good playing for the Rose and Crown.
Shambles and it would be very interesting being a fly on Marinakis’ wall!
23 Jan 2026 18:12:32
TK, SD was appointed to keep us up, I believe he will do that. As you point out the tools he was given were not of his choosing. He came in when we had been in free fall since last April and has gradually begun to turn us around. It sounds like the Braga match was very poor.
The players should be ashamed that 2, 000 came from Nottingham and they booed them twice. Last night 4 of the players starting were shoe ins for the first team. The rest starting were the bench warmers ie players mainly brought in at the beginning of the season. None of the SD out brigade have made a suggestion as to who they would bring in as an alternative.
They have to ask themselves after sacking Nuno and then Apostoglo. Which manager worth his salt would try and pick up the poison chalice which is our club atm. SD accepted the challenge I suspect out of loyalty which we should respect him for.
Although once more uncertainty once surrounds the club, so the sort of player we want will not come, unless they are looking at a final pay cheque? Luiz. So loans to the club must be key. Let’s face it we are not likely winners of the Europa cup so field the under 21s from now on. Let the first team concentrate on the premiership.
23 Jan 2026 19:31:50
Just off the Club Shop Website. trying to flog jackets with a sweeping.
"Style and Substance for the walk to the ground jacket"
With Elliott Anderson looking mean and moody!
???
Pity you weren't that last night mate!
Or maybe, that's why he was sent off!
?????.
23 Jan 2026 19:32:46
Why does nobody blame our head of recruitment
Pedro ferriea?
23 Jan 2026 20:06:24
Just bought my Forest Pyjamas. "For that walk to the bathroom, in the middle of the night! "
???.
23 Jan 2026 20:21:52
Ferriea Has to go through edu for signings dtp. edu has last say on ins and outs also as the biggest say on managers tactics etc so ferria is just a pawn like dyche. its that simple I thought you knew a bit about football ??.
23 Jan 2026 20:30:29
Only good dribble you'll probably see this season rogie ???.
23 Jan 2026 20:48:44
Great posts all! Including you DTP. I guess the buck doesn’t always stop right at the very top of the hierarchy mate….
23 Jan 2026 21:04:34
Thers far more to it stokey and Palace didn't help by delaying the inevitable that they where guilty.
23 Jan 2026 22:11:32
I said before the start of the season DTP that regardless of which competition we were in, we should recruit quality not quantity. Say 3 or 4 not 8 or 9 or whatever. Keep a tight knit squad and re enforce in January in a measured way as circumstances pan out.
Yet, here we go again, scattergun, wasted millions and having to scrabble frantically now Jyst like under SC. Puts enormous pressure on managers especially newly arrived with no pre season to drill them.
23 Jan 2026 22:57:13
You can't just buy a couple though stokey once your in Europe and try keeping a tight knit squad
We've had loads of injuries this season but got lucky last season?
Don't you agree?
24 Jan 2026 11:24:12
DTP, it’s a great question but our recruitment should have been more nuanced and less scattergun mate. Firstly, I did say 3 or 4 quality replacements not a couple in the summer then a further 3 or 4 in January depending on developments making 8 or 9 altogether.
From what I've seen of the Europa most of the teams are Championship level with only a couple of mid to lower Prem at the “first phase”. We could have held our fire and reinforced then swapped it around as it gets more difficult after January ( like Chelsea in the Conference …. Virtually none of their big guns played in any of the opening rounds, nor did they need to). Of course, injuries are just bad luck.
You could do a Spurs and spend £60 million on Solanke who then is out for 5 months. During their Europa success under Ange they routinely had 9 or 10 players out and were lucky to stay in the Prem but gambled on a passage to the Champions League ( by the way, reverting to so called “ Dyche ball” in the final against Man Utd).
I’d have thought the recruitment team might have thought about, say, having a quality replacement for 34 year old Woody and a fading Taiwo lined up, but that was obviously not done. Instead we sign (at vast expense) Hutch, Bakwa and Ndoye as replacement for the sorely missed Elanga…… as I say, scattergun and a bit dim imo.
24 Jan 2026 13:02:13
Good post, Stokey.
Regarding the recruitment, you're correct that no striker was available to play alongside Wood/ Awonyi.
With hindsight and better recruitment, we might have finished in the top 5 and qualified for the Champions League.
Marinakis's success as both a businessman and team owner is evident.
However, the reported £200 million spent on mediocre players raises questions about the effectiveness of the recruitment process. A higher standard is warranted for future acquisitions and thorough due diligence.