Mr Popodopolous

Just watched it, he's a fairly objectionable individual stuck in a past era. A dinosaur in short. He's wrong anyway, people can try to sneak alcohol in regardless of standing or seated areas, cocaine you don't have to stand to do etc. Throwing out straw man arguments he is. Wonder if our own Head of Security (Mr. Storr) never had any dealings with him so I've an open mind, is more open minded or is similarly stuck in the last? I know he was in WMP which wasn't a great force for football and at times in general in the past...our own fans had difficulties with them over a 25-30 year period too.

£8m pfft! Sure keep channels open, if they come back with better offers absolutely but £8m?? Come on! I understand clubs will low ball as Adams and Birmingham in 2019 but that's a bit of an insult.

Ooh good thread. NP obviously, Cotts too. Okay certain City bias there but met NP once, do like him. Cotts for the fantastic turnaround, seemed very passionate too- once sat near the dugout and noticed that intensity from closer quarters. Think he should have been a bit more pragmatic in 2015-16 then he would have inherited the increased transfer and wage budget that came with the redevelopment being completed. The will to win, the ambition to process and progress- seize the moment all admirable. Gary Johnson 1 game from PL from bottom of League One in 2 and a half years was quite a ride. Some fun Cup games too! (Coventry and Middlesbrough in 2006-07 FA Cup and Man City at home League Cup 2007-08). Eclectic range really beyond that. Paul Warne- Gets the very most out of his players, especially in a side that he has built and some of his earlier games at home v middling and lower sides were more attack minded than usual-- Rotherham certainly would be higher up the table if he was still there IMO. Mark Robins- Inherited a shambles, decent football- SISU was one long shambles there...Plus the stadium issue, he's done very well in that environment. Gareth Ainsworth, Wycombe had a strong of terrible decisions again at them in the Behind Closed Doors season, still almost kept them up. Great late run. Claudio Ranieri- Always thought he was a bit of a character. Tinkerman all that, had never won a major title until Leicester which was a great story in itself but him winning it also quite good. A certain incumbent here laid some foundations of course but Ranieri himself arguably laid foundations at Chelsea, Valencia and maybe some others. Bielsa, quite liked him. Some gt4st football, got s lot out of Leeds in a quickie Watch a bit of European foorball too. A few random ones. Gasperini- Has done very good things at Atalanta on a budget, qualifying for the CL while selling best players and reinvesting and an attacking style of play is to be applauded. Had a strong Genoa side too but never saw it through- was swiftly sacked at Inter after a month or 2. Briefly a very attack minded side, also matching or outstripping much richer Juventus over a 3 year period in the CL is impressive. Agnelli cited them as an example as to why 'big' clubs should get more protection in the CL. Very much greater than the sum of their parts under him, strong academy too. https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/atalanta-not-worthy-champions-league-juventus-agnelli/15wtw13l1rrpx1a6g58i3efn70 Slightly random but same year Ranieri won the title here the guy who got Turkey to 3rd in WC 2002 won his 1st title. Generally got overlooked in Turkey somewhat so was nice to see Senol Gunes get a certain level of vindication, 2 titles at Besiktas after bad luck in title races at his home town club (Trabzonspor). Luciano Spalletti- Believe he was a bit underrated, did some quite good things at Roma in two spells. Possibly harshly sacked at Inter, now has Napoli in a very strong position in Serie A- doing well in CL too. Bielsa- Very impressive turnaround at Leeds, they were 15th when he took over, spent some money yes but up until his final few months did very well there. Fairly unique style of play as well, did Well with Athletic Bilbao and Chile too but bombed in his biggest job of all- Argentina 2002. They were justifiably one of the top candidates that year.

Plus he has got a lot more out of certain players who were dismissed as flops- Joelinton and Alimiron two notable examples.

