maydrakin

I’d say that paying £9m for a player with one good season in the third division was absolute madness for a team in the second division.  I said so at the time.
We should have been paying a maximum of a third of that money for him - or loaned him with view to purchase, if promoted.

I’d say that paying £9m for a player with one good season in the third division was absolute madness for a team in the second division.  I said so at the time.
We should have been paying a maximum of a third of that money for him - or loaned him with view to purchase, if promoted.

I’d say that paying £9m for a player with one good season in the third division was absolute madness for a team in the second division.  I said so at the time.
We should have been paying a maximum of a third of that money for him - or loaned him with view to purchase, if promoted.

I’d say that paying £9m for a player with one good season in the third division was absolute madness for a team in the second division.  I said so at the time.
We should have been paying a maximum of a third of that money for him - or loaned him with view to purchase, if promoted.

Recruitment shouldn’t be that hard.
You design your model and then only bring in players that compliment that system.
Our strategy was to buy every shiny object we saw for exorbitant prices.
They weren’t bad players, they were just not right for us.
Just like Stephen Hawking was a fantastic appointment for Cambridge University, but if Mel Morris was recruiting for Oxford’s boat race team, you could guarantee he’d be throwing money at him to bring him to Oxford.

Recruitment shouldn’t be that hard.
You design your model and then only bring in players that compliment that system.
Our strategy was to buy every shiny object we saw for exorbitant prices.
They weren’t bad players, they were just not right for us.
Just like Stephen Hawking was a fantastic appointment for Cambridge University, but if Mel Morris was recruiting for Oxford’s boat race team, you could guarantee he’d be throwing money at him to bring him to Oxford.

When a red card is rescinded because a player dived/simulated injury, that red card should be transferred to the player who has conned the ref. 
Would Marvin Johnson have gone over so easily yesterday if he thought it might cost him his shirt in the first leg of the playoffs? I think not. 

When I first started watching live football we had lardy, incompetent refs and linos from all over Europe come to the BBG often making poor decisions.  What we also had then - though we didn't really appreciate it - were players who helped run the game despite the referee.  You had very little diving (Franny excepted and the dirties generally), feigning injury, time wasting, rolling around, so called professional gamesmanship.  Players generally just got on with the game without moaning too much.  Watch old footage and it's a completely different (and much better imo) spectacle.
The sea change was the EPL and Sky money.  The influx of players from overseas (not all of whom added bad habits - Bergkamp, Ardiles, Eranio, Baiano - and many others, were hugely positive additions), the added/greater importance of money on businesses/clubs succeeding, the growth in a win at all costs attitude, the language - the refusal to call it out as cheating the essence of the sport, because TV/pundits don't want to damage the brand - pundits and TV coverage themselves offering greater exposure, technology that allows 20 cameras to a match, all played a part in raising the importance of the match officials and their individual decisions whilst diminishing their reputation, despite the fact that refs and linos now have more money and attention and training and technological help than they ever did before.
If we could somehow get back to the point where players helped officials by not falling down theatrically when Curtis coughed on them in the penalty area (ie cheating aka 'you made the ref make a decision'), if we could get back to the point of real men playing (mens) football and accepting life's slings and arrows and playing the game sportingly, of no pundits ever dissecting a ref's decision (or preferably no pundits) and just moving on, if we could abolish VAR which serves to question every decision the officials make, then we might start to get somewhere.  As there's fat chance of any of that ever happening we're largely stuck with what we've got until technology takes over completely.  And even then it'll be wrong.
 

Yes, you’re right.  I was reading FIFA regulations, which state: "A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him.
"A professional shall only be free to conclude a contract with another club if his contract with his present club has expired or is due to expire within six months.
"Any breach of this provision shall be subject to appropriate sanctions."
 
However, the domestic rules are as you have pointed out.  Apologies.

Anyone who isn’t playing football in the EFL or Premier League perhaps, there are strict rules about it within the EFL;
76.5  Subject to the provisions of Regulations 68 and 76.6 a Registered Player shall not directly or indirectly communicate with or approach another Club or any Official or Player of another Club with the object of negotiating or arranging the transfer of himself or another Player to such other Club during the currency of a contract. Any infringement of this Regulation shall render the Player concerned and any Club, Official or other Player who enters into communication or negotiation shall be guilty of misconduct.
76.6  Notwithstanding the provisions of Regulation 76.5, after the third Saturday in May in any year (or as determined by Regulations 68) and before the 1 July next following, a Contract Player to whom Regulation 76.2 applies or any person on his behalf may make such an approach to a Club (or club) with a view to negotiating a contract with such Club (or club).
Taken from the EFL site here https://www.efl.com/-more/governance/efl-rules--regulations/efl-regulations/section-6---players/
Essentially I think it says we can’t approach players with expiring contracts until the third Saturday in May, which I make out to be the 20th. Players from Scotland and abroad (pending the appropriate work permits post Brexit) could be approached from January, not those registered in England.

