Athelwulf

Fair points, but in Westwood's particular case his omission has nothing whatsoever to do with how good a keeper he is, form, reputation, contracts, finance etc. I have it from the interior of the club that his absence is due to a complete breakdown in his relationship with Jos. Jos thought that Westwood was going, so prematurely made his promises to the young keepers. Westwood didn't go, and so expected to be reinstated in goal. But Jos was unwilling to go back on the promises that he'd prematurely made, hence the falling out. It's a McGugan sort of scenario, and you or I have probably a better chance of playing than Westwood.

Westwood is better than Dawson. He's also more experienced. When a team has a bob defence, as we do, it needs its best/most experienced keeper between the sticks. Only Jostle would leave such a keeper out....and attempt to play total football in the defence too.

Agreed. Basic, safety-first defending. When we get FF and Hooper back we could win a lot of games playing that way.

Jostle isn't to blame for what went before, and it would be unfair to criticize him for that. My criticism is of his tactics, especially in defence. We're bob, and if the better players are sold then we'll get even bobber. Totaalvoetbal at the back is absolutely the worst possible tactic in those circumstances. It doesn't bear thinking about.

Well, Mother Nature can be cruel, Tinks. Every now and then she throws a wobbler, and then a Mick happens.

But under Chansiri being foreign is de rigueur, DJ. He has to be from overseas. That was my original point. So a good British manager would be overlooked purely because he's British. Pep Wilder has spoken about this on numerous occasions; would he still be at S2 were he foreign? He's invisible to the PL because he's British. Of course foreign managers can come in and do a very good job, and there's merit in the ones you quoted. But the odds of that happening are surely less than with a home-grown manager, one who knows the league and was schooled in British football. Jos is a fine example of a foreign manager trying to implement foreign playing methods, but without the players capable of playing it. A British manager would take one look at our defenders and tell them to get the ball away from our area as quickly and as simply as possible.

Bielsa is a tad higher up the managerial pecking order than Jos, having managed Argentina; and as yet he's got nobody up. He's been courted by the top Spanish and Italian clubs, and it's only his death or glory approach which put them off. You're right, he is foreign - but that's about the only thing he shares in common with Jostling Jos Wagner got lucky; Hooper should be on his Xmas card list every year, because if he'd have stayed fit then 'Udders would most likely have gone out at the semi-final stage. Nuno spent an absolute fortune on players relative to what we spent, and Wolves took a gamble which Chansiri was unwilling to take. Jokanovic had a Fulham side much more valuable than ours, and again, as with Bielsa, he can't be compared with Jos. He has a way of playing light years away from the amorphous stodge which is this current Wednesday mode of play.

He's foreign and knew nothing about this league. Those are all the credentials he needed as far as Chansiri was concerned.

Deep breaths. Under normal circumstances I'd agree with you, CL, but when a manager is obviously making mistakes then it isn't unusual for players to voice their concerns. It happens in all clubs in all sports. Look at when the England rugby players had a word with Brian Ashton in the 2007 World Cup. You know full well that the defensive tactics/style which Jos has employed of late is tantamount to footballing suicide. We all do, every one of us. All a team has to do is pressurize us - as the Canaries did in that second half - and the outcome is assured. I'm dissatisfied with Jos based on our results and what I've seen with my own eyes, not because of what players may or may not have said in camera. Is old Six Fingers the greatest manager who ever lived? Hardly; but he's better than Jos IMO.

Old Lick-a-balls had a brief to get us to the PL within two years, and in fairness did get us to two play-offs. In the first one we were simply beaten by a better, parachute team. In the second we lost Hooper, our key player, then it was a 50/50 call; play as we had been doing minus Hooper (which with him had brought us 7 consecutive victories), or completely change and go on all-out attack. He chose the former, and it didn't work. At least Carlito knew the limitations of the players we had, and didn't try to introduce totaalvoetbal to the defence. And I'm not sure that the players we bought were "old". Does that mean over 22? The snag is that young, unfit, might-be's like Brookes are going to the PL for £10 mil. Lick-a-Balls is guilty of one thing in my view; buying too many players. He believed that players couldn't play two games in a week, so he wanted at least two for every position (although this didn't apply to the defence for some reason). Players are like cars, especially in our climate, in that they need running. Stick them in a garage and they soon function ill. Anyway, I don't think losing play-offs is likely to be a problem with Captain Chaos in the dugout. It'll be a long time before we see a son et lumiere display again.

They do need time, but they also have to be able to demonstrate that they have a plan ... and are capable of delivering it. Almost a year in dental-floss Jos doesn't have one, let alone be able to deliver it. We resorted on Friday to all getting behind the ball and kicking it and 'eading it - against a team assembled for the price of a packet of sheaths. Jos isn't really sure about the question, let alone have any answers. He's stealing a living, and a very good one too by all accounts.

I'm siding with the players on this one. IMO they do indeed know better than the man in the dugout. Basically, because Jos' tactics are unsuited to this club, or indeed any (at least non-parachute) club at this level. Remember those vids of Van Aken before he signed, with the Dutch players tapping the ball around at half-pace at the back? We all know what Norwich's manager said to his players at half-time, namely "pressurize 'em!". Jos will have to go and manage Man City if he wants to play that way.

That's pretty much in line with what I heard, to be fair. Players' absences are nothing to do with finance.

What's happened to Wednesday isn't so remarkable. We did what most clubs in this division do when they want to get promoted; spend a cartload of money. And it nearly worked, but for the injury to Hooper. If he stays fit we go to the final with a 50-50 chance of going to the PL. We could now be a PL club, or at worst a Championship club with parachute cash. But Lady Luck didn't smile on us, as [er; Defeat, hangover, worst injury crisis in Championship history, inexperienced chairman makes bad managerial decisions, floating in the brown stuff. The real turnaround has happened over the road. What's happening there is unprecedented, and it's all down to Chris Wilder. It's not remarkable that he got United up, what is remarkable is what he's been able to do with so little to work with. Spending nowt doesn't usually have you challenging for the PL, it has you struggling to avoid the drop back into the Third. So 75% of this turnaround doesn't even involve us and is not down to anything we've done wrong. It's just that what's happening at S2 is phenomenal, Leicesterish stuff.