chinapig

You've misunderstood. Playing the Gas is every other team's cup final. They're universally loved by fans of other clubs after all.

Every job has its jargon and football is no different. We need to look beyond it to see if we like the underlying message or not.

Easy, it runs in the family. Just ask Steve. As to his qualifications in fitness and conditioning I assume he found an image of a degree certificate on the same webpage as the splattered robin.

It seems to me they sacked Nigel then flailed around trying to find excuses for doing it. They landed on the de-conditioned nonsense which has been further undermined by Manning saying how fit the players are. Though perhaps he didn't have the benefit of Jon's expertise before he said that.

Agreed, we can't just assume that the Regulator will decide something that favours the EFL. So the EFL may well concede more to the PL to get an agreement.

Yep, Kieran Maguire announced a few weeks ago that an agreement had been reached. It's clear now that that was with the PL Executive only and that the clubs have rejected their recommendations. A case of watch this space I guess.

Looks like things are not going well. Self interest and greed are setting Premier League clubs against each other, the EFL and the government. The Independent Regulator needs strong powers to put a stop to this. This part stands out in particular: The meeting also ended without a resolution on what has been called the New Deal for football. For two years, the Premier League has been under pressure from government to give more money to the EFL to help with the financial stress many lower-league clubs are under. That money has yet to materialise, with the Premier League preferring a broader deal that restructures a number of elements of the English game, from controls on spending to the structure of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. Expectations had been raised (including from within the Premier League) that the offer would be finalised this week. Instead, there was three hours of debate on the topic in which every club aired their opinions and some said the proposals were unworkable for them. The same proposals that have been mooted, in some form, for more than a year. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/23/premier-league-appears-fractured-as-external-pressures-continue-to-mount

Indeed, that was my point. Nigel himself stressed that he was a manager who employed coaches to coach though he would occasionally step in to coach himself. In any walk of life it doesn't make sense to employ people then end up doing their job yourself. So Nigel doing what a manager should is not a stick to beat him with.

Brian Clough was similar and would occasionally take a holiday during the season when he was at Forest. What a loser.

So he doesn't agree with Jon that the players have been de-conditioned then. Early days and no doubt he will learn not to disagree with the hierarchy. That never ends well.

In Our Time listener I assume?

His occasional columns for The Guardian are always interesting. An intelligent and thoughtful co-owner who doesn't think he is always right. Listening to Jon in particular I don't get the sense that our thinking is as nuanced. It's important to stress in this case that Stockwood makes it clear that analysis is only part of the process e.g. in looking at whether performances are better than results suggest.

Possibly though my money's on Jon. After all he has already said this is the first time in 20 years they have had a clear idea of what they wanted in a head coach. It didn't seem to occur to him that he was admitting to 20 years of bad decisions. He seems more than capable of putting his foot in it again.

Yep, a catalogue of errors so to speak.

A good piece from Will Unwin. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/18/everton-pay-price-of-leaderships-manic-spending-and-blind-eye-to-sense

Yet it was reported that they turned down a £60m bid from Chelsea for Gordon. They later had to accept £20m less from Newcastle. Whose fault was that?

He makes an unconvincing case for me. That said, is it right that sporting sanctions be applied to a club due to its poor ownership and leadership as against a wilful attempt to cheat or deceive? This speaks only to the size of the sanction. If there had been a wilful attempt to cheat or deceive the deduction would likely have been greater than 10 points. The process and the individuals involved in it were anonymous, too. I'm not sure how a process can be anonymous - perhaps he means the hearing should be public. If so and if the names of commission members were made public they would undoubtedly be subjected to abuse and threats from Everton fans and others. Prejudice – the reporting of a potential 12-point penalty by the media during the hearing. How can that not be prejudicial? The report was accurate, that was the penalty the Premier League was seeking. He complains about lack of transparency then objects to the requested penalty being known. So he wants secrecy when it suits him then. I could go on but it's largely special pleading and whataboutery.

The Bill to establish the regulator was in the King's Speech so it will happen. What the PL has been lobbying for is a watering down of the regulator's powers.

All 3 would certainly likely be in the top 10 playing in Europe as would Trippier. Outside England I'd pick Achraf Hakimi at PSG with honourable mentions for Carvahal at Madrid, Di Lorenzo at Napoli and Frimpong at at Leverkusen. Whether Lewis ends up as a right back, a midfielder, or a hybrid of the two remains to be seen though.

It wouldn't make any difference to us, we have a top 6 squad anyway so will have won the playoffs and gone up.

It's not as if Man City and Chelsea are in the clear. The majority of fans, most pundits and many journalists either don't bother to read the regs or appear not to understand them if they do. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/17/everton-deducted-10-points-premier-league-guilty-financial-fair-play-breach

But the Gas take so many away there won't be any room for Everton fans!

They did more than drag it out, they told Burnley, Leeds and Leicester that Everton had not breached FFP. This late action is simply in support of the Premier League's continued lobbying to water down the powers of the Independent Regulator.

Quite, the Man City case is much more complex and the latest Chelsea stuff has only just come to light.

In their angry response Everton at no point actually deny that they breached FFP. And if 777 Partners want to sue for damages I assume they would have to at least delay their takeover since the regs do not allow clubs to go to the Courts or CAS. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/nov/17/everton-deducted-10-points-premier-league-guilty-financial-fair-play-breach