Taz

Was always going to be a great gig for Potter.

On the one hand, if he was successful, he wins trophies (eventually), and/or gets an even bigger job off the back of that.

On the other hand, he does a crap job, gets paid a tonne of money, gets the sack, and gets a tonne of money!

Was always a win win situation for him. His reputation won't have taken that much of a knock, as let's be fair, it was a completely bizarre move by someone like Chelsea. 

Wouldn't be surprised if he ended up at Leicester to be honest, and I think they could do a lot worse. Chelsea are just a basketcase of a club, and have been for years. Looks like the new ownership hasn't changed that.

One issue at Chelsea, is that there is going to be a number of players there that have been signed by multiple managers. Spurs are also a mess, but if I was a top class manager and had to choose between Chelsea and Spurs, I'd go for Spurs everyday.

Also just seen a graphic on Facebook which stated that Potter is the 12th (I think) manager to be given the boot in the Prem this season.

That, is ridiculous.

8 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

Another Sammy Smod ?

What you mean a player that we let go because we sign about 3 or 4 players for the same position, gets games elsewhere then returns to the same level looking a very decent player?

He'll be fine.

30 minutes ago, Harry said:

He’s just come back from a long term knee injury. We’ve got nothing to play for. Why rush him back and risk it? 
I don’t think there’s any more to it than that. 

Exactly this. If it means he takes the rest of the season, and pre-season to get up to fitness, as well as test the knee out, and then push on for a starting place then great.

He's coming back, Nige has said it has to be managed, we have nothing to play for effectively. Nothing to see here. Why rush him, and set him back.

Kalas came back too early at the end of last season(?) and was then out for the rest of that and the bulk of this. Absolutely no point.

52 minutes ago, Simon bristol said:

I think that just because of the way he has played the game he isnt destined for a long career into this mid 30s… the year out injured must mean offering another multiple year contract is a big risk, and he would still be a top earner even if his salary was cut in half. Im not sure he would make the difference for us in the championship if he played every game. For me he ought to be released,,, and dasilva too

Look at when Weimann was injured, and what he was offered at the time. 

If Kalas has a similar mindset, wage requirements etc, then it could easily be a similar deal.

As for not making a difference, I beg to differ. Atkinson, Naismith and Kalas in the same side would give a lot of sides a hard time, and the strikers a lot to think about. When Kalas has been back in the side, it's no coincidence that we've looked better at the back.

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

I bet Marley Watkins didn’t!

Couldn't actually remember who it was, mind you I think there's probably a lot more that Watkins wishes he couldn't remember from his latter days here, especially if the rumours about Nige finding him hiding were true!

58 minutes ago, DT The Optimist said:

Very true. Thanks to our friend wiki, a check on his playing career shows a good record games played. This last 12 months have been hard luck for him with two injuries in a row, but if the medical team believe with confidence he will certainly overcome them he has to be worth a contract offer. I believe a fit Kalas is the best defender at the club and was he not our record signing.  We watch with interest but I suspect a deal will be on the table (similar to NW scenario).  

I posted something similar a while ago after he was being called a sicknote. He has a very good record for us, but a bit like Baker, because of the type of defenders that they are/were, they are more likely to get knocks. Remember his broken jaw?

It didn't help change the views of the sicknote labellers mind, so I just gave up in the end

1 hour ago, petehinton said:

What the **** is he on about? Amazing where it can lead us….from the sack at Fleetwood at the bottom of league one, to the bottom of league one at another club?

27 minutes ago, TheReds said:

Just think of how much of a bellend he was as a player, then take a good look at him now after he has made himself better every day since.... oh wait.....

It is good advice to be fair..to an extent. 

The other (better) piece of advice, is just be better than Joey Barton. It's not hard to do.

Barton slagging off Kane is something else. 

I'd love it if Kane went into management in 6/7 years and Joey wants to loan a player from him 

To be fair he's just trying to keep himself relevant now his court case is over, and the club he's "managing" is so irrelevant on every level.

Also fairly sure he's going to start saying stuff deliberately trying to force Wally to sack him. Thing is, Wally can't afford to sack you, and he's too stupid to realise what's happening, so you'll be there for a while Joey....

