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Zipper: How many managers do we see changing their minds on substitutions after a goal is scored? Loads. It''s exactly this kind of petty point scoring that is driving a wedge between the fans. It''s totally unnecessary and isn''t helping anyone. We won. Get over it.

"If the club could guarantee to me that the likes of Hughes, Colin, Robinson, Thorne and Etuhu are not part of Worthy''s first-team plans for next season than I may renew my season ticket with a bit more enthusiasm." You say that but of all those players, Hughes was really the only truly questionable signing at the time. Etuhu has massive potential - we all know that he hasn''t settled yet, which isn''t uncommon. Thorne, on his previous form, was surely a half decent signing as a bench striker but his injuries this season have probably finished him off. Robinson was needed to shore up midfield when we had so many injuries and Colin may well need a while to fit into the English game. Helveg needed time, and he had 88 international caps. Unfortunately Worthy seems determined to have a Gary Holt - and Hughes fitted the bill. I think he''s been fire-fighting all season and I wouldn''t be surprised to see most of the above leave in the summer anyway.

Canary Braveheart - excellent, reasoned post, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. I have serious doubts about Worthy stepping up a level but I believe one more season with him would not be unreasonable - a la Curbishly, Mclaren. Pardew etc. The main problems are the level of expectation, which are ridiculous. If you''d have checked this board 18 months ago, the majority of fans were saying ''we''ll probably go straight back down from the Prem but that''s ok''. Now most are saying our Prem year was a mess, despite the fact that with a fully fit squad (and Ashton, belatedly) we showed we could compete. Of course, we should have signed players that allowed us to go back up, but we didn''t. People must accept this, and allow Worthy to atone for that next season. It can''t always go right. The suggestion that he is deliberately hurting this club (as is often written on this board) is ludicrous. Also, I haven''t seen ONE realistic, practical suggestion as to what happens after Worthy. If Some fans - most whom seem to inhabit this message board - seem determine to destabilise the club at whatever cost. We have had a bad season, but we need to give it a chance to get better next season. They are behaving like we are about to go down and into liquidation, which is exactly what will happen if they force Delia out of the club. If you were her, wouldn''t you start wondering why you bother? We owe this club stability, and Worthy one more chance to learn from his mistakes. He is still a young manager, and he is not Bryan Hamilton.

"You''ve got a nerve West, calling us fickle - at leest we support are local side - you can''t not support Bristol just cos there no good." So what do you call a bunch of fans who moan even when we''re winning? Spoilt?  

Wow. Greeno leaving and a few players coming in the summer ''shocker''. Your source must be really well placed.

A lot of good points. I''ve always thought the most disturbing thing this season is that, more than anything, we have looked clueless. I can understand lack of passion/confidence etc for whatever reason but it''s when there''s obviously no game plan that it becomes a worry, and we''ve seen that right from the beginning of the season. Whatever you may think of Worthington, we have at least looked pretty organised during most of his reign but this season that whole ethos seems to have disappeared.

I may not be sure about Worthy but I back the board. What you gonna do about it?

I do know that last season Hucks was in the top 5 or 6 for assists in the entire premiership, even despite our lack of goals. Not sure how he''s fared this season. We need a kindly/nerdly statto with access to the goals. I reckon the press office would be able to help - they''d do it if a journo phoned. Any help from the Pink''un to be offered?

A lot of goals we''ve conceded this season have come from players attacking Drury or our right back and then playing the ball inside, rather than crossing it. We have conceded a lot of goals from around the 18 yard line - basically when talented flank players have come inside, catching out our central midfielders, who have been forced out wide to try and cut out the gaps left by Hux and our non-existent right midfielder. This causes our defence to push up flat, covering ground where the CMs should have been, leaving us open to easy through balls or shots from the area - a lot of which Green is unsighted for (check this out on the web - so many shots are ones he can''t see). In my opinion, that''s why Worthy keeps trying 3 in the middle, in the hope that he can cover this flaw in having Hux, but players just don''t seem very good at keeping to it. And I don''t think this is much to do with either manager or players - we just don''t really know how to play that way in this country. Hux is somewhat unique! Drury has defended manfully this season, and having Shacks on his side of CDefence has allowed him to relax a little. Flem, slow and old though he is, still has good positional sense and is perhaps preferable in the RB position at the moment as he is much less likely to falter from the line than Colin. It seems to be working at the mo - we look a more solid line, positionally, which allows Doc to do the ''Malky'' side of things... now there was a man who could organise a back line. OTBC  

