Frankly Mr Shankly

I don't think anyone's blind to the spend Joe. Mistakes were made in the previous appointment and subsequent recruitment from that has set us back. MM has to be backed fully, and given at least one and a half years minimum to hit his KPI which I would expect is top three. Early in the takeover, I'm vaguely recall DR was on record stating the owners expected they could be in this division for 3-4 years but hoped it could be sooner.

Chesterfield had four players over 30 and most of the rest of yesterday's starting lineup in the 26-30 bracket.

I'm sure Chesterfield had their share of cranks when they went on that massive blip of form last season.

Are you saying Dallas and Garner cannot play in a wide forward role?

I think they're on course to trump the points tally of Wrexham last season. Very little has been mentioned of that in mainstream media. They're a good blueprint for us if truth be told.

We need promotion as soon as possible, it's as simple as that and to do that we need to outspend the competition. The trend for promoted teams, in the last few seasons at least has been the biggest budget goes up. The prudent, fineley financially managed clubs just don't have what it takes to get above the crop. I have the same itch, or it's more a question of when do the Rothwells decide enough's enough? They've made available £5m for players and I guess, when that's been exhausted, and if we're still in this position then a change to stratagy may well occur. We need to be mindful of that possibility. That said, I still hold the believe in that the changes we've seen in new pitch outlay, improvements to facilities and regeneration of a new training facility suggests they're not the type who'll be toys out of the pram as soon as a shit load of money on player signings isn't reaping instant results. Hate the constantly used expression but we do need patience and trust in the process. And I think we've had plenty of warnings from individuals involved in the likes of Luton, Stockport etc. in that it often takes quite a few years of adjusting and rebuilding to bring together that team that is a dominent force. I also think social media amplifies the shrieking negativity that makes it all seem that it's worse than it is. Can't get away from that but it taints clear thinking when we have a poor result / performance. People questioning someone who's a clear and recent track record in promotion and has actually got us into the promotion frame already FFS.

Do you rate him BP?

To bring in two quality strikers in adding to the one we have in Norwood suggests he wants to play with three up front. None of of them have been brought in to sit on the bench. Dallas has through lack of match fitness, but once up to speed I expect he'll start. However the injury to Norwood will likely mean we'll be playing two up front for the foreseeable anyway.

Do what? Score when the ball was put into his 'zone'? A handful of times, that's all. Nowhere near enough. I just don't think we played to his strengths and put in enough quality forward balls for him. He was made to play a target man's role when he plainly just isn't that. You, and many others, clearly just don't rate him. That's fine, I've no problem with that. I wish him well and hope he finds his groove.

Met Perry Groves at the Roadhouse in Manchester once, strangely enough. He'd just been doing a radio show Media City with Colin Murray and Pat Nevin earlier in the evening. Pat was DJing a stellar indiepop set at a clubnight at the Roadhouse. Perry was such a good bloke, had loads of time for anyone and I think I spent an entire 25 minutes talking about the several Oldham v Arsenal matches in the 90's. He remembered them all vividly, more so the 1-1 where Wright scored and reacted to abuse from the crowd since it was his cross that Wright put away. His Football Ramble Meets podcast episode was a great listen too.

I'm still of the opinion that we never made best use of Nuttall and I don't think he's a bad player per se. On his debut he received a superb cross from the right hand side at Notts County which he clinically buried. He rarely received service like it. His style is languid, he won't run through brick walls for you but if the ball's put in Lee Johnson's famed "corridor of uncertainty" he'll normally bury it. Hope he does well and revives his career.

Josh Kelly has left Solihull Moors to join Wimbledon. One of their better players IMO.

That’s lovely that. I want George as manager to finish the job when MM’s taken us to L1.

