Dr Balls

Looks like heaviest of the rain will have gone by lunchtime. But the forecast suggests the winds will be worst between 3pm and 5pm. Hardly surprising after many sampling the Ashton Gate catering again after 3 months off!

Most cars less than 5 years old have DAB. That is probably because it’s coming via BBC Sounds, which would be a free option anywhere in the world (my Sounds App has been working fine in Canada for the past 3 weeks).

Lee Johnson in Europe… https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/football/66190908

Maybe this picture explains why there is no transfer embargo on Russian teams. It shows Gianni getting his Russian “Order of Friendship” medal from his mate Vlad in 2019…

The Saudi football intervention is more sports-washing. And it’s not designed for European fans or a home audience anyway, it’s for those in the Far East and developing nations, who idolise certain players as much if not more so than particular teams. However they aren’t having it all their own way. Messi, surely their greatest target, has gone to the MLS, while Mbappe reportedly isn’t interested, which is unsurprising considering his age and lack of European club success. You can’t be a “great” playing in Europe without winning European trophies and he knows that’s a black mark against him. As for the reach into English football and effect on the Premier League, so far it’s only older players locking to cash in at the end of their careers, the most obvious actually being Cristiano Ronaldo. On the other hand, just consider how quickly his star has fallen since going there. It’s like he has disappeared into a media void. For younger less successful players looking to go overseas, Turkey probably remains a better option than Saudi Arabia, given the chance to still play in European competitions.

All ready to be transmitted to their “legions of fans” in North America no doubt. Much though I think it’s great for the long-standing local Wrexham fans, who have been through some pretty tough times, to have some success and then see their team play some bigger clubs in pre-season, perhaps some games that might actually prepare them for life back in League 2 would be more appropriate...

As someone who regularly peer reviews for journals and submits research papers that are subject to peer review to get published, I know it’s far from perfect and often frustrating going through multiple drafts to end up with something very similar to what you submitted in the first place. Ideally all peer reviewers would identify themselves, both to those submitting and names of reviewers would be attached to the published paper for those reading it. This is what I do when that is available, so that any biases are clear. Also it’s sometimes an onerous task reviewing as you end up near rewriting the whole paper to improve it into something that stands up to scrutiny and makes sense (often more input than many of the authors) but then get no recognition, and no monetary reward either. I hate rubbishing someone else’s research, and often feel a bit guilty pointing out all the errors that the authors have made, because I can appreciate how much time and effort may have gone into it, and that a future career may ride on it, but science should be rigorous as well as a matter of co-operation and collaboration leading to a better understanding. The point is that the peer review process may not be perfect and could be improved, but it is far better that than the completely unregulated “Wild West” in terms of those publications that have flourished with the rise of online publishing that perform no real scrutiny whatsoever to what is submitted, but just charge to publish. That’s an open door for every crackpot wacko theory out there!

There has to be an assumption that however they invest the £300 million now, it will increase returns so significantly that the 30% of revenue repayment will not reduce the profit to the club as revenue will grow so much. However for that to be the case revenue would need to increase by around 45-50% I.e. the additional money would pay for itself within a year, yet they would be paying that out for 30 years. From the outside, it still looks like a really bad deal however desperate they are for immediate cash upfront.

In regard of the Brooke Aspin transfer, it seems wrong that City won’t get any compensation, even if she does stay on loan for the coming season. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/sport/football/bristol-city-left-short-changed-8584614

From an inside source at Radio Bristol, local sport has been “protected” from the BBC local radio changes, but he couldn’t confirm whether that just meant the commentaries or more of a programme.

Maybe Jehovah saves…(in mysterious ways!) But not enough to stop them conceding in open play!!

Wait a few weeks and there’s bound to be an opportunity at Watford for him!

Webster would actually be suited to playing the role that Guardiola has given John Stones in the second half of the season, I.e. stepping up into midfield to create an additional player going forward and leaving others to cover behind, but then stepping back inti a back 4 when defending.

