Gabby'sThighs

Hopefully, we'll go up and persuade him to stay. I'd mainly be annoyed that another decent player with resale value has walked away for nothing. A Prem team can offer him the big bucks though. What's he gonna be on? £5k p/w? Even as a keeper, you get a short career in football. Can't blame him for wanting to earn as much as he can.

Never a red, not a penalty, made heavy weather of seeing out the game against 10 men. But 3 points on the board, can't wait for the Bolton game! COYR!

Pen! 4 subs! Yellow for the Reading analyst! this is such a weird second half...

Red!

Bradley can't jump

Bosh!

Only a matter of time til we score

🤦‍♂️

From what I've seen of them, I'd sign half the Peterborough team. Poku, Mason-Clarke, to back up Barks & NML, with an eye on eventually replacing them on the wings. Harrison Burrows at LB, Josh Knight at CB, and Kyprianou's decent at DM. That could shore us up for any departures. Let me be the very first to suggest Jonson Clarke-Harris (if he's a free agent) would be an upgrade on Washington/Waghorn/Collins. That's a good £10m-£15m of players so never going to happen! Arblaster on loan from Sheff Utd, but that'll be moot when we're both in the Championship next season... The obvious suggestion is to bust a gut to sign Ebou, and to get Sibley to extend his deal. Also, I'll be boring and repeat that we need to give some Academy players minutes.

Given how well Sibley has done at LWB, I'd absolutely want to keep him. Elder is a decent enough fullback but if that's the system, we'd have to look for a LWB in the absence of Sibley...

Derby 3 - 0 Reading NML, Sibley, Barks

“Black players in the defensive line often make these mistakes because they’re not concentrated,” said Eranio. “They are powerful physically, but when it is time to think … they often make this type of error.” Wow. Textbook crazy racist stereotyping. From a guy who played with Marcel Desailly. Derby legend, but seeing as he's been a coach at Milan for 20 years and he's currently 57, it would be an odd one for him to suddenly move back to England to become a manager.

Stevenage are an organised, physical team, i.e. cheating, fouling sods, so hopefully they do us a favour against Bolton & Barnsley.

Ah, well it's a results-driven sport, Jeff. At the end of the day, when all's said and done, let the chips fall where they may, I'll put my neck out and say...possibly?

I was going to say that Portsmouth have wobbled but won't drop enough points to finish below 1st, but they still have to play Derby, Peterborough, Barnsley, Bolton, Blackpool, and Wigan. Bolton have a terrible run-in too. Barnsley's form should see them go up, and they have some easy ones on paper - Lincoln (h), Carlisle (a), Cheltenham (h) in a row could see them put a run together before they play Pompey. They finish with Charlton, Stevenage, Reading, so could tail off. But then Cheltenham are in v. good form and Peterborough are on the slide... In conclusion, who the eff knows. I think we'll finish 2nd and this will be the weirdest, least convincing promotion in history.

Give Sibley a new contract

Phew

A mate of mine watched Vale away to Cheltenham recently and he said they were utter sh*t, stealing a living, not even trying, etc. So this just has to be a win. I think getting into them early, getting a goal, and keeping the pressure up has to be the aim. They will fold. I'd like to see an attacking line-up with CBT and NML running at them, wingbacks pushing on, Adams bossing the midfield and shielding the CBs, Bird causing problems (for Port Vale) in the middle. Gayle has given glimpses of his touch & movement, which should keep them occupied. I guess Wilson will be at RWB, I'd go for Sibley on the left. I'll also be sacrificing a fatted calf to the mighty sun god Ra to try and encourage Pompey, Bolton, and Barnsley to drop points.

We have the second-best defence in the league, going by goals conceded, and Wildsmith has played in 29/36 league games. He's a very good L1 goalkeeper, and he doesn't have to make world-class saves for that to be true. If he was a great goalie, he'd be in the Prem. Not that I know anything, but it looks to me like Warne wanted to get Vickers in at sooner or later and/or there's a contractual disagreement between Wildsmith and the club. In the same way Warne has foisted Bradley into the team, it feels like he wanted to make Vickers #1. Either way, JW's unsettled. He's gone from a reliable 7/10 keeper to making silly decisions, but outside of his 2 stupid penalties gaffs, he hasn't done too much wrong. I saw JW on Ben Foster's podcast and he came across as very switched on, seemed to take his career & training seriously. I can't help thinking he's being pushed out and it's affecting his game. It's a stupid mistake, even putting everything else to one side, as he's a saleable asset who will probably be allowed to leave for nothing.

I think it's funny that Barton's own logic removes him from the conversation. Do I want to listen to a guy who had bags of talent but didn't achieve half as much as he could have because he's a violent thug? He arguably stopped playing at a top level by, what, 26? And mainly because he kept assaulting people or pointlessly arguing with managers. If he had a redemption arc, there would be some value to his story but he seems to be the same d*ckhead he was 20 years ago. But you can make a career these days by appealing to the online manosphere and saying click-baity things, which I guess is easier for him than trying to be a really good football manager. I've got a feeling he'll retire with 'once got Bristol Rovers promoted in 3rd place' as his only managerial achievement, alongside his single England cap. For the record, I think most punditry is awful, and 90% of football coverage is garbage. Are there some crap female pundits? Certainly. Are there hundreds of crap male pundits? Yep, only most of them.

Sorry.... I just meant he's relatively small for a striker 🙂

Sibley - 160 appearances, 31 yellows, 1 red... less than one yellow every 5 appearances. Seems fine. I don't know where Sibley has got this reputation for being a liability. Adams - 234 appearances, 74 yellows, 6 reds. Quite a few reds, but to be expected for a CDM. A yellow every 3ish games.

FWIW, I think Gayle would be a good signing. It may be a while back, but he's shown that he can score goals in the Championship, he's played in the Prem, the Conference North and League Two, so he should know how to scrap in League One. As a couple of posters have pointed out already, the success of old b*ggers like Rhodes, Chris Martin, McGoldrick and Collins in L1 shows how valuable that experience is. He probably hung around at Newcastle for too long (but on good money, who wouldn't?) and has had injury problems, but we just need him to be a pro for 13 games and keep opposition defenders thinking. Gayle's game seems to be good positioning and finishing in the box, pouncing on second balls, so as long we can create chances, he should be able to finish. The only thing that counts against Gayle is he's a tiddler at 5"9', so may struggle with 100 lofted crosses a game. He's certainly not a Collins clone. However, his WBA highlights reel shows he's actually decent when he has a free/diving header. Plus, he can take a free kick.

Not entirely relevant now but I've just realised that Dwight Gayle is another player that got picked up by Peterborough from the lower leagues then sold on for a fat profit a short time later. They manage to get one every season....another being Jack Marriott of course. Could we maybe try and buy someone cheap and sell them for lots of money? I'll put a note in Dave Clowes' suggestion box.

I didn't realise I had to think of this practically... That's 6 out, and just the out-of-contract players. I'll be surprised if Cashin stays. I'd bounce Bradley - I know he's played a few decent games lately but he just annoys me at this stage. I'd probably move Ward & Washington on too. Rooney, Thompson & Robinson could do with a loan out. So much of this is up in the air though - if we get promoted could Collins, Fozzy, and Barkhuizen really do a job in the Championship? Does Wildsmith actually want to stay? If he goes we seriously need a Championship keeper. It's also possible Sibley & Thompson will save some time and sidle off to their natural home: Burton. Anyway, suggestions....Louie Barry, Jake Young, Dan Kemp.