Hands on

Can't be Scholes as he currently lives in Greenfield whilst his house is having a modest £2m revamp. We couldn't even pay him his pocket money.

There is no way that PD left without being paid. (I stand to be corrected) I suspect it was step aside with payment or be sacked with payment. The thing will have been negotiated. Whilst we have a decaying ground unfit for purpose any new person will have to come for less than the average rather than more. Who other than someone like PD, stage of career etc., is going to take on a money strapped club seemingly doomed to be relegated. We need a special one but whoever it is will be that if we stay up. The change is necessary simply to give us the chance to stay up - in my poker mind I would say we are now about 45% to go down rather than 90%.

I was going to agree but as I don't want to get into the name thing I'll just say nice copy.

I say English because it would be nice for an England manager to start here. Other countries, particularly Scots are over represented.

The problem with all the available people is that they are available because in someones eyes they have failed or will not produce the desired outcome. Many of those mentioned have also moved on - let them go! I can’t see us enticing a successful manager away from another club and most of the ‘available’ will want too much money and a contract beyond the summer. I would suggest we need: Someone who has played in leagues 1 & 2 Someone who has seen relegation and promotion at first hand Someone who needs the money Someone who is fit and looked after themselves as a player Someone who is intelligent Someone who is hungry for success Someone who was the club captain Someone who understands discipline Someone who speaks there mind Someone with common sense Someone who is English Somebody who is new to management

The 'standing aside' will have been negotiated and a payment or payments will be made unless I'm very much mistaken.

Will Dickov look a better manager if we still go down? His going, it must be remembered does not mean that we will stay up. Whoever comes, like him or loath him, must have our support.

Someone who is prepared to work until the end of the season with the prospect of a longer contract if we are still in league 1.

Avoided the sack. Gave us our highest high for some years. Has avoided giving us our lowest low.

I assume Simon was invited to speak on the programme and then had to answer the question put to him. Had he refused after always, it seems, being available they would have assumed PD was on his way out. I think SC has tried to get PD to improve and these appeals in public are just another way, a last resort, of trying to get PD to do better. He doesn't want to sack him for two reasons, money and friendship, and would prefer PD to negotiate a resignation rather than stubbornly hanging on flailing away out of his depth before being sacked.

I think the nasty statistic is that we have yet to beat a team that was in the top 12 when we played them. Yeovil are now 5th, MK Dons are 11th, Stevenage are 15th, Portsmouth are 23rd, Preston are 17th and Sheffield Utd 6th. If past form is correct we will lose the next two games but could pick up points in the three after Everton before Sheffield beat us. I'm trying to avoid the manager word but I have thought we would go down for weeks unless someone says goodbye.

Could be he is going to be our next manager!

Defence was good enough until we lost 2 0 to Colchester, we only conceded one against Notts County but otherwise it is two or more each game. At first it was lack of goals now we can't defend against league 1 teams as well. If we drop into the bottom four it is going to be very hard to get out. Attitude and tactics - nothing changes.

The stupidity of this is that a draw would have been OK.

If they have to get one end why not the Chaddy end? How does giving them one end stop the pitch invasion? How many people have the police charged as a result of our, Oldham fans, attacking Liverpool fans? I would suggest that we have a much better relationship with Everton supporters. Was there any trouble when we visited them and shared a stand? Why not give Everton the smaller section of the RRE as that would reduce their numbers and make policing easier? This will change the whole dynamics in the ground against Oldham.

Under 4,000 with 128 from Yeovil otherwise would have been under 3,000. A win against Walsall could drag a few more in but these are hard times.

It would have been the best time to sack him. Dickov could have left with head held high. Who gives a toss about the publicity. He was not been sacked earlier because SC did not have the money to do it. The win gave us the money and unfortunately Corney gave him another chance - he wasn't giving him another chance before because he didn't have the money to sack him. No money couldn't sack him. Have money now and should have sacked him. The win against Liverpool has not changed the league form. Let us hope we don't regret the fact that now SC has the money he didn't sack him. Now is that clear?

