Theres only one Martin Peters!

McNally with typical modesty has previously said that the 2 most important people at a football club are the Manager and Chief Scout. I would say that the Chief Exec is a close second in importance to the Manager, this has never been better evidenced than by what happened yesterday. There must have been discussions about transfer funds and the club''s ambition taking place. I would say to Alan Bowkett and the rest of board, make sure these 2 have got the best contracts the club can possibly afford, because they are both not going to have any shortage of job offers.

The club''s recommended way to renew season tickets is online but only problem is this shows the post VAT increase price, so back to plan B (phone) and queueing at position No 8. Reference price increases (excluding lounges etc) I think that compared to the miserable football we were being subjected to pre Lambert the current tickets are fantastic value for money. Hopefully by renewing early and paying in full rather than taking the zero interest easy payment terms (which clearly cost the club something) I will be helping the club''s cashflow and making in some small way a contribution to signing Barnett and possibly one or 2 more players in January. This is also the cheaper option for me as I am in the fortunate position of being able to borrow on mortgage reserve at lower interest rates than the 2.5% VAT saving. I expect you will all like to know that whilst typing this out, I made it to position No 1 in the queue and renewed the family''s 3 tickets.

Holt is a good member of the team at this stage in our journey and capable of making a valuable contribution in the Championship. What it should not be is a given that he will start every game, and we need another squad member who can come in and play the big target man role and give Holty a bit of competition. As always it comes down to resources we are £23M in debt and sadly cannot just buy our way out of this league.

Good report Hucks. I thought one of the main reasons we did not win was the constant fouling of our players at set pieces, in particular the guy marking Barnett seemed to think it was a game of rugby, which the ref did not have a problem with. Or am I being a tad too partisan with my yellow and green spectacles on?

A good read written in an easy on the eye style. Although one or two others regularly provide match reports (though apparently not for friendlies) my view is that there can never be too much written, so more please.

Good news, clearly is not good enough for the Championship and probably also a top half League 1 Team. When he goes this should free up some cash for another signing.

A pleasant evening at a friendly club with an excellent pitch. Stevenage look like they will do well in League 2, and played a good passing game. As difficult as it is to tell from a friendly how we will do when we get around to the serious stuff the positives for me were that Ruddy looked excellent, Jackson has got pace, takes up good postitions and has an eye for goal, and Fox was a good playmaker with some penetrating passes. The likes of Nelson, Drury and Smith put in good performances as seen last season. I am sure the rest have the potential to work up their games to the required levels and that the coaching staff will have learnt a lot from the game. Lets hope that Ward, Steve Smith, Holt and Askou will soon be playing.

I agree he showed promise and should be monitored, but our centre backs were on holiday in the first half.

To put this subject straight.... NO he is not going to university yet. he is concentrating on football after his a-levels. Football is a very short career, he is going to look to go to university AFTER HIS CAREER IN FOOTBALL.   and no he is not suffering for GROWING PAINS hahahahaha!!   where the hell do you guys get this info from!!!  

Clearly there is potential for fans to raise significant funds to assist with cashflow and debt repayment issues, but what do we get in return? Any further issue of shares could be connected to succession planning for the owners. I would like like to see options such as a move to co-operative type ownership explored with possibly County & District Council involvement as well as fans investment. I know that both bank debt and directors loans fall due for repayment if there is a change in ownership, but everything is negotiable. The last thing any lender wants is a debt write off situation. If the Co-op idea proves to be a non starter, I would like to see some link between capital introduced by fans, further funds invested by Directors/Owners & investment in football operations. The points scheme could be a good way of attracting funds, it certainly seems to work for retailers. On the issue of selling the ground and leasing this back, I am against this, selling the family silver never did make much sense if there are other ways forward. At the risk of going off topic, I am much happier now that we have McNally as Chief Exec & Alan Bowkett as Chairman, and lets not forget the latter is a fan. It is refreshing to see ambition being shown and the appointment of Paul Lambert appears to be a masterstroke.

It has got to be Theoklitos, if he was not so, how shall I put it, challenged in the goalkeeping department we would not have lost 7-1 to Colchester & Gunny might still be Manager & we would be no better than mid table.

