i know we scraped past Birmingham a few days later, but I keep on going back to that Swansea game which I was surprised to see affect me so much. Generally speaking, teams do not jump from winning four consecutive games to losing seven out of the nest eight and six on the trot. We went into that match as a team and support with confidence high and yet were thoroughly taken apart with nothing to offer from players or manager to make a difference to Swansea's clear superiority.

Yes, it was hardly as if we were doing well up to the end of November, but amid the poor performances, there were a few that suggested better times ahead and the big victories over Luton and Huddersfield backed up by impressive wins at top six sides Watford and Stoke suggested a corner had been turned, but, since the shocker against Swansea, what has there been to offer encouragement? A battling and slightly fortunate win over Birmingham, we had a go against Brentford but ended up beaten by a better team and we were unlucky in the cup game against a much changed Forest side. Apart from that, there's been nothing and confidence levels are shot - after the humiliation (and I don't think that is too strong a description) in the derby, the players, and probably the manager, know they aren't as good as they thought they were.