chinapig

Tracey Crouch may get a few cards from secret admirers then.?

White paper now expected in February: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64411515

As a result of his court case it's been reported that Joelinton's basic wage is £43k. So a good deal for Antoine, if true!

You might like this then. https://www.theguardian.com/football/when-saturday-comes-blog/2023/jan/18/lower-league-football-premier-league-pyramid Though the piece as a whole is ludicrously overstated (has he never seen Plymouth play for instance?) how about this bit?!? During those rare passages of actual play, prevailing tactics have done little to increase the entertainment value. Whereas tiki-taka has been used by elite clubs to elude opponents with snappy, progressive passes, the lower-league parody has seen the centre-back pass to the other centre-back, to the goalkeeper, to the deep-lying midfielder, to the centre-back, to the goalkeeper. Bored yet? If you’re not, try a stab of acute despondency instead, as that same centre-back is caught in possession and the ball gleefully thrashed into your team’s net.

Now being denied: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64396928

Interview with Anita Asante in The Guardian today: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jan/25/coaching-has-given-me-months-of-headaches-but-also-bags-of-joy-anita-asante

Club now up for sale: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jan/24/everton-for-sale-farhad-moshiri-asking-price-more-than-500m

He certainly shouldn't have control over all day to day football activities as he did here. Though he seems to have the same power at Ipswich, astonishingly.

Dave, perhaps you could persuade the mods to pin your analysis of the accounts over the relevant period? Only it gets a bit tedious to have to repeatedly explain the financial disaster Ashton presided over, apparently with Steve's blessing, to those who still don't or won't get it.

When the position became clear Nigel spoke positively about him as a person and a player. He said they had had a discussion and HNM said he would be ready if Nigel ever needed him to play. There was no evidence of any conflict between them and let's face it Nigel can be pretty blunt about a player's attitude if he doesn't like it!

You've triggered me. Now I'm still worried about Sheffield United!

It's a disgrace that the club has not responded to the legitimate demands of so many thousands hundreds tens two of fans. Hang on, what were those demands again?

Though Rashford didn't take any action, obvious or otherwise. The ball being in playing distance doesn't constitute an action. I don't see anything in Law 11 that equates to a player being active if the goalkeeper is unsure who might play the ball. To capture that you would have to make yet another change to the law, though how a referee could judge whether a keeper is confused by the presence of an inactive (as defined) player is unclear.

Well, Kalas was pretty angry in his post match interview. He knew perfectly well we had been massively outplayed and got away with it. Said something along the lines of we can't go on playing like that. When asked who would win the upcoming game (Derby away I think) he said the team that is coached better. Pretty revealing stuff!

I'm not sure there is a loophole. Law 11 defines the circumstances in which a player should be deemed active and the referee is entitled to judge whether any of those conditions are met. The test is not whether you or I agree with him it's whether he could reasonably have made the decision in the circumstances. Plus it was a spontaneous act by Rashford to leave the ball, which is not something you can really plan for. But as I say, if you constantly tinker with the laws because some people don't like particular decisions you just end up with more things to interpret. They'll end up like an Act of Parliament with an interpretation section defining lots of individual words. You'll end up having a lawyer on the bench!

Playing the ball might refer to e.g. passing or shooting whereas touching might refer to e.g. controlling or attempting to control the ball. The former is more active than the latter but it's hard to see how you can be regarded as playing the ball without actually touching it. The problem with regular efforts to clarify the laws is that people just get more confused. Though it would help if managers, players, pundits and fans actually read the laws.

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

Did you read the article I linked to? The author lives in Italy and has researched and written a book on the Ultras. Let's just say there are elements of Ultra culture we wouldn't ideally want to aspire to. Though I don't think the phenomenon ever got embedded in English football anyway.

As in Italy, the home of the phenomenon, for instance? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/beyond-the-violence-shocking-power-ultras-wield-over-italian-football

I have it on good authority* that Gould got a message to Nigel that we had accepted a £25m bid 5 minutes earlier so he'd better sub him or else. *No I don't

No because we won it in the past. Albeit about 2 hours ago*. ? *adjust timing depending on when you read this post** **Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so (Douglas Adams)

I'll stick my neck out and say it was a "did win" game.

And the emergence of Conway plus the revival of Wells.

Yes, he seemed to raise his flag then immediately put it down again.

Law 11says: A player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched* by a team-mate is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by: interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate or interfering with an opponent by: preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent or making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball. None of the above seems to apply to what Rashford did.