00:00They're starting to turn on RLB with the recent run, which with recent form and performances can be understandable to an extent.
00:05What's your view? Should we lose and not improve in the semis? Do you think he could be under pressure?
00:09Should he be after another fourth place finish?
00:12Well, I think the first thing to say is that I think there will obviously be big questions asked this one
00:17and deliver this level of performance in the playoff semifinals.
00:20The one thing I would say on that is I don't think this is purely a Lebris strategy.
00:26And one of the things you've said on a couple of times is that everyone behind the scenes is aligned on what he's done.
00:30So there's clearly been a discussion had at club level about how he approaches these games.
00:34And it's clear that there's sort of a synergy in terms of with the sporting director and I presume with the ownership as well
00:39about how they would approach this going into the semifinals.
00:42So it's not purely his decision.
00:44In terms of what I think about RLB, I think up until this point, I think he's done an 8.5 out of 10 job.
00:49Like, I think he has been excellent.
00:51And I don't really see how anyone could argue otherwise in terms of, you know, let's be real about it.
00:59Let's be honest about the state that this division is in because of parachute payments.
01:02You would have needed 101 points to win all the promotion this season to get past Leeds and Burnley.
01:07That is really, really tough for a team without parachute payments to do.
01:10And I think that's a really, really harsh level to set any manager outside of the teams coming down from the Premier League against.
01:15Regis Debreze has finished top of the rest of the league, if you like.
01:20And that's a fantastic achievement.
01:22I thought he did an outstanding job in the first half of the season.
01:24He was ruthless.
01:25He did really well when he came in to focus on a small group of players who believed he could deliver to get his style across due to brilliant results.
01:32I think he's shown some outstanding qualities.
01:35I think that there are some major concerns about the trajectory of the team over the last six months because I do believe that they've got worse.
01:42And that's not just purely the last few games where it's rest and rotation.
01:46I think we have seen the attack and play really, really slow down.
01:50And we haven't seen a huge amount of variety in their performances.
01:53And that is something that concerns me going into the future.
01:57So I think it kind of, the one thing I would say about that is as well, is that I think in retrospect, while Le Fay was a really good ambitious signing, January didn't deliver what was required.
02:08I don't want to go too much into a sort of a post-mortem, if you like, because someone could still win the playoffs.
02:13But I'm just trying to give you an honest assessment of my feelings on the matter.
02:16I don't think he was given a huge amount of support in January.
02:18I think you look back at it now, clearly the Jadons, Dan's signing has not worked out at all.
02:24And that bit of extra energy would have been massive.
02:26If you look back at it now, I think it's fairly clear some cover at wing and a full-back would have been massive because of the injuries we've had in those positions.
02:33And I think you could have seen that coming as well.
02:35So I think it's really complex, Ian.
02:37I do think there'll be a lot of understandable concern if someone don't turn up in these two games, because that will suggest that the strategy has really, really backfired.
02:45I think, speaking more generally, Ian, I think that there's been, it's hard to criticise over the course of the season the job that Regis has done.
02:52And I think he's shown a lot of good stuff.
02:54I do think there are some questions that we probably all have in terms of the direction of the team,
03:00in terms of the fact that I do think over a period of time, the performances have gone backwards rather than forwards.
03:04But I think there are a lot of factors in that.
03:07So there we go.
03:07I've spoken for 17 and a half minutes, about a 1-0 defeat to keep me up.
03:11I'm not quite sure how I've managed that, but hopefully you've enjoyed it.
03:14We'll be back with a podcast, loads of preview content.
03:16We'll turn our attention fully to those Coventry City semi-finals.
03:19Hopefully this has been a little bit cathartic.
03:21We got yesterday out of our system, and we can be a bit more positive going into those games.
03:25Because, hey, it's all the player 4-some and have produced some brilliant performances this season.
03:29So fingers crossed they can do it again.
03:31Thanks, as ever, for getting your questions in.
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