Fatboy spot on with your last paragraph. it wasnt about the red card, what he is saying is refs will sadly often give such tackles as a red so you just must not put yourself in that positon when there was clearly no need to. He went tearing across and literally lunged, ok the end result was he got the ball BUT it was unnecessary and for Martin not the first time by a very long shot.

1st Comment, go easy folks
Well…A Little bit disappointed in the public washing of players; Lee Martin's disciplinary record is poor and needs addressing no doubt, however this is something that should have been addressed by PJ behind closed doors and is the responsibility of PJ to manage a passionate and sometimes overzealous player. I am searching for the purpose of a public dressing down of someone who has a history of low confidence from managerial support; the only conclusion sadly is one of spin, smoke and mirrors to deflect personal loss of control in management of the team and general tactical direction. I do hope that this is temporary in PJ guidance of ITFC and he is learning quickly from what has unfolded in the turbulence of last week or so. I personally was happy with his appointment as ITFC manger and still believe improvements are on the horizon.
As a final first thought and offering I would like to state to PJ that I supported ITFC before you and will after you and because of this I will clap, support and cheer whoever I like at a match whenever I choose and yes that includes clapping all of our players regardless of what you think and additionally including your efforts.
I paid my money and make my choice.
Good luck and I will be ROARING again on Saturday; Happy to be part of ITFC every day.

Sorry PJ can't say i agree with you on this one, yes it was a silly tackle but at least Martin turned up on saturday more than can be said for the majority of the spinless clueless bunch of so called professional footballers that did. Maybe some comments on what you intend to do with some of those would be more useful.

He wins the ball? Some of you defending the decision and PJ for that matter I think I'm allowed to say are unbelievable.

he isnt slating him for putting in a tackle, but the manner of his challanges.

we again had lost the ball and again martin gave little a 20 yard head start, if he wasn't so lazy he would have been closer to little and may have prevented the ball reaching him.
little (posh right back) had a great game but it was made easy for him by martin.

Could we take this argument to it's logical extreme. If it's ok for your boss to publically berate you, can we have a statement from clegg stating PJ's performances this season don't pass muster.

In all seriousness, i'm still behind PJ but after such an abject performance any analysis and criticism should be kept in house and not be directed at any individual.

Agree with WickedBlue. Sorry but if you fly around like Martin does you're going to get some unfair decisions. Remember how we all slated Bruce's disciplinery record? I wish a manager would have done something about that, maybe it would have refined his play! You'd have all congratulated him on Bruce, why is this any different?

The truth about Martin is he thinks he's better than he is. Poor touch, little end product. You can't fault his effort but he's not that good and he's just reaching his prime, he ought to take a bit of stick it was a stupid challenge even if it was an unfair red. I'd rather this than singling out some of our younger players who let us down far worse but actually are more likely to have their confidence completely recked (such as Ainsley, who, to be fair, was given an awful time to make his full debut).

If this is what marks a resignation you may as well sack the lot, every manager does this. MArtin is 24 and supposed to be a professional, he should have known better, he'll clearly earn his way back soon, I bet he won't be so reckless next time!

You guys crack me up. Some very stupid people on here "Jewell resign" etc, what a load of rubbish.

Sure we've had a couple of bad results, but its a marathon not a sprint. 3 games down out of 46 and our season is over? Not likely. Cheer up or shut up.

Stockdale > Fulop
Bowyer > Norris
Ingimarsson = McAuley (when he's fit)
JET > Priskin
Ellington > Scotland
Chopra > Wickham

I see what you mean about his poor signings people....

COYB

PJ needs to to show toughness, he has been to nicey, nicey up to now, some of the players have been taking it easy and coasting. Lee's diclipine record is absymal in fairness for a winger. Pettiness is a characteristic that can spread among players during tough times and could eventually lead to further squad illdicpline + excuse making. Players must channel their frustrations by putting in hard work in training and on the pitch.

PJ should be kicking ar*e after the recent games. Plus we need more leaders to give the likes of Lee a kick in the ar*e. Sparky seems to be the only one saying anything! Sooner we get Sonko and Ingemarrson back the better.

Also whats the point in PJ openly cristising the ref??
Its just gives the players more excuses for their terrible performances.

The whole team need to look at them selves and not at any one else.

It's 'Paul Jewell needs to sort these players out' when he appears not to and 'Paul Jewell is ruining our player's confidence' when he does. Give the man a break!

Also, thanks NorwichBlue138, exactly what more people need to be saying!

Martin is a liability, yeah he maybe runs about a lot and gets in your face, but where is the quality? He never beats his man, his delivery is poor and he does not score enough goals but people on here seem to love him. He is useless

This is much simpler than the debate would suggest.
PJ is publicly pointing out that Martin has played well under him (which is a good thing) but is not picked to be an enforcer, thus his poor disciplinary record is NOT ACCEPTABLE. The reason it is not good enough is because he makes BAD DECISIONS not (necessarily) bad tackles. He has been told why he is training with the reserves - he needs to use his HEAD and show that he realises the needs of the team require him to make BETTER DECISIONS and if this message has not got through by now perhaps his training with the reserves will give him some time to think about it and realise that his actions have consequences for the team and consequences for him and his career.

PJ is not over-reacting or airing dirty laundry or looking for a scapegoat, he is disciplining an indisciplined footballer, not for being late for training or playing poorly or any other rubbish, but for letting the club and the fans down by REPEATEDLY MAKING POOR DECISIONS.

