ExiledAjax

Have just started reading The Hard Yards by Nige Tassell, a chronicle of the 2020/21 Championship season. The opening chapter concerns Wycombe Wanderers, and thus it takes only 8 pages before Bristol Boca Juniors' greatest moment is mentioned. Enjoy.

I wanted to look up the overall record between us. Unfortunately Google thinks the gas are as irrelevant as we do. This is what you get searching for "Bristol derby".

Remember everyone, installing a grassmaster Desso pitch costs approximately two Tilsons. If they installed one they'd be the only club in the country to break their transfer record on grass.

Agreed. Especially as he turns 26 in May so his next contract is his "prime years" contract. Lock him down for three years I'd say. Assuming he keeps playing as he is I'd say he has an argument to be our highest paid defender (assuming Kalas leaves at the end of the season).

There was another thread made after one of his other great performances. That echoed much of what's been said tonight. He's playing well, the extent of his improvement is huge, and next season he is going to be an absolute key member of our team. I'm so pleased that he (and his academy classmate O'Leary) is doing so well.

Unbeaten in the league in January. One more game to go unbeaten in all competitions. Performances largely matching results. Good start to 2023.

Excuse a typo. Sub. Singular.

Effective subs. Good reaction to going behind. Positive stuff this.

Shot had an xG of 0.28. So yes it was a good chance, but would still only be scored about 1 in 4 times. So a way off "should" have scored. Good chance though.

Granted that the last 10 minutes has been stodgier and fairly dull, but that first 20-25 minutes was decent. Not the most entertaining game of all time, but good.

It's a good game. They're good, but we look good as well today. We've created a few dangerous chances.

We're good.

True he's worked with exceptional players. However I do admire his passion. To have won so much and still be hungry for success is quite something. I'd have retired years ago.

Phil. I've been drinking. But you're kind. What I'll tell you is that Chelsea's lawyers are some of the top sports lawyers in the country. Northridge LLP are as a good as it gets. If they are confident that Mudryk and others' contracts are considered to be within FIFA's RSTP rules then there's a good chance that they are. I can look at the RSTPs in detail at some point but my gut feel is this: if I employ you for 5 years, with an ability to extend it by 3 purely at my discretion (subject to presumed conditions being triggered) then do you tell people you've got a 5 year contract or an 8 year contract? I say again, I've been out tonight and haven't read up on this. But my gut feel is Chelsea will have it right.

Has anyone said Pep yet? Absolute pervert of football and surely one of the best of our time.

Win

Nice visuals. Makes the gulf so clear.

Yep. Becoming increasingly clear that from every perspective: legal, financial, optical, moral and ethical they made the wrong decision right at the very start. Should have just paid up to Nantes and done all they could to support Sala's grieving family.

Good lord look at the difference a couple of premier League seasons make. ******* hell Norwich. Calm down.

Although since then the FIFA Tribunal and then CAS have determined that the signing was complete. So at that point the question of insurance does arise. The insurance case is in the High Court as a domestic UK dispute over which FIFA has no jurisdiction. So yes whilst they have changed their story, it's because of the conclusion of related cases. Their lawyers are basically going down the list of attempts they can make to either get out, or cover the cost of, signing Sala. Honestly the total legal fees spent so far must be in the millions.

Sorry, are they commenting on an ongoing case? Whatever that last paragraph might say I'd suggest that they clearly are trying to litigate in the media. If what they say is true then they need only say it in court and they will be vindicated. As an aside, my reading of that is that Cardiff didn't read, or didn't understand, or didn't pay attention to, the terms of their insurance. Bad luck, but don't sue your insurers for your own incompetence.

Heard on the Guardian podcast today that Liverpool's squad is in a similar shape as ours. Standards are obviously higher but in terms of age spread they've basically got players in their early twenties and early thirties, but very few in those prime years of 26 - 29. Checking on Transfermarkt shows this to be a little bit of a lie, and they're not as bereft of those players as we are, but it might well be an issue for them. Essentially they have: Age 26 - Tsimikas, Jota, Melo, and Diaz - two are injured and two aren't first team regulars; Age 27 - Keita; Age 28 - Robertson; and Age 29 - Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Fabinho. The bulk of their first team, and all of their spine of Salah, Henderson, van Dijk and Alisson are 30 or over. Of those players aged 26 - 29, only Robertson and Fabinho have played more than 1,000 minutes this season. It's an issue that we have as well. We have only four (4) players in this age bracket. Williams and O'Leary are 26, and Bentley and Kalas are 29. Given two of those are goalkeepers we can, even with everyone fit, only ever field 3 players in their traditional prime years. Now of course age isn't everything, we have players like Scott with over 5,000 first team league minutes at 19, or Vyner who is 25 but has over 15,000 minutes in the league. But they are exceptional. Most players will retire between the ages of 30 and 35 and with something around 30,000 - 40,000 minutes played at first team level (Martin has 39,000, James 30,000, King 27,000).

It's good when we get reasonable Gas fans come and post in this thread. Just a shame he was so, so far from "reasonable".

Brilliant point made that when people in positions such as the Chief Constable pedal these misconceptions, when they misconstrue correlation and causation, or when they draw links between event A and event B, they fire up those stereotypes, reinforce that behaviour, as well as reinforcing their misguided belief in it. Believe in the best in people, give them a real and honest opportunity to prove themselves, and invariably they will do so. @Blagdon red is another who would find this interesting.