SNAP

Well researched and really interesting. There is, however, one small flaw. Our "Second Season syndrome actually started last Chistmas as we begun to get found out. Lambert''s no mug. He could see that no realistic amount of money was going to save our bacon this year. My biggest worry remains that everyone says what a great track record Chris Hughton has. He''s never been in THIS position before and he''s nevr been undrr pressure as a manager before. Newcastle - he was oblivious to the fact that the chop was coming, until it did. Birmingham - No expectations there so no pressure.

Interesting to hear so many people referring to yesterday as a “one-off” including Russell Martin on Radio Spud. If Fulham was a “one-off” and yesterday was a “one-off” how many one-offs can one have in a season? Considering Hughton was supposed to be concentrating on the defence how have we shipped so many goals? The answer may be that he has taken a side that was designed and built by “He who must not be named” as an attacking unit with flying full backs and wingers getting so much service to the front guys that scoring goals became as inevitable as conceding them. “He who must not be named” could see what was coming this season. In all honesty, if one goes back to last Christmas the eventual downfall of a system that involved Championship players going gung-ho for goals was doomed to ultimate failure. So he moves on before his reputation suffers and poor old CH takes up yet another poisoned chalice without even realising it. He watches videos while on holiday and decides that if he can just stop the goals going in he’s onto a winner. Sadly, to accommodate that idea he has to drop Wes, stop Howson and the full-backs straying over the halfway line and bring in a centre half that Martin O’Neill has looked at and found wanting. If he does manage to keep us up somehow (and I hope he does of course) then I think we will have a long a happy relationship – as long as AVB doesn’t mess up too badly at Spurs in which case the merry-go-round starts again.

.....one draw away from a return to The Championship.

Take a look at the list of dodgy unheard of players he signed at Portsmouth. many never got near a run in teh first team yet most cost £1m+. Then ask yourelf if you''d like him anywhere near your transfer budget and football agents.

Martin O''Neill rarely lets good players go. I don''t think he''s let a good one go this time either. turner did well at Hull - and they went down.

We made more than enough chances agreed - sadly we missed more than enough of them too....

When you fail to sign a proper striker and think that playing Morison instead of Holt will solve the problem and you dont play Wes last week because the opposition is too tall but lay him against Newcastle there is only one conclusion - clueless. There is little point in living off the misfortune of being sacked as Newcastle manager and replaced by a guy who is far more successful and being the media''s favourite person when you don''t have what it takes to change the course of a match when you are on top and 1-0 down. How many time did "he who''s name must not be mentioned for fear of upsetting the board police" make late substitutions that changed a game in our favour? Maybe we are happy to clear the debts and go back to being a Championship side managed by a nice guy.

I think the real difference between CH and "He who must not be named for fear of upsetting the Board Police" is that the latter has the ability to bring on players late in a game and alter the tactics usually resulting in a positive outcome. So far CH has simply made changes that are at best neutral and designed to hold what we have. a season full of draws will not be good enough I''m afraid.

Who cares! just post something else!

Sadly, appoint a defender and you get defenders. We could go down with the fewest goals against ever!

It''s not the QPR game that worries me its the one following on through to the end of September. In reality we should have had four points on the board before taking on the big boys. OK, we may still have three if we beat QPR but its more about the psychological damage that has been done. Hughton has a style of play that he favours. That''s fine. So does Big Sam and he''s pretty "successful" in his own way. The difference is that he didn''t take a team of attack minded, hungry footballers and turn them into a well drilled defensive unit by adding a defender not considered up to it by one of our rivals and letting two defenders go who were considered "useful" by people who have seen a lot more of Norwich City than he has. OK, Whitbread and Drury weren''t really on his watch but Ayala was. I agree that there are some alarming similarities with Brian Gunn and short term modest success with Newcastle and Birmingham do not necessatily mean we have got the right man even if the world of "Media Luvvies" love him. Sadly, I think that for too many people, Chris Hughton will never be accepted simply because he isn''t Paul Lambert. These people seem to believe that each defeat brings the second coming closer. Wake up and smell he coffee - it just brings The Championship closer and moves a second coming further away. Anyway, the last second coming was Mike Walker and let''s remember how that eneded.....

So, Hughton will announce the skipper just before KO tomorrow. Who might it be? Has Holt''s summer "toys from the cot" antics ruined his chances? He will surely go for someone he sees playing most of the games. Howson? Turner? ...and does it really matter who is skipper? Maybe the one person it will matter to is one G.Holt. Thoughts?

Am I alone in getting just a little irritated by the “Message Board Police”? By this I mean the people who seem more concerned by spelling, grammar, punctuation and whether a post has been put in the right place than they are about the content or views expressed and with reading other people’s thoughts on our great football team. When I attended my first game in 1960 all this stuff was science fiction. Now we have it we should all be able to enjoy it rather than be concerned about posting something that breaks the rules invented by the Messageboard Police and fearing that they may pick up on a technical issue. Get over it! Enjoy each other’s thoughts and comments rather than being picky about how it is presented. Tin helmets on! Hatches battened down! Hit me – see if I care!

I''d just love to be singing......"Paul Lambert.....it coulda been you!"

If the press are right and PL had a clause in his contract allowing him to speak to a Premiership side and Saint David has broken that contract then he could just have cost the club £1m. Add that to the rather indelicate way that Grant Holt seems to have been treated (and i wouldn''t necessarily disagree with the fact that he shouldn''r be given a three year, top earner contract) and we may just start to see him in a different light. Let''s hope not as there is a lot resting on him getting it right!