DangerousSausage

All in all it makes sense. Forte was the only question mark really, but he was ineffective for much of the season until he was recalled in the last month or so and KN clearly doesn't rate him. We need new new blood up front and Forte needs a fresh start. I also hope Thompson finds a new League club and gets plenty of game time. If the players we've offered a new contract to sign up we've got a decent foundation for next season yet also plenty of leeway to strengthen. I'm interested as to whether we'll look for a new keeper or let Fitzsimmons and Pindroch scrap it out for the number one jersey.

Refereeing decisions cost us big time in the play-offs. The answer to that is to finish in the top three - the play-offs are a lottery where your entire season can be decided by a fluky deflection or a poor decision. What we all love about football is the human factor. People make mistakes. Keepers drop crosses, defenders scuff clearances, opposition strikers miss penalties and the better team doesn't always win (the FA Cup would be no fun at all if they did). Officials are human too and that's part of the package. That's not to say that things can't be improved, refs should be as accurate as possible. But what I don't want is the ref consulting video footage every few minutes - the German cup final was stopped twice for this (once in the midst of a goal celebration) and he got one of them wrong anyway!

The trouble nowadays is that a lot of people stick to Facebook - it's very immediate and it's easier just to add your penn'orth there rather than messing around registering for a forum. Which is a shame, as this is the place for an in-depth discussion. That's why far more people respond to PON Facebook posts than post here. I feel there's a large pool of people on the fringes of PON on Facebook anyway, and that's where new recruits can be found

You can't beat the seaside in August - so Grimsby? You can't beat a trip to Lincoln either. Genuinely don't care who we play if we're at home.

Why has no-one posted this yet? What is wrong with you all?!?

Fat chance of that Chris - their manager is joining Bayern in the summer This is their usual game - anyone who even comes close to challenging has their players or management tempted away. Worse, Eintracht were in a Champions League place when Bayern decided to go public with the news - they barely won a match afterwards and finished eighth. So it's all the sweeter that they beat them!

Just when we were all bracing ourselves for yet another trophy for Bayern, something delightful and unexpected happens. Recommended viewing (hope the video works in the UK). This was Eintracht's first trophy in 30 years, so understandably there were absolute scenes! What the video doesn't show is that fact that the referee consulted VAR twice. Once for Eintracht's second goal, as Bayern claimed a handball in the build-up. That was given as Kevin Prince Boateng attempted to move his hand away from the ball. Then the second time when Bayern claimed a penalty with the score at 2-1, which again wasn't given although Boateng (again) clearly took out Bayern's Martinez instead of the ball. No that I'm complaining Eintracht then broke from the subsequent corner and scored the third with the last kick of the match - great stuff After the match the Bayern players and management through a massive mardy and disappeared without acknowledging the fans and before the trophy was presented. Only Manuel Neuer (to his credit) stayed to acknowledge the winners.

The progress we've made over the last year speaks for itself. We need to continue building and improving, and that'll make us a more attractive destination for players too. Who wants to sign for a club where the manager will likely have been sacked after a few months (and potentially replaced by someone who doesn't rate you)? It's also important not to get on KN's back at the first sniff of a bad run, as some did even after we qualified for the play-offs. I would prefer to see less hoofball next season, although to be fair I think our long-ball "tactics" against Coventry were more to do with our utter inability to handle them in midfield than an actual game plan.

I'd love to have him back, he's a quality player. However, his parent club would probably prefer him to be playing a division higher, and no doubt he'd be up for that too. Sadly, I think our only realistic chance to hold on to him was to win promotion.

I'm interested, although it would depend on me getting time off work and all that.

This talk about team talks is generally nonsense, if you're not motivated for a play-off semi it's time to give up the game. Lots of teams do the pre-printed T-shirts, there's nothing unusual about it. Might be worth checking ebay for them, could come in handy when we reach the FA Cup final next season Michael Doyle was playing for Coventry way back when I lived there. Thought he was crap back then

This is the first time I've logged on today and I can't read the posts from earlier. Just can't do it. I've been through my shouty and sweary phase, I've done my silent phase, now the therapy shall begin. And PON will help me with that. Over the two legs Coventry were better than us. We couldn't handle them in the first half. All the same, we should have come away from Holbrooks with a 1-0 lead. Everyone reading this knows that Forte's goal wasn't offside. I wouldn't say that refereeing decisions robbed us of victory - we might have gone on to win, or maybe Coventry would have hit us on the sucker punch or on penalties - but today they robbed us of our chance. It's devastating to finally have to give up on promotion in this manner. And yet... three automatic promotion spots were up for grabs (and we were sat in them for most of the season) and we missed out. When that happens you know it's a lottery, that promotion can depend on a fluke or the referee's whistle. So what now? Alan Hardy and Kevin Nolan have been in situ for a year and a half now and we've made superb progress - from a good bet for relegation to play-off qualification. On top of that, we added 2000 to our average crowd - higher than in the Munto season, and only 300 shy of 1993-94, when we were two divisions higher and in the same division as Derby, Leicester and the team from West Bridgford! We may not quite have been ready for League One again, but we're moving forward. So let's build on this rather than screwing it up and returning to square one. Now we've established ourselves as a serious football club once again rather than a circus (and a promotion contender to boot), hopefully we'll attract a few good additions and make a real bid for the top three. As I used to live in Coventry and know many people there, my Facebook feed is already full of Wembley, which is hard to bear. I don't hold anything against them though - they deserve a bit of success. Shame it had to be against us but that's football. I was quite interested in the rest of the play-offs but I'm not sure I can stomach them now. I've got to somehow motivate myself for Waldhof Mannheim's play-offs next Thursday and Sunday (and they failed the last two years running, the last time on penalties). Think I could do with a year off of it to be honest!

Goosebumps!

Thanks for the link @Lozzle1! Keep it simple - "Main Stand give us a song", something like that. Get everyone involved and get the place rocking.

You're just being cruel. A new generation needs to learn the skill of hoofing it into row Z.