LondonBristolian

The court obviously had access to evidence we don't but it's very hard to understand this verdict on the face of it. It certainly feels like a massive blow to attempts to drive fraud and cronyism out of the game.

Yeah - that is a good point. I must admit I'm still a bit fuzzy about where Sykes is going to play. I think I'm perceiving him as a direct alternative to Weimann just behind the front two but he'd obviously be a midfield option and, even on top of the ones you mentioned, there's also Owers if he develops (and isn't on loan) and even Vyner in an absolute midfield crisis so, as you say, we've got 5 or 6 players for two places plus several more who can cover in an emergency.

This occurred to me too. My reading of it is that we might get a veteran centre-back in as cover but aren't expecting too much else unless players unexpectedly move out. Certainly I'm starting to wonder if a defensive midfielder isn't happening - which may be a decision to play 3 at the back, or that we've not been able to get the players we wanted and don't feel there's anyone out there who represents value for money.

I might be wrong but I wonder if Baker is pretty much clear about his future but is being kept under contract so he doesn't have to worry about paying his own medical costs. Perhaps also on the slim chance something might change. But, given his time at the club and he acquired his injury playing for us, it may be about our duty of care and taking responsibility for his wellbeing rather than because we expect him to play again.

I don’t think it “means” an incoming but I suspect one is planned anyway. Pearson has talked about two or three more signings. Given Vyner is out of favour and Cundy is gone, I would have thought a right sided centre back as cover/competition for Kalas is one of those planned incomings.

I honestly think Taylor Moore has absolutely everything needed to be a top-class central defender except for the ability to concentrate for 90 minutes and eliminate mistakes from his game. Unfortunately the two aspects he lacks are probably the two most important things needed. I wish him well but he will never play regularly beyond League One unless he can fix the glaring weaknesses.

Birmingham seem a mess but it is quite an interesting appointment. A bit like QPR, they've gone for someone in the game who has been tipped as a potentially good manager for a while. (Although the fact he was at QPR and they didn't go for him may tell a story.) Sounds like he is inheriting a mess, though.

Depending on the injury, I'd imagine some of these questions may not be answered until he recovers. Physiotherapy and sports fitness is much better than it used to be but a serious injury at the wrong time can change where they are in the pecking order.

Definitely. All of this must be very traumatic for the people affected by it but there is a real concern that sometimes people start with so-called "low level" offences and then move onto things that are much worse.

I honestly don’t think it does. A lot of those records were sold a long time ago and Floyd, by the nature of their song, aren’t exactly staples of many radio stations. The thing with Billie Eilish is she obviously had a youth demographic but I spoke to a load of people my age and much older who knew who her songs from the radio and wanted to watch her. I don’t know there would be that many younger people rushing to see Floyd. Ultimately Glastonbury is great at - across its whole programme - having things that appeal to multiple different demographics. But the headline slot is basically designed to appeal (both on TV and at the festival) as a mainstream option to draw the bulk of the crowd to the part of the festival with the most space to hold them and to get some prime home viewing figures. I just think - nowadays - Floyd’s appeal is too narrow to do that.

Billie Eilish has had seven top ten singles and two number one albums in the last three years and recorded a Bond theme. Kendrick Lamar is one of the biggest stars in the world at the moment, soundtracked an absolutely huge film a few years back and has collaborated with pretty much every credible pop act going. I'd happily admit I'm a bit too long in the tooth to really be up with either act but there is absolutely no question they are absolute global megastars at the moment and way better known to a wide audience than Pink Floyd. As a bit of an aside, back in 2019 I was - for entirely unglamorous reasons - stood behind the main stage at Reading Festival when Billie Eilish came on stage. She was playing a mid-afternoon slot and had suddenly rocketed in popularity in between being booked and playing. The sound of the crowd response to her was utterly spine-tingling and like no other sound I've ever heard any other artist get. It was proper Nirvana in 1992 levels of euphoria. Clearly we're talking about music for a different generation to me (although she's crossed over considerably to the mainstream now) but there is absolutely no doubt in mind that she is an utterly massive deal to a lot of people.

I think the two problems with Pink Floyd as a headlines are a) The fact that the drummer is the only original member and only two people remain from when they were really successful. Is it really Pink Floyd when it's just Gilmour and Mason? b) Do they actually have enough really well known songs to warrant headliner status? (I say this as someone whose seen Roger Water live and quite likes them but I'm 40 and only really know a handful of songs and I wonder if anyone 30 or under will know much beyond Another Brick in the Wall... I just can't see them headlining for that reason.

I'm quite amused by the fact that the Birmingham statement claims the board have "acted swiftly" in making this decision ahead of the upcoming season. Eight weeks doesn't feel that swift to me...