There isn’t a team other than Luton to go from our level to the Prem granted. And that isn’t a realistic achievement if truth be known. However the Championship is, and that can be achieved by attracting investment on the back of momentum. I’m pretty sure the owners have gone on record to say they’re well positioned to fund us up to L1 / Championship but they would be looking to seek investment or sell the club in order to take it further. There were appointments made on the board with that in mind. If they were that bad an investment then all clubs below the Prem would be fan owned and run ultra-prudently, wouldn’t they? It’s only when the milk starts to turn sour they become a millstone for a disinterested owner.

He has, but that was 4-5bsignimgs ago wasn’t it?

If the plan is good enough and a positive trajectory is achieved then investors are there to be had. Money makes money. Rothwells achieve promotion with the initial acquisition of the club. Further investment is put in from a third party who puts enough in the pot for a run to the Championship. The investor, plus the Rothwells make much more money than a dozen Nuttalls picking splinters out of their arses when the club is sold to an even bigger investor in the Championship. This is how I translate it as. Speculate to accumulate. The plan only derails if we stay at any of those levels for a considerable amount of time. It's dependant on overall success, which, if the plan is made, forecasted properly and stuck to, then has a more than good enough chance of achieving.

He's on a contract to the end of next season so it's clearly a signing designed to try and get us out of this division by then. Bags of experience, lot of playing time under his belt and an utter pain in the arse to play against. It's a dynamic Norwood thrives on and someone who will be on a similar wavelength. It'll be interesting to see where he fits Dallas into this so it points more towards a favoured 4-3-3. Fondop's the obvious candidate to make way I would expect. I think Mike's most effective position is coming off the bench for a bit of extra physicality anyway so he should have a part to play still. As a Latics fan growing up in the 80's, having a striker called Garner still doesn't sit right with me.

Is there some inside knowledge somewhere that all hotels in London are going to be booked up on the 4th May? In any case, plenty of small Southern Leisure Centre towns in easy reach of that part of London.

It's nowhere near the city centre. The ground's just off the ring road, about half a dozen miles out. That said. I was watching their highlights recently. Someone took a corner and the fence behind was about 4 foot high. They're going to need a lot of perimeter stewards.

Total myth, with all respect. Gates are hinged on us winning, or to put it another way, success. If we played the most eye-catching football in our division, yet languished in mid table, the gates would be down. The floating fans want to see us at the top of the division, and they'd take industrial football if that's what it gave us. They want to see wins, period, and the success it brings. Gates went up when Frank took over because it offered a new chance of success. The style of football we were going to play was never the reason. FWIW I believe good football will come when we get the fucking basics right. Not before.

It illustrated just how much a dog of a division the Vauxhall Conference is. Four out of the top five all lost. All teams struggle for consistancy and players at this level are all prone to off-days. It just so happens quite a few of our players had them all on one day. For me, we just don't come out of the traps and go for the jugular fast enough. Teams come to us with a game plan and they very rarely have to change it during a match. Yesterday was a perfect example where a tepid and tame first half gave them belief during the HT team talk. That said, their goal was a touch fortunate and that's all they needed. I was more disappointed at the lack of character after going 0-1 down. We should be backing ourselves to score at least two every match against this quality of opposition. I'm not too disheartened. Could just as easily see Woking suffer a 0-2 loss at home to Boreham Wood next Saturday and us romp to a comfortable away victory at Ebbsfleet. MM's tactics are pretty sound away from home. It's the master puzzle at BP he's got to work out. Player-wise. Conlon and Dallas will get better and better the more match fit they get. I can see Lundstram losing his place to Hammond before too long too.

I suspect he may keep the team more or less as it was against Barnet but with Dallas on the bench and McGahey in place of Hogan. I still don't expect Dallas is 100% match fit and may benefit more from 30-40 minutes off the bench before he starts.

Like two bald men fighting over a comb.

Definitely. It’s bang in the half term holidays too so those with kids who may not have done otherwise will probably go for that. I’ll be amazed if we don’t sell our initial allocation within three days.

Still have him as my avatar, taken from this. What a player and Zidane weren't too shabby either.