Does this tell us anything about the teams we have to beat? Nicky Ajose [Peterborough - Bury] Loan Stephene Zubar [bournemouth - Bury] Loan Mark Hughes [bury - Accrington] Loan George Porter [burnley - Colchester] Loan Dominic Samuel [Reading - Colchester] Loan Billy Clifford [Chelsea - Colchester] Loan Sam Walker [Chelsea - Colchester] Loan Jabo Ibehre [MK Dons - Colchester] Free David Wright [Crystal Palace - Colchester] Free Anthony Wordsworth [Colchester - Ipswich] £100k to 200k Paul Murray [unattached - Oldham] Jordan Obita [Reading - Oldham] Loan Chris Iwelumo [Watford - Oldham] Loan Lee Barnard [southampton - Oldham] Loan James Keene [Elfsborg - Portsmouth] Loan Sam Sodje [unattached - Portsmouth] Yassin Moutaouakil [Hayes and Yeading - Portsmouth] Free Shaun Cooper [Crawley - Portsmouth] Loan Akpo Sodje [unattached - Scunthorpe] Stephen McGinn [Watford - Shrewsbury] Loan David McAllister [sheffield United - Shrewsbury] Undisclosed Rob Edwards [barnsley - Shrewsbury] Loan Asa Hall [shrewsbury - Aldershot] Loan Terry Gornell [shrewsbury - Rochdale] Undisclosed Hartlepool have done nothing so they seem to have given up. Scunthorpe have added one player - their fans must be concerned. Bury have two in and one out - short of money. Shrewsbury have three in and two out - another club short of money but have tried to improve. Portsmouth with four in trying hard even with the potential deduction of 10 points. Colchester have gone for it six in and one out and they won their last game, a problem for us. To wait until the end of the window smacks of trying to get the best deal i.e. cheaply. To wait until the end of the window whilst your manager entertains City fans smacks of a lack of commitment. Corney is trying but is Dickov?

It does rather suggest that he is waiting to be sacked.

Absolutely if you make Wes and Furman both sit back it doesn't work but if Wes sits back and Furman is allowed to push on you win at Forest. Good players are better than their last game!

SC is right, PD and the team are under performing in league 1. The FA cup results against Doncaster, Forest and Liverpool prove this. Those results are no excuse. I'm more disappointed by the league performance having seen the FA cup performances - it makes me angry. 1 point from 24 does not lie. SC is letting his friendship with Dickov cloud his judgement because he now has the money to sack him.

He is a free agent and will do what every free agent does and that is find the best deal he can. He is also in no hurray and his agent will want him to find the best deal i.e. not just until the end of this season. This is not good. If he stays with us he will go up in my estimation as a person just as Baxter did.

This blog is mad! It's either doom and gloom or unreasonable expectations. We are where we are because of the tactics used and the lack of desire. If the tactics change and if the players can show 90% of the effort and desire to win as they did against Liverpool we can beat anybody in league 1. Murray is unlikely to be able to play a full game and in any case do we want him to play with Wes in the midfield? Obita is another youngster here for experience who the last time we saw him got stupidly sent off. We have our own youngsters. Bringing in loan players to take their place can not have cheered them up one little bit, they want to play and from what we have seen I would rather take the devil we know. Iwelumo does not score many goals and I don't think his signing will improve our team, but with the injury to Smith we do need him. Barnard does appear to be a good signing but is he better than Derbyshire. I hope so. We got into this mess with Baxter, Derbyshire and Wabara. Can we get out of the mess with Baxter, Murray, Iwelumo, Barnard and Obita having lost Montano and M'Changama and with Smith and Simpson injured. (Just read about Croft - he don't score but he does assist). Our attacking options are at best no better and where is the cover for the defence given that Tarky has brittle feet. It will all come down to tactics and desire. Will the players who have lacked that desire put their bodies on the line as they did against Liverpool against Walsall, Yeovil and MK Dons when Everton are just round the corner? Has our stubborn manager seen the light and will he change his tactics?

Against Liverpool we played without a right sided midfield player with two up front and Baxter sitting back a little - a sort of lopsided diamond. There is hope if we try this again because it is attack, attack , attack, but I suspect Walsall will counter this by coming at us down the right. We will end up playing 4 4 2 with Iwe up front and Barnard or Ibita going rightish. PD will still put Baxter on as a striker. The team will end up the wrong shape again and lacking the desire will lose. They will be told not to concede and end up not scoring. I want to win 3 2 rather than losing 1 0. They might 'love' Dickov but they don't play for him, they play for themselves. I hope I'm wrong and they go for it and we win the next three games.

Who is this cover for? Throw a 19 year old into a relegation battle - we already have enough of those!