Usually in relays of the Channel, each person in the team swims an hour in ordered rotation and teams are usually between 4 and 6 people. On that basis someone might swim as many as 4 one hour stints or as few as 2. That said in water at current sea temperatures, especially if it’s without a wetsuit (which it’s supposed to be) then it’s still extremely tough. I know a few people who have done it in relay teams and it’s still a significant achievement, so fair play to Souness.

Isn’t Liz Truss a plastic Norwich fan, given her constituency is in Norfolk? That alone should have Ipswich fans worried about Ashton!

Kingsdown Liberal Faction?

I know. That’s why I didn’t think that it would be used by a through service from Portishead.

I thought the whole point was that the trains from Portishead would be through trains up to Henbury. One of the benefits of returning the route from Temple Meads to Filton to 4 tracks was allowing for more regular local trains stopping at Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road and Ashley Down without affecting the quicker through trains to Cardiff and Parkway. Now if only they could electrify the tracks around Bristol… (not holding my breath on that one!)

Lyle Taylor is the type of forward we don’t have, and can clearly cut it at Championship level, but I still don’t think Nige would be interested - not at anything like the wages he will have been getting at Forest!

That’s what comes of being able to count all the Championship teams on your fingers and toes…

I would suggest that before you get too carried away with Ipswich storming the Championship that you remember what happened to the runaway League 1 Champions and JPT winners in 2014/15, when they made the step up. They lost only 1 player to retirement and brought in a French forward who scored 20 league goals that season, but by halfway through the season were in the bottom 3 and about to sack their manager. The number of clubs who do what Sunderland and ourselves previously managed in 2007/8 of going successively from promotion from League 1 to making the top 6 in the Championship the next season is small for a reason, because it’s really difficult. I would suggest that a club needs the right style of play, a relatively experienced and successful manager and a large dollop of good luck. I have no idea if Ipswich have the first 2 and the latter is out of anyone’s hands!

Of the relegated teams, unlikely thought it may seem given this season, I actually think that Southampton are probably best placed. They aren’t going to lose masses of players like Leicester, or have all of their other financial concerns, they have a lot of decent youngsters, and they have already appointed a manager who has experience at this level in Russell Martin. As for Leeds, no one knows who is going to own them let alone manage them by the beginning of next season, and they need a clear out of some players, while Leicester are going to solve their wages problem by many of their best players leaving at the end of their contracts, which is a disaster from a wider financial perspective. From those coming up from League 1, Plymouth don’t look like they are going to invest much, Ipswich will have Ashton collecting players like it was going out of fashion and hang the finances, so might do something but could just as easily blow up, while Wednesday have a lot of older players, some of whom may not be quite so effective back in the Championship. And I don’t think Darren Moore is actually that good a manager. As for the rest of the clubs, it will be the usual issues of which of your best players can you keep (or your manager) which new talents can you unearth, and then having some luck with injuries etc during the season. I expect the Championship to be as gloriously unpredictable as ever next season, and that predicting the top 6, let alone getting them in the right order, is fiendishly difficult, and should come with odds of something like 500/1.

And you have to remember that there are a lot of people in Suffolk who haven’t ever gone very far outside Suffolk and/or whose family tree is rather tightly tangled on itself, so being one-eyed in relation to their football outlook might be the least of their anatomical challenges!

And the impression is that the Premier League only got shamed into investigating Man City for breaches of FFP after the UEFA charges were challenged. To be less interested than UEFA in FFP basically implies turning a complete blind eye to it!

Much as it’s galling to see a club like Luton go past us in the league hierarchy, with their crappy ground in a crappy town, the only tiny glimmer of enjoyment I am getting from their promotion is the schadenfreude of Watford sacking Edwards, who appears to be a fairly decent bloke, and him then getting their supposedly lesser rivals promoted, while the mad Italian owners keep spinning the managerial appointment roulette wheel more desperately every season, and hopefully spaffimg away all of their parachute payments!