speeeeeeedie

Agreed. Any debate was around Pope or Pickford. Now Pope is out the debate is over. I've not read anything lately about Pickford so I assume that he has been solid. Southgate names his squad tomorrow. The BBC have put together this nifty summary; England Euro 2020 squad: Gareth Southgate to pick 26-man squad - choose your own - BBC Sport. This was the squad for the games in March; Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion), Nick Pope (Burnley) Defenders: Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City) Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jesse Lingard (West Ham United, loan from Manchester United), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Declan Rice (West Ham United), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton) Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) I don't see it changing much. Pickford in for Pope. Jordan Henderson in (he was a sub for Liverpool yesterday) for Ward-Prowse. Grealish for Saka or Watkins. Does TAA get in ahead of La Liga winning Tripper or wing back suited Reece James?

If reports from yesterday are true Nick Pope has to have knee surgery, thus ruling him out of the Euros. I had Pickford down to start before this. Dean Henderson anyone?

Phil Mickelson won the US PGA at 50. 8 years after his last major. Koepka aside, the top 5 was a throwback to 10/15 years ago; Mickelson, Oosthuizen, Harrington, Lowry. There was a full crowd on too. They were enjoying themselves.

It's hard to argue with your assessment. Although I think that Rice will get run ragged if Mount and Foden are next to him. Liverpool are top of the form table over the last 10 games, TAA has benefitted from that as he has been outstanding. It would be a shame if he's left out. Is Henderson fit? He's not played in months. I've always liked Gomez and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Both of them are going to miss out on another tournament due to injuries. I have Pickford, Walker, Stones, McGuire, Rice, Henderson (if fit), and Kane as definites. Mount and Chilwell as probables.* Then pick 2 from Rashford, Sterling, and Foden. *Foden or Grealish for Mount. Shaw for Chilwell as my thinking is that as Shaw plays next to Maguire for Man U they have a good understanding.

He'll find something. There are plenty of other teams close by, but it may mean driving a bit further than he has been doing though. I grew up in East Lancs so have no history or contacts where he lives. Apparently Bolton or Accy Stanley (can't remember which) offered for him to go and play for them whenever he feels like it, no contract or training commitment, just turn up when he wants to. I don't know how that would work.

Rovers had no European history so fans didn't know what to think about it all. Trelleborg were, as you said, part time no names. They convincingly won the tie though. Rovers were shocking. The same happened the year after. As I remember it there was no excitement going into 95-96. Dalglish going upstairs took the wind out of everybody's sails. These are all my own fantasyland thoughts but I think that winning the title in 94-95 hurt the club long term. It may have been a season too early. Imagine if Man U would have won it on the last day? Dalglish wouldn't have been happy, and would have stayed on. Jack Walker would have been the same way and sanctioned buying better players than Matty Holmes. The fans would have felt it all so would want to see a title. Rovers win it in 96, Shearer stars at the Euro's, and a CL bound team attracts even more good players. Shearer stays. Anyway, back to reality and Mowbray's Championship mid table mediocrity.

Did Yuran score a cracker? I have a vague memory of one. You are also right about the style of play. Rovers had a very English way of playing; get it up front quickly, get the ball wide from there, and supply the strikers. It took all English teams a good few years to work out how to play in Europe after the Heysel ban. Ferguson talked about it regularly. I remember Arsenal getting the run around by Benfica one year. They made Arsenal dizzy with all their passing. Who knows how it would have looked if the ban hadn't happened. Would Dalglish's Liverpool team have given Gullit's Milan a game?

South Manchester.

Thanks. I'd heard snippets that it's a complicated issue. I can see both sides of it. Kids need to enjoy playing, only playing for an academy turns it into a win or bust scenario. Clubs want to develop players their way and don't want distractions. Clubs are selfish though, and will not hesitate to get rid quickly. My nephew is being courted by a whole host of clubs. He's 8. It's daft. He has been to City a few times. He says that he won't go again as it's boring. Unfortunately his team is now finished. Most of the players will be playing at academies come September. According to his dad, none of the lads who have gone are good enough, but their parents have gone starry eyed.

