Hands on

In order to reach the playoffs we have to gain the same number of points from 17 games that we have managed from 29.  In other words we can only drop 12 points.  So the order of the day now should be to develop our own players - the ones we have held on to -  Hamer, Hunt, Edmondson, Stott etc.  Why it was left too late to be worthwhile before signing the strikers and a defender we no longer need just beggars belief.

Interestingly for the 'contents' we could be 15th by close of play if Grimsby win and 11 points from the play offs if Exeter are also successful.

Shame if true after making all that effort.  Strange to reconcile how the club has pulled together on this against all the negative stuff we hear.

Crikey I must be getting old 45 minutes.

I wonder if AL will get his score.

It has been somewhat warmer today that forecast.  The snow on the covers just might have given added protection to the problem north side of the pitch.  It could be warmer tonight and tomorrow than forecast (now suggesting -4).  Pigs once again could fly over Boundary Park.

Looking for a better deal in the summer or waiting for a new manager who has the boys (A+M) balls in a vice.

We do appear to have a rather larger squad than we need but there are allegedly some that aren't allowed to play and some that must play so it is not a squad that is being fully utilised.  A team that is not picked on merit is a team that can easily fold as it did at Carlisle.  We should have stayed up last year and we should make the play off places this year but I'm now settling for mid table.

Can't see the game being on.  After last night the pitch will be frozen under the covers which can't be removed today as still freezing.  Tomorrow just above freezing so unless they do something to thaw it out it will be frozen when the ref is called in Saturday morning to have a look although with a 'local' team to play they could wait until midday to decide.

Didn't Lang extend his loan to end of season.

37 pages to go!

No point Surridge returning now.  The point any new manager should consider is actually signing a striker who will get us 20 goals.

Can we not stick to the topic?

He has arrived!

When asked if he wanted the job

‘There are a lot of things to take into consideration,’ said Wild. ‘Whether it’s the right time, whether it’s the right club, whether it’s the right anything for a first-team gig.’

Kind of sums up where we are.

He might have in which case who is there to take over after Wild gets sacked?

2 hours ago, Magic Mikey said:

My last word on the penalty. Lots of talk about Clarke's arm which was in the air. There was a melee of players, he was being knocked and I think Marquis pulling down on his right side makes his left arm go up. George heads the balk, shouldn't have been a penalty.

I can see why a referee could see that in real time and give a penalty, just as I don't blame Anthony Taylor for being conned by the Fulham dive in real time. What I am so angry about is that the referee didn't see it as a handball, neither did the linesman and they changed their minds on the say so of the Doncaster players. That's so much worse than any honest mistake.

Spot on.  The referee didn't see a penalty and the lineman kept his flag down as if pointing for a corner.  It was only the protests by the Donny players which somehow made the referee and his assistant decide that it was.  I assume it was given because the assistant saw an arm raised but raising your arm is not a foul.

The red card for Clarke is also a mistake.  You don't run with your arms by your side.  He had his arm out in front of him, as if to protect himself as the goalkeeper backed into him hits the elbow and threw himself to the ground in agony.  Nothing more and nothing less than a cheat.

The damage that referees do is a real problem because increasingly the evidence exists to show how inconsistent they are and how often they get it wrong.  We were doing well in the FA Cup where having VAR for some games means that the competition is not being run to a consistent standard.  Obviously VAR, or whatever it becomes, is not available for the early rounds but it should be for every match from a later round or none.

What I ask is the point?

1.  Not a penalty.

2. Clarke did not elbow goalkeeper - he had his elbow out and goalkeeper jumped into it and down like he was mortally wounded only to take the following goal kick.

3.  We were robbed but are we innocent?  We are behind and make one substitution an out of form Baxter (he is getting better) replaced by an out of form/fitness Vera.  It was crying out for Branger to go.  We are behind and we put Clarke up front.  Why not replace Hamer with Benteke and let him use his pace, something they have not contended with all game, and have three wiser heads at the back.  Put Hunt on.  Wild either made bad calls or has his hand firmly held up his back.

An opportunity lost not simply by a stupid referee but mainly by an owner.  Season is now over but at least this year we should not be relegated from the football league.

I wonder how many times Scholes has to say NO before he is believed.

Branger plays because the owner thinks he will be the better player.

I just think having a player forced on the team could explain why they weren't interested at Macclesfield.  Let us hope the FA Cup gets them interested again.

You would have thought we would play George and Hunt today and then shift them out next week if we lose.

The loan of Sefil could also suggest that George is staying although Stott has returned.

This is looking very much like a Corney year in that we have 39 points so with the pressure off the team is going to end the transfer window weaker.  The return of Surridge would make me think differently but it has to be for today and not next week if he fails to find another place to go.

I suppose it is possible that Wild could still be in 'temporary' charge at the end of the season as one candidate after another realises (how they don't know is a mystery) what is going on.  It will need either someone so desperate or someone able to persuade our illustrious owner to change ways.  I hope Scholes if appointed has been able to get the assurances he must need and we have a manager who can pick his best team.  The playoffs are in easy reach with the right man at the helm.

Had to guarantee to play football for ten years I believe.

Corney would have kept us in league 1 waiting for a gullible person to come along and buy a worthless football club.

The gullible person relegated my team, gave me a scarf and has the interpersonal skills of a brick wall.  The sooner he puts his name on a brick and finds another gullible person to buy our worthless football club the better.

It rather looks like Scholes would take the Oldham job if the right circumstances presented themselves.  It also looks like those circumstances are not, as yet, present.

The beauty of age is the perspective it gives and with that second chance the opportunity for undoing the damage a younger and more optimistic me did when saying "yes" last time.

On a footballing point it is interesting to note that the fortunes of our club have followed the fortunes of the 28.

Might not COG be available Saturday as I thought he was being given a couple of weeks rest.

Je vote pour numero quatre - premiere langue francais.