You know what, it''s really nice to read some articulate, well thought out posts and most of these have been arguments that I can certainly appreciate even if I don''t necessarily agree with. It''s nice to have a debate rather than the slanging matches we see too often on here at the mo. Whatever we feel, I think we can all probably agree that the club is in a sorry state at the moment, and when I look back to that day outside City Hall (which the Guardian''s David Lacey described as "probably the most fulfilling sight you''ll ever see in football"), it seems such a shame that, through whatever combination of events and/or mismanagement, we haven''t been able to build on it. Here''s hoping. OTBC

Well that got you going... My point was that last ten minutes against Ipswich, regardless of how bad we were, should have been spent roaring the boys on. I completely agree that if you want to sing ''Worthy out'', then do so, but preferably after the game or if we are 4-0 down. It was a poor game which we still could have got a point from - after all, we scored against the run of play - and, as someone said, it can''t have made the players feel any less negative than they were already.  There is no suggestion that the team''s poor performance over the season is our fault - if you''re too thick to realise that then maybe you should join the Binners - just that many of you seem to think that just because we beat a few teams who had nothing to play for at the end of the premiership, you reserved the right to moan from game one. And let''s face it, it happens, whether you choose to hear it or not. In my 20 years as a season ticket holder I have never heard so many people moan so quickly at the start of a season, and it is a shame. Just to clear up a few accusations: I was at the Ipswich game, have been to every one in the last 15 years home and away etc etc etc. I am not prepared to accept sub-standard football when I remember the Inter days, but let''s remember Mike Walker brought us some seriously sub-standard football in his second tenure. Worthy has brought us some equally splendid football as well as the dross being played right now. Whilst I agree in principal, I''d question Mr Rankin''s protests about playing left backs in midfield and ''leaving real midfielders on the bench'' when he, along with many, are just as quick to criticise ''real midfielders'' who had only made 6 half-injured starts (Jason Jarett). Mainlyyellowslacks, whilst I think you make some good points, you say "I think this club is fortunate to have the patience within the fans that they enjoy and that they do not reward this well enough." Well, one look at this board disproves that theory. And finally, I have to say I think the quality of players brought in this season (apart from last week) HAS been pretty damn poor. But surely the sensible way would be to do this (as a board member): See it through to the end of the season, sound out the senior players (do we still have any of them?), look at who Worthy wants and make the right decision as to whether he''s taking the club in the right direction, or if he''s gone as far as he can. I have a feeling he has gone as far as he can, but I think we should just see the season out, relax, let the players find their form and build some confidence going into the new season. Moaning mid-game, unless we''re being thrashed, isn''t going to help anyone and it just serves to turn us all against each other. OTBC

What if we won and went on a great run of games where all the players got their confidence back and we suddenly started playing the way we all want - the way we''ve seen Worthy make us play before when we were doing well? Would you still want us to lose? Maybe you should get a season ticket at Portaloo Road - they like a good ol moaner up there.

We were in this position the year before we went up. We all had high expectations after reaching the play-offs and it didn''t quite work out. West Ham and others have experienced the same on the way down. Now before the Rankins and Wizards of you start foaming at the mouth, we should take stock of what''s happening. Whilst Worthy''s tactics and decisions have been dubious, we still cannot avoid the fact that we have had 88 injuries this season already. But there is more to it: We have also had a ton of new players - not the ''same squad of last year'' that everyone keeps bleating on about. We lost players in key positions and Worthy/the board have pretty much failed to fill them. However, this coupled with injuries cannot make for a good, balanced side with balanced tactics. The Huckerby factor: he is only any good when his ten team mates are able to carry him. We weigh so much of our play on him that the rest of the team have to mop up behind him, and if that team is different every week, it aint going to happen. We have to accept this as part of the reason we haven''t done well this season. Finally, expectation. The crowd (yes, you and me) have had a tiny taster of success and we are desperate for more. Yet 18 months ago we were all saying we''d go straight back down. Granted, we didn''t expect what''s happened, but if we had been able to field pretty much the same team for the first 10 games, don''t you think our (the crowd) confidence would have pushed the new players on to gel? Instead, we''ve been moaning at them from day one. We have behaved like spoilt children. I''ve always had my doubts about Worthy - I''m not sure he is tactically adept enough to take us any further, but we cannot deny that when he''s had the players he wants, we''ve done well. I hope he''s learnt lessons, as any newish manager should (and he is still fairly inexperienced in the broad scheme of things), such as not picking Gary Holt or getting over his obsession with defensive midfielders, and I hope the board has learnt its lessons (and they aren''t that experienced either) and will insist this summer that we strengthen the spine of the team - with a good defender, attacking midfielder and someone to play with Earnshaw. Right now, we aren''t going up. Fine. Let''s accept that. There is no point in sacking Worthy right now, because no new manger would take us up this season either. Unless we suddenly find ourselves with a fully fit and gelling squad in the next few weeks that still show no signs of improvement by the end of the season, my thought would be to give him another season. Let him learn by his mistakes. It''s not like he can''t hear us telling him what they are. And let''s have a little more patience than singing ''Worthy out'' only seconds after a dubious goal has given the Binners the lead in a game with 10 mminutes left to play. If those who were singing that had devoted as much energy to roaring the team on, we might have at least got an equalizer. But no, the players looked like they wanted to get off the pitch as quickly as possible, and that is OUR FAULT.