Martin is now out of the first team picture for 3 games regardless of where he trains so he cannot help the first team for a while (several weeks bearing in mind the upcoming break). Best he is left to sulk with the reserves until PJ is sure his return to the first team training will benefit the team again.

I say give him a full week down there and bring him back after the Leeds game.

As for appealing the card, i for one would not counsel that course of action- it would be likely to result in an extension of the ban. Any smart ref would not have sent him off, but having done so the ref will argue that as LM raced over and lunged in having lost the ball he felt it was dangerous- hot headed and inconsiderate of the risk to the opponent. The ref did not hesitate- he was sure the moment it happened. Laws are about interpretation and the ref's interpretation in the moment will be backed up by the appeals board if and where possible. Unless it is a case of mistaken identity or handballs that really can't be helped, or 'dives' that were actually due to clear heavy contact, the appeal simply won't help and can make things much worse.

As for the Posh game in general, I'd like to make another point. Football is about attitude and luck and a million other little factors all coming together. Freak results are brought about by freak situations and we copped one on Sat. Yes we defended poorly at times, and the goals are a litany of errors but- it's little things that change games and ITFC cannot catch a break just now.

Goal 1 was offside in the build up- (unlucky) then landed at the lad on the edge of the box from a very luck break, and he hit a belter. Take your medicine. Don't panic.

Goal 2 was offside. Fact. (unlucky).

Goal 3 was an awful back pass from Leadbitter and a missed tackle from Edwards. A very bad goal to concede.

Goal 4 showed what conceding 8 goals in 130 minutes does to a defence- they had fallen apart and were easily shrugged off (Edwards, again).

The sending off killed the game- for me a poor decision.

On another day, and there will be other days, we'd have come out of that half 1-1 or maybe even 1-0 up without doing anything differently but just getting a little more luck. We would still have shown defensive frailty at times but don't forget that we actually looked okay on the ball until we conceded and may have had other chances ourselves.

We needed a new defence before Saturday and we still need one, nothing has changed.

The second half was always a write-off. Stockdale did well, Leadbitter, Edwards, Smith (for the little time he was on) were awful- but no-one else could really be judged in that scenario. Oh, and it wasn't a penalty- a full 10 yeards OUTSIDE THE BOX when initial contact was made.

It's a funny old game- don't let a freak result get you down, let's see where we are after 10 games- things will have evened themselves out by then and we'll have a full team.

Come on you blues.

I feel uncomfortable reading this, Martin has been a really important player for us on the wing this season, he needs to be guided in the right direction re. tackling, not embarrassed in front of the supporters, this is what Roy Keane was largely criticised for, I think Paul Jewell would do better appealing against the red card and turning his frustrations towards the shambolic defending.

Not a fan of Jewell, but he is right over Martin- stupid challenge but not as bad as the one at bristol last year or even the challenge that led to the Sheff Utd player getting sent off for retaliating last season.
Not sure why Town fans like Martin, doesn't track back (he should have chsed the bloke who went into the corner for first Peterborough goal) faltters to deceive, played well against wolves but only one cross in whole game.
Carson is a better option. Keane was wrong in buying him but at least he realised he is a Div one player at best.
Fans were wrong to clap him off, he let the club down

Well said ITFCOYB.
At last some good sense.
I will however, as is my right as a season ticket holder, NOT be clapping the players on to the pitch on Saturday. I encourage everyone else to greet the team with silence to try to get over to these overpaid primma donnas that performances like last Saturday are inexcusable, and will neither be forgiven or forgotten.
Once the whistle blows however, let's give the Club all the support we can muster.
COYB

Slightly Harsh I feel....it was a rash challenge but never was it was a red. Hes one of the very few few players on our team atm that actually try and tackles

Let his club down by making a tackle and winning the ball? This is bizarre.

I feel more confident with Martin out there than I do with Leadbitter, at least Martin puts in a real effort, Leadbitter is less likely to be red carded as he makes very few tackles, that's my opinion.

Frustration - that's probably all it was, BUT everyone knows that such tackles inevitably end up with a red card - witness Trotter v Pompey a year or two back. That tackle was innocuous compared with LM's on Saturday, but the 3 match ban stood. Players let their team-mates and the fans down when they get themselves sent off by letting their hearts rule their heads.

The defenders are all pathetic and now Martin gets slammed for showing some balls? (and winning the ball)

Somehow I don't think he wouldn't have been sent off if you'd actually got us a ****ing defence PJ!

Same sort of tackle that he has been sent off with before. He needs to learn and a bit of embarrassment training with the reserves might make him think a bit more next time. Good for you PJ.

ITFCOYB
A good post and I agree. Martin's tackle was unnecessarily risky and stupid under the circumstances but having said that, the red card was overly harsh in my opnion. In any event Jewell had to deal with the situation and I support him for that.
I am also curious to see how he deals with those that shirked their tackles and closing down duties. Can we expect a public statement about those?

Understand PJ's frustration. Having seen them play against Soton thought we were very poor. If your going to take it out on Martin PJ, then fine the rest of the team a weeks wage and give it the poor....or perhaps reimburse the fans that attended and all the sky ITFC subsribers. Also, not so sure what planet Leadbitter's been on of late - thought he was meant to be a captain...if so then perhaps he needs to go in the "I'll show you how to grow up club" along with the rest of the thumb sucking numpty's... Build a team PJ, & one we can be proud of & stop this loaning c**p....

It is quite possible that Martin's rash act of passionate tackling was in response to the pathetic defending from his team mates, he was just trying too hard to do it all on his own I think, well someone certainly needed to, I agree his tackle was silly but I applaud his spirit which is largely lacking from certain other of his team mates.