53 minutes ago, Reigate Red said:

Yep....I said to Mrs RR he'll take us to the PL in two seasons. Went away on holiday and by the time I was back he had disappeared.

Ha, same! 

Got married on the day of the Millwall game, went to Rome on the Monday (early) morning for a week. Picked a paper up in the departure lounge a week later, to read that Millen was in charge after Coppell left. Had to read it about 3 times before I could take it in. 

1 hour ago, GrahamC said:

He couldn’t play for us this season, as he’s already featured for Fulham in the league cup as well as Nice.

I’m not convinced there will be such a big queue to sign him, he’s barely played in France, not getting on the pitch since November & I’d say we were a very realistic proposition for him, he’s definitely not getting another Prem club & so provided he is willing to be reasonable with his wage demands, if we are interested I could see this happening.

However no way will we simply be offering him what Dasilva is on, the plan is to cut the wage bill, not perpetuate it just with different players.

1 hour ago, REDOXO said:

Who Knows if we didn’t approach Fulham before. However if I’m in Nice and getting a game occasionally why would go back to Brizz I can do that anytime. Besides there would have been a fee in January no matter what. And I’m unclear what rules apply internationally for the amount of teams you can play for in a single season
 

Going back is rarely a good thing, but does sometimes work, vis a vis Chris Garland. Another Bristol Boy. If Pearson wants him and he wants to come, then this may have legs!

To be fair, for some reason I was thinking he went there in January, not back in the summer, so my bad.

18 minutes ago, Steve Watts said:

I'm not sure I buy into the whole "There'll be x number of clubs ahead of us" theory.  If that was the case wouldn't it have been likely that one of those clubs would've gone for him on loan this season?  Instead he ended up in France. 

He was unfortunate at Fulham that he got injured and Sessegnon came in and did well enough to keep his place.  +

What is appealing to his return, if it were to happen, is that we would be getting a much better player than the one he sold.  The exposure to different coaches, different environments and being taken out of his comfort zone will all have added to what he already had.  

Would definitely welcome it if we can make it happen.

Then by the same measure, if we really wanted to re-sign him, and he really wanted to play for us again, surely we would have tried to do a deal to bring him here in January, especially if his contract is up shortly.

Again, I hope we do sign him, as that side of the pitch we sorted, I just don't think it will happen. Happy to be proven wrong though.

40 minutes ago, Percy Pig said:

I think I'd have bet my life on Caulker playing for England and Danny Rose ending up in the lower leagues when they were here.

 

You weren't the only one!! 

Strange how their careers took the paths they did. Rose just looked awful for us.

4 hours ago, RedLionLad said:

Won’t someone please think of the children?  

Saggy makes a very valid point (probably banned now!!)

If you're at a festival, temporary event/attraction, portaloo's are forgivable (although I went to the Circus on the downs about 10 years ago and even they had decent portable/mobile loo's!)

At a full time, permanent "sporting venue" though, it's embarrassing. We all know what these loo's are like after the first dozen or so have gone in, and I imagine for a young girl who is probably/possibly very self conscious, and probably needs a bit more than 4 walls and a hole, it's probably very off putting. My wife, even now, will not use a portaloo unless she really has to, and she's 36!

4 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

How many does the Thatchers Stand hold these days? 33 left sounds impressive, but it's difficult to know without know the full figure.

@GrahamC beat me to it with the exact number I was thinking of 

4 hours ago, GrahamC said:

35.

37 minutes ago, The hand of RO'D said:

Money isn’t everything.

True, but the money he is on currently, against what we would be offering, would be well below what he's used to. He would also have probably at least 6 clubs ahead of us that would be willing/able to offer him significantly more than us.

Football wasn't his life, he just happens to be bloody good at it, and has made a fairly decent career for himself. 

I will be overjoyed if he signs for us again, he's a great player and can play in a number of positions. He is very much a Pearson type of player. I will just be extremely surprised if we ever see him pull on a City shirt again, that's all.

Can't see it happening to be honest. 

Out of contract or not, finances would put him out of reach. Many other clubs would pay him more, not sure he misses the club that much..

