Thank you - after a lot of digging I’ve finally tracked down the relevant regulation. My apologies to you, @Andy and @chaddyrovers Something else to file in my I was wrong book (it’s a big book!) Here’s the reg…

Of course, it is still an achievement to win these games. The likes of Colombia, Sweden, Switzerland, Senegal, Ukraine, Denmark etc are not mugs, but equally they are not the elite countries and before the draw is made, you would absolutely take those games in the knockout stages. To beat them is an achievement and I have never said otherwise, even if you are the favourite, to win these games even as favourites pretty much every single time is an achievement and Southgate does deserve credit for that. But whether its the draw at the start, or whether its other group stage results causing bigger teams to fall onto the other side of the draw, none of that is under England's control. Winning our group removes the luck in terms of the last 16 tie as we warrant a favourable draw if we do that, but beyond that, it is all luck. You can't escape that. That causes issues when comparing different managers across different tournaments. For example, Sven had quarter finals against Brazil and Portugal twice. Whenever Southgate faced that level of opposition, he also fell short, he just was fortunate that it came later in tournaments. To win the extra games in between is both an achievement to win those games and also lucky to avoid the bigger nations. When we did face the elite, ie Spain and France, we lost. You could argue that Germany is the exception to the rule, not quite Spain/France but still a strong team, and equally you could argue that Italy and Croatia aren't the very elite either. You especially consider that we have played Switzerland, Ukraine and Sweden at the quarter final stage, so beyond the last 16. We also faced Denmark, Croatia and the Netherlands in semi finals. Even Italy in a final, you would absolutely take those at that stage before the tournament rather than the likes of France, Spain and if its a World Cup, Brazil and Argentina. All of those draws are down to luck.

i can exclusively reveal the info is that the ground staff have received new mowers,well not brand new,that would be frivolous for a club our size🙂

Doubles a very different game than singles. England lose to Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup and Littler has a very quick handshake and gets off stage in a bit of a huff. Crowd may have got to him, but he needs to remember how the crowd have been against his opponent early in his career when he was a novelty (see Fallon Sherrock). Needs to learn how to lose.

No it isn't. Let's do a a full 4 page bicker

Four Tops - I’ll Turn To Stone

I wouldn’t say c13,000 people as regular match goers is a small minority of the fanbase. Obviously plenty down on what we had in 2010, but it’s still a sizeable sample of people for a club of our size. We need to face facts, away from brfcs the majority of the fanbase just shrug their collective shoulders when it comes to the regime.

There’s loads of other sites that say the same thing , but here is one. https://www.sportbible.com/football/what-is-pre-contract-agreement-transfer-deadline-day-923365-20230130

Which sadly reflects a small minority of our fan base these days.

Nixon has some Rovers tittle-tattle tomorrow

If Batth had agreed a deal with Derby we would all know he never. Whether officially and unofficially. Derby could announce but the player won't join until July. Correct? The fact remain Batth hasn't join Derby which was the main point I was making today.

How is a pre-contract agreement anything other than seeking to register with another club? If your position is correct then the regulation I quoted is completely redundant. I can’t find that one month rule, do you know where you’ve seen it? (and Ennis was announced over a month before his contract expired…) (yes I know I said I was out, but felt it was courteous to reply since I was quoted).

You’ve posted the regulation that says the player shall be free to seek registration with any club of his choice at the expiry of his current contract. Which is correct. But you can sign a pre-contract agreement with another club. Plymouth wanted to keep Ennis and offered him a contract, but he rejected it to move to Ewood. He signed a pre-contract with Rovers and Rovers announced it. His registration moved to Rovers on the 1/7/23 For overseas transfers you can sign a pre-contract with 6 months left. For UK to UK transfers it’s within the final month of their contract. If Derby had agreed with Batth and it was signed off they could announce it.

For oversea transfers yes, for domestic no. Anyways as I said, I’m out.

I’ve posted the relevant regulation as to when a player can negotiate a new deal. Clearly things can be different with the current club’s permission. I’m out now as if showing the regulation doesn’t persuade people nothing else will.

They certainly aren’t despised by the vast majority of the Ewood attending fanbase, any conversation on a match day would tell you that…

Nothing can be made official prior to July 1st unless Rovers agree. Derby not announcing anything is proof of the square root of fuck all.

Don’t think so. He can just sign a pre-contract agreement at Rovers. Nothing Plymouth could do about it.

So if Derby are offering a 2 years contract to Batth he can accept the offer and announce the deal and joined them on 1st July. Yet no deal has been announce by Derby and we dont even know if Derby have ever offer a 2 years contract. Which was my main point all day 👍

If it works like it does in FM (I know...), once a player is within the final 6 months of his contract, he's free to discuss terms on a pre-agreement. The owning club doesn't have a say in this, at that stage. Once a deal is agreed, the transfer takes place upon expiry of the contract. The onus for the owning club is to tie a contract up before you get to the final 6 months.

Additionally, how many times have we fallen foul of the 'weaker' sides? Like Iceland, under Woy. In any case, we beat Germany in a knockout phase in the last couple of tournaments - and, without checking, I'm sure we've beaten some Croatia-level sides also. You don't get to choose who you play; the trick is beating them and progressing.

They’d still have had to okay him signing the Rovers’ deal early and he still didn’t officially join until 1st July.

Not this again. Getting put on the ‘easy’ side of the draw pre kicking a ball is luck/fortune/chance, whatever you want to call it, as you have absolutely no input into it via performance on the pitch, it’s pre-determined. That wasn’t England/Southgate’s problem by the way, as you can only beat (or not) what’s put in front of you, no guarantees, but probabilities wise, it helps.

Plymouth wanted to keep Ennis. He rejected a contract offer to sign for Rovers. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65730082 You can sign a pre-contract agreement earlier, but the registration doesn’t officially change until the end of the current contract.

Nope, all three of those signed/will sign on 1st July. (After contracts expired/will expire) https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/june/15/sondre-signs-/ ‘He will officially become a Blackburn Rovers player – along with fellow summer signing Niall Ennis – on July 1st’ https://www.swanseacity.com/news/cameron-burgess-seals-swansea-city-move ‘The 29-year-old defender will become a Swansea player on July 1, having agreed a three-year contract, with the club having faced considerable competition in securing his services’ The fact deals were sorted and announced earlier would have been because their current club gave permission. As we want to keep Batth that won’t be happening with him.