snaykz

He said no a year ago when he believed he would walk straight into another Premier League job. A year on and Hughton’s obviously reassessed his position, although it looks like Bristol City might be about to snap him up. Imagine the optimism the Bristol City fans will be feeling right now as they close in on an experienced manager with a track record of promotion.

Chansiri should be on the phone tomorrow to Hughton, Pearson and McCarthy, to see if any of them are genuinely interested in the job. And, I wouldn't be surprised if Dean Smith was out of a job this time next week, even if Villa stay up. I'd prefer Paul Cook, but Chansiri only seems to go for unemployed managers.

I bet even Monk can't believe he's still in a job.

I just can’t see us getting a 21 point deduction. For that to have happened, it would have been an open and shut case, we’d have been found guilty after 3 days and they’d have thrown the book at us. As it is, it’s 4 weeks later and we’re still waiting for a decision. That suggests a complex and marginal case, and I would expect any punishment to reflect that. But my gut feeling is that someone within the EFL, rightly or wrongly, gave the club assurances that we were ok to take the action we did, and that ultimately we’ll be found not guilty.

I voted to keep Monk but I’ll qualify that. Monk should have been sacked during lockdown. Results and performances since Christmas have been unacceptable. Monk’s lucky to still be in a job, and I’m sure he’s fully aware of that. But a new manager is going to have no time to assess our players - it’s not just about match day, it’s also about how they conduct themselves in training, how they behave in the dressing room; are they the ‘right characters’ that Monk keeps referring to. Any new manager is essentially going to have to rely on the likes of Bullen and Weaver to advise him which faces fit and who needs offloading. Now obviously, if we were able to bring in Smith, Hughton or Cook then we should make the change, but I think it’s more likely that we would end up with a Lee Johnson or Carlos type who would do more harm than good. As others have pointed out, some of Monk’s signings at previous clubs have been quite impressive. I’m hoping he can do the same for us. And yet, I have serious doubts about whether Monk will still be with us in a year’s time and can’t help but wonder whether extending his stay is just delaying the inevitable.

When was the last time we spent big money on a player? When was the last time we increased the wage budget from the previous season? When was the last time we appointed an unknown foreign manager with no Championship experience? Added to that, we sold Joao for a decent fee at the start of this season. Chansiri is clearly learning his lessons. Unfortunately, we are now paying for mistakes he made 3 or more years ago.

His decision-making isn’t the best, but he’s got pace, is a good dribbler, works hard and has an excellent delivery from corners (admittedly not tonight). I guess I’m just surprised that Da Cruz is being singled out for criticism when Adam Reach was on the pitch for 25 minutes and did LITERALLY NOTHING other than one speculative long range shot.

But what would be the point? What would he gain? The only person we owe money to is Chansiri. If he wants to cut and run he simply needs to sell the club for a price that someone else is willing to pay. I just can't understand how admin would benefit Chansiri in any way.

Nobody knows. Anyone who tells you they have inside info is lying. The first we will know is when one of the parties involved makes an official announcement.

Seriously though, this is an absolute joke. Not only is this unfair on our club and its fans, it’s unfair on every other club in the bottom half of the division. Nobody knows where they stand. This hearing is now coming to the end of its third week. What the hell is going on?

Do you mean their first season back in the Championship? They won 31 points in the second half of that season, compared to 38 in the first half. They have never been in relegation form under Wilder.

They took 1 point from his first 4 games, then went on a 3 month unbeaten run and finished the season on 100 points. Not immediate in the literal sense, but it's a pretty rapid turnaround for a team that finished outside the top 10 the season before. It just goes to show the importance of having the right manager, probably above all else at the football club, because at the time they were in a right mess, both on and off the pitch. We had the right manager in Bruce, but we weren't the right club for him at the time. Now we need to find the right manager again.