It's a while since I've looked at this stuff but EPPP and Academy Categories. From memory this is quite heavily weighted towards PL sides. Category One Academy can give an advantage but those who know more, what tangible advantage if any does EPPP give say Southampton over us in this area? Is that still a thing?

I could see him at Brentford and fitting their style albeit they aren't yet an established PL side but seem to be very well run currently. The London connection too.

Agree with a lot of what you say but I do wonder if a shift in market dynamic towards foreign over Championship is beginning. Time will tell and more specifically quick skimread for Semenyo news said he's been on a shortlist for a while but nothing concrete yet. My quick analysis is only 7-7.5 percent of PL expenditure in the summer was on Championship players and of those not from freshly relegated clubs, it falls to maybe 3-3.5 percent.

People who still doubt or query whether vocal home support has an impact on the players should if they get time listen to this podcast. May change minds, may not but came across it looking for something else.

I expect they'll look towards Europe a bit but I'm never the most bullish- they are currently linked with a £20m wide man from Ligue 1. Bournemouth also seem keen on a return for Danjuma too. To play Devil's Advocate are Championship players being priced out of the market a bit? In that PL clubs so far have spent £0 on Championship players this window. Having re-read maybe I'm being a bit negative. £15m or are you thinking more?

In respect of Bryan and Reid, worth pointing out that without a sale of some kind that season even had we added nobody we would likely have exceeded FFP albeit not by much. Basing my calculations on the losses pre transfer activity and the prior year actual 2 seasons. Then it would have been a true gamble because we would have needed to go up in 2018-19 to make the gamble worth it or FFP would have been failed and we would have lost Bryan and Reid on a free. Maybe the sale of Flint and Magnússon would have solved the FFP but what happens with room to add? Not much IMO.

Think it might settle down and average out somewhere in the middle as in the 4 home.gsmes in which we played well in 2, had a good 1st half a soft goal aside (v Stoke) and had our moments at home to West Brom in 1st half, we had 47 shots in those 4 games. Which is solid creation... ...However those 47 shots yielded 1 goal which is ridiculous!

Didn't Pring vanish for a while too? Jury out on whether that was fair or required but either way he is certainly delivering now.

Some of the players inherited were of variable quality but had stagnated as a whole by the time NP came in. A selection of them out of contract, a remit to cut the wage bill and to promote youth while keeping us afloat. He is on course to do all that while the performance level is steadily improving. Meanwhile O'Leary, Vyner, DaSilva more earlier in the season and Wells have all gained a new lease of life under NP. If not for contract standoff maybe Massengo would also be further along. Weimann produced the best of his career in 2021-22- under NP. Pring though neither an experienced player with a new lease of life or a young player pushing through has got his chance under NP and has really started producing. You might care to mention the lack of Baker for a good chunk of his tenure and Kalas for nearly a year now. He's not only been without them but not really been able to replace them due to the FFP situation that he inherited.

5 unbeaten now, 2 wins on the bounce. Sam Bell- he'll remember this night for the rest of his career. Had that spell at RWB last season but didn't he do well. Quietly we have cobbled together and it's partially impacted by the international break an unbeaten away run on the road lasting 2.5 months. 5 games maybe in all competitions. Great to see another academy products making his debut, admittedly I know little about Taylor-Clarke. Well done to all, let's hope the injury to Pring is minor, a precautionary substition etc.

It is part of Championship life for non Parachute clubs in fairness, certainly for those who seek to push for promotion (Coventry, Luton, Millwall all overachieve for their budgets). A few clubs could say the same about their sales too of course, but I do agree it's a shame.

We were one of the top sellers ay this level pre Covid. Helped by market conditions of course. Ayling and Freeman perhaps two exceptions.

It all depends on the new contract tbh well IMO anyway. If he won't sign at all we will have to reassess this summer and try to get as much as we can for him in summer 2023 or at a push January 2024. Think if he develops as he should and of course injuries are key and can wreck or badly stall a trajectory then value definitely would grow or be retained if we sell at the right time of course. Buying from abroad or even PL to PL does seem to be on the rise, worth watching where PL cash goes in the next few windows I believe- blip or trend, time will tell.

