kevinhectoring

50 minutes ago, Spanish said:

Not many 1 or 2 maybe.  Most are more balanced.  I have said this before 'in our own hands' is a mathematical statement, the subjective assessment may and often is quite different.  Not sure you should be digging at fellow fans that don't want to confront reality yet, I fear they may not be able to avoid it IDC

We played much better last night and if they had won nobody could possibly say we nicked it

One problem is we’ve put energy in Roverham’s legs for tomorrow 

54 minutes ago, Grumpy Git said:

Up and at them tonight straight from the off, don't give them a chance and they won't know what's hit them, (in other words give them some of their own medicine from the home game). ?

They don’t like it up ‘em

47 minutes ago, SillyBilly said:

 But it is not in our hands, is it? It is in Rotherham's, they are 4 points behind with 2 games in hand now and a better goal difference. So we are therefore categorically reliant on them to not do the business as them staying up is in their hands, not ours. That could change but I would hope the club are not as "asleep at the wheel" to start believing a falsehood as serious as that given the position we're in, we need to hope we put it back in our hands, starting tonight.

Forget the maths. It’s in our hands !! 

2 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Exactly. I don't understand why some felt it was better for Rotherham to be on 42 points with 2 games in hand

Also puzzled by that. But wouldn’t have been sorry to see a draw 

42 minutes ago, Ramley Apple said:

No way are we going down

The current bottom three will remain in position

the spotlight is on young Wayne: with the right tactics and motivation we win one maybe two, scrape some draws and stay up. Forget the maths, it IS in our own hands. 
Rotherham could pass Udders tho
 

1 hour ago, hintonsboots said:

Is that Les Green at the front ??

He’s about the same height 

16 hours ago, mwram1973 said:

Has anyone in the know, ie Morris or Alonso, said Raja Oktohari is the backer? because I can't recall either saying anything about the others involved.

it's worrying. Alonso has to say he is acting alone because otherwise the EFL thinks: hmmm are we approving the right person as controller? In reality, if Alonso gets bundles of well-worn rupees from some Indonesian guy, seems likely that guy is in fact a controller. And needs to be approved. Looks like the EFL are already on to this. 

1 hour ago, Rampage said:

I played a guy on a par 3 eighteen hole course who told me that he had scored 19 holes in one. He played two rounds a day pretty much every day. He was so close so often that after nine holes, I believed that he had indeed scored 19 holes in one.

There’s a Leicestershire golfer who had a hole in one on the same par three at Hunstanton on 3 consecutive days. In a county match in 1974. So it should be a breeze for Alonzo to have us in the champions league in a season or two 

51 minutes ago, Rev said:

Isn't this just guessing ballcocks?

Which bit?  We were told by a lady journalist there were problems with the ‘consortium’. We were then told by a UAE journo (SBW podcast) that there was a big backer who had withdrawn. A very big backer. There were no other plausible reasons given for the deal collapsing albeit some wittering about EFl and secured loans. Just the usual chorus on here that the Fake Sheikh had no money and was kicking tyres 
 

we were also told the Oct heads of terms had no end date - ie MM had basically given the Sheikh an option and the ability to walk away if he (or the backer) changed their minds,  say for Covid reasons

so: if MM in Oct had said, sign here and deposit 30m and then we’ll speak to the EFL,  what happens  ? Answer: EITHER no deal. OR ... Mr Big is committed - and then so far as he is concerned he owns the club  And off we go  ...    

The stuff about the fake sheikh and tyre kicking is just silly. Henry was never going to sell Liverpool and got his investment bank (Allen &co) to reject the Sheikh’s proposal to avoid insult. Apparently. And my guess (just a guess) from what Ashley put on the record is that he tried to up the price at the 11th hour which was an insult to the Arabs  

MM’s October contracts were ducked up as was his contractual process. This allowed BZI to back out. MM was furious but it’s his lawyers and advisers he should be mad at. He got it right this time and we proceed with the Spanish pugilist  

what’s your version? One possibility is the Sheikh wanted to take MM’s ‘option to buy’ and shop it around, hoping he could raise the dosh from a yet-to-be-formed consortium.  More likely he had backers lined up. But he didn’t need to bind them contractually because he himself was not bound.

 I’m just reading the tea leaves and may be wrong. Certainly not itk except on the Liverpool bit 

17 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

At the end of February after Forest at home, we were 9 points clear of the bottom three.

Do you not think it has had an effect on performances?

Sorry yes I agree with you - I read your message too quickly 

3 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

The problem with your argument is that it's the youngster who tend to put in the better performances. 

I don’t see this. Clarke (ok he’s 24) is one of our best, Byrne (older) is the other. I think your judgement of Shinnie is harsh, he is a victim of lack of creativity elsewhere in midfield and of playing too close to Knight. I also think you’re tough on Andre but agree he has vulnerabilities. Your assessment of CKR is controversial but I know where you’re coming from. But where would we now be without him ?

2 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

Mel's policy of having so many academy players in the team just said to me that he isn't going to be spending any more money. We have let too many experienced players leave and have replaced them with academy players who aren't good enough. Look at the bench at the weekend, it's bereft of any quality. 

I think the angry faces in response to your post are harsh. We’ve certainly got talent in Bird, Sibley, Knight, Buchanan, talent to be proud of. But ultimately they may all be championship not PL players. This is not Hughes or Huddlestone.  So fielding them as youngsters when they lack physicality and experience leaves us underweight. 

4 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Well we might start going out to win games if we are under some pressure.