I have no idea how youth football development is done now. Can lads play for both a pro club and their school/district/county?

Agreed. Harford was a great coach but like many before and since he wasn't a manager. Dalglish had done his job and wanted out, Jack Walker could hardly say no. As you said, some terrible decision making. Was the only close season signing Matty Holmes? When did Graham Fenton sign? Man U were able to call upon Beckham, Scholes, Butt, and the Neville's that summer. Rovers did not have such an opportunity. I went to the Spartak game at Ewood. It was eerily silent. Rovers fans didn't know what to think of it. There were extra advertising boards, ball boys wearing CL logo bibs, special music. All very corporate. The Champions League was still new in 1995. The format was only a couple of seasons old. That too played a part. I suspect Batty leaving had more to do with his televised punch up with Le Saux rather than his lack of enthusiasm for the Ewood crowd size.

Absolutely right. Aside from blind loyalty why would anyone pay to watch this game online? I can understand why people would go if Ewood allowed supporters but I have no idea why someone would sit at home and watch what will be a glorified park friendly.

That makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately there are all sorts of stakeholders involved so moving it looks impossible. If if was to happen it wouldn't be at Wembley as it's play off final weekend. Cardiff or Hampden Park maybe?

An all English Champ League final awaits. The second in 3 years. Chelsea should have won by 4 or 5. Mount, Kante, and Werner all missed sitters. Real hardly got a sniff of goal either. Hazard was anonymous. He is getting pelters from the Madrid press for his post game smiling and chatting to Chelsea players. I was impressed with Havertz. He started his Chelsea career quietly, got Covid, and disappeared for a few months. He returned looking 3 inches taller with a lot more muscle.

City were the better team over 2 legs and deserve to be in the final. PSG were a bit of a disgrace, especially before and immediately after Di Maria's sending off. I thought that City would have taken their foot off the pedal after that but they still went for it. It looked like they were trying to score more to rub it in. Jim Beglin, commentating on US TV, may have got himself in trouble. He decried Di Maria's "Latino temperament" when discussing the red card. He apologised for saying it about 5 minutes later. Foden is a real talent. One quibble I have with him is that he needs to be a little more composed in front of goal but I'm sure that will develop.

I don't know the Rovers Telegraph journo from Adam but if he does have to toe the line to get access then that is troubling. He has a job and if keeping Mowbray sweet is the only thing stopping him from getting the boot he should start looking elsewhere. Continual puff pieces isn't journalism. I would also think if he did start asking the hard questions and did get a ban it would create more media scrutiny rather than less. Journalists stick up for each other. A ban would get others inquiring into why.

I thought that this Kyle Walker article was pretty decent; Manchester City’s Kyle Walker makes his case for greatness against PSG | Manchester City | The Guardian I think Southgate has him and Stones in his back 4 along with Maguire and Chilwell. All 4 are still in Europe. Maybe all of them will play in finals too.

On blancce I think that City deserved their win. PSG started well but really lost their way after halftime, culminating in Gueye's sending off. Both their goals were lucky. De Bruyne from a cross, and Mahrez's free kick going straight through the wall. Mbappe was quiet. Neymar was Neymar. A real talent but highly annoying with his antics. De Bruyne got booked. If you were Guardiola would you consider leaving him out knowing that a booking will see him miss the final? I would. Any number of City players can fill his spot, although not as well. Sterling wide, and Bernardo Sliva in there? Jesus or Aguero, with Foden dropping in?

It's no wonder that Barcelona were gung ho for the super league. Their latest accounts are out and they are over €1 billion in debt. Barcelona seeking new finance streams for €350m hole after Super League collapse - sources (espn.co.uk) A good portion of it is due in the next few months. I'm sure that they will get their money from somewhere, but the club bigwigs must be worried. Messi doesn't have long left. He has been carrying them for a few seasons now. Their last mass spending spree was a complete waste.