Good post, agree with a lot of this. I suppose in theory placing in that corner could get the Dolman and the South going but it's tucked away badly in reality. It wasn't planned that well post redevelopment this side of it, post the East End and the final days there. Do you think the attitude of the club as far as encouraging vocal support has got worse post redevelopment? As someone closer to it than me, your thoughts will be interesting. Wonder if Jon Lansdown has a stronger view on it too than Steve or if it's about the same?

One noticeable factor is that the thrashings away from home seem to have so far halted. We had one at Birmingham of course but in general on the road we seem to lose narrowly, and are more competitive in scoreline albeit not necessarily in general play. Take the away games v the relegated sides so far. 3-2 and 2-1 losses. Last season it was 6-2, 3-2 and 2-0. At minimum we are one goal better off, at max 4 depending on which relegated PL side we assign to last season's promoted ones. Last season we lost 9 games on the road by 2 goals or more in the League. 9 in 23. This season it is just 2 in 13 so far. Just 2.

The GD is much better than this time last year from the equivalent fixtures which is a clear sign of progress. Believe we are a bit better placed points wise too from equivalent games- hard to place who is equivelant to qho when there are 6 different sides with 3 up and 3 down of course. Either way a bit of progress there too. Should leave us in a better place than he found us although if finances allow this summer I would like to see what he can do with a bit more room in the market. Just checked, League only but 161 shots at home in 14 games. That feels like progress.

13:56 extra in a typical Championship game then on average?

15-30 anyway probably a good range. Maybe it'll disincentivise time wasting and faking injuries to eat up time, disrupt flow- that's the idea anyway I expect.

Just on the FFP point if he keeps developing it should maintain and moreover enhance value. Basically as it stands in any one year period if our underlying pre tax loss before any sales exceeds £19-20m or £57-60m in a 3 year period then yes some level of transfer profit would be necessary. I'm talking in general not the current position. What is unknown at this point is: 1) The precise nature of the rul3 changes in terms of Upper Loss Limits moving forward. 2) Talk of move to a percentage of football wages, agents fees ans player amortisation rather than the current 3 year £39m Profit and Sustainability regs. Year 1 90 pct, Year 2 80 pct and Year 3 as the new baseline 70 pct. Transfer profit dunno how it's averaged, percentage or what will also count favourably towards the spending limits. 3) Revenue distribution being is a must under the new system in fact under any system but with this.. If a team has a £40-50m TV revenue advantage in relegation then in simple terms it means they can if we are going at 70 pct spend £28-35m more on said football costs, if it's 80 pct then it's £32-40m and if it's 90 pct then £36-45m. Clearly it's not so simple, legacy wages, amortisation and impairment etc but it has potential to bake in a huge advantage to a relegated side.

If there is already a thread feel free to merge. Basically the Premier League next season are set to stop the clock for each stoppage following the system we saw in the WC to get a true amount of stoppage time. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21072457/world-cup-time-premier-league-season-rules/ Apologies for the source, if other articles on it etc.

It's an interesting debate really. Lot of good points on all sides. Doing anything mid-season is problematic but the atmosphere does need more noise on a consistent basis. Does feel that some advocates of it and of it now are offering solutions that on paper are simple but in reality would need work, negotiation, haggling. Not just the club but relating to gradient etc. Inevitably the club will be enhancing stewarding and ticket checks in the relevant area but a) If there are duplicates or whatever it was, how would thst work and b) There are other ways to get high up in E34 rather than just the entrance to that area. A certain amount of back and forth between livelier home fans and the away is expected, I suppose the concern of those who are worried is that it will cross the line into actual crowd trouble. I doubt it provided that there is adequate stewarding and for certain games policing in place in the relevant area.