Yep agree with premise of all that. Like you allude to though we're not a normal club and it's all pointless here. I would rather every player ran there contracts down and left on a free rather than selling them while this lot are in charge.

Where Southgate got lucky was getting the job in the first place.

Beggars belief!

Not sure why this is causing so much confusion, but how I see it: England did well to get as far as we did in tournaments under Southgate. Some of those draws were lucky, but you can only beat what’s in front of you. It isn’t disrespectful to Southgate to highlight the fact he didn’t win a trophy, it’s just purely factual.

What a crock this thread is. Transfer thread? My arse. It should be renamed A&E ffs.

Accrington away.

He will have been on better money here than league one clubs would be willing to pay,so he probably would have seen out the extra year even if loaned to a league 1 or 2 club with us subsidising his wage. He was offered a new deal at Spurs and had both Mourinho and ledley king talking him up at the time He would have been on 10k a week here I reckon

Just a throwaway (and plain obvious comment a year ago, maybe by me, can’t remember now) about how England have had the rub of the green a bit (true), but so what, it’s tournament football, you can only beat what’s put in front of you (also true) and folk are still disputing it, as, well, you can’t ever un-paint yourself out of a corner on an anonymous message board, that would never do, so double down! Classic brfcs 😅

When you're in a hole stop digging. The only thing we can control is whether or not we reach a particular stage of any competition by beating whoever is in front of us. We have no control whatsoever over who we play. if we end up with an easier game at any particular stage than we would normally have expected because another fancied team hasn't performed and the draw hasnt panned out as expected, then most people would describe that as an element of (good) luck. If we meet a particularly strong team earlier than expected through no fault of our own then most people would describe that as being slightly unlucky with the draw. RF 99 has described it very well above. I think most people would describe draws over the years against Sweden, Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland, and Ukraine as extremely favourable. Italy were far from the strongest side at the time in 2020 and in the last Euros we were in a side of the draw which meant we avoided Spain or France until the Final. We also avoided Germany because they unexpectedly lost to Switzerland. You still have to win the games whoever you play, but to claim there isn't an element of luck involved at times is ridiculous.

Markanday signed for Chesterfield last night I still maintain that Rovers should have triggered his year option. Not that I think he was a huge asset to the paying squad, but even if they had still allowed him to move on a free transfer this summer they could have inserted a fairly high sell on fee. It was always obvious that he would end up at Chesterfield (or similar) this summer, so Rovers may as well have potentially made something in the future on the deal. If he has a full season like his initial loan at Chesterfield then his transfer fee in a years time would be useful to any normal club (where income affects expenditure) in Rovers position Another miscalculation by those in charge of the purse strings

Fleetwood Home

Which half is the dark side?

We're like the window shopper who goes into the LV shop and pretends to be interested in buying something just to appear rich.

Grimsby away

It's mental that grown adults would proudly and publicly proclaim that they do not understand the most basic concept of luck and chance.

Well, yes, potentially. The club paying 700k instead of 60k are just wasting 640k. They're just being stupid as they'll be in the exact same position, but with 640k more to offer in signing on fee or wages, if they just go the compo route. The only reason I can see to offer 700k instead is if the compo package includes a sell on fee, which I don't think they do at that age (beyond the basic solidarity payments scheme that will happen regardless).

Surely a time machine has been invited by now....

Love these old blackburn photos Pause at 1:53 in the footage below. There's the cabin

Correct....see my earlier edit.

Oh really hahaha what a dumbass 🤣 😂 🙄 editing.....

Incorrect--no club is like our's when it comes to signing players. We just "join the race" and nothing happens.

How do we know they didn't?

I think round one is regionalised (north and south) Plus I don’t think PL clubs are in round one either. Other than that 😁

Yea I was 2XL last season and it's a 2XL now. Like for Like

They'd already spent £30m, I'm guessing they expected more than a 21st place finish. (Disclaimer, I don't know the full in and outside of their business)