For me, my son plays football on Saturday morning (which I also coach), and rugby on Sunday morning.
I take him to that, followed by home for lunch and a shower and then on to the match.
As the EFL Q&A expressly suggests that kick offs will be “five weekend matches at Sat 12.30” of the 10 games selected, and this occurring on average 16 times a season (for L1, for Championship it could be every other week), this will be massively inconvenient to me and many more people involved in grassroots football.
Additionally, the share of the pot means that the EFL are trying to shorten the gap by awarding 80% of the money to the championship teams, which will actually a drop in the ocean for the Prem, so all it actually does is widens the gap between League One and the Championship, making it much harder for the Plymouths, the Wigans and eventually the Derbys to compete should we get there…

For me, my son plays football on Saturday morning (which I also coach), and rugby on Sunday morning.
I take him to that, followed by home for lunch and a shower and then on to the match.
As the EFL Q&A expressly suggests that kick offs will be “five weekend matches at Sat 12.30” of the 10 games selected, and this occurring on average 16 times a season (for L1, for Championship it could be every other week), this will be massively inconvenient to me and many more people involved in grassroots football.
Additionally, the share of the pot means that the EFL are trying to shorten the gap by awarding 80% of the money to the championship teams, which will actually a drop in the ocean for the Prem, so all it actually does is widens the gap between League One and the Championship, making it much harder for the Plymouths, the Wigans and eventually the Derbys to compete should we get there…

As much as I dislike the way the EFL handled our case, credit where credit is due, they have finally realised the damage parachute payments are causing and highlighting it to the government.
The Premier League are only interested in the Premier League, that much is clear, they don’t give a toss about the rest of the football pyramid other than ensuring the gulf between the 2 leagues doesn’t get too big and encouraging clubs to go for it risking the future of the club with the golden pay day on relegation incentive.
Absolutely no way they can justify the payments, we can adjust rules to allow clubs to fall inline with FFP without handing out what, £30m a season or whatever it is now.
Sky Sports isn’t the worst thing to happen to football, the breakaway of the Premier League was.
Football needs one governing body that has an interest in sustainability from top to bottom. This will ruffle feathers at the very top as they claim to be unable to compete in Europe, yet Europe would follow I’m sure of it. Look at La Liga who are starting to apply pressure on Barca restricting what they can do. 
Premier League clubs are leading the way in spending and it will only get worse unless someone comes in and takes control, if that means losing 5 or 6 clubs to a closed shop Super League, so be it. We’re at the point where we can no longer let them dictate how the game is run and who gets what money. 

Early signs from Ridder showed that he's safe handling the football and doesn't throw interceptions, I expect they'll just bring a solid veteran like Jacoby Brissett in as QB competition.
Doesn't take a star QB to hand the ball off to Allgeier/Bijan/Patterson, throw screens to Bijan/Jonnu and pitch it up high for London & Pitts!

Pre match 
Steve Bloomers Watching 
Goal Music 
All terrible. Get rid of the lot next season.

Just going to leave this here. Sorry Cardinal fans.
 

Fair result. Eagles benefitted from a fumble and run in that was called incomplete, Chiefs from the holding call which was also tight. Fact is that much as it pains me to say it, the Chiefs strolled through the last two quarters. Fantastic game for the neutrals, one of the best championship games I've seen. Mahomes is just different gravy, though perhaps Bolton should have been made MVP. 

Excellent , should be joined by MK Cuckoos as well 

Strange that these FFP laws only look to serve the status quo, eh? 
It could easily be remodelled into a wage cap, spending cap, etc but isn’t so the historically big clubs get to preserve their positions at the top end of the table whilst others (even if they have the money) struggle to get a seat at the top table.
The financial laws in football, particularly in our leagues, are an absolute joke - they do nothing to protect clubs or create a level playing field which is what they’re disguised as. 

Sure, everybody knows that Bird is the word!

Fozzies a jolly good fellow
Fozzies a jolly good fellow
Fozzies a jolly good fellow 
And so say all of us
And so say all of us 

With Wednesday signing Aden Flint, I wonder if we might see Michael Hector (who's been training with them on a trial) move here instead? The issue would be getting him fit enough to be able to contribute when we needed him. And there may be other issues relating to why he's hardly played for a while. But he has been an excellent defender in the past, having kept an eye on his career because of the name.

I reckon the striker we are waiting for is Danny ward of Huddersfield out of contract played for rovram in past not itk but he's seems a good fit pw would know him 

Like it or not, again personal opinions aside, Waghorn would be better suited to what Warne wants. 

No point paying Chester up at this stage unless it actually saves us something significant, even if he only makes one emergency appearance later this season
For all anyone knows we might suffer a centre half shortage leading up to a crucial late season game or play off game. Wouldn't be the first time we've suffered an injury crisis at the wrong time of the season (see 2014/15).