bluebruce

They sure did. Had not just a competent CEO but an excellent one, rapidly undermined him so he resigned, appointed bog standard ones they undermined and fired when they stood up to Venkys, and finally settled on an absolutely bungling one that doesn't ever question them and publicly fellates their failings whenever possible.

So, let's do a hypothetical. If there was a manager who wanted to manage England, had a terrific track record at international football, and was almost certain to deliver success, but he was foreign...you'd still want an English manager instead?

I've not been able to watch the games (very unfortunately timed work commitments) but this post is making me wonder if some of the players are struggling with the immense pressure that has haunted previous attempts by highly talented England squads to win something. Bellingham, Rice, Kane and Foden are all coming off superb individual seasons and we shouldn't be saying these sorts of things about them. If pressure is part of the problem, it's crying out for none other than Adam Wharton smack bang in the middle of the engine room. Despite his tender years he seems almost immune to pressure and always plays like he's relaxed yet focussed even when stepping up to a new level. That sort of calming presence could work wonders.

It takes until there's enough season ticket sales.

I'm sure I saw a post on here recently saying Cov brought in 37 million from sales and spent 35 million. Not sure how accurate that was, or whether it includes potential add ons etc. But I'd be very pleasantly shocked if we spent even half of our recent and pending income on fees. It shouldn't be too much to ask, but under these cunts it is.

There seem to be a hundred Dembeles in the game. Which one is this?

Spot on. These are not the moves of a remotely ambitious club, and no remotely ambitious fan should be happy with them. But then that's exactly the problem.

A regular for a side who got relegated, although I don't personally assume we are in for him just because he's out of contract and played for Eustace. But don't forget the nearly 33 year old who lasted 15 minutes for us and is probably quite well paid. I'd bet money on McFadzean becoming a liability for us inside 6 months. He did well last season but he is frankly, old for a footballer and his legs can and almost certainly will go at any time. I'm ok with signing him on, but it should be no more than a 6 month deal with a 6 month extension option. If that's not enough security for him, tough.

Good signing for them if he stays fit. Good luck Sam, we'll never know what could have been.

That news is also old.

Isn't that news a week or two old? Talk about milking a minor story.

You don't need to tell someone when it's their opinion btw. They know, because it's their opinion.

I think I'd rather it went under the radar than got attention. Whilst clubs were surely already looking at the likes of Finneran and Tyjon, the Wharton success has probably made them feel more like they can't afford to miss the chance of a bargain. (Sorry, I know you were trying to find positives!)

I don't remember Hyam making a dozen goal-costing mistakes against Bristol. Were a whole bunch of those disallowed or something?

Sammy could stay and we'd still be very likely to go down. Or he could leave and we could replace him with a 25 goal striker and still be very likely to go down. Keeper should be (but won't be) just as much of a priority as striker. You don't care about goalkeepers because it's a criminally underrated position. It's not exciting. But it can absolutely win or cost you points.

The first part of that statement is precisely why it was strange.

Long term loan deals (anything over 3 months) always seem to expire end of June. I think it might be how they have to work, ie part of the rules.

I'm guessing it wasn't serious since I can't find anything about it online.

Then why did they invest a bit when we went down to help us get out of that league last time? Why did they then spend nearly 14 million on strikers when we came back up? Why was the plan to sell Brockhall shelved? Why have they bothered funding losses of nearly 20 million a year? Why haven't they just sold the club then it costs nothing to run? In fact they won't even entertain bidders. The theory that Venkys want us relegated has never made sense. They're utterly inept, disconnected, stubborn, probably corrupt but at the very least empowering people who are, and arrogant. But there doesn't exist a plausible reason to intentionally relegate us other than spite towards the fans, and if that was the case there are cheaper, quicker and easier ways to pull it off, as bad as things have been.

In fairness, for now it's just shadowing to make him ready for that sort of work. There's no indication the work will start with us. But of course, we know how nepotism and cheap salaries work at this club, so it's a potential risk that it could happen. Hopefully he buggers off to get started at Kidderminster or something instead.

Meanwhile, we're still trying to figure out what our new Technical Director does, and replace half our scouts. Let alone the budget approval from Pune.

I dunno, it's a perfect opportunity to learn exactly what not to do!

It was a horror show and well up there, but it can't beat Shane Duffy vs his own defence just before his departure. Two own goals and a red card. He'd had an own goal in the game prior too, which I think someone told me made for 3 own goals in about 60 minutes of football! Which has to be a British record.

It is a major problem, for the people who can't park outside their own property. Are you one of them? Apparently around 70% of UK homeowners have their own off-street parking (finding it a little tricky to get the exact figures). So this means a driveway or a garage. A lot of the rest will be able to park outside their home, but on the street. Meaning they might be able to run a cable (could be a health and safety issue though), or as I said in my other post, charging points can be fitted to lamp-posts, or just built there. They wouldn't generally be super-chargers, so they'd charge slower but cost less than a supercharger, and you could just charge overnight fairly cheaply (but I imagine a bit higher than at your own home). A lot of the people who don't have off-street parking etc are concentrated in the cities, where public transport is often excellent, and plenty of people use that or bikes. Towns and rural areas have less issue with it. That said, I do think it's a problem that could do to be addressed (probably with street chargers, but it'll take time to build enough) by 2035 when all new cars have to be EVs. But it should be noted, this is in no way a game-ender for owning an EV. It just means you can't charge at home. This lowers one of the main advantage of EVs (cheaper 'fuel' and not going to petrol stations), but you can still charge it at charge points. Again, newer technologies are making this quicker all the time, and the cost is usually similar or a bit cheaper than petrol or diesel. And Tesla have it cheaper still for Tesla owners. I notice you didn't reply to any of my extensive points about what makes EVs better, I hope you at least read and digested them. Electric car prices vary just like combustion cars. At the moment, the used market is getting a lot cheaper. At the roughly £8k you mention, there are EVs available. Some I'd recommend, some I wouldn't (I'd swerve a Nissan Leaf). I saw a video where a guy managed to buy one of those 450k mileage Teslas for I think it was just under 9k (he had to negotiate, the asking price was about 11k I think). There didn't seem to be a lot wrong with it and it drove very well. Typically though, a used Tesla about 4 years old seems to sell for about 18k-20k. But there are other brands, I just think Tesla have a very good record for reliability, effiency and charger access, and I know the most about them so I mention them a lot as examples. In 2 years time when you come to change your car, the used market may have shifted again. Especially if cheaper new EVs come along as is expected. I strongly recommend that when you come to choose your next car in 2 years, you assess the market again as you might find a better value EV at that point than any Diesel, and it could save you a fortune in the long run. Perhaps also test drive an EV so you can see what the fuss is about. I haven't yet, but if I could afford one I certainly would, a lot of people rave about their performance.