DE.

Graham was signed by Lambert (initially on loan) after Rhodes was sold, if I recall correctly? Don't think he was a Coyle signing (although I guess you could argue Coyle made him permanent, but I'm guessing that was essentially already agreed). Mulgrew definitely was though.

Come on now. We reinvested by bringing in stars like Browny, Delfouneso, Fode Koita... actually, never mind. Yes we did.

Can only assume they were desperate for money. It would be like us selling Dack and Travis with no reinvestment.

I was talking with a former Ipswich player a couple of weeks ago and his impression was that Evans is happy to reposition Ipswich as a League 1 club due to how expensive the Championship has become to compete in. Last season they stocked up on League 1 players, and their business this season doesn't suggest they were gunning for an immediate return to the Championship. I imagine their operating model now will be academy players, free transfers and cheap loans.

To be honest I doubt I'll get it when it comes out. As much as I'm anticipating the game I'm not paying £60 (normal edition) or £75 (deluxe edition) for it. Will wait until it sees a price decrease.

A lot of rumours swirling that Wrestlemania won't be on the WWE Network this year, instead potentially being on ESPN or traditional PPV. I certainly won't be paying for it!

Yeah it wouldn't surprise me at all if Lambert is still there next season. At the moment he's throwing out his usual "the lads need help" line which is Lambert code for "the owner isn't giving me enough money". He's taken veiled shots at Evans before though and Evans either hasn't noticed or just doesn't care. I don't see the Warnock links coming to fruition in all honesty. He's exactly the type of manager they need to sort the club out though.

They've always had a good academy bringing through some top youngsters, similar to us. This year they've got some really good players like Woolfenden and Flynn Downes who will almost certainly be moving on to bigger and better things at the end of the season. Their problem is not having enough good senior players to balance out their younger talent. The likes of Chambers, Skuse, Judge, etc just haven't been up to it this season. We had the likes of Mulgrew, Graham, Smallwood, Evans, etc who are on a different level entirely. Ipswich fans don't seem to want Warnock, but it's tough to get any other names out of them. They tried the young, up and coming candidate with Hurst and it bombed spectacularly. They tried the experienced route with Lambert and it's going just as bad if not worse. I don't think they really know who to bring in at this point - they mainly just want Marcus Evans to leave, but there's very little interest in the club so Evans doesn't seem keen to sell unless he can find somebody silly enough to help him recoup his substantial losses. It's a real mess to be honest. I have to admit I'm shocked that they are doing this badly, I thought they'd have enough to at the very least get into the top six. Lambert appears to be a busted flush and as aforementioned the senior pros haven't stepped up in the way they needed to. The rebuidling job there is massive and will take a lot more than just one season imo.

No doubt, although I believe Ipswich were still 4th when Lambert signed his new deal. I can't imagine he or Evans thought their season would collapse to this extent when the contract was signed. They've gone from challenging for automatic promotion (and being top only a few weeks ago) to being rank outsiders to even get 6th. Lambert has been using injuries as an excuse but the fact is their form has been dire since before Christmas. I imagine Evans will wait until the clause kicks in before removing Lambert, but as for where they go next I have no idea. I get the feeling they may be stuck in League 1 for some time.

See my response to MP!

I believe there is a break clause which is activated when Ipswich can mathematically no longer get in the playoffs.

Ipswich lose again, at home to Coventry this time. 4 wins in 25, 7 losses out of 9... the writing is surely on the wall for Lambert.

Hull are dead certs for relegation as it stands. Heads have totally gone.

WWE are really bad for this as well, actually. Super Showdown was a good example - how many people has Taker put down recently with a single chokeslam? I can't think of any. Then AJ gets pinned with one after barely doing anything in the gauntlet match. It made him look incredibly weak. Lesnar's F5 used to be well protected but then you had the likes of Goldberg and Reigns kicking out of multiple F5's, so when Kofi or Ricochet get put down with just one it makes them look really bad. The devaluing of finishers is a real pet peeve of mine.

Agree with all of that, false finishes are also getting ridiculous now. Finishers are now basically just normal moves as it takes about a million of them to pin somebody. NJPW is the worst for this. Okada has to hit about ten rainmakers in an average main event to win.

I'm surprised but pleased to hear Cornette appreciated it. I think in his mind a 'classic' would be more old school wrestling, whereas there is a case for it to be called a 'modern classic' at the very least. The lack of selling thing is an issue that's been going on for a while now, especially prevailant in NJPW, which AEW obviously draws significant inspiration from. I'm not so bothered about loose application of the rules as it's wrestling, and it's been a long time since rules have been applied stringently. There have been times when AEW refs have been made to look like idiots by refusing to DQ people though - but that's an edict from Tony Khan where he doesn't want any matches ending in DQ. Personally I think he's misguided to a degree here (fine for PPV matches, but TV matches can definitely end in DQ). I think it's from the FITE TV feed which doesn't include commercial breaks, whereas the TNT feed does. So the four minutes of crowd noise is basically where TNT is on a commercial break.

That would only be a true statement if we were in the playoff positions right now. It's Fulham, Forest, Brentford and Preston's to lose - and we need to be in a position to potentially gain from their slip ups.

https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town/ipswich-town-manager-paul-lambert-on-neil-warnock-rumours-1-6548626 I don't know if it's just because it's in text form but Lambert doesn't half come across as arrogant here. Fair play to the reporter for asking some very direct questions though, would like to see a bit more of that from the LT.

Yeah I know you've raised this issue before, all I can say is it definitely isn't us in this instance! I can see all posts that are hidden and there aren't any of yours there, and we don't delete posts for legal reasons.

Yes that botch was a bit unfortunate, although it's not uncommon for the Bucks! Fortunately it wasn't the finish (not even close as it turned out) so at least it didn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. It was probably Awesome Vs Masato Tanaka, and yeah they had some incredible fights, including at ECW One Night Stand in 2005! I still remember the ridiculous table spot at the end.

Possibly, although to be honest "best ever" is a silly label anyway as all entertainment including wrestling is entirely subjective. If you're like Cornette and only like Mid-South 1980s stuff then you probably won't have even thought the match was good let alone great. If you prefer modern style NJPW wrestling then it probably is up there with the very best. It's all just opinions at the end of the day! Personally I loved watching it, I felt like it rewarded me as a viewer for being invested in a storyline and that's all I ask for out of wrestling. The worst thing is being invested in a storyline then watching it get flushed down the toilet by idiotic booking decisions (©WWE).

I dunno, other than there being too many nearfalls at the end I feel like they got Omega/Hangman Vs The Bucks spot on. It was the perfect blend of everybody getting their stuff in but also telling an amazing in-ring story building on months of angles. I'm really not sure what else they could have done to make it better.

Thunder Rosa would be a great addition to the AEW women's division too. I could easily see her as a member of the Inner Circle and coming out with Santana & Ortiz as an LAX-style group.

Not by the mods. In fact you're one of very few posters who hasn't had any posts hidden in the last two pages or so.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51682017 - nice AEW story on the BBC