spudski

Regardless of the money...going to Real Madrid is a massive cultural move. It's going to be a completely different environment to the UK and Germany. I actually feel for him regardless of money. Fair play if he pulls it off. Language, culture, history, politics, and so much more...even before kickin a ball.

Yes I was reading that he came from BIC when we signed him. Just goes to show how well our academy are developing young players.

Just checked...16, seventeen in July. Sounds like he has a good engine on him. ?

Young Ephraim (15) has also played for the U23s this season. He sounds very promising. I didn't realise he had Italian citizenship as well. I guess he's not related in anyway to Tony?

Or was it because it just replicated a martial arts kick? The same as they described Cantona doing a ' kung fu' kick. What a ridiculous world we live in...where you can't describe an action, even if it's correct, because it can be twisted as racist.

For anyone thinking Big Sam is a dinosaur, you couldn't be further from the truth. He was one of the first to use analytics. https://apfa.io/big-sam-english-footballs-unlikely-revolutionary/

There's a massive amount of blokes who collect the autographs then flog them online for a small fortune. Getting pictures or shirts signed. Premier league players autographs sell for big money, especially to overseas customers in Japan, Asia, States.

So I'm guessing someone was waiting for the message to appear, and had camera/phone ready to take the picture and share. Someone sat in the Lansdown.

How long do those messages stay up on the screen...a few seconds? Maybe the person who took the photo and posted it on social media had something to do with it?

Sad thing is, this sort of thing is going to become more common. AI chat has been a real eye opener as to what's possible and believable. We're pretty much stuffed with' reality' online.

He'd probably get it wrong and pronounce it Kamphorn Jizz ?

I agree.

Surely that says more about the fan base rather than the Coach/manager? SOD and NP keep it real. They say it how it is. SOD was great at conveying what he was trying to do, and talking to people in an adult manner. He expected the same back from the media. Didn't suffer fools gladly. The same can be said with NP. Fans critical of the way he came across when answering media questions, that often were not well thought out. Why do fans want them to change their character! Why is that media Savvy? Is it to appease the easily offended? As fans, it's easy to judge managers, players, owners...yet often, fans throw a right hissy fit if anyone questions them. It all comes across as a bit pantomime at times. It seems if managers say what the fans want to hear, show some passion and a bit shouty or clichéd...then they are happy. It says more about the mindset of certain parts of the fan base than them. But...you can't criticise the fan base ever...that's a no no.

From memory, I think he is on approx £30k a week.

If Scott goes, then I also hope it's Mehmeti who takes his place. I see Mehmeti more of a creative attacking midfielder that could operate behind our forwards. I really like the pace we have up front. I'd like to see Bell and Conway used as much as possible. Their pace and understanding is a real threat. With Wells, Weimann, Cornick and Sykes we have 6 offensive players that can offer a lot. Any money from Scott surely has to be spent on defenders and DMs.

You have people for or against. It's obvious. It maybe balanced in as much as you are getting arguments from both ends...but it's obvious the arguments are agenda led or with a one sided perspective. Very little is contributed from in the middle 'or neutral' perspective...or in reality an observation of the truth/ how it was said.

Whenever SL speaks...it's the same old rhetoric on here. It's so polarised. Those for and against him, find ways of picking bits out of his comments to underline thoughts or agendas they have. Why can't he be listened to with a balanced perspective? For example...he never said he expects us to be in the play offs next season. He hopes/ would like us to be. He never gushed over Mark Robins...he mentioned how well he'd done and in the same breath Rowett. He was also very complimentary of NP. He said he'd signed a 3 year contract and hoped for promotion in third year...' let's see where we are then' was his comment. What's wrong with that? I love this forum...but in the last year or so it's become very black or white. For or against, left or right, he said, she said. Less and less is viewed with neutral balanced eyes imo.

I agree.

He has played in this position. In fact his strengths and stat rating is better as a DM than LB.

I agree. I think he's one of those players with a ' natural' fitness. However his strengths as a DM and offensive attributes could suit us imo.

I can see him playing as a left sided DM for us. He has all the attributes to do so. Imo, he's better in that position than a LB. And when watching him I always saw him as a left sided midfielder. His strengths in his game equate to that. Check out his stats over the seasons. And the comments on his strengths as a player in the link. Scroll down. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/134331/Show/Joe-Bryan

I think they'll be stronger next season. They've gained more points than us in the last 6 games. Turned a corner.

I look at what teams could potentially be in the league next season, added to what's going to be here already, and like we both see...a very tough league indeed.

Thanks for that. Just listened to it after reading the posts on here. So glad I did. It's worth listening to, to get a more balanced view. Some of the posts on this thread are very misleading.

Your two quotes are exactly how I see it too. Sadly we weren't in a position to take advantage of a league that was very average this season. Next season will be much harder. So even if we do improve in quality from this season, the standard will be higher next season...so in theory we will have to double our quality to better this season. I should imagine Norwich, WBA and Watford will be more disappointed than us this season. The 3 coming down from the Prem, from the candidates, look stronger than Burnley, Sheff Utd and any of the play off contenders. Coming up Plymouth, Ipswich and maybe Sheff Wed are arguably stronger than bottom 4 teams in the Champ now. Add those to the teams that don't go up through play offs, the likes of WBA, Watford, Norwich, Swansea, Stoke, Sunderland, QPR...it looks massively tough next season. On paper it looks one of the toughest Championships in years next season.