It is but the aim to automate the process so the VAR itself has an AI to calculate if a player is offside and the humans just need to double check and confirm that decision doesn’t look wrong. It is a lot easier to do with offside than any other offence as, with AI, you just need a computer to be able to review all the cameras and judge where a player is standing whereas, with a foul for example, there are far more nuanced factors in judging whether an offence took place.

Reading the article, it's not that VAR will only be used for offsides but that they are trying technology that theoretically will make VAR decisions for offsides faster.

This won't be a popular view but, if we can't move Vyner on and we can't get the defensive midfielder we'd want, I'd rather Vyner be a defensive midfield option than he be at right back, centre back or just taking up a wage and I'd rather we waited until the right defensive midfielder came available than us signing the wrong player for the sake of making a signing.

I'm not going to speculate on who and who is not ready but my thoughts generally are: 1) We are quite thin on attacking cover, especially with Semenyo's injury. If everyone is fit, Wells is potentially the only senior forward not starting. Sykes might be able to play in one of the three forward positions (or we could change formation, of course) but I'd have thought we'd need a player in if both Bell and Conway went out and, even one going out leaves us a little thin potentially. 2) We've got four good CBs but slanted towards LCB, with (I think) only Kalas a natural right sided defender. Obviously we've also got Vyner and Moore and may need to use them as squad players if they don't move on. I think Idehen and Towler are both going to struggle to get games so loans for at least one - even both - makes sense. However, given Pearson appears not to rate Moore or Vyner, and arguably both have struggled to show the consistency and concentration needed at this level, I hope we can move both on and get one more RCB - unless Idehen or Towler can demonstrate they can play there. 3) Owers is a player who plays in a position we need who plays the type of role we need in that position. That doesn't necessarily mean he's ready to step in though. I think one thing I'd say is that none of the loans are necessarily bad things. I remember @Davefevswriting a great article a couple of years back about how we tended to give players (such as Morrell, Walsh and Moore) one loan too many but I think we're a long way from those days. I think any of the five players mentioned could utilise a loan to get themselves ready to come back and challenge for the first team next season, or maybe even by January.

Is this a thread about Rod's Son?

Really glad I didn't go and see Fatboy Slim now. I do agree with you about the over-crowding. I think it really affects the Acoustic Stage too. I've generally found that, if you can't get into John Peel, things still sound decent outside but the Acoustic tent sounds awful unless you are actually inside the tent. With the Pyramid, we fought our way to an okay spot for McCartney but gave up on Diana Ross in the end because we didn't fancy the crowd at all.

I've only just made it back to London and am still decompressing. Highlight for me (as pretty much every year) was Mik Artistik's Ego Trip and I was really pleased I spent a bit more time in the Theatre and Circus field taking it all in. The robot horse on the pier was brilliant too. Other great things were Folly Group, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott, Self-Esteem, Porridge Radio and Caribou plus it was great to see St Etienne from a nostalgia point of view.

Good luck to him. I like watching him play but he probably has a bit too much to learn and a few too many players ahead of him. Hope he does well there.

My main complaint was the fact there was no Temporary Secretary…

Am I being a bit naïve in imagining our 3rd choice goalkeeper would be good enough to play at a League 2 club? Are the margins between Level 4 and Level 5 or 6 of the Pyramid a lot narrower than I think?

King surprises me in that I imagined it would be quite a straightforward negotiation. He's a fan, he did well enough to earn a new deal but not well enough you'd expect loads of competition for him and he presumably gets on with the manager. I'm quite surprised it's taken this long and still is not done.

I realise this is going to be controversial but I'm not sure agree with the outrage here. I think footballers' wages represent a deeply skewed society where we value certain careers to an obscene multiple of other careers but players aren't to blame for the wage they're offered. Even if it does turn out that Palmer doesn't have the dedication and application needed to make it in the game - and I've no idea if that's the issue at all - it was the club's job to suss his character out over six months of a loan before offering him a contract. I don't see any reason to dislike the guy for taking the contract he was offered or choosing to enjoy the money he's paid on that contract. I doubt many of us would turn down a job for an obscene salary just because we didn't particularly enjoy the work (which, again, I've no idea is true of KP or not). He doesn't need to show humility and he doesn't owe us as fans anything. It's not his fault the club shelled out a transfer fee and a fair whack of wages for a player that they did not have a plan for, and it's not his fault we've now got a manager whose style of play he does not suit at all. As far as I'm concerned, he can do as he pleases with his money and social media. I just think it's a lesson for the club that we need to be prudent and have a clear understanding of and plan for the players we sign.