Strong Lead by Strasser Ensures Climatic Finish!

[BBC] If Saturday's game at Middlesborough proved one thing it was that the players are fully behind Gerhard Struber with a battling performance which was worth the point they secured with Adam Randell's powerful stoppage-time header. The way the players celebrated that goal showed they are a bonded group, such were the expressions on their faces. It was by no means a perfect performance but, with a defence decimated through injury, which saw 5ft 8in Jason Knight play as a central defender, it could have been a lot worse had Radek Vitek not pulled off some fine saves and the Boro frontline not be strangely subdued for the second time in a week following their 1-0 defeat at the Riverside against Charlton.

More off-the-pitch developments caught fans' attention this week. Hot on the heels of Charlie Boss being appointed as a hasty replacement for the departing chief executive Tom Rawcliffe last month, it was announced the club was commencing a search for the new executive role of sporting director. This new appointment will have both Brian Tinnion and Struber reporting in, and is further evidence of Steve Lansdown's commitment to conducting a strategic review of the club's structure.

Considering Lansdown said in his now infamous radio interview at the end of January that the club's recruitment department was "second to none", this seems an incredible change of tack. Is this a subtle way of downgrading the level of responsibility carried by much-derided technical director Tinnion? Introducing a modern sporting director framework aligns closely with how football clubs increasingly prepare themselves for future investment scenarios.

Clear reporting lines reduce reliance on individual ownership intuition and create continuity beyond leadership cycles. Institutionalising football decision-making enhances transparency, credibility and ultimately valuation confidence. In simple terms, it makes a club easier to understand, easier to run - and easier to sell.