Mashed Potatoes

We don't yet know precisely how this is going to work. But it is part of a statutory process which may or may not allow access to the office of the Independent Regulator which in turn may lead to something. All rather vague at the moment I know but getting concerned supporters in the room cannot be a bad thing - with a statutory process in place the authorities will expect supporters to make use of it if they have concerns.

1. First I wouldn't make things worse. I can't see the owners divesting themselves of ownership because of a few tennis balls. Any criminal behaviour by supporters would reduce the likelihood of the authorities intervening on the supporters' side. The most concerted series of actions against an owner have taken place at Reading but the owner concerned is still there which does demonstrate the very limited likelihood of protests achieving anything. 2. The most likely source of moving the owners on is in India, by Indians instigated by Indians. Because of the UK's past colonial relationship with India a bunch of Englishmen trying to tell the Indians that they've got it all wrong will only lead to improving levels of support for Venky's in India. 3. The Football Governance Bill is currently passing through Parliament. It includes a requirement that the club meet on a regular basis with a representative group of fans. Precisely how the new Regulator will expect this to work is not yet clear but my one positive suggestion on this matter is that those supporters on this messageboard who want something done should put themselves forward to be in that representative group.

You ought to be aware that the Oystons forfeited control at Blackpool as a consequence of losing a court case; it had nothing to do with the longstanding fans protests.

If you think that people are going to put in significant outside capital and then settle for "the fans" to effectively decide how it is spent you are naive in the extreme. The German model developed as a result of the historic "sporting club" concept in Germany, usually attached to large companies and has not been adopted anywhere else.

If that did happen obviously it was totally wrong and should have been reported to the police

It's not an agenda to see that the club does not benefit if hotheads start doing stupid things.

Hopefully they don't happen at Ewood Park anymore. On one of my rare visits to the ground in the 1970s I remember Laurie Cunningham being subjected to appalling abuse.

You can be arrested for chants that cross the line. More to the point, what on earth would these chants achieve ?

What does "personally targeting " mean ? You do realise that harassment and intimidating behaviour are criminal offences ?

What you are advocating is probably a criminal offence. Will you be doing all these things yourself so that you put yourself at the same risk of a criminal conviction as those others you want to be taking the risk ?

I didn't mean it quite like that. I was focusing on what I consider to be the absurd argument that Venky's actively don't want to own a Premier League club.

Agreed - and yet there are some who say the owners don't want that £100m+

I very much doubt the club have breached any term of his contract - we had the same argument being put forward on here with JDT and it didn't work for him.

That other job only happens if his new employers are prepared to pay the compensation due under his contract.

He's stating the facts - something good journalists do.

Why would anyone willingly want to lose in excess of £100m income pa ?

I think you are right that he is under contract to the end of next season - presumably on a salary of £700k-£800k pa ? Right now that would cost over £1.3m to buy out which is still a fair bit for the Derby's and Swansea's of this world.

If you don't want a club in the Premier League why buy one in the first place ?

It didn't though , did it ? He thought he could engineer a sacking but in the end his contract had to be bought out.

Pride and reputation don't pay any bills.

(A) He's under contract so they would have to buy out his contract; (B) looking at those clubs over the last few years are they really a step up ?

My experience of life in general is that very few people bite the hand that feeds - it's a pretty stupid thing to do.

Lampard is doing a good job at Coventry

If Eustace walks away he won't have an income.

It's difficult for Dunn with his son at the club.