Hands on

It looks much better than the blizzard outside my window but the heavy snow is due this evening.

LJ is right though, we are where we are not because of goals against but because of a lack of goals for. It is the right Royle approach!

We have to let him slip every now and then but the one thing I liked was his ability to speak in joined up writing with no football cliches. Lee Johnson's drab blue army!

Is this a way of finding out how much we are prepared to pay? I would like it to be cheaper than this year but accept that the club needs the money so have 'voted' for the same. What I would like is an interest free way of paying say over 10 months by direct debit which would automatically renew unless you opt out. More people would be able to go with a season ticket if it was £30 per month for 10 months - it would be daft not to get one if you go to 15 or more home games. The £5 vouchers should be repeated and just give season ticket holders 10% off all purchases in the shop at any time. The FA cup money could be used to cover the cash flow difficulty caused by not getting all the money up front in May.

LJ signalled for Simpson to go into the middle just before the goal and bang 1 nil. LJ was involved throughout the game. There is no doubt who the boss is. Not the hands folded ranting at the fourth official but stepping forward onto the pitch to remind them of what was required. Connor Brown is improving but size does seem to matter in this league and he is challenged! His preference for the back pass has him turning towards the goal rather than away - something that a good coach will sort out. Regular back passing started in the second half when, until Baxter scored the third, we seemed to lack energy. This is something I'm sure Lee will stop. Hartlepool needed to win that game more than we did and showed excellent spirit after the break until Baxter killed them off. The most impressive things are the difference from Saturday and the fact that we played as a team. 4 2 3 1 worked well. It was wonderful! We have six more games against bottom half teams and repeating that performance would see us winning them all. Can I get carried away after Shrewsbury?

It is about character. Lee looks like a winner and sounds like a winner and guess what we won easily. Paul was much liked by the players, respected for what he had achieved but it all wore off and we were left with an under performing unfit group of players who couldn't give a toss. I don't expect this to happen with Lee, in his quiet determined way he is clearly driven to be the best. I know there is usually a new manager bounce but I can't see him letting this lot land. I'm now sure we won't go down when after Saturday I thought we would.

As a Kentish man I know you Northern lot like to speak/blog without thinking. Lee looks like the ideal appointment for a cash strapped has been. He knows what the problem is - attitude/fitness not ability and can also bring in 1 or 2 more players. He also has seen what we have seen. No passion, no belief, lack of fitness, wrong tactics - but a team that can perform against Everton. I now believe that we might not go down. After Saturday I gave us no chance. Come on Lee.

Well I think it is a better appointment than anyone who you carping lot have mentioned on owtb. Yes I would have liked him to have a few years coaching experience with a successful club but you can't have everything. The more I think about this the better I feel about it. What I want is someone who is going to build a team of people with character not the supposed can't be bothered better players we have now. So the fact that he is not an ex premiership player with contacts giving us a stream of 19 year old wonder kids who will keep out and demoralise our home grown talent is a real plus for me. Won't be his fault if we go down either - that will clearly be down to Corney for not sacking and hiring sooner. We need a manager now even more so if we go down because of the need to build for next season. Come on Lee show this miserable lot what you can do!

There is something missing lets hope a new manager supplies it.

If Corney did nothing we were going to be relegated. He has now appointed a new manager. If we protest and complain at the match it will have a bad effect on the players and make it likely that we will still go down. Anybody who supports our club has to support the appointment and the players in the hope that he can make a team out of them. If we are still relegated then you can complain, then you will have reason to complain.

I assume Lee is a bright lad who has all the coaching badges so he is at least qualified to manage. I wanted an unknown who has coaching experience so I suppose I will welcome him over Brown or Dowie who would have extracted financial promises the club shouldn't commit to. We have to win on Tuesday so Corney must now be in a hurry to get someone, in the hope that having a manager will make the spineless display of Saturday a thing of the past. I wouldn't have picked him but he will have my best wishes and support. It won't be his fault that he gets the job. You have to support him but feel free to say what you like about Corney. If we do stay up with Lee in charge then it will as a result of his efforts and the future would then look bright.

It was stupid but you can't be sure what it cost us, 3 points 1 or none. Bournemouth were in cruise control and would have gone for a winner.

The point is that the players got stuck in against Liverpool and Everton and got the fans going. Against League 1 teams they go through the motions and as has been shown elsewhere their heads have now dropped before they even start. The only way you could fire this lot up is to make them all Guys!