On the Football league show (after Match of the Day) Steve Claridge seemed to think the penalty decision was debatable & that the red card was probably not required as their striker had knocked the ball too far away from goal in trying to go past Forster and that in all probabaility covering defenders would have got back to the goal line to clear any shot made from an acute angle. Consequently it was not a clear goal scoring opportunity and therefore not a red card, if a foul had been committed in the first place. Definitely worth an appeal I would say. This yet another example of the need for video replays. The game has got a lot quicker in recent years and refs are incapable of getting these split second decisions right often enough. Main problem is we always seem to be the victims!

Bigfeller, no I am not the MP on the Wrath. Appreciate that with Gunny''s appointment we had to cut our cloth according to our means, we just do not know all of the facts & this is where a supporters/shareholders director on the board would be most helpful although of course not all information could be in the public domain. Purple seems to have missed my point that allegedly Delia did not meet with Cullum, my understanding from the grapevine was that the Turners & Doncaster met with him. Sorry Delia that is not good enough, you are the owner & the only way you can be sure whether there was a deal to be done was to meet him yourself. If you had done that & there was no reasonable way forward (i.e not asking £56M), then fair enough. Finally like you I am a tad despondent but we are not down until it is mathematically impossible to stay up and as long as I have breathe in my body I will be doing all I can to support our team.

Broadly speaking I agree with your excellent post Big Feller, however I would debate a couple a points. The appointment of Gunny was certainly romantic, but Watford, Soto & Charlton all appointed Managers who were either experienced at Managing Football League Clubs or Reserve Teams or who had direct involvement as Assistant Managers in running Teams. Regrettably , Gunny has none of the above, and I cannot think of one successful Manager we have had who did not have experience of Managing Teams when appointed. The loan signings made (none of whom are starting) team selections and substitutions that hand the initiative to the opposition all point to a Manager out of his depth. Reference the Cullum saga it is alleged that Delia never had a meeting with him to discuss his offer, if true this beggars belief as what could be lost by meeting to try & find some common ground, strike up a rapport or leave the door open for future talks. The Cullums of this world do not come along very often and to snub them is asking for trouble & boy have we got that in bucket loads. Delia acted like a frightened rabbit in the headlights and it appears nobody on the board challenged her robustly enough (or did the Turners?). I agree that the Board cannot magic money from thin air, but I remain to be convinced that the club is being run in a commercially sound way. With gates of 24/25k and various commercial enterprises we should not be one of the sick men of the Championship. Lavishing money on agents is a clear indication of the mismanagement of scarce resources. Where do we go from here? I would suggest the supporters as substantial shareholders/stakeholders in their own right should demand the appointment to the Board of a representative director with expertise in football finance to carry out a forensic analysis of club finances and identify any commercial operations that are not viable, some difficult decisions will inevitably have to be made. A businessplan will need to be put together that matches our divisional status and financial means, and paramount importance should be given to footballing matters and not sacrificing ambition for prudence.

He would be a snip, the club should ask fans to make donations to a Ched Evans fund with all funds raised being matched by the directors.

The league table does not lie, Roeder has been given a free reign to make more changes to our club within a year than any of his predecessors and look where that has got us. He has had a not insignificant amount of money to bring in players bearing in mind that we were advised by Grant that it was almost as expensive to bring a Premier player in on loan as to sign a player permanently. The reason we have so many loan players is that our prudent board know they can can quickly ditch their expensive wages if needs be, once again exhibiting a lack of ambition. Whilst not disputing the effort put in by the majority of the loan players there is one fundamental aspect Roeder & the Board fail to grasp, if a player is living out of a suitcase away from his family friends & loved ones it will have an unsettling affect thereby preventing him from performing consistently well over several months or a season. There is a strong possibility that we could be relegated, consequently it is essential that Roeder goes before it is too late. Adie Boothroyd should be appointed until the end of the season to give him time to prove that he can win games playing acceptable football. If not I would suggest that every effort is made to recruit Simon Grayson who must be the most outstanding manager in the Championship, bearing in mind his lack of resources at Blackpool.