There may have been other bidders - who knows ? - but based on what was being reported at the time it was reasonable to regard Venkys as the best bet , given that they were a successful publicly quoted company in India. I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would take a whole series of decisions that were obviously not in their own interests, or those of the club. As I recall, the club was up for sale for 2 to 3 years before it was sold. The only "bidders" whose names leaked in to the public domain were some alleged property magnate called Dan something who appeared to have risen without trace as nobody could find out anything about him, and another bloke who ended up being hunted by Interpol.

This doesn't makes sense. Have you been on the bottle ?

Finished 6th with Dalglish and got promoted. I was cheering.

The post was an answer to a question as to what our league position is, so obviously stated the current position. What other answer could be given ?

5th - which gets us in the play-offs. Not bad,eh ?

I don't think you've really answered my question - namely what level of funding from the owners do you think is required in addition to what they have usually provided ? We don't appear to have made a profit last year. The last available set of accounts runs to 30 June 2021 and shows a loss of £6.6m. However that is after making a profit of £13m on the sale of Brockhall - to the owners ! when they paid £17.3m for it.

You say the owners don't want to spend but the club's accounts have shown that year on year they are pumping in around £15m +/- £2m. How much more do you think should come in ?

He is showing some talent but hardly on a level that makes him immune from having a loan spell - he is certainly not as good as Harvey Elliot when he came to us - and if it is true that there is a bit of an attitude problem a spell at a club with lesser facilities might wake him up that that is what awaits him if he doesn't shape up.

Point taken although I would point out Kane was still out on loan up to a couple of months before his 21st birthday.

Players like Beckham and Kane were loaned out early in their career so that is not correct.

Correct. Can anybody imagine an impartial observer from outside looking at those running a club who have no parachute payments but have risen to third in the table clear of all the other clubs who do not have parachute payments meriting 2 out of 10 for their performance ?

As they say at Brentford and Brighton " If you've heard of them we're not interested in them".

Thanks. Look forward to that.

Anything to report ?

I doubt it. Some of the momentum behind the ESL came from the American owners of clubs who wanted to transport the US model of team sports to football. It is noticeable that the American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United are selling up as they realise that it's not going to happen.

I think Ipswich away is our ultimate bogey match.

I think the problem is that quite a few of those players are getting old together and are injury prone.

You may well be proven right. I get the strong impression that Boehly,who now runs the club, knows a lot less than he thinks he does.

In which case their board need to stand firm and support him. It took him a couple of years to get Brighton going forward the way he wanted.

Vale !

Correct. When you look at what JDT achieved as a player - Champions League, Europa League, winning cups in Italy,playing in Serie A, playing in world cups, record goalscorer for his country - Wharton would be well advised to listen to what his manager tells him is needed to make it to the top, rather than any sychophants that may have gathered round him. Otherwise he risks becoming another wasted talent.

Morton is more than 18 months older than Wharton, and Garrett about 15 months older so they are at different stages of their development.

He took them over at the end of January when they were 16th and already in a relegation battle and was charged with the brief of keeping them up; he succeeded. He then had to sell far and away their best player in Richarlison and make do with what signings the club were able to make. Why would yet another change of manager, who I think would be their 8th in 8 years, make a significant immediate difference ?

They are risking relegation now to a significant degree because of the constant chopping and changing of the manager, and some of the players. The club has been run on the New Messiah syndrome with each new manager hailed as The One ; I don't personally think Lampard is so poor that it is a no-brainer to fire him.

I don't think Dyche's record makes it a clearcut decision. The point I would make is that if they go for Dyche then they must go full in which means committing for the next 2 to 3 years to a pragmatic approach which might not fit well with their support.