Behave 

1 hour ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

 

if there is consortium and I would imagine there is, then that fact would need to be disclosed. 

But it was not disclosed that Sheikhy was fronting for an Emirati squillionaire. until we were told that by an itk UAE journalist. And apparently the reason that deal fell apart was simply that Mr Big changed his mind. 
 

the fascinating thing is: if MM had required the Sheikh - before EFl approval - to sign definitive docs and place a substantial deposit, Mr UAE Big would now be in the driving seat  
 

at the second attempt, MM knows how to sell a club 
 

On 12/04/2021 at 12:11, Ghost of Clough said:

What would you have liked him to say instead?

"The eventual goal is to scrape PL survival every year like Newcastle and Palace"
"The eventual goal is to fluke a promotion"
"The eventual goal is to reach the playoffs"
The eventual goal is to stay in the Championship"

Exactly

And he’ll have been told the fans were up in arms about the comms surrounding the Derventio deal so good on him for getting in front of the media. (Though not much of a chore perhaps, he doesn’t seem to be a shrinking violet)

Anyway, more of this dreamy stuff please it cheers us up. Well me anyway

22 hours ago, Elwood P Dowd said:

 

It’s difficult to see why anyone would want to buy a football club other than to strip it of its assets or as a vanity project. No matter how much money you have surely you would want to limit your own risk by sharing it with other investors, if you can find some. 

 

The assets are peanuts surely, it’s about the cashflows and - as you suggest - prestige. 
Most obvious play for Alonso is he fronts for someone wealthy, has a smaller stake himself and makes a bundle if (if) he can take the club to another level and keep it there. And so does the backer.  
He looked at 4(?) championship clubs. That’s encouraging because it indicates this is not just opportunism flowing from the Sheikh debacle. He’s got a ‘vision’
 

But you’re up against lots of other billionaires, parachute payments and P&S. So it’s a hard thing to do, as Mel will testify. A key to long term success has to be international sponsorship and if we see that it could be exciting. Could come from the mystery Indonesian or from investors brought in after the deal closes. We just need to wait and see. Only thing for sure right now is we still have a number of pretty hefty egos crashing around at PP, which does not always end well 
 

45 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

because Alonso said he'd pay £20m for the right player.

Time will tell whether his wallet is as big as his cajones 

10 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

We're going to need: a good striker, a good attacking midfielder, some defenders at least so probably minimum 5-6 class signings and keeping all of the young players. So easily £20-30m could be spent in the summer to make the team a viable top 6 outfit.

Being more realistic, perhaps £10m with a good chunk on a striker and reasonable bargain shopping the rest would see some good progress.

How much did Byrne cost?  There are lots of clubs who are totally strapped, plenty of good players will be cheap. If we can just scout them well.  And Rooney’s team selection indicates some of our youngsters will be on the move (if not on loan). Don’t think P&S allows us to spend the amounts you mention 

Think it’s as much  about good decisions as dosh 

I’ve had a tenner on Matsuyama for the last 4 majors he’s played in, convinced he’s got one in him. Didn’t do it this time for some reason. Will have very mixed feelings if he wins 

38 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Coventry’s home form is significantly better than their away form. 31 of their 42 points have been picked up at home.

Sheff Wed’s home form is significantly better than their away form. 27 points won versus 14 won away from home. 24 v 11 if you account for their points deduction.

Our home form is better than our away form. 24 points won v 19.

Huddersfield’s home form is better too. 30 points won v 14.

The only exception currently is Rotherham and they have five home games, including 4 in 11 days, to correct that.

Like I’ve said, if we win our home games, we should be fine. But there is definitely a chance for Rotherham and Wednesday to make it an uncomfortable few weeks for us.

Don’t get all this hand wringing over home and away. Our form is patchy, we need two good performances. As likely to happen home or away, pretty much,  and I don’t give a monkeys which it is. I think we’ll do it. 

26 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

Could be worse. Bottom of League 2 and teammates getting sent for head butting each other.  Won't have to worry about this for at least two seasons.  Like Bonetti and Brian Laws all over again for those old enough to remember ?

 

Do they get two concussion subs ?

44 minutes ago, SamUltraRam said:

Anyway, Erik, treat our mum well, she's high maintenance & her kids are very demanding !!

I hope Erik and Wayne don’t compete for our mum’s attention   

33 minutes ago, Ellafella said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11696/12269676/Derby-takeover-ex-real-madrid-president-ramon-calderon-helped-advise-erik-alonso

Definitely needs to learn how to pronounce Derby. Odd that he speaks English as much like an Indonesian as a Spaniard. Shades of Joey Barton. Hopefully he’ll be saying ay up me duck in no time 

Really hard to know what will happen here. How much Indonesian money does he have behind him? Can he bring new sponsorship? Will he get on with Rooney?  I guess we’ll know a lot more in the summer. 

3 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Financially, it makes complete sense not to buy the stadium. 1 off payment of £80m to buy vs £1.1m per season to rent.

???   

if the stadium lease is a "good deal" for the club - and if the terms were not amended pre-sale  - then the favourable lease terms mean you pay more for the club shares. It's one enterprise. In any case, probably all driven by MM's tax position

Anyway my point was not about value, the point is: the owner doesn't need the freehold because the lease can give control which is what matters. And no sane owner will buy the club without control of the stadium       Makes no difference who owns the freehold, of course, so long as the lease terms are ok. Likewise it makes no difference to the fans whether the stadium is controlled by the owner or by the club.

I wish people would stop wittering on about this. I don't think much flows from MM's stadium sale, except the minor issue of the EFL proceedings