They are just waiting to follow their captain, their manager and three quarters of the coaching staff. Wouldn't you be demoralised?

Collectively and individually they all went through the motions. None of the above.

There was only one team out there today and that is why we lost. I didn't expect much but I hoped we would score or perform well enough to suggest that we could win on Tuesday. It rather looks like it is four from the bottom five to go down. Bury and Portsmouth look like going down and a win on Tuesday should give us a big enough cushion over Hartlepool and then it would look like us or Scunthorpe to stay up. Can't see where a goal is going to come from. Couldn't argue about the starting 11 but I felt the substitutions should have been used to change our shape and not just like for like. I felt their keeper was aware of the Baxter dink so he didn't fully commit to going right and when Baxter did the expected made the save. Will make arrangements so I can drown my sorrows on Tuesday.

I eat my words - Korey Smith the saviour of Latics! No he looks OK but can't be expected to do miracles today as he will need time to understand the system (I hear you say what system?) Intrigued to see who plays where today - I'm in the attacking midfield role for Baxter as I think he scores more running on to the ball and hated Wes and Furman sitting back behind him with only one up front and don't think it works with Baxter as one of two. Feel less despondent. Thank you Simon.

I feel like I did in 94. 97 didn't seem so bad as I expected it after 94. The season ticket offer, what happened to that, is going to have to be very good although probably best to wait and pay on the door as that money might disappear with the FA Cup money (I stand to be corrected but where is it?) and Corney who says he will go if we go down. Not expecting anything tomorrow. Don't expect much on Tuesday. Expect to struggle in Division 4.

Another good and improving player that will slip out of our reach. This is some sort of money saving dodge whilst we continue to help him recover because he is out for the season. All I ask is did we need to know that another player is leaving? I also take the point on the FA Cup money - is there any evidence that this has been spent, beyond any win bonus, on the players or staff?

There is no mention of a fee just that Donny are paying his full wages. This bit of business is another nail in our coffin and Corney seems to relish wielding the hammer. Forget about what you think about Furman just consider how this will be seen by and what effect it could have on his teammates. No manager, no captain and no coaches. Manager who doesn't want the job, thanks Paul G for staying to the end of the season, thanks to Byrne and Murray for helping out but is this how you avoid relegation? What next I wonder!

I wonder what it is like having someone managing you who publicly says he doesn't want to manage you?

All this Dowie stuff is entertaining but Corney has today explained why Furman has gone and in The Chron why, IMO, no new manager is coming. (Hope I'm wrong) The players can do it, I've been let down by the players. Well I think Corney has let the players down by not sacking Dickov before Christmas and getting in a new manager before the January transfer window.

Corney might not know it yet but he has had enough, is losing the will and sad to say he needs to move on as well. Me thinks he has finally realised the mistake he has made by dithering before and after the sackings/departures. Back to 1970/71!

Dear Simon So a player indicates that he wants to move on when his contract ends. That is what we all expected him to do. So Doncaster come after him when we are fighting against relegation and regardless of whether he wants to go both he and Doncaster should be told nothing doing. So he is going to miss two games on International duty - we should be happy to have players that are wanted by their country. So he is two bookings away from a two match ban. Now this is really difficult (Simon read this slowly) you make sure his two match ban coincides with the two games he misses on International duty - it isn't rocket science every other club in the country, including Doncaster, would do it. So they are paying his whole wage. What a negotiator you are - paying his whole wage! Nothing on top? Nothing to lubricate his going? Possibly not such a good negotiator after all. So you need his wage in order to take on another loan player. Now let me think! Did you include the money from the FA Cup run in your budget at the start of the season? What have you used or allocated the money from the FA Cup run for? No, Simon, you didn't need the money from his wage to sign another loan player. You didn't need to send him out on loan. So finally where is the loan player. Ah I see you are trying to get a better player than Furman but nobody wants to come to a club in a relegation battle without a manager and without a full coaching team for the money you were paying Furman. Funny that!

It seems to me that he expressed a desire to go at the end of the season, Doncaster asked after him and he has been given a nudge. All we get is no captain and his wages paid. I'm sure this is a bad thing even if you don't think he is a good player because of the message it sends to the supporters, fans and most importantly his teammates. If you had to write a book about how to go about getting your club relegated the last three months give you everything you need. Without the FA Cup we would all be on suicide watch!