GrahamC

1 minute ago, redkev said:

So do we

There all shockers 

They really aren’t.

Sam Allison, Darren Bond, there are some decent ones amongst the jokers.

****, just seen Leigh Doughty is the ref, he’s a shocker.

Knew Norwich would be right up for it, like a City Rovers game & they will absolutely love it if that’s what stops them getting automatic promotion.

Think top six is sorted now, Norwich are on a great run, West Brom very consistent & everyone above too far ahead 7th.

You’ve misread the article.

Warnock is claiming he’s retired, not Pearson.

With a place in Devon if he’s well enough then he seems a very smart choice for them to me.

@Merrick's Marvels Naismith has another year.

The only senior players out of contract are Weimann (effectively already gone), James, Williams & King.

Wiles-Richards & Backwell are OoC amongst several of the 21s, the rumour is nearly all have already been told they’re being released.

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Hardie on the break, on the angle, wide of the post.

Was that the one where Stroud missed a clear foul on Twine?

1 hour ago, Hartleysbeard said:

Haha! Pretty sure that wasn’t the plan! Had Argyle taken any one of their numerous chances in that opening 20 mins, it could have been a different game. 

Apart from the back post volley by Whittaker I’m not sure they had any real chances.

They started well & had about 4 corners in the first 6 minutes but in truth they didn’t threaten very much at all.

Second half Whittaker had another shot that Max palmed away but that was it.

In reality it was a comfortable win.

Been away this week, was anything said yesterday about TGH’s availability for tomorrow?

Arguably if he’s fit then our injury “list” only consists of 3 players because you can’t consider Benarous injured if he came through the last 21s game unscathed.

1 hour ago, slartibartfast said:

I can remember DS being introduced to the race going public at Bath (being current City boss ) as " former Sunderland manager and Stoke player"............no mention of being head honcho at City, we were left with the feeling that was how he'd like to be remembered, very strange !

He is pretty bitter about his time with us.

Have to say though that obviously Andy Cole & arguably Leroy Rosenior aside, his signings (Atteveld, Thompson, Mitchell, Rouse) were all uniformly awful.

12 minutes ago, TDarwall said:

I would think Williams will be up there with Nahki as our highest earner so it really depends on what he wants ££ wise & what he can get elsewhere. I'd like to keep him if we can.

James being that bit older makes it tricky, but losing pace isn't an issue.

For a combo of factors I'd be amazed if we kept both, but think James slightly higher chance.

Think that’s right, Bird’s signing, plus Manning wanting a number 10, which then sees Knight drop back makes it more likely it is an either/or rather than both.

You’re spot on about wages, anyone not thinking these two will expect top earnings (whatever that is for us) is being incredibly naive.

Just now, ExiledAjax said:

It's interesting perhaps that James, King and Williams are all use Wasserman as their agency. They may not be signed in with the exactly the same individual, but there will be a common approach and style of negotiation there.

We went through a spell where most of our signings were with them.

I think the 3 are all at different stages of their careers to be fair.

King is probably at the end, James would see his next contract as his last big one & Williams should consider himself at the peak of his career.

How that pans out in negotiations for anything we offer time will tell.

7 hours ago, grifty said:

Don't forget all the posters who has said Bird wants to backtrack out of the deal and the deal is going to be cancelled.

Are they the same ones saying James had an appearance clause in his contract so wasn’t really injured & wouldn’t play for us again this season?

8 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

@GrahamC you are confused at this but 6 weeks ago you didn’t mind who we kept out of Williams and James. Now you only want to keep Williams if we don’t keep James.  Recency bias 

If we could afford his wages I’d always have kept James, that’s nonsense.

First thing to say is none of us know what these two are actually on.

Williams was Holden’s big (pre pandemic) signing & James was definitely Pearson’s statement of intent one.

Next we didn’t lose £22m last year by paying everyone £7k a week..

That having been said, if James does really want to stay (I know he’s said so, but lots of stories his family live elsewhere) & we can offer a sum he’s happy with, I’d keep him on a two year deal.

I’d only retain Williams however if we don’t keep James.

In his case maybe he gets a better offer from elsewhere anyway & if that’s what happens then so be it.

49 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

You might not have liked the design of the previous home shirt. But the quality, fit, finish and colours of the Hummel shirts were a world apart from the utter crap Oneil are producing for us - and we’re still being charged the same price.

The sooner we bin off this market stall standard crap the better. We look so amateur.