               Gallacher Rehman   Shackell   Doc   Drury                Safri         Mcveigh  Etuhu   Hucks                JJ       Ernie     Subs: Green,  Flem, Robinson, Jarvis x 2 Loaned to a Conference side: Hughes

Makes interesting reading though. Nice to see we have ''the most thorough medicals''. Shame they can''t predict the injury nightmares we seem to be having!

I agree too A1. It makes sense for Ashton to go - the important thing is what happens now. Before the premier, everything was going right. Since then we''ve been a little out of our depth and we need to learn from these mistakes. Let''s remember that neither the board nor Worthy have that much experience. It''s essential they get their act together now and start to solidify things. Unfortunately too many people at the club have been contradicting each other, and it reminds us of Chase. However - it''s not an excuse to start calling for their heads just yet. Let''s not jump to conclusions. No one has lied - too many people just listened to the PR (most who post on here...). We all knew Ashton was going, and if he wanted to there''s nothing anyone could do about it. This could be the best thing for us...

He said no ''acceptable'' bid. That''s not a lie. It''s PR.

Grow up Rankin, your tune is very boring. Why don''t you occupy yourself with, let''s just say, another ''Worthy out'' poll? Oh, you already did.  

Which is what we could have been if we''d shown a little less prudence and a touch more ambition in our summer signings. West Ham are nothing right now. Do you think he would have gone if we were top of the league? I very much doubt it. If we sign good players now and build a good strong squad over the next 6 months, adding a little bit in the summer, we can walk this division next year (cos we''ll still be in it, let''s face it). Let''s get real, rebuild and become the big club we really think we are. This whole sorry saga ("we have money, no we don''t, Ashton''s going nowhere, we don''t need to sell, now we do etc etc") has a whiff of Chase about it, and it doesn''t smell nice.

If anyone actually spent time watching yesterday, rather than doing the usual moaning as soon as things go bad for us, we didn''t lose in the manner that we were a month or so ago. Preston had one less game than us over xmas, we looked really tired, and totally bereft of inspiration in midfield once Robinson had gone. Preston knew he was injured, that''s why he got an elbow in the ribs within the first 5 mins, and from then on they won the game because they knew we had no midfielders on the bench. Yesterday was just one of those days. We looked far more confident than when we were in our bad spell, so this won''t signal a collapse. We could just do with 20 fit players, rather than 15 half fit, so stop jumping on bandwagons and moaning on. The booing at half time yesterday was disgraceful, again. Sometimes I read this board and I think Carlos Quieroz was right.

I''ve just been past the ground and there isn''t a drop of snow on the pitch. All the roads in Norwich are fine.

He might be a trier but he''s not good enough for our team. In the current situation it''s understandable, if not acceptable that people have a go at him. He embodies everything people dislike about Worthy at the moment, and making him captain makes him the easiest target.  

Were you there? If you were, you must be the only person who thinks we didn''t deserve the win.

He''s no winger, his first touch is terrible and his passing is poor. I''ve seen him get turned far too easily, far too many times this season already. Yesterday he was barking at the players like they were a bunch of criminal conscripts in the army. He wasn''t inspiring them and they didn''t look comfortable until he went off. Then they started to express themselves. And we won. His presence (unless one of only two central midfielders) gives us less shape. He looks too much like a middle of the road 1st division player. Keep him on the bench Worthy - learn from yesterday and last season - we don''t need any more Gary Holts.

If his quotes in the paper today are meant as anything other than ''we''re going to lose them all'' then I''ll eat my hat. Fantastic. We''ll lose all our players at a cut price and end up with nowt. Happy bloody christmas everyone.