MarcusX

Let’s be honest this is it isn’t it? This is the real reason for some people being upset - just have to see Joey Barton’s tweet (the one in which he put them side by side and actually proved it’s not the same at all). Some have jumped to a conclusion about its meaning and got up in arms, had a mate straight away trying to talk about having enough of virtue signalling The proof that it’s just an artistic play on colours is literally in the away kit where they’ve done the same thing (albeit inside the shirt) with the away colours.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve not watched it yet, but there’s been lots of debate about us being “boring” lately - and that stemming back years. I don’t get it, to be honest. Only a handful of clubs every season can have success, and a few fight relegation. Having experienced relegation several times I can’t exactly say I long for the “excitement” of a relegation battle. We’ve established ourselves as a championship side now over the last 20 years when prior to that we were a league one side. We’ve had a playoff final, cup semi final, beaten multiple premier league sides and earned a bit of a refutation for it. The double winning season was fantastic albeit at a lower level. LJ had us competitive most seasons in and around the playoffs - even if ultimately it tailed off but you can’t call those years boring. A couple of years of misery after that then Pearson had us competitive again, and I can’t tell you many games I watched under him that I would call “boring”. Lastlly, I don’t understand how we can be more boring than even a team like Swindon or Rovers nearby - they literally have no chance of reaching this level in their current states, so they’re doing all that 1-2 levels below us. One of thems even been non league. If anyone thinks promotion from the conference is more exciting than watching us compete at the top of the championship and beating the likes of Man Utd, West Ham, competing with Man City over two legs etc then football isn’t for you.

That’s a defaced flag?

Some said no other country would stand for this, even home nations, Scotland have done it a few times - particularly that yellow cross on the red kit. That’s exactly the same as Nike have done isn’t it? And no one has commented on the badge on the away shirt either. I think Joey Barton’s made it clear what his problem is with it and others are jumping on a bandwagon. Also no one has answered if they were bothered in 2010/11 and if not why not? Ummm there’s “defaced” England flags up and down the country every Saturday afternoon?

Ah ok thanks, I struggle to understand it all tbh! I find your postings on some of it useful though Just bugs me with Leicester that they got away with it in 2014 when they won promotion, then had their "fairytale" with little punishment. Think they ended up settling with the EFL for about 3 million because they didn't come back down

Same as when they went up then - cant do anything because they'll no longer be in this league. This is where the Premier League / Championship divide becomes a joke. As others have said, presumably Leicester will only get punished if/when they go up - and they'll already get the rewards for that

And even more obvious when you see the flag on the away shirt following the same trend More intriguied by the material on that shirt, looks like a cricket jumper

Not sure what bit of my post you're referencing. I agree Nike probably shouldn't have done this, though I'm far from actually bothered. But all the comments are about the flag and how wrong it is to change it - yet there's many examples of that happening that people aren't actually fussed about - even clubs who wear blue using a blue cross as a flag. I would suspect some people are bothered because of what they perceive the colours to mean, but that's just speculation. I don't remember any uproar in 2011. I believe Nike have since said the cross is to represent the colour scheme of the kits - eg the purple and blue trims.

So my view is that I can understand why people don't like it. As a "lefty" I'd usually be in the "so what" crowd - but I think Nike have messed up here. I think Umbro got away with it, probably in part because people didn't even realise or think about it, but also because it still has the actual red cross - it just has others. It does beg the question why only some defacing of the flag is frowned upon. In some countries, eg the USA, their flag is highly protected. It's deemed unacceptable to deface or add anything to the US flag. Over here, we have all sorts of shit added to England flags by club fans, sometimes even colour changes - and it goes completely without comment:

They dont show the game, but you're only allowed in with a match ticket - so it's predominently pre and post game drinks / food.

I dont know about one to avoid as such, but I imagine after 3ish it'll be one in one out and I've seen some queues. The problem I'm tackling with my mates (6 of us going) is that if you decide you can't get in and it's 3.30 / 4, you're kinda stuck in the area. I don;t know what it's like inside as haven't been since 2021 but back then it was decent, plenty of space and table service via app - but as I say it was limited by covid numbers and such like. I remember they were also helpful that one of our group turned up a bit later and they let him queue jump to join us (was one in one out at that point), the door staff were really good and friendly.

absolutely agree, I hate the friendlies

Have you paid or just the free entry? I've done it before for Champs League final and it was decent because the numbers were limited, was the 2021 Covid year We've got the free entry but thinking it'll be too busy by time we get there - mates arent getting in til like 3-3:30. I know you have to be in before 3pm on the paid tickets

They're horrific, but needs must for caps for the away games / tournies

If we hadn't beaten Southampton I'm not sure he'd still be here, it's the only thing people really have to praise him for - arguably Watford too? The cup games were good but was still 1 win in 4, and Forest were there for the taking at home. The first West Ham game was truly a brilliant performance especially after going behind so early. There was so much fight and desire from the lads in that game - which makes the recent performances seem like they must be instructed to play that way and hold back, it's not them not wanting to do it. It still seems bizarre just how good that Southampton game was and how high we all felt walking away from that game. Genuinely thought he'd cracked it and the tide would turn. Probably about the same, the difference is the fan's expectations and the comments from the club. Most of us would have been happy with another season of mid-table ahead of a push next year, even if it meant Nige left in the summer.

No, but on the flip side we have to put up with it 3 times in 8 days the week after!

Isn't this said because even the bottom place finish gets £100m if they go down? So they don't get that upfront to improve their squad

I assumed he was just guessing or saying it from a fans perspective - eg he needs to show something before the seasons up or he'll lose everyone. He has began to row back massively, especially on the pdcast the otehr day so maybe he has got inside knowledge on this?

Have you got a link please?

It's purple, says so in the article: https://www.englandfootball.com/articles/2024/Mar/18/new-england-nike-kits-2024-in-detail-kit-photos-20241803

Probably because the thread was actually about an incident in another game, but it's been completely derailed because the title the OP chose to use.

Bradley for Robertson seemed enforced? Salah potentially related to his fasting and recent injuries? Either way not sure it’s necessarily weakening your team if the players on the pitch are done. The other sub scored the goal, so again can’t necessarily call that as wrong - even if he did then make a mistake for the winner, easy said in hindsight. Could easily criticise them for pushing too much at that corner and not leaving an extra player or two back.

Not competition specific, he’ll miss next league game, harsh to call him an idiot though - imagine the emotion of scoring that goal. It’s a silly rule.

Which is quite impressive when margins are so fine, and the impact of dehydration on performance is well documented.

What’s this clause that got you moved, and how do we get one?