5 hours ago, Bob Turnip said:

 

Suggests it's not a manger problem then doesn't it and that Conte maybe quite right with his comments.

 

Mourinho and both Rangnick were also pretty critical towards players/staff at Man Utd, and neither of them lasted long really. Look at what happens once Pogba, Ronaldo and a few others leave though afterwards...

There is way too much player power at these clubs, especially at the top. The trouble is, supporters can see it, but for the large part, the managers can't really do much about it. What can you say when your £300k a week player doesn't want to play, or can't be bothered to turn up when it counts - listen to his manager/coach who is on a fraction of their own wage? The balance is not there.

In any normal job, the manager is paid a lot more than their employees. They've worked their way up (unless it's been handed to them), they deal with the criticism from higher management, they should be paid more. 

The next person in at Spurs will probably get them playing some good football for a while, but then the rot will set in again, and the circle continues. Unless the pay structure is sorted at these clubs, by and large none of them will do anything and the manager will be replaced in x amount of time.

1 hour ago, Robbored said:

Reid and Bryan both wanted to leave City to progress their careers.

In other news, water is wet, and the sun is hot.

12 minutes ago, StGeorge said:

When the Subuteo model is better than reality

 

 

Delusional 

Nothing like it. 

Looks more modern......

5 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Not much point having a plentiful supply of a terrible quality product that no one wants to buy.

Wish we’d done what Coventry did and negotiated a new supply chain for Hummel.

Perhaps keeping with Hummel was the preferred option, but maybe they were too slow to agree details, or confirm if they were able/willing to carry on supplying kit. 

Perhaps we gave them a deadline and they didn't meet it. If that were the case then fair play to the club. The new kit may not be great, but at least it meant that we were able to get something finalised on time, rather than waiting until the 11th hour.

11 minutes ago, Bris Red said:

The quality of it all looks so poor, yes granted I haven’t seen any of it in person yet but i think just from the pictures we get an idea of what it’s going to be like.

My only hope is that the club will realise their mistake and we only stick with O’neills for a season or two at the most. I wonder what length of contract we signed with them? I can’t remember actually seeing anything about that on the OS when it was announced..

As others have said why we rushed to ditch Hummel when seemingly every other club in the country has managed to sort the supply issue out with them is baffling.

From memory the announcements stated that the kits would be for the rest of this season and next. 

No mention of anything after that, which also includes no mention of how long a deal has been agreed. This could imply that we have signed a contract until the end of next season, and anything longer could depend on whether they can fulfil the kit orders as needed, and/or feedback from supporters. 

At the end of the day if the product is shoddy and nobody wants to buy it, that's a hell of a lot of lost revenue.

Of course I could have just missed the bit about the actual contract derails, but can't remember seeing anything about it.

16 hours ago, alexukhc said:

Part 1

thank you china

 

Part 2 

Oneall ssports pte ltd.

At least they got sports right in the Web address....

Been on it's ass for years. I actually didn't realise it was still going until a few years ago, switched it on ready for a chuckle and just looked on and thought "WTF".

It's time to put it to sleep. They've been cruel to let it live this long...

7 hours ago, sglosbcfc said:

Are people really suggesting we'd consider a move for this guy??? Next to been seen playing for Enfield FC

Has that actually been suggested? Genuine question as I may have missed it and can't be arsed to trawl back through the thread!

Unless he seriously drops his wages, I would suggest a move anywhere, would be out of the question because of how "broken" he appears to be. Would be a huge gamble for anyone on the wages he would be on.

For someone at this level, even PP clubs next season for example, you'd have to be pretty confident of getting the real Dele back, and getting promoted. Otherwise it could get very messy.

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Unless Bajic becomes the challenger?

Possibly, although the reports of the under 21 appearances he's made have been a bit indifferent.

Of course that doesn't mean he comes back from his loan, kicks on in pre season and takes the chance with both hands (yes I did mean to do that!)

3 hours ago, RedLionLad said:

Now that’s an unusual goal celebration…

Unusual in that it was a goal scored by Portsmouth 

1 hour ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

A worthy entry for Viz`s up the arse corner.

Well that sucks...