Fair enough.

I haven’t worn a football shirt in probably 25 years now.

I just think the white sleeves (which I appreciate we wore in the 50s) just isn’t what you would associate with us now.

Whoever makes the shirt it has to be predominantly red.

Personally I’d prefer a white away one with the third kit for when we play Stoke, Sunderland, Sheff U, Southampton as purple & lime.

11 hours ago, Kid in the Riot said:

It's not an "argument". It's a fact. Man City are paying their lawyers to stall the progress of the cases brought against them. 

Throughout the whole process Man City have sought to discredit the proceedings, hide information, and threaten journalists and the courts.

They've behaved appallingly, and not like other clubs who have mostly cooperated with the Premier League. 

They are banking on stalling the process for long enough so that they can win as much as possible before sanctions hit. 

They are also hoping for political intervention given their owners lead a country that is a UK ally. 

I’m really not sure that’s true in the case of Chelsea.

The Abramovich era definitely hasn’t been properly investigated yet.

He was basically Putin’s money launderer, every trophy they won in his time is tainted.

£15m? Ok then..

Paragraphs, mate, paragraphs…

6 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

Doncaster United as well, allegedly.

You do know it’s cruel to mock the afflicted?

Those as the Bountyhunter gag memorably went, the afflicted mock the gas..

1 minute ago, Curr Avon said:

Horrible season, horrible kit.

2 minutes ago, frenchred said:

Who plays in red and white hoops?

It's a shit kit, that reflects who designed it

Doncaster Rovers, struggling to name anyone else though..

Just now, Davefevs said:

I like Rosenior for the way his teams set-up, but he’s another whinger.

Yep, also no way can anyone say he’s done as well as Cifuentes, Robins or Wagner.

Ryan Lowe has had far fewer resources too..

I say you’re right.

Either some sort of version of the top flight one or the shirt that we wore when we beat Leeds in the FA cup would be ideal.

That having been said, I quite like our current one, far better than that Arsenal/ Rotherham abomination that preceded it.

19 minutes ago, Northern Red said:

The EFL have announced the nominees for their awards:

Manager - Farke, McKenna, Rosenior

Player - Dewsbury-Hall, Summerville, Szmodics

Young Player - Archie Gray, Jordan James, Jon Rowe

Marlon Pack nominated for the player award in L1.

https://www.efl.com/news/2024/april/03/efl-awards-2024--shortlists-revealed/

Rosenior is genuinely laughable.

Aren’t even going to make the playoffs despite spending fortunes (especially wages) on it.

Wouldn’t have him in my top six.

Archie Gray surely wins the young player? Can’t stand Jordan James for 2 reasons, he dived to get Rob Dickie sent off at our place & pretends to be Welsh to play for them, he’s from Hereford, FFS.

15 minutes ago, cellist said:

Yeboah bullying them a bit. "Tenacious". Maybe the men's football is helping

Or maybe he’s always like that?

6 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

FWIW I voted for Dickie and if he doesn’t win it I’ll eat my hat, your hat and Stoney Garnetts hat.

It did get me thinking though as to who could warrant it. My rough order of performance this season would be below - it absolutely highlights that we have issues at the top end, although some of that is whether those up front are getting the service. I could only really make a case for one of the first five getting it and after that the order would be very fluid.

Have missed out those who haven’t played much (Twine, Medube, JKL etc)

Dickie

O’Leary

Knight

James

Sykes

Vyner

Pring

Tanner

Williams

Bell

Conway

TGH

Mehmeti

King

Roberts

Wells

McCrorie

Cornick

 

Fair, though having scored the winner v Leicester & being involved in the goal yesterday, Mehmeti might well climb that list by season’s end.

Wells might only have 4 league goals too but the 3 away from home (equaliser at Hull, what should have been a late winner at Cov & only goal yesterday) were all important ones..

Went for Conway’s goal right in front of 8000 away fans at West Ham as my champagne moment.

6 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

Nether would 99.9% of our fans

and if DeZerbi had come to us instead of B&HA when he was an unknown

those fans would have been slagging the club off for not getting a "name"

That’s not really my point.

We are run by people with a very narrow view.

Brentford were at our level when they appointed Thomas Frank, not a chance in a million we would go down that road. Likewise Huddersfield with David Wagner.

It really doesn’t matter if you’re a “name” or not, results determine whether people take to you.

Our most successful manager since Alan Dicks definitely was not a “name”.