And did quite well, with players Roy neither trusts or plays regularly.

I largely agree with you Neillo, particularly about the point of short term thinking.

It's a point I've made on numerous other threads but I don't actually blame Roy for much of what is going on, I regard him as a symptom, rather than the cause.

Reappointing him was effectively deferring squad investment and a long term strategy until next summer, under the assumption that he'd keep us up. Looking at the table following that Luton win, it's a decision which could come back to haunt us.

He has some mitigation for our poor form and the injuries have been bad but I would say that his apparent acceptance of our lack of investment this summer means he does share culpability. A new manager would have demanded a deeper squad.

You have completely correctly identified Brighton's superior planning and implementation as the reason that they have overtaken us and that is what the club is lacking at the moment.

In an ideal world I'd like to see us appoint a new manager for the second half of the season whose own ideology matches our own of promoting academy youngsters as well as buying young players and developing them.

Give them six months to implement a philosophy and identify areas of the squad that need strengthening (even though we all already know them). We should be planning which of our key players we are going to sell this summer to fund a squad overhaul and who we are going to buy with the money. Then have a proper go next season.

What I suspect will actually happen is that Roy will just do enough to get us through until the end of the season, at which point we'll sort of see which managers and players are available and hope it pans out.

On the contrary, it is my impression that Roy sets up with the same defensive plan for every game, and given our league position of 15th, it would appear that his natural negative caution is in part caused by a majority of teams being above us.

I have no allegiance to Roy but your reservations about moving on from him whilst we are in danger of relegation is my point. He is more likely to maintain our premiership status than any new incoming manager. It is just my view. To take things forward we not only need a new manager with a new approach but new players to achieve it.COYP

Most of the young players touted by the fans in recent seasons have turned out to be crap including signings like Riedewald, Meyer etc. De Boer put Lumeka and Lokilo in and they were pony as well.