chinapig

He's also a lot fitter and stronger than when he was with us. He has what Nigel calls Premier League fitness, which makes this rumour even more plausible.

From what he has said Nigel wants us to press high and attack with pace. I doubt he will want us to launch it to a big man in the hope it might drop to someone. Chris Martin was moved on in part because he no longer suited the way we want to play. It seems pretty clear we won't be looking to sign a striker in any event.

I think that would only delay the inevitable. Though I do wonder if they are keeping up payments on the loan from (I think) MSD. But there is no prospect of a takeover since the owner is allegedly asking for £150m to sell!

The players have responded: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/may/01/leeds-consider-sacking-javi-gracia-and-hiring-third-manager-of-season There has been particular outrage among fans at the sight of the players cold-shoulderin a small boy clutching what appears to be an autograph book as he waved forlornly at every member of the squad. “What is just as concerning to us as a group is the video online of us leaving the hotel. Words can’t express how sorry we are that the youngster in the video wearing the Leeds kit is not shown more love from the squad. There is no excuse for not acknowledging fans.”

Plus they have a dodgy owner taking money out of the club to fund his other businesses and took out a £20m loan to cover costs for this season. Some Albion fans are fully expecting Administration if they aren't promoted.

From a Burnley fan btl on The Observer website: Very classy from Bristol City fans today. Friendly before the game and applauded The Clarets onto the pitch. Some lovely comments to Josh Brownhill post game as well. A really good club. Would be great to see them have some success next season.

None of those 3 clubs can be described as smart. Everton have lost £450m over the last 5 years, haven't secured funding for the new stadium, face FFP charges and have a poor squad even before they lose their best players. Forest's supermarket sweep recruitment has left them with a bloated squad. They will likely lose their best players and struggle to offload others they don't want. And FFP issues may follow. Victor Orta at Leeds likes to think he is smart but their recruitment says otherwise eg a £35m striker who can't get into a poor side, no proper left back, appointing Marsch to manage a squad stuffed with wingers when his approach is to play narrow and so on. And what happens to the 49ers investment if they are relegated? I reckon all 3 have major barriers to overcome if they expect to go straight back up. And if they don't go straight back up their problems will get even worse.

Really? Made a mess of his life? Since nobody has said any such thing this is a straw man argument. By all means make a case that he has not made too many poor football decisions if you can but don't distort what other posters have said in doing so.

Confused? You will be!?

Wouldn't it be interesting to hear his response to this very obvious point? Not that he would reply but it seems to say something about his judgement that he saw eye to eye with Ashton but not always with Nigel. He should be grateful to Nigel (and Richard Gould) for digging him out of the hole he dug for himself.

Agreed if you favour a relatively small squad as Nigel does, though as I said he focused on specialists in his press conference. The risk is that you end up with the football equivalent of what they call in cricket bits and pieces players ie who can bat ok and bowl ok but are not outstanding at either. Though I entirely trust Nigel's judgement on this.

Though Nigel indicated in his press conference this week that he would prefer to sign specialists rather than versatile players. He gave Zak as an example of someone who had played in multiple positions but has had his best season playing in his specialist position.

It's a miracle nobody was killed yet the response at the time was pretty much meh. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/apr/29/wembley-at-100-and-the-1923-white-horse-fa-cup-final-photo-essay

Playing hoofball presumably.

Lego comes in all sorts of colours.

And there was no grass! [I was there too]

Now the subject of a piece by Guardian journalist and City fan Ben Fisher: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/apr/28/bristol-city-alex-scott-transfer-target-elite-efl-young-player-year-jack-grealish

What a pleasant contrast to the Millwall vs Luton game earlier. An ugly, niggly game full of hoofball and zero skill.

... assuming they are even a going concern in any event. As the auditors put it “A material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt over the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/31/evertons-survival-in-doubt-if-relegated-from-the-premier-league

More so given the delays with the stadium and the fact that they still don't have the money to finish it anyway. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/31/new-everton-stadium-months-behind-schedule-guardian-analysis-suggests

Or Newcastle's chairman having no connection with the Saudi government according to the PL but who is claimed to be a sitting member of the government in the LIV case.

On the human rights front it reads to me that it applies to individuals not states, subject to clarification from the PL. If so somebody who did not personally, for example, murder a journalist would not be barred even if they held a position of power in the state concerned. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65128593 From this BBC report: "[The] Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations are already the law of the land so this is nothing new," said Crouch in response to the Premier League's announcement. "Improvement always welcome but still don't go as far as white paper." Amnesty UK's economic affairs director Peter Frankental added: "It'll make little difference unless powerful individuals linked to serious human rights violations overseas are definitively barred from taking control of Premier League clubs and using them for state sportswashing. "Would, for instance, a future bid involving Saudi or Qatari sovereign wealth funds be blocked by this rule change? It's far from clear that they would."

Philosopher Daniel Dennett introduced the word deepity to describe sayings that sound profound but are actually trivial or meaningless. You'd think Barton, a renowned philosopher himself, would know Dennett's work.?

@ExiledAjax

With this following the Man City case I wonder if the prospect of an independent regulator has suddenly woken the PL up?