I had Rob Green as the co commentator. He said similar but would start Giroud as he has a bit more savvy than Abraham.

Real 1-1 Chelsea last night. Chelsea should have won. They ran all over Madrid for the first 30 minutes. Werner missed an absolute sitter before Pulisic scored. Benzema levelled it up soon after with a nifty finish and then that was it. The second half was utterly boring. Real played like they did against Liverpool at Anfield; tidy, no mistakes, yet never looking like scoring. Although it's advantage Chelsea it's still finely balanced. Madrid need to score, and if they do expect more of Kroos and Modric playing keep away for as long as they want to.

Certainly not major news in the context of last week's super league uproar but Bayern have appointed Julian Nagelsmann as their next boss. Paying RB Leipzig oodles for the privilege. Spurs were allegedly in for him. Back to Brendan Rodgers for them then. Bayern appoint Nagelsmann as manager to replace Treble-winning Flick (espn.co.uk) The Bundesliga gets plaudits for many things but having Bayern hoover up the best talent from other teams yearly must get a bit long in the tooth for other teams.

Not one soul on here knows what Venkys are thinking. We can speculate all we'd like but it won't do anything. Clueless Coyle got potted after 30 points from 31 games. Mowbray currently has 11 from 17. How will he magically turn it around next season given that half his team are teenage loanees and a good portion of the rest are out of contract? I'm with Gav though. Venkys have ultimate responsibility. Paying the bills or not they bought the best run team in the Premier League for peanuts and have spent 10 years and now £200m turning Rovers into a struggling Championship outfit managed by a man who is seemingly past his sell by date at the club. Backed up by a coach (Venus) who can't set up a team, and a Chief Exec who attempted to sell off the training ground cloak and dagger style and was outed forcing him to backtrack. It's far far too late now but I do wonder if Venkys ever think what could have been had they left everything in place when they were handed the keys and used £20m per season to buy a quality player. Their outlay would have been the same however that £200m debt would not exist, and the club would be worth north of that figure too.

The moral argument that top level footballers earn too much money is strong. Yet from an economic point of view they are paid on the principle of scarcity therefore the market decides. Are they "demanding" it? Maybe, maybe not. Are they greedy? Some probably are, but all of them will take what is offered after negotiating. The club has info, the player has info, the agent has info. That all comes together and a price is set. I've no idea how true it is but I do like the old Seth Johnson transfer story. He was going to Leeds from Derby. He and his agent were going to ask for £20K per week. In walks Ridsdale and says; "How about £30K per week Seth?" He was hardly going to say no was he? Clubs are in it to win trophies, therefore they need the best players who cost more. The sheer amount of money washing around the game due to billionaire owners, massive TV deals, merchandising and the like is allowing this to happen. If the money is contributing to cheaper tickets, better facilities, nicer grounds then great, but it doesn't seem to be.

I read a snippet earlier that the clubs may have broken Premier League rules by signing on. However, the trickiness comes in deciding what to do if proven. The Prem needs the "big clubs" and all sides know that. Docking points punishes the players - although the argument for it is that they play for that club so are tarred with the same brush. If your workplace makes a bad investment and as a result has to lay people off it's not an employee's fault if they get made redundant but they suffer with the consequences of management decisions. Any goodwill and trust amongst between the 6 ESL wannabe's and the rest of the Prem executives has been lost. This in itself will hurt the rebel 6. They will have no leverage at all for any revenue deals. The rest may decide to split the TV money pie differently giving less to the top 6. They won't have any standing to vote against it. Financial incentives are the only incentive to them. Hit them there will serve them right for trying. Salary caps, foreign ownership limits, fan involvement, government oversight and regulation, players paying agents, a % of revenue into a grass roots pot, can all help the game. A rich get richer super league will not.